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.
The Moral Argument for the Existence of God
2. Does God Exist?, Legislating Morality, Culture & PoliticsThe moral argument for the existence of God refers to the claim that God is needed to provide a coherent ontological foundation for the existence of objective moral values and duties. The argument can be summarised in the following syllogism: Premise 1: If God does not exist, then objective moral values and duties do not […]
The End of Moral Relativism: A Chain of Perverts
Theology and Christian ApologeticsIf you are not familiar with the name Alfred Kinsey, you might want to look him up, and you might want to start with Judith Reisman‘s, Sexual Sabotage: How One Mad Scientist Unleashed a Plague of Corruption and Contagion on America. In it, Reisman chronicles Kinsey’s recognition as the America’s expert on “sex education” whose studies […]
When Was John's Gospel Written?
4. Is the NT True?A number of significant events occurred in the life of the church in the decade of the A.D. 60’s. Among them was the great fire of Rome which broke out in A.D. 64, resulting in Nero cracking down on Christians, thus greatly exacerbating the perseuction of the early church. This intense persecution would would last […]
Science and Human Origins: A Review
CrossExaminedENV editor David Klinghoffer has already drawn our attention to the new book by Ann Gauger, Douglas Axe and Casey Luskin on Science and Human Origins.Although intelligent design is not committed to a particular view on whether our species Homo sapiens share a common ancestor with other primates, the new book, published by Discovery Institute […]
The Nativity Defended
4. Is the NT True?The Nativity and, in particular, the virgin birth has increasingly come under attack from liberal scholarship in recent years. Those committed to a naturalistic worldview dismiss the virgin birth of Jesus as fanciful. Some have even questioned whether Jesus was born in Bethlehem and whether Mary and Joseph’s venture to this town was prompted by […]
What Really Happened at Nicea?
Theology and Christian ApologeticsFor many years, the council of Nicea has been the subject of much confusion among laypeople. The misapprehensions which have come to be associated with the council of Nicea have, in part, been fuelled by popular fiction novels such as Dan Brown’s notorious The Da Vinci Code. No matter what group you are dealing with […]
The Speeches in Acts: Are They Authentic?
4. Is the NT True?Much of the book of Acts — about 50% — is comprised of speeches, discourses and letters. Among them, a total of eight speeches are given by Peter; a total of nine speeches delivered by Paul; there is Stephen’s famous address before the Sanhedrin (Acts 7:2-53); a brief address at the Jerusalem Council by James […]
What’s in a Name? New Evidence for Eyewitness Testimony in the New Testament
4. Is the NT True?What’s in a name? More than you might imagine when it comes to establishing the credibility of historical accounts. Since names change dramatically over a relatively short period of time, historians can help discover whether an historical document accurately reflects the time it purports to describe by examining the names found in the text. As […]
The Molecular Flagellar Clutch of Bacillus Subtilis
CrossExaminedI have previously outlined a few of the key mechanisms undergirding flagellar assembly, and the remarkable process of bacterial chemotaxis by which bacteria change direction in response to chemical signals. There are, of course, a number of different variants in those systems. If you thought that these remarkable mechanisms bear a strong resemblance to an […]
In Explaining the Cambrian Explosion, Has the TalkOrigins Archive Resolved Darwin's Dilemma?
CrossExaminedA correspondent recently referred me to an article in the TalkOrigins Archive responding to the argument that “Complex life forms appear suddenly in the Cambrian explosion, with no ancestral fossils.” TalkOrigins is a popular online resource that collects attempted answers to some often-heard challenges to Darwinian evolutionary theory. The article offers seven responses to the […]
New Paper Reveals a "Novel Insight into the Non-Coding Repertoire"
CrossExaminedOn an almost weekly basis, new research floods in documenting previously unidentified functionality of many different classes of non-coding DNA elements. This consistent trend renders untenable the dogmatic claim that our DNA is mostly junk. A paper was recently published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research that identified a previously unknown function of non-coding (nc)RNA […]
Apologetics Resources for Kids
Theology and Christian ApologeticsI often get asked to recommend apologetics resources for kids. Our friends at Ratio Christi have put together a list of recommendations by age group, all the way down to elementary school. Click here for details.
Evidences Jesus is ALIVE
4. Is the NT True?My guest on the radio program today was Dr. Tim McGrew, Professor of Philosophy at Western Michigan University. He provided five lines of evidence that Jesus is ALIVE: A Appearances to his followers (1 Cor 15, Mt 28, Lk 24, Jn 20-21, Acts 1, Josephus and others) L Low status of women in first century […]
A New Study Adds Further Depth to the Information Story
CrossExaminedPreviously on ENV, I have described several remarkable features — and the finely tuned characteristics — of the genetic code found in nature. A new study, published in the journal Nature and conducted by a research team at the University of California, San Francisco, identifies an additional, hitherto uncovered, layer of information associated with the […]
Irreducible Complexity with Four Glasses and Three Knives
CrossExaminedA post at Uncommon Descent offers an innovative way of illustrating the concept of irreducible complexity — one that is likely to be more resistant to Darwinist misrepresentation than Michael Behe’s well-known mouse trap analogy. The illustration is intended to address the common misconception that irreducible complexity entails that (a) the individual subcomponents cannot be […]
Massimo Pigliucci: Theodosius Dobzhansky, in His Famous Comment about Evolution, Was "Patently Wrong"
CrossExaminedWriting on his “Rationally Speaking” blog, internationally acclaimed evolutionary biologist turned philosopher Massimo Pigliucci has weighed in on a recent paper published by Addy Pross entitled “Toward a general theory of evolution: Extending Darwinian theory to inanimate matter.” What was of particular interest to me was Pigliucci’s comments on Theodosius Dobzhansky’s famous statement that “Nothing […]
The Argument From Cosmic Fine Tuning
2. Does God Exist?, Theology and Christian ApologeticsThe concept of cosmic fine tuning relates to a unique property of our universe whereby the physical constants and laws are observed to be balanced on a ‘razor’s edge’ for permitting the emergence of complex life. The degree to which the constants of physics must match precise criteria is such that a number of agnostic […]
This Saturday on the National Mall in Washington, It's the Unreasonable Rally
Atheism, Culture CrossExaminedThis Saturday, March 24, on the National Mall in Washington D.C., atheists and secularists from all over the world will gather for a day of entertainment from guest speakers, comedians and musicians. The Reason Rally, which claims to be the “the largest secular event in world history,” features such notable figures as Richard Dawkins, Michael […]
British Geneticist Robert Saunders Weighs in on Signature in the Cell
CrossExaminedReaders may recall my exchange with British geneticist Robert Saunders (here and here) following Stephen Meyer’s lecture at the Lord McKay dinner in London (which you can now watch here). At the time, Saunders admitted that he had not read Signature in the Cell, nor had he attended the lecture. It was, therefore, not entirely […]
The Intolerance of those Fighting for “Tolerance”
College Events, Culture CrossExaminedThis is an article on my I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist presentation that a homosexual group protested last night at Ohio University. Notice one student said that I shouldn’t be speaking because anyone opposed to homosexual behavior and same-sex marriage is “hateful.” The people who say they are fighting for “tolerance” […]
Who is the Angel of the Lord?
CrossExaminedThroughout the Old Testament, we routinely encounter the mysterious character who goes by the title “The angel of the Lord.” By looking at the numerous appearances of this individual, we can piece together clues as to His identity. The first time the angel of the Lord is introduced, he makes an appearance to Hagar, the […]