Featured Article: Why Isn't the Evidence Clearer? by Dr. John Bloom

In his article ,Why Isn't the Evidence Clearer?, Dr. John Bloom tackles this common objection head-on.

Check it out here.

Courage and Godspeed,
Chad

Featured Podcast: Reasonable Faith- The Hitchens Debate

In this new podcast from Reasonable Faith, Dr. William Lane Craig reflects back on his April 4th, 2009 debate with atheist Christopher Hitchens on the topic of "Does God Exist?"

You can listen in here.

Courage and Godspeed,
Chad

Featured Resource: The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview

Recently on his radio show Breakpoint, Chuck Colson announced the release of a brand new online resource The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. This resource offers various tools to encourage and equip those who hold to a Christian Worldview.

The Colson Center explains in more detail:

"The Colson Center presents a research, study, and networking center for growing in a Christian worldview. The Center provides opportunities for searching a wide range of documents and other materials, joining a learning community, acquiring materials for training others, networking with likeminded Christians, and staying abreast of the latest in Christian worldview thinking."

Some of the available materials include:

• Articles
• Videos
• Audio
• Devotionals
• Sermons
• Lectures
  
• Leader Training

There is a wealth of information that can be found at The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview.

You can explore this valuable resource here.

Courage and Godspeed,
Chad

Richard Dawkins wins- "the worst atheistic argument in the history of Western thought."

Christian Philosopher Dr. William Lane Craig has recently co-edited a new book entitled Contending with Christianity's Critics. In the book, various apologists, theologians, and philosophers set out to answer the New Atheists and other common objections raised against the Christian Worldview.

Chapter 1 has been made available online and includes Craig's critique of Richard Dawkins' "central argument" in The God Delusion. Craig's final assessment of the argument?

"Several years ago my atheist colleague Quentin Smith unceremoniously crowned Stephen Hawking’s argument against God in A Brief History of Time as “the worst atheistic argument in the history of Western thought.” With the advent of The God Delusion the time has come to relieve Hawking of this weighty crown and to recognize Richard Dawkins’s accession to the throne."

You can check out the entire chapter here.

To learn more about the book, see here.

Courage and Godspeed,

Chad A. Gross

***Bonus: Creationist Dr. Jonathan Sarfati, of Creation International Ministries, has offered his early thoughts on Dawkins' new book The Greatest Show on Earth here.

Richard Dawkins- The Greatest Show on Earth

Celebrity atheist Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, has released his newest book this month entitled The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution.

Here is a very detailed review by Apologetics 315.

You can check it out here.

Enjoy!

Courage and Godspeed,
Chad

Ida got canned, so party with 'Ardi'

As most of you will have heard, a few months back evolutionists announced that they had found the latest 'missing link,' Ida. However, Ida quickly disappeared from the scientific landscape.

Now, we are told that the 'missing link' has been found again. It's name is Ardi. After receiving a question and an email about the supposed "missing link in human evolution," I decided to checkout the available evidence for myself.

Already featured on notable media outlets such as National Geographic and The Discovery Channel, Ardi (formerly called Ardipithecus ramidus) is being heralded as a find that "underwent a previously unknown stage of evolution more than a million year."

(http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091001-oldest-human-skeleton-ardi-missing-link-chimps-ardipithecus-ramidus.html)

Interestingly, it has taken over 15 years for the reports of this fossil find to be published. As Casey Luskin reports, perhaps the reason for the 15 year prolonging was due to the fact that in 2002 Ardi was described in Science as "squished," "chalky," and "eroded."

Luskin provides the following from the 2002 Science article:

[I]n 1992, the Middle Awash Research Team, co-led by [Tim] White, made a discovery that ended Lucy’s reign. About 75 kilometers south of Lucy’s resting place, at Aramis in the Afar depression of Ethiopia, the team found fossils of a chimp-sized ape dated to about 4.4 million years ago. … The team named this species Ardipithecus ramidus, drawing on two words from the Afar language suggesting that it was humanity’s root species. But skeptics argue that the published fossils are so chimplike that they may represent the long-lost ancestor of the chimp, not human, lineage. The next field season, team member Yohannes Haile-Selassie found the first of more than 100 fragments that make up about half of a single skeleton of this species, including a pelvis, leg, ankle and foot bones, wrist and hand bones, a lower jaw with teeth—and a skull. But in the past 8 years no details have been published on this skeleton. Why the delay? In part because the bones are so soft and crushed that preparing them requires a Herculean effort, says White. The skull is “squished,” he says, “and the bone is so chalky that when I clean an edge it erodes, so I have to mold every one of the broken pieces to reconstruct it.” The team hopes to publish in a year or so, and White claims that the skeleton is worth the wait, calling it a “phenomenal individual” that will be the “Rosetta stone for understanding bipedalism.”

(http://www.ideacenter.org/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/1484)

To further complicate matters, Time Magazine reports the following:

"Tim [White] showed me pictures of the pelvis in the ground, and it looked like an Irish stew," says Walker. Indeed, looking at the evidence, different paleoanthropologists may have different interpretations of how Ardi moved or what she reveals about the last common ancestor of humans and chimps.

(http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1927200-2,00.html)

I agree that scientists should arrive at their conclusions by looking at the evidence; however, it seems that Ardi has already earned the title of a "New piece in the Human Evolution Puzzle," so how many other conclusions could one come to?

Admittedly, I am not at a place where I feel I can draw any concrete conclusions at this time. I would like to learn more about Ardi; however, I do want to offer some resources from those who have an alternative viewpoint because I highly doubt that National Geographic or The Discovery Channel will share anything that isn't consistent with the evolutionary party line.

1. Did Humans Evolve from Ardi? by Brian Thomas

2. The Overselling of Ardipithecus ramidus by Casey Luskin

3. Ardipithecus Again: A Recycled Ape-man by Carl Wieland

4. Ardi, Our Uncommon Ancestor? by Mariano

5. Ardi Joins a Long, Infamous List of Losers by Kyle Butt, M.A.

6. Ardi Revels More Than They Think by Melinda Penner

7. Ardi: Hardly Evidence for Human Evolution by Fazale 'Fuz' Rana, Ph.D.

I will continue to evaluate the evidence for Ardi; however, for those who are throwing a party for Ardi...'Ida' be a bit more skeptical...

Courage and Godspeed,
Chad

Bart Ehrman Got You Down? These Resources May Help...

Dr. Bart Ehrman's now infamous book, Misquoting Jesus, has caused many followers of Christ to doubt the accuracy of the New Testament documents.

It is my hope that these two resources will serve to confirm that the Christian's confidence in the Bible's accuracy rests on solid ground:

• Dr. Thomas Howe offers a lengthy, in-depth critique of Ehrman's popular book here.
• In this excellent four-part video, New Testament scholar Mike Licona discusses Ehrman's works. Brian, over at Apologetics 315, offers the audio here (47 minutes).

Courage and Godspeed
Chad

Common Objection #8- "Intelligent Design is Magic"

"Intelligent Design is magic!"

Dr. William Dembski would argue that it's the Darwinist who might be "pulling rabbits out of the hat."

Check out his reply to this objection here. Although dated, I believe the fair-minded inquirer will find it informative.

For those who may have more questions about Intelligent Design(ID), see here.

Courage and Godspeed,
Chad

FYI- Stephen Meyer to appear on The Dennis Miller Show

Scientist and author of Signature in the Cell, Dr. Stephen Meyer will appear on The Dennis Miller Show to discuss the new film, Darwin's Dilemma, his book, and more.

For more details, see here. Further, for those interested in learning more about Dr. Meyer's book, you can read an in-depth review here.

This information was originally found at the Evolution News and Views blog.

Courage and Godspeed,

Chad

Richard Dawkins turns down Dr. Stephen Meyer's debate Challenge

Richard Dawkins has added Dr. Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell to his list of people he refuses to debate. Prior to denying Dr. Meyers, Dawkins had also declined challenges issued by Dinesh D'Souza, who has debated notables such as Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, and Michael Shermer. Dawkins also has passed up opportunities to debate Christian Philosopher Dr. William Lane Craig, a formidable debater who in the past has debated the best atheism, Islam, and skepticism has to offer.

Dawkins, apparently continuing to hide behind his Stephen Jay Gould inspired article Why I Won't Debate Creationists, continues to dodge his critics and avoid putting his beliefs under the microscope of his numerous detractors. In this article, Dawkins sloppily throws creationists and Intelligent Design advocates (ID) into the same the camp, while they themselves would separate themselves from each other. They clearly have vastly different approaches and both IDers and Creationists know it; and so does Dawkins.

Consider his recent appearance on the Michael Medved show:

"Bruce Chapman: … Dr. Dawkins, this is Bruce Chapman from Discovery Institute calling. [Dawkins, muttering under his breath: “Right.”] I was frustrated with this conversation because most of the time I hear straw man arguments about intelligent design. Your new book apparently doesn’t really deal with intelligent design. But it seems to me, that in your previous book, you said that it’s a question of science, that it is a scientific argument – I congratulate you for that -- But if it is, how about having a debate with Stephen Meyer, who is the author of another new book, Signature in the Cell, which deals with this question, and have this in a respectful, civilized, scholarly fashion where you look at the scientific arguments, pro and con?

Richard Dawkins: Now, when you say that I don’t deal with intelligent design, I do, because I deal with creationism and, of course, intelligent design is simply another name for creationism invented for political reasons.

Chapman: Well, if it’s another name for creationism, why did you distinguish between intelligent design and creationism very early in this program?

Dawkins: I don’t.

Medved: You did, earlier on, when we were talking about the Holocaust denier analogy, you said you applied that analogy to old earth creationists. Intelligent design advocates are not old earth creationists.

Dawkins: Sorry, um, I applied the history-deniers to young earth creationists.
Medved: I’m sorry, young earth creationists, yes, but you know intelligent design advocates are not young earth creationists.

Dawkins: I do, and that was precisely the distinction I was making. That’s why I said that I was not accusing intelligent design people of being history deniers, in that sense.

Medved: But you just said intelligent design is another name for creationism.

Dawkins: It is another name for creationism, but not young earth creationism.

Medved: Bruce Chapman?

Chapman: In that case, you’ve got an argument with your previous caller also, because that would be a theistic evolutionist proposition, which is also, by your definition, if it’s not Darwinian evolution, it’s creationism in some fashion. There isn’t any other kind of evolution, as far as you’re concerned.

Dawkins: Where do you guys think – do you think that God did it?

Chapman: I don’t know, I don’t think that the intelligent design people—

Dawkins: That’s what you say, you always pretend, you always pretend that an alien in outer space or something, but you know very well that what you mean is God.

Chapman: No, I think that was your line in Expelled. But I think that the thing that you really ought to consider, in all seriousness, is that by your own definition there is a scientific argument. Put that scientific argument to the test, not with somebody who’s a straw man that you bring up, but have somebody like Meyer, who has written a very scholarly book, to actually debate this topic with you…

Medved: All right, the proposal’s on the table, response from Professor Dawkins, thank you, Bruce.

Dawkins: I will have a discussion with somebody who has a genuinely different scientific point of view. I have never come across any kind of creationism, whether you call it intelligent design or not, which has a serious scientific case to put.

The objection to having debates with people like that is that it gives them a kind of respectability. If a real scientist goes onto a debating platform with a creationist, it gives them a respectability, which I do not think your people have earned."

See the entire article here. You can also read more of Chapman's thoughts on Dawkins latest book, and this exchange, here.

I believe Dr. Stephen Meyer does an excellent job defining exactly what Intelligent Design is:

Of course, many scientists have argued that to infer design gives up on science. They say that inferring design constitutes an argument from scientific ignorance- a "God of the gaps" fallacy. Since science doesn't yet know how biological information could have arisen, design theorists invoke a mysterious notion-intelligent design-to fill a gap in scientific knowledge.

Yet design theorists do not infer design just because natural processes cannot explain the origin of biological systems, but because these systems manifest the distinctive hallmarks of intelligently designed systems-that is, they posses features that in any other realm of experience would trigger the recognition of an intelligent cause. [1]

Dawkins is a master at telling "just-so" stories about evolution and explaining science in a literary, non-technical manner. However, when he begins to talk about Intelligent Design, you get the sense that he is making things up as he goes. I would recommend that Professor Dawkins familiarize himself with more works by IDers. Perhaps it would keep him from using old, disproved evidence such as this in the future.

Courage and Godspeed,
Chad

Resources

1. Stephen Meyer, Signs of Intelligence: Understanding Intelligent Design, Essay: Word Games: DNA, Design, and Intelligence, p. 116, Emphasis mine.

Featured Article: The Plight of the New Atheism- A Critique by Dr. Gary Habermas

Dr. Gary Habermas offers a unique perspective on the media named "New Atheism" in his new article The Plight of the New Atheism: A Critique.

Habermas especially focuses on authors Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris; but does make some mention of Professor Dawkins.


Courage and Godspeed,
Chad

Featured Resource: Arguments Creationists Should Not Use

Creation International Ministries offers this helpeful resource entitled Arguments we think creationists should not use.

Regardless if you are a young-earther, old-earther, ID advocate, or Darwinist, this is an interesting read. You may be surprised to see some of the arguments they recommend not using.

Check it out here.

Courage and Godspeed,

Chad