L. Alfred James

By L. Alfred James We’ve explored several proofs for God’s existence and the truth of the Bible. We are now reviewing some of the most popular objections to Christianity. The first issue to tackle is religious pluralism. This is the idea that all religions are true in some vague (and typically undefined) way. This is also sometimes called religious relativism. On this view, religious truth is relative to “what works” for each person. This belief is often expressed by the saying, “What’s true for you is true for you. And … Read More »

By L. Alfred James Last week we dissected the intellectual attitude of those who compare the religions of the world to blind men groping around an elephant, or those who compare the religions of the world to multiple paths leading up a mountain. These parables are claiming that the religions in the world are all equally valid systems of truth and equally valid ways of having a relationship with God. The official name for this belief is called religious pluralism because it argues that there is no one single religion … Read More »

By L. Alfred James You have probably heard the parable about the blind men and the elephant. It’s an ancient Sikh story with many variations. But the gist of it goes something like this: A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to their town, but none of them knew what kind of creature it was. Out of curiosity, they sought it out, and when they found it, they groped all about it. The first man, who was grasping the tail, said, … Read More »

By L. Alfred James We’ve just worked through a long series of blog posts designed to lead someone all the way from hardcore atheism to Christianity. We’ve seen several proofs for God’s existence and the truth of the Bible. We are finishing this series by dealing with some common questions and objections to Christianity. The first issue we will deal with is what is called religious pluralism. This is the idea that all religions are true for those who believe them. That is, a plurality of religions are true. This … Read More »

By L. Alfred James We are moving towards the end of a long series of blog posts that has provided an intellectual pathway for moving someone (or yourself) all the way from hardcore atheism to biblical Christianity. This week, as we begin bringing this series to a close, I’d like to lay out each one of the major stepping stones that have marked this pathway, hoping that you will see for yourself that the cumulative case for Christianity is extremely powerful. (By the way, everything I say here is an … Read More »

By L. Alfred James We are currently in a series of blog posts that provide an intellectual pathway for moving someone (or yourself) all the way from hardcore atheism to biblical Christianity. We have recently seen that the case for the resurrection of Jesus is quite powerful and stands unrefuted. What I’d like to do this week is deal with one attempt at a refutation that is extremely popular among skeptics. It is simply known as David Hume’s argument against miracles. It is important to understand that Hume does not … Read More »

By L. Alfred James The average person on the street believes that faith is the opposite of logic. In talking with hundreds of people on this subject, the most common definitions that I’ve heard all agree with what Mark Twain famously said, “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”1 Here are the definitions of faith that I’ve heard most often: Faith is believing in something that is not rational or logical. Faith is what you use when all reason is against you. It’s religious wishful thinking, in which you … Read More »

By L. Alfred James We are currently in a series of blog posts that provide an intellectual pathway for moving someone (or yourself) all the way from hardcore atheism to biblical Christianity. Last week we saw how the conversion of Saul of Tarsus is a powerful proof that flatly contradicts the skeptic’s claim that Jesus’ followers were engaging in wishful thinking (when they came to believe in his resurrection). Of course, some skeptics are still not satisfied with this. They object by saying, “Maybe Saul of Tarsus just went crazy. … Read More »

By L. Alfred James We are currently in a series of blog posts that provide an intellectual pathway for moving someone (or yourself) all the way from hardcore atheism to biblical Christianity. In the past couple of weeks we have seen three separate lines of evidence that support the theory that Jesus literally rose from the dead: the empty tomb, Jesus’ post-mortem appearances, and the disciples’ belief in his resurrection. One popular response to this evidence is to assert that all of the disciples’ possibly had some kind of hallucinations: … Read More »

By L. Alfred James We are currently in a series of blog posts that provide an intellectual pathway for moving someone (or yourself) all the way from hardcore atheism to biblical Christianity. In the past couple of weeks we have seen that the evidence for Jesus’ empty tomb is quite formidable, and the evidence for Jesus appearing to the disciples (after his death) is so persuasive that even atheistic scholars admit that there is something to it. But there is another piece of evidence that makes the case for the … Read More »