Apologetics Lane

Monday, January 20, 2020

Did Christianity give us our human values? Tom Holland & (atheist) A.C. Grayling Discuss

Tom Holland & AC Grayling • History: Did Christianity give us our human values?

https://youtu.be/7eSyz3BaVK8

How St Paul changed the world (Full Show)

NT Wright & Tom Holland •

https://youtu.be/nlf_ULB26cU

Have science, reason and humanism replaced faith?
Steven Pinker vs Nick Spencer

https://youtu.be/Ssf5XN5o9q4

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

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Are Atheists More Intelligent?

Are Atheists Smarter Than Everyone Else?
https://youtu.be/__axCl41968

Are Atheists More Intelligent?

https://youtu.be/v8WUr58HiCM

Why Many Scientists are Atheists

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Some Atheists Are Sounding the Alarm that the Decline of Christianity is Hurting Society

Atheists sound the alarm: Decline of Christianity is seriously hurting society
https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/atheists-sound-the-alarm-decline-of-christianity-is-seriously-hurting-society

Why Islam’s rise has caused atheists to urge West not to abandon Christianity
https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/why-islams-rise-has-caused-worlds-leading-atheists-to-urge-west-not-to-aban

Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, Douglas Murray, and how to fix Western Civilization
https://thebridgehead.ca/2018/09/26/sam-harris-jordan-peterson-douglas-murray-and-how-to-fix-western-civilization/

“There are no Christians, as far as I know, blowing up buildings. I am not aware of any Christian suicide bombers. I am not aware of any major Christian denomination that believes the penalty for apostasy is death. I have mixed feelings about the decline of Christianity, in so far as Christianity might be a bulwark against something worse.”- Richard Dawkins
[alleged source "Scandal and schism leave Christians praying for a ‘new Reformation’" by Ruth Gledhill, The Times, 06 April 2010.]

Before we rejoice at the death throes of the relatively benign Christian religion, let’s not forget Hilaire Belloc’s menacing rhyme: “Always keep a-hold of nurse, For fear of finding something worse.”- Richard Dawkins tweet March 21, 2018

No, that's not true. Not true. Vast numbers of Christians do not believe that if you leave the Christian religion you should be killed for it. Vast numbers of Christians do not treat women as second class citizens. Vast numbers of Christians ---- do not believe if you draw a picture of Jesus Christ you should get killed for it. So yes, does ISIS do Khmer Rouge-like activities where they just kill people indiscriminately who aren't just like them? Yes. And would most Muslim people in the world do that or condone that? No.................But I mean in Mecca where infidels, non-Muslims, are not even allowed in the holy parts of the city. I mean, right there, we don't have that example in other religions. They do behead people. Now if they were beheading people in Vatican City, which is the equivalent of Mecca, don't you think there would be a bigger outcry about it? So this is the soft bigotry of low expectations with Muslim people. When they do crazy things and believe crazy things, somehow it's not talked about nearly as much. -
See Bill Maher's conversation with Charlie Rose:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/09/10/maher_vs_charlie_rose_to_claim_islam_is_like_other_religions_is_naive_and_plain_wrong.html
Bill Maher gets into a debate with Charlie Rose on why Islam is more violent than Christianity
https://youtu.be/kg84Bhtxg6M

Ben Affleck, Sam Harris and Bill Maher Debate Radical Islam | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
https://youtu.be/vln9D81eO60

Bill Maher says all religions are "stupid and dangerous" but that at the present time Islam is more dangerous than Christianity.
They're all 'stupid and dangerous': Bill Maher explains why he criticizes religion
https://youtu.be/fXy2a8W0NZM

Ben Shapiro: The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority
https://youtu.be/g7TAAw3oQvg

Saturday, December 28, 2019

Ancient Aliens Debunked - (full movie)

Ancient Aliens Debunked - (full movie)

https://youtu.be/j9w-i5oZqaQ

UFOs and Christianity

Thursday, December 19, 2019

May Christians Celebrate Christmas?

The objection that Christians ought not to celebrate or observe Christmas is usually based on four reasons. 1. It has pagan origins and therefore Christians ought not to observe it. 2. it is a Roman Catholic tradition that involves the Catholic Mass and therefore Protestants shouldn't be involved in it; 3. it violates the Reformed doctrine of the Regulative Principle of Worship; 4. it involves images and statues of Christ as a baby. Which is a violation of one of the Ten Commandments against images of God. Since most professing Christians are, in principle, Trinitarians, Christmas involves images and statues of Christ who is God in the flesh.

I'll answer objections 2-4 quickly, because the main purpose of this blogpost is to address objection 1. Since this issue is:

a.) being used by cultists to lure people away from Christianity, and
b.) by non-Christians (e.g. some atheists) as a case of hypocrisy on the part of Christians.

While I'm a Calvinistic and Continuationist Baptist, and therefore loosely "Reformed", I don't currently hold to the Reformed doctrine of the Regulative Principle of Worship. The reasons for that are beyond the scope of this blogpost. Regarding the claim that Christmas or Christmass is Roman Catholic, I would simply say that when Protestants observe Christmas they usually don't do so in conjunction with the Catholic Mass or other Catholic approaches to worship. So, Protestants can stripe the holiday of Catholic worship. Similar to how most Christians who use the names of the days of the week aren't worshipping Thor on Thursday, or Woden/Odin on Wednesday, or Saturn on Saturday [etc.]. When it comes to the objection that it involves images of Christ, I don't believe it is inherently sinful to have images of Jesus since He was a historical person with flesh, bone and blood. To deny that Jesus can be portrayed in art is to tacitly (usually unintentionally) deny the incarnation. That the Son of God really and truly entered space and time. I don't see a problem in celebrating Christmas so long as it's understood [or at least not denied] that no one really knows how Jesus looked like in the flesh and therefore the images of Christ are artistic suppositions/speculations. And so long as the images aren't being used as aids in worship. While I'm often uncomfortable with images and statues of Christ, I think they are permissible for the stated reason that the incarnation teaches Jesus was not only truly God, but also truly man. A true historical man can be portrayed in art. To deny that Jesus can be portrayed in art is to deny His true humanity.

With that said, here are videos that address the claim that Christmas is pagan.

Christmas is Not Pagan PARTS 1 & 2 by InspiringPhilosophy [Michael Jones]