ThoughtLetters filed under General & Miscellaneous

Volume 28 • No. 1 • January-February, 2018 Download PDF

Volume 26 • No. 5 • September-October 2016 Download PDF

Volume 26 • No. 1 • January-February 2016 Download PDF

Volume 23 • No. 2 • March-April 2013 Download PDF

Volume 22 • No. 3 • May-June 2012 Download PDF

AREOPAGUS PROCLAMATION Volume 20 • No. 5 • September-October 2010 Download PDF

AREOPAGUS PROCLAMATION Volume 19 • No. 5 • Sep-Oct 2009 Download PDF

Volume 19 • No. 3 • May-June 2009 Download PDF  

by Daryl E. Witmer If the title of this article itself qualifies as a really tough question, then the answer is a definite “yes,” because we’re answering it here in a competent manner – an assertion that will hopefully be demonstrated by that which follows. In arriving at an accurate and objective response to the […]

by Daryl E. Witmer Every human has an intellect that is intended to be fully, constructively used. To disengage the mind can actually prove disastrous. Adolf Hitler once said “What luck for the rulers that men do not think.” In terms of the particular worldview which we individually hold, R. C. Sproul has stated: “The […]

by Daryl E. Witmer Is humanity intrinsically good, or is humanity by nature in deficit to a holy God as the result of a great moral Fall in early human history? NEW AGE VOICES SAY… “Your essential nature is goodness. There is no need for you to ever feel guilt, or to pay attention to […]

by Daryl E. Witmer Critics of the Bible often allege that Scripture contains internal contradictions. Over the years we have responded to many of those allegations in this paper. This month we tackle two more, both of which relate to Holy Week events. ALLEGED CONTRADICTION NUMBER OF DONKEYS DIFFERS The Bible contradicts itself about how […]

by Daryl E. Witmer In the course of my work as a Christian apologist I am asked many questions about the Christian faith. For answers, I often refer folks, or I personally turn to, the multiple hundreds of books, tapes, web sites, organizations, DVDs, and other excellent apologetic resources that are available today. Following are […]

by Daryl E. Witmer From one end to the other, the Bible refers to miracles. There’s the story of Moses parting the Red Sea in Exodus. There’s Elijah calling down fire from heaven on Mt. Carmel. There’s Jesus walking on water, healing the sick, and raising the dead. But are these accounts really credible? Can […]

by Daryl E. Witmer The following exchange is typical of the pattern and content of an actual conversation of this nature between a Christian and a skeptic, based on personal experience and the related accounts of others. MS. ALLYN TO MR. FLETCHER Have you read that back issue of the Proclamation that I gave you […]

by Daryl E. Witmer Christian apologetics isn’t just for theologians, educators, or adults. What follows here is a compilation of apologetic resources for youth (toddler to teen), all of which have been acquired and reviewed for our AIIA Resource Library. This listing should prove helpful to parents, church leaders, Sunday School staff, homeschoolers, and Christian […]

by  Daryl E. Witmer Here’s our best effort at tackling some of the stickier, trickier questions that come our way from time to time. Try these on your friends as conversation starters. If God is all-powerful, can He create a rock so big that He can’t lift it? No. God cannot do the logically impossible, […]

by Daryl E. Witmer Historically, Christian orthodoxy has derived its definition of sin from the Bible. And the Bible has this to say about sin: Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and […]

He wouldn’t, He hasn’t, and He won’t -not by ideally preferred choice, that is. Yet in order to honor and preserve the moral, volitional nature of man, God does and will allow (or judge) men to an eternal hell as the final depraved choice of a depraved man’s own attempt to avoid God’s presence. We […]

by Richard B. Keyes Dick Keyes is director of L’Abri, a residential study center in Southborough MA – one branch of an inter-national ministry founded in Switzerland by the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer in 1955. Keyes in also an author and lecturer. Since 1997 he has served as an AIIA Resource Associate for world-views. The […]

On December 17, 1999, I received an e-mail from a man living in south London which said (in part), “I choose not to believe in the incredible hotchpotch of superstition which is Christianity… which is all the more understandable if you come from Northern Ireland, a place where religion has been the excuse for appalling […]

Each of the following questions were posed either by our readers (via mail or e-mail), or by those in attendance at one of a number of forums in which AIIA has participated this year. Does God change? Hasn’t He changed the way that He deals with mankind over time? “For I, the Lord, do not […]

by Daryl E. Witmer, AIIA Executive Director In late October, 1998, we received an e-mail message from a good friend and supporter of AIIA. She’d just had a conversation with a high school teacher who stated that, in his opinion, there are numerous discrepancies in the Bible. She was soliciting our help in responding to […]

by Daryl E. Witmer, AIIA Executive Director Years ago a man told me that although he didn’t share my faith in Jesus Christ, he admired it.” It’s always good to see someone sincere in their conviction,” he said. Another man who sat in my congregation Sunday after Sunday for an extended period of time told […]

compiled by Daryl E. Witmer During this final quarter of 1998 the PROCLAMATION has been featuring excerpts from the teaching of three of the most highly revered definers and defenders of the Christian faith to have lived during the 20th century. This month’s answers by the late Dr. Walter Martin are drawn from his classic […]

compiled by Daryl E. Witmer During this final quarter of 1998 the PROCLAMATION is featuring excerpts from the teaching of three of the most highly revered definers and defenders of the Christian faith to have lived during the 20th century. This month’s answers by the ever-popular C. S. Lewis, born 100 years ago this month, […]

compiled by Daryl E. Witmer During this final quarter of 1998 the PROCLAMATION is featuring excerpts from the teaching of three of the most highly revered definers and defenders of the Christian faith to have lived during the 20th century. This month’s answers by the late Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer are all sourced in Dr. […]

This month, instead of our regular feature, we are publishing a comprehensive index of every issue of the Proclamation printed since our inaugural edition in April of 1991. Original copies of most issues, including The Maine Witmer Family Report, are still available, but if not we will supply you with a reprint. You may place […]

In the final analysis, Christianity cannot be proven. The truth about what Jesus taught, and who He was (and is) must be accepted by faith. But not blind faith.The preponderance of evidence has long afforded a persuasive and convincing case for the veracity of historic orthodox Christian teaching. Thanks to the Internet, that evidence is […]

Can Christianity be proven? No. The Bible says that “…without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6, NASB) But the preponderance of evidence has always built an overwhelmingly convincing case for […]

This month I’m writing with a special word to those of you among our readers who, to date, remain skeptical about the unique claims of Jesus Christ. Some of you are presently uncertain just what you believe. Others of you remain rather firmly committed to a non-Christian worldview. But either way, if you have been […]

Actual excerpts compiled by Daryl E. Witmer, AIIA Executive Director James R. Spencer once wrote that apologetics are only needed when dealing with hard cases. Then he said, “If they are over 18, they are all hard cases.” Having pastored three churches and raised three sons through most of their teenage years, I can guarantee […]

Last June (1995) we asked our readers to submit examples of the kind of tough questions that they are typically asked about Christianity. We received a good sampling of questions on a wide variety of topics from all across America. In this issue we are publishing the second in a series of those questions, along […]

Last June (1995) we asked our readers to submit examples of the kind of tough questions that they are typically asked about Christianity. We received a good sampling of questions on a wide variety of topics from all across America. In this issue we are publishing the second in a series of those questions, along […]

Last June (1995) we asked our readers to submit an example or two of the kind of tough questions that they’re typically asked about Christianity. We received a good sampling of questions on a wide variety of topics from all across America. In this issue, and for the following two months, we want to publish […]

The haunting lyrics from the famous 1966 film Alfie, with rather wistful desperation, seek for some viable sense of meaning in the oft times gray, grinding routine of life: “What’s it all about, Alfie? Is it just for the moment we live? What’s it all about-what’s it all about, Alfie?” Perhaps you ask yourself the […]

Once upon a time there were three men by the name of Eliot, Elwin, and Elmer. One Spring these three men decided, each on their own, to hike the Appalachian Trail (AT). None of the three had ever previously hiked the trail, nor had they ever met one another before the hike began. But early […]

In last month’s Proclamation we ran an excerpt from a widely publicized debate between a Christian and an atheist conducted at the Willow Creek Community Church in Willow Creek, Illinois, in June of 1993. Many arguments on both sides were advanced that night, but the particular question at issue in our printed excerpt was: “What […]

The following excerpt is transcribed from the audio version of a debate held before about 8000 persons at the Willow Creek Community Church (WCCC) in Willow Creek, Illinois, on June 27, 1993. This debate was first broadcast live on The Moody Broadcasting Network. The debater for atheism was Frank R. Zindler, and the debater for […]

The hall is packed. A feeling of anticipation, even suspense, is in the air.  It would seem that the stakes are high.  A number of attendees, to date on record as skeptics, have voiced an openness about actually changing their position on matters of faith if the evidence tonight is sufficiently persuasive. And now the […]

Dear Ted, We have been sending you our monthly thoughtletter for just over one year now. I trust that it has, in fact, been coming before you, and that you have at least occasionally read it with interest. Although we have never met personally, I have been intrigued by what I know of your life’s […]

The old man sat there on the side of his hospital bed. I looked hard into his face. We had known each other for a long while. Now he was facing his last few weeks on earth, maybe even his last days, and he knew it. “But what if I’m right and you’re wrong?” I […]