End-Time Apologetics & Suffering | Christian Open Academy Interview 

There are no logical inconsistencies in saying, "I have not found any evidence compelling enough to justify me believing in a god." There is nothing except logical inconsistency in saying, "I believe in god and Jesus because......I believe." By the way, that is perfectly OK, but do not expect that to be "the truth," because to be "the truth" requires concrete supporting evidence.

Funny how atheism isn't vapid or hollow, since you are an atheist too when it comes to all of those other gods except your own. Atheism can answer questions, but you may not like that you aren't as special as you think you are. curious how even christians can't agree you'll arrive at the right jesus, sine you can't agree on what he wants.

@patrickedington5827 You are correct the Temple doesn't need to be rebuilt for Jesus to return. Nor does it require a tabernacle. Neither does the ritual sacrifice need to be restarted, so that it can be interrupted again. All temple sacrifice was done away with by Jesus' sacrifice. If the ritual sacrifice was ever restarted, that act in itself would be an abomination of desolation, because it would be competing against the sacrifice of Christ himself. That said, the abomination of desolation doesn't even need to be a specific physical activity. It simply needs to be the corruption of the church, the body of Christ 5:04 also known as the temple made without hands.

Why do you think Dr. Craig is a dispensationalist? - RF Admin

@@ReasonableFaithOrg the rebuilding of the temple is a hallmark of the dispensational theology.

@@RBoas rebuilding the temple is necessitated by a plain straightforward understanding of scripture eg 2 Thess 2:1-12. therefore WLC is correct. One doesn't need to be a dispensationalist to take God at His word.

@@stephenglasse2743 so, it’s your position that when Paul mentions the “temple of God” he is only referring to the Jewish temple? Your dispensational presuppositions are showing.

​@@RBoasno it's that 2 Thessalonians was written during the Acts period and there's simply no reason to take the word 'temple' in 2:4 to refer to anything other than the Jerusalem temple. Jesus himself refers to the abomination of desolation which was still future from his then standpoint and said that that time would be worse than anything since the beginning of creation. Rev 13 clearly refers to the same time and is explicitly hebraic/Jewish eg bringing fire down from heaven and making images for worship.

No, he rejects dispensationalism explicitly in his Defenders series. But he's definitely not post-mil either. He says post-mil is very convincing but posits 2 returns of Christ which he can't get down with.

I didn't think so ... But now I am wondering. That would be unfortunate.

@qodesmith520 I always thought he was historic premill

@@jackcrow1204 yeah likely historic premill or amill but he says that he has no strong views on that so much but the Church fathers were mainly premill or amill too so he's likely just in line with their views.

@adamduarte895 yeah but he's talking about a rebuilt temple That's only unique to dispensational premil

It is a 4th dimensional event. It occurs everwhere all at once.

He will return to the same physical location that he departed from at his ascension. The Mount of Olives just outside of Jerusalem in Israel.

​@@draconis420111a 4th dimensional event? You meas as in Time like some postulate? Or as in spirit as A.T. Scofield postulated? Ultimately Jesus is going to return physically. Not ethereally.

Didn’t Jesus say He would return?

The term "apologetics" comes from the Greek word /apologia/, which means "to give a defense or reasoned case." It's used in 1 Peter 3:15, which says, "In your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a *defense* to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you." - RF Admin

Even if America were to collapse that doesn’t necessarily mean that that it’s True End times, or even will bring it closer. That is Westerncentric thinking that is not accurate. There have been many political systems that have risen and failed without it bringing the End Times. Just think of Rome, it was even at Jesus time one of the largest governments and it fell.

The End Times does not refer to the collapse of an individual country

Muhammad was indeed a base man, if he existed.

It's far more complicated than that. Divine conceptualists also believe that putative abstract objects are ideas in minds, namely the mind of God. These would be literal objects that exist, so conceptualism is a realist view regarding numbers, sets, properties, etc. Even the claim that these things are ideas in minds can be fraught with difficulties. For instance, if they are not numerically identical with God (plausible, since God is not a number or set or proposition), then God's necessary knowledge of the proposition that "God exists" would imply that there is an object (the proposition) which is necessary and uncreated, an implication which undermines the doctrine of aseity just as much as the Platonist view. To get a handle on just how complex this topic is, you might start at the following Defenders class on the Problem of Platonism: www.reasonablefaith.org/podcasts/defenders-podcast-series-3/s3-doctrine-of-god-attributes-of-god/doctrine-of-god-part-3. - RF Admin

@@ReasonableFaithOrg I’ll have to give this some more thought I guess…I must say that I highly respect and admire Dr. Craig, in my opinion he is quite perceptive even when compared to other world class philosophers, and I personally rank him up there with Billy Graham and only a few others in my “top tier” of Christian men that I admire. I appreciate Reasonable Faith, God Bless✝️

So God is selling what exactly?

@@japexican007 Not 'God', the humans promoting their 'God' stories, back when these stories were just getting started and even today.

@qodesmith520 That's the thing, one person can't be an expert on everything. I don't think modern geopolitical issues are really Dr. Craig's focus, and so, I would expect a more "whatever they say" type of take from him on something like that. If you really look into it, Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Actually I think it was literally rated one of the most corrupt countries at one point.

@@brando3342very good point about expertise. I can’t speak to Ukraine’s corruption at all- not my expertise either! But your broad point was spot on I think

Can you provide a timestamp? This is after all a very long video.

@@mugsofmirth8101 it's literally the last 30 seconds of the video.

None of us is righteous - no, not one. St Paul in Romans 3v10. Zelensky was unlucky enough to be the President of Ukraine when Obama's ideology and Biden's corruption and incompetence landed the Ukraine in Russia's crosshairs. He's got to get on with it, with what he's got - which is basically European and US help to DEFEND HIS COUNTRY from an ex communist dictator allied with the CCP and IRAN and NORTH KOREA - the enemies of mankind, of us all. Corruption is inevitable in this fallen world - wartime provide lots of opportunity. Does that mean the US sits on its duff while it's enemies improve their strategic position? I hate that it's that horrible little man Biden (who couldn't care less about Ukraine) who's helping them, (after screwing them over to help his feckless son) because his puppeteers have convinced him it'll help him against Trump. Talk about corruption! The US and NATO broke their agreements with Russia when it came to the expansion of NATO, which gave Putin his excuse. Like Colin Powell said - you break it, you buy it That's what the West is faced with now. Don't know if WLC would agree with any of this, but the moral imperative here is clear.

I mean he definitely has the Holy Spirit which is received as soon as you accept the sacrifice of Jesus at the cross and sealed until the day God calls us home aka Ephesians1:13-14 But he isn’t called to be an advocate for the end times sadly, his mission is in philosophy, as God wills it

@@japexican007 This is what believes in Christianity, not knowing the potential of the Holy Spirit's role. Interestingly you refer to Ephesians 1:13, but before I explain pls be informed that by referring to scripture doesn't mean you're related to it or anyone or Craig. For example, there's a blast in London & hundreds injured and you sitting in NYC reading in a newspaper, doesn't mean you become one among the injured? No, never, the same way you refer to scriptures but not related to it. First & foremost you know who you're? We are sinners by birth meaning we inherited an unclean Spirit from our parents, that's why we are called sinners, therefore we need to listen to the gospel of JESUS and accept Him as our saviour taking a DECISION to following His teachings, attend a Church, participating in all programmes, so we move from a sinner to be a believer in JESUS, so we took a DECISION that's not point of our SALVATION, so once we become a believer that doesn't mean we are SAVED, rather we need to study the life of JESUS and grow more and more in the knowledge of knowing YESHUA, so as to reach a point wherein we are going through various scenarios in belief which is the psychological process in the brain 🧠, and in the brain and unclean Spirit is seated and sealed, so we were grow more & more in the knowledge of knowing YESHUA JESUS then reach a final stage wherein the breaking of the seal of the brain happens, then an unclean Spirit is removed from the brain paving way for the Holy Spirit to get into the body and reach the brain so as to seal again the brain 🧠, this is what Ephesians 1:13 says, you see "after you trust" and "after you believe" you were sealed with a Holy Spirit. Keep in mind, after you trust and after you believe, and thereafter no need to believe because once you receive the Holy Spirit then you move from a believer to be a witness of JESUS. Acts 1:8 become reality. So, this is the point you are SAVED or received SALVATION. So, a sinner moved to be a believer and further moved to be a SAVED person. Thus, you're related to the scriptures like Ephesians 1:13 & then you're related to the entire world of God. So, the mainstream Christian Preachers like Dr.Craig are believers, they have taken a DECISION once to be a Christian but not yet SAVED, though they believe that they're SAVED but literally not SAVED, so Dr Craig deceives himself & others, the same with John MacArthur. Finally, if anyone is SAVED then he must be like JESUS or like Adam prior to the fall, so in these days a SAVED person will repeat what JESUS has done & the world will come to an end, but Preachers like Dr Craig having false doctrines and have become a stumbling block for the kingdom of heaven to come. Hope, you understood & you can ponder for yourself.

So says every generation. And I feel like if any generation had the right to say that, it was the ones alive during the Thirty Years War and the World Wars. This is nothing compared to that.

I think you're right but he is also right. I think it comes down to at what stage of the end times we are in. Technically, I read the march towards the grand finale starting after the ascension. It's correct we have not seen the temple yet.

God the son, aka divine

What do Christians believe about Jesus?

It's a play on the notion that an atheist may say to a Christian that their faith defies reasonable logic. Apologetics does not attempt to offer absolute proof but offers reasonable faith in the sound logic of Christian faith. You may agree that absolute proof is actually a spiritual gift to those who accept Jesus. Apologetics aims to remove potential roadblocks that stand in the way of someone stepping towards accepting Christ.

@@delbert372 They believe lots of things, but they have no concrete knowledge of anything concerning the claims of supernatural actions attributed to Jesus.

@@Denise_CircularGrace No, absolute proof of anything requires concrete evidence. All talk of "spiritual gifts" being proof of anything is mere word-juggling. "Sound logic?" Nowhere to be found; we believe because the bible tells us so. I can offer you the "sound logic" of faith in the Blue Unicorn (Holy song by Silvio Rodriguez, "Mi Unicornio Azul) or in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and we both have presented equally valid arguments. I personally have no problem with people having faith in whatever deity they choose, but I stand up and resist when a certain sect starts to push for their particular beliefs be forced on all the rest of us. That is a theocracy, and we have ample evidence of the bad results of that.

@@stevepierce6467 What would most Christians say was the most important thing that Jesus did?