Latest Posts
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Facing the “anti-Mormon” claim
Read more: Facing the “anti-Mormon” claimIn my various dialogues with Mormon missionaries and local leaders of the LDS church (all whom I respect and consider friends), I inevitably bring up something that my LDS counterparts label anti-Mormon. The term is usually given after I have raised some information about Joseph Smith or LDS church history that my friends find so…
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The Illusion of Exceptionalism
Read more: The Illusion of ExceptionalismWe have been conditioned by society to think that we are exceptional people. By exceptional here, I mean that we believe we are the exceptions to the rule; that we are the diamond in the rough, the hero of a story in which the camera is always centered upon us. In essence, this means that…
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Sean McDowell Interview
Read more: Sean McDowell InterviewMy name is Brad Blakeley—I’m a graduate of Biola’s Master of Apologetics program, a teaching pastor at the Church at Lake Mead (C@LM), a high school teacher at Lake Mead Christian Academy, and an adjunct professor at Lincoln Christian University Las Vegas Extension campus—and I recently had the privilege of interviewing Sean McDowell, who is…
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Aristotle on Educating Younglings
Read more: Aristotle on Educating YounglingsIn my quest to uncover Philo of Alexander’s thought concerning the education of young people (my PhD Thesis topic), I found some interesting things in Aristotle’s Politics I thought I would share. Aristotle thought the soul had two parts. The first was the irrational (αλογον) part. The second the rational (λογον) part. His idea was that the irrational part…
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The Black Hole of Marriage
Read more: The Black Hole of MarriageMy wife and I will be celebrating our 2 year anniversary in October. The last two years have found us discussing, exploring, and analyzing marriage, both as a concept and our own experience. We have attended 2 marriage conferences, participated in a couple’s dinner at our church, read numerous books on the topic, and I…
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Life and Death or the Adventure Between?
Read more: Life and Death or the Adventure Between?My wife and I are expecting our first baby this December. Right now he is a little 2.5 lb boy kicking around and, we imagine, enjoying himself. A couple of weeks ago one of my wife’s coworkers was diagnosed with cancer. She died last night. Two weeks ago she was in the office, feeling a…
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Austenland: When You’re Living in an Austen Novel
Read more: Austenland: When You’re Living in an Austen NovelI saw Austenland recently. For those of you who haven’t heard of it—it’s a movie about a woman obsessed with all things Jane Austen, who’s been unlucky in love and decides to spend her life’s savings to attend an immersive Austen experience in England complete with manor house, Regency attire, and gentlemen of fortune. I…
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Musings from the Balcony
Read more: Musings from the Balcony“Your love never fails. It never gives up. It never runs out on me.”* I stood, watching a gym full of hundreds of college students, singing these words of praise and truth. Arms-raised, dancing, clapping, and shouting – I admired their passion. The pulsing drums, the rocking guitars, the melodic keyboard, and the passionate vocals…
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Being real with ourselves, Mormons, (and everyone else)
Read more: Being real with ourselves, Mormons, (and everyone else)Over the past four months, I have been dialoging with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, otherwise known as Mormons, or LDS. This isn’t my first time (or fourth time, for that matter) but it’s been the best and most rewarding of all my interactions. It’s the first time I…