Category Archives: Apologetics

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Start the New Year with a Resolution: A Daily Devotional

Now is the time to start a yearly devotional.  It is imperative to our walk with Christ to be in a devotional daily. The secret to the best devotionals? Reading the Bible (And if you do this every year, one way to motivate you to keep going is to read through the Bible in a different translation than one that you usually read e.g. New Living Translation, New American Standard, God’s Word, to name a few):

1. The Discipleship Journal has several options (I am doing this one this year) AND I am using a different Bible translation: Holman Christian Standard Bible AND I am reading the Bible using The Apologetics Study Bible which is excellent for those with a lot of questions.

2. A One Year Bible is a great way to go

A few GREAT options for those who want to do a daily devotion but not read through the Bible:

1. The One Year Book of Church History (I just finished this one, and it was AMAZING! I HIGHLY recommend it.)

2. Promises by Bill Bright (I did this one years ago. It is excellent, but I think it is out of print.)

3. Our Daily Bread: You can download it to your PDA, read it online, or order a paper copy. (I have done this one for years, and it is simple, concise and FREE! They will send you a free copy FOREVER–even tracked me down when I moved across the country!)

4. The One Year Book of Bible Prayer is another great option.

5. walkthru.org has a eDevotion that is sent to you via email, and they have some GREAT paper devotionals

(Their Daily Walk will walk you through the Bible in a year, and their Closer Walk will walk you through the New Testament in a year–both are excellent.)

Finally there are some GREAT audio options:

1.  The Bible Experience (you can buy on itunes via audiobooks or at their website)  I have bought the book of John and the Psalms and listened through it.  They are VERY good. 

2. The Bible Podcast is a FREE audio version of the Bible that is also excellent.

It doesn’t matter what you do as much as doing SOME form of daily devotion.  Ideally you are reading the Bible daily.

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Brennan Manning #2: Relentless Tenderness of God

This is part 2 of 4 in the Brennan Manning speaking series from Mariners Church in 1996.  If you haven’t heard him speak or read any of his books please start NOW.  It is AMAZING!  I have been sharing these lectures with men from my men’s group for years, and they ALL have been AMAZED and changed by his beautiful insights, humor, and stories.  If you haven’t heard him speak or read any of his books please start NOW.

Some of my favorites:

Ruthless Trust

Signature of Jesus

Rabbi’s Heartbeat

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Brennan Manning #1: The Overwhelming Love of God

Brennan Manning spoke at Mariners Church in 1996.  I have added this 4 part series to uberlumen for your listening pleasure.  It is AMAZING!  I have been sharing these lectures with men from my men’s group for years, and they ALL have been AMAZED and changed by his beautiful insights, humor, and stories.  If you haven’t heard him speak or read any of his books please start NOW.

Some of my favorites:

Ruthless Trust

Signature of Jesus

Rabbi’s Heartbeat

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What is the Trinity?

There has been much controversy over the concept of the Trinity. It has been tried to be explained in many ways using many analogies that ALL fall short. It has been said that philosophically God is ‘one what’ and ‘three whos’.

It is clear that throughout Scripture God is 3 and 1 at the same time held in a paradoxical tension never to be fully understood this side of heaven.

Much of the recent controversy has been from the depiction of the Trinity by Paul Young in his book The Shack despite the fact that Paul Young has made it very clear that it is a work of fiction and an allegory. In The Shack, Paul Young describes the Trinity as: “I am one God and I am three persons, and each of the three is fully and entirely the one.” God or ‘Papa’ in the story goes on to say: “Love and relationship. All love and relationship is possible for you only because it already exists within Me, within God myself. Love is not the limitation; love is the flying. I am love.”

Here is a pictorial representation of the Trinity:

I don’t think we will every fully grasp nor understand the Trinity this side of heaven. I love what A.W. Tozer has said: “The doctrine of the Trinity…is truth for the heart. The fact that it cannot be satisfactorily explained, instead of being against it, is in its favor. Such a truth had to be revealed; no one could imagine it.” This quote from a GREAT book explaining basic tenets of Christianity: Without a Doubt by Samples

I have added this brief video clip of my 2 cents from a scientific and theoretical perspective to help us get our mind around the concept. (see also Beyond the Cosmos by Hugh Ross) As always please leave your comments!

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Paul Young speaks and preaches AGAIN

This is the 1 of 4 teachings from July 2008 at Mariners Church when the author of the amazing book: The Shack spoke.  (There are 4 separate podcasts that you can listen from Mariners Church podcast; these 2 are the best of the 4.)

As always please share with us your thoughts by leaving a comment.

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Love your Enemies

I recently had a conversation with a friend at work who mentioned that a skeptic friend of his pointed out that the God of the Old Testament seems to be a different God from the New Testament using the classic example: O.T.=eye for an eye; N.T.=turn the other cheek.

Here is a classic Mike Erre sermon from the sermon on the mount in which he explains this supposed contradiction.

Take home: eye for an eye laws were VERY progressive at the time and were created by God to promote societal justice whereas turn the other cheek teaching of Jesus was what we as individuals should continue to strive to do.

Here is another great summary of eye for an eye laws vs. turning the other cheek

As always, please share with us your thoughts!

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God Questions Part 4

This is 4 of 4 in the God Questions series. Save the best for last? This is the age old question: Is Christianity the only way? Don’t all roads lead to God?

I LOVE what Paul Young points out in his amazing book:The ShacKAs the main character, Mack, is talking to Jesus, Mack asks, “Does that mean that all roads will lead to you?”  And Jesus replies, “Not at all, most roads don’t lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.”-pg 182

YES!!!!

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Dawkins Favorite Argument

Dawkins favorite argument is simply that God cannot serve as an “adequate explanation for the universe or for life or for human beings because God himself would also require an explanation.  The chain of explanations, then, cannot end in God.”-pg 42, Dawkins’s Best Argument by Gregory Ganssle, Philosophia Christi, volume 10, no. 1, 2008

What do you think of this age old argument: If God created the universe then who created God?

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Dawkins’ Best Argument

For the geeks out there, I highly recommend the journal Philosphia Christi.  It has some very interesting articles.  In Volume 10, Number 1, 2008, I recommend: Dawkins’s Best Argument by Gregory E. Ganssle. 

Dawkins best argument according to Professor Ganssle is simply:

  1. A universe made by God would be different than one made by natural occurrences.
  2. Our universe fits better with a naturalistic universe than with a theistic universe.
  3. Therefore, our universe is more likely to be a naturalistic universe than it is to be a theistic universe.

So ultimately it comes down to which worldview is best fits the facts (and as I have said in the past, which worldview is most logical and livable)….don’t make it a shouting match but a discussion comparing worldviews to choose the one that is most logical, livable, and best fits with the facts.

Theistic worldview best fits with these 4 facts that we know to be true in our universe:

  1. The universe is ordered and susceptible to rational investigation.
  2. The universe has beings that possess consciousness.
  3. The universe has beings that possess free agency.
  4. The universe has within it objective moral obligations.

What do you think? Do we have free will? Are there objective moral obligations?  Do we possess consciousness?