L. Alfred James

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 that the evidence for Jesus’ empty tomb is quite formidable. But some people will (reasonably) ask, “Why does the mere fact of the empty tomb prove Jesus has risen from the dead? Aren’t there other explanations for an empty tomb?” Well, the case for the resurrection of Jesus does not rest solely on the … 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. After reviewing some arguments for God’s existence we observed that Christianity is a historical religion, a grace-filled religion, and that it played a major role in birthing modern science. We also took a brief detour to look at the evidence for an Intelligent Designer of the universe, along with the common claim that we live in a multiverse. … Read More »

By L. Alfred James Last week we saw that there are aspects of our universe (and our planet) that are amazingly fine-tuned for life. For instance, the force of gravity is just right. It’s not too strong and not too weak. The same is true of the nuclear forces within atoms, the cosmological constant, the laws of thermodynamics, and a host of other things. All told, there are more than 200 things about our universe (and planet) that must be precisely fixed to be just right. The best explanation for … Read More »

By L. Alfred James Did you know gravity is a mystery? Some would even call it a miracle. Scientists have realized that the force of gravity could have been stronger, or it could have been weaker. But bad things happen if you tweak it, even a little. If gravity had been just a tad bit stronger then the galaxies would never have formed after the big bang. Why? Because (immediately following the big bang) all of the matter of the universe would have just clumped back together. Strangely enough, if … Read More »

By L. Alfred James When I was in junior high I learned about various cultures around the world. Among many other things, I learned that vast regions of Asia, Africa, and South America do not have the benefits of cutting edge medicine, chemistry, electricity, engineering, etc. My teachers never explained why Europe and North America were blessed to have these things in such abundance while other parts of the world are just now finally starting to use electricity, and some other parts of the world are actually stuck with primitive … Read More »

By L. Alfred James We are currently in a series of blog articles that provide an intellectual pathway for moving someone (or yourself) all the way from hardcore atheism to Christianity. We first saw reasons to move from belief in materialism to belief in the supernatural; then from belief in the supernatural to belief in a personal God; then from belief in a personal God to belief in Christianity. Today I want to make another argument for Christianity being true while the other major religions of the world (I simply … Read More »

By L. Alfred James “How do you know the stories in the Bible weren’t just written by some dude in a cave who was on drugs, or hallucinating, or just made them up?” I have been asked this question more times than I can count. It is a reasonable question, and it has been thoroughly addressed elsewhere. (For instance, Josh McDowell’s book He Walked Among Us or Holden and Geisler’s Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible are both excellent starting points.) It is not a subject I can adequately … Read More »

By L. Alfred James “I’ve got a spirit that appears to me almost every night. It takes on the form of my grandma. It totally pretends to be my grandma, and I used to actually believe it was my grandma,…for, like, 20 years. But now I’m pretty sure it isn’t, and I want it to go away. But I don’t know what to do.” The guy sitting in my office was very intelligent, level-headed, and admitted that his whole story probably sounded utterly bizarre. Nonetheless, he was as serious as … Read More »

By L. Alfred James Most people suspect that there is some kind of supernatural realm that transcends this physical universe. In the past couple of weeks we’ve seen several lines of evidence that confirm these suspicions. However, we have not yet addressed a huge question that is dying to be answered: What kind of supernatural realm exists? Should we believe that there is a personal God, a being who has thoughts, feelings, and free-will like us? Or is the supernatural realm primarily occupied by spiritual forces like Karma, luck, fate, … Read More »

By L. Alfred James Have you ever noticed how unsatisfying most pleasures in life are?1 To be sure, while we are anticipating some particular pleasure, while it remains in the future, our expectation makes it seem like it will be great, perhaps completely fulfilling. However, once we actually experience said pleasure the fulfillment (if there is any at all) is very short-lived. This is the undisputed pattern of life. But why? Why is this? Consider your own life and the lives of your friends: Before you married that person you … Read More »