Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Testimonies of Some Professing/Professed Christians



I decided to blog a list of notable professing/professed Christian testimonies (or biographies). By notable, I don't necessarily mean they are genuine Christian testimonies. For example, there are some testimonies that involve claims of supernatural events and occurrences. While I believe that God still works supernaturally in the world, I also believe that there are spiritual counterfeits (not to mention con artists and frauds who knowingly make false claims).

Having said that, there are some testimonies here which I believe are from genuine Christians. Some of whom I highly respect and admire. Given those caveats, know that listening to testimonies and accepting them is like purchasing goods and services. The buyer should beware (caveat emptor).
Some of these are videos and others are in written format.

Christian intellectuals
Love The Lord with Heart and Mind
Various Evangelical intellectuals and scholars answer a questionnaire about their Christian experience.
https://calvindude.org/ebooks/stevehays/Love-the-Lord-with-Heart-and-Mind.pdf
If the above link goes dead, search for it at the main Triablogue website HERE.

Dr. Michael L. Brown testimony from his website
http://askdrbrown.org/about-dr-brown/personal-testimony

Dr. Michael L. Brown testimony (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVBg1cEedSk&feature=channel&list=UL

Brown's Testimony on It's Supernatural TV show
http://youtu.be/WCYlWNKGc_g

Brown's Testimony "From LSD to PhD" on Think It Thru
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK3bDDVQYhg&feature=share&list=PL537B5C72819368BB
or HERE http://youtu.be/TvW44gbk3CY



William Lane Craig's Conversion Testimony

World renowned Christian apologist William Lane Craig shares his conversion testimony to Christianity. Well known in the atheist community, Craig has had numerous debates with leading atheists and Muslims. He has debated or dialogued with three of the "Four Horsemen of New Atheism" (D. Dennett, S. Harris, C. Hitchens). The fourth, Richard Dawkins, refuses to debate Craig. Fellow atheist and Oxford doctor of philosophy Daniel Came implied that Dawkins' refusal could be interpreted as "cowardice" on his part. Dawkins seems to be willing to make any excuse so that he doesn't have to debate Craig one on one. Atheist Luke Muehlhauser wrote, "As far as I can tell, he [Craig] has won nearly all his debates with atheists...I’m not the only one who thinks Craig has won nearly all his debates. For some atheists, it is rather maddening." Regarding the Craig/Hitchens debate, he said Craig won so convincingly that, "Frankly, Craig spanked Hitchens like a foolish child." Atheist scholar (and Champion of sorts) Richard Carrier admitted that he lost his debate against Craig. Sam Harris, in his debate against Craig started out by saying (tongue-in-cheek) that Craig was "...the one Christian apologist who seems to have put the 'fear of God' into many of my fellow atheists [at 27 minutes and 40 seconds]" because many of his atheist friends begged him to make sure he did not lose the debate. Atheist leader John W. Loftus wrote immediately after the Craig/Harris debate that "Bill (Craig) has once again showed himself as the best debater of this generation, that's for sure."

Craig's numerous debate opponents have included:
Frank Zindler (in 1993), who served as interim president of the atheist organization American Atheists in 2008.
Paul Kurtz, considered by some to be the "father of modern secular humanism".
Antony Flew, who was one of the most noted atheist philosophers in the 20th Century.
A. C. Grayling, future Vice-president of the British Humanist Association.

William Lane Craig's Testimony (Highly Recommended)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkAAE2_vLsY 
The Impact the Resurrection Has on Craig (Highly Recommended)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iyxR8uE9GQ&feature=youtu.be&t=56m13s
Why William Lane Craig is a Christian
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJd9XMJW9xc&NR=1
About the "Sandy" that led William Lane Craig to the Lord
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/sandy-tiffan-ackerman
An article on Craig at The Chronicle of Higher Education
The New Theist: How William Lane Craig became Christian philosophy's boldest apostle
http://chronicle.com/article/The-New-Theist/140019/
William Lane Craig's favorite philosopher is Alvin Plantinga
http://youtu.be/c09N0JuT27A

Alvin Plantinga's Spiritual Autobiography
http://www.calvin.edu/125th/wolterst/p_bio.pdf


Steve Hays
Why I Believe: A Positive Apologetic (part 1)
Why I Believe: I'm Glad You Asked! (part 2)
Steve also contributed to the above questionnaire "Love The Lord with Heart and Mind"

Craig Keener
http://sites.google.com/site/drckeener/faithstory

C.S. Lewis (dramatized documentary)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydyCqhzVZVE
different portion of same documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brMKhhbQShU
The Comparative World Views of two Great Thinkers in the 20th Century, C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtL2wHhtW2A&feature=channel&list=UL

James White
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9f7F0A7dgM

Scientists who are Christian
Francis Collins (head of Human Genome Project)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qygy14tC3I&feature=related

Hugh Ross (astrophysicist)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zmzAdqqLks


Christian pastors, evangelists, motivational speakers etc.
Franklin Graham
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjdDY7pbUyQ

The Life Story of Erwin Lutzer (talks about destiny decisions)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShK9KNceacA

Lutzer's impersonation of Billy Graham
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZYqyKT1XNM

Link

David Ring (born with cerebral palsy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jhc50qGnF0

Matt Slick's Testimony
http://carm.org/matt-slicks-testimony

Sam Storms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfpvyNhb7y4

Nick Vujicic (born without arms or legs) [CBN version 8 minutes]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl58qufXfYk

Nick Vujicic part 1 of 11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snDQe3tWwRQ


Celebrities, Athletes and Singers
I'm hesitant to include celebrities and athletes because I suspect that many aren't as committed to being and living as Christians as they appear. Nevertheless, here are some that are interesting to me.

Mike Singletary's Testimony
http://youtu.be/SgGODeY3iAY

Michael Chang's Testimony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL1-84YD_tg&feature=channel&list=UL

Jeremy Lin's Testimony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ61OkF3qDk&feature=channel&list=UL

Tim Tebow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIpVjFnr9iI&feature=channel&list=UL

The Keith Green Story
http://youtu.be/fXOhSScVMUs



Christian testimonies that contain difficult to believe claims. You decide if they seem credible or not.

Ian McCormack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=-MBeiwIewtE&NR=1

Kamal Saleem a former Jihadist becomes a Christian
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKR6IKvha1Q

Miscellaneous testimonies
Peter Hitchens (brother of famous atheist Christopher Hitchens)
http://vimeo.com/10354237

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Resources for Dealing with Alleged Bible Contradictions, Discrepancies and Errors

[As far as I know, there are no illegal links to copyrighted materials]

Introductory resources for alleged Bible "Contradictions", "Discrepancies" and "Errors". Or what I like to call "Bible CDEs" for short. Some of these resources are texts while others are in audio format.

One of my all time favorite apologists is Steve Hays.
Below are links to his paper "Why I Believe"

"Triablogue" is where he and the other "Triabloggers" blog on apologetical issues. Here's the website:

Triablogue
www.triablogue.blogspot.com


Why I Believe by Steve Hays part 1: A Positive Apologetic
thirdmill.org/newfiles/ste_hays/PT.Hays.Why.Believe.apologetics.1.pdf


Why I Believe by Steve Hays part 2: I'm Glad You Asked!
thirdmill.org/newfiles/ste_hays/PT.Hays.Why.Believe.apologetics.2.pdf


In part 2 he deals with Biblical criticism and succinctly notes that, "Inerrancy is perfectly compatible with selective reporting, topical sequencing, paraphrastic citation, round numbers, variant names, and literary dependence."
He obviously says more, and so I recommend one reads the entire section.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Gill's commentary often addresses many classic CDEs.
http://www.freegrace.net/gill/

 or
http://www.godrules.net/library/gill/gill.htm
or
http://www.studylight.org/com/geb/  

Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary
Clarke's commentary often addresses many classic CDEs.
http://www.studylight.org/com/acc/

or 
http://www.godrules.net/library/clarke/clarke.htm

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
by Jamieson, Fausset and Brown often addresses many classic CDEs.

http://
ww.ccel.org/ccel/jamieson/jfb

or
http://www.studylight.org/com/jfb/


What is Inerrancy? audio podcast with William Lane Craig
http://www.apologetics315.com/2008/12/what-is-inerrancy-william-lane-craig.html


The Inerrancy of Scripture by Kevin Vanhoozer
http://www.theologynetwork.org/christian-beliefs/the-bible/getting-stuck-in/the-inerrancy-of-scripture.htm

Norman Geisler's When Critics Ask: A Popular Handbook on Bible Difficulties 


Difficulties in the Bible: Alleged Errors and Contradictions by R.A. Torrey


Countering Bible Contradictions
http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/bible.htm
(this link is down, so I think I found another copy below)


http://www.philvaz.com/apologetics/bible.htm


Contradicting Bible Contradictions
http://www.contradictingbiblecontradictions.com/


300 Alleged Bible Contradictions Answered
https://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2024/02/07/300-alleged-bible-contradictions-answered/

Hard Sayings of the Bible by Walter C. Kaiser

Steve Gregg's lecture series titled "Authority of Scriptures" can be listened to at this link:
http://www.thenarrowpath.com/topical_lectures.php
Link
The most relevant are parts 5, 7 and 8 (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

05. Historical Accuracy of the Bible
http://www.thenarrowpath.com/mp3s/aut/aut05.mp3


07. Alleged Discrepancies - Part 1
http://www.thenarrowpath.com/mp3s/aut/aut07.mp3


08. Alleged Discrepancies - Part 2
http://www.thenarrowpath.com/mp3s/aut/aut08.mp3


The Inerrancy of Scripture lectures by Wayne Grudem
(based on his book Introduction to Systematic Theology)

part 1
http://scottsdalebible.com/assets/audio/christian-essentials/20051009WGrudem.mp3


part 2
http://scottsdalebible.com/assets/audio/christian-essentials/20051016WGrudem.mp3


part 3
http://scottsdalebible.com/assets/audio/christian-essentials/20051106WGrudem.mp3


For all the lectures by Wayne Grudem based on his book, visit this link:
http://www.christianessentialssbc.com/messages/


Or here:
http://www.monergism.com/mp3/2012/02/systematic_theology_mp3_lectur.php



Do the Gospels Contradict Themselves? by Michael Licona (43 min. video)
http://youtu.be/LTKYB9F3I84

Do the Gospels Contradict? by Michael Licona
www.apologetics315.com/2012/07/do-gospels-contradict-by-michael-licona.html


 Mike Licona Discusses What Makes a Bible Contradiction
http://youtu.be/TJ8rZukh_Bc

Mike Licona interviewed by Frank Turek on Bible Contradictions
http://www.apologetics315.com/2013/01/michael-licona-on-bible-contradictions.html

The A, B, Cs . . . Ds Es of Defending the Gospels - Dr. Mike Licona 
http://youtu.be/1_I4OkShxh8

Why are there differences in the Gospels? - Mike Licona
http://youtu.be/vYfSf9NgeOQ

Why are there differences in the Gospels? - Mike Licona
http://youtu.be/xtemSTrkogE  (same lecture as above given at a different time)

Gospel Differences & Compositional Textbooks 
http://youtu.be/VZvwRyduNSM


Webinar: Why Are There Differences Between the Gospels? A Conversation with Dr. Michael Licona
http://youtu.be/pUajktSCaeo


Articles (mostly) by Norman Geisler on the "Licona Controversy"
http://normangeisler.net/articles/Bible/Inspiration-Inerrancy/Licona/default.htm  

Is Genre Criticism of the Gospels Contrary to the Inerrancy of Scripture? by Norman Geisler
http://normangeisler.net/articles/Bible/Inspiration-Inerrancy/GenreCriticismOfGospelsAndInerrancy.htm

Mike Licona Responds to Norman Geisler
http://youtu.be/TnvJu8LTsL8

 I also recommend the blogs on the "Licona Controversy" at Triablogue-
For example:

The resurrected saints (9/12/11) 
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/resurrected-saints.html
Hubner on Licona (9/12/11)  

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/hubner-on-licona.html
Geisler responds to Licona (9/13/11)  

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/geisler-responds-to-licona.html
Something Close to Biblicism (9/13/11)  

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/something-close-to-biblicism.html
Geisler adversus Geisler (9/14/11)  

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/geisler-adversus-geisler.html
Licona responds to Mohler (9/15/11)  

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/licona-responds-to-mohler.html
Father Church (9/15/11)  

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/father-church.html
Just in the Nick of time (9/15/11)  

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/just-in-nick-of-time.html
Lumpkins disposable morals  (9/16/11)  

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/lumpkins-disposable-morals.html
Odds and Enns (9/16/11)  

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/odds-and-enns.html
Early Christian And Non-Christian Interpretations Of The Matthew 27 Phenomena (9/16/11) 

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/early-christian-and-non-christian.html
The Doctrine of Inspiration and the World of the Ancient Near East (9/16/11) 

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/doctrine-of-inspiration-and-world-of.html
"An Inconsistent Argument Against Inerrancy" (9/16/11)  

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/inconsistent-argument-against-inerrancy.html
Geisler's selective prooftexting (9/18/11)  

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/geislers-selective-prooftexting.html
The day hope died (9/18/11)  

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/day-hope-died.html
The blessed hope (9/19/11) 

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/blessed-hope.html
Penultimate thoughts on the Licona controversy (9/19/11)  

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/penultimate-thoughts-on-licona.html
Inerrancy and hermeneutics  (9/19/11)  

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/09/inerrancy-and-hermeneutics.html
When the Saints Go Marching In (11/19/11) 

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/11/when-saints-go-marching-in.html
Beckwith misstates Catholic theology (12/3/11) 

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/12/beckwith-misstates-catholic-theology.html
Roundtable Discussion Of Matthew 27:52-53 (7/31/12) 

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2012/07/roundtable-discussion-of-matthew-2752-53.html
Gospel Contradictions
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2016/01/gospel-contradictions.html
(read in connection with Lydia McGrew's post:
A gospel fictionalization theory is no help to the gospel

http://whatswrongwiththeworld.net/2016/02/gospel_fictionalization_theory.html)
Police videos and Gospel harmonization
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2016/02/police-videos-and-gospel-harmonization.html
Gospel harmonization
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2016/02/gospel-harmonization.html
Jesus remembered
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2016/02/jesus-remembered.html



CONTRADICTIONS IN THE GOSPEL BOOKS? LESSONS FROM THE WORLD JUNIOR HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIPS
http://www.truthinmydays.com/contradictions-in-the-gospel-books-lessons-from-the-world-junior-hockey-

championships/

Contradictions in the Bible accounts of Jesus rising from the dead?
http://youtu.be/hA6g46R-adg


Discrepancies in the Gospels with W. Hall Harris and Darrell Bock
http://youtu.be/C651fVKKehg

Darrell Bock on Bible Contradictions

http://www.thinkchristianly.org/interview-with-darrell-bock-on-bible-contradictions-podcast/

Inerrancy and the Gospels: A God-Centered Approach to the Challenges of Harmonization by Vern Poythress (book)
http://www.frame-poythress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/PoythressVernInerrancyAndTheGospels.pdf 


Inerrancy and Worldview: Answering Modern Chalenges to the Bible by Vern Poythress
http://www.frame-poythress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PoythressVernInerrancyAndWorldview.pdf


Inerrancy, Harmonization and the Synoptic Gospels: A Response to Darrell Bock by Vern Poythress
http://www.frame-poythress.org/inerrancy-harmonization-and-the-synoptic-gospels-a-response-to-darrell-bock/


Logic by Vern Poythress
http://www.frame-poythress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/BLogicFinal.pdf

Presuppositions and Harmonization: Luke 23:47 as a Test Case by Vern Poythress
http://www.frame-poythress.org/presuppositions-and-harmonization-luke-2347-as-a-test-case/


Dan Olinger on Bible Contradictions (part 1 and 2)
From his series on apologetics
www.apologetics315.com/2009/07/apologetics-mp3-audio-series-by-dan.html
part 1
http://mp3.sa-media.com/filearea/8240819465710/8240819465710.mp3

part 2
http://mp3.sa-media.com/filearea/824081953190/824081953190.mp3

Resolutions to Bible Contradictions by Apologetics Press website
http://apologeticspress.com/AllegedDiscrepancies.aspx


A Bible Commentary for Muslims
http://answering-islam.org/BibleCom/index.html


Errors and Contradictions in the Bible? from the Answering Islam website
http://answering-islam.org/Bible/Contra/index.html


101 Cleared-Up "Contradictions" in the Bible! By: Jay Smith, Alex Chowdhry, Toby Jepson, James Schaeffer
http://www.debate.org.uk/debate-topics/apologetic/contrads/

Introduction to Bible Difficulties and Bible Contradictions by Matt Slick
http://carm.org/introduction-bible-difficulties-and-bible-contradictions

E.W. Bullinger's unique way of resolving alleged CDEs can be found by reading the Appendixes to his The Companion Bible.
Some of his resolutions are far-fetched and clearly ad hoc. While others may have some merit.

Appendixes to The Companion Bible
www.levendwater.org/companion/index_companion.html

An example of one of resolutions which at first seemed ad hoc to me, but now seems plausible is the seeming contradiction of whether both criminals reviled Christ or whether one of them honored him.
He deals with it in appendix 164 THE "OTHERS"CRUCIFIED WITH THE LORD
John W. Schoenheit does a great job explaining Bullinger's resolution in this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxvE8zKZJk4
This might be the same John Schoenheit who was once associated with the cult "The Way International". I post the link to the video only for the specific topic of the alleged contradiction. I don't endorse all of this person's theology (whoever he is).

Another work by Bullinger that can be helpful in resolving apparent contradictions is his book

Figures of Speech Used in the Bible

For the sake of fairness here's a link to the website which has the most comprehensive list of alleged Bible contradictions from a skeptics point of view. Fortunately, and to the credit of the website's author, the website also has links to responses and resolutions offered by other people on other websites. The famous (or for some infamous) website is:

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB)
www.skepticsannotatedbible.com


Christian Responses to the SAB:
www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/christian.html

A similar site to the SAB is Errancy.com. Though the website lists passages that suggest Biblical errancy, there are nevertheless interesting comments that people have posted that make some sense as to how some of these discrepancies can be resolved.

Dave Armstrong's Master List of Christian Internet Resources for Bible Difficulties
http://socrates58.blogspot.com/2010/07/alleged-bible-contradictions.html


Six Factors That Do Not Affect Inerrancy by C. Michael Patton
http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2014/02/six-factors-that-do-not-affect-inerrancy/



Some links to some comments I've made on blogs concerning Inerrancy.

Words of light and life
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/01/words-of-light-and-life.html


One angel or two?
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2011/04/one-angel-or-two.html


For more of my comments on this topic and various topics, one can go to this page:

My Comments on Other Blogs
http://gospelcrumbs.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-comments-on-other.html


Answering Moral Objections to the Bible 

Book Reviews of Recent Atheist Authors by Christian Apologists
http://misclane.blogspot.com/2013/09/book-reviews-of-recent-atheist-authors.html


Future planned additions to this blog will include:
-Recommended books in defense of Inerrancy
-Further resources for specific CDEs