A look back at the life, theology, and ministry of one of the great popularizers of Reformed theology in our generation.

The news just went out that theologian R. C. Sproul has passed away. I cannot overstate what his influence has been over two generations of evangelicals. I was not personal friends with Dr. Sproul …

You can’t make the new birth happen on your own. If you’re alive in Christ today, you’re a miracle of God’s word.

Follow @ThePoachedEgg Switch to mobile friendly version Elite Scientists Don’t Have Elite Reasons for Being Atheists Shadow to Light One of the favorite arguments in the atheist movement is to point to leading scientists and note that a majority of them are atheists. The argument is, of course, pathetic and not much different from trying to score some point for male superiority because the same elite scientists are mostly white males. What matters are the arguments and evidence these elite scientists can come up with. If their atheism is linked to their expertise as scientists and scholars, surely this group...

Watch this interview with Dr. Trueman from “95 Theses,” a documentary considering the importance of the Protestant Reformation. You can find more information and watch additional interviews from the documentary at 95theses.com.

Conclusion When a Christian says to me that we do not need apologetics because we walk by “faith, not by sight” and they feel that apologetics is an attempt to walk by sight, I simply have to say that there is no contradiction here. Those verses do not disprove the need for apologetics in our churches today. If anything, those verses actually encourage us to have good reasons why we should walk by faith and not by sight.

Distinguished philosopher Robin Collins provides multiple reasons for God’s existence in the context of multiverse theory. First, we should prefer the hypothesis that naturally flows from the evidence, and for which we have independent confirmation. As Collins explains, we already know that minds can produce objects, like Swiss watches, that are fine-tuned. Therefore, positing God as the best explanation fits what we already observe minds can do.

Anakin turns next to Emperor Palpatine for advice. Serpent that he is, Palpatine tells Anakin that the Sith possess the knowledge of how to transcend death and save Padme’s life. Of course, this is a sinuous lie. Darth Sidious wants the powerful Anakin at his side, and he can’t have Anakin’s loyalties split between his destiny and his desire any more than the Jedi can. Eventually Anakin uncovers Palpatine’s true nature, but the temptation of power is still strong. In the movie’s climax, as the Jedi are descending upon the Emperor, Anakin broods over his options: be true to his calling, forget Padme and let the Jedi stop Palpatine or abandon his Jedi code, join the Sith and hope to live a long, happy life with his love.

But this isn't the only threat to a Christian view of Christmas. In recent years there's been a resurgence in people claiming Christmas is entirely pagan in origin. This has coincided with the actions of the current generation of pagans and druids who are re-establishing their cycle of festivals in the calendar.

All of these questions require further commentary, and I plan to write a blog post to respond to each one individually in the future. For now, I will offer some "barebones" quick answers that can easily be committed to memory.

An Australian inquiry into child abuse has recommended the Catholic Church lift its demand of celibacy from clergy and clarify the extent that the seal of the confession conceals evidence of child abuse.

Sproul’s legacy lives on in generations of laypeople and Reformed leaders whose theology was strengthened and shaped by Ligonier, the organization he founded in 1971 to fill the gap “between Sunday school and seminary.”

No one has done more to put the knowledge of the Holy One front and center in the thinking and living of Christians today, and for that I for one am deeply grateful to and for my friend. —Sinclair Ferguson http://bit.ly/2Bqqbup 

Over 240 people attended a book signing with author and radio host Eric Metaxas at the Billy Graham Library on Dec. 14. The event was held during the Library's annual Christmas festivities.

The main challenge with these results is that the underlying model is completely unrealistic. No chiral building block of life (e.g. right-handed ribose) has been shown to interact with any substance to self-replicate. On the contrary, in all realistic environments mixtures with a bias of one enantiomer tend toward mixtures of equal percentages of both left-handed and right-handed versions. Goldenfeld “solved” the homochirality problem by creating an artificial world that eliminated all real-world obstacles. All simulations that purport to be breakthroughs in origins problems follow this same pattern. Conditions are created that remove the numerous practical challenges, and the underlying models are biased toward achieving the desired results.

You now have direct access to God. You don’t have to pray through anybody else. You don’t have to confess through anybody else. You don’t have to fellowship with God through anybody else. Read your Bible, talk with the Lord, and fellowship directly with him.

American evangelicals rediscovered their Middle Eastern Christian brethren in recent years. But Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is putting that new friendship to the test http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/december/friends-of-zion-us-arab-christians-israel-jerusalem-embassy.html …

Suffer not the children: New research shows increased risks of same-sex parenting https://world.wng.org/content/suffer_not_the_children … #Relations @KileyCrossland @CatholicUniv pic.twitter.com/audXFCH3UU

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Former atheist and author of Cold-Case Christianity, J. Warner Wallace gives 5 reasons why the Christmas story is true. http://ow.ly/PRjM30hfFR2  @jwarnerwallace pic.twitter.com/Sg1y6XDyKY

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Tillerson calls on Russia and China to squeeze North Korea https://world.wng.org/content/tillerson_calls_on_russia_and_china_to_squeeze_north_korea … #TheSift @onize_ohiks pic.twitter.com/L2brTTRQZf

Oxford University Press is offering my book at 50% off & 2-Day Free Shipping! This is a better deal than they give to me! :-0 Enter the code "HOLIDAY17" at http://bit.ly/2BsxG3X 

Sproul’s legacy lives on in generations of laypeople and Reformed leaders whose theology was strengthened and shaped by Ligonier, the organization he founded in 1971 to fill the gap “between Sunday school and seminary.”

The impact of R.C. Sproul on my life and ministry is owing to an incomparable combination of his unashamed allegiance to the absolute sovereignty and centrality of God, his total devotion to the inerrancy and radical relevance of the Christian Scriptures, his serious and rigorous attention to the actual text of Scripture in shaping his views, and his jolting formulations of biblical truth in relation to contemporary reality.

We must ask where the church is in all of this. It is surely a stain on the church’s reputation that there are not enough foster caregivers or adoptive parents in our nation. The church has been given very clear instructions on what appropriate worship to God looks like. According to Isaiah 1:15-17, James 1:27, and Matthew 25:31-46, caring for the vulnerable is an essential part of Christian worship.

I’ve been involved with Christian apologetics since 2005; it’s one of the catalysts for my conviction in the Christian faith. I know how it influenced me personally and so, I know how valuable it can be. While I was an agnostic, I read dozens of books and my heart was convicted of the truth of the Christian worldview. This is why I’m often saddened and confused when I see or hear Christians disparage Christian apologetics. To be frank, I don’t understand any of the objections I’ve seen leveraged against Christian apologetics.

Though we want to be resources in the discipleship of our grandkids, we must not try to do the parents’ job for them. Grandmothers are to be a help, not a hindrance — and not running interference. God has called the parents to raise up their own children in the Lord, and our role as grandmothers is to be a support in all their efforts. Even (and especially) when we might disagree with how they are doing it. And we will.

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Deck the crabs with lots of pompoms, fa la la … wait, what?! https://world.wng.org/content/computer_models_of_global_warming_proven_wrong_0/#crabs … #Beginnings @UDelaware pic.twitter.com/GT7jUc2fDH

Praying for the family of Dr. R. C. Sproul as he has now finished his earthly race and is rejoicing in the presence of His Savior. https://twitter.com/ligonier/status/941408915690065925 …

I never thought in my wildest dreams I’d talk about Taylor Swift on BreakPoint. Just look what you made me do. http://bit.ly/2CfxnHj  pic.twitter.com/UqkNBZ1WqO

Most people in the world have no experience of lasting joy in their lives. We’re on a mission to change that. Everything we create and distribute here at Desiring God exists to guide you toward everlasting joy in Jesus Christ.

Next for the young-uns: “Cold-Case Christianity for Kids,” approaches the claims of our faith with a forensic eye. Former L.A. detective, J. Warner Wallace and wife, Susie, evaluate and validate the story of the gospels with some of the same tools that cold-case investigators use. This one is written for kids, who will love it!

When Jesus took on God’s holy title as his own, He was stating the modern equivalent of “I am God”. He did this repeatedly over the course of his ministry (see Mark 14:62, John 18:5-6, John 8:24 and John 8:28). So while you may not find the expression “I am God” in the Gospels, you’ll certainly find the ancient equivalent. It’s no wonder that the Jewish religious leadership would eventually want Him executed. When I discovered these statements in the Gospels, I had to reconsider my simplistic view of Jesus as a “nice guy” or “good teacher”. What kind of teacher could Jesus have been if He was teaching a lie? Jesus’ clear statements related to His Deity forced me to reconsider Jesus and what He taught, because He did specifically say that He was God.

Jim’s website is exceptional with a very large variety of Christian resources in various media formats. What I specifically like about the evidence that Jim produces is that he has done his homework and he applies the expertise that he has gained in examining evidence in a most logical and systematic manner when dealing with Christian claims. Consequently J. Warner Wallace is one of the most respected and influential Christian Apologists of our time.

It is usually argued that the order of the two phases in classical apologetics is essential. That is, before one can meaningfully discuss historical evidences, one has to have established God’s existence because one’s worldview is a framework through which miralces, historical facts, and other empirical data are interpreted. Without a theistic context, no historical event could ever be shown to be a divine miracle. The flipside of this claim is that one cannot appeal to alleged miracles in order to prove God’s existence. As Sproul, Gerstner, and Lindsley argue, ”miracles cannot provie God. God, as a matter of fact, alone can prove miracles. That is, only on the prior evidence that God exists is a miracle ever possible.” However, not everyone who considers himself or herself a classical apologist will insist on this point, as William Lane Craig makes clear in this volume (…). Craig argues that the classical methodology need not insist on a theoretical necessity in the order of these two steps, but only, given the nature of probabiblity arguments, that this order is the best argumentative strateg y.

McDermott joined associate digital media producer Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli to discuss whether Christians should care about the location of the American embassy, the divide between Middle Eastern and American Christians over Jerusalem’s recognition as Israel’s capital, and where biblical prophecy fits into this discussion.

Greg shares thoughts on how to redeem the time on today's Drive-Time #podcast : https://www.str.org/podcasts/a-piece-of-my-mind/redeeming-the-time … pic.twitter.com/wEhJZU0Fjz

“They may conceivably turn to sport as an occupation. What are the prospects?” the writer begins. This brings me to a second point weighing against the piece being Lewis’s: the authorial voice. It is written not only about cricket but from the perspective of one who has followed the game with interest for years. It is written, in other words, in the style of a sportswriter. Take, for example, the following excerpt: “Even then, Jardine was unable to give him a Test Match chance. The body-line controversy was at its height, and it was thought impolitic to add the insult of Tate to the injury of Larwood. Yet he could still take 7 Middlesex wickets for 28, despite his being thirty-three!” This is, to all appearances, a cricket fan talking to other cricket fans. But is that reason enough to conclude Lewis did not write it? My hunch—taken together with further evidence—is that Lewis, for whatever reason, wanted to play with the sports-writing genre and so wrote this piece under a pseudonym. But these are questions for another time.

I had actually gone to a church-related college, but I went on a football scholarship, not because of any interest in the church. And at the end my first week, which had been spent in freshman orientation, my roommate and I decided to head out to town to hit some of the bars across the border. We come to the parking lot and I realized that I was out of cigarettes. So I went back in the dorm and went to the cigarette machine. I can still remember it was 25 cents for a pack of Luckys. And I got my Luckys and turned around and saw the captain of the football team sitting at a table. And he spoke to me and to my roommate and invited us to come over and chat. And we did. And this was the first person I ever met in my life that talked about Christ as a reality.

It's graduation day! Share your favorite moments from today with our exclusive Snapchat filter and by using #BiolaGrad ! Livestreams start at 2 and 7 p.m. PST on the Biola University Facebook page or here: https://buff.ly/2CmOZ4c  pic.twitter.com/MMT5bdYozx

Catholic aid charity CAFOD has expressed deep concern at the escalation in violence in South Sudan, as the conflict entered its fifth year on Friday.

Christian campaigners have given their backing to a new initiative aimed at ending loneliness and have encouraged everyone to do their part in tackling the issue.

Much was made of the “right” way to view Dunkirk , Christopher Nolan’s immersive World War II rescue film. I was fortunate to first see it in 70mm in a full theater on opening weekend. The immensity of the sound and images was a near-religious experience, as Nolan’s meditation on time and ethics in the midst of warfare moved me to tears. Yet my second viewing was just as affecting, though in a very different theatrical environment: a small, near-empty indie theater in a coastal village in Scotland. Walking out and seeing the waves on the beach was as much a liturgy, a religious experience, as my first viewing. The name Dunkirk literally means “church in the dunes;” the opening title sequence describes the need for hope, for “a miracle.” Though this is in reference to “the miracle at Dunkirk”—in which British civilian ships helped rescue troops who were trapped on the coast of France—it is telling that we are reduced (or elevated) to using religious language for such feats of bravery, courage, and human decency. ( Joel Mayward )

Eric Metaxas, #1 NY Times Bestselling author, is coming to Charleston, Dec. 17-18th! His new book about Martin Luther was recently #7 on the NY Times Best Sellers List! Along with speaking, he will also be signing his new book, Martin Luther. He will be at St. Michael’s (corner of Broad St. and Meeting) on Sunday, Dec. 17th at the 10:30AM and 6:00PM services. On Monday, Dec. 18th, he will be on Johns Island at the Church of Our Saviour at 10:30.

A greetings card showing a vicar sat on the toilet has been pulled from shop shelves after complaints from customers.

The leader of Catholics in England and Wales says those without faith who "pick up stones to throw at things they don't understand" are a bigger obstacle to social cohesion than people of faith.