Defending and Commending the Faith With Dr. Joe L. Mott, inviting the atheist, agnostic and skeptic to examine for themselves the evidence for the Christian faith

References: (1) An important topic in any discussion of Darwinian evolution is the major problem of blunders, frauds, and forgeries made by evolutionists. How can anyone consider Darwinian evolution to be TRUE if it is characterized by frauds? Would you purchase an insurance policy if the company has a record of frauds? No, but many people accept Darwinian evolution despite its connection with fra...

References: (1) The first 5 tenets appeared in Darwin’s magnum opus “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” in 1859. The subtitle of which is the “Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.” (2) One of the biggest weaknesses in Darwin’s original theory was that he lacked a correct mechanism for heredity. He did not know about genes or DNA. (3) Darwin’s father, considerin...

References: (1) Random mutations do not occur very OFTEN, and most mutations are DAMAGING to an organism. Yet POSITIVE mutations are NECESSARY to give rise to a surviving new creature. 99% of mutations are DELETERIOUS and 1% have no effect at all. No useful mutation has ever BEEN OBSERVED. (2) I think Darwin may have believed that natural selection effectively had a MIND OF ITS OWN and would ARBIT...

References: (1) “On the Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin. (2) The scientists  Fransesco Redi, John Needham, and Louis Pasteur DISPROVED spontaneous generation. (3) Cliff Knecktle says: atheists believe in 6 miracles: (a) Life comes from non-life. (b) Existence comes from non-existence (from the Big Bang). (c) Order comes from chaos. (d) Personal comes from non-personal. (e) Reason comes from n...

References: (1) During the 1800s some people believed bats navigated at night by touch, the moon was populated by furry, winged humans, decaying meat spontaneously turned into maggots, grain changed into rodents, and mud became frogs. (2) Scientists Fransesco Redi, John Needham, and Louis Pasteur PROVED that LIFE does not come from NON-LIVING SUBSTANCES, i. e, they proved that spontaneous generati...

References: (1) Nancy Pearcey, a fellow of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and author of several books including “Total Truth,” “Finding Truth,” and “The Toxic War on Masculinity.” (2) Bassett Maguire, a biology professor at the University of Texas, “admits that the (peppered) moths were STAGED, and the embryos were EXAGGERATED. Maguire told a reporter: “But the examples DON’T REALLY...

References: (1) Charles Darwin, whose evolutionary manifesto, “On the Origin of Species,” was first published in 1859 and is now said to be the most influential book in the world, besides the Bible. (2) “Situation Ethics: The New Morality” by Joseph Fletcher. (3) Nothing causes such CONSTERNATION to the Christian faith more so than Darwinian evolution. After all, the term goes hand in hand with na...

References: (1) “The Closing of the American Mind” by Allan Bloom. (2) Roughly stated, modernism affirms the existence of ABSOLUTE TRUTHS. Postmodernism affirms the POLAR OPPOSITE: the nonexistence of absolute truths. (3) The fact that postmodernism has SUCCEEDED in uprooting modernism within an entire culture is therefore a NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENT, a feat that NO OTHER PHILOSOPHICAL SYSTEM or reli...

References: In this episode, Dr. Joe L. Mott explores the shift from modernism to postmodernism, identifying how society moved from exalting human reason to denying the existence of objective truth altogether. By examining the Greek origins of the word "truth" in the Gospel of John, Dr. Mott reveals that God’s Word is not merely a collection of true statements, but the ultimate reference point for...

References: (1) Chapter 53 of the Book of Isaiah. This chapter is known as the “Suffering Servant” passage in the Bible, which describes a FIGURE who suffers for the sins of others. Christians INTERPRET this chapter as a PROPHETIC DESCRIPTION of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection, highlighting key parallels between the text and the RECORDED EVENTS of the crucifixion. (2) Isa. 53 refers to t...

References: (1) I claim that the NT passes the 4-fold test for the RELIABILITY of witnesses articulated by the former Los Angeles police department cold-case detective J. Warner Wallace. Much like in a courtroom trial the questions are asked: Were the witnesses PRESENT to be able to observe what they claim? Was their testimony CORROBORATED by an independent source? Was their testimony ACCURATE by...

References: (1) “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist” by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek. (2) There are several arguments for the existence of God. Let me remind you of the Kalam Causal argument. Even atheists agree the universe had a BEGINNING caused by what is called the Big Bang. Therefore, by the Law of Causality, there is a CAUSE for the universe OUTSIDE of the universe itself. Since ma...

References: (1) “What is truth?” was Pilate’s sarcastic response. Pilate turned on his heels and went out to speak with those demanding Jesus’ execution. He did not have time to ponder the question of the ages. (2) Pilate washed his hands before the multitude, saying “I am innocent of the blood of this JUST PERSON.” As Pilate was sitting on the JUDGMENT SEAT he released Barnabas, and he SCOURGED J...

References: (1) In Episode 268 we began discussing Frank Turek’s 4 questions that prove Christianity is true. Turek was considering Norman Geisler’s 12 points that shows Christianity is true and reduces Geisler’s argument down to 4 questions leaving out some obvious logical points. (2) The reason these questions are so VITAL are that they deal with our POSITION in ETERNITY (not to mention a BETTER...

References: (1) “Metaphysics” by Aristotle. (2) Aristotle’s definition of truth: “To say of what IS that it is, and of what IS NOT that it is not, is TRUE; while to say of what is that it is not, or what is not that it is, is FALSE.” (3) Postmodernism, the predominant worldview of secularity, now poses its answer that truth and morality are RELATIVE. Moral relativism’s answer is that we have NO OB...

References: (1) “Twelve Points that Show Christianity is True” by Norman Geisler. (2) “Stealing from God” by Frank Turek. (3) The Bible puts a great PREMIUM on truth. Psa. 61:7 says mercy and truth preserves. Psa. 85:10 says mercy and truth are aligned and since mercy is clearly valuable, then truth is equally valuable. Prov. 16:6 says in mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity. Prov. 2...

References: (1) What makes Christianity UNIQUE among all world religions is not how you feel about it emotionally or how strongly you believe in it factually, what makes Christianity unique is that it is TRUE. (2) The universal Christian church has a SORDID HISTORY. Its history includes the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch trials, the Roman Catholic priests abuse of young boys, a...

References: (1)  I followed the arguments that that Norman Geisler used in his book "Twelve Points that Show Christianity is True." But in his book Stealing from God  Frank Turek boils that argument down to 4 questions:     1. Does TRUTH exist?     2. Does GOD exist?     3. Are MIRACLES possible?     4. Is the NEW TESTAMENT historically reliable? (2) Allah, the God of Islam, and Jahweh, the God of...

References: (1) When Mortimer Adler, editor of the Great Books of the Western World, was asked why the “God” section was the largest section in those books, he observed that it was because more implications FLOW from the SUBJECT of God than from any other subject. (2) “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist” by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek says that the 5 most consequential questions are: or...

References: (1) The Bible stands out as a unique text because it transcends time, offering timeless wisdom and guidance. (2) The Bible is unique because it speaks in the present time. (3) The Bible is unique because it unfolds a single continuous story — of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. From Genesis to Revelation, one SCARLET THREAD OF REDEMPTION runs throughout it: God is redeeming...

References: (1) A Visual Guide to Biblical Apologetics by Joseph M. Holden and Sarah R. Enterline. (2) The third historiographical test for the Bible’s historical reliability is the external test. Recall that this test compares the text with external sources of historical or archaeological facts. The question is: Does the text align or not with data OUTSIDE ITSELF? If so, it is considered reliable...

References: (1) “The Historical Reliability of the Gospels” by Craig L. Bloomberg. (2) Bible deniers declare that the Bible is FULL of contradictions. (3) Bart Ehrman, the NT scholar at UNC and the author of several skeptical books. (4) Richard Dawkins, the author of several books including “The Blind Watchmaker,” “The Selfish Gene,” and “The God Delusion." (5) For Christians finding a contradicti...

References: (1) “Misquoting Jesus”  by Bart Ehrman. (2) “Jesus Interrupted” by Bart Ehrman. (3) The main character of “Everybody Loves Raymond” would say to critics like Ehrman: “Bull-loney.” What I reported about the biographical test blows Ehrman’s comments out of the water. (4) Like the serpent in the Garden of Eden, Ehrman doesn’t have a leg to stand on. (5) We have all heard other critics, li...

References: (1) The bibliographic test seeks to determine if we can RECONSTRUCT the original writings from the extant copies of the documents we have at hand. It examines the QUANTITY, the QUALITY, and the PROXIMITY of the MSS relative to the ORIGINAL TEXTS. More MSS and earlier copies generally indicate a higher level of reliability. (2) The Internal Test checks for INCONSISTENCIES within the tex...

References: (1) The OT and NT pass the separate historiographical tests like NO OTHER ancient books. Most professional archaeologists and historians acknowledge the historicity of the Bible. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 contribute to that confidence. (2) “The Bible and Archaeology” by Sir Fredrick Kenyon who lived from 1863-1952, and was the former director and principal librarian...