Mary sent me this cute video from Facebook.
And she also sent me this Ronald Reagan video.
Should have a bigger post up later! I got a Wii and a new LCD TV for my Dad for Christmas, so we are spending all our time going to the gym and playing Wii Sports Resort. He is beating me at about half the games. But we are talking about interesting things and I should write about some of those things pretty soon.
UPDATE: Here’s a new Facebook-nativity video. This one made me laugh out loud.
Who Made God?
Completely readable – completely excellent. Actually, one of my favorite reads this year. I thought, I could give this to anyone and they would understand it, enjoy it, and be challenged by it. Full of wit, humor, and sharp thinking. This definitely makes it to the top of my list. (review here)
Is God Just a Human Invention?
Another book with a question for a title – but
questions are good, and this book tackles about 18 of them that are being asked the most these days. Written by Sean McDowell and Jonathan Morrow, with contributions from a ton of excellent specialists, this book is a phenomenal resource and doesn’t have to be read in any particular order. (an interview with the authors here)
is another book loaded with great content – 50 essays! – with contributions from a ton of top-notch apologists. A close competitor with the previously mentioned book that happens to be a great resource.
On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision
by William Lane Craig
is excellent for personal study or group studies. Weighty material that is clear, precise, and put together really well. I’d give this to Christian young people in high school and college who want to strengthen their apologetics foundations. (review here)
And finally, here’s the stocking stuffer of the bunch: Kreeft and Tacelli’s Pocket Handbook of Christian Apologetics
. The reason? Again, lots of material packed into a small book, organized and presented well.
My first choice is “Is God Just a Human Invention”, but I have not read “Who Made God?”, although I have it.
I’m not a big fan of Peter Kreeft’s book. I have never read anything by Kreeft that has the same evidential tone like the stuff that William Lane Craig writes. I am not a big fan of these G. K. Chesterton / C.S. Lewis / Phillip Yancey type people for apologetics. It’s just paper shields and foam swords – totally useless in battle. If you want real apologetics, you want experimental scientists, analytical philosophers and multi-lingual historians. You want guys like Mike Licona and William Lane Craig who have a lot of debating experience.
NOTE: Brian is giving away books to anyone who adds him on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribes to his newsletter.
Excerpt:
Supermarkets were accused of ‘airbrushing Christ out of Christmas’ yesterday after it emerged that less than one per cent of cards they stock have religious themes.
Many stores display hundreds of different Christmas cards yet offer just a handful featuring traditional Christian scenes.
Some had no cards at all with religious references in their extensive ranges.
The Daily Mail visited major outlets of the big four supermarkets – Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons – in seven towns and cities.
Out of 5,363 cards sold individually or in multipacks, just 45 featured Christian scenes such as the Nativity – 0.8 per cent.
The worst offender was Morrisons, which had six out of a range of 973 cards, or 0.6 per cent.
Second worst was Tesco, despite chief executive Sir Terry Leahy, a practising Catholic, writing to a customer in October to tell her: ‘We have increased the number of Christmas cards that will be available with a religious theme this year.’
[…]The Mail was contacted by a Tesco customer earlier this week who said her local store in Ely, Cambridgeshire, had just a ‘handful’ of cards with religious themes last year – and still had only three out of 67 last month, despite a personal assurance from Sir Terry.
After she had repeatedly contacted customer services, she received a letter from the company chief.
‘Sir Terry promised more cards this year,’ she said.
‘But the selection of cards with anything relating to the true meaning of Christmas was tiny, so he has not kept his word.’
Tesco said it had doubled the range of religiously themed cards this year but refused to give numbers, saying they ‘vary from store to store’.
An Asda spokesman said: ‘We sell five different Christmas cards that have religious sentiment and traditional designs.’
Morrisons said: ‘We stock types of cards that appeal to our customers.’
A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: ‘The ranges that appear in our stores reflect what our customers want to buy.’
In case anyone is trying to remember, this is the meaning of Christmas:
This makes me sad. I feel sad for Christians who are being marginalized. We are the only ones who can be mistreated and marginalized with impunity. Christianity is the religion of loving your enemies and turning the other cheek, after all. I think I know why people are doing this – because they are more interested in being liked by non-Christians than being liked by Jesus for telling the truth about him. They think that Christianity is about being nice to others first, instead of being nice to Jesus first. Well, I for one do not care what people think about my faith. I can do just fine without any earthly friends. I hope it doesn’t come to that, thought!
I am OK with not being happy and popular. I don’t mind if honor the real message of Christmas doesn’t make me happy and popular.
WINTERY KNIGHT 