The Bible in 3D

Revelation, Part 4: Babylon, the Great White Throne, and What Jesus Said

Who is the great prostitute riding the scarlet beast? In the final part of the series, Andrew follows one of Revelation's most shifting symbols to its end, then steps back to the great white throne, the new creation, and what Jesus Himself told His disciples about His return. **The great prostitute and the scarlet beast.** In Revelation 17–18 the woman is first a great prostitute, then Babylon the Great, then the one who sits on seven hills, the familiar description of Rome. Yet when she falls in chapter 18, she looks like a great port city, and everyone weeping over her is involved in commerce. Andrew suggests the change is deliberate: the prostitute is the economic system, and it sits on top of Satan, who has ruled through one great commercial city after another. In the end, all of it comes down. **The end of the story.** Chapter 19 brings the wedding feast of the Lamb and Christ's return on a white horse. In chapter 20 Satan is bound for a thousand years, the beasts are thrown into the lake of fire, and after one final rebellion with Gog and Magog, Satan follows them. Then comes the great white throne, where earth and sky flee away and nothing is left to rebuild. Those who are not saved must give an account before the living God. **The good news.** The saved stand instead before the judgment seat of Christ, where rewards are given for faithfulness (2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 3:10–15). Then God makes a new heaven and a new earth, and His people dwell forever in the New Jerusalem. **What Jesus said.** In the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24–25), the disciples ask three questions on the Mount of Olives. From Jesus' answers, Andrew draws seven points: Jesus is coming again; no one knows when; we are to watch faithfully; His coming will be unmistakable to everyone; believers will be evaluated for rewards; the wicked will be judged before the great white throne; and a seventh, more disputed question about what the world will be like when He comes and how we should prepare. That last question isn't settled by any chart or date. It comes down to how we use what God has entrusted to us, so that we hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." This concludes the four-part series on Revelation. The Bible in 3D is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. Find more shows and ways to give at cogworksmedia.org. Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity, and gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Epic Hero by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

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Revelation, Part 3: Recapitulation and Repetition

Seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls. Are there 21 separate judgments in Revelation, or seven judgments told three times? In Part 3, Andrew turns from how we read Revelation to the shape of the narrative itself. The cycle of threes. Semitic writers often say the same thing three times, adding or stripping away detail with each pass. In Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar make their case in three rounds, each shorter and weaker until Zophar doesn't speak at all, showing that their argument collapses. Peter's vision of the sheet comes three times before he goes to the house of Cornelius. Jesus says "love your enemies" three ways in Luke 6. Seals, trumpets, and bowls. Read this way, the three sets of judgments are the same seven seen from different angles, growing worse each time: a fourth of the earth, then a third, then "It is done." That's why the mountains and islands can flee more than once, and why the battle at Armageddon in chapter 16 and the rider on the white horse in chapter 19 may be one battle told twice. The interludes. Between the judgments come words of encouragement. When the mighty hide in caves asking "who can stand?", chapter 7 answers with the 144,000 and a great multitude from every nation. Chapters 10 and 11 bring the little scroll and the two witnesses, raised after three and a half days. Andrew connects the seven-sealed scroll of chapter 5 to the book Daniel was told to seal until the end. The spiritual battle. Chapters 12–13 show the dragon, the beast of the sea, and the beast of the land, and the mark of the beast. No one knows for certain what 666 means, but the mark can only be taken willingly, and the angels of chapter 14 warn: don't take it. Like Daniel's visions, Revelation was written to give hope. Terrible times are coming, but God's people will come out on the other side. Part 3 of a four-episode series on Revelation. — The Bible in 3D is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. ▶ Subscribe for teaching that takes Scripture seriously 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Epic Hero by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

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Revelation, Part 2: Schools of Interpretation and the Sequence of Events

What you get out of Revelation depends on which school of interpretation you follow, and once you buy into one, it colors every symbol you read. In Part 2, Andrew lays out the four recognized schools and then turns to sequencing: where the millennium, the tribulation, and the rapture fall. The idealist school. Revelation as allegory, a moral story about persecution and God's final victory, much like Aesop's fables. Andrew reads Revelation 20:1–6 and asks whether the thousand years is real or symbolic. He also notes that the final battle with Gog and Magog comes after the millennium, not at Armageddon. The historicist school. Revelation as a symbolic preview of church history. From Martin Luther placing the Reformation in its pages to missionaries in 1930s Germany who were sure Hitler was the beast, every generation finds itself in the book, and every generation has been wrong so far. The preterist school. Everything, or nearly everything, in Revelation has already happened. Its strongest argument is Revelation 1:1, "the things that must soon take place," and Nero is its usual Antichrist. The futurist school. Chapter 1 is the prologue, chapters 2–3 are messages to seven churches that still apply today, chapters 4–21 are still to come, and chapter 22 is the epilogue. The millennium. Premillennial, postmillennial, and amillennial views, and why a plain reading of Revelation 20 points to Christ returning bodily to reign on the earth. The tribulation. The idea goes back to Daniel 9 and the seventy sevens: a 490-year clock that pauses when the Anointed One is cut off after 483 years. Paul's words in Romans 11 about the full number of the Gentiles fit with that pause. The final seven years restart the clock, and the worst of it comes in the last three and a half. The rapture. It isn't in Revelation at all. Andrew covers 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17, why the Thessalonians feared they'd been left behind, and the pre-, mid-, and post-tribulation positions. The point isn't to win the sequencing argument. Christ is coming again, and our faith and trust belong in Him. Part 2 of a four-episode series on Revelation. — The Bible in 3D is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. ▶ Subscribe for teaching that takes Scripture seriously 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Epic Hero by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

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Revelation, Part 1: It Is All in the Symbols

There is no shortage of material on Revelation, and most of it offers to tell you the timing, the world players, and the geopolitics of the end. It's often entertaining and it always leaves us unsatisfied — Jesus himself said no one knows the timing of his return. So this four-part series takes a different approach: Revelation as great literature, and the literary challenges of studying it. Foreword and Introduction. Revelation means to unveil or disclose; the Greek behind it gives us "apocalypse," which we have since narrowed to mean the end of the world. John received the vision on Patmos around AD 96, exiled under Domitian, ninety miles from the coast of what is now Turkey — a date confirmed by Irenaeus, a second-generation disciple of John himself. Sixty-three years earlier, John had leaned against Jesus at the Last Supper. Now, an old man, he falls down as though dead. Chapter 1:19 sets the structure for everything that follows: the things you have seen, the things that are, and the things that are to take place after this. Chapters 2–3 are the things that are — Christ's messages to seven churches, six of them planted out from Ephesus. Chapters 4–22 are the things to come, opening with the throne room and the scroll that only the Lion of Judah, the Lamb who was slain, is worthy to open. Part 1 — The medium of communication. Scripture uses prose, poetry, types, and symbols. John uses symbols, and almost everything in Revelation is one. The other book that works this way is Daniel — Nebuchadnezzar's dreams, the four beasts — which is why the Old Testament is the best available key. When the sea appears, it stands for the Gentile nations; when the land appears, it points to Israel. That is how the two beasts of chapter 13 come into focus. Part 2 — Secondary gain. Borrowed from medicine, "secondary gain" names the hidden advantages a person gets from a condition. Scholars and churchmen carry their own, consciously or not, and nowhere do they show more than in Revelation. Andrew works through chapter 12 — the woman clothed with the sun, the dragon, the male child — and shows how Joseph's dream in Genesis identifies the woman as Israel, and how traditions committed to the view that God is finished with the Jews must read her as something else. The same pressure appears again over the 144,000 and the great multitude in chapter 7. The takeaway for the reader: know what biases you, and your church, bring to the table, because they will determine what you get out of this book. And one command to carry regardless of where you land on any of it: do not take the mark of the beast, and do not worship the beast. Next episode: the schools of interpretation. — The Bible in 3D is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Epic Hero by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

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Apocrypha Deuterocanonical books | Bible Difficulties: Part 3

Apocrypha Deuterocanonical books The Apocrypha originated as highly esteemed books that weren’t Scripture. There were 12 (or 15, depending on how they are divided): Tobit, Judith, Wisdom (of Solomon), Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees Septuagint and were formally affirmed as canonical by the Council of Trent in 1546. Protestant traditions generally exclude them from the biblical canon, viewing them as useful for edification but not divinely authoritative. 5-Reasons to Reject the Apocrypha Books 1. Lack of Hebrew Originals and Jewish Canon: The reformers, adhering to the principle of sola scriptura (Scripture alone), argued that the Old Testament canon should be based on the Hebrew scriptures used by Jesus and the Jewish people. Most Deuterocanonical books were written in Greek, not Hebrew, and were not part of the Jewish canon (the Masoretic Text) that was affirmed by Jewish scholars after the time of Christ. 2. Doctrinal Concerns: Certain teachings in these books conflicted with key Reformation doctrines. For example, 2 Maccabees 12:46, which supports praying for the dead, was used to justify the Catholic doctrine of purgatory—a concept rejected by Protestants who believe salvation and forgiveness of sins are achieved solely through faith in Christ during one's lifetime. 2 Macc 15:13–14 speaks of the dead praying for the living …And Oni′ as spoke, saying, “This is a man who loves the brethren and prays much for the people and the holy city, Jeremiah, the prophet of God.”… Tobit 12:9 and Sirach 3:3 speak of good works atoning for evil deeds For almsgiving delivers from death, and it will purge away every sin. Those who perform deeds of charity[a] and of righteousness will have fullness of life; Whoever honours his father atones for sins, 2 Macc 12:40–45 speaks of purgatory …and they turned to prayer, beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out… 3. Historical and Textual Criticism: Reformers like Martin Luther and scholars such as Jerome expressed doubts about the authenticity and authority of these texts. While Jerome included them in the Latin Vulgate, he noted they were not part of the Hebrew canon and were suitable for edification but not for establishing doctrine. As a result, the reformers relegated these books to a separate section, often titled "Apocrypha," stating they were useful for reading and instruction in life but not for establishing Christian doctrine.

Why Are There Two Different Versions of Jeremiah? | Hot Topics

The book of Jeremiah exists in two primary versions: the Masoretic Text, the standard Hebrew text behind our Old Testament, and the Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation made from a different Hebrew source. They differ significantly in length and arrangement — and the Dead Sea Scrolls contain both. Andrew walks through the problem and offers a straightforward explanation. Length. The Septuagint version runs roughly an eighth shorter than the Masoretic Text — about 2,700 fewer words. Nothing in the shorter version conflicts with the longer one, and nothing in the additional material touches doctrine. Arrangement. Both versions begin and end the same way, but the middle differs. The oracles against the nations sit at the end of the book in the Masoretic Text (chapters 46–51); in the Septuagint they appear after chapter 25, and in a different sequence. Authority. Fragments from Cave 4 at Qumran confirm that shorter Hebrew texts corresponding to the Septuagint circulated alongside the longer tradition, and the community there treated both as authoritative. Neither is the sole "original" — each reflects a distinct stage in the book's transmission. Andrew's explanation. Jeremiah served forty years: the first half speaking, the second half dictating to his scribe Baruch as Judah moved through the final phase of the covenant curses — Carchemish, three deportations, the fall of Jerusalem, and the blinding of Zedekiah. When Jeremiah and Baruch were carried off to Egypt, the work almost certainly had to be dictated again from the beginning. That second telling would naturally come out shorter and differently arranged. Same prophet, same word, two editions. Along the way: the Great Isaiah Scroll and what it proved about the reliability of the Hebrew text, why the Synoptic Gospels offer a useful parallel, and the short chapter God addressed to Baruch personally — you sought great things for yourself; do not. I will give you your life. Part of the Hot Topics series on The Bible in 3D. This is Part 2 of three on Bible Difficulties. Next: the Apocrypha. — The Bible in 3D is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible.

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Difficulties in the Bible, Part 1: Three Passages That Aren't in the Earliest Manuscripts

Some passages in your Bible carry a footnote: the earliest manuscripts do not include these verses. Andrew opens a new three-part sub-series on Difficulties in the Bible by walking through the three most famous examples — what they say, how they got there, and why none of it should shake your confidence in Scripture. The three passages John 7:53–8:11 — The woman caught in adultery. "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." Absent from the earliest Alexandrian manuscripts, yet almost certainly a true account the early church knew so well that a copyist preserved it. John 5:2–9 — The healing at the Pool of Bethesda. Verse 4, describing an angel stirring the water, comes from the later Byzantine text behind the King James. Andrew explains the Sheep Gate and the sacrificial trade behind it, and what likely disturbed the water in reality. Mark 16:9–20 — The long ending of Mark. The earliest manuscripts end at 16:8, with an empty tomb and frightened women. Twelve verses were added later. Why Mark ends so abruptly, who John Mark was, and how to read the "signs" of verses 17–18 with care. Also in this episode: how Matthew and Luke drew on Mark; why Mark may have been written to be memorized; the young man who fled naked from Gethsemane; and Peter's mercy toward the man who once walked away. Part of the Hot Topics series on The Bible in 3D. Next up: the Old Testament and the "Jeremiah problem," followed by the Apocrypha. — The Bible in 3D is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible.

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Hot Topics: Is the Bible Reliable, Part 6

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Hot Topics: Is the Bible Reliable, Part 5

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Hot Topics: Is the Bible Reliable, Part 4

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Hot Topics: Is the Bible Reliable, Part 3

External and Internal Evidence for the Bible

Hot Topics: Is the Bible Reliable, Part 2

Hot Topics: Is the Bible Reliable, Part 1

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You Might Also Like: Psalms 71

You might also like our other podcast The Psalms. we release 1 chapter per week on the psalms, how do the psalms tell us how to pray.

Hot Topics: Being Smart or Being Wise

Hot Topics: Free Will

Do human beings have free will? When we talk about free will, we are usually concerned with the matter of salvation. https://www.gotquestions.org/is-God-sovereign.html Sovereignty of God – Romans 8:29-39, Ephesians 1:4, 2:8-9 Free Will – John 3:16 https://www.gotquestions.org/arminianism.html https://www.gotquestions.org/calvinism.html https://www.gotquestions.org/semi-Pelagianism.html Perhaps the more important question for the Followers-of-Jesus is this: what is the extent and limit of our free will? Obvious Limits - Our free will is limited by our genes, our time and our space environment, as well as the actions of others. Unavoidable consequences - We may have the free will to act, but once the free will action is taken, the resulting consequences are outside of our control. A good heart and an empty head are no excuse to unavoidable consequences. Will an erroneous intent or the lack of knowledge excuse the unavoidable consequences of our free will choices? No, unavoidable consequences are just that, unavoidable. A child who plays with matches may have neither the intent nor the knowledge, yet he will get burnt just the same. All of which to say, once we take an action, there are no excuses, defenses, or exemptions that will protect us from the unavoidable consequences of such an action. Simply being human has unavoidable consequences. We are men and women under the curse of Adam. We are not free to live forever. As Followers-of-Jesus, we are not free from the Judgment Seat of Christ. And, we are not free to change the plans of God the Father. Consequences are no respecter of person.

Hot Topics: How Should we do Ministry?

Imitating Christ in Our Ministry The question is what was our Lord's approach to his earthly ministry? See Corinthians 11:1 What are Not Acceptable Ministry Practices? Let us at ways and methods our Lord specifically rejected when it came to ministry. See Luke 4:1-13 1. Bribes - Jesus rejected the first temptation, to turn stones into bread. On a ministry level, Jesus rejected the temptation to give people "stuff," that is to bribe them into following him. Bribes include: bread, rice, money, and so on. This means that Jesus rejected ministries such as the Prosperity Gospel, Name It and Claim It ministries, positive confessions, faith contracts, visualization, and the like. 2. Worldly Power - Jesus rejected the second temptation, to bow to Satan and to use the resources of the world to further his Kingdom. On a ministry level, Jesus rejected the temptation in ministry to compromise with the world (Satan) and to use worldly ways and the governments of this world for "godly purposes." This means that Jesus rejected any ministry that uses political power to further its mission, whether that be the Roman Catholic Church, or Protestant churches grounded in Dominion or Reconstruction type Theology. Jesus rejected: the creation of a Christian political power, Christian leaders delivering Ohio and Florida to the Republican Party in the 2000 Election, and political endorsements from the pulpit, to name a few. 3. Miracles and Entertainment - Jesus rejected the third temptation, to use the miracle of jumping off the pinnacle of the Temple and being rescued by angles in front of all the people in order to be declared the Messiah by the High Priests and those in attendance. Jesus rejected the use of miracles as a way to get people to follow him. This means Jesus rejected any ministry that is "focused" on Signs and Wonders, that is charismatic gifts. It also means that Jesus rejected any ministry that is "focused" on entertaining people. For example, Hollywood-type, mega-church worship productions may fall into this category if their worship service goes from glorifying God to mostly entertaining the people in attendance. What are Acceptable Ministry Practices? See Luke 10 Jesus sent out 72 disciples, two by two, without a purse or bag or sandals. They were not to worry about how they would live. Instead, God took care of them through the hospitality of the local people they stayed with. The 72 were not to try to improve their situation on the mission field, but to minister faithfully wherever God led them. The job of the 72 was simply to preach the Word, to heal, to cast out demons, and in faith, to rely on the Lord for everything else. These are the acceptable ministry practices.

Suffering: Part 3

The Emotional Problem of Evil – How to comfort those going through intense suffering? Sympathy, not explanation, is the key. It is not necessarily a questioning of God. This page further explores the Emotional Problem of Evil. Is there a purpose for suffering? For Followers-of-Jesus, the New Testament teaches the following four-fold reason or purpose for suffering: There is an internal purpose for suffering. All suffering and trials of any kind strengthen and mature the Christian’s faith. From the Book of James we know that if a Christian responds to the suffering brought on by the various trials and tribulations of this life with an open heart to God that the Lord Jesus will give him a crown-of-life for his perseverance when he stands before the Judgment Seat of Christ. There is an eternal purpose for suffering. When a Christian perseveres in suffering through various trials and tribulations, he is a witness to the unsaved. For some unsaved people this witness is positive, and the suffering of Christians will lead them to salvation. For other unsaved people this witness is negative as they are not moved by the suffering of Christians, and as such are left with no excuse on the Day of Judgment. A third purpose of suffering is identification. When a Christian suffers unjustly for Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit rests upon this person in a special way. We are told that Jesus Christ personally knows who is suffering unjustly for him and blesses this person. By way of example we read in the Book of Acts that when Stephen, the first martyr, was being stoned to death, he could see Jesus standing at the right hand of God the Father waiting to take him into Heaven. The fourth purpose for suffering is fellowship. A person who suffers unjustly for Christ Jesus understands in some way how Christ suffered unjustly on the cross for him. The person who suffers because he is a Christian has a special bond of fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Somehow this person literally participates in Christ’s suffering, not for purposes of salvation but for fellowship with Christ. While this may seem strange at first, we can all identify with the concept. When we are suffering a particular loss or trial in life, only a person who has suffered through a similar loss or trial can really understand and sympathize with what we are going through. No one wants suffering, yet suffering in this life is not optional. The difference between a follower-of-Jesus and an unsaved person is that the follower-of-Jesus suffers for a reason, and the unsaved person suffers for nothing. Based upon: Phil 3:10-11; 2 Tim 1:8; James 1:2-4, 12; 1 Pet 1:6-7, 2:18-21, 3:1-2, 8-9, 13-17, 4:1-2, 12-19

Suffering: Part 2

How can the All-Powerful, Loving, and Just God allow evil and human suffering? The conclusion in the modern mind is that God either does not exist or if he does, he is neither all-powerful nor all-good. This results in a Theodicy, an effort to defend the existence of God (and his power and goodness) in the face of evil in the world. The Intellectual Problem of Evil – How do you make a rational argument for the coexistence of an all-good, all-powerful God with evil and human suffering? (This is the subject of the apologists.) The Intellectual Problem of Evil has vexed philosophers and theologians for centuries. It presented the main intellectual attack against Christianity. By and large this was a problem for the academics, until World War I, The Great War. So terrible and horrible was the suffering on a world-wide basis, that Western Culture was stunned that God allowed it to happen. And so began the slide of churches, universities, and indeed most institutions in Western Civilization away from Christianity in earnest. No educated or thinking person could believe that God existed after the horrors of WWI. However, in 1967, Dr. Alvin Plantinga published the Free Will Defense Argument. Using the classic logical arguments of secular philosophers, Plantinga convincingly proved that an all-good, all-powerful God had morally sufficient reasons for allowing evil and human suffering to exist, such as giving man Free Will, which necessitates the existence of evil and its resulting human suffering. (You can easily search the internet for a more thorough explanation of Plantinga’s Free Will Defense.) Today the Intellectual Problem of Evil is an interesting study, but thanks to Plantinga, it is no longer the main attack by academia against Christianity. All but the most ardent and narrow minded atheists have acknowledged Plantinga’s significant work. As proof of the universal, although begrudging, acceptance of the Free Will Defense and its many subsequent forms, the main attack by academia against Christianity and the existence of God is now focused on evolution vs intelligent design. Those academics on the forefront of the fight against Christianity are no longer philosophers but biologists and others in the hard sciences.

How can the All-Powerful, Loving, and Just God allow evil and human suffering? (Part 1)

How can the All-Powerful, Loving, and Just God allow evil and human suffering? The conclusion in the modern mind is that God either does not exist or if he does, he is neither all-powerful nor all-good. This results in a Theodicy, an effort to defend the existence of God (and his power and goodness) in the face of evil in the world. The Intellectual Problem of Evil – How do you make a rational argument for the coexistence of an all-good, all-powerful God with evil and human suffering? (This is the subject of the apologists.) The Intellectual Problem of Evil has vexed philosophers and theologians for centuries. It presented the main intellectual attack against Christianity. By and large this was a problem for the academics, until World War I, The Great War. So terrible and horrible was the suffering on a world-wide basis, that Western Culture was stunned that God allowed it to happen. And so began the slide of churches, universities, and indeed most institutions in Western Civilization away from Christianity in earnest. No educated or thinking person could believe that God existed after the horrors of WWI. However, in 1967, Dr. Alvin Plantinga published the Free Will Defense Argument. Using the classic logical arguments of secular philosophers, Plantinga convincingly proved that an all-good, all-powerful God had morally sufficient reasons for allowing evil and human suffering to exist, such as giving man Free Will, which necessitates the existence of evil and its resulting human suffering. (You can easily search the internet for a more thorough explanation of Plantinga’s Free Will Defense.) Today the Intellectual Problem of Evil is an interesting study, but thanks to Plantinga, it is no longer the main attack by academia against Christianity. All but the most ardent and narrow minded atheists have acknowledged Plantinga’s significant work. As proof of the universal, although begrudging, acceptance of the Free Will Defense and its many subsequent forms, the main attack by academia against Christianity and the existence of God is now focused on evolution vs intelligent design. Those academics on the forefront of the fight against Christianity are no longer philosophers but biologists and others in the hard sciences.