"...contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."- Jude 1:3

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Apologetics On Audio Format


The following are links to various apologetical resources in audio format. They come from a wide range of apologetical methods/approaches from Classical apologetics, to Van Tillian Presuppostional, to Clarkian Presuppositional, to Evidentialist etc.


http://www.credocourses.com/blog/2015/the-ultimate-list-of-christian-apologetics-podcasts/

https://theologicalresources.wordpress.com/category/apologetics-audio/

http://www.apologetics315.com/2008/03/ultimate-apologetics-mp3-audio-page.html





Wednesday, September 14, 2016

The Dark Ages Were Not As Dark As You Have Been Led To Believe



How Dark Were the Dark Ages?



The Dark Age Myth: An Atheist Reviews “God’s Philosophers”
http://www.strangenotions.com/gods-philosophers/


The Myth of the Dark Ages (with many other links)
https://ischristianitytrue.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/the-myth-of-the-dark-ages/


The ‘Dark Ages’ were a lot brighter than we give them credit for by Richard Swan
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/our-voices/battle-of-ideas/the-dark-ages-were-a-lot-brighter-than-we-give-them-credit-for-8215395.html


5 Ridiculous Myths You Probably Believe About the Dark Ages
http://www.cracked.com/article_20615_5-ridiculous-myths-you-probably-believe-about-dark-ages.html


Top 10 Reasons The Dark Ages Were Not Dark
http://listverse.com/2008/06/09/top-10-reasons-the-dark-ages-were-not-dark/


15 Myths about the Middle Ages
http://www.medievalists.net/2014/06/27/15-myths-middle-ages/


History of the Crusades
http://www.apologetics315.com/2011/02/history-of-crusades-with-matt-philipps.html


The Myth that the Church Hindered the Development of Science
https://ischristianitytrue.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/science-series-the-myth-that-the-church-hindered-the-development-of-science/


Misconceptions about the Middle Ages, Debunked through Art History
http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/misconceptions-about-the-middle-ages-debunked-through-art-history/


The Myth of the "Dark Ages":  Tricks the Dead Have Played Upon the Living
https://jtcontracelsum.blogspot.com/2011/04/myth-of-dark-ages.html


How the Middle Ages Really Were
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/quora/how-the-middle-ages-reall_b_5767240.html


Top 10 Inventions of the Middle Ages
http://listverse.com/2007/09/22/top-10-inventions-of-the-middle-ages/


The Flat Earth Myth
https://ischristianitytrue.wordpress.com/2015/04/07/science-series-the-flat-earth-myth/


God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science by James Hannam
http://armariummagnus.blogspot.ca/2009/10/gods-philosophers-how-medieval-world.html


William Lane Craig Recounts the Good that the Christian Church Has Performed and Encouraged Down Through the Ages
(https://youtu.be/jhGgGnfF5zQ?t=1m49s)



Three Big Ways Christianity Supported the Rise of Modern Science
by Historian Michael Keas






Richard Carrier, Bayes Theorem and the Historicity of Jesus


The odds form of Bayes's Theorem [Updated] by Lydia McGrew
http://lydiaswebpage.blogspot.com/2011/01/odds-form-of-bayess-theorem.html

π -ness Envy? The Irrelevance of Bayes’s Theorem
https://rjosephhoffmann.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/%CF%80-ness-envy-the-irrelevance-of-bayess-theorem/

Prior probabilities
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2012/04/prior-probabilities.html

The Jesus Process: Stephanie Louise Fisher
https://rjosephhoffmann.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/the-jesus-process-stephanie-louise-fisher/

Disproving Carrier's Proving History
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2015/08/disproving-carriers-proving-history.html

 Reading Dr. Carrier’s ”Proving History”A Review From a Bayesian Perspective by Tim Hendrix
https://www.scribd.com/document/271358647/Richard-Carrier-Proving-History-Review

 Richard Carrier’s ”On the historicity of Jesus”A Review From a Bayesian Perspective by Tim Hendrix
https://www.scribd.com/doc/305750452/Richard-Carrier-s-On-the-Historicity-of-Jesus

A Book Review of Richard Carrier's On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt by Christina Petterson
https://relegere.org/relegere/article/view/702/791



Sunday, September 11, 2016

Happy Birthday Jesus?




For those who don't know, some scholars have argued that Jesus was born Sept. 11, 3 BCE. For myself, I'm not fully convinced the theory is true. But ever since I found out about it a while back, I've found the theory VERY VERY VERY intriguing. The following is a link to Dr. Michael Heiser's article on the topic.




Michael Heiser's article also links to a video where he describes the theory using visual graphics. I've embedded the video below.

https://youtu.be/KQt9pBSYY5Y

or at the following links

https://youtu.be/O44nNzRa81Q

https://youtu.be/ddZ90HcNahg


What Day Was Jesus Born ? - Dr. Michael Heiser
https://youtu.be/Dz1ZFkz1QtA



Here's a Naked Bible podcast with Michael Heiser on the topic
http://www.nakedbiblepodcast.com/naked-bible-138-what-day-was-jesus-born/

Dr. Heiser makes reference to Ernest L. Martin's book:
The Star of Bethlehem:The Star that Astonished the World

The book is freely available online here:
http://www.askelm.com/star/index.asp

See especially CHAPTER FIVE where the theory is discussed:
http://www.askelm.com/star/star006.htm


Michael Heiser lists some recent scholarly reasons why Herod may have died 1 BCE in an article here:  http://drmsh.com/september-11-happy-birthday-to-jesus/

Heiser's two main sources in defense of a 1 BCE death of Herod are:
1. Herodian Chronology by Ormond Edwards,
from the Palestine Exploration Quarterly, volume 114, 1982 - Issue 1

2. When Did Herod the Great Reign? by Andrew E. Steinmann,
from Novum Testamentum 51 (2009) 1-29



There are also defenses for the traditional date. For example:

How December 25 Became Christmas  by Andrew McGowan



Yes, Christ Was Really Born on December 25: Here’s a Defense of the Traditional Date for Christmas by Taylor Marshall [Marshall's Catholic bias shows. Nevertheless, his arguments have some force].