In the Media

William Lane Craig's Reasonable Faith 2011 UK Tour drew to a close last week. It was interesting to follow, even if only superficially. With a buildup of months, Christian apologists rallied behind Craig, taunting Richard Dawkins, hoping to tease him out into the spotlight on stage and away from his desk, behind which he commands a slew of New Atheists.

I'm just saying.

I am surprised of how many people have got wind of the 21 May doomsday prediction lately. Over the past few weeks I have come across a few people who recently found out about it, whereas previously it has been something that very few people I know have heard of. I have already written on this subject. But this surge of interest in the lead up to 21 May has prompted me to mention it again.

Today I stumbled across a proposal for a new StackExchange (Q&A) website which focuses specifically on Biblical Hermeneutics. I find this proposal very intriguing.

(Please excuse me if I am overly excited in my writing and completely go off track, but as a Christian who is also a Computer Scientist, I find this topic fascinating!)

The world celebrates Christmas because it is a time of goodwill and giving, fun and happiness. But more importantly, at the heart of Christmas is the story of a little helpless baby, born to two common people in adverse conditions. It is a heart-warming story! The adversity of not finding a place to stay for the night is completely overshadowed by the miracle of a birth and the adoration of complete strangers. And as the night grew long, there lay the little baby Jesus: sleeping and helpless.

Recently a controversial blasphemy poster campaign was launched in New Zealand. The campaign slogan is "Religion is Garbage", and while it is aimed at all religions and religious denominations, it especially targets Christianity (including cults, hypocrisies and what I am going to call "objective Christianity"). Due to the nature (and intent) of this campaign, there has been much discussion around it. In response to the many, many commentators who appear to express what I can only call flippant atheistic views, I thought it good to respond by summarising a talk which William Lane Craig gave at an apologetics conference in Cape Town earlier this year (something which I have been wanting to do for some time now anyway). What follows below is my summary of his seven points for claiming that it is reasonable to believe in God, and not just any god, but the God of the Bible.

Last night I watched The Book of Eli with some friends. I really enjoyed the movie, primarily because I am a huge fan of the post-apocalyptic genre (I am convinced there were some strong Fallout influences in that movie). While the writers definitely had a point that they were trying to make, I do not know what it was, and I think that one should not take the movie too seriously from a Christian theological perspective.

As a general rule, I am not very much into World Cup events. I am not big on most sports, and especially not soccer. While I am grateful for many of the benefits which hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup has brought South Africa (such as improved road infrastructure), I do feel that the billions of rands spent on building stadiums could have spent on housing or long-term poverty alleviation. Also, I am not very keen for the "cult of personality" used to create hype for the event, although I understand it is necessary so we can present a happy and enthusiastic face to the world. I am a grinch like that.

When I first heard that some people were claiming that the world will end on 21 May 2011, I wanted to furiously post a rebuke here. But I decided to rein myself in until I have learned more (or at least until I had actually read the whole tract).

Of course there is actually a lot of information to go through: the tract points one to websites and books, even a radio station, and a forum has been set up to discuss this matter. But what I want to do is write a response to just the tract: what should someone think who has been handed such a flyer at a traffic light or walking through a park?