L. Alfred James

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 »

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 »