By Davis Carlton

Read Part One here.

It seems like many Christian apologists try to deflect atheist accusations like the Bible’s endorsement of slavery by arguing that “Biblical slavery” was nothing like the horrific slavery practiced in North America and the American South in particular. I think that this is the wrong approach. There is no compelling reason to view Biblical slavery as substantially different from slavery as it was practiced in America. Atheists aren’t impressed by this argument because they will always point out that slaves were allowed to be corporally punished or beaten in Exodus 21. Another approach is to assert that Christians are no longer “under the law,” and this is understood to mean that the precepts of the Mosaic Law are no longer binding in any sense. This argument fails because slavery is also permitted by the Apostles in the New Testament, and the Bible teaches that God does not change in His attributes and character. The Mosaic Law accurately reflects God’s character so Christians ought to defend the character of God as it is revealed in the Law. read more

By Davis Carlton

Christianity is under severe attack, and the primary rival to Christianity is quickly becoming secular atheism. One of my favorite topics is Christian apologetics. I watch many debates between Christian apologists and atheists. My favorite is the famous debate between Greg Bahnsen and Gordon Stein. I’ve watched several other debates and I use them to sharpen my own sense of how I would defend the Christian faith. There are often many ways in which I disagree with particular Christian apologists in how they defend the faith. A major topic that is becoming extremely important in apologetics is the issue of Biblical morality. Most atheists are becoming well-versed in the moral precepts of the Bible as a means of undermining its authority in the minds of modern Western Europeans. read more