Quotes from William Lane Craig

If America's slide into secularism continues, then what awaits us tomorrow is already evident today in Europe. Western Europe has become so secularized that it's hard for the gospel even to get a fair hearing. As a result, missionaries must labor for years to win even a handful of converts. Having lived for thirteen years in Europe in four different countries, I can testify personally to how hard it is for people to respond to the message of Christ.

Why didn't God make the world sooner? In the early fifth century AD, Augustine of Hippo answered that God did not make the universe at a point in time, but "simultaneously with time." That is, he believed God had created space and time together. Modern cosmologists have come to agree that he was right about space and time, and therefore it is meaningless to ask why the big bang didn't happen earlier than it did.

Christianity is supposed to be for old women and children, they would think. So what's this man with two earned doctorates from European universities doing here defending the truth of the Christian faith with arguments we can't answer?

American culture is so appallingly superficial, fixated on celebrities, entertainment, sports, and self-indulgence.

Christianity entails doctrines that increase the probability of the coexistence of God and suffering.

Conclusion Therefore it seems to me that of the three alternatives before us—physical necessity, chance, or design—the most plausible explanation of the fine-tuning of the universe is design. That gives us a transcendent, super-intelligent Designer of the cosmos who has fixed the values of nature's laws. Incredible! So now we have a third argument contributing to a cumulative case for the existence of God.

It is evident that imputation depends ?upon our union with Christ. "Having been made by God a surety for us and given to us for a head, he can communicate to us his righteousness and all of his benefits." Our union with Christ is the "cause and foundation" of our sharing in all his benefits, including justification (remission of sins and adoption as sons) (1992, 16.6).

For hence it is that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to him by God, by whose merit apprehended by faith he is absolved from his sins and obtains a right to life" (1992, 16.9). Faith is thus "the instrumental cause of our justification" (1992, 16.7) and by implication of our union with Christ. Hence, believers have "immediate and absolute union" with Christ (1992, 18.25).

Reductio ad absurdum, or reduction to absurdity, is a form of argument that proves a statement by demonstrating that its opposite is absurd.

Secularism is a worldview that allows no room for the supernatural: no miracles, no divine revelation, no God.

Leibniz's reasoning: 1. Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence. 2. If the universe has an explanation of its existence, that explanation is God. 3. The universe exists.

is where Christian apologetics comes in. If Christians could be trained to provide solid evidence for what they believe and good answers to unbelievers' questions and objections, then the perception of Christians would slowly change. Christians would be seen as thoughtful people to be taken seriously rather than as emotional fanatics or buffoons. The gospel would be a real alternative for people to embrace.