Apologetics Ireland

Andrew365

Hello to all readers, users and contributors of all world views and opinions.

My name is Andrew and I thank you for taking the time to read some of the words I'm writing.
This is very much a preliminary piece of text, more so for the purpose of testing the proverbial waters for temperature.

I'm appealing to fellow Christians who have understanding, no matter how limited, of Christian Apologetics and or names in the field such as Ravi Zacharias, John Lennox, William Lane Craig, Tim Keller and Hugh Ross. To name a few of the more popular end names, in a field of many more.

The purpose of this writing is inquiry, and not debate on whether God exists or not. If the idea of God's existence is provocative or unreasonable to you then that is fine, and my aim in the future is to dialogue with you about such topics but at this time that's not the purpose of this thread so I kindly ask for any such criticisms to be held for the future. Thank you.

My reason for appealing to you today is to organise those of interest in Christian Apologetics together in some capacity for cross communication and group study.
If this sounds like a good idea to you please let me know thank you.

lazybones32

I'm not familiar with any of the apologists quoted but I think strong guidelines will need to be thought-up for any such thread: Christians can very easily get sidetracked in 'debating' their own dogmas.

Manach

There are numerous apologetics present. I'd recognise William Craig from the OP's list. Historical ones such as Knox, Chesterton, Newman as well as contemporary ones such as Jon Wright or William Crocker could be also mentioned. To avoid, as Lazybones32 mentioned, somewhat over-engaged discussions on doctrine there is already a thread sticky present for resources/books which might be of interest.

J C

Manach wrote: »

There are numerous apologetics present. I'd recognise William Craig from the OP's list. Historical ones such as Knox, Chesterton, Newman as well as contemporary ones such as Jon Wright or William Crocker could be also mentioned. To avoid, as Lazybones32 mentioned, somewhat over-engaged discussions on doctrine there is already a thread sticky present for resources/books which might be of interest.

Christian Apologetics has a long history within Christianity.
It is based on Jn 3:12 where Jesus says to Nicodemus
"I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?"

The Christian Faith isn't a blind faith, as some people say ... it is a Faith that is based on a real world that was Created by a real God and visited by this God in the person of Jesus Christ to make a legally valid atonement for all sin since the Fall of Mankind.

Whilst there are many arguments about the detail ... the above paragraph is accepted by all orthodox Christian Churches - and Christian apologetics has been engaged in by members of all churches in support of various aspects of the Christian Faith.

Manach

Being in favour of code re-use, I'd reckon the common formula would be that of The Apostles Creed . As for the above, it is in fact a fairly good summary, save for the use of "legally" - a word whose jurisprudence wranglings on its meaning have been rather heated in academic and professional circles.

DEFTLEFTHAND

lazybones32 wrote: »

I'm not familiar with any of the apologists quoted but I think strong guidelines will need to be thought-up for any such thread: Christians can very easily get sidetracked in 'debating' their own dogmas.

I'd say you would know of John Lennox, he's an Oxford Mathematics Professor and well known for his public debates with Richard Dawkins.

J C

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I'd say you would know of John Lennox, he's an Oxford Mathematics Professor and well known for his public debates with Richard Dawkins.

Here is an example of Prof Lennox in action.

J C

Another great Christian Apologist is Peter Hitchens (former Atheist and brother of the late Christopher Hitchens).
The accent is quite uncanny ... almost identical to Christopher's

Festus

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I'd say you would know of John Lennox, he's an Oxford Mathematics Professor and well known for his public debates with Richard Dawkins.

OMG! There are mathematicians who believe in God!!! :eek::eek::eek:

Darn, some people think mathematicians are actually the purest form of scientist - I hope there are no atheists reading this - it might upset them!

If this doesn't get me banned, nothing will