Does God need to be triune in order to be loving? If God possesses a diversity of personhood within the one divine essence (Trinity, from tri-unity, three in one, one God in three persons: Father, Son, Spirit), then God can be complete (perfect) in love within himself (operating analogously to a family in giving, receiving, and sharing love within a…
Ask my family, friends, or students and they will tell you that as a historic Christian I am truly captivated with the triune nature of God. Historic Christianity affirms God’s triunity: one God in three persons. God is one divine “What” (essence or being) and three personal “Whos” (persons or subsistences). One reason for this preoccupation is that I view…
During the pandemic we all noticed how television interviews carried on Zoom and Skype often had bookshelves filled with books in the background. Why is that? Books are a universal symbol of learning and knowledge. Thus the background of books makes the interviewee look intellectually sophisticated and learned. In 2015 on World Book Day (celebrated annually on April 23) there was a survey taken in the United Kingdom:…
All people are morally flawed. Daily living confirms that brokenness sits at the center of each human being. The Bible’s anthropology (study of humanity as it relates to God) explains the moral breakdown by revealing that all human beings are captive to the debilitating force of original sin. The Handbook of Basic Bible Texts defines “original sin” as “the sinfulness, guilt, and susceptibility to death inherited by all human…
Learning to think rigorously for oneself is one of the most important intellectual duties in life. Critical thinking confers many benefits, including the ability to solve problems, to live independently, and to discover truth. Unfortunately, I am concerned that much of formal education today, especially in the social sciences, involves ever-increasing doses of indoctrination and sometimes even full-blown propaganda.1I believe the…
If the biblical God wants everyone to believe in him and potentially come into a saving relationship with him, then why does he seem—at least for some people—to be absent or hidden? As I’ve reflected about this claim that God is hidden, I think we can frame the issue as either a fundamental problem for the sender (God) or for the receiver…
One of the reasons cited in favor of atheism and against the idea that the God of Christian theism exists is known as the “hiddenness of God” objection. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy offers this definition: “‘Divine hiddenness’, as the phrase suggests, refers, most fundamentally, to the hiddenness of God, i.e., the alleged fact that God is hidden, absent, silent.” In…
“Not enough evidence, God! Not enough evidence!”1 That was famous secular philosopher Bertrand Russell’s2 response when asked what he would theoretically say in defense of his unbelief if he found himself facing God on judgment day. One of the common claims that atheists make in objection to God’s existence is that God is hidden. This “hiddenness of God” challenge may take the following…
Fifty years ago, if I wanted to carry on a serious dialogue and apologetic debate with Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, and Muslim scholars I probably needed to go overseas. But with the emergence of the internet and influx of immigration in America and other parts of the Western world, all of that has changed. Great religious diversity now exists in America, especially…
What is real? What is right? What is lovely? Human beings ask these kinds of questions because we long for at least three things: truth, goodness, and beauty. Prominent philosophers through the centuries have called these three cosmic values transcendentals. A transcendental refers to something that exists beyond the time-space-matter world. It is a universal reality that extends beyond our everyday sensory experiences and is…
