Philosophy

/Category Archive for "Philosophy"

wrote in General, Other Religions, Philosophy .

Question: I just wanted to thanks all your help.  It is really needed!  Thanks for be very patient,caring and loving.  I have a question regarding if you can review the “facts” that my Buddhist friend emailed me:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/mindfulness-meditation-benefits-health_n_3016045.html   and   http://www.tm.org/benefits-of-meditation He claims that meditation is good for health, and that a Christin can be a Buddhist too.  How would you respond to […]

Read More

wrote in Creation, General, Philosophy, Science and the Bible .

Question: Some atheists posted this on Reasonable faith facebook page:  http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2010/nov/19/penrose-claims-to-have-glimpsed-universe-before-big-bang      http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Science/article1261602.ece Is it true that these is evidence of a multiverse?  would the Kalam cosmological argument be refuted by this kind of data?   What do you think about these articles?  Are there any famous physicists that endorse kalam?   What about British actor Hugh Laurie, known for his lead role […]

Read More

wrote in Apologetics, Articles, Creation, Philosophy, The Existence of God, Theology .

Editor’s Note: The essay below if by Randy Hroziencik, a student in our Apologetics Certificate program (see the link on the front page of the site).  It is a follow-up to another essay (referred to as essay #2) in which he answered a request to write a defense of atheism.   Thanks to Randy for permission to publish […]

Read More

wrote in Creation, General, Philosophy, Social Issues, Supernatural .

Question: I have a question regarding the Kalam argument: Can the universe or universes can come from quantum random fluctuations? Is the quantum vacuum part of the universe (material, energy)? What exactly is a vacuum in quatum physics? Finally, can you give me some tips about how to study apologetics books? How can I remember […]

Read More

wrote in General, General Apologetics, Philosophy, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: What do I do?   I am 19. I have been a Christian for 3 years now and just recently I have started asking myself some very tough questions which in turn has left me very doubtful of my faith and left me oftentimes in despair.  The questions include:  Couldn’t God have saved us another way?  Why did […]

Read More

wrote in General, Miracles, Philosophy, Resurrection of Jesus .

Question: How do you convince someone that, through Jesus, there’s life after death? Especially if the person is a character who believes in tangible facts and figures?”  Looking forward to hearing from you soon, Answer: It is very difficult to make a “logical” case that life continues after death. Certainly we cannot use physical/scientific arguments to […]

Read More

wrote in General, Other Religions, Philosophy, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: Hi, John! I want to ask you about the informaiton at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Roerich         What do you know about this teaching and her influence on Christianity today? (In my church there is a member who believes in this teaching. And she doesn’t want change it)  Your book about Daniel is very good! I am enjoying it! Answer: […]

Read More

wrote in Anthropology, Creation, General Apologetics, Philosophy, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: I recently read an interview with atheist psychologist Steven Pinker about one of his books that he wrote. It was on a website (unfortunately,I can’t recall it).   The topic of concern is the apparent biological basis for behavior and the impact this has on the traditional understanding of the Free Will Doctrine. As you […]

Read More

wrote in Apologetics, Articles, Philosophy, World View .

Author: Bill Pratt   Editor’s note:  This article is taken from the web site www.toughquestionsanswered.org Old-school atheists like Friedrich Nietzsche recognized that atheism utterly failed to answer the most profound of human questions, and thus atheism, he believed, led inexorably to nihilism.  Nowadays, most atheists are very uncomfortable with nihilism and want to distance themselves from […]

Read More

wrote in Announcements, Apologetics, Bible Teaching, Philosophy, The Existence of God, Theology .

We are pleased to announce that the sixth of an eventual ten courses in our Christian Apologetics Certificate Program series is now available for students to take the course.  The topic is The Existence of God.  The class is taught by Dr. Douglas Jacoby and Dr. John Oakes.  The class is $150 ($125 in the […]

Read More

wrote in General, Philosophy, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

QUESTION: What can you say about this statement: “Religion is Darkness”?  This comes from the character Mr. Kumar in the book and movie Life of Pi.  It turns out that Mr. Kumar is an atheist. Answer: What I can say about this is that it is a meaningless statement. What does this atheist mean when […]

Read More

wrote in General, Other Religions, Philosophy .

Question: I have had a discussion with a New-Age friend.  Jesus is the only way to God (as opposed to New-age belief many roads lead to God) mainly based on Jesus’ statement in John 14:6. and also from Acts 4:12. My New-ager friend is aware of these passages and asks “How do you know that Jesus hasn’t […]

Read More

wrote in General, Philosophy, Science and the Bible, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

QUESTION: I’ve been looking a bit into Quantum Physics and Mechanics and recently found this question asked on Yahoo Answers: Christians, two of the most fundamental concepts in quantum mechanics disproves your god. I’ll explain below. Just remember, you can’t say this is just a theory (even though a theory means an unproven fact in […]

Read More

wrote in General, Philosophy, Science and the Bible .

Question: An article appeared in Yahoo a day or two ago. It quotes theoretical cosmologist Sean Carroll. Here is the article detail: Will Science Someday Rule Out the Possibility of God? By Natalie Wolchover | LiveScience.com Here is the core section shared by Carroll: Carroll argues that God’s sphere of influence has shrunk drastically in modern […]

Read More

wrote in Anthropology, General, Philosophy, Science and the Bible .

QUESTION: How would you respond to the claims that free will is an illusion? I’ve looked over some of the “evidence” for this argument and have heard several lectures on this topic (http://media.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/WebMedia/FAR460%20Alexander.mp3 and http://media.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/WebMedia/FAR470%20Newsome.mp3) given professors and scientist at The Faraday Institute. I believe the strongest evidence for the “illusion” of free will is […]

Read More

wrote in Articles, Bible Teaching, Philosophy, Theology .

A video on the topic of hell is available at http://vimeo.com/30967402  We at ARS do not necessarily endorse all that Dr. Fudge is saying in this video, but believe it may give a useful point for thought and discussion on this controversial topic which is very important for Christian apologetics. Fudge describes three common ideas […]

Read More

wrote in General, Philosophy, Theology and Doctrinal Questions, Uncategorized .

Question: I’m a Christian and like to think myself an enthusiastic amateur theologan 🙂 Firstly I have to point out your website and all of your articles are amazing, they’ve certainly done a lot for me in advancing my knowledge and having fun with my studies. With that said I ran into a minor philosophical dilema today […]

Read More

wrote in General, General Apologetics, Philosophy, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

QUESTION: I’ve listened to numerous debates by famous Christian apologists (William Craig, Douglas Jacoby, Mike Licona, ect.) and I noticed that in some of their arguments they regard the Athiests of having a presupposition (naturalism, materialism, etc.) for not believing in God. However, I was wondering what if we asked that same question about Christians? […]

Read More

wrote in Apologetics, Articles, Other Religions, Philosophy, PowerPoints, Spanish Content, Spanish Powerpoints, Theology, World View .

This lesson was given by Dr. John Oakes for the Iglesia de Cristo de Tijuana April 20, 2012.  Translation is by Mauricio Garcia.  The class is about hte reasons that the early church, starting with a small group of poor, uneducated people without power were able to conquer the entire Roman and Greek world.  Hechos […]

Read More

wrote in Anthropology, General, Philosophy, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: Dear Sir, what about human memory?  Scientists tells us our memory is stored in Brain. Word of God tells us it is the soul that has memory. Lamentations 3:20. what about our memory when we die? our memories stored in our brains will be transported into disembodied souls at the time of our Death? […]

Read More

wrote in General, General Apologetics, Philosophy, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Request: I have a former student who is in college and really questioning his faith and is starting to believe in the arguments presented by Hitchins and Dawkins. Recently he posted this "question" asking for people to comment and give him feedback. I am looking for anyone who could help me give some meaty and […]

Read More

wrote in General, Philosophy, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Request: I am a minister and college student who has found himself on the defensive a lot lately about the topic, "Does God exist?" When searching for references about this topic for a research paper I came across the Butt-Barker Debate of 2009 published by Apologetics Press on YouTube and on DVD. After reading information […]

Read More

wrote in Bible Interpretation, General, Philosophy, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: Gen.2:7 says that "God proceeded to..blow into his (Adams) nostrils…and the man became a living soul." Elsewhere in the Hebrew text animals are spoken of as "souls" (Gen.1:20; Num,31:28 ect)It seems to me a soul is what we are, not something we have. Eccl.3:19 says that at death man has no superiority over the […]

Read More

wrote in General, Miracles, Philosophy, Science and the Bible, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: I wanted to ask, how would you respond to a comment like this, done in the form of a cartoon: http://www.martinspribble.com/2011/09/12/soldier-crab-is-hostile-to-religion  I know that it is useless to argue or to try to convince people who are blocked and refuse to believe anything about Christianity, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts […]

Read More

wrote in Anthropology, General, Philosophy, Science and the Bible, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: Any thoughts on the book "The God Part of the Brain" by Matthew Alper? Answer: Note:  This book has as its thesis that religious thought is entirely the result of genetic/physiological causes which were created due entirely to evolutionary forces.  It is published by Sourcebooks, Inc., Naperville, Illinois. There is a lot of good […]

Read More

wrote in General, Other Religions, Philosophy, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: Where did the concept of the soul, after-life, and triune God originate? Some say that the concept of the soul is only mentioned when David tries to stir up his troops before battle, giving them something great to hope for, that Heaven and Hell and scarcely mentioned in the Bible, and lastly that the […]

Read More

wrote in General, Philosophy, Science and the Bible, Supernatural .

Question: Last time you had responded to my question when i forwarded the excerpt from Professor Vic Stenberg on his critic of D’Souza’s book: "Life after Death: The Evidence". I haven’t yet immerged myself into the Near Death experience and out of body experience, I wonder if you would say that he is correct that there is […]

Read More

wrote in General, Philosophy, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: I am currently taking a Philosophy class and I am reading different arguments for the existence of God. For example, so far we covered Aquinas, Descartes,and Spinoza. Are the arguments by these philosophers useful for Christians arguing for the existence of God? Granted that Spinoza did not believe in the Judeo-Christian God, he did […]

Read More

wrote in Anthropology, Creation, General, Philosophy, Science and the Bible .

Question: After taking an Anthropology course (which is preceded by my philosophy course) I have to wonder what reasons are there for God creating Bonobo’s with such striking similarities to humans? Viewing footage of Jane Goodall’s work and other anthropological studies I saw, although through a biased lense, that bonobo’s and other species of primates […]

Read More

wrote in General, Other Religions, Philosophy, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: Where can I find (if exists) a philosophically based break-down of the Christian world veiw? Having read Plato, Sartre, Macmurray, etc. Im interested in comparing directly these philosophies and world views with something other than my own convictions, which are more intimate and less universal. Answer:  By coincidence, I just taught a lesson on […]

Read More

wrote in General, Philosophy, Science and the Bible, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Note:  The question is quite long, including some quotes from scientific journals.  I have moved much of these quotes to after my answer so that the reader will not get distracted by too long a question. Question: I would love some help in one area, because I feel like I don’t know enough to tackle […]

Read More