Dr Paul Allen

Few things can cripple people like fear. Fear makes people shrink from doing what they know they ought to do. Fear can also make us do things we ought not to do. Fear is not simply self-protective or self-preserving; fearful concern for the well-being and protection of those we love can cause us to worry, lie awake at night, and even do things that could be perceived as either very brave or very foolish.  So, what overcomes fear? The Bible offers a clear and potent solution—faith in God's promises. “By faith, he left Egypt, not afraid of the king's anger” (Hebrews 11:27). This verse stands in the middle of Hebrews 11 and in the middle of the author’s commentary on Moses's life. It briefly reflects on Moses's faith in the face of a very real and present danger (humanly speaking)—the king of Egypt. Moses was like any other man; blood flowed in his veins just as in yours and mine. He was truly human and thus capable of knowing the reality of fear in the face of an imminent...

Fear of God Then there’s the other fear: The fear that it might be true after all. I respect those atheists who’ve been honest about it. Thomas Nagel is an eminent professor (now emeritus) of law and philosophy at New York University. He famously wrote, I speak from experience, being strongly subject to this fear myself: I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that. My guess is that this cosmic authority problem is not a rare condition and that it is responsible for much of the scientism and reductionism of our time. One of the tendencies it supports is the ludicrous overuse of evolutionary biology to explain everything about human life, including everything about the human mind …. This i...

In 1934, writer Clare Harner, grieving her brother Olin’s death after a sudden illness, published a poem with these lines: “Do not stand by my grave and weep. / I am not there, I do not sleep. / I am a thousand winds that blow / I am the diamond glints in snow. . . . / Do not stand by my grave, and cry—I am not there, I did not die.” Before you criticize Clare for her wishy-washy theology, stop to consider whether you’ve heard or uttered a “more biblical” version of her comforting words yourself. “Don’t cry. She’s in a better place.” Or, in the negative, “God is going to bring something beautiful from his death. Prolonged grief shows a lack of trust in God.” When it comes to death, we all long to tell a different story than the one we truly see through tears, in dust and ashes before us. When we’re neck-deep in trials, we grasp for these platitudes hoping they’ll offer us a lifeline. Whether we’re offering flimsy hope to a friend or to ourselves, the myths we tell ourselves about grief...

As the Apostle John comes to the end of his gospel, having just described the events of Jesus’ resurrection, he pauses to state his purpose in writing his account of Jesus’ life. He declares, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30–31). John states what Jesus and His Apostles consistently declare: the hope found in coming to Jesus is nothing less than life in His name—a life that is new, abundant, and eternal in Him (John 10:10; Eph. 4:4–5; Rom. 5:20–21). How do we receive this abundant new life? John puts it succinctly: by believing that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. But what exactly does John mean by believing that Jesus is the Messiah? What is involved in such a belief? This question is not merely academic or exegetical. As a pastor, I have watched many wrestle wi...

What is a deity? Now, that’s a good question. But it’s not one with a simple answer. In fact, there are several answers that we can give. POLYTHEISTIC DEITIES If your educational background is anything like mine, then at some point in your schooling you learned the basics of Greek mythology. The colorful stories of Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Poseidon, and the other gods worshiped in ancient Greece were some of my favorite things to read about.  And while the Greeks eventually learned that no divine beings lived on Mount Olympus, the stories of the Greek gods became a core element of Western culture. This continues today, with movies, television shows, and even comic books retelling, adapting, and using these stories in various ways. Though the Greek gods themselves are fictional, they fall under one of the definitions of the term deity. As Merriam-Webster tells us, one meaning of the word deity is “a god or goddess,” that is, a being who is worshiped—or in the case of the Greek gods, w...

  Many people, both believers, and nonbelievers doubt that God’s existence can be demonstrated or even argued about. But no one can reasonably doubt that attention to these arguments has its place in any book on apologetics. For very many have believed that such arguments are possible and that some of them actually work. They have also believed that an effective rational argument for God’s existence is an important first step in opening the mind to the possibility of faith. You may not feel that they are particularly valuable to you. You may be blessed with a vivid sense of God’s presence—something for which to be profoundly grateful. But that does not mean you have no obligation to ponder these arguments. For many have not been blessed in that way. And the proofs are designed for them—or some of them at least—to give a kind of help they really need. You may even be asked to provide that help. The Argument from Efficient Causality We notice that some things cause other things to be...

A common question asked of (and by) Christians is “ What about those who have never heard the gospel? Can they be saved? Or is Jesus the only way?” Both universalism—which says all people will eventually be saved—and pluralism—which says there are many ways to God—say Jesus is not the only way to salvation. However, Scripture clearly and consistently says many will be eternally separated from God under divine judgment (Matthew 7:13; Revelation 20:15), and also condemns religions that reject him (Exodus 20:3–5; Isaiah 31:7; 1 Corinthians 10:7; 12:2). Neither universalism nor pluralism can be true. Exclusivism and Inclusivism The two views held by evangelicals are exclusivism and inclusivism. Exclusivists (restrictivists) say, “Only those who have heard the gospel and believe in Jesus as their Savior can be saved.”  Inclusivists say, “Jesus is the only way to be saved, but it is possible for those who have never heard the gospel and do not know Christ to be ac...

I grew up in Australia, in a loving, secular home, and arrived at Sydney University as a critic of “religion.”  I didn’t need faith to ground my identity or my values. I knew from the age of eight that I wanted to study history at Cambridge and become a historian. My identity lay in academic achievement, and my secular humanism was based on self-evident truths.  As an undergrad, I won the University Medal and a Commonwealth Scholarship to undertake my PhD in History at King’s College, Cambridge.  King’s is known for its secular ideology and my perception of Christianity fitted well with the views of my fellow students: Christians were anti-intellectual and self-righteous. After Cambridge, I was elected to a Junior Research Fellowship at Oxford.  There, I attended three guest lectures by world-class philosopher and atheist public intellectual, Peter Singer.  Singer recognised that philosophy faces a vexing problem in relation to the issue of human worth...

The famous atheist philosopher Bertrand Russell was once asked what he would say to God if he found himself standing before Him after his death. Russell replied, “I probably would ask, ‘Sir, why did you not give me better evidence?’” For Russell, it all came down to the evidence. The implication is, given better evidence for God, Russell would believe. Many atheists today make similar claims. For example, while taking questions on The Atheist Voice , Hemant Mehta—the Friendly Atheist—was asked, “What would it take for you to believe in God?” He replied, “I guess, simply put, I would need to see a miracle. I need evidence for God, and maybe that would come in the form of a miracle that has no possible explanation in the natural world.” When we hear claims like these, it is tempting to think belief in God comes down to the evidence and nothing else. On this view, it’s as if we have an “evidence meter” in our heads. And when the “evidence meter” reaches a certain level, we believe ...

What are the key elements of the doctrine of Scripture ? While there is no official list, there is general consensus.  Here are those traditional categories succinctly stated, followed by brief commentary. Inspiration :  The linchpin of the doctrines of Scripture,  inspiration means that all the words of Scripture are God ’s words (2 Tim.  3:16 ).   John Frame says that inspiration “means that God takes words of human beings and makes them his own…. [It] is a divine act creating an identity between a divine word and a human word” ( Systematic Theology,  594 ).” Authority :  Because Scripture is God’s Word, it is authoritative. It carries the weight of God’s command as ruler over all creation . The Westminster Confession of Faith says in  chapter 1, article 2 , that Scripture is “given by inspiration of God to be the rule of faith and life” (referencing Luke  16:29 , 31; Eph.  2:20 , Rev.  22:18 –19; and 2 Tim....