Stephen J. Bedard | Apologetics
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Blog posts on Christian Apologetics, Leadership, Disabilities and History from Stephen J. Bedard.
Stephen J. Bedard | Apologetics
3w ago
What Lewis tries to accomplish in his popular apologetics is to let the readers taste the symbolic universe of Christianity from the inside. He invites them to immerse into the grand story and to soak in the atmosphere of the Gospel. He avoids watering it down with abstractions and moralistic...
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Stephen J. Bedard | Apologetics
1M ago
I do enjoy studying theology. However, I sometimes have my doubts when theologians confidently state what God is like. They make it sound so easy. Too easy. They might say that it is relatively simple because we have the Bible and all we have to do is summarize the Bible....
The post How Much Do We Know About God? appeared first on Stephen J Bedard ..read more
Stephen J. Bedard | Apologetics
1M ago
One of the questions that Christians disagree on is whether Christians can serve in the military. It is a complicated issue and people on both sides have strong convictions. Quoting “turn the other cheek” or “love your enemy” should not shut down the conversation. Those verses are part of the...
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Stephen J. Bedard | Apologetics
1M ago
Are Christians ever allowed to lie? I once taught ethics at a Christian university and we discussed this. There is no consensus as to the answer. The discussion generally revolves around something like lying to Nazis about Jews that you are hiding and that telling the truth would lead to...
The post Is It Okay For Christians to Lie If It Helps Their Cause? appeared first on Stephen J Bedard ..read more
Stephen J. Bedard | Apologetics
1M ago
There is no lack of disagreements among Christians. We have Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Mainline, Evangelicals, Anabaptists, and Charismatics. Even within each group there are plenty of diversity on interpretations. Just one local congregation will likely have a variety of beliefs on certain issues. Christians have tended to disagree rather...
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Stephen J. Bedard | Apologetics
1M ago
There are those who really push back against Christian apologetics, and I’m not talking about skeptics. I think that some Christians have a problem with apologetics because of a misunderstanding about apologetics. The truth is that there are different forms of apologetics, some better than others. I would like to...
The post Apologetics: What It Can Be, Should Be and Should Not Be appeared first on Stephen J Bedard ..read more
Stephen J. Bedard | Apologetics
3M ago
The first time I encountered what is often called annihilationism was in a talk about the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The idea that God would just cause the wicked to cease to exist was another blatant example of how heretical the Jehovah’s Witnesses really were. But then I heard about...
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Stephen J. Bedard | Apologetics
4M ago
The recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has a lot of people talking. Including Christians. What is the significance of Trump’s survival?
One of the conversations I saw was about how Trump narrowly survived this attack. Did God intervene in what would have been an otherwise successful assassination or did God predetermine before the creation of the world that not only that Donald Trump would survive but that Corey Comperatore would survive?
God determined
I will start with the second option. There are Christians who believe that God’s sovereignty is ultimate, such that ..read more
Stephen J. Bedard | Apologetics
4M ago
Apologists put a lot of time and energy into their activities. But what is it that they are actually trying to achieve?
I am not suggesting that all apologists should share the same goal. But I do think that apologists should reflect on what they are trying to accomplish.
Some potential goals
Encouraging non-Christians to become Christians.
Pre-evangelism, in the sense of getting Christianity a seat at the table.
Strengthening the faith of questioning Christians.
Helping Christians to learn more about their faith.
Critiquing other religions and worldviews.
Promoting one side of the culture wa ..read more
Stephen J. Bedard | Apologetics
4M ago
I have had a number of people ask me about cremation over the years. I hear some wide variety of opinions, even among Christians. Some take it for granted that no Christian would ever get cremated and others taking for granted that few Christians should want to pay the high prices for burial.
Should Christians be cremated?
Paul Carter asks this question a TGC Canada blog post. I would agree with a lot of what Paul says. I know Paul, and I know he writes as a thoughtful pastor and Bible teacher.
He concludes that it is not sinful to be cremated and that being cremated does not prevent our own r ..read more