Amazon.com Widgets

Should Homosexuals Be Able to Marry Whom They Love?

From Stand to Reason’s blog here.

Are we really depriving homosexuals the right to marry the person they love? Yes. But there’s nothing unusual about that. Nobody has the right to marry any person they love. Everyone has restrictions.

When you take an honest look at the marriage law, it turns out that there is nothing unfair about it. Homosexuals have the same rights and the same restrictions as heterosexuals. For example, there is no legal right granted to a heterosexual that does not apply in exactly the same way to every homosexual. Both can marry in any state. Both can marry someone of the opposite sex. Both can receive the benefits that come with legal marriage. Heterosexuals and homosexuals are treated alike.

There is also no legal restriction for homosexuals that does not also apply in exactly the same way to every heterosexual. Neither one can marry their sibling. Both are prohibited from marrying someone already married. They can’t marry a child. And neither has the freedom to marry someone of the same sex.

The marriage law applies equally to every person, whether they are homosexual or not. Everyone is treated the same.

Read more here at Stand to Reason’s blog.

Debate: William Lane Craig versus Victor J. Stenger

H/T to Wintery Knight.

Oregon State University (2010)

Does God Exist? Craig-Kappel Debate in Copenhagen

More info at Apologetics 315.

And here is the Q & A session:

Here is JP Moreland’s book (Amazon) mentioned in the Q & A time:

Consciousness and the Existence of God

Great interview with Prof. John Lennox

“There is no need at all to be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, of the Good News, because it fits with science and there are answers”

Justin Brierley meets Oxford maths professor and Christian apologist John Lennox

The Times newspaper recently labelled John Lennox as “Christianity’s new poster boy”. It’s a description Lennox greets with his infectious Irish chuckle, readily admitting he doesn’t exactly have the physique of a male pin-up.

How then, did the Oxford mathematician and philosopher of science earn the label? Because he fought Dawkins and won (according to many, at least). John Lennox isn’t just a good academic; he’s also an excellent communicator. Affable, fluent and with a smile in his eyes, he draws the listener in, an evangelist for both science and Christianity.

Read more here.

Dr. Craig Evans and Dr. Bart Ehrman debate Jesus

Religion Soup: Ehrman/Evans Debate, Night 1

Religion Soup: Ehrman/Evans Debate, Night 2

Thoughts: I think that Bart Ehrman’s criticisms of the historicity of the New Testament in the first video are fascinating. I applaud him for bringing the topics under discussion into the public arena in the form of these and other debates. Would the discussion have reached the public arena, and made it onto my computer screen if Dr. Ehrman had remained silent? Perhaps, but I suspect Ehrman’s works have forced Christian scholars such as Dr. Craig Evans and Dr. Dan Wallace and Dr. James White to address these issues face on, and this is of great benefit to those such as myself.

Other resources: Dr. Craig Blomberg has some really useful materials relating to these debates here:

thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2008/03/26/interview-with-craig-blomberg/

William Dembski Interview

Get it here: www.thebestschools.org/blog/2012/01/14/william-dembski-interview/

I love Dembski. He is an intellectual genius, and honest to the heart. With the persecution he has faced both inside and outside the church, he is also like a modern Galileo.

Christopher Hitchens, April 13, 1949 – December 15, 2011

New Atheist Christopher Hitchens has passed on.

Hitchens, who wrote for publications such as The Atlantic Monthly, Slate and Vanity Fair, rose to prominence for his divisive opinions, his unabashed atheism, his scorching critiques of popular figures like Mother Teresa Henry Kissinger, and, above all, his razor wit. (Reuters)

I personally admire Hitchens for having the guts to stand up for what he believed, even if I would disagree with him as his brother Peter Hitchens did (blog, Amazon book “The rage against God”).

Our condolences go out to his family.

From those I follow on Twitter…

  • C Michael Patton: Christopher Hitchens died today. #verysad vnty.fr/vFD9TU Prayers are with his family and brother.
  • Lee Strobel: Feeling grief at Christopher Hitchens’ death. I was among many who shared Christ with him; so sad he rejected Gospel.
  • Douglas Wilson: How to think about the death of the outspoken atheist.
  • Albert Mohler: The point about Christopher Hitchens is not that he died of unbelief, but that his unbelief is all that matters now. Unspeakably sad.
  • Rick Warren: My friend Christopher Hitchens has died. I loved & prayed for him constantly & grieve his loss. He knows the Truth now.
  • Joe Fleener: Christopher Hitchens has died. Let’s pray for his family & those who he’s influenced that they may repent & trust Christ.
  • Larry Taunton: I am truly saddened to hear that my friend and debating opponent Christopher Hitchens has passed away. Our thoughts are with his family.
  • Hugh Hewitt: I am at a loss of what to say about Christopher Hitchens except that he was towards me and my audience unfailingly gracious –and dazzling.

A small book by Hitchens and friend Doug Wilson is available here:

William Lane Craig UK tour (coming soon…)

When Christians Misbehave – William J. Murray

This is a pretty interesting scuffle. William J. Murray is the son of the late atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair, of whom he declared “an evil person”.

What makes this discussion so interesting is the utter blindness of the atheist to the fact that he is pushing his worldview upon others. He seems to think that he holds the neutral ground and that Christians (and others) are trying to push their views upon others. Murray does not fall for this nonsense, rightly pointing out that the secular position is NOT neutral, but is in itself a biased position that forces its views upon the rest of us.

[Well, consider the secular media. They push their views about sex, marriage, relationships, politics, and almost everything else, upon all tax-payers.]

Murray also gets it right regarding atheism, situational ethics, and the Nazis.

Gutless pathetic atheists: A.C. Grayling, Polly Toynbee, Richard Dawkins

H/T to www.beretta-online.com/wordpress/

Richard Dawkins, the pathetic coward

Even fellow Oxford professor Dr. Daniel Came has called Dawkins a coward for refusing to debate — see the video and links below…

Richard Dawkins is chicken -- too scared to debate Dr. William Lane Craig

A few links:

P.S. I wonder what the “C” in A. C. Grayling stands for? Coward perhaps?

William Lane Craig’s Reaction to Richard Dawkins’ Refusal to Debate Him

The Reasonable Faith Tour with William Lane Craig

Source: premier.org.uk/craig and H/T to Apologetics315.

In October 2011, William Lane Craig, arguably the world’s leading Christian academic apologist, will once again visit the UK for a series of lectures and debates.

Following his highly successful Reasonable Faith Tour in 2007, Bill will again present the case for the truth of the Christian faith, responding both to Stephen Hawking’s recent book The Grand Design as well as to Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, which will then have just seen its 5 year publication anniversary.

Richard Dawkins has thus far declined a debate, but the door is open to him defending his book The God Delusion on 25th October 2011 at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford.

Provisional Schedule

The details of the tour are still being arranged, and the schedule below will be updated as events are finalised.

17th October 2011 at 7.30pmWestminster Chapel, London

Premier Christian Radio Debate on the existence of God with a well-known atheist (TBA)

19th October 2011 at 7.30pm Cambridge

Public lecture on Stephen Hawking’s The Grand Design

22nd October 2011 from 9.30am – 5.30pm Westminster Chapel, London

Bethinking National Apologetics Day Conference

Opening and closing lectures from William Lane Craig. Further lectures from Gary Habermas, John Lennox and Peter J. Williams

25th October 2011 at 7.30pm Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford

Lecture “Is God a Delusion?” A Critique of Dawkin’s The God Delusion

26th October 2011 at 7.30pm Manchester

Debate “Does God Exist?” with Dr Peter Atkins

“Why isn’t there more of this kind of thing being preached from church pulpits? If there were, I’d go more often and I’d stay awake during the sermon!”

– Comment from a self-confessed irregular churchgoer during the 2007 Reasonable Faith Tour.

Richard Dawkins called a “coward”

… by Oxford “philosophy lecturer and fellow atheist” Daniel Came for refusing to debate William Lane Craig, who has debated many “new atheists”.

Well, people have been calling Dawkins a coward for ages for this exact reason.

Imagine if a Christian wrote a book critiquing the new atheism and then said during an interview: “Richard Dawkins — never heard of him…”, yet this is what the coward said of Craig.

Source here.

John Lennox to debate Peter Singer

Details here.