CrossExamined Blog
Tackling today’s toughest questions, these posts explore topics on God, morality, science, and culture.
Whether you’re a skeptic or believer, each article challenges your worldview and sharpens your thinking. Engaging, thought-provoking, and unapologetic, this is a place to dig deeper and follow the truth wherever it leads.
Did Paul Write All Thirteen Letters Attributed to Him?
4. Is the NT True?, Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Brian Chilton In the New Testament, thirteen letters are attributed to the apostle Paul. Paul is, of course, the individual who had persecuted the church, but became a Christian missionary after an encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. But, did Paul actually author all thirteen epistles believed to have been […]
Miracles Are Useless, If…
3. Are Miracles Possible?, Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Rajkumar Richard The Bible is replete with miracles[1]. Sincere Christians who worship the Triune God will objectively believe every recorded miracle in the Bible. Miracles are intended to glorify God, meet human needs and establish the supernatural basis of revelation. Sincere Christians will also affirm miracles subjectively. They will subjectively assert their existence as a […]
God, Patience, and Creation
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Luke Nix Introduction One of the challenges skeptics raise against God as the Creator is the idea that He took entirely too long to create: God is inefficient and wasteful with time, if He did, indeed, take 13+ billion years to create the universe. Why did God take so long to create the universe when […]
Do Your Kids Know Why They Should WANT God to Exist?
Apologetics for ParentsBy Natasha Crain I’ve written over 250 blog posts here since 2011. People still come across my old posts by searching for something on Google, so nearly every day I receive new comments on a wide variety of old posts. Many of the comments are from atheists. As I read the latest comments this week, I […]
So you say you want a Revolution, what about Romans 13?
Legislating Morality, Culture & PoliticsBy Steve Williams Many Christians believe that the first section of Romans 13 – verses 1-7 — forbids any form of resistance to government… even when it clearly goes tyrannical. If one analyzes this passage of the Bible carefully, however, as The USA’s founding fathers did, we can see that Paul was speaking in generalities in […]
Objective Morality: Much Ado About Nothing?
Legislating Morality, Culture & PoliticsEarlier this year, an early-morning storm passed through our area, causing schools to open late. Some counties announced they would open schools one hour late. Others announced that school would begin at 9:30 am. Our county? Officials announced that school would begin “after the storms were over.” Imagine the confusion this created, as the storms […]
The Contingency Argument For God’s Existence
2. Does God Exist?, Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Evan Minton Why does anything at all exist? Why isn’t there just nothing? This is the first philosophical question I ever remember asking myself. I remember lying in bed at night when I was about 6 years old, and I asked and pondered this very question. I thought to myself “Everything must have been […]
Who Wrote the Gospel of Luke and Acts?
4. Is the NT True?, Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Brian Chilton We have been engaged in a series of articles discussing the authorship of the books of the New Testament. In this article, we consider the Third Gospel, the Gospel of Luke. Who wrote the Gospel? What clues do we have from the internal and external evidence, the date, and the location and […]
Should We Be Moral Relativists?
Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Rajkumar Richard INTRODUCTION This is a short introductory essay to defend objective moral values. In philosophy, the term ‘objective,’ is defined as the existence of an object independent of human mind (mind-independency); “the object would “be there,” as it is, even if no subject perceived it.”1 In contrast, the term ‘relative’ refers to the […]
Why Does God Love Satan?
CrossExaminedBy Rajkumar Richard The question, “Does God love Satan?” seemingly yields diametrically conflicting answers from conservative Christian theologians. Some assert that God cannot love Satan. In contrast, others claim that God loves Satan. So does God love Satan or not? Answers to the question, “Does God love Satan?” cause further complications. If God does not […]
Progressive Christianity is as Much of a Threat to Your Kids’ Faith as Atheism
Apologetics for ParentsBy Natasha Crain In our backyard we used to have a beautiful lime tree. One day I noticed that a thorny vine of some kind had started growing around it. It looked enough like the rest of the tree that I figured it was just another stage of growth. A quick Google search told me […]
Who Wrote the Gospel of Mark?
4. Is the NT True?By Brian Chilton Last week, we began a series on the authorship of the New Testament documents as we discussed the Gospel of Matthew. This week, we continue our series as we consider the authorship of the Gospel of Mark. We will consider the internal and external evidences, as well as the date of the […]
The Price of Denying Free Will
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Timothy Fox Every time I turn around I find someone else denying that humans have free will. From scientists to philosophers to theologians, it’s the cool new trend. We aren’t actually making free choices. We have been programmed either by God or our DNA to act in a certain way and have no choice but […]
God, Evil and the London Attack
2. Does God Exist?, IslamIf you’d had the knowledge and power to stop the terrorist attack in London, would you have done so? Of course. In fact, if you could have stopped it but didn’t, we would call you morally deficient. We would partially blame you for the attacks! What does this say about the supposedly all-loving, all-knowing, all […]
Is Religion the Practice of Avoiding Truth?
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Luke Nix Introduction A month or so ago, I came across an interesting challenge to Christianity. A skeptic told me that religion was an exercise in avoiding truth- a willful delusion. He observed that many Christians (and religious people, in general) tend to believe the claims of their “holy” books over what has been […]
Who Wrote the Gospel of Matthew?
4. Is the NT True?By Brian Chilton Over the course of the new few weeks, we will discuss the reasons for accepting the traditional viewpoints for New Testament authorship. We will begin with the Gospel of Matthew today and will then move towards the other three Gospels before looking at some of the letters in Revelation. The New Testament […]
Was Paul the Founder of Christianity?
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Brian Chilton Skeptics, such as Gerd Ludemann, charged Paul for being the actual founder of Christianity. Such ideas come from either a belief that Jesus never addressed difficult topics, or a belief that Paul was too radical in his teachings for it to have come from Jesus. Both views are inherently wrong. A closer […]
The Art of Raising Kids Who Will Not Bow to the Idol of Science
Apologetics for ParentsBy Natasha Crain There’s a new hero in town. He’s thought to be all-powerful, always right, and everyone’s best friend. If anyone says something that could possibly be construed as being opposed to this hero, they are to be quickly shamed and put in their place. You see, if the world wants to move forward […]
Did Long Distance Make Paul’s Witness List Unfalsifiable?
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Evan Minton In chapter 8 of my book Inference To The One True God, in my blog post “The Minimal Facts Case For Jesus’ Resurrection PART 1” and in my blog post “A Quick Case For Jesus’ Resurrection”, I make the case that we know many people had experiences of the risen Jesus appearing […]
God’s Love & the Euthyphro Dilemma
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Tim Stratton Question Dear Tim,In your article The Omnibenevolence of God you pointed out that on the Islamic view, Allah is quite similar to some Calvinistic views of God. Regarding this view, you said: “God is not all-loving, and whatever Allah does is simply called “good,” even if it is really hateful.” I agree with […]
Skeptics Can’t Have It Both Ways
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Brent Hardaway Former L.A. County District Attorney and agnostic Vince Bugliosi believes that the problem of evil is fatal to believing in Christianity. “I’m an agnostic only on the issue of whether there is a God, a supernatural being who created the universe. I’m not an agnostic on the Christian God… while God can […]