tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56335729924718711632024-03-05T02:01:50.558-07:00The God Question(s)Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-22799440187903444852020-09-22T06:30:00.009-07:002020-11-10T19:34:39.383-07:00Why would Jesus be the only way to God? Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash
This is a common question that comes up when talking Christianity and how to "get to" heaven. There are many different faiths and many different ideas on what to expect after we shuffle off this mortal coil. Many people believe that all roads lead to "heaven" (whatever that means for each individual). So, why should Christians believe that Jesus is Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-51548550161969634002020-06-09T07:00:00.001-07:002020-06-09T07:00:03.304-07:00How Could a Loving God Condemn Good People to Hell?Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on UnsplashIt is a common question that arises from people who have lost their faith, are losing their faith or never had faith to begin with. If Hell is such a terrible place, as Christians have always said, why would a loving God allow good people to be there? It just doesn't make sense, does it? How can this be?A lot of the problem is in the Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-45351049681552437992016-05-31T06:30:00.000-07:002016-05-31T06:30:33.935-07:00Does God's Foreknowledge Destroy Free Will?Recently, I was listening to The Bible Answer Man and a caller had asked a question about whether or not we could have free will in light of God's foreknowledge of what we would do. The caller spent a few minutes on the air with Hank going back and forth about whether this was an issue and whether God's knowing a future event without the ability to be wrong about it means that the event is Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-61570993803031072602015-08-04T07:30:00.000-07:002015-08-04T07:30:00.703-07:00Does God condone slavery?
A common indictment against God (or the Bible) is that He condones slavery. There have been a number of responses to this sort of accusation. Most of the responses that I have heard or read about are typically quite similar. For most who level this challenge against God, the rebuttal is found lacking.
Most commonly, the rebuttal is that the slavery indicated in the Bible is not the sort of Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-57127383615106814642015-03-11T07:30:00.000-07:002015-03-11T08:13:55.856-07:00Has the Bible Been Translated Accurately?
When it comes to the Word of God, one of the most common
questions that comes up is about whether or not the Bible we have today
is an accurate representation of what was originally written 2,000 years
ago. This challenge tends to be less about whether or not the Bible is
the inspired Word of God (we'll get to that in another post) but whether
or not it was handed down through the Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-20285662118912922142015-03-03T06:30:00.000-07:002015-03-03T06:30:01.611-07:00Do atheists lack a belief in God?A common rebuttal from atheists regarding their responsibility to defend their own view is to say that they simply do not have a belief. This, according to their view, absolves them from any obligation to shoulder a burden of proof. They claim that not believing God exists is substantially different from saying God does not exist.
One such atheist once explained this by using the illustration ofDaniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-15248176497105468132015-02-24T07:30:00.000-07:002015-02-24T23:14:06.299-07:00Do Christians decide if God is real?A while back, I wrote about whether it is appropriate for Christians put reason above God's Word when it
comes to belief in Christ. You might think I'm repeating myself, here. I assure you, this is a different thing. The other post had to do with prioritizing reason above God's revelation. This one has to do with our role in belief.
In other words, while the previous post discussed whether or Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-79839890559503252082015-02-24T06:30:00.000-07:002015-02-24T06:30:02.591-07:00Can God be both Just and Merciful?
Is God a God of justice? Or is He a God of mercy? Are those two things mutually exclusive? It seems that whichever direction we go with this, God is accused of doing wrong.
Many have claimed that the God of the Old Testament was mean, capricious, vindictive, petty, unjust and much, much more. This usually stems from passages having to do with the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-13260745987990880092014-07-10T06:30:00.000-07:002014-07-10T06:30:00.614-07:00Do beliefs have moral qualities?With all the political hot topics being bandied about regarding things like abortion, religious freedom, same-sex marriage and health care, as well as recent SCOTUS decisions, I thought this would be a good time to write a new post. Although I have not prepared a lot of material to keep things going, this seemed like something which needed to be addressed.I have heard a lot of talk on both sides Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-82092969571770686572014-01-28T07:30:00.001-07:002014-01-28T07:30:01.821-07:00What does this have to do with God?Well...nothing, really. Except to say that the articles that I had written months ago have finally caught up to me and I have not had enough opportunity to keep ahead of the calendar.
Not to worry. The research and ideas and study are continuing and there will be more content coming in the near future. I have several things on my plate that I will be researching, reading, cross-referencing, etc.Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-70927302746275402242014-01-21T07:30:00.000-07:002014-01-21T07:30:02.712-07:00Is Christian Exclusivity Arrogant?One of the many common accusations against Christians is that we are arrogant in believing that we, exclusively, have come to know the objective truth about something such as our eternal destiny. With all the other religions, anti-religions and everything else out there, how arrogant it is for us to claim that our way is the right way and everyone who doesn't believe what we do is just wrong!
InDaniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-85050763287289335502014-01-14T07:30:00.000-07:002014-01-14T07:30:00.128-07:00What if Someone Believes in God for Bad Reasons?
Do you believe in God? Why do you believe in God? Do you know anybody that would answer that question using a less than ideal answer? Perhaps something like, "My parents were Christians." Or maybe, "Everyone I know is Christian."
If you or somebody you know is a Christian for one of those kinds of reasons, you (or they) don't have a very good reason to be a Christian. There are lots of people Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-37038033054482567732014-01-07T07:30:00.001-07:002014-09-16T16:42:34.705-07:00Can we prove that God exists?
A common question posed to Christians, indeed to theists of any stripe, today is whether or not one can "prove" that God exists. While this is a legitimate question to ask, some precautions and clarifications are necessary in responding to theses inquiries.
The first thing to point out is that the term "prove" must be clarified. Technically, to prove something is to show that it is the case Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-33726916181390816682013-12-31T07:30:00.002-07:002013-12-31T07:31:26.342-07:00Top Posts of 2013Congratulations! You have made it to the end of 2013. I thought I would go ahead and share the top 5 posts (by number of hits) for the year. It was going to be the Top 10, but since this blog just started halfway through the year, that seemed a bit weird since I'd be listing almost half the posts from the site. So, we'll do the Top 5 this year and maybe next year we'll do a Top 10.
So, here theyDaniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-31216192565961315782013-12-24T07:30:00.000-07:002013-12-24T07:30:02.485-07:00The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us
I know that this really isn't a question. For some people, it may be questionable, but for the sake of today, I am going to simply assume that it is true rather than address the question. Mainly, this is because of what day it is and what the Church at large comes together to celebrate every year at this time.
Greg Koukl has said, multiple times, that he believes John 1:14 is perhaps Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-37849588957910783632013-12-17T08:00:00.000-07:002013-12-17T08:00:00.506-07:00What Am I? An Argument for Dualism over MaterialismMany atheists in the world would, almost by definition, have to be considered materialists. A materialist is a person who believes that the physical matter in the universe is all there is. There is nothing that exists which does not exist in the material world. Therefore, a materialist does not believe in the existence of a supernatural God or of a non-material soul.
It is upon this basis that IDaniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-14206083558450501682013-12-10T07:30:00.000-07:002013-12-10T07:30:00.033-07:00Can Christians Watch Rated R Movies?In many ways, this question is similar to the question about Christians using profanity. The basic premises still apply. The quote used from 1 Corinthians 6 still applies here in the same way that it applied to cursing.
All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable.
1 Corinthians 6:12a
Essentially, the short answer is that, yes, Christians can watch rated R movies. Watching aDaniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-40814025215491459742013-12-03T07:30:00.000-07:002013-12-03T07:30:03.138-07:00What If the Bible Has Errors?
At the start, let's be clear. I do not believe the Bible contains errors. However, I have heard enough stories about people who have lost their faith because they "found out" that the Bible has errors or contradictions that I felt it would be good to address this.
While I do not believe that the Bible contains errors or contradictions, let us for the sake of argument grant that it does. The Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-31404419210255235842013-11-26T07:30:00.000-07:002013-11-26T07:30:01.104-07:00Should Christians be Anti-Intellectual?
The current culture seems to view the Church as being about faith and not reason. These two concepts are touted as being contradictory, as if you can either have faith or reason, but clearly not both. Partly, this seems to be a result of the Church's retreat from the academy during the modern era.
Historically, this runs counter to the way Christianity has been understood. After all, most of Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-24875773873580630742013-11-19T07:30:00.001-07:002013-11-19T07:30:00.093-07:00How Can We Love Our Neighbor?The Bible teaches that we are to love our neighbor. With all the parables and stories, as well as examples, of how we should go about loving our neighbor, it seems that how to actually love our neighbor is one of the most universally misunderstood concepts in Christianity.
The general understanding seems to be that as long as we are friendly and cordial to our neighbors on the off-chance that weDaniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-34002444912240470152013-11-12T07:30:00.000-07:002013-11-12T07:30:03.382-07:00Is "Faith" Just a Blind Leap in the Dark?
Many people use the term "faith" to describe belief in something
for which there is no evidence, or perhaps insufficient evidence. Is
that really what is meant by biblical faith? It seems that the correct
idea of what faith entails is something closer to trust.
Some
say that faith is a blind leap in the dark. Now, I will say something
that may raise the hackles of some Christians (Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-61435170739800695282013-11-05T07:30:00.000-07:002013-11-05T07:30:02.003-07:00Does God Exist? The Kalam Cosmological Argument
While the Kalam Cosmological Argument has been around for centuries, it is primarily through the work and efforts of Dr. William Lane Craig that it has become one of the most powerful arguments for the existence of God in recent years. The argument does not prove the Christian God of the Bible, but is often used in a cumulative case for the existence of God by starting with the idea of showing Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-90967488493682349942013-10-29T07:30:00.000-07:002013-10-29T07:30:02.883-07:00Is the husband the head of the household?Now, here is a fine question often leveled against the Christian. Of course we know the answer. After all, Paul makes it explicitly clear in Ephesians 5. Yes, the Bible does, in fact, claim that the man is the head of the household.
What kind of pig-headed, chauvinistic, misogynistic God would make that kind of rule? It's just this sort of thing that allows men to be abusive dictators in their Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-15785369347698614222013-10-22T07:30:00.000-07:002013-10-22T07:30:02.542-07:00Is it Arrogant for God to Demand Our Love and Obedience?
The God of the Bible is a self-absorbed, narcissistic egomaniac. That's what some accuse Him of. I suppose I can see why. He wants us to worship nothing but Him. He says He's a jealous God. He gets very angry when people put anything in a higher place than Him.
Does this really make God arrogant, though? Does it actually make Him an egomaniac? If you or I were to be that way, these things Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633572992471871163.post-32345716645207794352013-10-15T07:30:00.000-07:002013-10-15T07:30:03.178-07:00What exactly ARE miracles?
Are miracles just things that we can't explain? Are they violations of natural law? Are they figments of our imagination? Are they really acts of God?
The concept of miracles, how to describe what they are (and by extension, what they are not) and how to identify when one has occurred is a very tricky thing, indeed. The very idea of a miracle is difficult to get our minds around. Popular Daniel J. Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196582037679393242noreply@blogger.com2