Is there any benefit in quoting the Bible to someone who doesn’t believe the Bible? On the surface, it seems counter-intuitive. Why would we appeal to the Bible as authority if someone does not recognize that authority? For many Christians, if someone does not recognize the Bible as being from God they will try to argue for God in other ways. But I would propose that Christians not only can quote the Bible to unbelievers, but they should quote the Bible to unbelievers. An example of a hesitancy to quote the Bible comes form Matt Walsh, conservative blogger and devout Catholic, entitled, “When ..read more

Christians are often accused of circular reasoning when they attempt to prove the Bible by citing the Bible. Those who level these accusations say that it is improper to attempt to prove that the Bible is God’s Word by using the Bible as evidence for that. This argument may appear strong at a surface level, but it neglects the real issues involved in epistemology (the study of how we know things). How do we know anything? Most people will acknowledge we can prove truth claims by three means: Which of the three options is most reliable in attempts to prove something? Either someone has the auth ..read more

I have been slowly writing a series of articles on logic and the Christian. Many Christians, like the larger culture around them, have become sloppy in their thinking. Logical fallacies abound, and it is important for Christians to spend time not just learning what to think, but even more importantly, learning how to think. As a reminder, a logical fallacy is a flaw or error in reasoning that weakens an argument, making it unreliable or invalid. The last fallacy we discussed was The Either-Or Fallacy and we observed how Christians often miscategorize issues as either-or when many issues are mo ..read more

Logic is the systematic study of reasoning and inference—the process of drawing valid conclusions from given information or premises. Everyone gives lip service to logic’s importance. For example, any time someone appeals to “common sense” they are actually saying there is a logical thought process by which everyone should arrive at the same basic conclusion (i.e., common sense). Although most people acknowledge the importance of logical thinking, logic has fallen on hard times. Lazy thinking abounds. This is partly driven by advertising and social media culture, but also through lack of disci ..read more

How can same-sex relationships be wrong if they don’t hurt anyone? Can’t we all just live and let live? This is a common objection to the biblical view that same-sex relationships are wrong. The argument is often stated this way: if two adults want to engage in a consensual same-sex relationship, if there is no harm done, why disallow them that freedom? The implication of this kind of argumentation is that if something is not harmful, it is good (or at least allowable). Although this is a common argument, it actually falters on multiple levels. The appeal to allow same-sex relationships since ..read more