Bridge of Reason

  Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia , a term derived from the Greek words for Friday ( paraskevi ), thirteen ( triskaideka ), and fear ( phobos ). General fear or avoidance of the number 13 itself is known as triskaidekaphobia . Some people go to great lengths to avoid travel, some to stay at home and avoid the world altogether on this day. Some may even display physical symptoms including a rapid heartbeat, sweating, trembling, or shortness of breath. High rise buildings, such as hotels and hospitals often avoid having a 13 th floor, avoid a room thirteen anywhere in the building. T riskaidekaphobia is for some a very real thing. Origins There is keen competition to own the origin story of the Friday 13 th myth. Thirteen is seen as a disrupter number that spoils the completeness of 12; months of the year, signs of the zodiac, etc. In Norse mythology the mischievous Loki, son of the giant (Jötunn) Fárbauti and the goddess (or giantess) Laufey (also called Nál)...

Let me be clear: You don’t need to be a cult expert to witness to cults, you just need to be interested in their salvation. If you’re truly disinterested you are answering the door like a disinterested unbeliever ( see my previous post ) in which case perhaps it’s best you don’t go to the door. You’ll only end up giving a bad impression of a Christian apologist. As a Mormon I found some Christians all too readily played to my own confirmation bias as they struggled to answer simple points. I also found myself on the receiving end of some pretty ripe insults. People do this because they don’t know what else to do. This is because they don’t know how to read the Bible like an apologist. Perhaps they’re not shown how. The Church One of the big issues for me these days is the failure of the church to simply equip people, make disciples, build apologetics into our thinking. Consider the way a cult works, like a franchise. Everything is controlled from the centre. Like many coffee shops an...

  Every Christian should be an apologist at the door. It’s not that it’s hard, it’s that you don’t understand, or maybe you’re not interested. I have heard apologetics referred to as ‘the work of professionals.’ That’s what people say. It is true that people such as John Lennox, Alister McGrath, and William Lane Craig fit that description, however, apologetics isn’t simply for professionals. Surely, we are all called upon to be ready with an answer, to make a defence ( apologia ) when asked the reason for our hope 1 Peter 3:15. We are all called to ‘contend for the faith’ Jude 3. For forty years I have gone to church with teachers, lecturers, engineers, barristers, business managers, professional and semi-professional people you might expect to be ready to defend the faith. Yet so many find that unexpected knock on the door, approach in the street, conversation struck up in work daunting. I had a Jehovah’s Witness friend who, one day, said, ‘Michael, I know Christians don’t know...

  At Reachout Trust conferences we don’t generally have a pre-set theme but it seems that the Holy Spirit has other ideas and one comes out of the seminars. At last year’s conference the theme running through the weekend was It’s all about Jesus , at the recent Reachout26 conference a theme of Sharing Jesus permeated the discussions. The first seminar was about apologetics, defending the faith (one of the mission aims of Reachout) and how it was all about sharing Jesus as the primary aim. The phrase “ the shortest route to the cross ”, came up from the discussions, by this it was meant that we should always try and steer the discussion to Jesus’ sacrifice, how we are saved through His blood, rather than talking of less important matters. I spend a lot of time debating with Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) on social media (primarily on Facebook where they are very active) as this allows me to reach a large and geographically diverse audience. I thought I would pass on a few aspects of ...

The Chambers Dictionary defines legalism as “strict adherence to law...the tendency to observe letter or form rather than spirit, or to regard things from the point of view of law.” It also helpfully illustrates the definition with a reference to the opposing doctrines of salvation by works and salvation by grace. But what is wrong with keeping the law? Surely as Christians we believe in being law-abiding? There is certainly enough in the New Testament about obedience to authorities. We are instructed, “obey your parents in the Lord” (Eph.6:1); obey your earthly masters with respect” (Eph.6:5); obey your leaders and submit to their authority” (Heb.13:17) and we are reminded “to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good” (Titus 3:3) The Challenge of Legalism When we witness to those with a legalistic bent we are often challenged with these and similar texts and accused of practicing antinomianism, “being emancipated by the gospel fro...

  From 1820, the time of the 'first vision', until 1830 Joseph Smith claimed he received revelations to guide him in the establishment and organisation of the church. During that time the Book of Mormon was brought forth, priesthood authority was restored, men were called to high office, and the order of heaven was established. The culmination of all this activity was the official forming of the church on 6 April 1830. This seemed to be the object of the whole Mormon enterprise. David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon, tells us: ‘After the translation of the Book of Mormon was finished, early in the spring of 1830, before April 6th, Joseph gave the stone to Oliver Cowdery and told me as well as the rest that he was through with it, and he did not use the stone anymore. He said he was through the work God had given him the gift to per-form, except to preach the gospel. He told us that we would have to depend on the Holy Ghost hereafter to be guided into...