APOLOGETICS

In a class of Christians and non-Christians, there’s never any debate as to whether our world is going the way it should…For my students who do not believe in God, how can it be said things are not going as they should? Doesn’t a should always imply desire, intent, or purpose? A perversion always implies a purpose. Any assumption that things in our world are not the way they’re supposed to be implies a desire, a purpose, a meaning that gave rise to our world…As Reinhold Niebuhr famously said, “The doctrine of original sin is the only empirically verifiable doctrine of the Christian faith.” The Gift of Thorns: Jesus, the Flesh, and the War for Our Wants by A.J. Swoboda

I presented some emerging research in the field of sexuality around the nature of female orgasm. It turns out (this is no joke) that biologists can provide zero anatomical explanation as to why the female body can climax with an orgasm from an evolutionary perspective. I tried to bring theological clarity where science was scratching its head. I argued that scientists have uncovered what is perhaps one of the most compelling argument for God’s existence. Could it be that we worship a God who gives the gift of pleasure just because? In nearly two decades of education, I’ve never seen more students interested in becoming theology majors. The Gift of Thorns: Jesus, the Flesh, and the War for Our Wants by A.J. Swoboda

Sylvia Plath, “I am afraid. I am not solid, but hollow. I feel behind my eyes a numb, paralyzed cavern, a pit of hell, a mimicking nothingness. . . . I do not know who I am, where I am going.” The Gift of Thorns: Jesus, the Flesh, and the War for Our Wants by A.J. Swoboda

“100 years from my day, there will not be a Bible on earth, except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker. That was the prediction of the French intellectual and sceptic Voltaire 300 years ago.” Why does the Bible refuse to die? on The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God Podcast

“The critiques of modern skeptics are often aimed at discrediting the Bible, especially the Old Testament, as an immoral text, even as they essentially launch their critique from a fundamentally Christian moral outlook.” Tom Holland on Why does the Bible refuse to die? on The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God Podcast

“I mean, where the hell do people think the human rights came from? Yeah. These are things that exist on the embers of Christian thought. But you know, as well as I do, Douglas, that there are people, that there are a lot of people who say, well, I'm totally opposed to what Islam's doing. And then they suddenly, but they say, I'm a secular, rational atheist. No, they're a secular, rational Christian atheist. Right, right. They may not want to be, but they are. They still dream Christian dreams. They still have Christian thoughts and impulses. They don't actually behave as they would if they had no baggage at all. But this is one of the most important things, is what is our attitude towards this part.” Douglas Murray and Mark Steyn. The New Thinkers on The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God Podcast.