Apologetics 315: J.P.Moreland vs. Clancy Martin Debate MP3 Audio

Here is another great resources from Brian that he placed on his blog. It's interesting that  Martin's atheistic arguments are no different than any other arguements:

1. I have no good reason to believe in the Christian God.
2. Human suffering
3. Problem of evil
4. People will never hear of Jesus - generations past
5. Disagreement with the choices God has made for the nature of reality
6. Faith means "having no truth".
7. Don't need God because the Universe could  be uncaused.

Moreland did extremely well. - way better than I thought even with the refuting the arguments about the problerm of Evil. He pointed out that in no way can the universe be first cause then it would be eternal - having no beginning or ending - we know the universe has an ending and a beginning. I liked how Moreland pointed out how Christianity is spreading in the 3rd World at an unprecedented rate - by special revelation and miracles in some cases. I liked how Moreland corrected Martin on what  "faith" is - trust founded on evidence.

I think Moreland talked about the Problem of Evil in a good way - the only way a person who believe in free will can -   by putting it back on the atheist. I would deal with the problem differently. Because Moreland accepts human free will, I think that kept him from engaging Martin on the point that God cannot be "good" because there is so much evil in the world. We need to tell people that God has set standards for humanity and God is able to do that because He is control and has set them up and can do whatever He wants.

I also liked how Moreland discussed how belief in God is not about the believer wanting to believe is really no different than the atheist who does not believe because he/she desires not to believe because perhaps some of them are trying to reject the ultimate Father figure.

Apologetics 315: J.P.Moreland vs. Clancy Martin Debate MP3 Audio