The forthcoming revised Apologetics Study Bible for Students is for those who desire to always be "...ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you..." (1 Peter 3:15). General editor Sean McDowell explains:

"The student apologetics Bible first released in 2010 and has sold over 160,000 copies.  To be honest, this has blown away my expectations.  This shows the hunger for both relevant and practical resources that tackle the real questions students are asking.  On July 1 we are releasing an updated, expanded, and improved version.  Here are a few ways the update will be different from the first version:

1.Outdated articles have been removed or updated.
2. Individual authors went through each of their articles and improved them substantially.
3. There are 12 new articles on “hot” topics like tattoos, euthanasia, transgenderism, Islamic Jihad, religious freedom, singleness, race, and more.
4. Each of the special features (Bones & Dirt, Tactics, Twisted Scriptures, Stories, and Fast Facts) have been expanded with 5-10 more articles."1

Some of the articles within include:

• Why does God allow evil?
• If I can’t see God, how do I know He is real?
• Can God’s love be reconciled with the order to kill the Canaanites?
• Is it okay to pick and choose my religious beliefs and practices?
• What does the Bible say about homosexuality?
• If God made everything, why shouldn’t I smoke pot?

You can learn more about this excellent resource here.

Pre-order your copy here.

The strength of this book is simultaneously its greatest drawback: it is too short – just 25,000 words. Its very brevity is, of course, central to its dynamism. It seeks to hook in the curious and the unconvinced, to hold them in its grip for a short time and send them way buzzing with thoughts and questions, perhaps with a mind to undertake further investigation, evaluation and reflection. In all of this is it so successful that, paradoxically, you finish it wishing it could be longer.

 The Little Book of God, Mind, Cosmos and Truth is, in its way, an introduction to the greatest topic in the world, a topic that might obviously have merited a 15 volume theophilosophical  encyclopaedia. This slim volume has a better chance of reaching those most in need of being reached, and that is no small thing.  By virtue of being 25,000 words rather than, for example, 2.5 million words, it leaves the topic unexhausted; but it will also leave, I suspect, the even slightly open-minded reader with enough new thoughts and previously unencountered propositions to leave him restless in a way that resonates with the underlying restlessness of being human.  And that resonance of ‘restlessnesses’ will not easily be unseated.

Immortality: Most simply, the inability to cease to exist or the ability to exist eternally. In this sense God is the only being who is truly immortal, because God has always existed and will not cease to exist. Some theologians argue, however, that human souls are created by God as intrinsically immortal, whereas others argue that the soul only becomes extrinsically immortal upon the reception of "eternal life" through salvation. Either way, it is commonly agreed that all humans, whether righteous or wicked, are subject to physical death as a consequence of sin and thus are universally mortal as to their earthly life. Whatever immortality humans possess is due to the will and power of God.1

1. Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), p. 64.

creatio ex nihilo: A Latin phrase that literally means "creation out of nothing." Augustine is credited with developing the argument that God created the world without any preexisting materials. This was in contrast to most Greek philosophers, who understood the creative act as God's ordering of eternally existing materials into the present world or universe. The value of the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo is that it maintains a clear distinction between God and the created order and also maintains that God alone has eternal status.1

1. Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), p. 32.

Omnipotence: The attribute that refers to God's ability to do whatever is consistent with God's own character and being in effecting the divine plan for creation. God's omnipotence is primarily demonstrated in God's overturning evil for good. This is especially evident in the death of Jesus, which although it was the act of malicious people, has become God's means of human salvation.1

1. Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), pp. 85-86.

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.
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Humanism (secular humanism): In general, humanism is any movement or ideology that focuses on the worth of the human being. Christian humanism emphasizes the fact that humans are create in God's image and as such are creatures of worth or value. Secular humanism, on the other hand, attempts to see the worth of humans apart from any appeal to God. Thus humanists often suggest that value is completely intrinsic to the individual.1

1. Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), p. 61.

Proposition, propositionalism: A proposition is a meaningful, logical statement (or assertion) that can be confirmed in some manner, such as by sensory observation, and so can be subjected to scientific inquiry. Propositionalism presents and defends theological truths by setting them forth as a series of propositions that can be reasonable demonstrated to be true. Propositionalism serves as an important reminder that the Christian faith has a rational and, hence, a scientifically demonstrable dimension. Critics accuse propositionalists of reducing the faith to a cognitive level and thereby missing the sense of wonder, awe and mystery about God and salvation; the importance of the affective, emotive and intuitive dimensions of human life; and the importance of the practical outworking of Christian commitment in a life of service to God and others.1

1. Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), pp. 96-97.

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.
For daily post links, please follow on Facebook.

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.
For daily post links, please follow on Facebook.

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.
For daily post links, please follow on Facebook.

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.
For daily post links, please follow on Facebook.

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.
For daily post links, please follow on Facebook.

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.
For daily post links, please follow on Facebook.

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.
For daily post links, please follow on Facebook.

God's Crime Scene (Book, Promo Video) is the highly anticipated "sequel" to J. Warner Wallace's Cold Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels. In his first investigation Wallace looks at the evidence for the claim that the Gospels were eye-witness accounts of the life of Jesus. In his latest book, he investigates the existence of God. He takes his experience and skill-set as a homicide detective to bring together the evidences and present them in a coherent and convincing manner for the jurors (readers) to decide. God's Crime Scene is 204 pages divided into eight chapters. He has also included nearly 80 additional pages of case files for digging deeper into the cases he investigates in the book. This review will provide a chapter-by-chapter summary of the book but it cannot be substituted for reading the full text. I've included short interviews with J. Warner Wallace and Bobby Conway from The One Minute Apologist at the end of chapter summaries so you can hear a synopsis of the chapter directly from the author.

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.
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Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.
Get these sorts of links and more by following on Twitter.
For daily post links, please follow on Facebook.

More and more it seems that society and culture are attempting to jettison objective morality in favor of their own moral autonomy. It is a challenge that takes place at both an individual level and a political level. The Christian worldview holds that certain actions and behaviors are right or wrong regardless of who believes or does not believe that they are. Christians need to be able to defend this position in their everyday discussions with friends, family, and coworkers; otherwise, they may cave to the "wisdom of the world." Greg Koukl and Francis Beckwith wrote Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air precisely with these everyday Christians in mind.