Apologetics | OrthodoxNet.com Blog

If Good and Evil Exist, God Must Exist (Prager University)

February 15, 2013

If Good and Evil Exist, God Exists by Peter Kreeft-
Is there such a thing as objective morality? If there is, does that suggest a moral law giver? Peter Kreeft, distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Boston College, takes on these critical questions and offers some challenging answers.

“Good and evil are not the difference between I like and I don’t like,” observes Professor Kreeft in this video lecture. He conducts a thorough review of the five (5) theoretical sources of morality offered by atheists, and disproves each one using logic, common sense, and historical examples: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Apologetics, Intelligent Design, Moral issues, Philosophy, Videos

How to Speak About God to the Men and Women of Our Time

December 7, 2012

Pope Benedict Evangelize American Culture by Pope Benedict XVI -
“How do we speak to God in our times? How can we communicate the Gospel to open the way to its salvific truth?” The Holy Father offered an answer to these questions in his catechesis during today’s general audience, held in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall.

“In Jesus of Nazareth”, the Pope said, “we encounter the face of God, descended from Heaven to immerse Himself in the world of mankind and to teach ‘the art of living’, the road to happiness; to free us from sin and to make us true children of God”.

He continued, “speaking about God means, first and foremost, being clear about what we must bring to the men and women of our time. God has spoken to us, not an abstract or hypothetical God, but a real God, a God Who exists, Who entered history and remains present in history: the God of Jesus Christ – as a response to the fundamental question of why and how to live.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Apologetics, Christianity, Evangelization, Roman Catholic

Converging and Convincing Proof of God: If Truth, Then God

December 4, 2012

What is Truth, GOD by Andrew M. Greenwell, Esq. -
“What is truth?” famously stated Pontius Pilate to Jesus who had proclaimed himself to be “the Truth.” (Cf. John 18:38; John 14:6). As an unbelieving pagan blind to the Incarnate Truth before him, the Roman procurator was oblivious of the irony in his words.

Pilate, it should be noted, was not asking Jesus the question as a philosopher or a religious seeker. He was asking the question as a human judge, as the holder of authority, of temporal power. “Don’t you realize I have the power either to free you or to crucify you?” (John 19:10).

Truth, however, does not rely on human or temporal power. Truth and temporal power are altogether different categories. Whether freed or crucified, Truth remains what it is: Truth. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Apologetics, Christianity, Philosophy

The Church’s Worst Enemies

June 13, 2012

Worst Enemies of the Church by James V. Schall, S.J. -
When asked why he entered the Church, Chesterton, in a famous passage, replied: “To get rid of my sins.” The New Testament also makes it clear that this riddance of sins is the central purpose of redemption. Christ did not come so much to define what sins were – we have to be pretty obtuse not to have an inkling of what they are – but to forgive them.

He claimed this power, which was indeed a divine power. That claim scandalized the Jewish leaders who heard Him. But He was firm in His purpose. He proceeded to give His apostles in the Church power to continue this central purpose, but only in His name.

Christ’s coming, then, is a relief that we finally have some authentic way to get rid of our sins. The presumption is that we want to do so because we know the burden they impose on each of us. The “thou shalt not’s” of the commandments are pretty basic. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Apologetics, Christian Persecution, Christianity, Philosophy

A New Generation of Apologists Needed to Defend the Faith

June 6, 2012

Christian Martyrs Defend Faith by Deacon Keith Fournier -
On the Memorial Feast of Justin, Martyr, we need to implore the Lord to raise up new apologists, defenders of the faith, who are unafraid to contend in the marketplace of ideas for the heart and soul of the people of our age. We live in a new missionary age. The Third Millennium of the Christian Church calls us, in the midst of a Western Culture which resembles a new Rome, to defend the faith like Justin did. May the Holy Spirit inspire men and women who, like Justin and his companions, possess the heroic courage this mission will require. …

On June 1 in the Roman Catholic Liturgical Calendar we commemorate the Memorial of a great defender of the Christian faith, Justin, Martyr. He was born of pagan parents in Samaria at the beginning of the second century. Like many young men, he spent his early years searching for the meaning of life. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Apologetics, Christian Persecution, Christianity, Roman Catholic

Does Science Refute God?

July 7, 2011

God Creation Christian Belief against Evolution by Vasko Kohlmayer -
Many people think that religion is incompatible with science, because they have been told that science refutes God. Nothing could be further from the truth: The more science investigates the world, the more it points to God.

There are many examples of this. Let us here look at what is perhaps the most striking one. Until the 20th century, most scientists believed the universe was eternal and that it had always existed.

But in 1915 Albert Einstein developed his General Theory of Relativity. When its equations were applied to cosmology, their implication were astonishing: The universe was not static, but it began from an ultra-dense dot at some point in the past. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Apologetics, Science

God: The Central Question of Worldview

May 6, 2011

God Trinity - Father, Son, Holy Spirit by Tom Gilson

Of all the issues affecting every person’s picture of reality, nothing is more fundamental than questions about God. Is there one God, Creator and Sovereign of all? Could there be more than one god? Or no God at all? If there is a God (or gods), then what is that God (or gods) like? Nothing determines your worldview—and the course of your life—more than how you answer those questions.

And yet some atheists like to make light of the God question. Richard Dawkins brushed it aside this way in The God Delusion:

I have found it an amusing strategy, when asked whether I am an atheist, to point out that the questioner is also an atheist when considering Zeus, Apollo, Amon-Ra, Mithras, Baal, Thor, Wotan, the Golden Calf and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I just go one god further.

I like to call that the arithmetical atheism argument. Its force (such as it is) depends on the idea that in counting gods, as in counting inches on a ruler, the distance between one and zero is no different than the distance between two and one. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Apologetics, Christianity, Defense of Innocence, Moral issues, Sanctity of Life

What We Can’t Not Know – Universal Moral Truths

April 9, 2011

by Chuck Colson -
Want to clear the room at a party? Just say something like, “There is such a thing as right and wrong, and everybody knows it.”

The great commandment in this postmodern, relativistic world of ours is this: “Don’t impose your morality on me.”

Obviously, it didn’t used to be this way. Once, if you mentioned basic moral rules like the Ten Commandments, everyone would agree that they were right. Not only were they right for all, but they were also known to all. Everyone knew that honoring parents and telling the truth is right for everyone. And everyone knew that deliberately taking innocent human life, sleeping with your neighbor’s spouse, and mocking God is wrong for everyone. Today all of that has changed.

Or has it? According to University of Texas Professor J. Budziszewski, it really hasn’t — at least not in the way you might think. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Apologetics, Christianity, Moral issues

To Seek God and to Let Oneself Be Found by Him

April 4, 2011

by Deacon Keith Fournier -
Naturally, the humility of reason is always needed, in order to accept it: man’s humility, which responds to God’s humility

Christians of the nascent Church did not regard their missionary proclamation as propaganda, but as an inner necessity, consequent upon the nature of their faith: the God in whom they believed was the God of all people, the one, true God, who had revealed himself in the history of Israel and ultimately in his Son, thereby supplying the answer for which all people, in their innermost hearts, are waiting. [...]

Yesterday, I covered the launch of Pope benedict XVI’s outreach called “The Court of the Gentiles” intended to encourage a dialogue with non-believers. The effort debuted in Paris over the weekend. It already has appointments in Tirana, Albania, Stockholm, Sweden, numerous locations in the United Sates, Canada and Asia. This effort is the inspiration of Pope Benedict XVI, the Missionary Pope, and is being led by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi who heads the Vatican’s culture office. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Apologetics, Christianity, Roman Catholic, Theology

Creating a God-Honoring Culture – Centurion Program

September 14, 2010

Chuck Colson

9/10/2010 – Chuck Colson -

I have a burning passion—it’s the first item on my prayer list every day— and that’s to see a movement of Christians raised up from the churches to defend truth in the marketplace of ideas and to live out the gospel. Nothing less than this kind of an awakening can possibly save our quickly deteriorating culture.

That’s why I’m now spending all of my time working at BreakPoint and the Colson Center. One of my major projects is developing Christian leaders who can understand and defend a biblical view of all of life.

We call this the Centurions program. For the past six years we have brought 100 of the best and brightest into this year-long teaching effort, to study under some of the best minds in the Christian world. It’s demanding; we read books together, view movies and critique them; do a lot of teaching on line; and have three residencies during the year in Lansdowne, Virginia near our offices. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Apologetics, Christianity, Culture war, Education, Moral issues

The Mystery of the Resurrection

May 1, 2010

5/1/2010 – Regis Nicoll -

The resurrection is one of Christendom’s deepest mysteries and, yet, no different in kind than the mystery of creation—whereby, man was formed from the dust of the earth, and the earth, ex nihilo, by the utterance of God. Consequently, folks who are put off by the resurrection of the dead will likely find the creation of the living a difficult pill as well.

It suggests that the real objection to the resurrection mystery is not so much over the process, but over what the process implies. Someone who is able to reassemble, refurbish, and reinvigorate our remains is Someone who can assert cosmic authority over us and make demands of us. And that is Someone some people would rather not think about, for now. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Apologetics, Christianity, Theology