Volume 36:Issue 3

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CONTENTS:

04 From the Editor
Sex, Lies, and Christianity: Reclaiming Biblical Sexuality

06 Response
Is Birth Control Unbiblical?… Was Saint Peter the First Pope?… A Thief in the Night

08 Effective Evangelism
Taking the Offense without Being Offensive

10 Practical Hermeneutics
“Be Still and Know”: Contemplative Prayer and Psalm 46:10

12Video Games and Christians: Can God Fit in This Machine?
by Kevin Schut
Cultural Discernment: Christians typically haven’t had much to say about video games, and often when they do, it’s pretty negative. There are certainly real concerns over violence and addiction in video games, but the church needs to give this nearly ubiquitous medium a more balanced treatment.

20How the West Really Lost God
by Mary Eberstadt
Cultural Discernment and Apologetics: Over the past century, the Western world has become increasingly secular and post-Christian. This is often attributed to increasing education and prosperity, but data abounds that suggests the opposite and points to another explanation for the decline of Western Christianity: the breakdown of the family.

24 The Legendary Flat-Earth Bible
by James Patrick Holding
Biblical Hermeneutics and Apologetics: Critics of the Bible have been calling it a flat-Earth book for centuries, and some fringe Christian groups have joined in the act, affirming that the Earth is indeed flat! What is the Bible really saying when it refers to such things as the “four corners of the earth”?

28Western Intellectuals and Shame
by Daniel Mann
Cultural Discernment: Why do Western intellectuals often condemn the decisions of their own democratic nations while saying little or nothing about the atrocities of Third-World Muslim and Marxist nations? Might it be that, motivated by deep-seated shame, the Western intellectual establishes his virtue by rejecting his own culture?

32Sexual Sanity for Women in a World Gone Mad
by Ellen Dykas
Ethical Discernment and Apologetics: In a world spiraling into a sexual free-for-all, many Christian women are succumbing to the cultural insanity that says sex is all about you. Others are smothered in shame concerning their sexual struggles. Sexual sanity, which is gained through the wise, unashamed, and bold teaching of the Bible, is God’s gift for all. Includes a sidebar on the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon

42Kierkegaard: Understanding the Christian Father of Existentialism
by Michael W. Austin
Philosophical Apologetics: Nineteenth-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard is perhaps best known as the father of existentialism, a philosophical school most often associated with atheist thinkers. Kierkegaard, however, was a devout Christian and much of what he wrote is strikingly relevant to contemporary life. An installment in our occasional Philosophers Series

46 Deepak Chopra’s Cosmic Enlightenment: Eastern Ideas in a Western Culture
by Robert Velarde
Interfaith Discernment and Apologetics: Through his many bestselling books and a massive multimedia empire, Deepak Chopra has succeeded at convincing many Westerners to embrace Hindu beliefs and practices in the name of science, health care, and even Christianity. Far surpassing even his former teacher Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (Transcendental Meditation) in cultural influence, Chopra is a spiritual force that Christians need to reckon with.

50 Suffering in Apologetic Mission
by Douglas Groothuis
Practical Apologetics: The call to suffer as disciples for the sake of Christ and the gospel is universal and nonnegotiable. How does this calling apply to apologetic ministry, and what price do we pay if we disregard it?

54 Reviews
A Summary Critique:Alex Rosenberg’s The Atheist’s Guide to Reality…David Niose’s Nonbeliever Nation

60 Viewpoint
Not Guilty: A Biblical Case for Ministering to the Accused

62 Ask Hank
What about Ghosts?