L. Alfred James

By L. Alfred James Newsflash: Two adults cannot have a very deep relationship if they never exchange words. Okay, that’s probably not really a newsflash since it’s extremely obvious. In fact, it’s so obvious that we virtually never think about it. But this obvious fact has huge implications for our understanding of God. Words are the only medium that can adequately express the thoughts, feelings, and choices of a human being. Without words, a relationship between two people cannot be very fulfilling. Consider the short anecdote that Bob Kauflin tells … Read More »

By L. Alfred James In the past few weeks, we’ve surveyed attempts throughout history to create a modern nation without the use of any kind of scripture. In France (in the 1700s), the result was 40,000 deaths and the arrest of two percent of the adult population. In communist countries (in the 1900s), the result was even more devastating: Approximately 100 million people were killed by communist regimes, regimes who had the best of intentions—they wanted to create a fair society. It is not hard to understand how this could … Read More »

By L. Alfred James My last article analyzed France’s attempt to create a nation without the use of any scripture at all. The result was a bloody revolution with 40,000 deaths in its wake, the arrest of hundreds of thousands of people, and a dictator controlling the nation. That was the outcome of trying to create a nation that had no dependence at all on any kind of scripture. It is not surprising why this would happen. If there is no revelation from God, then there is no law decreed … Read More »

By L. Alfred James The Bible has been extremely important in making the world a better place. Last article we noted one cause for this. Scripture provides a logical reason for believing that human beings are intrinsically valuable. Namely, that they are made in the image of God. The evidence from history confirms that scripture, and this doctrine in particular, has radically transformed Western culture for the better. Without any scripture, without any revelation from God, we have no reason for thinking that human beings have much value. To be … Read More »

By L. Alfred James In my last article we saw that the Bible makes it very clear that God thinks that sex was a great idea. After all, he invented it. And he commands married couples to engage in it regularly and enthusiastically (1 Corinthians 7:3-5, Proverbs 5:18-19). He also encourages us to celebrate married sexual love by including a passionate love poem that occupies one entire book of the Bible, the Song of Solomon. Since God invented sex, he is clearly going to know how we can experience the … Read More »

By L. Alfred James The Christian church has an unfortunate history of encouraging people to think of sex as dirty, as a subject to be avoided, and as a source of shame. For instance, in the late 100’s the church father Origen taught that sex was inherently impure and should be carefully avoided.1 Likewise, in the 300’s, St. Ambrose echoed this sentiment. He declared that virginity was a superior form of spirituality. He even told married priests that they should stop having sex with their wives.2 After Ambrose, Augustine (perhaps … Read More »

By L. Alfred James In my last post, we saw how the Bible has been the most important factor in the development of Western culture’s attitudes regarding human life, dignity, freedom, and equality. Even an atheistic historian like Tom Holland admits that Christianity has been the greatest social force for making the world a better place. That is an interesting historical observation. But it prompts an important question: Why? Why would the Bible have that effect? Why would the Bible lead to a reverence for human life? Why would the … Read More »

By L. Alfred James Do you want to become a better person? Do you want to grow in your character? Do you want to enhance your ability to love others? Do you want to improve your health? If so, I can tell you what you need: truth. It sounds trite to say this, but it still needs to be said: Human beings need truth. They need to hear the truth, and they need to be firmly convinced that it is indeed the truth. That is what motivates them to make … Read More »

By L. Alfred James There are many intelligent people who believe that God exists. Whether it is for emotional reasons, intellectual reasons, or because of some experiences they’ve had, they believe that God is real. However, they remain very skeptical about whether or not God has told us very much about himself. I’ve had many conversations with people who think this way, and I’ve heard several explanations for their skepticism: “I believe in a higher power, but I’m convinced that we can never know anything about it.” “I believe there … Read More »

By L. Alfred James In the movie Contact Ted Arroway (father of Ellie Arroway) explains why he believes in alien life: “The one thing I know about nature is it hates to waste anything. So I guess I’d say if it is just us, an awful lot of space is going to waste.” The atheist physicist Victor Stenger put it this way: “If God created the universe as a special place for humanity, he seems to have wasted an awfully large amount of space where humanity will never make an … Read More »