mid-week apologetics booster (4/9/2015)

Good Morning All,

Hope you had a great Easter celebrating the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, which is the lynchpin of our faith (1 Cor. 15:16-17)!

Here are some links for you to read, watch and listen to:

1. Why Should I Believe in the Resurrection? (J. Warner Wallace) http://www.str.org/articles/why-should-i-believe-in-the-resurrection#.VSE0lpMsMVS
2. EVIDENCE FOR THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS – this is a page full of links to other pages containing evidences for the resurrection: https://chab123.wordpress.com/evidence-for-the-resurrection-of-jesus/
3. If Jesus Is God, Then Why Did He Say “My God My God Why Have You Forsaken Me”? https://carm.org/jesus-my-god-forsake
4. A.C.T’s of the Resurrection of Jesus (~41 minute video by Eric Chabot, Director of Ratio Christi at The Ohio State University) – FACT is an acronym (Fact, Appearances, Conviction of the Disciples, Transformation): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrskAYYl2iY
5. Evidence for the Resurrection (~56 minute video lecture by Dr. Craig Hazen, Professor at Biola University – we watched this one in our apologetics class Sunday at church): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocbtjLgUnQY
6. Jesus’ Resurrection: Basis of Our Hope – In 2014 Dr. William Lane Craig was approached by Flynn Larsen to speak on the resurrection of Jesus at his funeral. Flynn had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He wanted Dr. Craig to speak on how Flynn’s faith allowed him to face his impending death. Flynn was a part of Dr Craig’s Defenders Class as well as a board member of Reasonable Faith (20 min. 30 second video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HP_IqyI1MQ
7. Marathon runner (Joe Marquez) collapses; legally dead for 19 minutes (but, praise God, he’s alive!) – http://www.fox10phoenix.com/Clip/11332949/marathon-runner-collapses-legally-dead-for-19-minutes
8. Suffering in Apologetic Mission (Douglas Groothuis): http://www.equip.org/article/suffering-apologetic-mission/#christian-books-1
9. If after a person exerts their sincere best efforts to believe the Bible, but cannot accept it, do they still deserve to burn in hell? http://www.provethebible.net/T2-Objec/G5-002.htm Here is an excerpt which was really good:

   “EMAIL FROM THE CEO” ILLUSTRATION: if at work we receive an email from a secretary claiming to speak for the CEO, and it displays the words “Come gather in my office before I arrive”, what do we do? Some people would just go to the office, but not me. In my life I said “How do I know this is real?” I hadn’t seen any CEO, and as far as I knew the secretary hadn’t either. I asked around, checked the email’s properties, and talked to some I.T. people. I might have even opened up my CPU once or twice, but I finally relented and headed for the CEO’s office. For all that inquiry, I’m not going to make the CEO any less or more glad to see me when he arrives than those who had just gone to his office. By contrast, others doubt as I did, but they are still cross-examining friends of cousins to figure out if we even have a secretary. Collecting as many alternate explanations as possible to explain away that email, they are putting sincere, hard work into dissecting their motherboards and conferencing about what each chip does. Some have finally headed off to different rooms believing those to be the CEO’s real office. Others are still doubting the email’s authenticity, citing it likely to be spam or garbled in transmission, or doubting a CEO exists at all, or that they themselves even work here. All of those people will be caught off guard amongst piles of well-worn manuals, diplomas, and 3D diagrams when the CEO suddenly arrives and tells them, “You’re not in my office – you’re fired.” But wait, look at these complex circuit diagrams they worked out! Look at how much more they’ve learned about interoffice wiring than many others. And don’t forget the spelling mistakes the secretary’s sister may have made in the third grade. Certainly the CEO will understand when they show him all the different ways the letters in his email can be rearranged to spell other things. I mean, they worked really HARD! What could they have possibly done that they didn’t do?? One thing – what he told them to do. Well, you say maybe a boss wouldn’t be fair, but God’s supposed to be fair. He is, and maybe that’s why salvation is not achievement based. It’s not how much you know, but who you love. I’m a geek and I use the illustrations I do, but life is also a love story. “I never knew you” are about the last words unbelievers will hear from God. God wants us that close that much.  Go ahead, check your boards, RAM, and drives, but do it as quickly as you can and come join the believers by the CEO’s office. For he’s not coming to quiz us on our knowledge, but coming to liquidate the business (indeed the industry!) and split its assets with all his attendees, and you have been forwarded an invitation just like the rest of us.

10. What should you say when a co-worker asks you if you believe in evolution? https://winteryknight.wordpress.com/2015/04/03/what-should-you-say-when-a-co-worker-asks-you-if-you-believe-in-evolution/
11. Understanding the Trinity rightly and not using bad analogies (Wretched – Todd Friel) – 7 min 45 second video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dADpSJan3Qc
12. What Jesus Said about Homosexuality (Melinda Penner – Stand to Reason): http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2015/04/what-jesus-said-about-homosexuality.html
13. Gary Habermas Answers Important Questions – this is a great page full of many questions (adapted from questions asked by real people).  The questions are categorized into the following categories:
    1. General Apologetics (http://www.garyhabermas.com/qa/qa_index.htm#gen)
    2. Religious Doubt (http://www.garyhabermas.com/qa/qa_index.htm#rel1)
    3. The Problem of Pain and Suffering (http://www.garyhabermas.com/qa/qa_index.htm#pro)
    4. Theology (http://www.garyhabermas.com/qa/qa_index.htm#the)
    5. The Deity of Jesus Christ (http://www.garyhabermas.com/qa/qa_index.htm#dei)
    6. The Reliability and Inspiration of the Bible (http://www.garyhabermas.com/qa/qa_index.htm#rel)
    7. The Canonization of the Bible (http://www.garyhabermas.com/qa/qa_index.htm#can)
    8. The Historical Jesus (http://www.garyhabermas.com/qa/qa_index.htm#hist)
    9. Miracles (http://www.garyhabermas.com/qa/qa_index.htm#mir)
    10. Death and Resurrection of Christ
    11. -Death of Jesus (http://www.garyhabermas.com/qa/qa_index.htm#dea)
    12. -Naturalistic Theories (http://www.garyhabermas.com/qa/qa_index.htm#nat)
    13. -Evidence for the Resurrection (http://www.garyhabermas.com/qa/qa_index.htm#evi)
    14. -The Shroud of Turin (http://www.garyhabermas.com/qa/qa_index.htm#shr)
    15. Near-Death Experiences and Life After Death (http://www.garyhabermas.com/qa/qa_index.htm#nea)
14. Everyday Apologist-Eric Chabot on Evangelism and Apologetics (~3 min 53 seconds video interview): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HDUEJOJU64
15. Spiritually Investing in the Lives of Your Kids (Greg Koukl – Stand to Reason) – this is some good advice: http://www.str.org/articles/spiritually-investing-in-the-lives-of-your-kids-mentoring-letter-april-2015#.VSZ9hZMsMVR
16. Evidence for a Young World (D. Russell Humphreys, Ph.D.):http://www.icr.org/article/evidence-for-young-world/
17. RFRA Is Not Jim Crow (Melinda Penner – Stand to Reason): http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2015/04/rfra-is-not-jim-crow.html
18. An Illustration to Help Reconcile God’s Sovereignty with Evil (Amy Hall – Stand to Reason): http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2015/04/an-illustration-to-help-reconcile-gods-sovereignty-with-evil.html
19. Sorry to Disappoint the Social-Justice Warriors, but the Faithful Won’t Yield on Religious Liberty: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/416284/sorry-disappoint-social-justice-warriors-faithful-wont-yield-religious-liberty-david
20. Refusing to Serve Individuals vs. Refusing to Participate in Events (Amy Hall – Stand to Reason): http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2015/04/refusing-to-serve-individuals-vs-refusing-to-participate-in-events.html
21. How RFRA Works – info graphic (Amy Hall – Stand to Reason): http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2015/04/how-rfra-works.html
22. Angie’s List pays price for ‘religious freedom’ law opposition – Two conservative Christian groups want their members to drop Angie’s List after the company’s CEO threatened to halt a $40 million headquarters expansion in Indianapolis over Indiana’s “freedom of religion” law: http://upstart.bizjournals.com/news/wire/2015/04/01/angies-list-religious-freedom-frc-afa.html
23. Is Earth Unique (42 second video from ICR)? https://vimeo.com/108977441
24. Another Horizontal Gene Transfer Fairy Tale (ICR – Jeffrey P. Tomkins, Ph.D.): http://www.icr.org/article/8673/

Bless you all and have a great week!