God's Existence, Science and Faith, Suffering and Evil, Jesus' Resurrection, and Book Reviews

The Power of a Cumulative Case- Part 2

In last week's post, I discussed what a cumulative case is and why it is important. In this part I want to tie the cumulative case to our psychology and go a little deeper into its importance. If you haven't read my Psychology Class Series, please read it before continuing. This will make more sense if you do.

A cumulative case has "power in numbers" on its side. If a conclusion has 100 pieces of evidence and lines of reasoning that support it, one piece or line that goes against it may not necessarily bring the whole thing down. That single piece or line may need to be verified or reinterpreted, but cannot be ignored. If someone is aware of the large cumulative case for their worldview, one discovery is not likely to bring their belief of their worldview down.

The Power of a Cumulative Case- Part 1

Investigations take place all the time. People investigate different happenings and phenomena throughout the world. Investigations are how we come to understand and are able to explain things. In any investigation, a series of evidences are compiled. Any explanation that is to be considered plausible must account for all the evidence. Investigators attempt to enter an investigation without any assumptions prior to seeing evidence. The truth is that an investigator has a reason for investigating otherwise investigating would be of little value.

Essay on Apologetics 315

As mentioned before, I wrote an essay a while back to be published on Apologetics 315 as part of a series of short essays about the truth of Christianity. Brian Auten has been publishing essays since the beginning of the month, and all of them have been fantastic. I have found many bloggers that I was not aware of. The cumulative resources among all of them is astounding. Definitely check out the series.

Today, its my turn. My essay "Making Sense of the Resurrection" was published. Enjoy and God Bless!

What's Wrong With Universalism- Part 2

Last week I looked at one of the arguments for universalism. The argument was that since all the religions teach pretty much the same moral code, the religions must lead to the same place. Since the original writing of that post, I have been provided with a more nuanced argument that eliminates that the idea that all religions are the same. They maintain that the religions can be different and still lead to the same destination. Since the argument is more nuanced now, so will my answer.

Universalism posits that all religions lead to the same destination as long as the adherent is sincerely following whatever religion. Universalists like to point to the fact that people all have different "starting points" in life . The two primary examples given is geographical location and culture- both can be barriers to receiving information about the "correct" worldview. They believe that this is not fair, and since they project their idea of "fairness" onto any deity that might exist (see my previous series "God: Your Way, Right Away"), they conclude that exclusivistic religions are not correct. They also say that since there are many ways that one can go to reach a physical destination, this must be the same with regards to the religions.

Is Christianity True? Essay Series

A couple months ago Brian Auten of the Apologetics315 blog invited Christian apologetics bloggers to contribute to a new project. His goal was to compile essays that clearly communicated some of the reasons that apologists believe that Christianity stands true while other worldviews fall. His goal was to mainly have essays that provided positive cases for the truth of Christianity.

23 bloggers, including myself, accepted the invite. On Thursday, Brian introduced the series. Here is the link:

Essay Series: Is Christianity True?

We all have a limited knowledge and understanding of pretty much everything out there, but we do know things that each other do not, and we all have careers and specialized training that bring unique perspectives to the defense of the Christian Faith. I highly encourage all my readers to read these essays and engage the authors, not only on the Apologetics315 posts, but also on the authors' own blogs. We are eager to engage questions and challenges that, not only help guide you closer to the Truth, but also train us for carrying out The Great Commission.