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RESOURCES ON APOLOGETICS
COMMENTARIES ON APOLOGETICS
Transcriptions of commentaries by Gregory Koukl from the radio broadcast Stand to Reason.
Topic Categories
Answering the Problem of Evil
- A Good Reason for Evil -- What is evil? Could it have a purpose? Here is a view of evil from an adult rather than a childish perspective.
- Augustine on Evil -- Is God the author of evil or its helpless victim? St. Augustine's answer has been the most intellectually credible and emotionally satisfying solution to this vexing problem.
- Bosnia, Rape and the Problem of Evil -- Greg responds to a letter to the editor in which the writer's pain causes him to ask the age-old question of why God allows evil to exist.
- Complaints or Contentment? -- Does God owe us a perfect world? Your answer to that question will determine your ability to be content in this life. Greg discusses how two different responses to the untimely death of a teenager reveals two contrasting views prevalent the Christian world today...and which of them more closely reflects the biblical perspective.
- Euthyphro's Dilemma -- Plato's challenge concerning the nature of goodness is still being heard today: Is an act right because God says it's so, or does God say it's so because it's right?
- God Is Not Responsible -- Are people who commit crimes in the name of Christianity Christians?
- Hitler and Mother Teresa -- What kind of God would allow a Hitler to go to heaven if he believed in Jesus and a Mother Teresa to go to hell if she didn't?
- Is God Culpable for Evil He Knows Will Take Place? -- Why doesn't God save everybody?
- Sixty Second Theodicy -- How to respond to the problem of evil, neatly and quickly.
- The Strength of God & the Problem of Evil -- What makes you think the ability to take away evil from the world has anything to do with God's strength?
Comparing Christianity to other World Views
- Atheism: Greg Koukl's Debate with Dr. Michael Shermer on Hugh Hewitt's radio show
- Capital Punishment: Is Man a Machine or a Moral Agent? -- See how your view of capital punishment says a lot about your view of mankind.
- Christianity: Bolted to Reality - Christianity explains features of our world better than any other world view. It's grounded in the nuts and bolts of life.
- Faith and Facts -- Can you give a good definition of biblical faith? How does it relate to science?
- Ground Rules for Talking to Mormons -- You want to inform them, in as polite a way as possible, that they cannot knock on your door as missionaries promoting their religion, proselytizing and seeking to convert you, and then say you are out of bounds when you try to dig a little deeper to see if their case holds water or not.
- Jesus and the Gurus -- Points to remember when someone asserts New Age religion and "Christ- consciousness" are compatible with Jesus and biblical theism.
- Miracles and Unbelief - The atheists' challenge for God to prove Himself by healing an amputee needs a careful answer.
- Morality as a Clue to God -- When faced with the facts, most people would say there are moral absolutes. That established, a whole set of world views become untenable, like Hinduism or atheism or agnosticism.
- Oprah's Religion - A brief analysis of the question whether Eckhart Tolle's book is compatible with Christianity.
- Pluralism? -- One of us must be wrong, at bare minimum. Maybe we both are. But one thing that we can never say is that we're both right.
- Religious Pluralism -- The new definition of pluralism is not only indefensible, but it also discourages critical thinking about the real issues.
- Religious Stew -- When choosing ice cream, you choose what you like. When choosing medicine, you have to choose what heals.
- The Christian Story -- Religions are like puzzles that represent, when pieced together, a picture of reality. These pictures are not all basically the same because the puzzle pieces are different for each religion.
- The Real Murderers: Atheism or Christianity? -- Is it legitimate to condemn religion for historical atrocities? First we had better examine the facts.
- Unbelievable Unbelief -- If the wager is your life, what odds will you take? Find out how to pick a winner.
- When Good Is Evil -- Can a system which teaches good things actually be evil? How we judge between religious world views.
- World Views & Earth Day -- If Earth Day is justified by the moral concept of stewardship of the planet, its celebrants might be surprised about what else comes in that world view package.
- You've Got to Believe Something -- Is belief in nothing an option? Are there world views with no problems? Why rejecting Christianity gives you another set of problems--which might be harder to deal with.
Establishing the Reliability of the Historical Record
Records of Encounters, and Other Helpful Guidance
- 8 Witnessing Tips -- Greg recounts a conversation he overheard and gives some practical witnessing advice based on that discussion.
- A Conversation with Lee -- Record of a discussion with a non-Christian
- A Ten-Minute Witness -- The fisherman recounts an opportunity he had to use the rod and bait God has given us, and he didn't even have to leave his living room.
- Am I Going to Hell? -- Do you think that people who commit moral crimes ought to be punished?
- Arguing is a Virtue -- Is it OK for a Christian to argue with other believers?
- Bigots Among Us? -- If you're a Christian and oppose same-sex marriage, then millions of people think you're a bigot. How should you respond?
- How to Force Your Morality -- Some thoughts on the question "who are you to force your morality on someone else?"
- Jehovah's Witness at My Door -- They backed off. They bailed out. They ran away. Will you?
When I mentioned the deity of Christ, the person in the shadows spoke up for the first time. I wasn't prepared for what she said.
- Jeff -- In answering the very critical questions about what is true and what is false in the spiritual, moral realm, don't make the mistake of abandoning rationality.
- Just Do It -- A story of an encounter in the gym that led to a witness, and an encouragement to "just do it"-- share your faith.
- Knowledge and Relationship in Balance -- So why is it okay for her to state her offense to me, yet it is not okay for me to make a principled point about a moral issue because it offended her personally?
- Knowledge by Intuition -- In the 19th century novel Far From the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy listed intuition as the first evidence for the logician. Learn how to use an appeal to man's intuitive knowledge to defend your Christian world view.
- Morality and the Public Good -- How do we publicly argue for biblical morality without moralizing? It isn't always necessary to quote chapter and verse to persuade.
- Objection Overruled -- Here is an approach for someone who wants 'physical' proof of God's existence.
- People Believe What They Want -- My mind's made up. Don't confuse me with the facts. Come again? Don't get caught with this wrong-headed attitude!
- Shermer - Koukl debate on Hugh Hewitt's radio program
- Strategy for Dealing with Bible Difficulties - When faced with a direct challenge to Christianity, stop and consider all the evidence.
- The Trouble with the Elephant -- The ancient fable of the blind men and the elephant is often used to illustrate the fact that every faith represents just one part of the larger truth about God. However, the attempt is doomed before it gets started. Here's why.
- What Christianity Is About -- Christians have to be able to communicate to the rest of the world. We've got to be able to make coherent sense of our message, even before we demonstrate that our message is actually true.
- Who Are You to Say? -- The "Who are you to say?" challenge is used by non-Christians and Christians, especially by those who deplore the "heresy hunters" in the church. This rejoinder, though, deftly sidesteps the real issue.
Responding to Relativism
- Evil as Evidence for God --Is the presence of evil in the world evidence against God's existence? On the contrary, it's evidence for God's existence.
- Indiscriminate Tolerance - Modern tolerance isn't neutrality, but relativism.
- Insulin or Ice Cream - Non-believers view religion like ice cream. Remarkably, Christians often do, too.
- Preference or Truth? -- How do you respond when someone says "Being a Christian is good for you, but I don't need that"? A look at the ramifications our absolute-truth world view has for ministry.
- Relativism Self-Destructs -- Greg finds a prime example of confused morality on a popular TV talk show.
- Relativists & Sociopaths -- How can some people commit sensationalistic crimes? Greg suggests perhaps they are just championing their moral point of view.
- "Society Says" Relativism -- Some would say "Legal abortion is now the law of the land--get over it." But is there a higher law? The Founding Fathers thought so.
- There is No Truth? -- . . .but at least fifteen things have to be true before this statement can even be uttered in English. What are they?
- When Absolutism is Relative -- Greg clarifies these terms and tells how to discern which biblical absolutes apply to each circumstance.
- When Tolerance Is Intolerant
Other Apologetics
- Is the New Testament Text Reliable? - The phrase, "The Bible's been translated and recopied so many times..." introduces one of the most frequent canards tossed at Christians quoting the Bible. Can we know for certain that the New Testament has been handed down accurately? Yes, we can.
- Is Religion a Noble Deception? -- Because someone can come up with a purely human explanation why someone would believe in God doesn't refute God's existence at all.
- Jesus, Plain and Simple -- Who do you believe about Jesus--those who were closest to Him, or those who are two thousand years removed from the events?
- Jesus: the Antidote -- Why is it that being a "good person" will not get you into heaven?
- Knowledge, Assent and Trust -- Greg gives some practical insights into evaluating your Christian walk.
- K-W-C - Some of the radical solutions proposed by the Emerging Church have better answers if we just understand Christianity correctly.
- Miracles or Myths -- Does it really matter whether the biblical miracles actually happened? If you say it doesn't, you lose something very important.
- Placebo Faith -- How do you know if your faith is a sugar pill or an effective medication? See how Greg confronts the argument of faith being merely a placebo.
- Regarding Apologetics, An Apology -- If we shouldn't use arguments to promote the Gospel--because it's leaning on human wisdom and not God--then what are we to say?
- Testing "New" Revelation -- Is a "burning in the heart" a good way to test claims of revelation? Find out why objective evidence always wins over subjective feelings.
- The Right-Side-Up File -- Are you saying because I'm a Christian that I should have no vote or are you merely saying that I should have no voice?
- A Stone in His Shoe
- The Upper Story Leap -- What's at heart here is not so much science and facts, but a philosophy of doing science which says that you can only talk about things which are scientific and you must remove any reference to a supernatural force whatsoever.
- Was Jesus Reincarnated? -- How to answer the critic who claims Jesus was reincarnated.
- You Want to Be a Good Apologist? - Some helpful advice to understand what you're defending.
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