The Skeptical Christian: An Overview
20 February 2006The notion that Christianity is based on a “leap of faith” rather than an intellectual commitment of mind and soul to God is widespread in today’s culture. Christians are unable to provide a rational defense of their faith, and nonbelievers are convinced that religion is something only for the gullible and weak-minded. At The Skeptical Christian, these problems are addressed head on. Christianity is NOT a worldview for the weak-minded and it is NOT based on a blind leap of faith.
The Skeptical Christian was designed with discussion in mind. Any article on this site can be commented on, and any suggestions, critiques, or alternative perspectives on any of the writings are welcomed and encouraged. Feel free to participate in the discussion of these important topics.
This site is separated into several sections. In “Theism,” rational arguments are used to establish a foundation for belief in God. Some important articles here include The Cosmological Argument, and Defining God. For a treatment on the foundation of “faith” in God, see Personal Experiences. This section also includes articles on the importance of religion and worldview for every individual. Some good treatments include The Argument from the Meaning of Life and Pascal’s Suggestion.
In the “Atheism” section, arguments against Christianity and the existence of God are criticized. This includes an extensive analysis of the The Problem of Evil. Another important argument, The Argument from Nonbelief is addressed in this section. Many people claim that it is unproductive to claim that God is the cause of some phenomenon, and this common argument is considered in the article, The God-of-the-Gaps. The claim that Christianity in general and Christians in particular are responsible for great evil is shown to be a non-argument in the essay Evil Christianity.
The “Refutation” section consists of responses to a variety of non-Christian writings, both scholarly and popular. Many of these articles are helpful supplements to other writings on this site; for example, the Rebuttal of Plugaru reinforces some concepts defended in the Argument from Nonbelief and the Rebuttal of Martin strengthens the arguments found in the Problem of Evil.
The “Library” includes over 50 book reviews, including material that is pro-Christian, anti-Christian, and neutral. For some solid Christian apologetics, check out Scaling the Secular City and Reasonable Faith. Some interesting non-Christian readings include Atheism: The Case against God and What is Atheism?. Two great debates are God? and Jesus’ Resurrection.
In the “Debates” section there are debates and discussions with non-Christians. I have an ongoing correspondence with Brian Holtz, as well as catalogs of several past debates. This section also contains links to several forum discussions in which I participated significantly.
The “Ethics” section contains articles discussing important moral issues of our day. This section currently has an article on the moral status of abortion. This section will be expanded quite a bit in the near future.
Finally, I have added a “Media” section, where I will post video projects and audio files of talks that I have given. Check out the ACTS Videos for a sample of these upcoming projects.
Building the Case for Theism:
*Natural Theology
– Cosmological Argument- Defining God
*Importance of Religion
– Argument from the Meaning of Life- Pascal’s Suggestion
- The Quest for God
- My Reasons for Apologetics
*Meaning of Faith
– Personal Experiences- Why I am a Skeptical Christian
*Other
– Arguments Christians Should not UseAnswering Atheist Arguments:
*Primary Atheist Arguments
– The Problem of Evil- The Argument from Nonbelief
*Secondary Arguments
– The God-of-the-Gaps- The Necessity of Extraordinary Evidence
- The Evolution of Belief?
- The Argument from Multiple Deities
- The Argument from the History of Science
- The Argument from Miracle Impossibility
- Evil Christianity
- The Cult of Christianity
The Refutation Station:
*Scholarly Article Refutations
– Rebuttal of Michael Martin (Problem of Evil)- Rebuttal of Michael Martin (The Gap in Theistic Arguments)
- Rebuttal of Horia Plugaru (Argument from Nonbelief)
*Other Refutations
– Dawkins’ Central Argument– Rebuttal of Jeffrey Jay Lowder
- Response to Tony Sharp
- Rebuttal of Ethical Atheist
- Rebuttal of Lee Salisbury
*Refutation Series
- Defense of the Cosmological Argument Includes:
-(1)Refutation of Michael Martin
-(2)Refutation of Dan Barker
-(3)Refutation of John Mackie
* Rebuttals of the Problem of Evil Includes:
-(1)Refutation of George H. Smith*Debate Reviews
– Craig vs. Ehrman (Jesus’ Resurrection)
– Craig vs. Washington (God’s Existence)Correspondence
*Debates
– Debate with Brian Holtz
– Debate with Gareth Nelson
– Debate with ‘Logic’
– Debate with Tony Sharp*Forum Discussions
Evidence that God Exists
Cosmological Argument Debate (Hosted at Ethical Atheist)
Why Should I Be a Christian? (Hosted at TheologyWeb)
God’s Existence (Hosted at TheologyWeb)Abortion
Atheism, Theism, and Abortion (Hosted at TheologyWeb)
Abortion Discussion (Hosted at Ethical Atheist)
Abortion Discussion (Hosted at TheologyWeb)
When Does Life Begin? (Hosted at TheologyWeb)
Abortion Rant (Hosted at TheologyWeb)
Is the Fetus a Person? (Hosted at TheologyWeb)Article Discussions
My Reasons for Apologetics (Hosted at TheologyWeb)
The Argument from Nonbelief (Hosted at TheologyWeb)Other
Life, Death, And Punishment (Hosted at Ethical Atheist)Ethics
– The Immorality of Abortion
– Separation of Church and State
– Embryonic Stem Cell Research
– Is Birth Control a Sin?The Library:
*Christian Apologetics
– Reasonable Faith (William Lane Craig)
- Scaling the Secular City (J.P. Moreland)
- The Son Rises (William Lane Craig)
- The Impossible Faith (J.P. Holding)
- The Dawkins Delusion? (Alister McGrath)
- Simply Christian (N.T. Wright)
- Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)
- The Great Divorce (C.S. Lewis)
- The Abolition of Man (C.S. Lewis)
- A Grief Observed (C.S. Lewis)
- The Problem of Pain (C.S. Lewis)
- The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis)
- The Holiness of God (R.C. Sproul)
- The Historical Jesus (Gary Habermas)
- Know Why you Believe (Paul Little)
- The Language of God (Francis Collins)
- The Only Wise God (William Lane Craig)
- The Universe Next Door (James Sire)
- The Case for Christ (Lee Strobel)
- The Case for Faith (Lee Strobel)
- The Case for a Creator (Lee Strobel)
- The Kalam Cosmological Argument (William Lane Craig)*Atheist Literature
– Atheism: The Case against God (George Smith)
- Why Atheism? (George Smith)
- What is Atheism? (Douglas Krueger)
- Letter to a Christian Nation (Sam Harris)
- The End of Faith (Sam Harris)
- The God Delusion (Richard Dawkins)
- Breaking the Spell (Daniel Dennett)
- God: The Failed Hypothesis (Victor Stenger)
- God is Not Great (Christopher Hitchens)
- Losing Faith in Faith (Dan Barker)*Debates
– Jesus’ Resurrection: Fact or Figment? (Craig vs. Ludemann)
- Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? (Craig vs. Crossan)
- Resurrected? (Habermas vs. Flew)
- God? (Craig vs. Sinnott-Armstrong)
- Does God Exist? (Moreland vs. Neilsen)
- Does God Exist? (Craig vs. Flew)
- Theism, atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology (Craig vs. Q. Smith)
*Other
– The Last Three Minutes (Paul Davies)
- The Theory of Everything (Stephen Hawking)
- God and Design (Neil Manson et al.)
- Darwin’s Black Box (Michael Behe)
- Four Views on Hell (William Crockett, John Walvoord, Zachary Hayes, Clark Pinnock)
- What About Those Who Have Never Heard? (John Sanders, Gabriel Fackre, and Ronald Nash)
- Three Views on Creation and Evolution (Paul Nelson, John Mark Reynolds, Robert Newman, and Howard Van Til)
- Divine Foreknowledge: 4 Views (Paul Helm, William Lane Craig, David Hunt, Greg Boyd)
- Reason and Religious Belief (William Hasker, Bruce Reichenbach, David Basinger, Michael Peterson)*Full Critiques
– What is Atheism? (Doug Krueger)
– Atheism: The Case against God (George A. Smith)Media
-The ACTS videos
——————————————————————————————————————
kyle deming this better be kyle deming from mich. i just got lukes graduation letter and so i started trying to find you or luke. thank god for google..well my aim name is lilvanila516 and if this isnt my cousin just act like you didnt get this
colleen
— Colleen Cribbs May 12, 06:20 PM #
This looks like a good site except we have little information as to the source of this information, mainly of who is compiling it.
— Joel Jan 6, 02:42 PM #
I love the site!!
God bless
— Par Jan 12, 01:49 PM #
What an excellent repository of apologetic info! But even better is the notion of Christian skepticism – an all too rare specimen.
— Steve Oct 25, 05:01 PM #
Your Home Page introduction reads:
20 February 2006The notion that Christianity is based on a “leap of faith” rather than an intellectual commitment of mind and soul to God is widespread in today’s culture. Christians are unable to provide a rational defense of their faith, and nonbelievers are convinced that religion is something only for the gullible and weak-minded. At The Skeptical Christian, these problems are addressed head on. Christianity is NOT a worldview for the weak-minded and it is NOT based on a blind leap of faith.
My argument is that it is a leap of faith rather than an intellectual commitment of mind and soul to God.
As a believer in Christ, your introduction is incorrect. You cannot accept Christ as your Saviour via “an intellectual commitment”. My point is that ‘A Decision To Believe Is Not Belief’. Your new found Christianity in the beginning at least, is indeed a leap of faith. That is why Christ said “of such is the kingdom of heaven” when he spoke about our childlike acceptance of Him. Children have an unprecedented faith that their parents will feed, shelter and look after them. They come to a better understanding of that love and support as they mature but in the beginning at least, it is a “blind leap of faith”.
Blessings, Wally >
— Wally Bootsma Mar 17, 02:34 PM #
Can’t subscribe to the newsletter! Just get this message:
Program Error (Server Error 500)
More information about this error may be available in the server error log and/or program error log.
Dada Mail 2.10.15 error, please MAKE SURE that ’/home/youraccount/dada_files’ is a directory (NOT a file) and that Dada Mail has enough permissions to write into this directory: No such file or directory at mail.cgi line 6245
— RonH Mar 21, 08:05 AM #
I like this! [url=http://google.com]google[/url] google http://google.com
— nextemodz Apr 21, 05:35 AM #
[URL=http://okkfheoc.com]vmdalsaf[/URL] srkvhkjz http://czeyctjr.com epbhmvmw xmkfmaqv ogmgnlln
— heezgrqr May 7, 09:56 AM #
Take a two-mile walk every morning before breakfast.
— buspirone May 9, 12:06 PM #
It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
— amoxicillin May 9, 03:43 PM #
We need anything politically important rationed out like Pez: small, sweet, and coming out of a funny, plastic head.
— generic cialis May 9, 07:32 PM #
In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be.
— vicodin online May 9, 11:34 PM #
A joke’s a very serious thing.
— famvir May 10, 03:30 AM #
I have the worst memory ever so no matter who comes up to me – they’re just, like, ‘I can’t believe you don’t remember me!” I’m like, ‘Oh Dad I’m sorry!’
— stilnox May 10, 07:10 AM #
Fresh clean sheets are one of life’s small joys.
— wellbutrin May 10, 10:51 AM #
The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.
— danazol May 10, 02:38 PM #
Love truth, and pardon error.
— prednisone May 10, 06:05 PM #
So act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.
— generic zyrtec May 10, 10:05 PM #
Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.
— orlistat May 11, 02:09 AM #
If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches.
— order xanax May 11, 05:19 AM #
This is the challenge of writing. You have to be very emotionally engaged in what you?re doing, or it comes out flat. You can?t fake your way through this.
— seroxat May 11, 09:13 AM #
I define comfort as self-acceptance. When we finally learn that self-care begins and ends with ourselves, we no longer demand sustenance and happiness from others.
— cheap xenical May 11, 12:31 PM #
The roses, the lovely notes, the dining and dancing are all welcome and splendid. But when the Godiva is gone, the gift of real love is having someone who’ll go the distance with you. Someone who, when the wedding day limo breaks down, is willing to share a seat on the bus.
— neurontin May 11, 04:06 PM #
Only some people get what they want. Those are the people who show up to get it.
— buy soma May 11, 07:44 PM #
The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.
— prevacid May 12, 12:13 AM #
You can only cure retail but you can prevent wholesale.
— zoloft online pseudodieletric pseudoobstruction May 12, 12:15 AM #
There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down errors instead of establishing the truth.
— vardenafil May 12, 04:05 AM #
When you want to believe in something, you also have to believe in everything that’s necessary for believing in it.
— imitrex May 12, 07:16 AM #