Volume 44:Issue 2 

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CONTENTS:

04 From the President: The Menace of Modern Materialism

by Hank Hanegraaff

06 Effective Evangelism:

Witnessing to a Wayward Child by Nicole Howe

08 No Mindful Matter: The Explanatory Failure of Scientific Materialism

by Melissa Cain Travis

Philosophical Apologetics: It is one thing to have an insufficient materialist explanation for phenomena such as the origin of life and objective value and meaning. It is quite another to be forced by one’s worldview to rule out the existence of things that seem to be obvious and essential facets of our lived experience — such as mind and free will.

14 Myself Am Hell: Rebellion and Gratitude in Milton’s Paradise Lost

by Stephen Mitchell

Cultural Discernment/Cultural Apologetics: In our day, the legitimate creaturely desire for free agency has swollen into desire for absolute autonomy. John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost explores the relationship between the demand for absolute autonomy and acedia, a vice that cripples the characters’ lives by depriving them of the sense that a divine goodness sustains their being. A remarkably pertinent work of literature.

20 To the Cancel Culture: “We Respectfully Decline” — When Believers Are Told What We May or May Not Say, Polite Refusal Is Called For

by Joe Dallas

Cultural and Theological Discernment: Cancel culture, with its emphasis on silencing viewpoints it finds offensive or dangerous, pressures the modern church to stop expressing essential biblical positions. When Peter and the apostles were forbidden to teach or preach in the name of Jesus, they simply replied, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”

28 For Our Lamps Are Going Out: Gaslighting in the Age of Social Media 

by Anne Kennedy

Cultural and Theological Discernment: Gaslighting is a useful umbrella trope for understanding different kinds of damaging online behavior. Gatekeeping, tone policing, outright lying, and the demand to “do better” all constrain members of online communities through fear rather than love. Only by a renewed embrace of the objectivity of Scripture married to a biblical definition of love can Christians return to the sober reasoning of honest discourse.

34  Falun Gong: How the West Was Won

by Lindsey Medenwaldt

New Religious Movements: Based on a mix of Buddhist and New Age principles, adherents of Falun Gong believe their teachings and practices are the sole path to apprehending the meaning of the universe and becoming Gods or Buddha. While the movement is persecuted in China, it grows in the West, and Westerners are being swayed without realizing it.

42  Viewpoint

Is It True That There Are Good Non- Christians? by Clay Jones

44     Postmodern Realities

Martyr of Science? A Reflection on the Anime Dr. Stone by Harrison Dulin

46   Ask Hank

 What Are the Basic Beliefs of Buddhism?  by Hank Hanegraaff