Apprentice Owl Apologetics

                Have you ever been in a relationship (not necessarily a romantic one), where you questioned what you were worth to them? How about an explicitly abusive relationship, where you were demeaned verbally or emotionally; or even physically abused? These situations, and I’m sure an infinite amount of others, illustrate toxic relationships where someone has questioned their value as a party in that relationship or even as a person in general. In some cases people will turn to God and ask, why me? Why do you value me so little? I would like to explore what exactly each and every individual on this earth is worth to the all mighty creator of everything that is, was, or ever will be.                 So we have God, who I am assuming that anyone reading this will at minimum, accept Him as the creator of us as humans for the sake of this discussion. We have a pl...

                Ask me what gets brought up as an objection to Christianity or the existence of God in general, then I can probably give you a top ten pretty quick. The number 1 on that list of mine would include the problem of suffering and evil. Now this is a moral argument against God that goes like “If God is all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful, then he should be able to get rid of evil. Since evil exists, God is not one of these 3, if He exists at all.” Now that argument is used in longer and shorter forms, but I hope you have the idea in mind. What I would like to do this morning is explore this problem and show that the problem of evil, like every other supposed problem I come across, can actually point people to God instead of away from Him. I will not be so arrogant as to say I understand why evil happens and to what purpose, but I will say that my God knows what he is doing.         ...

                This one will be a bit personal for me, and I have no idea if I will show this to the world or if I will be writing it as a way of prayer. I guess if you are reading this then I was led to put it up for you to see. Recently Satan has been working in my life to discourage me and to force me to quit. He attacked me on multiple fronts in my life in an attempt to get me to quit what I am doing and go hide. For a while, I thought about doing just that. I was thinking that I am not good enough, not smart enough, not strong enough to do anything about these problems. Then God spoke to me through various people in my life and showed me what Satan was trying to do to me. I was reminded of the quote preacher’s like to use, “If you are facing challenges in your life, then it is because Satan is worried that you are doing good work”. What I want to do is to explore what it means to have joy and trust in God, even when everything isn’t su...

                As I have stated, I am currently pursuing a Doctorate of Philosophy in Chemistry.  A common question that I get when I am talking to people is that if it is possible for a scientist such as myself to be a Christian. This ties into my posts talking about the myth of the war between science and Christianity. What I would like to do here is talk about the unique perspective that Christian scientists can bring to the table and what I blessing it has been to me to be able to study the world God has created and the book He has written for us to follow.                 So when we study the word of God, or anything in general, one brings a certain way of thinking to this study. Naturally, a scientist brings his way of thinking in the same manner an artist, car mechanic, or theologian will. So what kind of thinking does a scientist bring to his studies o...

                This is a common one that I see talked about on both sides. Some non-Christians accuse us of being out of touch because we isolate ourselves in the Church, and some non-Christians might encourage that behavior so we would stay out of their lives. There are churches that would encourage that we stay to ourselves for fear that we would take on the qualities of the world around us. Is this the way that we should act once we are saved? Should we use our Christianity as fire insurance and just look out for number one? I would like to discuss this behavior and show that I believe this isolationist position that some Christians adopt isn’t what we should be doing.                 As Christians we are called to go forth and make disciples of all men (Matthew 28:16-20). As this suggests, we need to be putting ourselves on the line, from our egos to our lives,...

                For two years and a few months I have maintained and written this blog with the intent of answering the questions that would get in the way of people coming to the gospel. What I have failed to do I think as a writer is to address what exactly the gospel of Christ is. Now there are a multitude of questions that surround various aspects of the fall of man and the ultimate need for redemption through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, but I won’t be covering those here. What I would like to do here is to give a general overview of the core story of the Christian doctrine. That is, that we are a fallen people in need of redemption, and ultimately we can find no other redemption than by accepting the gift of grace and salvation offered by the Son of God, Jesus.                 So like every good story, we have a beginning. In the beginning God made the un...

                This is one that I imagine may cause a bit of a split opinion, but with all of this attention over open and concealed carry and what weapons American citizens should be allowed to possess, a question has plagued me that I hope to give my thoughts on here. That question is: should Christians be arming themselves with firearms and fighting for the right to do so? Now I am not advocating for a violent uprising in which we establish our own Christian government or something of that nature. I merely want to reflect on the relationship Christians should have with the second amendment and the world around us.                 The first thing to ask is if the Bible ever talked about defending oneself or loved ones or situations where weapons are used. Now obviously the Bible will not specifically mention firearms, but we can speak of weapons in a general sens...