Three Techniques for the Typical Pro-Life Discussion

In Pro-Life circles January is known as “sanctity of life” month.  This is due to anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.  So with that on my mind, today I want to share (what I think) are the three most important techniques in discussing abortion.

Let’s get to it.

Who is Isaiah's Suffering Servant?

In the eighth chapter of Acts we read the account of Philip’s interaction with the Ethiopian eunuch.  The eunuch was reading Isaiah 52 and needed help understanding what the passages were talking about.  The deacon Philip came alongside him and told him about Jesus Christ.

Since the earliest times, Christians have understood the “suffering servant” of Isaiah to be a direct reference to Jesus.  You can see this again in 1Peter 2:24, where the Apostle says:

“He himself ‘bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’"

However, the most common counterargument to the Christian claim – particularly from a Jewish perspective – is that we’re misunderstanding the image of the Suffering Servant.  The Servant was not a particular historical man, but rather a symbol of Israel.  He is the nation literarily personified.

Today we’re going to look at the relevant portions of Isaiah to see if that’s true.

Who is at Jesus' Left and Right?

Dear Apologist, why does Jesus say, “to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."  Who are those positions for?  

Should the story of the Woman Caught in Adultery be in the Bible?

Dear Apologist, I have heard that the story of the woman caught in adultery wasn’t originally in John’s Gospel.  How do we know it is inspired scripture?

Free Will and Omniscience, A Problem?

Dear Apologist, if God knows everything I'm going to do before I do it, am I really free? 

Is Free-Will in the New Testament?

In a previous post we examined how free-will (and its denial) affects our view of God and salvation.  That is, if you say humans have no ability to resist grace, you’re driven to conclude that Jesus didn’t die for everyone.  And yet, the New Testament makes it perfectly clear that Jesus did die for everyone.  Therefore, free will must be real.

 Today we’re going to highlight some passages of the New Testament which make that explicit.

Calvin's Trail - Why Free Will Matters

A couple weeks ago at Bible Study we were discussing the hard problem of human freedom and God's grace.  We began by asking:

What happens if you completely deny any role of human freedom in salvation?  What happens if you say God rescues a person like a puppet on strings - with no ability to assent or resist?

Today we'll be walking down that trail of logic.