Volume 39:Issue 6 

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CONTENTS:

04 From the Editor
Help Wanted

06 Effective Evangelism
Answering Those Who Try to Live by the Golden Rule

08 Practical Hermeneutics
Matthew 5:48: Is Perfection an Achievable Goal?

10Who’s Afraid of HAL? Why Computers Will Not Become Conscious and Take over the World
by Charles Edward White
Philosophical Discernment/Philosophical Apologetics: The classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey played on the fear that computers would soon become conscious, independent, and dangerous to humanity. But a groundbreaking mathematical discovery in 1930, and its implications for computer science, can put our minds at rest.

18 Responding to Evil Christianly
by Travis Dickinson
Cultural Apologetics: Does labeling terrorists as evil and targeting their organizations for destruction only lead to more violence? In a New York Times essay, Episcopal priest Steven Paulikas answers yes, arguing that we should focus on the victims of violence rather than its perpetrators. But why should opposing evil and caring for its victims be mutually exclusive?

24The Unending Bending of Gender: Helpful or Harmful?
by Ellen Mary Dykas
Biblical Discernment/Ethical Apologetics: It has become politically correct to view gender bending, and a radical redefining of gender itself, as ways to set people free from internal turmoil and confusion. The Bible offers a radically
different approach to understanding ourselves and finding peace regarding personal gender identity.

34Jesus Films: Who Does Hollywood Say That I Am?
by John McAteer
Cultural Discernment/Apologetics: In 2016, there have been no fewer than four Hollywood movies about Jesus, each one attempting to fill in gaps in the biblical narrative. We often assume that Christian movies are either for evangelism or devotion, but the recent Jesus movies might be better at raising questions that open a space for apologetic conversation.

44 Necromancing the Stone: The Thrill of Dancing with the Dead
by Arthur W. Hunt III
Cultural Discernment: In a “live” performance six years after his death, Michael Jackson’s image skips across the concert stage in sync with real dancers as he sings “Slave to the Rhythm,” from his posthumous album, Xscape. What are we to make of an America that actually prefers the copy to the original?

50 What Stands behind the Adjective Poetic That You May Not Want to See
by Paul Nelson
Philosophical Apologetics (A Summary Critique): Theoretical physicist Sean Carroll intends what he calls “poetic naturalism” to provide a trustworthy guide for living, and his most recent book, The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself, is a major treatise toward that end, replete with “Ten Considerations” to replace the traditional Ten Commandments.

56 Reviews
David Gelernter’s The Tides of Mind

58 Viewpoint
Christians and Public Education: A Matter of Biblical Justice

60 Postmodern Realities
Love Is Love, or Is It?

62 Ask Hank
Is Oneness Pentecostalism Biblical?