Challenge: Miracles Can’t Happen

Since Christianity depends on the truth of the resurrection, here’s an objection you’re likely to encounter:

I don’t believe in miracles, I believe in science. We know the laws of nature, and it’s absolutely impossible for anyone to rise from the dead, so what you’re telling me about Jesus couldn’t be true.

Do the laws of nature prove that Jesus didn’t rise from the dead? Are miracles possible? Tell us how you’d help your friend work through his objection. As always, Brett will be back with some tips for you later this week.

Looking for Purpose

A revealing quote by atheist Matt Ridley from the “Does the Universe Have a Purpose?” debate:

We’ve searched for purpose in the large structures of space, we’ve searched for it in the subatomic particles, we’ve searched for it in natural history, we’ve searched for it in bodies, we’ve searched for it in genes. We haven’t found it. Yes, it might be around the corner, but it doesn’t seem very likely now. We’ve found pattern, we haven’t found purpose. That’s telling us something. It’s a unicorn.

He’s spot on about one thing: Purpose can’t come from mere matter. No great mind behind the universe, no purpose. But his method of looking for it reminds me of this.

Is the Shroud of Turin Evidence for Jesus?

Resurrection scholar Gary Habermas has done some interesting work on the Shroud of Turin.  You can read his paper on the Shroud’s significance for Biblical studies.  And Habermas also responds to some challenges.

In this video clip, Dr. Habermas discusses the image on the shroud and its possible cause:

Friday Fun: A Thanksgiving Moment

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Prayer

Human Embryos Die Naturally…So What?

Alan ran into a physician who argued that it is morally permissible to perform embryonic stem cell research because most human embryos die of natural causes in the first three weeks after fertilization. Here’s what he told her.

Does the Universe Have a Purpose?

Since Thursday is Thanksgiving, we’re taking a break from the challenges this week. Instead, watch this real-life challenge–a panel debate on the question, “Does the Universe Have a Purpose?” featuring Richard Dawkins and William Lane Craig. (The introduction is in Spanish, but the debate is in English.)

Why YOU Should Go to ETS Next Year

Challenge Response: We Can’t Know Jesus Rose From the Dead

A resurrection Jedi Master answers this week’s challenge question:

Buy his new book HERE.  Check out his website HERE.

Should We See More Historical Data about Jesus?

We’ll be hearing from Brett soon on this week’s challenge, but in the meantime, I happened to come across this blog post by Chad at Truthbomb Apologetics that was asking a very similar question this week:

If Jesus really performed miracles and rose from the dead, we would have more historical records referring to Him.

Chad posts a excerpt from The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas and Mike Licona that I thought would be helpful in answering one part of this week’s challenge:

New Testament Scholar Craig Blomberg , who served as an editor for and contributor to a large scholarly work on the Gospels, provides four reasons why more was not written on Jesus in his time: “the humble beginnings of Christianity, the remote location of Palestine on the eastern frontiers of the Roman empire, the small percentage of the works of ancient Graeco-Roman historians which have survived, and the lack of attention paid by those which are extant to Jewish figures in general.”

Habermas and Licona go on to compare the contemporary writings about Jesus (within 150 years) with those available for other well-known, ancient, historical figures. Read the whole thing here.