Warren Christian Apologetics Center
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Articles - Miscellanea

The Gate of the Year

Minnie Louise Haskins (1875-1957) was a British writer, missions worker, London School of Economics student and teacher, and industrial welfare leader in the first half of the 20th century. In addition to her literary work as a poet and novelist, Haskins and Eleanor T. Kelly co-authoredFoundations of Industrial Welfare, a significant publication promoting a spirit of cooperation between worker and employer. However, it is a small collection of poetry published in 1908 that contains the obscure poem for which Minnie Haskins is best remembered. Originally published under the title “God Knows,” this poem is best known from its popular title “The Gate of the Year.”

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Of Chickens and Eggs

Questions of origins are important if only because everyone has a beginning and may eventually question life’s purpose. Even the process of life in which we find ourselves seems to require an explanation. Understanding how humanity originated is important because its answer touches on one of the most fundamental of inquiries —the nature and authority of ethical thought.

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A Mixed Up Society

Society is a mess. Perhaps, we can describe our society as living in chaos. It is scary when we contemplate the society in which we live.

Civil government is ordained of God to which all men are subject in order that good and safety may prevail and evil may be controlled (Romans 13:1-3). As such civil government is for our good—for all citizens. This creates a societal setting in which peace and security can be practiced and enjoyed (Romans 13:4-7).

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A Christian Worldview Response to Current Bioethical Issues (Part 2)

The last fifty years have brought many advances in healthcare, but they have also brought challenging moral dilemmas. On one end of life, its beginning, people are pressed by American culture to accept what is described as “a woman’s right to choose” when for many Christians that seems an inappropriate response to life in the womb. At the other end of life people are offered the benefits of medical science that can resuscitate and sustain bodily functions through extraordinary means, even when there seems no hope of recovery. In between, people struggle with illness and disease needing someone to help. In this article I consider how Christians can and should help, whether they work in healthcare themselves or simply understand and support others who have such careers.

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Verifiable Evidence

The Christian’s faith is not built on a blind faith, but is based on verifiable evidence. If a person believes when there is no evidence, his faith is a baseless faith. Adequate evidence is available to verify all that Christians believe.

“Now faith is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

   We all believe in what we have not seen, and for good reasons, for there is evidence that what we have not seen exists.

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The Vision of Thomas B. Warren

In his book, A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanauken describes his friend and mentor, C. S. Lewis, as “a man who could so swiftly cut through anything that even approached fuzzy thinking.” Van (as he was called by Lewis) goes on to say that C. S. Lewis “in brilliance, in wit, and in incisiveness, could hold his own with any man that ever lived” (of course, excluding the God-Man, Jesus Christ).

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Tell Me What This Center Is About

One of the most frequently asked questions about Warren Apologetics Center is: “What is this ‘apologetics center’ about?” Answering this question in such a way that people have a clear understanding is extremely crucial to the overall success of this project. We have worked hard to do this, but we continue working harder attempting to do an even better job communicating what Warren Apologetics Center is all about.

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Let Us Rise Up and Build

Less than ten years ago, the late Dr. Antony Flew, whom Professor Thomas B. Warren debated on the existence of God in 1976, announced that he (Flew) had given up atheism and embraced theism. The news sent shock waves through the philosophical world. Professor Flew’s “pilgrimage of reason” (as he described it) is chronicled in his 2007 book There Is A God. This former British atheist wrote that he had been influenced in recent years by the philosopher David Conway’s argument for God’s existence in Conway’s 2000 book The Rediscovery of Wisdom: From Here to Antiquity in Quest of Sophia. 

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Genesis Account of Creation

Life, and specifically human life, exists today. So far as I know, there have been only two explanations for the existence of this life advanced. Creation, the idea that a superior, intelligent and powerful being brought this life into being apart from natural laws; and Evolution, the idea that life began purely by natural law in a very primitive form and developed purely by natural law to the forms in which we find it now.

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If A Man Dies Shall He Live Again?

The words, “If a man dies, shall he live again” (Job 14:14) occur within the cycle of controversy with Zophar. Zophar, agreeing with Eliphaz and Bildad, claimed Job’s suffering was the result of Job sinning. Job replies to Zophar in chapters twelve, thirteen, and fourteen. The question of Job, “If a man dies, shall he live again?” is addressed to God.

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Do They Know that No One Knows?

If one word were chosen to describe the prevailing general attitude theologically, the most appropriate word would be “schizophrenic.” This is not merely to say that one theologian will radically contradict another, but to the fact that a theologian will hold views violently contradicted by other views he also holds. This situation is the rule rather than the exception.

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Missing Links

Many people are convinced that humans have evolved from lower life-forms. For years and years, researchers have done their best to produce the missing link between man and his supposed animal ancestors. To date, no proof has been found. The “Missing Link” is still missing. Generally speaking, the cycle goes something like this: 1) a unique fossil is found, 2) it is immediately hailed as the long awaited link to our past, 3) careful research is done by both creationists and naturalists, 4) the item is unanimously found to be either a fully formed animal or human – not a transitional being (or sometimes just discovered to be a complete hoax). So the cycle continues! The search must go on! The link must be found!

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Celebrating July 4th While Remembering Divine Judgment

A while back, President George W. Bush released his book of memoirs titled, Decision Points. Each chapter of the book concerns some point of major decision in his life or presidency. Borrowing from his terminology, I suggest that “Decision Point” sums up the basic message of a passage from the Old Testament prophet Joel which says, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:14). The statement is located in the context of an announcement of the judgment of God in time, and at the end oftime. I believe Aebi to be correct in his conclusion that this “is [1] primarily descriptive of Pentecost, in which the gospel by which people are judged began to be preached; then [2] it is descriptive of the any judgments of God throughout the Christian era, and [3] finally descriptive of the day of judgment at the end of the world” (75).

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Laying the Foundations Evolution vs Design - Part 4

Moving forward with our historical narrative of the development and adoption of evolution by Western culture, an accounting for the secularization of science, not only in biology but also in astronomy, cosmology, geology, and other earth sciences must be given. Part three in this series examined a very small part of the history that led Western thought to doubt the Bible’s revelation of anything materialistic. This included the revelation of the origin of mankind, the planet, and generally anything found in the Genesis account of creation. Miraculous manifestations were considered mythological and humanism was replacing a reverence for God.

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The Fast Growing Cultural Demographic of Secularism and Skepticism

A NEWSMAX article in late December 2012 stated: “Hardcore atheists are one of society’s fastest growing demographics and they are marching assertively into the public square” (18). 
In their 2008 book—Religious America, Secular Europe?—three professors (Berger, Davie, and Fokas) address the growth and influence of secularistic thought, especially in the western world. Concerning America they write,

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Laying the Foundations: Evolution vs Design - Part 3

In the last article (Part Two of “Laying the Foundations”) the development of the scientific approach was shown to have theological foundations as most students of the sciences had been educated by the Christian churches of that time.  The inquiry into life and the cosmos was a natural outcome of biblical studies.  Since the Bible asserted that God was creator, naturally men so inclined to agree should look for His signature in all that is made.  The apparent design of the world and its habitants beg for a designer.  The Bible repeatedly claims that God exists and that He is the beginning of all things that can be known in the physical universe. We left off with the dark ages and began to enter the scientific revolution and the age of reason.  We continue this historical narrative to more fully understand the development of science and in particular its movement from a theological perspective to a secular, even atheistic perspective today.

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Practical Atheism and Practical Theism

I have personally seen articles and books on “practical atheism.”  Different than speculative atheism or philosophical atheism, “practical atheism” is found in the lives of many people who believe in God but who live as if He does not exist.  “Practical theism” is quite another issue.  I have never seen anything written on this before, with the exception of what I have written myself.  “Practical theism” exists in the person who doubts or is uncertain as the existence of God, but “acts as if” He really does exist (whether they have decided this on their own, or they have been counseled to adopt this position).  I intend to address both of these issues in this essay.

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Laying the Foundations: Evolution vs Design - Part 2

Introduction: In the last two articles, I have made the contention that the so-called science of evolution has no basis in fact. Natural selection has a real but minimal impact on increasing the success of the specie within an ecosystem but only because the genetics available are from a pre-existing design. It is in the process of sexual reproduction when these genes can be randomly rearranged by several well-known, but highly complex preprogrammed mechanisms, that produce the egg or sperm cells. It is at the fertilization of the egg from which variation may arise in the new individual. Our breeding programs can select for the many combinations that give rise to differences in shape, size and ability for that specie. This has been seen within a very short time within breeding programs or in animals and plants that have gone feral.

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Politics or Worldviews

After scrubbing all recognition of God from its official 2012 Presidential platform, one of Americas two major political parties, in unprecedented fashion, narrowly "passed" a resolution to "put God back in" the platform. Most observers seemed to agree that the decision was by no means made with the two-thirds majority needed. However, somehow, in an arena shaking with a chorus of "boos," God was "voted back in." Is it a sad situation? Yes. Disappointing? Very. Alarming? Certainly. But, surprising? Not!

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