Taking a stand...on what and for what?

I was talking to a lady last week and there are a few points worth passing on.

Justified on justification

I had a chat last week with a "Jehovah's Witness" called Norman about the subject of justification. There are a couple of things worth reporting.

Atheism proven wrong...again.

Atheists very often say that belief in God is a science-stopper, that is, when Christians see something they don't understand they just say, "God did it" and proceed no further. Now this is just factually wrong and historically naive. Modern science got off the ground because of a Christian worldview that led men to investigate creation to discover its order and laws. Christianity was actually the science-starter! Atheism is actually more guilty of stopping science than Christianity!

Making life worth living?

Stephen Fry has vented his fury at the idea of a God who would allow such suffering in the world. There have been a few very good responses (for example, here, here and here), I offer my own here...

Freedom of conscience?

The year that has passed has seen a big squeeze being put on liberty in this country, the thing is that many people don't see it because they aren't being squeezed, or they don't care because at present they agree with the people doing the squeezing.

What is faith?

The Bible is crystal clear on the fact that salvation is by faith (e.g. Romans 3:28), and given how long eternity is, how awful hell is and how wonderful salvation is, if salvation is by faith we must make sure we know what faith is. Sadly this word is widely misused and abused. I hope this clears the air from the clouds of confusion and mists of misrepresentation.

Liar, Lunatic or Lord - does it matter?

I have been with a couple of friends at a local High School this week and we have been speaking to the students about the subject of "Finding the real Jesus". We were looking at the evidence that there really was a man called Jesus of Nazareth, that this wasn't some fictional, mythical figure. Then we were showing that, although He was really a man, He was not merely a man - He was God. The subject I was given to speak about was this - does it matter anyway?

The fizzing of an astrophysicist

I heard a sad story recently about a young man who has become an atheist "because of science." He is now full of bluster and dripping with scorn about anyone so naive and brainless as to believe in God in this scientific age. This deserves a few comments.

Dawkins' soft-headed, hard-hearted comments

This is not news, the story has receded but I still want to point out some things from Dawkins' comments about the "immorality" of allowing children with Down's Syndrome to be born.

Blind faith

I had a really interesting and enjoyable chat on a plane a while ago with a young man, and I just want to pass on some of the details of the conversation.