Apologetics Profile

The 15th president of the LDS Church Gordon B. Hinkley said in 1961 that "this cause is either true or false. Either this is the kingdom of God, or it is a shame and a delusion. Either Joseph talked with the Father and the Son, or he did not. If he did not, we are engaged in blasphemy."

This week we wrap up our conversation with former Latter-day Saint Sandra Tanner about many of the difficulties surrounding The Bo...

How could a young, relatively uneducated farm boy from upstate New York in the late 1820s have written something like The Book of Mormon? Was it inspired by God or is it merely the product of Joseph Smith's vivid imagination and storytelling?

This week and next on the Profile we will be featuring our conversation with Sandra Tanner from this past April, recorded on General Conference Weekend in Utah. Watchman staff...

There exists a popular myth among skeptics and non-believers that Jesus did not really rise from the dead. What may have happened, they suggest, is that Peter and/or Paul experienced some kind of hallucination or vision of Jesus after His death. 

Our guest again this week on the Profile, resurrection scholar Dr. Gary Habermas, argues however, that in order for this hypothesis even to get off the ground, the skeptic ...

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, as skeptics claim, then our faith in Christ is worthless and we are still in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:17). So do arguments rooted in naturalism, aimed at criticizing and casting doubt upon the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, pose any significant challenge to the Christian faith?

According to our guest this week, the world's leading scholar on the resurrection of Jesus, Dr...

How many invisible entities does it take to explain the origin of the universe? Is the origin and existence of the cosmos ultimately best explained by a host of invisible theoretical entities or is it all best explained by a single, intelligent Agent?

We continue our conversation from last week on the topic of Intelligent Design with Discovery Institute associates Dr. Casey Luskin and his wife Kristin Marais.
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Critics call it creationism in a cheap tuxedo. Some think is merely religion masquerading as a pseudo-scientific theory, but many others believe it to be a viable scientific theory that should be taken seriously.

So what exactly is the theory of Intelligent Design (ID)?

This week and next on the Profile, we'll explore the answer to that question with two very knowledgeable proponents of ID, Dr. Casey Luskin...

Evolutionary biologists have attempted in a multitude of different ways to genetically alter a species of fruit fly in an attempt to create some kind of new species. But their efforts have not yielded the desired results. In addition, contemporary discoveries pertaining to our own human genetic make up have brought a significant challenge to the reigning orthodoxy of Neo-Darwinian evolution. Naturalists are bereft of any k...

Since Charles Darwin's 1859 publication of On the Origin of Species there has been much debate and discussion about the relationship of Darwin's naturalistic hypothesis as it relates to and/or contravenes the creation account found in the Book of Genesis. Darwin's ideas have gone far beyond mere empirical science as they touch on the very philosophical, theological, and moral aspects of the origin and development of human ...

Many of us have plenty of experiences with math, especially when we were younger. Perhaps some of your memories of what math was like for you in school are unpleasant, to say the least. Yet there are many people who are passionate about mathematics, especially Christians who see mathematics as the God-given language by which we can better understand not only the physical world around us, but God Himself. Naturalism has no ...

We have all had meaningful and profound encounters with beauty in our lives. Even though we often know what we mean when we say "That is absolutely beautiful," beauty, as it turns out, is not easy to articulate in words. It goes far beyond outward or aesthetically pleasing appearances. There is much more theological depth and complexity to the topic of beauty than what may be "in the eye of the beholder."  Our guest this w...

Colossians tells us that all things were made through Christ and for Christ. John tells us that all things came into being through the Word who was and is God incarnate, the second Person of the Trinity, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Through what God has made, Romans 1 tells us, the whole world knows something of God's invisible attributes - His "eternal power and divine nature," for example. But critics of Christianit...

"The whole world has gone after Him" the Pharisees said to one another about Jesus of Nazareth (John 12:19). He healed the sick, cured the lepers, brought sight to the blind, commanded the winds and the waves, fed the hungry, and even raised His friend Lazarus from the dead. Who is this Jesus? Some say He was just a prophet. Some say He was merely a teacher, but others believed Him to be, the Christ, the Son of the living ...

Word-faith teachers claim that faith is a kind of power or force that we can utilize to our advantage to help us prosper physically, financially, and spiritually. This week philosopher and apologist Dr. Richard G. Howe will continue to unpack the problematic doctrines and practices of the word-faith prosperity heresy and give us sound, biblical insights as to how we can prevent and counter-act these false teachings. 
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The word-faith prosperity gospel is not really the Gospel at all. Much of the heretical theology and practice within the word-faith movement comes from much older and long-standing occult beliefs and practice. This week and next on Apologetics Profile, we'll be featuring president of Watchman Fellowship James K. Walker's conversation with Dr. Richard Howe about the occult influences in the doctrines of highly popular word-...

In early 1820 a young farm boy by the name of Joseph Smith believed he had a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ appearing to him, exhorting him not to join any of the existing churches of his day, for they were all corrupt. Just over 200 years later in 2023 in Wilmore, Kentuck in the main chapel on the campus of Asbury Theological Seminary, something of a revival began. For two weeks, thousands of people from all ov...

If you have ever had a deeply moving personal experience with God, you know it can be something that words cannot adequately convey. Perhaps it is deeply emotional, powerful, and moving. The experience solidifies your conviction that what you believe about God is true. You might also believe God "spoke" to you in that moment. But given that there are a multitude of other religions today with devotees who claim to have simi...

There are nearly seven million Latter-day Saints in the United States today. And yet despite the growth of Latter-day Saints in foreign countries, the LDS church in the US continues to see a significant decline in its membership. Since 2021, the LDS church in the US has experienced a decline in membership in 21 states. Through the growth of available information on line, many LDS are discovering for the first time many of ...

This week and next on the profile President of Watchman Fellowship, James Walker sits down with Bill McKeever, founder of Mormon Research Ministry (MRM) and the Utah Christian Research Center, about many of the challenges facing Latter-day Saints today regarding the church's history and theology. We hope these episodes will better equip you to engage and understand your LDS friends, neighbors, and missionaries that come to...

This week on Apologetics Profile, Watchman senior apologist Dr. Brady Blevins continues his conversation with counter-cult apologist Steve Matthews about the recent split of the International Christian Church (ICC) and its disfellowshipping of its charismatic and controversial founder, Kip McKean. The breakaway sect of the ICC now calls itself the Restored Church Worldwide and in January, made a surprising move to accept a...