If you were to force people to do something against their free choice, you would be dehumanizing them. The option of forcing everyone to go to heaven is immoral, because it's dehumanizing; it strips them of the dignity of making their own decision; it denies them their freedom of choice; and it treats them as a means to an end. When God allows people to say 'no' to him, he actually respects and dignifies them.
J.P. MorelandFrom space travel to organ transplants, one of the most important influences shaping the modern world is science. Amazingly, people who lived during the Civil War had more in common with Abraham than with us. If Christians are going to speak to that world and interact with it responsibly, they must interact with science.
J.P. MorelandReal life does not come naturally. It is counterintuitive. It is a skill we have to learn. That's because the way to real life is not something we get, but something we give.
J.P. MorelandThe proper thing to do is to admit that hell is real and to allow our feelings of discomfort to motivate us to action.
J.P. MorelandThe contemporary Christian mind is starved, and as a result we have small, impoverished souls.
J.P. MorelandThe soul is the ego, the โI,โ or the self, and it contains our consciousness. It also animates our body. Thatโs why when the soul leaves the body, the body becomes a corpse. The soul is immaterial and distinct from the body.
J.P. MorelandInstead of responding to these attacks with a vigorous intellectual counterpunch, many believers grew suspicious of intellectual issues altogether. To be sure, Christians must rely on the Holy Spirit in their intellectual pursuits, but this does not mean they should expend no mental sweat of their own in defending the faith
J.P. Moreland