Recently, I have been thinking about Matthew’s birth narrative. In particular, I want to discuss three claims that are sometimes made by critics of the narrative’s historicity. First, it is claimed that no star could exist that moves or behaves in the way described in Matthew’s Gospel. According to this objection, Matthew depicts a star […]
Entries Tagged as 'Apologetics'
Star of Wonder: Matthew’s Nativity Narrative and its Critics, part one.
December 17th, 2025 No Comments
Tags: Apologetics · Bible · Matthew's Gospel · Star of Bethlehem
Towards Belief Auckland, 26 and 30 November 2015 – with Dr Matthew Flannagan
November 22nd, 2015 2 Comments
Takanini Community Church in Auckland are hosting a Towards Belief event with this blog’s Matt. Towards Belief follows Australian pastor and host, Karl Faase as he travels to the UK, USA and Australia to interview more than thirty leading authors, speakers and academics as they seek to defuse the top belief blockers of our time. This […]
Tags: Apologetics · Events · Karl Faase · Takanini Community Church · Towards Belief
Hear Matt’s Three Talks on “Questions People ask”
October 29th, 2015 Comments Off on Hear Matt’s Three Talks on “Questions People ask”
Recently Matt spoke at Orewa Community Church, as part of their series on “Questions People ask”. His three talks: “How can there be just one religion?”, “How does God allow suffering?”, and “Hasn’t Science disproved Christianity?” are all available to listen online to here.
Tags: Apologetics · Pluralism · Problem of Evil · Science and Religion · Sermons
Shawn Bawulski and the Problem of Hell: Part One
April 26th, 2014 4 Comments
The traditional conception of hell understands the punishment of the finally impenitent to be conscious eternal torment. The punishment of hell is eternal in the sense of it being of unending duration and it involves conscious torment. Annihilationists, on the other hand, argue the traditional view is contrary to scripture. They contend that, in scripture, the […]
Tags: Annihilationism · Apologetics · Hell · Philosophical Theology · Shawn Bawulski · Systematic theology
Matt to speak at the EPS Apologetics Conference in Baltimore on Morality and God’s Commands
November 12th, 2013 Comments Off on Matt to speak at the EPS Apologetics Conference in Baltimore on Morality and God’s Commands
This blog’s Matthew Flannagan has been invited to speak at the 12th Annual Apologetics Conference of the Evangelical Philosophical Society in Baltimore, USA. The theme of this year’s conference is Reasonable Faith in an Uncertain World. Matt’s talk is titled “Morality and God’s Commands: Answering Common Objections.” The blurb for Matt’s talk is as follows: “It is […]
Tags: Apologetics · Baltimore · Divine Command Theory · EPS Apologetics Conference · God and Morality
In Defense of the Bible: A Comprehensive Apologetic for the Authority of Scripture
October 25th, 2013 1 Comment
Another of the books Matt has contributed to arrived from the publisher’s today. In Defense of the Bible: A Comprehensive Apologetic for the Authority of Scripture addresses and responds to the major contemporary challenges to the divine inspiration and authority of Scripture. It is edited by Steven B Cowan and Terry L Wilder and published by B&H Academic. The […]
Tags: Apologetics · Doug Geivett · Ethics · Genocide · In Defense of the Bible: A Comprehensive Apologetic for the Authority of Scripture · Mary-Jo Sharp · Paul Copan · Published · Steven B Cowan · Terry L Wilder · William A Dembski
Hear Matt at MPC on: “Is it Narrow-Minded to Think Jesus is the Only Way?”
September 13th, 2013 1 Comment
This blog’s Matthew Flannagan will be speaking at Massey Presbytarian Church’s Night Church Service on the topic “Is it Narrow-Minded to Think Jesus is the Only Way?“ Details are: 7:00pm (come at 6:30pm to grab a meal from the Night Church cafe) Sunday 29 September 2013 Massey Presbyterian Church 510 Don Buck Road, Auckland, New Zealand […]
Tags: Apologetics · Massey Presbyterian Church · Relativism
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
