“For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.” – Isaiah 57:15
Jonathan Morrow
Gospel Coalition Reviews Our New Book – is God Just a Human Invention?
Thanks to Denise Heebner over at the Gospel Coalition for her review of is God Just a Human Invention? Here is a little of it:
There are questions being asked today that we can’t afford to ignore. Is faith irrational? Are miracles possible? Can people be good without God? These are just a few of the philosophical and biblical questions being asked by people who want intelligent answers. The problem is the people willing to answer these questions are not always the ones inside the church. There is a strong voice outside of the church that has crept into popular culture and is avidly proposing that there is no God, no biblical worldview, and no truth found in the Scriptures. In Is God Just a Human Invention?, Sean McDowell and Jonathan Morrow take a look at the logic and reasoning behind this New Atheist movement, set out to show their error, and provide truth from a biblical standpoint.
This book is both timely and practical as it engages the New Atheist movement. This movement is a 21st century surge that proposes the idea that atheists no longer need to take a tolerant approach towards religion. Instead they use evidence, mostly scientific, to discredit religious truths. McDowell and Morrow engage in 17 of the more popular questions raised by the New Atheists. “It seems a growing number of people—on both sides of the God question—are no longer content to ‘play church.’ Either what people believe is true and they are going to attempt to live out their faith in all areas of life, or it’s false and people shouldn’t waste their time going through the motions of their childhood faith if it really doesn’t make any difference. . . . This is both an opportunity and a challenge for people of faith” (p.12). McDowell and Morrow rise up to this challenge as they systematically explain and breakdown the arguments raised by the New Atheists.
Is God a Human Invention? is split into two parts. The first part responds to scientific and philosophical challenges, while the second part responds to moral and biblical ones. Each chapter…(read the rest)
Why Think Christianly?
“… encouraging and equipping the next generation to think Christianly about all of life.”
Engaging the Spirit of the Age Without Losing our Soul
“In this climate, the crucial challenge is to present Christianity as a unified, comprehensive truth that is not restricted to the upper story. We must have the confidence that it is true on all levels—that it can stand up to rigorous rational and historical testing, while also fulfilling our highest spiritual ideals. Christians are called to resist the spirit of the world, yet that spirit changes constantly. The challenges facing our generation are not the same that faced an earlier generation. In order to resist the spirit of the world, we must recognize the form it takes in our own day. Otherwise, we will fail to resist it, and indeed may even unconsciously absorb it ourselves.” – Nancey Pearcey (Total Truth)
Amen…may we show ourselves faithful in this generation! Here are some verses that need to guide our path…(Romans 12:1-2; 2 Cor. 10:3-5; Jude 3; 2 Cor. 7:1; 2 Tim. 2:15)
What Do Millennials Believe?
Ed Stetzer has a new blog post on some of the beliefs of the Millenials (born between 1980-91); here are a few of the findings:
- Thirty-eight percent of Millennials say their religious beliefs have no influence on their lives.
- Thirty-two percent indicate their beliefs have a strongly positive influence.
- Fifty percent say a church or house of worship has no influence on their lives. Twenty-two percent indicate a church has a strongly positive influence.
- 18 percent of all Millennials indicate they get a lot of guidance or advice from sacred texts such as the Bible, Torah or Koran, while another 24 percent get some. The most common answer (37 percent) is none at all.