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.
Should We Let Science Influence Our Doctrine Of Creation?
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Evan Minton Science is an amazing thing! It’s enabled us to transcend so many of our previously existing barriers, from being able to walk on the moon to being able to carry on a live conversation with someone on the opposite side of the planet, from helping us know what makes fevers run hot […]
Why Shouldn’t We Trust the Non-Canonical “Gospel of Nicodemus” or “The Acts of Pilate”?
4. Is the NT True?, CrossExaminedThe Gospel of Nicodemus is an ancient text purportedly written by the man who visited Jesus in the Gospel of John. But is this non-biblical text reliable? Was it really written by Nicodemus? There are four attributes of reliable eyewitness testimony, and the first requirement is simply that the account be old enough to actually […]
Is Jesus Simply a Retelling of the Horus Mythology?
4. Is the NT True?, CrossExaminedWhat if I told you there was once an ancient religion whose God was conceived by a virgin named Meri and had a stepfather named Seb (Joseph)? What if I told you this God was born in a cave and his birth was announced by an angel, heralded by a star and attended by shepherds? […]
Can Religion Be Tested for Truth?
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Luke Nix Most of the time, I’m not too fond of using the term “religion”. I normally prefer to use “worldview” because it is more clear about what all a belief-system entails. However, for this post, I will use the term common for the question posed in the title: Can religion be tested for […]
Is An Evidence Based Belief On Shaky Grounds?
2. Does God Exist?, Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Evan Minton “If you were talked into your belief, you can be talked out of it”. This is what I read from one theologian in a book a while back. I cannot remember who said it, but that was a direct quote from the book. I think it came from one of the volumes of A.W Tozer’s The […]
Why We Should Get To Know the Bible
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Al Serrato Is there a way to use the Bible to get someone interested in knowing more about the Bible? I’ve thought about this question for many years. As I learned more about the Word, and spoke more with people who called themselves Christian but knew little or nothing about what the Bible teaches, I […]
Are You Thinking Like an Atheist?
2. Does God Exist?, Debates, Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Adam Tucker As anyone who attends the Southern Evangelical Seminary National Conference on Christian Apologetics knows, SES does its best to offer well-rounded apologetics training that meets the needs of the novice while also challenging those who are more advanced. Our goal is to challenge the status quo of popular Christian thinking about apologetics […]
Belief In God Is Not a Feeling
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Al Serrato “Remember, a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him.” Obi-Wan’s admonition to Luke Skywalker sums up what some skeptics probably think about Christianity. If it were real, they would be able to “feel it” in some tangible way, and perhaps also be able to manipulate its power. A skeptic I spoke […]
Job, Suffering, and a Game of Chess
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Luke Nix The Ultimate Game of Chess As a Christian, I come across many challenges to my worldview. Some challenges come from those in other worldviews; others come from other Christians. One of the most common challenges from outside is to God’s existence. One argument observes all the evil and suffering in the world […]
Got Karma? Misses and Misuses
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Marcia Montenegro The Hindu word “karma” is used more and more often with a Western twist in meaning. Often people say it to mean “luck” (good or bad) or even as a gleeful expression of revenge. I myself once held a belief in karma when I was following Eastern and New Age beliefs and […]
“Christians Are Opposed To Science!” What Do You Mean By That?
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Evan Minton In any debate or argument, it’s very important that you understand the terminology that your opponent is using and that your opponent understands the terminology that you’re using. If you don’t define your terms, you’ll just end up talking past each other and you’ll end up attacking straw men. As the philosopher, […]
Is There Life Out There? (Interview with Jeff Zweerink)
CrossExaminedBetween novels, movies and television series, some of the most popular story lines involve extra-terrestrial beings living on exotic planets somewhere in the universe. The notion of alien life in the cosmos has captured our creative imagination and our scientific focus. If you’re like me, you’ve probably given the possibility of extra-terrestrial beings some serious […]
Dan Brown’s Origin: No God Required?
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Timothy Fox “Where do we come from?” and “Where are we going?” These are the two big questions Dan Brown explores in his latest novel, Origin (Doubleday, 2017). (Minor spoilers ahead.) This is the fifth book in the series starring Harvard professor, Robert Langdon, the most famous being The Da Vinci Code. While many of them have […]
What Christian Parents Should Learn from the Normalize Atheism Movement
Apologetics for ParentsBy Natasha Crain I recently encountered a movement underway on social media called “Normalize Atheism.” According to the website of the same name, the movement started a couple of years ago, but it seems to have picked up more speed recently. The basic idea is that atheists post a picture of themselves on social media, […]
Four Ways to Come Alongside Your Kids to Strengthen Their Faith
Apologetics for ParentsIf you’re paying attention to what’s happening in America today, you’re probably aware of the challenges facing young Christians in their teens and twenties. It’s a simple fact: most young Christians will walk away from the Church during (or before) their college years. Like other Christian parents, I’m animated to work as hard as I […]
What Christianity Teaches About Service
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Al Serrato I attended an awards assembly recently with my teenage son. He had written an essay on the value of military service, so the speeches and theme this night had to do with the traditions of service. And though this assembly was conducted at a Christian school, none of the comments made addressed […]
How Can Apologists Best Use Twitter? 6 Ideas
Theology and Christian ApologeticsWhen my father first released Evidence that Demands a Verdict in 1972 there was very little popular apologetics materials available, and so it was an instant success. But now with the recently updated edition, and the growth in the apologetics industry over the past few decades, there is an abundance of material. The challenge today is not the […]
Are Young People Really Leaving Christianity?
Culture CrossExaminedMuch has been written about both the Biblical illiteracy of teenage believers and the flight of young people from the Church. Many have observed this trend, and I too have witnessed it anecdotally as a youth pastor (and shamefully, I contributed to the trend for some time before I changed course). Some writers and Christian […]
8 Predictions about the Future of Sex, Gender, and Marriage in America
Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Theology and Christian ApologeticsRecently I was reading sociologist Mark Regnerus’s insightful new book Cheap Sex: The Transformation of Men, Marriage, and Monogamy. His premise is that the Pill and ubiquity of pornography have caused sex to be more widely available, which drives the cost of sex down and makes real commitment more “expensive” and difficult to navigate. Essentially, Regnerus examines sex in […]
Tornado Simulations, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and God’s Existence
2. Does God Exist?, Philosophy of Science, Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Luke Nix Introduction For nearly all my life, I’ve had a fascination with the physical sciences. Meteorology and astronomy were two of them that always caught and kept my attention as a kid. In my teens was when I started to focus more on information technology, and in my twenties, I was drawn to […]
To COEXIST Is A Biblical Command
Theology and Christian ApologeticsAlong with my regular blog here at seanmcdowell.org, I am now featuring occasional guest posts from some students in the Biola M.A. in Christian Apologetics that I personally had the privilege of teaching. This post is from my friend Tim Stratton, who has an excellent and growing ministry of his own. I simply asked him to write anything […]