tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78150557904366070082024-03-05T10:12:11.038-08:00Wolfhart's ChargerAn educational blog on the relationship between being a Christian and an intellectual.The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-28301264091862059082011-03-29T20:33:00.000-07:002011-03-29T20:33:18.147-07:00Can a Good God exist? An Atheist and a Christian Debate the Problem of Evil (4) In my third response to the Worrywart, I would like to synthesize the issues in this debate, focus on issues that are directly related to the subject of our debate and weed out the ones that have little or no meaning to our discussion. While most of the issues involved in this debate are important, some of them are only of subsidiary importance to the bigger issues. I The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-86491342052861398022011-02-25T07:52:00.000-08:002011-02-25T07:52:14.882-08:00Did Jesus exist?<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 <![endif]-->
Last week, we looked at whether or not the idea of the resurrection was a priori irrational and we saw that it was not. This week, we’ll take a brief look at the evidence for the existence of the man called Jesus. There are two primary issues relating to the “historical Jesus.” First, did a man named JesusThe Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-1931214379212346012011-02-16T06:31:00.000-08:002011-02-16T06:31:56.735-08:00Is it rational to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead?<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 <![endif]-->
“Miracles, indeed, would prove something,” says the skeptic in Alciphron, “but what proof have we of these miracles?”
Jesus Christ’s resurrection is probably the most important historical claim of all time. One could definitely argue that Jesus Christ was the most important figure in all of history. As historian and The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-84431523101048300492011-01-26T13:36:00.000-08:002011-01-26T13:36:17.657-08:00Can a Good God exist? An Atheist and a Christian Debate the Problem of Evil (3) Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of the greatest novelists of all time, wrote The Brothers Karamazov as a response to the pain in the world. He says, “If you were to destroy in mankind the belief in immortality, not only love but every living force maintaining the life of the world would at once be dried up. Moreover, nothing then would be immoral; everything would be lawful, even The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-66812957532382167622011-01-13T17:23:00.000-08:002011-01-13T17:23:32.020-08:00What is Apologetics?The word “apologetics” comes from the greek word apologia (απολογία), which literally means “in defense of.” When you think about it, every apology you give is really a defense of your actions.
In the last post, I outlined Paul’s use of apologetics throughout his ministry. In this post, I will define the two major views on apologetics—evidentialism and presuppositionalism.&The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-53258430095842218872011-01-04T14:58:00.000-08:002011-01-04T14:58:36.346-08:00Why Apologetics? A common job for apologists is to defend apologetics itself from internal critics. Indeed, many Christians seem to think that defending the Christian faith is impractical, harmful and even ungodly. Maybe the most common belief is that the field of apologetics takes faith out of the equation—and that the apologist is trying to make the unbeliever come to Christ by mere The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-57312132820185308202010-12-23T19:09:00.000-08:002011-01-18T07:54:53.500-08:00Can a Good God exist? An Atheist and Christian Debate the Problem of Evil (1) For those of you who may not know, I’m currently in a debate with The Worrywart, an atheist blogger. We are debating the question: “does the existence of evil disprove the existence of God traditionally defined in the West as all-powerful, all-knowing and all-good?” My opponent has already posted an opening argument answering the question in the affirmative. You canThe Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-32014736189204478572010-12-19T11:58:00.000-08:002010-12-19T11:58:22.316-08:00A Crown of Sonnets by Tyler Hiebert I haven't let many people read my poetry outside of the classes I take at Wichita State—even though it is my minor, much of the poetry I write is either not worth publishing or of such a personal nature that I don't want to publish it. However, I thought that I should at least give you one of my larger works.
Over the last semester I've had to write all of my poetry in The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-9795843263973491022010-12-10T11:40:00.000-08:002010-12-10T11:40:26.354-08:00Why Christmas? As an intellectual, I’ve found myself questioning Christmas for the last couple of years. Unlike most grinches, I do not believe that the value of Christmas is diminished by its commercialization. My lack of interest in Christmas had its general roots in the importance of Christmas to the Christian faith. Yes, I understand that without Christmas the Cross would be The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-85894601738060779332010-12-03T16:54:00.000-08:002010-12-04T12:09:31.976-08:00(Part V) Religious Experience and Doctrine Over the last month we have taken a fairly in-depth look at religious experience from the perspective of philosophy and apologetics. Today, we’ll focus on the theological implications of religious experience. Should religious experience reinterpret doctrine at any level? Should it change our lives? And what does the Bible say about it?
Obviously we The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-283412759265385662010-11-21T15:09:00.000-08:002010-11-21T15:16:30.680-08:00George Washington's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation Most Americans believe that Thanksgiving Day is a celebration of survival, multi-culturalism and turkey. However, this is not how our founding president George Washington would have wanted us to celebrate the day. His 1789 proclamation, which made Thanksgiving a holiday and was the first proclamation ever made by a US President, shows exactly what he thought The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-68262357309290227092010-11-19T16:14:00.000-08:002010-11-19T16:14:15.175-08:00(Part IV) Argument for God based on religious experience: The Argument As I am sure you have come to see over the last three posts, the job of proving God’s existence based on religious experience is no easy task. We have taken a hard look at what religious experiences mean, whether they actually occur outside of the brain and whether there are explanations for the data.
In this post, we will take a step back and look at the larger pictureThe Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-67120700469966100212010-11-12T09:30:00.000-08:002010-11-12T10:44:01.233-08:00(Part III) Argument for God based on religious experience: Objections against first argument considered In my last post I argued the veracity of religious experiences. You may have some questions or objections to that argument. In this post we will consider four objections to the argument.
1) Objection from science:
Someone might argue that these religious experiences all have some common cause in the brain or that they are a delusion. Indeed, science has The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-13758062622902033712010-11-08T17:13:00.000-08:002010-11-12T09:32:58.383-08:00(Part II) Argument for the Existence of God based on Religious Experience: Proof for Religious Experience In this the second post on the Argument for God based on Religious experience we will consider the case for religious experiences as objective proof for something outside of nature. Essentially, this post will be an attempt to support the premises of the argument based on religious experiences.
Experiences make up the backbone of the way people see The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-57976383790078285082010-11-05T21:29:00.000-07:002010-11-12T10:45:43.765-08:00(Part I) Argument for the Existence of God based on Religious Experience: An Introduction Blaise Pascal was one of the most important thinkers in the history of philosophy, mathematics and religious matters. His famous “Wager” remains a favorite of Christian apologists. But Pascal didn’t always believe this way; when he was eighteen years old he suffered an illness that would leave him in pain for the rest of his life. Not a day went by where he didn’t suffer The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-63580897545292838292010-10-30T19:00:00.000-07:002010-11-01T17:15:04.512-07:00Desiderius Erasmus Roterdamus (1466/9-1536) Desiderius Erasmus Roterdamus is not a lately discovered dinosaur; he was a reformation era scholar. Erasmus was arguably the greatest scholar of the sixteenth century. His work in languages was instrumental in the first published Greek New Testament, which led to more accurate translations of the Bible in English and German. Both as a linguist and as a scholar of The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-8838129377475319412010-10-30T18:57:00.000-07:002010-11-01T17:20:20.578-07:00New Series: Christian IntellectualsI will begin a series that profiles Christian intellectuals throughout the Christian tradition. I’ll provide a brief biography of their lives, ideas and works as well as an essential application to our own lives. I hope that these profiles will provide you with a brief history of the Christian intellectual tradition as well as help you to learn more about some interesting “unknown” The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-7068973362609771262010-10-23T09:41:00.000-07:002010-10-29T14:04:00.460-07:00What is theology? Theology is the study of God and religion. Christian theology then is the study of the Christian God and the Christian religion. I really like the way Alister McGrath further develops the definition of theology in "Christian Theology: An Introduction"; he does so by including four stages to the study of theology: sources, development, relationship and The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-40235840941340402052010-10-22T12:33:00.000-07:002010-10-22T12:33:42.821-07:00Who is Wolfhart?<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 <![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 <![endif]--> Who is Woflhart?
Wolfhart is the first name of famous theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg. I named the blog after his rather excellent first name, not because he was the greatest theologian, but because he was the the theologian with the greatest name. This The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815055790436607008.post-60594019896588394752010-10-21T15:09:00.000-07:002010-10-21T15:09:59.467-07:00Mission Statement<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 <![endif]--> It is my hope in this blog to discuss issues that face modern Christian thinkers and give them creative solutions both traditionally theological and non-traditional in nature. In other words, I want to burnish a dialogue on theology for religious thinkers as outer and inner pressures affect modern Christianity.&The Chargerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05411731230617343403noreply@blogger.com0