Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Furious Love Trailer


Darren Wilson directed and released a movie a few years ago called Finger of God. It was a documentary outlining real-world miracles caught on video at different churches and places around the world. I highly recommend renting or buying it if you can. I came across the link below, showing the trailer for Wilson's follow-up film Furious Love. It is quite something. Click below then sit back and watch as it loads automatically. It is good to know that in the face of popular mainstream Hollywood films such as Avatar and the like, there are still Darren Wilsons out there capturing the important things!




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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

One Heartbeat Away


I recently finished reading One Heartbeat Away by Mark Cahill (see an earlier post on this blog for more info on the author). This is the kind of book I wanted to write. Imagine my surprise when I realized it had already been written! Kudos to Mark for this instructional book. If you are a non-believer, or even an agnostic and you aren't for sure either way about God - you need to read this book. After thinking about the evidence that Cahill presents, then you may make your decision. At least you will have the facts.

This post isn't so much a book review as it is praise. Cahill did a really good job laying out 12 chapters that take the reader from raw evidence for God from nature, onto evidence for believing that the Bible is actually trustworthy, and finally into looking at who Jesus really is. Many of these types of books simply repeat the same information over and over again; not so with this one. Each chapter is important. Another downfall of these kinds of books is that they can be too narrow or biased in presenting the evidence. Aside from over-quoting Charles Spurgeon, Cahill is complete and generous in his presentation of the information. Don't get me wrong, this book is written for 2 kinds of people: 1.) non-believers that know very little of the Bible, and 2.) brand new believers. You won't find a slew of atheistic evidence in order to create a balanced meal here - just the facts as they point to Christianity. But that is okay, since those facts alone are compelling enough I believe to sway most readers, as long as they actually give the book a chance. But that's the trick isn't it? Our culture is busy and so are we. Do we really have time to ready anymore, let alone think?

A pastor once told me that a hundred years ago, the church didn't have to try to convince people that mankind was sinful and needed God. Nowadays the church has to first convince people that there IS a God, then move on to defining sin, and then finally on to the person and divinity of Jesus. The task of evangalization is much more difficult today. People are proud and so is our culture. We probably shouldn't be surprised by this. Bible readers out there know that we are warned about the "immorality of these times" frequently by Christ. In the last 50 years our planet has gradually but surely slipped from a belief in morality to a belief in "anything goes." Christianity is on the front lines of the battle. Famous philosopher Voltaire said that the Bible would be extinct in less than a century. It is still here. Whether it gets passed down to subsequent generations is up to the current generation. Let's not drop the ball on this one!

Cahill finishes the book with a chapter on Reflecting the light of the Son. By this he means that Christians should be an outward gift of Christ to the rest of the world. We can hardly argue that. We will fail from time to time - we are still human. Cahill draws a sharp designation between the religious and those who are actually in Christ. There will be hypocrisy in the church, there always has been. But if you look closely, what about that man or woman who took the time to try to tell you about Jesus? There are good apples mixed in with the bad ones. If we are sincere in our prayers to find God, he will send us a good apple.


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Monday, December 28, 2009

Evolution Humor



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Interesting Quote...


"I had to learn who God was from atheists. They had to teach me who not to believe in, before I was instructed not to believe..."


- Alyosha Ryabinov (from 'Supernatural' with Sid Roth)



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Monday, December 14, 2009

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you who have been reading this blog. Your support and loyal readership means quite a bit to me! It has been a pleasure adding articles and supporting information for God and Christ over the past year. I will probably be taking a short break over the next 2 or 3 weeks, but I will be back in January.

Stay safe, stay warm, and most of all remember the God who loves you. Try not to confuse the American version of Christmas with the spiritual version. It's all about Jesus. Take care, and see you soon!

- Jon


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The Season...


I had originally published the following short essay about 2 years ago. At that time, we were more or less unaffected by the current economic downturn - at least to the degree we are experiencing it now. Because of this, I feel that the lesson contained in the piece below has become somewhat tempered. I don't think "we are as bad about this as we used to be," so to speak. Nonetheless, it still holds relevance for the 2009 Christmas season, as anyone who has participated in Christmas shopping of any kind will attest to. I hope you enjoy it:

Here we are ready to go into another Christmas holiday season. The lights are up, the decorations have been set out, and the caroling has begun. The problem is, no one is listening. We are all out shopping – running from store to store and mall to mall. We are extremely concerned about what we will get Uncle so-and-so, or our spouse, or our kids… or even what we will receive ourselves. But what about Christmas? Not the season for consumerism in America (if it weren’t for Thanksgiving our country would begin advertising in August) – but what about the actual meaning behind it?

Many would say the meaning of Christmas is gift giving. Our children would say it’s about Santa, or getting the perfect remote control car, or setting up a tree; but mainly about presents. And who could blame them? They have eyes, they watch mommy and daddy drop hundreds of dollars at the mall.

Many would say the meaning of Christmas is family. The fact remains that Christmas is one of the most stressful times of the year in our country. Air travel, car travel, gas prices, money, and least of all trying to find a way to get everyone together in one place at one time….. and then to get along! But who doesn’t want their children to remember their first couple of Christmas’ as being surrounded by relatives and good food! This is what I distinctly remember as a young boy.

Some would say the meaning of Christmas is all of the above rolled into one, and certainly this isn’t far from the truth. But I seem to remember one more thing. It seemed to involve a woman named Mary, and a manger, and something about a savior-born-as-child. I believe there were wise men, and a large star in the sky, and a good deal about reverence and holiness. Or was this just a nice fairy tale?

In fact, the reason for the Christmas season is Jesus Christ (Christ-mas). It is the celebration of the birthday of the most important person in all of creation. It is about giving, but not presents. It is about family, but not just a gathering. It is a remembering of the all-important gift of God to humankind. It is interesting not that Americans celebrate it, but HOW we celebrate it. Did I get what I wanted….. did he/she get what she wanted…. have we saved enough money to meet these demands….. were there enough Tickle-Me-Elmos to go around, or will there be mothers fighting in the isles of department stores…..

Where is our head, where is our heart? So this season if you are one of the lucky ones, and you had enough money to get everyone a new such-and-such, and you will share this wonderful day with loved ones, and you don’t get stranded in a snow storm or caught in a department store feeding-frenzy on Christmas Eve, then don’t forget to thank God. But more importantly, tell your kids to do the same.

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Saturday, December 5, 2009

Interesting Quote


"Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning..."


- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity



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Welcome


Welcome back to A Logical Faith. It is almost Christmas, and we are reminded that this season is about more than shopping and setting up Christmas trees and ornaments. Hopefully you are a return visitor. But even if you are new to this blog, I hope you stick around and read to your heart's content.


Not everything on this website is apologetics based, but a good majority of it is. There is such an abundance of evidence in favour of God that I never run out of material to publish. Your comments are always welcome, and if I can, I try to respond to all of them - so check back if you leave one.

Thanks, and happy reading...


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Resurrection Sunday Still Matters

The literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is the linchpin of the Christian faith.  It doesn't matter which denomination or slant ...