Though it is an unusually pleasant Colorado Springs morning outside my window today, I understand that in much of the country, that is not the case. Here are 5 apologetics videos and podcasts that you can have playing in the background as you do a puzzle, drink some hot chocolate, and avoid shoveling those sidewalks. It’s the perfect day to learn something new!
Friends, we recently finished reading Why Does God Allow Evil? by Dr. Clay Jones. It’s the fantastic culminating work of decades of teaching and research. Buy it. Read it. The end.
I’m tempted to leave this as is and let that be the extent of our review. But, lest you still need convincing that this book belongs in your hands and on your shelf, I’ll say a bit more.
Head over to Picture Book Apologetics’ blog to enter the raffle giveaway for a free paperback copy of Fox and the Hard Day: Responding to the Problem of Evil. Visit picturebookapologetics.com
By now, you’re probably seen the undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress. If you haven’t, you can view the edited and unedited versions here, as well as Planned Parenthood’s response here. In the videos, representatives from Planned Parenthood discuss the sale (you can call it compensation, if you’d like, but it doesn’t change what is happening) of the tissue (that’s code for baby organs) that is procured from abortions with “buyers” from the CMA.
Since the first video was posted, two weeks of sharing videos, reading articles and signing petitions have followed. We have seen many debates (with varying degrees of civility) spawning in Facebook and Twitter feeds. For those opposed to the destruction of human life, they are filled with the desire to overthrow the Planned Parenthood machine. For those in favor, they fight back with venom. Both sides strike and I wonder, whose minds are changing? How will this play out?
As we have conversations and push forward toward the protection of unborn life, I wanted to share a few resources that you may be able to use to encourage reasonable discussions. First, you need to have some solid reasons for why you think abortion is wrong. Is a fetus a human or isn’t it? Is it really a woman’s “right” to choose? Realistically, as long as you know why you believe a person is a person at conception and why it is wrong for a person to be killed in the womb, you are on firm footing.
I am including a few graphics here that we created from quotes in helpful articles, as well as an 8.5×11″ resource that covers the “SLED Test” and “Trotting Out a Toddler” approaches. I would recommend sharing them on Facebook or Twitter along with the link to the related article so that you can invite some interesting conversations.
You can download the 8.5×11″ pdf here. Great presentation of the SLED Test here. More detail about Trotting Out a Toddler here.
Let’s Face It: Planned Parenthood Is Evil by David Harsanyi
While the tone of the article can be a bit coarse, I think David raises some interesting points and questions.
Partial-Birth Abortion is Not About Abortion by Greg Koukl
Abortion for Rape Victims? by Greg Koukl
See the investigative video HERE
Whose Body Parts Are They? by J.W. Wartick
Tissue, specimens, human being, flesh, fetus, baby… Whatever you choose to call it…
We hope these are helpful tools and conversation starters! If you share on Twitter (@youthapolonet) or Facebook (Youth Apologetics Network) be sure to tag us so we can follow along.
Where does the soul come from? In previous weeks we have talked about the ideas of Traducianism and pre-existence. The last theory to discuss is that of creationism. Creationism, sometimes referred to as special creationism, is the belief that every soul is created by God sometime at or after conception and is placed into the human fetus.
“It’s not fair!” This is a phrase my children are beginning to test out as they face the consequences of their decisions or balk at parental direction. Humans love to shift blame. We are pretty good at it. We have been doing it since Adam took a bite of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and then blamed his wife for giving it to him (Genesis 3:11-12). In a similar way, many people resist the guilt of original sin by asking, “Why am I held accountable for the bad choices of Adam?”
This question can take on a few different forms but the essence is usually asking why God would allow pain, suffering, or death to effect a seemingly innocent person. Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? How do we answer this question when our peers, family members or friends ask?
The following is a fairly straightforward, logical response to “Why do bad things happen to good people?” PLEASE remember this however, if a hurting, grieving human being approaches you in their moment of need, they are probably not interested in hearing you launch into a polemic against the existence of “good people.” In those moments we need to be the listening, empathizing, sympathizing hands and feet of Christ. Certainly, your head knowledge will inform your response, and there are definitely times during conversation or debate in which the above is entirely appropriate to share, but deeply hurting and emotional people need your love and compassion in that moment far more than they need a lecture. In other words, know your audience, listen well, and love as you ought.
Without fail, when our family opens up The Action Bible (or any book, for that matter) one question will be asked. Every time. Multiple times.
“Which one is the bad guy?”
And each time, without fail, we explain that things aren’t so black and white. That some of these bad guys will become good guys, and some of these good guys were once bad guys, and ultimately, every guy in here is a bad guy in one way or another, except Jesus. This has gotten us thinking about how we categorize bad guys and how that translates to our apologetic interactions.