tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-200903282024-03-14T04:29:58.986-07:00The Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry BlogABR is a Christian apologetics ministry dedicated to equipping Christians with well-researched information on issues that seek to undermine or challenge the Christian faith. On this blog you'll find commentary on issues related to the truthfulness of Christianity by Charlie H. Campbell, the Director of Always Be Ready. Visit our main website at www.AlwaysBeReady.com.Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comBlogger189125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-1135893184366170812005-12-29T13:41:00.001-08:002021-11-06T10:26:00.111-07:00The Existence of Evil and Suffering Actually Turns Out to be a Strong Evidence for God's ExistenceThe very thing that the skeptic says disproves the existence of God (the existence of evil and suffering in the world) is actually a strong evidence that there must be a God. Here is how we might reason this to be the case:
1. Evil exists in the world.
2. Evil is a departure from the way things ought to be.
3. If there is a way things ought to be, there must be a designed plan (or designed Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-71272617712853262002009-04-09T22:43:00.001-07:002021-11-05T12:22:32.829-07:00Good Friday Should Probably Be Good ThursdayOne of the questions I often receive from people when I teach on evidence for the resurrection concerns Jesus's statement regarding the number of days and nights He would spend in the grave. The question goes like this:“Jesus said He would spend three days and three nights in the grave (see Matthew 12:40). How was that fulfilled if Jesus was crucified on Friday and rose on Sunday morning? That Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-89981651579309509562007-10-20T13:24:00.000-07:002019-07-12T17:37:45.158-07:00The Word of God Sets a Jehovah's Witness Free!I taught a study on the Jehovah's Witnesses a few nights ago at a church in Escondido, California. A lady came up to me afterwards (I'll call her Elizabeth) and said that she had been a Jehovah's Witness for twenty three years and that her parents had been full time "Pioneer" missionaries in Africa for twenty two years. Elizabeth explained that when they moved back to the United States they were Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-7883084035319716942019-03-21T09:45:00.000-07:002019-03-21T10:36:45.386-07:00Jesus: Mankind's Only Savior
I think it’s safe to say that most, if not all of you, have a friend or family member who is actively involved in a religion other than Christianity. We live in a very religious world. Pew Research Center’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study concluded that atheists make up only 3.1% of the U.S. population; agnostics 4%. (Source)
Most people believe in some sort of god or "higher power." And of Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-29947902151963020032010-01-28T14:06:00.000-08:002019-02-25T09:34:06.859-08:00My Top 10 Apologetics Books for Young Adults
The father of a teenage daughter emailed me a while back. He said:
"Charlie...My oldest daughter is finishing her freshman year in high school. I want to prepare her for college. What 10-20 books do you recommend she read before she attends college so that she will be prepared to stand strong and defend her faith? I plan on her reading at least 5 books per summer and some more during the Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-46496179078977007082011-06-18T11:07:00.000-07:002019-02-16T11:45:57.825-08:00Did Moses Plagiarize from the Code of Hammurabi?
@font-face {
font-family: "Cambria Math";
}@font-face {
font-family: "Cambria";
}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoFootnoteText, li.MsoFootnoteText, div.MsoFootnoteText { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }span.FootnoteTextChar { font-family: "Times New Roman"; Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-77079418516085794452010-08-20T19:27:00.000-07:002019-02-09T15:24:39.686-08:00The Fine Tuning of the Universe: Another Reason to Believe in God
The more scientists study the universe, the more they discover that conditions in the universe appear to have been extremely fine-tuned (designed) to permit life. Numerous conditions have been identified that have to have just the right values (in other words, they need to be “tuned” to just the right degree) for any kind of conceivable physical life to exist in the universe. If any ofCharlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-13950133767777383282009-10-21T14:50:00.000-07:002019-02-08T10:17:51.265-08:00Is There a Contradiction in Jesus' Genealogical Records?Critics of the Bible say that the Gospels are full of contradictions. They are quite mistaken about the matter and I address that here. But one particular difficulty that seems to come up more than others has to do with Jesus's genealogies mentioned in Matthew's and Luke's Gospels. They seem to differ. Jesus seems to have a different grandfather in Luke 3:23 (Heli) than He does in Matthew 1:Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-1137786959169660202006-01-20T11:43:00.000-08:002019-02-08T10:10:53.685-08:00Is There a Contradiction in the Accounts of the Women at Jesus' Tomb?Someone emailed me yesterday who was troubled by the apparent contradiction in the Gospels regarding the women at Jesus' tomb on the morning of His resurrection.Mark 16:2 says, "And very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen."John 20:1 says, "Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-1135295148004163752005-12-22T15:36:00.000-08:002019-02-04T15:58:01.538-08:00New Discovery in Megiddo Mentions Jesus
We know from the New Testament accounts and extrabiblical sources (e.g., Flavius Josephus, Suetonius, Cornelius Tacitus, the Jewish Talmud) that Jesus existed. There are more than 30 sources outside of the New Testament, written within 150 years of Jesus' life, that reveal more than 100 facts about His life, teachings, death, and resurrection. In spite of this, we still welcome the additional Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-45473056872445604942007-12-23T21:24:00.000-08:002018-12-21T09:22:08.544-08:00Should Christians Celebrate Christmas?
There are some Christians and so-called Christians (the Jehovah's Witnesses in particular) who frown upon the whole idea of celebrating Jesus' birth. They say, "Nowhere in the Bible are we told to celebrate Christmas and there is no record that the early Christians did so."
Bah humbug!
While we don't have a specific commandment to celebrate Christmas, we do have Scriptural Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-41624189261482103402009-05-24T23:18:00.000-07:002018-12-06T20:29:05.865-08:00Rob Bell's Confused GospelI've been teaching quite a bit on the Emerging Church Movement over the past two years. If you're not up to speed on this dangerous movement that is taking place within the Christian community, I encourage you to listen to my presentation by clicking here.I continue to keep my eye on the movement and stay abreast of what the leaders of the movement are saying. Tonight I was reading a recent Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-29290629331781144272010-04-13T15:34:00.001-07:002018-12-06T12:47:48.511-08:00Archaeological and Extrabiblical Evidence for John the BaptistArchaeology and extrabiblical historical sources have time and time again verified persons, places and events mentioned in the Bible. For example, take John the Baptist. Did you know that the Roman historian, Flavius Josephus, mentioned John in his Antiquities of the Jews? Did you know that the fortress where John was locked up and executed has been located and excavated by archaeologists? The Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-47607568445360423962011-03-10T13:34:00.000-08:002018-12-06T12:16:50.062-08:00HELL UNDER FIRE: Rob Bell and His Heretical Views on Salvation, Heaven and Hell
Rob Bell, Author of the new book Love Wins.
The doctrine of Hell as revealed in the Bible has long been under fire by people who toss aside Jesus' clear warnings about it, underestimate their own evil, and scoff at the holiness and justice of God. The latest scoffer is Rob Bell, the popular teacher featured in the NOOMA videos and author of Velvet Elvis. In Rob Bell's newest book, Love Wins,Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-12000166196077956062011-09-02T11:07:00.000-07:002018-12-05T22:21:07.909-08:00Two Creation Accounts? Is There a Contradiction in the Genesis Account of Creation?
We receive lots of emails every week from people about cults, movements, teachers, religions, the Bible, but every fall as soon as colleges get started we see more than one question about the supposed contradiction in the early chapters of Genesis about creation. Sure enough two days ago, right on schedule, the question came again...
"I was reading this text book for my mythology class and it Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-86337397970577621292011-06-02T21:25:00.000-07:002018-12-05T22:17:59.730-08:00The Bible's Critics Were Wrong Again: Daniel and His Supposedly Invented King
@font-face {
font-family: "Calibri";
}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoFootnoteText, li.MsoFootnoteText, div.MsoFootnoteText { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }span.MsoFootnoteReference { vertical-align: super; }span.FootnoteTextChar { font-family: "Times New Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-64551520856551214732018-08-08T16:37:00.002-07:002018-12-05T22:13:57.708-08:00Are You Prepared to Answer Atheists and Skeptics' Top 50 Objections?
Friend, could you use help answering atheists, skeptics, and agnostics’ top 50 objections and questions about God and the Bible? Objections like:
“Why doesn’t God just appear to us in a public setting and prove He exists?”
“The New Testament authors stole details for Jesus’s life story from religions that were around long before Christianity!”
“The God of the Old Testament commanded Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-44981186063850113082014-02-06T21:14:00.000-08:002018-12-05T22:12:57.891-08:00How Critics of Christianity Often Distort the Story of Galileo
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)
Someone asked me a while back, "How do you justify the Catholic Church imprisoning and torturing Galileo for teaching that the Earth revolves around the Sun? That seems to me to be a prime example of people who take the Bible seriously standing in the way of scientific progress!"
Well, first off, I don’t try to justify what the Catholic Church did to Galileo (1564–Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-33380951786150698032009-10-29T13:28:00.000-07:002014-10-01T12:39:45.539-07:00Hell and WaterfallsA lady emailed me a while back and was offended by an article on our website wherein I mention the Bible’s teaching on Hell. She said, “I can’t believe you think this! You’re just trying to scare people. That’s not very loving.”
Well, in response to that (and I told her this), I think being forthright about Hell—if it’s done with the right heart—is actually very loving. You won’t catch me Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-84045575949042061592010-11-30T23:37:00.000-08:002012-02-08T21:28:41.165-08:00Is There Archaeological Evidence for the Exodus? The Bible tells us that God delivered the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt and led them into the land to the north that He had promised to Abraham centuries earlier. Critics of the Bible have long voiced their skepticism regarding the Exodus account. One of the objections critics raise has to do with the massive Egyptian military presence Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-1149746230953671742006-06-07T22:52:00.000-07:002011-08-19T15:26:02.154-07:00Sale on "The Da Vinci Code Examined" DVDs!!An hour long DVD refutation of the so-called facts in The Da Vinci Code is on sale for only $1.00 in our online store while supplies last.Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-1152796710169782912006-07-13T06:02:00.000-07:002011-08-19T15:23:06.066-07:00A New Chapter in MinistryFor the past nine years I have served as a pastor at Calvary Chapel in Vista, California. With my pastor's approval, words of encouragement and blessing, I am now launching out on my own into a full time itinerant teaching ministry. Of course, I won't be on my own. Jesus said, "I am with you always, even until the end (Matt. 28:18-20)." I look forward to having more time now to devote to Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-1162075035050365042006-10-28T15:27:00.000-07:002011-08-19T15:15:19.492-07:00More Help Witnessing to Mormons: The Lost Book of Abraham DVDIf you are dialoguing with Mormons and could use a boost in your witnessing efforts with them, make sure to check out this award-winning new documentary film that investigates the story behind a volume of Mormon scripture called The Book of Abraham. The story is that Mormon founder Joseph Smith translated it from an ancient Egyptian papyrus scroll he purchased from an antiquities Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-1154918194077470992006-08-06T19:33:00.000-07:002011-08-19T15:14:07.414-07:00New Apologetics Resource Available in SpanishFor the first time, we have just released a spanish version of my study "Amazing Evidence for the Trustworthiness of the Bible." The audio CD (recorded and translated at Calvary Chapel San Diego just a few weeks ago) is available in our shopping cart for just $5.95. Click here if you are interested. This would be a great resource to give to your Spanish speaking friends; there is so little out Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20090328.post-1161287603524079272006-10-19T12:43:00.000-07:002011-08-19T15:08:23.022-07:00Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Intelligent DesignIf you would like to know more about the growing Intelligent Design movement, there is a short and helpful list of answers to the most common questions people have about it at the Access Research Network's site. Click here to read. I am also finding William Dembski's book The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions About Intelligent Design (2004), very, very good. He tackles the Charlie Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041203601212520202noreply@blogger.com