Daily Defense Podcast

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#286 Being Born Again in Scripture - Jimmy Akin Oct 13, 2023

Show notes

DAY 286 CHALLENGE “People don’t need to be baptized, just born again.” DEFENSE Scripture teaches people are born again in baptism. The phrase translated “born again” occurs in John 3:3, where Jesus tells Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (KJV). In Greek the phrase involves a pun. The word for “again” is anōthen, which can mean either “again” or “from above.” The point is one must receive a second birth and this birth must be from God. Context reveals how the second birth occurs. Clarifying his initial statement, Jesus tells Nicodemus, “unless on...

#285 Can Science Eliminate God? - Jimmy Akin Oct 12, 2023

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DAY 285 CHALLENGE “Science has progressively explained more and more of the world, leaving less room for God. Why can’t science one day explain everything, eliminating the need for (and possibility of) God?” DEFENSE This objection makes several mistakes. First, it commits the fallacy of “God of the gaps” thinking by supposing that scientific explanations somehow take something away from God. They don’t. God is the ultimate explanation for the world, including those things that science is capable of investigating (see Day 246). Second, it assumes that science will continue to explain ...

#284 Justification in James and Paul - Jimmy Akin Oct 11, 2023

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DAY 284 CHALLENGE “James says we’re justified by faith and works (James 2:24), but that contradicts Paul, who says we’re justified by faith without works (Rom. 3:28, Gal. 2:16).” DEFENSE A careful examination shows the two are using key terms— faith, works, and justification—in different senses. James uses faith to refer to intellectual assent to the truths of faith. Thus he says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder” (James 2:19). But Paul refers to what theologians call “formed faith” or “faith formed by charity.” Thus he says what counts is ...

#283 The Benefits of Religion - Jimmy Akin Oct 10, 2023

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DAY 283 CHALLENGE “Religion is a destructive force that harms people.” DEFENSE This is not supported by the evidence. Every institution—churches, hospitals, schools, governments—makes mistakes and harms people on occasion. However, to claim an institution is fundamentally harmful, one needs to provide evidence it does more harm than good. Further, one would need to show not just that individual examples of an institution do more harm than good (individual churches, hospitals, schools, or governments may, in fact, be destructive). Instead, one would need to show that the institution i...

#282 Petros versus Petra - Jimmy Akin Oct 09, 2023

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DAY 282 CHALLENGE “Peter can’t be the rock that Jesus refers to in Matthew 16:18. He uses the word petros (small stone) for ‘Peter’ but petra (large rock) for ‘rock.’ Why would he change the word if he was referring to Peter both times?” DEFENSE This challenge has several problems and does not prove its case. Protestant scholar D.A. Carson notes: Although it is true that petros and petra can mean “[small] stone” and “[large] rock” respectively in earlier Greek, the distinction is largely confined to poetry. Moreover the underlying Aramaic is in this case unquestionable; and most prob...

#281 Cafeteria Christianity - Jimmy Akin Oct 08, 2023

Show notes

DAY 281 CHALLENGE “Why can’t I, as a Christian, simply choose the beliefs I think are right? Why should anybody else tell me what I should believe?” DEFENSE This may be an attractive proposition in our individualistic age, but it wasn’t Jesus’ view. If you’re going to be a Christian, that means listening to Jesus Christ, and he set up a Church, not a cafeteria. We aren’t allowed to pick and choose our beliefs like we pick and choose dishes in a serving line. This is evident from the way Jesus teaches. In the Sermon on the Mount, he repeatedly takes on common interpretations of Jewish...

#280 The Role of the Church Fathers - Jimmy Akin Oct 07, 2023

Show notes

DAY 280 CHALLENGE “Why should I care about the Church Fathers? They aren’t inspired like the New Testament authors.” DEFENSE The Church Fathers were writers in the early centuries who were notable for their holiness and soundness of teaching. They are important for a number of reasons. First, they were closer in time and in culture to the New Testament authors, and their writings provide context needed to understand aspects of the New Testament. The writings of the Church Fathers— together with ancient Jewish sources—are the two most important groups of writings for this purpose. Ancie...

#279 Does Mary’s Perpetual Virginity Matter? - Jimmy Akin Oct 06, 2023

Show notes

DAY 279 CHALLENGE “What difference does it make if Mary remained a virgin? Couldn’t God have continued Jesus’ mission if she had other children?” DEFENSE God is omnipotent and can do anything he chooses, but this doesn’t mean his choices are arbitrary. This objection is a subcase of a broader one: Why should Mary be a virgin in the first place? Couldn’t God’s Son be born of a woman who wasn’t a virgin? He could have. Being omnipotent, God could do that. He even could have had his Son born of a prostitute if he chose. It isn’t intrinsically required that Mary be any special kind of wo...

#278 Lest Any Man Should Boast - Jimmy Akin Oct 05, 2023

Show notes

DAY 278 CHALLENGE “Doesn’t Paul’s statement that we are saved ‘not because of works, lest any man should boast’ (Eph. 2:9) show he teaches justification by ‘faith alone’?” DEFENSE This misunderstands the kind of boasting in question. Paul never uses the phrase “faith alone,” and we elsewhere cover how the context of this passage shows it’s about the Jewish-Gentile question found elsewhere in Paul’s writings, meaning the “works” are actions done to obey the Law of Moses (see Days 63, 136, and 204). This is also indicated when, in the next verse, Paul praises “good works” as part of the ...

#277 The Jewish People and the Old Testament Canon - Jimmy Akin Oct 04, 2023

Show notes

DAY 277 CHALLENGE “Scripture says that the Jews were ‘entrusted with the oracles of God’ (Rom. 3:2), so we should look to them for the Old Testament canon. They reject the deuterocanonicals, and so should we.” DEFENSE There are multiple problems with this argument. First, not all Jewish people have the same canon. Falashas (Ethiopian Jews) have a canon including deuterocanonical books. It was rabbinic Jews that Protestants were familiar with in the 1500s, and their canon that the Reformers borrowed. Second, as we cover elsewhere (see Day 255), there were multiple canonical traditions in t...

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