Without Excuse: Apologetics Blog

Certainly there have been wars fought over religion, just like there have been wars fought over land and just about everything else. However wars fought over religion have been blown out of proportion compared to secular or non-religious wars. According to Philip and Axlerod's three-volume Encyclopedia of Wars, of the 1,763 wars that have been waged over human history only 123 (6.98%) have been religious in nature. The 20th century was the bloodiest century in human history. It's estimated 160 million were killed from wars and despotism. World War 1, World War 2, Korea, Vietnam, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, The gulags, the holocaust. The thing all these have in common is they were non-religious conflicts. The truth is governments have killed more people than any religion. When it comes down to it the source of human conflict is not religion. People go to war for all kinds of reasons. The source of conflict is human nature, or more specifically the fallen sinful nat...

Ultimately at some point in our lives will ask ourselves does God exist? There is really only two possibilities to this question, either were here though natural means or were here through super-natural means. That's it. It's either one or the other. If we are here through natural means then that leaves us with evolution as the only viable theory. There are however problems with evolution. For one things never move from disorder to order, this would violate the law of entropy. Everything moves from order to disorder... for example people get old and die, lawns will become over-grown if not mowed, your house will move from order to disorder if it is not cleaned, etc. Second the fossil record does not show all the transitional forms that should exist if evolution were true. Darwin admitted that the state of the fossil evidence was "the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory,". Third it remains a "theory" that has never been ...

Why is there suffering? How could a loving God allow suffering? I will offer my supposition, as such it will contain speculation and conjecture. So I do not present it as the gospel truth only as a plausible answer to a difficult question. Everyday we see pain and suffering and it becomes difficult to understand why God would allow it when he has the power to stop it. But our perspectives here on earth are very limited. In many ways we are like a fly on the Mona Lisa. All the fly see's is a big blotch of paint. Only when we step back do we see the complete picture, and the master piece that it is. In order to see the big picture we have to start at the very beginning. In heaven everything is perfect, there is no sickness or death or suffering. How then did Satan convince one third of the angels to rebel against God? They already had paradise what more could he offer? I imagine he began to ask them questions we also ask ourselves, questions such as why is sin bad?  Does God rea...

50 arguments for pre-tribulationism, from the book "The Rapture Question" by John F. Walvoord. 1)Historically speaking while post-tribulationism appeared as early as 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2, many in the church believed in the eminency of the Lord's return. 2)The detailed development of pre-tribulational truth during the last few centuries does not prove that the doctrine is new or novel. 3)Pre-tribulation is the only view that allows literal interpretation of all old and new passages on the great tribulation. 4)Pre-tribulationism distinguishes clearly between Israel and the church 5)Pre-tribulationism maintains a scriptural distinction between the great tribulation and tribulation in general. 6)The great tribulation is properly interpreted by Pre-tribulationist as a time for the preparation of Israel's restoration. 7)None of the Old Testament passages on the tribulation mention the church. 8)None of the New Testament passages on the tribulatio...

What is the Pretribulation rapture? The Pretribulation rapture is the belief that Jesus returns for the church before the tribulation (Also known as Daniel's 70th week). It's based upon the "catching up" in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. Where does the word "rapture" come from?  The word "rapture" comes from Latin word " rapturo", which is the translation for the Greek word "harpazo" which means "Caught up" (1Th 4:17) The premise of the Pretribulation rapture can be summed up in one verse, “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1Th 5:9). It is demonstrated in scriptures that the righteous are always exempt from God's judgment: -Noah, who called God just (Gen 6:9), is preserved in the Ark from God's judgment upon the earth. (Gen 6:7). -The Lord tells Abraham that He would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if just 10 righteous were found. (Gen 18:32). Lot ...

Liberal Christian theologian John Shelby Spong wrote a scathing opinion piece entitled "The 3 biggest biblical misconception" on why he believes the Bible is not the word of God. You can read his article here. The following is my response to that article. His words are in quoted in red. First, people assume the Bible accurately reflects history. That is absolutely not so, and every biblical scholar recognizes it. Archeology has repeatedly confirmed the validity of the bible from an historical perspective. For instance, there was a time when King David was thought to be a legend like King Arthur. Then in 1994 a fragment was excavated by the ancient city of Dan that gave the first reference to the "House of David" outside of biblical text. The higher critical thinkers also doubted the existence of the Hittites mentioned in the Old Testament, however in 1876 the ruins of the Hittite empire was discovered at Boghaz-Koy with more than 10,000 clay tablets chroni...