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Trump, Biden, and the Christian Vote
I had intended to stay out of the foray of political postings. However, I have been compelled to write on the issue because I have seen some very poor reasoning among my Christian friends, and I have been asked by a few people to share my thoughts. So, even though it is an area where bitter disagreement is prone to exist, I have become convinced that it is very necessary to think through these issues as an exercise in Christian discernment. Two Reasons Not to Vote for Trump Trump is not a Christian. Some people might disagree on that, but if vulgar and pompous speech is an indication of character, it seems unlikely to me that Trump has submitted to the Lord. As such, it should come as no surprise that Trump does not act like a Christian. Further, he does not prize certain character traits which Christians prize. Does…
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Creation and the Distant Starlight Problem
A common objection to the young earth creation position is the distant starlight problem. This starlight problem is usually framed with the following information. First, starlight travels approximately 186,000 miles per second. Therefore, the distance starlight can travel in a year is approximately 6 trillion miles, and is referred to in astronomical measurements as a light year. Thanks to the Hubble Telescope, we are able to see many stars which are invisible to the naked eye. One such star, named Icarus, is 9 billion light years from earth. In simple terms, the above information means the light from Icarus took 9 billion years (traveling at 186k miles per second) to reach earth. That is a long distance and a long time! However, at the same time, this seems to be incongruent with a young earth creation position, which posits a young age for the earth (usually defined as 6-10k years…
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Different Apologetics: Which One is Best?
Christian Apologetics is not the discipline of apologizing to others. Rather, apologetics is the discipline of defending the faith against objections. Whenever someone brings up a claim of inconsistency or inaccuracy with the Christian faith (e.g., Existence of God), you are automatically engaged in apologetics. There are various methods that we use to answer objections to Christianity. The main approaches can be grouped into five major methodologies of apologetics: Classical Method Evidential Method Cumulative Case Method Reformed Epistemology Method Presuppositional Method The Classical Method of apologetics uses natural theology to prove theism, and subsequently, historical evidences are brought forward to prove the credibility of the Christian faith. The assumption behind this methodology is that Christianity is an inherently rational belief, and so it should be persuasive to those who think logically and rationally. The Evidential Method can be difficult to separate from the Classical. Within apologetics, the main difference in…