Latest Posts

• The Good Book Blog

  Indonesia Air Asia QZ8501 and the Problem of Evil

  William Lane Craig — February 20, 2015

  Dear Dr. Craig, ... My question is regarding one of the latest news. I am an Indonesian living in Surabaya and the QZ8501 accident has had a huge impact on me. But most of all it was a great shock for a friend of mine. She is a Christian attending Mawar Sharon church with her parents. They were such wonderful persons, as well as a good Christian. But then they were traveling on QZ8501, while my friend stayed at home. You know the rest of the story ...

• The Good Book Blog

  What is the Point of Prayer?

  William Lane Craig — February 13, 2015

  Dear Dr Craig, I have recently moved on from Christianity to agnosticism, but I regularly check out your Q and A section as much of the content there is more sensible and thought provoking than the kind of thing I hear from a lot of Evangelicals ... Currently it seems to me that the idea of prayer is most sensibly explained as an addictive placebo that gives people a greater sense of control over their circumstances than they actually have. But just maybe there's something crucial I've missed, and if so I would be grateful if you could point out what that might be ...

• Biola News

  Master of Professional Accountancy Program to Begin in Fall 2015

  Newest Biola graduate degree equips students for CPA requirements

  Staff — February 13, 2015

  Biola University will launch a Master of Professional Accountancy (MPAcc) degree this fall — a new graduate program designed to prepare students...

• Biola News

  Cinema and Media Arts Showcase: Film Screenings for 2015

  Biola’s Cinema and Media Arts department teams up with the Center for Christianity Culture and the Arts to present five films

  Joclyn Kirton — February 13, 2015

  With the Academy Awards just around the corner, Biola’s Cinema and Media Arts department is teaming up with the Center for Christianity Culture...

• The Good Book Blog

  ¿Quién Puede Tener Acceso a Dios? Salmo 15 / Psalm 15

  Octavio Esqueda — February 12, 2015

  Disfrutar de una relación íntima con el Dios del universo es el propósito principal del ser humano. En Dios encontramos respuesta y sentido a nuestras vidas. El salmo 15 describe al tipo de persona que puede relacionarse personalmente con el Creador. El salmista se pregunta quién puede ser un huésped de Dios. En esa cultura, un huésped gozaba de acceso directo con el anfitrión. Este salmo de sabiduría se entonaba al entrar al templo. Los adoradores iniciaban con la pregunta y el sacerdote respondía con los requisitos y finalizaba con una promesa para aquellos que los cumplían.

• The Good Book Blog

  “You've Ruined My Life, Professor Craig!!”

  William Lane Craig — February 06, 2015

  "... I am now stuck in a nihilistic-atheistic world that I hate. Agnosticism is not even a coherent position to me, with regards to a Perfect Being, since I believe that the greatest conceivable being could give me knowledge of its existence, if it wanted to. Theism is a dream come true. The world would make sense, the existential mysteries that haunt me would be solved, life would be livable. It is atheism, however, which seems to be true, yet I do not want to live like this. I have become depressed to no end. I have been in a nihilistic rut for years now. I have become utterly recluse. Yet, even with all this, I cannot come to believe in God. What would YOU suggest I do? ..."

• Biola News

  Kurtz, Weststeyn Earn Conference Honor

  Mike Kurtz and Amy Weststeyn named Cliff Hamlow Champions of Character

  Neil Morgan — February 04, 2015

  LA MIRADA, Calif.--- (Courtesy the Golden State Athletic Conference) The Golden State Athletic Conference will honor 18 student-athletes from...

• The Good Book Blog

  What are the Challenges and Opportunities of Bi-Vocational Ministry?

  The Good Book Blog — February 02, 2015

  Talbot faculty member, James Petitfils, and a panel of Talbot graduates who are now pastors in Southern California discuss the challenges and opportunities of bi-vocational ministry.

• The Good Book Blog

  Is the Applicability of Mathematics Necessary?

  William Lane Craig — January 30, 2015

  This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. Recently I listened to your argument from the applicability of mathematics on premier Christian radio as well as the debate you had with Alex Rosenberg. I'm not particularly knowledgeable when it comes to mathematics but I was intrigued by your comments on how the argument from the applicability of mathematics is similar to the argument from fine tuning ... Could it be that, as with the fine tuning argument, the applicability of mathematics might be explained by necessity? ...

• The Good Book Blog

  Visits to Heaven and Hell, Part Two

  Alan Gomes — January 28, 2015

  In the last twenty years, many individuals claim to have visited heaven or hell and have written vivid accounts of what they purport to have seen. What should we make of these stories? Should they form a basis for our faith? Might they supplement or enhance the convictions that we already have? How do we evaluate such claims and what is their practical use even if true?

• The Good Book Blog

  Visits to Heaven and Hell, Part One

  Alan Gomes — January 27, 2015

  In the last twenty years, many individuals claim to have visited heaven or hell and have written vivid accounts of what they purport to have seen. What should we make of these stories? Should they form a basis for our faith? Might they supplement or enhance the convictions that we already have? How do we evaluate such claims and what is their practical use even if true?

• The Good Book Blog

  Divine Concurrence

  William Lane Craig — January 23, 2015

  This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. Dr. Craig, I recently listened to your Podcast from the Defenders class on God's concurrence (Defenders 2, Doctrine of Creation: Part 8). At the outset, you explained that God is the cause of everything because he concurs in it. As an attorney, this made an abundant amount of sense to me. In the law (particularly in tort), an omission (or failure to act) can be the cause of something in the same way that an affirmative act can. Of course, we would only impose liability where the omission is accompanied by some legal duty to act, but that inquiry is wholly separate from the causation inquiry ...

• The Good Book Blog

  Mensajeros de Paz y Reconciliación

  Octavio Esqueda — January 20, 2015

  Las noticias a nuestro alrededor pueden ser bastante desalentadoras. Por alguna razón las noticias que se publican y tienen promoción tienden a ser las negativas y las que reflejan algún conflicto social. Para los medios de comunicación y para la sociedad en general las buenas noticias parecieran no ser atractivas y solamente las negativas pueden salir de la sombra de lo cotidiano para llamar nuestra atención. Desgraciadamente, el estar rodeados de malas noticias origina un ambiente negativo en el que la vida pareciera una maraña de conflictos que crece cada vez más y a la que no se le encuentra solución por ningún lado. Si a esta situación le agregamos los actos de terrorismo de grupos radicales que se escudan en la religión para cometer atentados deleznables contra inocentes y las posturas tan radicales de políticos y grupos sociales que impiden una sana conversación para resolver sus diferencias, es fácil caer en la desesperanza y la impotencia.

• The Good Book Blog

  Ockham’s Razor

  William Lane Craig — January 16, 2015

  This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig: ... my question today refers to Lee Strobel book "The Case for a Creator". There was one part in the book where Strobel asked you "why does it have to be One Creator?" And you responded by saying "my opinion, Ockham's Razor would shave away any additional Creators." So my question today is in 3 questions: Define what is Ockham's Razor? How does this (scientific) principle or theory eliminate the need for extra gods? How does Ockham's Razor prove the existence of One God? ...

• Biola News

  Biola Grieves the Death of Student Hasiet Joy Negash

  Jason Newell — January 16, 2015

  The Biola University community is deeply saddened to learn of the sudden death of Hasiet Joy Negash, a communications studies major who passed...

• Biola News

  Crumley Named Interim Track Coach

  Experienced high school coach to lead team through spring.

  Neil Morgan — January 16, 2015

  With the recent retirement of Jonathan Zimmerman, it became imperative that Biola Track & Field find a new head coach with immediacy. Bill...

• Biola News

  Tixier Earns National Swimmer of the Month

  Lisa Tixier claims first national award.

  Neil Morgan — January 14, 2015

  NAIA RELEASE LA MIRADA, Calif.--- Freshman Lisa Tixier has the first of what could be many national honors under her belt. She was named the...

• The Good Book Blog

  “Teaching Naked” in the Church, Idea #1

  Kevin Lawson — January 13, 2015

  A few months ago I wrote about José Bowen’s seminar and his book, Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning (Jossey-Bass, 2012). I shared that his main thrust was for teachers to use technology to deliver content outside of class sessions, and shift the use of class time to processing that information, promoting critical thinking and the application of knowledge to real life situations. There are three ideas from Bowen’s work that I think have the potential of deepening the impact of our teaching in the church. Over the next few months I’ll be writing a brief blog on each of the three ideas, beginning with ways of using technology to get students into the content of the Bible lesson/study before you meet, preparing them for a more active and deeper learning experience together.

• The Good Book Blog

  Panentheism

  William Lane Craig — January 09, 2015

  This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig: ... I have a few questions for you which I am hoping you can answer to help strengthen my arguments for Christianity. I have a friend who is a Panentheist; she believes that God literally is the universe and exists apart from the universe at the same time. She claims that God is eternal and there is no reason to believe that the universe began. She also believes that God can be both material and immaterial at the same time and she uses Christ as an example for this point. Finally, she believes that God is not a cause apart from nature, but literally is the force of nature (e.g. Genesis 1 - Elohim "becoming" light and so forth, teachings of Hasidic Judaism, Isaiah 6:3, Gods omniscience, being in all places at once); therefore she also believes that God does not hand down judgment to humanity but instead warns us of the inevitable results due to particular actions (e.g. Genesis 4) ...

• The Good Book Blog

  Jarheads for Jesus?: 10 Reasons ‘Culture War’ is a Really Bad Metaphor (Part One)

  Thaddeus Williams — December 29, 2014

  I was raised in a church world in which “culture war” was a favorite metaphor of how the church relates to the nonchurch. We were God’s courageous moral infantry doing battle against those cunning cultists, those hateful homosexuals, those lying liberals, and those devilish Darwinists. If we listen with tuned ears to Christian radio, Christian literature, Christian blogs, and Christian conversations, it becomes clear: We Christians love the language of war. Over the last 30 years it has become our dominant metaphor for relating to culture; it saturates our vocabulary, shapes our politics, and soaks our worldview. But is culture war helpful? Is it biblical? Should we be jarheads for Jesus?

• Biola News

  Athletics, GSAC Donate To Operation Christmas Child

  Eight conference schools donate gift boxes.

  Neil Morgan — December 23, 2014

  LA MIRADA, Calif. --- All eight Golden State Athletic Conference schools, and the conference office, joined efforts to contribute over 300...

• Biola News

  Art Students Gift Operation Christmas Child with Mural

  Department of Art hopes to continue to serve volunteers through creativity

  Brieana Jordan — December 22, 2014

  Biola University’s Department of Art created a custom mural for Operation Christmas Child (OCC), a Christian non-profit organization that sends...

• Biola News

  Biola Celebrates December Graduates

  Focus on the Family President Jim Daly urges graduates to live boldly

  Jenna Bartlo — December 19, 2014

  On December 19, 246 undergraduate students and 142 graduate students received diplomas at Biola University's Fall commencement ceremonies. Family...

• The Good Book Blog

  Finding Meaning in Life

  William Lane Craig — December 19, 2014

  This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. Hello Dr. Craig I'm writing from Sweden so I hope you can understand the meaning of my questions even if it is not in perfectly good english. I should start by saying that I am a non-Christian ... Some months ago I started thinking about life, in a way that I had not done before. I started asking myself the big questions. What is the meaning of my life? What is the reason we are here? What makes me important? Sadly I couldn't find the answers to these questions and the more I thought about them, the harder it became to live my day to day life ... Is the only reason to live life as a Christian to tell others about God? Is that the meaning of life? And finally, why why why should people who believe in God but lives here on earth under terrible circumstances (poverty, depression, sickness, war) still continue there lives here? Wouldn't it be better to just die and go to heaven?

• Biola News

  Track & Cross Country Coach Retires

  Jonathan Zimmerman retires to be with family.

  Neil Morgan — December 18, 2014

  After eight and a half successful years of growth at the helm of the Biola Cross Country and Track and Field programs, Head Coach Jonathan...