The Way Matt Sees It

Dr. William Lane Craig is a philosopher, apologist, professor and theologian who frequently debates top atheists, defending the claim that belief in God is more reasonable than unbelief in God.   He is the founder of Reasonable Faith, a ministry dedicated to defending the faith of Christianity.   It is a place where critics and skeptics can find thoughtful answers to tough questions, and challenges Christians to come to a fuller understanding of their faith. I am a follower of William Lane Craig in the sense that I am always listening and reading his work, and was fortunate enough to meet him at his lecture on The Existence of God and the Beginning of the Universe at Rutgers University.   The next day, we participated in a more personal Q&A with about 30 people present, where we were able to just pick his brain.   My friend Matt came all the way from Pittsburgh to hear this guy speak—we were pretty excited! COMPELLING QUESTIONS I’ve decided to ...

I can say with confidence that I loved The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.   The story, the characters, the action, the visuals – I loved it all.   I felt that it lacked only in its resolution.   The book was detailed in describing what happened after the battle, but much of it was generally left out of the movie.   What happened to the Arkenstone?   The Lonely Mountain?   The men of Lake-Town?   Who knows what the extended edition will reveal, but until then… WHAT HAPPENED TO… …THE ARKENSTONE ? The Arkenstone is called, “The King’s Jewel,” and symbolized Thorin’s right to rule and authority to unite the Dwarves.   The jewel is buried with Thorin, placed on his chest, beneath the Lonely Mountain. …THE DWARVES ? Most of the dwarves of Thorin’s Company settled down in Erebor.   Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dwalin, Nori, and Dori all stayed in Erebor.   Balin was the only Dwarf to visit Bilbo at Bag End....

MY FAMILY I honestly believe that I have the greatest family.   My parents have loved me with all that they are, have provided for me, instilled values in me, and have guided me.   My siblings are…my siblings!   I love my brother and sister to death.   I love my extended family.   I have had an incredible home life.   I am so thankful that in my family, I have a firm foundation on which I can stand strongly and proudly.   And of course I have to include the words of my sister: “What is the Jones family without movie quotes?”   MY FRIENDS I am blessed to have the friends that I do.   My best friend, Ronnie DePasquale, whom I’ve known my entire life, and now his wife, Tiffany.   The entire DePasquale family.   My college friends.   My youth group friends.   My church friends.   It’s crazy how many friends I have!   It can be upsetting thinking about how life separates us, and we don’t see each other as...

THANKSGIVING 2014 Thanksgiving is coming up shortly.   This holiday isn’t important just because of what it represents (giving thanks, which is sorely lacking from our society today), but also because of how it came to be. The First Thanksgiving 1621 , by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1899) I find the story of the Plymouth colonists to be fascinating.   Originally coming to the New World to escape religious persecution, some extraordinary pieces came together to help the colony succeed, and eventually to Thanksgiving becoming a national holiday. If you find no other reason to read this blog post, at least you can say you’re smarter than your friends on some fun facts about Thanksgiving. Here are some of the major people and events that contributed to Thanksgiving as we know it: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND By the mid 1500s, the Church of England had beco...