Tag Archives: William Lane Craig

Videos

William Lane Craig explains whether all religions lead to God

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Here’s a lecture from William Lane Craig in which he explains one solution (middle knowledge) to the problem of those who have never heard of Jesus. If Jesus is the only way to be saved, then what about those who have never heard of him?

Here’s a ten-minute sample from the start of the lecture.

You can watch the other 5 small clips on YouTube, or you can watch the whole thing in one big clip on Vimeo.

And I haven’t forgotten people who can’t see the video, because you can read an essay on the same topic here. I think that this is one of the first William Lane Craig essays I ever saw back when I was just a freshman in college.

Going deeper

In this research paper, Craig explains middle knowledge in detail. Middle knowledge is the view that God foreknows how people will choose in every set of circumstances, and that God uses that knowledge to get everyone where they need to be to have the best opportunity to know him without violating their free will. God wants the best for everybody, and has ordered to whole universe in order to give each of us our best opportunity to have a relationship with him that leads to eternal life.

Related posts

These are related to a debate on Hinduism (in chronological order)

Videos

Frank Turek video lecture on young people leaving the church

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An exciting 45-minute lecture on the mass exodus of young people from the church.

I hope this shows up, I’ve never linked a Google video before.

UPDATE: It worked! WordPress rocks!

And here is another good lecture (composed of several parts) from William Lane Craig.

I think these lectures are great for reminding Christian parents that being a Christian is not just about NOT doing sins A, B and C and then feeling good about yourself. And it’s not about just trying to be happy in this life like the non-Christians – using Christianity as part of your happiness buffet. It’s about living your life as an enterprise in a way that increases your knowledge of and friendship with God. A relationship with God means being sensitive to his needs and concerns and acting in a way that takes his character into account.

Podcasts

Podcasts from William Lane Craig, William Dembski and Scott Klusendorf

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William Lane Craig vs Victor Stenger

Debate report on the recent re-match debate at Oregon State University.

The MP3 file is here.

Craig argued his standard case, except he added the ontological argument and the contingency argument and removed the fine-tuning argument. Stenger defended the Hartle-Hawking cosmology from over 25 years ago, and made an argument that the universe we see does not fit with what Stenger expects that God ought to do, if he existed.

Their first debate is here. (MP3 file)

Bill also talked briefly about some other recent events, including his events at Harvard and MIT.

William Lane Craig vs Michael Tooley

Debate report on the recent re-match debate at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte.

The MP3 file is here.

This starts with a discussion of how Stenger responded to the ontological argument (blech!). Tooley offers a very strong statement of the evidential/probabilistic/inductive problem of evil. He was very well prepared for the debate – maybe too prepared. He didn’t really respond to Bill Craig’s arguments in the debate – he seemed to read FOUR prepared speeches! The debate included discussions about what counts as evil, and also whether we are in a position to know that God has no reason for permitting a particular instance of apparently gratuitous evil.

Their first debate is here. (Transcript)

I’ve actually met Michael Tooley at a conference, and he’s a really nice quiet guy – but he supports infanticide.

William Lane Craig in South Africa

Debate report on the 4-man debate on the resurrection of Jesus with two South African atheists who have started a kind of liberal “Jesus Seminar” in South Africa. The debate was about how people should understand the text of the New Testament. Bill debated with a partner – Mike Licona.

Bill and Mike defended two contentions: 1) The resurrection was a literal historical event. 2) There is no good reason to deny this historical event. Paul argued from 1 Cor 15, the early sermons in Acts, and empty tomb that is talked in the gospels. One of the professors argued the “history of religions” view – that the New Testament is fiction that borrows from pagan mythology. Craig also argued that the pre-supposition of naturalism is not warranted given the state of the evidence from natural theology (science, etc.).

The MP3 file is here.

Bill seems to be doing a lot of travel around the world lately, which is just awesome!