The second main group relating to New Atheism is ‘Joe and Jill Average’. This is the average Aussie or English or American, etc. They are not signed up members of New Atheism, but they aren’t signed up believers in anything in the way of organized religion either. They’re the bread-and-butter target of our evangelism. (more…)
Monthly Archives: February 2012
Judgment Wins
Thought, Sola Panel
Love and judgment are not opposites. Love and indifference are opposites. Those ideas are well-known but still worthwhile to state. Connecting love with judgment helped me work through some of the theological obstacles I had when I was a younger Christian (i.e. the “how can a loving God judge people” ones). (more…)
New Atheism (2): Different strokes for different folks—The true believers
Thought
[This is the second article in a series on New Atheism. Read part 1.]
So, if New Atheism is a passing fad, what kind of impact should we expect while it’s around, and where should we expect it? I’ll suggest three main areas over the next three posts, acknowledging that they’re broad categories and there’ll be a fair-sized assorted grouping of people that don’t fit in these three broad categories. (more…)
But is Matthias Media really worth supporting?
Inviting discussion
One of the neat things about the web is the way that (almost) instantaneous communication can take place. Someone makes a statement, and you can not only find out about it on the other side of the world but you can say your own thing as well. Here at The Briefing we value the input that many of you make to critique, sharpen, and refine the thinking presented in our articles by way of feedback, in all its kinds. (more…)
New Atheism (1): Sound and fury, signifying nothing
Thought
Over the next several posts I’m going to outline some of my thoughts about the relative strengths and weaknesses of New Atheism, and things I think people should keep in mind as they think about addressing its claims and its criticisms of God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ. This series is aimed primarily at Christians who have some sort of public evangelistic or teaching role. It’s not a ‘how to’ guide on dealing with specific New Atheist positions—there’s a lot of great material around that does that, and it would be highly unlikely I could offer anything that hasn’t already been done much better by someone else. As a consequence I don’t really address any of New Atheism’s truth claims; I focus more on the reasons why I think it has the influence it does, reasons that are generally irrespective of its truthfulness or falsehood. (more…)
A thematic Bible reading plan
You might recall my post late last year, Reading the Bible in a year (or two). Recently, I came across another excellent Bible reading plan: one that opens up thematic connections between different parts of the Bible. So I’ve added a bullet point to the list in my post:
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Something important to share with your group leaders
My intentions to write more short pithy posts notwithstanding, this post is a little longer because it basically consists of part of an email that Sandy Grant recently sent round to the small group leaders and youth leaders at his church. For reasons that will become obvious as you read, Sandy is saying things that I strongly endorse! Can I suggest you follow his lead, and give some encouragement in this vein to your leaders? (more…)