Episodes

  • #366 What This Book Doesn’t Cover - Jimmy Akin

    #366 What This Book Doesn’t Cover - Jimmy Akin
    Jan 1 2024
    DAY 366 CHALLENGE “This book doesn’t include my objection to the Faith!” DEFENSE A single book can only do so much. Therefore, let me recommend some more resources that may help. The Handbook of Catholic Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli: This is an excellent survey of the general evidences for the Christian faith, written by a pair of scholars who communicate in a manner easily accessible to all. Scaling the Secular City by J.P. Moreland: This was one of the first apologetic books I read when I began studying the field. Dr. Moreland is an outstanding scholar who carries …
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    Less than 1 minute
  • #365 Ancient Scriptures - Jimmy Akin

    #365 Ancient Scriptures - Jimmy Akin
    Dec 31 2023
    DAY 365 CHALLENGE “Why should I pay attention to the Bible at all? It’s an ancient book written by people of limited understanding. Besides, other religions have their own scriptures, too. Why are they any less important?” DEFENSE The Christian scriptures are unique and valuable. The mere fact that the books of the Bible were written a long time ago is no reason to look down on or dismiss them. To do so would be chrono-logical snobbery. Just because a person wrote before you doesn’t mean that person was wrong. If it did, we would have to dismiss all works written in the past, obliter…
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    Less than 1 minute
  • #364 The Cosmic Teapot - Jimmy Akin

    #364 The Cosmic Teapot - Jimmy Akin
    Dec 30 2023
    DAY 364 CHALLENGE “As an atheist, I may not be able to prove God doesn’t exist, but I also can’t prove there isn’t, orbiting between Earth and Mars, a teapot too small to be detected by telescopes. If I don’t have to believe in the latter, I don’t have to believe in the former.” DEFENSE This argument is subject to a number of objections. First, it was originally proposed by the philosopher Bertrand Russell as an answer to believers who felt atheists have the burden of proof regarding the existence of God (see “Is There a God?” The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, vol. 11). From th…
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  • #363 Antipopes - Jimmy Akin

    #363 Antipopes - Jimmy Akin
    Dec 29 2023
    DAY 363 CHALLENGE “There can’t be an ‘unbroken line’ of popes going back to Peter. Look at the vacancies between popes, and at the antipopes.” DEFENSE The “unbroken line” claim may be found in the writings of individual Catholics, but it is difficult to find it in any official Church documents. Nevertheless, it expresses a truth: There is a line of popes (bishops of Rome) that we can trace in historical succession, going back to Peter. The statement that it is unbroken must be understood in the sense that those who make the claim intend, otherwise a straw man will result. This means …
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    Less than 1 minute
  • #362 A Multiplicity of Gods? - Jimmy Akin

    #362 A Multiplicity of Gods? - Jimmy Akin
    Dec 28 2023
    DAY 362 CHALLENGE “Why can’t there be a multiplicity of gods?” DEFENSE The answer depends on what you mean by “gods.” In classical paganism, the gods people typically worshipped were not infinite, eternal beings. Instead, they were understood to be superhuman but finite beings who came into existence at some point. (Thus Osiris’s father was Geb, Zeus’s father was Chronos, Thor’s father was Odin.) It is possible for there to be multiple superhuman beings. That could be the case even in the natural world. There might be creatures in the physical universe who are more intelligent, more po…
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  • #361 Homosexual Unions Not Marriages - Jimmy Akin

    #361 Homosexual Unions Not Marriages - Jimmy Akin
    Dec 27 2023
    DAY 361 CHALLENGE “Why shouldn’t people of the same sex be allowed to marry one another?” DEFENSE It’s not so much a question of what should be allowed as of what is possible. Marriage involves a reality that can only exist between a man and a woman. Marriage is a union of a man and a woman that is oriented toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring (CCC 1601). No other kind of union is a marriage. Since before recorded history, men and women have united to care for each other and to bring up children. That happens in every culture, no m…
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  • #360 Evolution and the Benefits of Religion - Jimmy Akin

    #360 Evolution and the Benefits of Religion - Jimmy Akin
    Dec 26 2023
    DAY 360 CHALLENGE “If religion has benefits for individuals and groups, why can’t we say that evolution has favored the development of religion, even though it has no bearing on reality.” DEFENSE Religion does have benefits (see Day 283), but this doesn’t lead to the conclusion that religious beliefs are false. If it were possible to dismiss a belief as having no bearing on reality simply because adopting it has benefits from an evolutionary point of view (i.e., promoting the survival and reproduction of those who hold it), then we would have to dismiss a vast number of beliefs. …
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    Less than 1 minute
  • #359 Keeping the Sabbath - Jimmy Akin

    #359 Keeping the Sabbath - Jimmy Akin
    Dec 25 2023
    DAY 359 CHALLENGE “Why do Catholics worship on Sunday instead of keeping the Sabbath? The (Saturday) Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandments, which Catholics recognize as expressing the moral law (CCC 1962).” DEFENSE The Sabbath command is unique among the Ten Commandments in that it incorporates both moral and ceremonial aspects. The Catechism of Trent states: The other commandments of the Decalogue are precepts of the natural law, obligatory at all times and unalterable. Hence, after the abrogation of the Law of Moses, all the commandments contained in the [Ten Commandments] are ob…
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    Less than 1 minute