Convincing Proof: Recent Episodes
Adam Lloyd Johnson
The apologetics ministry of Adam Lloyd Johnson, PhD, providing good reasons and evidence to believe that Christianity is true.
Sometimes Christians are accused of trying to "legislate morality." What does that mean? Is it wrong to bring our moral values to the table when making legislation? This objection is often made with hot-button issues like abortion, but what about rape or murder? Is it "legislating morality" to outlaw those actions? We all have certain beliefs about reality, but are these beliefs moral beliefs? philosophical beliefs? religious beliefs? scientific beliefs? It can be hard to label or classify our beliefs, and thus oftentimes the objection against "legislating morality" is simply an appeal to rhetoric rather than substance.
What does it mean to say that the Bible is "self-authenticating"? If something is self-authenticating, that means that you don't need anything else to authenticate it or show that it real. In terms of the Bible, if it is self-authenticating, that means that the Bible itself shows that it really is the Word of God. However, some who say that the Bible is self-authenticating use that idea to imply that doing apologetics is wrong or unbiblical, that we shouldn't need to give evidence to support the Bible's truthfulness. But is that really what the Bible being self-authenticating means?
On July 13, 2024, there was an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump while he was speaking at a political rally. In this podcast, Adam talks about how our frequently heated political rhetoric can lead to situations like this and discusses various ways that we, as Christians, can avoid being taken in by this rhetoric and becoming fearful, frustrated, angry, and hateful. We can disagree with someone’s political positions without using exaggerated statements or being a jerk, and we can refuse to engage in spreading this type of rhetoric.
The #1 movie on Netflix right now is a movie called "Hit Man." It's a film about a psychology and philosophy professor named Gary who gets away with two murders. Adam discusses this movie and shows how films like this that glamorize evil actions and portray the characters as suffering no negative consequences for their evil choices present a false picture that can actually encourage evil actions in the real world.
Greg Welty recently wrote a book on Alvin Plantinga in the "Great Thinkers" series. Alvin Plantinga is a renowned Christian philosopher whom you should be familiar with. He was at the forefront of a Christian renaissance in academic philosophy in the latter half of the 20th century. Welty's book is a great short introduction to Plantinga's work. One place where Adam disagrees with Plantinga is on the idea of "Reformed Epistemology." Some descriptions of Reformed Epistemology seem to look down too much on human reason. While we certainly don't want to downplay or dismiss the vital work of the Holy Spirit, we don't want to settle for basing everything on feelings or intuitions either. In his book Warranted Christian Belief, Plantinga seems to dismiss the idea that philosophy can be useful in determining if Christianity is true, and Adam thinks he is incorrect to do that.
It may be surprising to hear that postmodernism and presuppositionalism could be similar. Postmodernism is a philosophy that, among other things, is very committed to the idea that truth is relative in some sense. Presuppositionalism is the idea that we should start doing apologetics by assuming (or presupposing) that God exists and the Bible is His Word. So, how could these two ideas be related? Both postmodernism and presuppositionalism were overreactions to philosophical modernism. Both movements tended to downplay the importance of using reason in forming our beliefs and instead focused on other means, such as our inner feelings (postmodernism) or blind faith (presuppositionalism). James K. A. Smith is an example of a presuppositionalist who has recognized and even promoted this connection.
Many Christians these days use the term "Christian worldview" to describe their beliefs. Having a "Christian worldview" is usually deemed very important in many Christian circles. But is the term "worldview" a word that Christians should use to describe their beliefs? This term actually came out of postmodern philosophy and has a history of framing all truth claims as merely subjective statements rather than objective facts about the world. In this context, someone's "worldview" was just the way that he or she preferred to view the world rather than a term describing beliefs that apply objectively to everybody, regardless of their subjective "view" or "worldview."
The film "Everything Everywhere All at Once" won several academy awards earlier this year, including one for Best Picture. Like many films and other works of art, this film communicates philosophical and cultural ideas. Namely, postmodern existentialism is front and center. The daughter in this movie has an existential crisis where she fears that there is no meaning and purpose in life and wants to end it all. Following from this, the message of the film is that you should find what gives you meaning and makes life subjectively meaningful to you, because that's seen as the only alternative to concluding that life has no meaning.
Adam’s new book “Divine Love Theory: How the Trinity is the Source and Foundation of Morality” just came out last month. In this podcast, Adam explains how the book came about and why he decided to write on topics such as morality, metaethics, and the moral argument for God’s existence. Adam also explains why much of the book is a critique of a moral theory proposed by Erik Wielenberg that doesn’t require God’s existence. Divine Love Theory is even endorsed by Erik Wielenberg himself along with other Christian philosophers and theologians such as William Lane Craig, J. P. Moreland, Robert Koons, David Baggett, Mark Linville, Corey Miller, Greg Welty, and Bryan Clark.
"I believe Christianity is true, but I could be wrong." Is this something a Christian should ever say? Adam has often said it, and Francis Schaeffer did as well, but what do they mean by it? In short, it's a way of communicating that our belief in Christianity is the type of thing that can be right or wrong. People need to understand that Christianity is a propositional belief system that can be objectively true or false. It's not just a subjective feeling or personal preference that's helpful or meaningful to me. In the end, Christianity either corresponds to reality or it does not.
Sometimes you'll hear people say that using reason and logic or presenting evidence for your beliefs is only a Western way of thinking. Adam Lloyd Johnson examines the postmodern roots of this idea and explains why he thinks that it is misguided. Using reason and logic and presenting evidence are simply good ways of thinking that are common to all human beings, regardless of where they're from.
Adam Lloyd Johnson explores the historical evidence presented in Bart Ehrman’s book “Did Jesus Exist?” Ehrman wrote this book to respond to people who don’t think Jesus even existed as a person in history. However, Ehrman shows that there is good historical evidence that Jesus did indeed exist, and some of this evidence can be dated very early, within two or three years after Jesus’s death. Since Ehrman is not a Christian, his affirmation of these facts can be a powerful tool in making the historical case that Jesus is God.
Adam Lloyd Johnson discusses the struggle that all Christians experience between our new life in the Spirit and our sinful flesh. He examines an oft-repeated sentiment that goes like this: “Whoever you are when you’re alone is who you really are.” Is this statement actually true? Do our fleshly desires define who we really are?
Adam Lloyd Johnson recaps his trip to the Evangelical Theological Society/Evangelical Philosophical Society annual conference in Denver. He recounts some of the interactions he had with fellow philosophers and apologists such as William Lane Craig of Reasonable Faith and Tim Stratton of Free Thinking Ministries.
Given that God, a supreme being, exists, Adam Lloyd Johnson then explores what this supreme being is like. In other words, since many people and cultures have had different ideas about who this supreme being is, how can we know whose description of God is correct?
Adam Lloyd Johnson responds to comments made by William Lane Craig about his Divine Love Theory. Craig critiqued Adam's Divine Love Theory for not also including an explanation of God's justice. Craig thought Adam's Divine Love Theory too closely resembled an idea called the 'Identity Thesis,' which claims that God's moral nature is reducible to just His love. Adam responds that his Divine Love Theory is only an explanation for moral value and moral obligation, not God's moral nature as a whole, and thus it does not need to take special account of God's justice.
Adam Lloyd Johnson discusses the work of famous philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle as well as the teachings of other ancient religions such as Zoroastrianism to show that they all made arguments for the existence of a Supreme Being, namely, God.
Adam Lloyd Johnson discusses the various arguments for God's existence, such as the first-cause argument, the fine-tuning argument, and the moral argument, and explains what these arguments reveal to us about God.
Adam Lloyd Johnson goes through history comparing Faith and Reason, and where people have been led to believe that they contradict each other.
Adam Lloyd Johnson uses scripture to describe the relationship between faith and reason and how to base our faith on the evidence for God.
Adam Lloyd Johnson uses easy to understand examples how Certainty, Reason, Evidence, and Faith are interconnected.
Adam Lloyd Johnson shares a short biography on Francis Schaeffer and how it brought him closer to God and influenced him into full time ministry.
Adam Lloyd Johnson presents his struggles with doubt and how this led him to pursue God more.
Adam Lloyd Johnson recalls back to his past, where he discovers what being a true follower of Christ really means.
Visit my website https://www.convincingproof.org for more reasons and evidence that Christianity is true. There you’ll find resources on apologetics, theology, philosophy, ethics, etc.