Book: Cold-Case Christianity, by J. Warner Wallace

Cold-Case Christianity, by J. Warner Wallace, is a great introductory volume for (at least) two kinds of readers. If you have never taken the time to investigate Christianity (specifically, the Gospels and their claims) from an apologetic point of view, Wallace methodically takes you through this task. If you are a skeptic of the gospel claims, Wallace’s book will challenge you to think about the validity of the gospel claims in a new way. The twist? He goes about his investigation as a former homicide detective!

I have read my fair share of (good) books on this topic, Cold-Case Christianity certainly ranks among them! I’m roughly 1/3 of my way through my paperback copy and excited to finish it (as soon as time allows). The pages are filled with drawings, side-notes, and other fun facts which makes it aesthetically appealing as you flip through it. Below are a few shots I snapped from my copy:

Cold-Case Christianity Sample 2 Cold-Case Christianity Sample 1 Cold-Case Christianity Sample 3

If you are new to apologetics, if you need a refresher, if you enjoy books with a fun twist, you should check it out!

Kindle Edition of Cold Case Christianity

Paperback Edition of Cold Case Christianity

Book: Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism, by Alvin Plantinga

I recently purchased a book by Alvin Plantinga titled Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism. I wanted to post about it here because many of my readers (I believe) would be interested in the topic Plantinga tackles in this 376 page book. I was debating whether or not to purchase it until I began to read the preview on Amazon and this caught my eye.

My overall claim in this book: there is superficial conflict but deep concord between science and theistic religion, but superficial concord and deep conflict between science and naturalism.

Click to enlarge

Kindle screenshot. Click to enlarge.

Basically, the first sentence of the preface sold me on the book! As I write this I am one chapter in and thoroughly enjoying Plantinga’s assessment of Richard Dawkins’ stance on unguided Darwinian evolution. The table of contents is quite impressive. Plantinga will take on many of the “New Atheists” such as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris.

Another aspect of this book I appreciate is that it is written for individuals (like myself) who are not professional philosophers. If you have never made headway into a philosophy book prior to reading this you may want to start off with something more introductory. Plantinga writes

This book is not intended merely for specialists in philosophy. I hope that students with a course or two in philosophy or for that matter anyone with an interest in the subject will find it intelligible and interesting.

This book is for you if you are interested in the philosophy behind the intersection of science and religion. Do they really conflict with one another? Read on and find out!

Kindle Edition of Where the Conflict Really Lies

Hardcover Edition of Where the Conflict Really Lies

Changes to Doctrine and Covenants Section 68

The Evening and the Morning Star Vol 1 No 5 - Oct 1832 - DaC 68

D&C 68 was originally published in The Evening and The Morning Star, Vol. 1, No. 5 in October of 1832

Below is a document I had made for the old website. It is a visual guide to help you see how Mormon Scripture has been quietly edited by LDS leadership. Of course, some changes may seem minor (the adding of a last name, the correcting of poor grammar, etc), but I believe it is important to keep in mind that God purportedly delivered this revelation directly to Joseph Smith Jr. If it was fit to be published at that time, then why were changes made later on? Does LDS leadership believe God gave an unclear or unsuitable revelation? Or, was God clear, but Joseph somehow botched the process? If the latter is the case, then when the early Mormons read what is now D&C 68, were they truly reading Scripture? Or were they deceived?

Red Words have been added

Blue Words have been changed to (What is inside the parentheses)

Words with a line have been deleted

A Revelation, Given November, 1831

My servant, Orson Hyde, was called, by his ordinance (ordination), to proclaim the everlasting gospel, by the spirit of the living God, from people to people, and from land to land, in the congregations of the wicked, in their synagogues, Continue reading →

My Newest Tool for Apologetics

Recently I saved up some money and purchased an iPad. As it turns out, I am typing this post on my touch screen right now (so please forgive any spelling or grammar errors I fail to catch)! I have been looking forward to acquiring this device for a number of reasons, one of which is to help me focus on reading and research.

As many of you know, I am a big fan of Logos Bible Software. They have an amazing app for the iPhone and iPad. When I purchased my first iPhone about a year and a half ago I bought the cheapest one available, a decision I now regret because it has such a small hard drive and that severely limits the number of books I can download to the device. My iPad, on the other hand has 8 times more memory (we’re talking 8 gigs verses 64 gigs here folks). So I figure it like this: plenty of memory + larger screen = (virtually) limitless possibilities. Logos is top notch Bible software which I am proud to use and discuss here. If you have not heard of it I would recommend checking it out at www.logos.com. You can download the app for free but it will cost some money to buy books. I have one of the higher end packages and love it!

In addition to Logos, I have been reading books on my 2nd generation Kindle since my tax return of 2010. While I do not plan on ditching my first e-reader for the newest, shiniest device, I do plans on utilizing the Kindle app, for access to the purchases I have made prior to Logos as well as for other books which are not available on Logos (or which are cheaper than Logos offers). The read-to-me option is not available – as far as I can tell – on the iPad so I will definitely be using my actual Kindle when my eyes need a rest!

I have had gmail since April of 2005 (when it was still invite-only) and have been using google for various services since as far back as I can remember. One of my favorite apps is Google Drive. Formerly known as Google Docs, it is a document creator/manager which works and syncs across multiple devices. If I am working on a document on my desktop and want to take it with me, I just copy it to my Google Drive folder and it automatically uploads and becomes available to all of my devices (so, my iPhone, iPad, and netbook). Sometimes it is necessary to get out of the house and think in another setting. I think it will be useful to bring my work with me and eliminate distractions.

I am using a variety of other apps which do not relate so directly to reading and research. I have downloaded some news apps because I am notorious for not paying attention to what is going on in the world and nation I live in. I would like to have something relevant to say when interesting things happen. Wikipedia’s app is useful as far as a user-contributed encyclopedia can be useful. And I’m not being sarcastic, many times I have used Wikipedia as a spring board to find sources and quick answers which I would then verify by an actual recognized authority (in other words, you won’t see me citing Wikipedia as proof for anything on this site).

So will this ipad and these apps prove useful in my endeavor to study and practice apologetics? Only time will tell! God bless you as you seek to study and defend his word!

Eye On Apologetics Has Changed!

Greetings readers! Eye On Apologetics is changing (yet again). If you have visited before you may recall seeing a main page, a blog, a podcast, each of which I had started at different times using different WordPress installations. It was difficult to navigate through (on my end) and due to my work and school schedule I had neglected to post much anyways. Examining the analytics for this site revealed that the most successful part was the blog, in terms of web traffic. I have decided to make Eye On Apologetics a blog only. One WordPress installation, one mission. This website still exists, as it always has, for the purpose of promoting Christian apologetics, theology and evangelism.