Wisdom About Angels and Demons

John Piper:

“The folks at Westminster Bookstore have helped set up a remarkable website with serious reflections on the kinds of scientific and religious questions raised by the Dan Brown blockbuster Angels and Demons.

It’s the kind of place you could send your unbelieving friends who have questions.”

~Donovan

“Ida” – the missing link?

Sky News:

Pretty strong words, aren’t they?

The author of this article thinks otherwise though, and he’s not a Creationist.  Chris Beard, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, calls all the fuss “unbridled hoopla”. Though I disagree with some of his conclusions (because I don’t believe in Darwinian evolution), I appreciate the honest evaluation that Ida is not the so-called ”missing link”. Read Beard’s article here. 

~Donovan

HT: Justin Taylor (yet again)

A few Easter-related posts

• Old Testament professor and author, Walter Kaiser, wrote a brief post explaining why we can properly speak of Jesus being in the tomb for 3 days. Read it here. (HT: Tim Challies)
• Justin Taylor references 1 Corinthians 5:7–”Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed”, and points us to Todd Bolen’s explanation of why we should watch this graphic video of a passover lamb being slaughtered.
• Dan Philips references Justin’s post and the video, and dives into the theology of a sacrifice for sin found throughout Scripture. You can read his post, “A holy day — not a pretty day”, here.
• Last year we posted an article by John Piper on the results of the resurrection. You can read it here.

Blessings to you as you meditate on Christ’s sacrifice for you, and all that is your in Him.

~Donovan

That’s Easter

These two short (less than 5 minute) videos are very well done. One of them addresses evidence for the resurrection, and the other addresses the significance of Easter in Christianity. Check them out here.

~Donovan

HT: Justin Taylor

A Primer on dialoging with Darwinists

150 years ago Charles Darwin published, On the Origin of Species,  a book we’ve probably all heard of, and a book that has shaped history in incredible ways… 

Marvin Olasky, editor in chief of World Magazine, notes, “Christians who respond with ridicule of Darwin get nowhere—but understanding a few terms of the debate can help to start a dialogue.”  His article on this is well worth the read. Read it here.

~Donovan

HT: Justin Taylor

Tim Keller @ Google

Tim Keller is a very helpful guide in addressing some of the questions/objections presented most often by those opposing Christianity today. The video below shows Keller’s lecture and Q&A session at the Google headquarters:

 

To see a similar lecture and Q&A session at Cal Berkeley, click here.  

Keller addresses these issues more thoroughly in his book “The Reason for God”.

~ Donovan

Answers to life’s biggest questions…

This sermon by Voddie Baucham is EXCELLENT!  It is absolutely essential that our entire worldview is formed by God’s Holy Word, and this sermon shows it powerfully and beautifully. It also shows how important a thoroughly biblical worldview is in evangelism…  

Click here to listen to it. 

(This message was originally given at a pastor’s conference put on by Desiring God Ministries in 2006.) 

Tim Keller @ Berkeley: Belief in an age of Skepticism?

Tim Keller is one of the sharpest minds in Christianity today. In his nearly two decades as a pastor in New York, he has had much experience tackling the questions of today’s skeptics… He is a very helpful voice on how to communicate biblical truth in a postmodern age.

This presentation at UC Berkeley is based on some of the material in his book, “The Reason for God: Belief in an age of Skepticism“. The lecture is followed by a Q&A session. To view or listen to this presentation, click here.

To read our earlier post on the book, click here.

“The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism”

This is another book I want to read soon… It’s by Tim Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. I consider him one of the most sharp and insightful, biblically-centered theologians of our day, and a very helpful voice on how to communicate biblical truth in a postmodern age…

This is what he has to say about why he wrote this book:

“I’ve been working for some time on a book for the ordinary (which means very sharp) spiritually skeptical New Yorker. Ever since I got to New York nearly two decades ago I’ve wished I had a volume to give people that not only answered objections to Christianity (what has been called ‘apologetics’) but also positively presented the basics of the gospel in an accessible yet substantial way. I had some books that did the one and some that did the other, but only one did both—Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. As you know, I think Lewis’ book is peerless, and foolish would be the author who tried to replace him!

However, the issues in the public discourse around Christianity have become much more complex than they were in the mid and late 20th century. The questions are now not just philosophical (e.g. Is there evidence for God’s existence?) They are also now cultural (Doesn’t strong faith make a multicultural society impossible?), political (Doesn’t orthodox religion undermine freedom?) and personal. Also fifty years ago, when C.S. Lewis was writing, there was general agreement that rational argument and empirical method were the best ways to discover truth. That consensus has vanished. Today there are deep disagreements over how we know things and how certain we can be about anything. Most of the older books presenting Christianity now are only persuasive and even comprehensible to a very narrow range of people.

All this means that there is a great need for new literature that speaks to our time and says, “Christianity makes sense.”"

This video sums up how Keller has tried to achieve that goal in this book:

For more information about this book, click here.

For Tim Challies’ review of this book, click here.

~Donovan 

“Expelled” opens this week!

“Expelled” is a documentary about hostility towards Scientists who believe in Intelligent Design/Creation rather than evolution… It’s narrated by Ben Stein, and opens in theaters nationwide April 18th (to find a participating theater, click here). Watch the trailer below: