Volume 40:Issue 5
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CONTENTS:
04 From the Editor
Doctrine, Defense, and Discernment
06 Effective Evangelism
Reaching African American Men with the Gospel
08 Practical Hermeneutics
The Death of Moses in Deuteronomy 34 and Its Authorship
10 Sharia and the Mistreatment of Women
by Hank Hanegraaff
Today’s Religious Movements: While politically correct culture is quick to point out discrimination and abuse of women in other respects, there has been a deafening silence when it comes to the systematic oppression of women under Islamic sharia law. Yet no less a luminary than former president Barack Obama lauds sharia’s contributions to tolerance and equality.
16The Inescapability of God
by James N. Anderson
Worldview Apologetics: For many Christians, the reality of God is so obvious and undeniable that we’re amazed anyone could seriously doubt it, and yet, we all know people who do. How can we help such people recognize what seems so apparent to us? James N. Anderson highlights six aspects of everyone’s life that can be explained only if God exists.
24 Was There a Jewish Temple in Ancient Jerusalem? Exposing Islamic Ahistoricism and Mythicism
by Craig A. Evans
Historical and Interfaith Apologetics: Mythicism is an extreme form of historical minimalism, in which most or all historical evidence is rejected. In recent years, some Islamic apologists have adopted this approach in order to deny the historicity of the two Jewish temples. Their arguments ignore a mountain of evidence.
34Family, Faith, and Father
by Donald Fairbairn
Theological and Cultural Discernment and Apologetics: While the theology of Star Wars is almost all wrong, the longing for a father that it illustrates can be a stepping stone to our understanding of the heart of the gospel. God made us so that He could be our Father in a way that reflects His fatherly relationship to His only Son.
42 The Virtualization of Culture and the Need for an Embodied Christian Alternative
by John Dyer
Cultural Discernment (Viewpoint): Our Internetconnected devices offer an amazing world of information and connectivity, yet many feel more fragmented and disconnected than ever. Don’t blame it all on Google or Facebook; rather, a great deal of our angst comes from a more subtle restructuring of human life: “the virtualization of culture.” The church, too, is being virtualized; but it more naturally provides the solution.
48The Irony of 13 Reasons Why: Perpetuating the Very Problems It Claims to Help Solve
by Seth Gruber
Cultural Discernment (Web TV Series Review): Netflix’s highly successful drama 13 Reasons Why has been widely praised by critics for its hard-hitting and unflinching treatment of adolescent depression. It also has been criticized internationally by mental health professionals and governmental departments for glamorizing suicide in a manner that encourages impressionable teens to consider that option more seriously. What is the Christian response to this controversy?
54 Reviews
A Summary Critique: Daniel C. Dennett’s From Bacteria to Bach and Back… Tom Nichols’s The Death of Expertise
60Postmodern Realities
Looking for Heaven at the Movies: What Our Fondness for Nostalgic Films Says about Us
62 Ask Hank
Sex, Slavery, and Sin: Is the God of the Bible Really All That Different from the God of Islam?
