Monthly Archives: April 2015

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The Scandinavian Skeptic (or: Why Atheism Is A Belief System)

An updated version of this piece forms chapter 2 of my book, The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist

“I don’t believe that Sweden exists,” my friend suddenly declared from across the coffee shop table. He took a sip of espresso and stared intently at me, clearly awaiting a response. I paused, my cinnamon roll halfway to my mouth, as I digested what he’d just said.

“Pardon?”

“I don’t believe that Sweden exists,” he repeated. “I think it’s just a political conspiracy, designed to motivate other European citizens to work harder. All that talk of the best health care system, the highest standard of living, of tall and beautiful people. It sounds like a myth and I’m not buying it. I don’t believe in Sweden.”

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Through Glass, Darkly

There’s a scene a few chapters into the comedy science-fiction novel, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, where Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed former president of the galaxy, is in a spot of trouble. A few moments earlier, he had been standing on the bridge of a starship, now he suddenly found himself mysteriously teleported to a café on the strange, alien planet of Ursa Minor Beta. Puzzled at what has just happened, Zaphod instinctively reached into his pocket for his sunglasses:

[He] felt much more comfortable with them on. They were a double pair of Joo Janta Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses, which had been specially designed to help people develop a relaxed attitude to danger. At the first hint of trouble they turn totally black and thus prevent you from seeing anything that might alarm you.[1]

What was science-fiction in 1980 when Douglas Adams wrote this passage has become reality in the twenty-first century. Augmented reality, to be precise, the new buzzword in computing. Augmented reality is a technology that allows computer-driven data to overlay your view of the real world. Originally developed for military applications (for example, projecting flight information onto the visor of a fighter jet pilot), augmented reality is now breaking in to the world of consumer gadgetry.

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Thinking Clearly, Listening Well

I recently had the privilege of being interviewed by Servant Magazine about apologetics, my work with RZIM, and the Burning Questions TV series that I wrote and presented (it was aired on Canadian TV last year and is now available as a DVD). The transcript is below, or you can download it as a PDF if you prefer.

Servant Magazine: Is there a difference between the questions that people are actually asking and what Christians believe they are asking?

Sometimes, yes. Christians do have a tendency to assume we know the questions people are asking rather than really listening to them. The same goes for the culture: sometimes we think we understand it without actually listening to what’s being said, discussed or broadcast. Among the most common concerns that rise to the top are issues like the meaning of life, whether there’s more to life than the material, or where true, lasting peace can be found. Perhaps one might sum those up in the bigger question: “What does it mean to be human?” You can’t properly address that question without asking the “God question,” but if we jump straight to the latter, we’ll talk past people.

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The Magical Moral Mystery

When I was thirteen years old, one of my favourite hobbies was conjuring. Every Saturday morning, I would faithfully trek across London to attend classes at Davenports Magic Shop, an Aladdin’s cave of a place which was all the more wondrous for being located in an underground mall deep below Charing Cross. There I learnt how to baffle people with card tricks, make money disappear,[1] and pull rabbits from hats.[2]

Of all the tricks I mastered, my favourite was the shell game. One of the oldest tricks known to magicians, its premise is simple: behold, three small wooden cups. Beneath one is placed a small ball. The cups are shuffled and some innocent bystander asked to guess where the ball is. No matter where they guess, their answer turns out to be wrong: the magician always wins.

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Four Key Principles for Apologetics

TalkingSilh

At its heart, apologetics is beautifully simple and intricately connected to the heart of the gospel. As I’ve wrestled with people’s questions, I’ve learned there are a number of basic principles that apply time and again, no matter who I’m talking with.

1. Know what you believe

This is a challenge for those of us raised in the Church, or who have been Christians for decades. Too often we give how-shaped answers to why-shaped questions. If somebody asks you why you are a Christian, giving a narrative of how you became one isn’t always helpful. Many of our friends want to know why you’re a Christian now, today, with all of the challenges to your faith that daily attack you. What’s your elevator speech for Christianity?