List of important Christian Apologetics questions:
1. How is Jesus unique?
2. How does Jesus prove Christianity to be true?
3. What are the lessons of Jesus’ parables?
4. What are the lessons of Jesus’ sayings?
5. Was Jesus historical? What is the evidence/proof that Jesus was historical?
6. Was Jesus divine?
7. How are miracles possible?
8. Is the Bible we have reliable? Has the Biblical text been corrupted?
9. Which interpretation is correct?
Assumptions in the discussion:
1. Is relativism a legitimate answer?
2. What kinds of proof are legitimate?
3. How should we approach decision-making and critical thinking?
How can we communicate this effectively?
1. Reason
2. Emotion
3. Historical Example
4. Human Experience
5. Scenario/Example
6. Personal story (contains principle, values, wisdom, lesson)
7. Wisdom/Quote
8. Questions (self-reflective)
How did Jesus communicate?
Worldview:
1. What are the limits of relativism?
2. What are the limits of naturalism?
3. What are the limits of materialism?
4. What are the limits of scientism?
5. What are the limits of skepticism?
Why Entrepreneurs Fail: O.M.C.
Lack of organization
Lack of Mindset/Fear
Lack of collaboration. Poor collaboration & coordination.
Be able to directly connect your premise to data, evidence, or proof. (aka why is that true? or why is that the case? what is the evidence for that claim?) Claim and warrants and data go together.
Limit conclusions to data available. This is argument 101. All good critical thinkers and scientists provide the limits of their conclusions based on available data.
Going beyond the available evidence or data only makes your argument a weak argument. For instance, if I get data from 10 people in San Diego. Its hardly the basis for expanding to all Californians or all people in the US. Over-generalization.
Pay attention to the distinctions that make a difference. Humans are prone to conflation. Pay attention to important analytical categories.
Care about the truth. Be more concerned about the truth than “winning” a discussion or argument. Its about truth, not power. If you’re just about winning arguments in conversation you’ve turned from a critical thinker into Trump.
Clearly identify inferences that go beyond the data. Be explicit or self-reflective about any generalizations.
What it the best and truest and most credible take on this issue. What ultimately gives up the best perspective on the truth.
The Best Quotes of Steven Covey from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“Start with the end in mind. ”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Habits are the backbone of our lives.
“Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
What does this meaning in the real world?
“The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
It goes a bit beyond respect, to love. Covey unpacks what love is:
“Love is a verb. Love – the feeling – is the fruit of love the verb or our loving actions. So love her. Sacrifice. Listen to her. Empathize. Appreciate. Affirm her.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“My behavior is a product of my own conscious choices based on principles, rather than a product of my conditions, based on feelings.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“There’s no better way to inform and expand you mind on a regular basis than to get into the habit of reading good literature.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Habit 3: Put First Things First
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Habit 4: Think Win/Win
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“[W]isdom is the child of integrity—being integrated around principles. And integrity is the child of humility and courage. In fact, you could say that humility is the mother of all virtues because humility acknowledges that there are natural laws or principles that govern the universe. They are in charge. Pride teaches us that we are in charge. Humility teaches us to understand and live by principles, because they ultimately govern the consequences of our actions. If humility is the mother, courage is the father of wisdom. Because to truly live by these principles when they are contrary to social mores, norms and values takes enormous courage.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“Independent will is our capacity to act. It gives us the power to transcend our paradigms, to swim upstream, to rewrite our scripts, to act based on principle rather than reacting based on emotion or circumstance.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Power of potential:
“Through imagination, we can visualize the uncredited worlds of potential that lie within us.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“We not not our feelings. We are not our moods. We not even our thoughts.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“When you engage in a work that taps your talent and fuels your passion — that rises out of a great need in the world that you feel drawn by conscience to meet — therein lies your voice, your calling, your soul’s code.”
Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
So thats at least 7 different reasons that atheism is self-contradictory under a rationalist framework. Atheism, materialism, and naturalism undermine rationality, not add to it. I would think those would be seven red flags—which would cause me to question the underlying foundation of materialism and naturalism, which is the basis of most forms of modern atheism.
Finally, here are some questions that might help you “Know thyself” with respect to the ideology of naturalism, materialism, and atheism:
1) Virtue/Wisdom/Leadership (culture & team)
2) Goal Setting
3) Time Management and Productivity
4) Conflict Resolution
5) Attitude & Mindset & Fear
6) Developing Quality Relationships
7) Developing Community
8) Persuasion/Communication (key, along with some critical thinking)
9) Ethical/Virtuous communication
10) Servant Leadership (service experience & consciousness awareness)
11) Self-reflection (self-coaching)
12) Passion/motivation (including quotes)
13) Innovation & Creativity
14) Problem Solving
15) Decision-making & Critical thinking
Articles on Emotional Intelligence:
Emotional Intelligence: What it is and why it matters (link)
Compassion at Work (link)
Books on Emotional Intelligence:
Emotionally Intelligent Workplace (link)
How to Be Happy at Work (link)
Other Emotional Intelligence Resources:
Article Reprints (link)
Reports (link)
More than Sound (link)
Emotional Intelligence Store (link)
Emotionally Intelligent Consortrium (link)
James Bailey
Arnauldo Comuffo
Jane Dutton
Olga Epitropaki
Cary Cherniss
Dennis Encarnation
Lynda Gratton
Margaret Hopkins
John Kotter
Kathy Kram
Peter Kuriloff
Babis Mainemelis
Tom Malnight
Janet Patti
Ken Rhee
Greg Shea
Kenwyn Smith
Robert Stern
Scott Taylor
Susan Wheelan
Jane Wheeler
I apologize. I don’t know the speaker in this case. Humans use identity categories. Ideally, we use them humbly and continently. Perhaps in the orginal post Dev could have added something that noted the specific contingency of the identity category he was using, but the alternative is zero talking about people as more than individuals and that ultimately neglects community and speaking to larger trends. That kind of nuance can add to our discussions and even our logical appeals. My debate background draws me to the notion of the use of qualifiers, that point to the limits of our arguments and assumptions, to make the argument stronger. For instance, clearly the argument “all X are Y” has the potential to have lots of counter arguments. You make it a stronger argument by narrowing the focus and/or providing qualifiers. So, nuance, qualifiers, and humility are all a way forward.
“If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”
Harriet Tubman
For it’s not light that is needed, but fire; it’s not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind and the earthquake in our hearts.
Frederick Douglas
“Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one’s life.”
Kate Chopin
“If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!”
Soren Kierkegaard
“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.”
Washington Irving
“Life always bursts the boundaries of formulas. Defeat may prove to have been the only path to resurrection, despite its ugliness. I take it for granted that to create a tree I condemn a seed to rot. If the first act of resistance comes too late it is doomed to defeat. But it is, nevertheless, the awakening of resistance. Life may grow from it as from a seed.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
“Everything that’s lovely is
But a brief, dreamy kind of delight.”
Y.B. Yeats
The Practical Implications:
Truth is the basis of justice. Truth is also the basis of survival. If there is no such thing as truth libraries, books, the internet, reference texts, and school and the university are a waste of time.
Math is also pretty objective: 2 + 2 = 4. I don’t think that ever changes. Thats pretty objective. Are you saying math isn’t true? Is 2 + 2 equal to something else today or right now?
Lets look at the issue contextually and more concretely:
A good example might be apple pie. People make apple pie differently. People have different conceptions about what an apple pie is, but we still have shared agreement. In fact this applies to cooking almost across the board: steaks, hamburgers, pizza, chicken tenders, chicken pot pie, etc.. (almost ad infinitum).
Every dictionary definitions is an area where there is some disagreement, but also some pretty amazing clarity, because they are printed and no one launches critiques about the latest version of Webster’s beyond a word or two—certainly not all say 10 million words. No, that would be absurd, but thats the kind of absurdity that a relativist proposes.
Its worth noting that there is a difference between the ideal and the real, but you don’t give up on the real or the ideal just because the real is always going to be partially imperfect.
The map never fits the territory exactly, but we don’t stop using maps, because they help us move forward. Maps are imperfect, but useful in reaching the truth.
The assumption behind the relativist’s argument is that if we can’t perceive objective truth it doesn’t exist or it doesn’t matter. Those are both false assumptions and false dilemmas.
The above proves there is not really such a thing as a relativist, because everyone lives as if there is some notion of the truth and that other beings on this planet should in some sense agree with your definition—that is they have notions of expectations about other individuals.
In fact, in a world of subjectivity, where humans don’t agree, we need that Objective truth that only a God can provide. That is you need someone higher to appeal to when there are differences of perspective or opinion.
A World without Ethics:
Truth relativists ultimately have to be moral relativists and thats a dead end, because it undermines our ability to have rights, justice, or a US Constitution. It undermines the ability to have duties, responsibilities, and ultimately civilization. Ethical objectivity (or something very akin to it) is the glue of relationship and civilization. We need shared understandings to have common ground and enough commonality and tranquility to have a peaceful community.
And if we look at the cultures which lack an understanding of respect for life or rights or human dignity—its precisely those societies that are falling apart. So the evening news is a rather large manifesto to not only the value of truth, but also the value of ethical virtue, ethical objectivity, and ultimately fairness and justice. When we sacrifice objectivity—the bottom falls out of the overall security of the people and rule of law—and with it goes pretty much everything we hold dear as a people.
I am God’s child (John 1:12)
I am a branch of Jesus Christ, the True Vine, and the channel of his life (John 15:5)
As a discipline, I am a friend of Jesus Christ (John 15:15)
I have been chosen to bear fruit (John 15:6)
I am free from condemnation (Romans 8:1-2)
I am assured that God works for my good in all circumstances (Romans 8:28)
I am free from any condemnation brought against me, and I cannot be separated from the love of God (Romans 8:31-39)
I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17)
I am God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16(
I have been bought with a price, and I belong to god (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
I am member of Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:27)
“Health is the soul that animates all the enjoyments of life, which fade and are tasteless without it.”
Seneca
“Water is life, and clean water means health.”
Audrey Hepburn
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”
John Muir
“Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.”
Albert Schweitzer
“The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness.”
Arthur Schopenhauer
“A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses.”
Hippocrates
“There’s a need for accepting responsibility – for a person’s life and making choices that are not just ones for immediate short-term comfort. You need to make an investment, and the investment is in health and education.”
Buzz Aldrin
“It takes more than just a good looking body. You’ve got to have the heart and soul to go with it.”
Epictetus
“Treasure the love you receive above all. It will survive long after your good health has vanished.”
Og Mandino
“Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul.”
Epicurus
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
Hippocrates
“Life doesn’t come to us like a math problem. It comes to us the way that a story does, scene by scene. You wake up. What will happen next?….Life unfolds like a drama. Doesn’t it. Each day has a beginning and an end. There are all sorts of characters, all sorts of settings. A year goes by like a chapter in a movie. Sometimes its like a tragedy. Sometimes its like a comedy.” (p.2)
“Because we humans have this craving for meaning–for the rest of the story. We need to know whats going on.” (p.4)
“Our stories tell us who we are, why we are here, and what we are to do. They give us our best answers to all of life’s biggest questions, and to most of the small ones as well.” (p. 5 – 6)
“We humans share the lingering questions: Who am I really? Why an I here? Where will I find life? What does God want of me?” (p. 7)
“This is the Story in which you have found yourself. Here is how it got started. Here is where it went wrong. Here is what will happen next. Now this–this is the role you’ve been given. If you want to fulfill your destiny, this is what you must do. These are your cues. And here is how things are going to turn out in the end.” (p.11) ???
“I’m serious. Think about your favorite movies. Notice that every good story has the same ingredients. Love. Adventure. Danger. Heroism. Romance. Love. Sacrifice. The Battle of Good and Evil. Unlikely heroes. Insurmountable odds. And a little fellowship that in hope beyond hope pulls through in the end.” (p.11)
“There is a story written on the human heart.” (p.13)
“Story is the very nature of reality.” (p.13)
“Story. An epic.
Something hidden in the ancient past.
Something dangerous now unfolding.
Something waiting in the future for us to discover.
Some crucial role for us to play.” (p. 14)
“Christianity, in its true form, tells us that there is an Author and that he is good, the essense of all that is good and beautify and true, for he is the source of all these things. It tells us that he has set our hears’ longings within us, for he has made us to live in an Epic. It warns that the truth is always in danger of being twisted and corrupted and stolen from us because there is a Villian in the Story who hates our hearts and wants to destroy us. It calls us up into a Story that is truer and deeper than any other, and assures us that there we will find the meaning of our lives.
What if?” (p. 14-15)
“The famous atheist Bertrand Russel suggested that if we could strip away all the mystery of this universe and get to the heart of things, what we would probably find there would be a mathematical equation. Something as scientific and impersonal as the origin of eveyrthing else. A cold view of our world, to be sure.
But it fails to explain one thing: How can human personality have come from something impersonal? How can a creature as quirky as your uncle Ed have come from a mathematical equation? It doesn’t add up.”
(p. 20-21).
“Nature was generated not by a computer but by a Person. It is personal in nature. if it seems quirky, its quirky in the way Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Vang Gogh’s Irises are quirky. It reflects personality.” (p. 21)
“Now add this the fact that walking about in this world there are characters with unique personalities who universally have a sense of humor and a love of story, and all of them are haunted at some level by a longing to make sense of things. If our origins are impersonal and accidental, then why are we fro the most part totally dissatisfied with the answer?
No, only personality begets personality.” (p. 22)
(p. 23 to p. 24)
“Into this world God opens his hand, and the animals spring forth. Myriads of birds, in every shape and size and song, take wing–hawks, herons, warblers. All the creatures of the sea leap into it–whales, dolphins, fish of a thousand colors and designs. Thundering across the plains race immense herds of horses, gazelles, buffalo, running lke the wind. It is more astonishing than we could possibly imagine. No wonder “the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy’ (Job 38:7). A great hurrah goes up from the heavens!” (p. 45)
Love
“Creation is growing in precision and intricacy of form and movement and color. Personality is woven through it. And it is building to a crescendo.” (p. 47)
“God creates us in his image, with powers like unto his own–the ability to reason, to create, to share intimacy, to know joy. He gives us laughter and wonder and imagination. And above all else, he endows us with that one quality for which he is most known.” (p.50)
“And with that heart comes something that just staggers me.
God gives us the freedom to reject him.
He gives to each of us a will of our own.” (p. 51)
“He cares so much for our happiness that he endows us with the capacity to love and be loved, which is the greatest happiness of all.
He endows us with a dignity that is almost unimaginable.” (p. 53).
“Most of the misery we suffer on this planet is the fruit of the human heart gone bad. This glorious treasure has been stained, marred, infected. Sin enters the story and spreads like a computer virus.” (p. 57)
“Why does every great story have a rescue?” (p. 61)
“Rescuing the human heart is the hardest mission in the world.
The dilemma of the Story is this: we don’t know if we want to be rescued. We are so enamored with our small stories and our false gods, we are so bound up in our addictions and our self-centeredness and take-it-for-granted unbelief that we don’t even know how to cry out for help. And the Evil One has no intention of letting his captives walk away scot-free. He seduces us, deceives us, assaults us–whatever it takes to keep us in the darkness.” (p. 63)
“He seeks his allies still. Not religion. Not good church people. Lovers. Allies.” (p. 66).
“His death and resurrection shatter the power of the Matrix, set the captives free.” (p. 67)
“God creates us in his
“This is written on the human heart, this longing for happily ever after.” (p. 78)
“Do you see? Wherever humanity was broken, Jesus restored it. He is giving us an illustration here, and there, and there again. THe coming of the kingdom of God restores the world he made.” (p. 82)
“Stories are equipment for living.”
Robert McKee
Here are 21 key areas and tools of Christian apologetics
- Stories/Parables/Allegories
- Questions
- Ethics/Sin
- Virtue/Character
- Forgiveness
- Identity
- The Gift
- Leadership/Wisdom
- Love/relationship (faith/trust)
- Service/social justice
- Felt needs
- Spiritual disciplines
- Intentionality
- Mens ministry/Womens ministry
- Cultural analysis/Foolishness of the world
- Adventure/risk
- Science and Religion
- Historical/Cultural (impact)
- Historical Jesus
- Art/poetry/literature
- Logic/philosophy
There are at least two versions of this quote:
“Universalistic egalitarianism, from which sprang the ideals of freedom and a collective life in solidarity, the autonomous conduct of life and emancipation, the individual morality of conscience, human rights and democracy, is the direct legacy of the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love. This legacy, substantially unchanged, has been the object of continual critical appropriation and reinterpretation. To this day, there is no alternative to it. And in light of the current challenges of a postnational constellation, we continue to draw on the substance of this heritage. Everything else is just idle postmodern talk.”
Jürgen Habermas – “Time of Transitions“, Polity Press, 2006, pp. 150-151, translation of an interview from 1999
“The ideals of freedom and a collective life in solidarity, the autonomous conduct of life and emancipation, the individual morality of conscience, human rights and democracy, is the direct legacy of the Judiac ethics of justice and the Christian ethic of love…To this day, there is no alternative to it…We continue to draw on the substance of this heritage. Everything else is just idle postmodern talk.”
Jürgen Habermas, Religion and Rationality, p. 149
This is re-quoted from Timothy Keller, An Invitation to the Skeptical: Making Sense of God
(link)
“To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi”
-William Faulkner
Friendship . . .is a virtue and is besides most necessary with a view to living. Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.
Aristotle
Moreover, friendship would seem to hold cities together, and legislators would seem to be more concerned about it than about justice. For concord would seem to be similar to friendship and they aim at concord among all, while they try above all to expel civil conflict, which is enmity.
Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII)
Friendship is perhaps the highest summit of the moral life. in which virtue and happiness are united. Friendship is a worthy outlet for the talents and energies of great-souled people. Friendship likewise completes and goes beyond justice. The goodness shown in noble friendships seems higher than justice because it is entirely dependent upon one’s own character and choice and is not defined or compelled by law. Acts of friendship seem both more truly generous and more conducive to one’s own happiness than acts done strictly because they are moral. Acting for the sake of what is good means having primary regard for one’s own virtue and the good of one’s own soul, whereas acting for a friend seems to be self-forgetting. And spontaneous acts of friendship tend to be more pleasant than impersonal acts of virtue for the doer as well as for the recipient.
Lorraine S. Pangle, Aristotle and the Philosophy of Friendship, p. 7.
Good relationships, and especially friendships based on admiration of the good qualities of one’s friend bring the best out in people.
Gerard Hughes, Aristotle on Ethics, p. 176
“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.”
In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell is itself a question: “What are you asking God to do?” To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But he has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what he does.
“To enter Hell is to be banished from humanity. What is cast (or casts itself) into Hell is not a man: it is ‘remains’..”
What is cast (or casts itself) into hell is not a man: it is ‘remains’. To be a complete man means to have the passions obedient to the will and the will offered to God: to have been a man…would presumably mean to consist of a will utterly centred in its self and passions utterly uncontrolled by the will.”
For more, I suggest reading here.
Compassion in Politics: Christian Social Entrepreneurship, Education Innovation, & Base of the Pyramid/BOP Solutions 