Divine Love Theory
By Adam Lloyd Johnson
Many atheists today are rejecting relative morality and agreeing with Christians that moral truth is real, objective, and absolute. However, they argue that morality can be real even if there is no God. This raises the question, “What’s the best explanation for morality, atheism or Christianity?” Though all Christians believe God is the best explanation for morality, two major positions have emerged as to how God is the source of morality: Natural Law Theory and Divine Command Theory, positions which often clash as bitter rivals. This book proposes a new theory, which claims that the foundation of morality is not human nature or divine commands but the loving relationships between the members of the Trinity. Adam Lloyd Johnson argues that the Trinitarian Moral Theory is a better explanation for morality than the leading atheistic theory—Erik Wielenberg’s Godless Normative Realism.
A Debate on God and Morality
By William Lane Craig and Erik J. Wielenberg, Edited by Adam Lloyd Johnson
In 2018, William Lane Craig and Erik J. Wielenberg participated in a debate moderated by Adam Lloyd Johnson at North Carolina State University, addressing the question: “God and Morality: What is the best account of objective moral values and duties?” Craig argued that theism provides a sound foundation for objective morality whereas atheism does not. Wielenberg countered that morality can be objective even if there is no God. This book, edited by Johnson, includes the full debate, as well as endnotes with extended discussions that were not included in the debate. It also includes five chapters by other philosophers who have written substantive responses to the debate: J. P. Moreland, David Baggett, Mark Linville, Wes Morriston, and Michael Huemer. The book provides crucial resources for better understanding moral realism and its dependence on, or independence from, theistic foundations.
Technology and Theology
Chapter 3, “Emergence of Consciousness: Christian Friend or Foe?” by Adam Lloyd Johnson
Technology is growing at an exponential rate vis-à-vis humanity’s ability to control it. Moreover, the numerous ethical issues that technology raises are also troubling. The Modernist vision of the future was utopic, for instance Star Trek of the 1960s. But postmodern views, such as are found in Blade Runner 2049, are dystopic. Theology is in a unique, interdisciplinary position to deal with the many issues, pro and con, that technology raises. Even theologians like Origen in the third century and Aquinas in the thirteenth century made forays into Artificial Intelligence and surrounding issues. (They just didn’t know it at the time.) Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Transhumanism raise questions about what it means to be human. What is consciousness? What is soul? What are life and death? Can technology really save us and give us eternal life?
Books in the Works
Convincing Proof: Good Reasons and Evidence to Believe That Christianity is True
Does God exist? Is Jesus God? Is the Bible from God? These are the three fundamental questions in Christian apologetics. If God did not exist, Christianity would be false. Likewise, if Jesus was not God and the Bible was not from Him, Christianity would be false, and we would be wrong to embrace it. However, there are good reasons and evidence to believe that Christianity is, in fact, true. In this summary of the core questions of apologetics, Adam Lloyd Johnson explains how there are solid philosophical and scientific reasons to believe that God does exist. In addition, there is also good historical and philosophical evidence to believe that Jesus actually was God and that the Bible really is a message from Him. When Jesus lived on earth, He provided many good reasons to believe that He was God, and he asked his listeners to examine the evidence from His miracles and the Old Testament. In Acts 1:3, after Jesus had risen from the dead, it says that He “presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs.” Indeed, there are many “convincing proofs” for us today to believe that Christianity really is true.
A Story About the Search For Ultimate Answers: The History of Western Philosophical Ideas
Faith and Reason: Popular culture today presents these two things as if they are incompatible. Many claim that faith “fills in” where reason stops, or faith is just the failure of reason by choosing to believe something without evidence. Is this true? Are faith and reason really in conflict? In this book, Adam Lloyd Johnson explains the history of how we got to this place and how people have viewed the idea of “truth” throughout the pre-modern, modern, and now postmodern history of Western culture. This basic introduction to the history of Western philosophy specifically focuses on the role that faith and reason have played in the philosophies of Western thinkers and explains how faith and reason, once regarded as mutually reinforcing, came to be regarded as enemies. However, Adam Lloyd Johnson reexamines the current trends in Western philosophy and concludes that, as the pre-modern thinkers thought, faith and reason really aren’t enemies; in fact, they work together.
Useful Narratives
In this historical fiction novel, the ideas of truth, epistemology, and belief as it relates to religious experience are explored through the lens of a young couple who has just escaped from a cult. A young couple get caught up in a cult, believing that what it teaches is true, but eventually they realize that what they had been taught was false. They successfully escape the cult and its influence in their lives, but because of their terrible experience, they begin to doubt all religious truths. They struggle with the idea that perhaps all religions are false, all nonsense, and try to figure out if they can ever believe that perhaps one religion might be true.
The Heart of God: An Argument for Conditional Election
The doctrine of Unconditional Election is an important part of many different theologies, though it’s most famously known as a key element in traditional Calvinism. But is it true? Did God really choose some individuals to be saved (forgiven, reconciled back to God, and welcomed into heaven) based on no condition whatsoever except God’s sovereign choice? Adam Lloyd Johnson is convinced that the doctrine of Unconditional Election is a major theological mistake, which comes from misinterpreting the Bible. He believes that it can seriously distort people’s understanding of what God is truly like. This theological book argues instead that the Bible teaches Conditional Election, the idea that God chose who to save based on a condition, that is, on whether or not a person has faith in Jesus Christ. He argues that Conditional Election does not violate God’s sovereignty and does not make those who trust in Christ somehow better than those who don’t.