What Is a Man? What Is a Woman?

In spite of the current confusion over who is a man and who is a woman, the technical criteria for determining a person’s sex have been in place for over 100 years, providing definitive answers even for those who have atypical genetics or ambiguous sexual anatomy. Alan Shlemon

The Top Ten Posts of 2024

How Can I Use Tactics Without Sounding Evasive?

#STRask: If Immaterial Things Exist, What Are the Laws of the Immaterial?

You Can Learn from Christians with Whom You Don’t Agree on Everything

#STRask: Do Jesus’ Words Take Precedence over Everything Else in Scripture?

Why Did God Choose the Jews and Not Another People Group?

#STRask: What Words of Encouragement Would You Give to Men in Prison Who Love the Lord?

He Really Is Working All Things After the Counsel of His Will

Christmas Spoilers

#STRask: How Can So Many Professing Christians Support Things That Are Anti-Christian?

Should I Feel Guilty for Not Having the Joy of the Lord During a Dark Time?

God’s “Mood” Does Not Change

#STRask: How Would You Respond to Someone Referring to God as “She” in Church?

Does Christianity, Like Islam, Order the Death of Apostates?

Articles

The Top Ten Posts of 2024

The year is coming to a close, which means it’s time to take a look back at the ten most popular posts we wrote in 2024. See if you missed any of them the first time around!

He Really Is Working All Things After the Counsel of His Will

We think of God as being sovereign over the big things, forgetting that it’s the little things that add up to the big things in the end. Here’s a reminder from John Newton that God is always working, even through the seemingly insignificant details.

Why Is Nature Intelligible?

Why is it that the natural world is ordered, and why is it that the human mind is able to comprehend it? Not every worldview can account for these facts.

CNN Repeats Andy Stanley’s Conference Falsehoods

Three falsehoods promoted by Andy Stanley’s Unconditional Conference threaten the integrity of church doctrine and jeopardize the destiny of children who adopt an LGBT identity. Now they’re being repeated by CNN.

Do Children Need to Consent to Puberty?

As a result of a worldview shift in our culture, some people think that puberty—a healthy state of the body—might need consent. But there are two fundamental mistakes with this thinking.

Jesus Claimed to Be God by Allowing His Disciples to Do Something Shocking

Who did Jesus believe he was? What claims did he make about his identity? Can we make a definitive case that he believed he was God? A clue in Matthew’s Gospel gives us an answer.

Is the Bible Inspired?

The Bible claims to have divine origin, but how can we know it’s the Word of God? Here are some reasons to think it’s both reliable and inspired.

Meet Our New Chief Strategy Officer

This fall, we’re welcoming a longtime friend and trusted ally to the Stand to Reason team in a role we’ve created just for him

The New Testament Canon: Which Books and Why?

The church’s recognition of the inspired canon proceeded in stages over time under God’s sovereign guidance, a mysterious mixture of divine intention and human effort. Here’s what happened.

The Quran Gets Crucifixion Wrong

Because of what the Quran teaches, Muslims deny Jesus’ defining act: his crucifixion and resurrection. It turns out, however, that the Quran doesn’t just get Jesus’ crucifixion wrong. It gets all crucifixions wrong.

Ground Your Faith in Reality

A Mormon might argue that faith is trusting in something without good reasons or evidence and doesn’t need to be logical, but God wants us to have a well-informed faith that’s based on more than wishful thinking.

Why Judas’s Death Isn’t a Bible Contradiction

There are two important principles to keep in mind when investigating alleged Bible contradictions. Both apply in the case of Judas’s death and help bring clarity to the passage.

Videos

Why Did God Choose the Jews and Not Another People Group?

God’s “Mood” Does Not Change

A Pro-Life Case Based on Science and Careful Thinking

Christian Living

Is Satan Always Responsible for Our Troubles?

Podcasts

You Can Learn from Christians with Whom You Don’t Agree on Everything

Greg answers questions about a church leader entering a physique show, learning from Christians with whom we don’t agree on everything, attending a baptism for a different religion, and how to respond to an argument for the importance of “Pride.”

#STRask: Do Jesus’ Words Take Precedence over Everything Else in Scripture?

Questions about how to respond to friends who say that Jesus’ words take precedence over everything else in Scripture and anything he didn’t speak on isn’t worth discussion, what to do with the Old Testament, and how to tell which of its promises are for us.

#STRask: What Words of Encouragement Would You Give to Men in Prison Who Love the Lord?

Question about what words of encouragement Greg and Amy would give to men in prison who love the Lord.

Christmas Spoilers

Greg chats about some Christmas myths, recommends two films that capture the nativity well, then answers questions about whether day trading is a form of gambling, being a gardener vs. a harvester, and reconciling Greg’s view on decision making with Romans 12:2.

#STRask: How Can So Many Professing Christians Support Things That Are Anti-Christian?

Questions about how so many professing Christians can support things that are anti-Christian, such as LGBTQ issues and abortion on demand, and how to work with Christians who have views that seem to contradict things stated in the Bible.

Should I Feel Guilty for Not Having the Joy of the Lord During a Dark Time?

Greg answers questions from callers about old earth vs. young earth and feeling guilty about not having the joy of the Lord during a long, difficult, dark time.

#STRask: How Would You Respond to Someone Referring to God as “She” in Church?

Questions about how to respond to someone referring to God as “she” during a church service, how to handle the tension between respecting the authority of church leaders and keeping them accountable, and how to distinguish between wolves and misled lambs.

Does Christianity, Like Islam, Order the Death of Apostates?

Some skeptics of Christianity allege that the Bible, like Islam, commands Christians to kill apostates. Alan addresses this claim and explains the three steps he took to resolve this challenge.

Will There Be a Rapture?

Greg answers questions about his views on the rapture and whether there’s any middle ground between Reformed and Arminian theology.

#STRask: Did Jesus Ever Experience Fear?

Questions about whether Jesus ever experienced fear, why Jesus would pray three times for something he already knew he would be denied, and a song that seems to state that Jesus paid the price for all in the garden of Gethsemane rather than on the cross.

Science Can’t Disprove the Virgin Birth

Greg talks about the claim that the virgin birth is disproved by science, then he talks to callers about when the New Covenant started, how Jesus could have paid the penalty of being separated from God, Bonhoeffer’s views on the Bible, and pragmatism.

#STRask: Will I Have to Give an Account for My Abortion When I Stand Before Jesus?

Questions about whether a woman who had an abortion as a teen and later became a believer will have to give an account to Jesus for it when she stands before him.

Solid Ground

Sexuality and Gender

What Is a Man? What Is a Woman?

In spite of the current confusion over who is a man and who is a woman, the technical criteria for determining a person’s sex have been in place for over 100 years, providing definitive answers even for those who have atypical genetics or ambiguous sexual anatomy.

The New Testament Canon: Which Books and Why?

The church’s recognition of the inspired canon proceeded in stages over time under God’s sovereign guidance, a mysterious mixture of divine intention and human effort. Here’s what happened.

Christian Living

Suicide—When Hope Runs Out

When we rely on everything the world can give us, when we trust in our individual effort to make our lives meaningful or to deliver us from trials and loss, we will ultimately be consumed with despair. But if we focus on fearing God and following him, we will find hope.

Christian Living

The Third Column

The future of thoughtful Christianity does not belong to best-selling authors or popular speakers. Rather, it will be determined by people like you—committed disciples in the local church with warm hearts and sharp minds demonstrating that Christianity is worth thinking about.