Podcasts

Paul Copan explains the problems of evil and suffering in 17 minutes

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Paul Copan

Paul Copan explains the high points of the problems of evil and suffering in 17 minutes. (H/T Apologetics 315)

The MP3 file is here.

The video is here.

Topics:

  • the question itself reveals that we are moral beings
  • the problem of evil is the great interrupter of human well-being
  • every philosophy of life has to address this question
  • is God required to give us a life that is easy and comfortable?
  • evil is a departure from good, i.e. – the way things ought to be
  • a way things ought to be implies a plan for what ought to be
  • human evil implies a plan for the way we ought to be
  • free creatures have the ability to deviate from the plan
  • where does this plan for the universe and us come from?
  • how can there be a way we ought to be come from?
  • evil is the flip side of good so where does good come from?
  • God’s own moral nature is the standard of good and evil
  • where does evil from natural disasters come from?
  • how dangerous natural phenomena preserve Earth’s habitability
  • there is a benefit from tectonic activity
  • similarly, God lets humans freely choose knowing harm may result
  • people are free to try to find meaning in something other than God
  • God is able to use negative things to bring about positive results
  • e.g. – when good people suffer, they can comfort and care for others
  • can people be good enough on their own without God?

Paul Copan is probably my favorite Christian apologist, along with Doug Geivett. I put Copan and Geivett in a separate category from guys like Meyer and Richards. Copan and Geivett are more specifically defending Christian claims and Christian theology in their work. both get involved with debates and lecturing. They are both very confident in their exclusivism and evangelicalism, addressing tough questions on specific controversial Christian beliefs. I love that. Nothing is off limits for these guys.

If you want to read two good books for beginners on Christian Apologetics that cover a much wider range of issues than Craig’s “On Guard”, then pick up Copan’s “Passion Conviction” and the companion “Contending With Christianity’s Critics”. Awesome, awesome resources.

Videos

Chris Christie explains the war between teacher unions and parents

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Awesome video from Hot Air. (H/T Cubachi)

Excerpt:

Governor Chris Christie gives remarks regarding teachers and the teachers Union, the NJEA during a Town Hall Meeting in Robbinsville, NJ.

Christie explained that his fight is not against teachers. It is against the NJEA. Christie cited this stat: a teacher who is in the union, pays $730 a year to join. If a teacher doesn’t want to join the union, they pay 85% of the $730 per year, to not join.

That money raises $130 million a year to pay for lobbyists, to stare down the legislature. They also spend the money, as well as tax payer money from NJ residents from property taxes and other taxes to buy ads attacking the governor.

Here’s the clip:

I found another good 4-minute clip from a different education policy speech at the Heritage Foundation, too.

The full speech from the American Federation for Children Policy Summit is in 4 clips on YouTube:

And you can learn more about how school choice helps students to learn, and parents to get their money’s worth.

I love policy. The quickest way to a man’s heart is tax policy and education policy and foreign policy.

News

LA students to be taught that AZ immigration law is un-American

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Story from Fox News.

Excerpt:

The Los Angeles Unified School District school board wants all public school students in the city to be taught that Arizona’s new immigration law is un-American.

[…]In an e-mail to FOXNews.com, school district spokesman Robert Alaniz elaborated:

“The Board of Education directed the Superintendent to ensure that LAUSD civics and history classes discuss the recent laws enacted in Arizona in the context of the American values of unity, diversity, and Equal Protection for all.   Much like a number of controversial periods and laws that are part of our history and are currently taught including:

  • Slavery
  • Jim Crowe laws and segregation
  • Native American reservations
  • Residential schools (for Native Americans)
  • The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
  • Anti-Irish racism in the 19th century
  • Racism against immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe in the 20th century
  • Anti-Semitism
  • Internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II
  • The Mexican Repatriation Program (1929-1939).”

Asking people for a driver’s license in a traffic stop is the same as slavery and segregation?

Another argument for homeschooling or private schools.