For years there have been heated discussions about the Earth’s population. Some, like Paul Ehrlich in the late 1960s and 70s, warned that the Earth could not support the growing human population. ((See “The Population Bomb?,” The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000003712862/the-population-bomb.html?action=click&contentCollection=us&module=embedded®ion=caption&pgtype=article (2015).)) He wrote the bestselling The Population Bomb (1968), repeatedly went on Johnny Carson’s […]
The Bible Versus Seventh-day Adventism
November 24, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
One of the leading candidates for President of the United States is a prominent member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This article is not designed to oppose this man as a candidate or to advise people to vote one way or another. Rather, this article is to answer questions that have been occasioned by his […]
The Bible and Doping in Sports
November 12, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
In sports there is sometimes a desire to win at practically all costs. Drugs employed by athletes for sport include agents that make the body stronger, larger, increase oxygen carrying capacity, provide energy and/or stimulation, and decrease recovery time after exertion. ((Ray Tricker and David L. Cook, Athletes at Risk: Drugs and Sport (Dubuque: Wm. […]
NY Times: Children Need a Father
October 29, 2015 by · 1 Comment
In recent years, as The New York Times has glorified the sexual revolution’s redefinition of the family, the paper has vigorously argued that children are not really disadvantaged by having no father. ((See Albert Mohler, “The Briefing 10-28-15,” http://www.albertmohler.com/2015/10/28/the-briefing-10-28-15/.)) The Times’ blaring message has been that it makes no difference whether a child has one […]
Watergate and Evidence for Christ’s Resurrection
October 23, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Skeptics of Christianity must somehow explain the empty tomb without admitting that anything miraculous happened. Therefore, some have suggested that Peter and the other apostles fabricated the story about Jesus’ resurrection. Is it plausible to believe that Jesus’ disciples went about preaching something they knew to be false, the product of conspiracy? One of President […]
The Real Solution to Gun Violence
October 6, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
In the wake of the recent shooting at Umpqua College, political pundits are discussing various proposed solutions for gun violence. There is widespread disagreement about whether and how much government regulation is appropriate. Yet there are a few things on which all can agree: Guns as such do not commit crimes—people use guns in committing […]
The Pope’s Confusing Position on Abortion
September 2, 2015 by · 3 Comments
Catholicism has been known for its opposition to elective abortion. The Catholic church has stood against abortion in the sense that the church’s Canon Law states that one’s participating in abortion procedure results in his automatic excommunication from the church. ((Code of Canon Law, TITLE VI, http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P57.HTM; cf. Colin B. Donovan, “Abortion – Excommunication,” EWTN […]
Revolt in Israel
August 10, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Numbers 16 and 17 are fascinating chapters. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, along with 250 chiefs of Israel, accused Moses and Aaron of taking the leadership of Israel by presumption: “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you […]
The Virgin Birth and Isaiah 7:14
August 6, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Sometimes it is suggested that the virgin birth of Jesus is not very important, and that we don’t really need to believe in it. ((E.g., Michael Langford, The Tradition of Liberal Theology, (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2014), 54.)) However, if Christ was not born of a virgin, then the Bible is plainly incorrect in teaching that […]
God is Not Mocked
August 3, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Does anyone really try to mock, ridicule, or sneer at God? It must be a real temptation for some to mock God, for Paul warned us against it in Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” Enemies of God have sometimes mocked God […]