Tag: atheism

What is Hitchens thinking? Doug Wilson discusses ‘Collision’ with John Piper

TBLeave a comment

‘Collision’ premiered Friday at the 2009 Desiring God National Conference. If you’re not familiar with it, “Collision” is a documentary on the series of debates between pastor/theologian Doug Wilson and atheist/author Christopher Hitchens on their book “Is Christianity Good for the World?”

After the movie was shown, Wilson sat down with pastor John Piper to answer a few questions about the film:

  • Christopher Hitchens said at the end of the movie that, given the chance, he wouldn’t convert the last theist. Why do you think he said that?
  • What is Hitchens’ best counterpoint to the claim that he is getting his morality for judging Christianity from Christians?
  • What is the relationship between doing apologetics and evangelizing?
  • In the video you speak about having “copiousness.” Describe what that is and whether you think it is important for pastors to cultivate.
  • What is your hope for this film?
  • What about the “s” word at the end of the film? Why do you allow for it here but don’t tolerate it from your children?
  • Why the recent upsurge in the New Atheism?
Click on the image to view the video
Click on the image to view the video

The 2009 Desiring God National Conference is going on this weekend in Minneapolis. The theme of this year’s conference is “With Calvin in the Theater of God.” You can follow along with the conference’s messages and find audio and video here.

Debating Christianity: A Collision of worldviews

TB1 Comment

I don’t know when this will come out on video or theaters, but it promises to be an interesting event nonetheless. Renowned author and avowed “anti-theist” Christopher Hitchens and pastor and author Douglas Wilson are the subjects of a documentary that looks at their exchanges over the question “Is Christianity good for the world?” The documentary, called “Collision: Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson,” follows the men as they debate one another and make public appearances during their book tour for “Is Christianity Good for The World.”

Collision — Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson

HT: Justin Taylor

Science and religion: John Lennox, the merry warrior for Christ

TBLeave a comment
John Lennox is an Oxford proffesor of mathematics.
John Lennox is an Oxford professor of mathematics.

John Dickson at the Centre for Public Christianity has posted a series of video interviews with noted Oxford professor of mathematics and Christian apologist John Lennox. Among the topics addressed were:

Who is John Lennox?
Introduction to the Professor

A Good God?
Hope for a mucked up world

Science, Atheism and Belief
Has science buried God?

Face off!
Debating Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens

Science, the Bible and belief in the 21st Century
Do you have to put your brain to one side to read the Bible?

Atheism and morality
Does atheism provide grounds for morality?

The evils of Christendom
Do the evils done in the name of Christ show that Christianity has failed?

Russian adventures
Professor Lennox discusses his experiences in Eastern Europe

Creator or the Multiverse?
Does the fine tuning of the universe point to God or an infinite collection of universes?

Christianity and the tooth fairy
Does science deal with reality and religion with everything else?

HT: Justin Taylor

Free audio for you to take advantage of

TBLeave a comment

Here are some free things for you to investigate and one that’s worth the price for your own nourishment.

John Lennox (M.A., Ph.D., D.Phil.,), Research Fellow in Mathematics and the Philosophy of Science and Pastoral Advisor at Green College, University of Oxford recently gave a seminar on God and Richard Dawkins, which is now being offered online at BeThinking.org

For a little background, Lennox debated Dawkins last October in Birmingham, Ala. The debate was sponsored by Fixed-Point Foundation, which now offers videos of the event. Both men debated points from Dawkins’ book, “The God Delusion” before an audience of Christians and atheists. Even though this is not a free resource, I would strongly encourage you to see the debate because Lennox pokes all kinds of holes in the arguments Dawkins makes in his book while giving a vigorous defense of Christianity.

My personal connection with this is that Larry Taunton, the founder and executive director of Fixed-Point Foundation, and his wife Lauri are good friends of my wife and mine who we’ve known since high school. Larry and his family were gracious hosts of my in-laws last fall during the debate. But even without that connection, I would still strongly endorse the video. As a followup, Fixed-Point will be sponsoring a debate between Dinesh D’Souza and Christopher Hitchens in September. Hitchens, you may remember, is the author of “God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.”

In His Own Words
And, if you are itching for some more great audio, then you should head over online to ChristianAudio.com and download Martin Luther: In His Own Words (unabridged). From the site:

Each month christianaudio.com gives away a premium audiobook download for free. The way our Free Audiobook of the Month program works is like this: we give away one audiobook download each month totally free. The audiobook we give away is available for free only once – ever.

Use the coupon code MAY2008 to redeem this month’s free audiobook download from christianaudio.com

There are other great free sources out there, but this should be enough to get you started. More later.

HT: Justin Taylor and Tony Kummer