In Defense of the Christian Faith

The following is another essay that my brother wrote (yes, he is a good essayist! :D). This time, it centers on Lew Wallace. While reading it, I was reminded of a post that I did last December on this (for Inspiring Story, ironically!). I think my brother covered most of what was mentioned there, but the article which I referenced in my post gave a little more detail in certain areas. Anyway, I find Lew's story to be a great inspiration! Enjoy! -------- Lew Wallace: Life and Legacy Although Lewis “Lew” Wallace served as a governor, lawyer, American statesman and Union general (Wikipedia), he is best known for his works of literature. And of his seven works, he is most remembered for Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ , ironically written from his search of the Christ. Wallace's realization that he did not know his own religion set him on a journey to find out who God was. Lew Wallace was born in 1827. His mother died when he was seven, and his father soon became a ...

I just found this amazing article last night: 'God's eye view': Artist uses Google Earth images to recreate parting of Red Sea and Christ's crucifixion . Here is what it's all about: An artist has recreated key scenes from the Bible such as Jesus's crucifixion and the parting of the Red Sea to show what they would have looked like from space. The 'God's eye view' re-enacts moments including Noah's Ark in the floods and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as seen from a satellite. James Dive spent more than three months painstakingly researching the Biblical locations on Google Earth. Apparently, he had to mix and match different places on earth to get just the right look... 'None of the images are entirely geographically accurate, as each contains a combination of a number of satellite photos merged together. 'But there are true elements such as the Red Sea in the Moses piece.' Go check out the entire article to see all the pic...

"For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter." ~ 2 Corinthians 7: 11 This week, I'd like to talk about godly sorrow. Some people think that when they feel sorry for their sins, that this is godly sorrow; but it is usually condemnation or guilt, because godly sorrow produces repentance. And that is what I'd like to talk about today. I apologize for the length of this post, but I assure you all that it is well worth the read; take it in small bites if you'd like! Let me know what you think! The literal translation of this Scripture is as follows: "For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what diligence (haste) it wrought in you, yea, what excuse (separation), yea, what d...

I just received a Living Water's Newsletter (Do you receive them? If not, you should!), and I was excited to see this: “Dear Ray, I am an atheist. I have read much of your blog, from its innocent beginnings, to the turning point of the atheists flooding the comment pages… and as I read the hateful things the atheists say to/about you and God, I want to assure you that we are not all so closed-minded and hateful. I appreciate everything you are trying to do for us. I admire your unwavering faith, your tolerance and humor, and I know you will never give up on the atheists! Thank you for opening my mind.” ~R. I am aware that there are other likeminded atheists out there; however, each time I see a truly open-minded atheist , it is so refreshing. For the most part, all you ever see are those who may or may not claim to be open-minded as they search for the truth, and then they pick apart everything that you say. So I'm glad to see that there are some sincere atheists out there...

Last week, I talked about Richard Wurmbrand and how he forgave his torturer, resulting in that man's salvation. This week, I would again like to use Richard as an example for today's Inspiring Story. I've read the Voice of Martyrs magazines cover-to-cover, because they present the heroic actions of people who have given their all for Christ no matter what the cost. Lately, I've been re-reading some older VOM magazines. Here is an excerpt from the December 2005 issue... --------------- Seventy Christians came together for the secret prayer meeting. It was dangerous to have so many gathered together, but tonight was a special night. They were saying good-bye to their pastor and his wife and son who were leaving the country the next morning. The pastor's family could have left some 20 years earlier, before the inevitable oppression came upon them in full force, but they chose to stay and serve. However, the years of prison and torture had taken their toll, and another ...

Last month, I posted about the Pennsylvania book on the history of innovations . I stated that I thought it was rather absurd that it states very matter of factly, "Vast tropical swamps covered Western Pennsylvania..." Yeah right... as if they were there to witness the event! I promised to give more evidence against this, but for now, I wanted to post a quote by evolutionist Sir Fredrick Hoyle.... “The likelihood (probability) of the spontaneous formation of life from inanimate matter is one to number with 40,000 noughts after it ... It is big enough to bury Darwin and the whole theory of evolution. There was no primeval soup, neither on this planet nor on any other, and if the beginnings of life were not random, they must therefore have been the product of purposeful intelligence.” (Source: Sir Fredrick Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe, Evolution from Space, New York, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984, p. 148.) This is from an EVOLUTIONIST, people! You might get some ev...

The following is an entry from my journal on July 15. I don't normally go writing a whole study in my journal, but this is something that I felt the Lord was dealing with me about; I want to share it for today's Word For Wednesday... This morning, I was reading 2 Corinthians chapter 6, and I was beginning to think, “God, are you trying to show me something?”-- ever had that feeling? -- when I suddenly came across this verse (16): “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” This struck me, because I’ve been having a hard time putting God first in the day. I do have my devotion time, but it seems that lately, something has come along to distract me first thing; and then my time with God gets pushed to the back burner – to later in the day. Connecting with God is so important, because it builds our relationship with ...

Leviticus 19:29 "'Do not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry, and the land become full of wickedness.'" This past Sunday, I was made aware of the horrific reality of human traffiking. Around the world, children are sold by their parents into a life of slavery, which includes prostitution and other heinous acts -- things which such young children should never have to see, let alone partake of. Why? Because poverty is present in many areas of the world, and human traffiking is a lucrative business. Children as young as 5 to 7 years old are caught in the middle of this endless nightmare! Many times, children are even kidnapped by human traffickers! 12.3 million children are sold into slavery, and every 30 seconds one more precious soul is snatched by this giant! I was also shocked to learn that this is not just happening over in places far away like Cambodia; it is happening right here in my hometown! What especiall...

Time for another Inspiring Story! Anyone is welcome to participate, but be sure to check out the guidelines first. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links... The following is a repost of an essay that I wrote on God's existence using the remarkable story of a Vietnamese Christian. I was reminded of it while considering my recent post, "Faith: The Stumbling Block." Enjoy! ----------------- Today’s Inspiring Story is an essay I wrote recently about Between Two Tigers, a book published by the Voice of the Martyrs. I am aware that to a skeptic this might not be enough “proof” that there is a God. However, it goes along so well with what I was talking about...: that only when our hearts are pure will we see the Lord. Some people think they’re sincere when they say, “If God exists, prove it to me!” And then when you show them, they shoot down everything you say with their own arguments. This, to me, says that...

A while back, I posted about the topic of theistic evolution . I was dumbfounded by the fact that so many Christians could believe in evolution. Why would you even bother to believe in a Divine Creator then? In my post, I by no means considered all angles of this argument; I merely talked about my particular view on the subject in relation to Scripture. Well, I just finished reading an EXCELLENT summary on theistic evolution and why it does not stand to scrutiny entitled "Theistic Problems with Theistic Evolution." It's written by new blogger and current student of apologetics at Biola University, Melissa Travis . Mary Jo Sharp has posted the entire article on her blog, Confident Christianity . I wanted to quote portions of it here along with my thoughts. But please go over to the CC blog and read the article for yourself; it's well worth the read! ---------------- If you have spent time around small children, it’s likely that you are familiar with the shape-sortin...