Category Archives: Philosophy

Learn to Play Like the Pros

*Posted by Joe Wooddell Orel Hershiser has had an amazing baseball career. Born in 1958, pitching in both minors and majors, selected to the all-star game, a gold glove winner, Cy Young winner, Championship Series MVP winner, and World Series MVP winner, playing past his forty-second birthday, then coaching, administering, announcing, and doing ESPN analysis, his career is one of baseballs most notable. Hershiser was on the radio Monday morning … Continue reading

Another Step in the Relationship between Free Will and Evangelism

*Posted by Barry Creamer Imentioned in my previous post that there are both philosophical and theological objections to believing in a radical free will. I disagree with those objections. That discussion can be found here. Here is a more concise discussion of what that post is intended to preface. If God intends the sacrifice of Christ to be available for the redemption of everyone everywhere always, and if God works … Continue reading

A Step Toward the Relationship between Free Will and Evangelism

*Posted by Barry Creamer I believe in free will; not determinism-disguising compatiblistic free will, but real, creative, libertarian, potentially self-denying (and, I must also admit, most often unused) free will. Some people dont believe in such a free will because they cant figure out what it would be. In short, they are determinists because they cannot see how libertarian freedom could be less than something coming from nothing, which seems … Continue reading

Dad’s a Dude

*Posted by Kirk Spencer My oldest son is an accomplished businessman and computer security consultant. And I am exceedingly proud of him. Im not sure exactly when he became a man, but I do remember a particular day when wanting to call me dad, he inadvertently called me dude. At his mistake, our eyes met and smiles crossed our faces. I half expected he would correct himselfbut he didnt. And … Continue reading

Nothing but Gaps

*Posted by Barry Creamer There is an oddity in theistic argumentation known as the God of the Gaps. Its not odd because of what it claims, but because of its origin and a significant twist regarding its implications. What it claims: God of the Gaps is a term describing what is taken to be a common theistic fallacy. That is, theists commonly argue for the existence of God based on … Continue reading

LAMO: The Forever Always Never Just “Now”

*Posted by Kirk Spencer The via antiqua (ancient way) looked back to Eden and the via moderna (modern way) looks forward to Utopia. To the Ancients, old was goodtested, tried and approved. To the Moderns, old is badout of date, worn out and old-fashioned. In the ancient mind universal absolutes existed in this reality or another, or in God, or the gods. However, in the modern nominal mind, universal absolutes … Continue reading

Wallace and Ehrman Debate: On Probability

*Posted by Barry Creamer CSNTM (the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts) recently hosted a debate between Bart Ehrman and Daniel Wallace on whether the text of the New Testament is trustworthy. Both are world class scholars in textual criticism. Both studied as believers at Wheaton and have served and been ordained in the ministry [Creamer edit: Oops. Actually, Wallace attended Biola.] . While Wallace has maintained his … Continue reading

I Apologize

*Posted by Joe Wooddell I would like to apologize . . . in the Socratic sense of the word. Platos Apology is the story of Socrates defense before an Athenian law court. Of course, he loses and is condemned to death by drinking the hemlock. My point in mentioning it, however, is merely to mention that apologia means defense, and its where we get the designator Christian apologetics, or defending … Continue reading

Nietzsche and Christianity

*Posted by Barry Creamer Nietzsche is a bad man. Of course, he is dead now. But his writings, his aphorisms and rhetoric, stand opposed to the measure of good: Christ and Christianity. Christians used to agree on such a simple proposition. But some of the past few decades avant-garde Christian theologians and philosophers have declared confidently that such a judgment actually stems from a misunderstanding of Nietzschethat in reality, those … Continue reading

Brownies for Dinner: Silly or Catastrophic?

*Posted by Joe Wooddell In 1978 Edward Saids book Orientalism shocked the world of Middle Eastern Studies. In this book he basically claimed that the West or the Occident held a view of the East or the Orient that was racist, bigoted, paternalist, imperialist, oppressive, and any number of other horrible views. In this book he was operating from perspectives some have called post-structural, post-modern, or post-colonial, and in all … Continue reading