2016 Top Apologetics Podcast Topics

In 2016, the Come Reason podcast site saw over 725,000 hits which is the largest year to date. iTunes listeners and RSS feed subscribers who get the podcast automatically accounted for over 42,000 downloads this year alone.  People are listening to the back-catalog, as we hit an average of 600 downloads per episode!

Some of the more attractive topics this year were a mix of social issues/current events as well as foundational arguments for the Christian faith.  Click on each title below to access all of the episodes in each series for these, the top five apologetics podcasts of 2016.

5. Identifying Imposter Christianity
4. Answering Atheist Arguments
3. Are Christians Too Judgmental?
2. Arguments against Same-Sex Marriage
1. Dealing with Bible Contradictions

2015 Top Five Apologetics Podcast Topics

The Come Reason Podcast has 470 episodes that boast a total of over 250,000 downloads since its inception. We've covered a range of subject in 2015, but issues central to apologetics have taken the top slots. Witnessing to Jehovah's Witnesses, atheists, Mormons, the reliability of the Bible and the fact of the resurrection proved to be the most popular topics and I m glad to see they still draw a wide range of listeners. Here they are in reverse order. I hope you enjoy them.

1. Answering Objections to the Resurrection
2. How to Talk with Mormons
3. Darwinism's Fatal Flaw
4. Archaeology and the Bible
5. Witnessing to Jehovah's Witnesses

2015 Top Five Apologetics Videos

The Come Reason YouTube Channel continues to grow in viewership and content. Recent news items, such as the Supreme Court's Obergefell decision are part of the reason why our number one video in 2015 focuses on Same-sex unions. Others, such as the Scientology series, were a surprise. Below you can watch any or all of the top five videos of 2015.

1. Why Did the Culture Shift on Same-Sex Marriage?
   
   
2. Two Questions on Same Sex Marriage
   
   
3. The Evil of Scientology (Part 2)
   
   
4. The Evil of Scientology (Part 1)
   
   
5. Witnessing Tips: Identifying Logical Fallacies
   
   

Top Five Apologetics Blog Posts for November 2015

November proved that sometimes practical posts make a big splash. The top posts of the month include answering a popular meme that's been circulating around the Internet, looking into the claims of biblical inspiration by the New Testament authors, and how to better communicate your viewpoint by offering analogies in your witnessing efforts.

Here then are the top five blog posts for November.

1. Three Intractable Problems for Atheism
2. Why Would God Command Women to Marry Their Rapists?
3. Are Atheist Countries Really More Moral?
4. Did the New Testament Authors Know They Were Writing Scripture?
5. Here's a Tip: Use Analogies Cut to the Heart of Controversies

Top Five Apologetics Blog Posts for September 2015

September's most popular topics blog posts took a bit of a turn with a late entry based on a New York Times article of all things! There, we read that more and more people are Googling for answers about the questions or doubts they have about God; it's a tacit admission for the need for blogs such as this one.

Other popular pieces include how nicely the Gospels fit into ancient biography, a refutation that a false religious belief is a by-product of evolution, and a video clip asking a provocative question. Without further adieu, here are the top five apologetics posts for September.

1. The Search for God is Growing—Online
2. Gospel Variations and Ancient Biography
3. Strengthening the Immune System for the Christian Faith
4. Why Claiming Religion is False Undercuts Darwinism.
5. Who Counts as a Christian? (video)

Top Five Apologetics Blog Posts for August

August was another month of growth for the blog. We saw more visitors than ever as people looked to build their faith. Interestingly, this is the first month where two featured videos made the top five posts, both focusing on some of the evidence archaeology provides the Old Testament.

Beyond those, we saw how an atheist's misunderstanding of what counts for evidence gave me a chance to explore the concept of inference to the best explanation as logically valid support for God's existence, how the problem of suffering doesn't prove atheism, and how Christianity relates to Judaism. Here are the top five apologetics blog posts for August.

• Discovering God the Way Sherlock Holmes Would
• How Archaeology Confirms the Book of Daniel (video)
• How Archaeology Confirms the Bible: Jericho (video)
• God, Atheists, and the Problem of Suffering Children
• Is Christianity Simply a Corrupted Form of Judaism?

Top Five Apologetics Blog Posts for July 2015

Things heated up at the blog over July. Our visitor traffic hit its highest point, with over 35,000 pageviews. The most popular articles focused on both Internet-based topics as well as issues on how to Christians should live in a post-Christian culture. A post written at the end of the month ("Six Errors Jesus Mythicists Repeatedly Make") was so popular it not only made the top five, but became the most popular post ever!

The release of the Center for Medical Progress's undercover videos catching Planned Parenthood casually selling of dismembered baby parts brought a lot of new readers to the blog as well. Without further adieu, here are the top five apologetics blog posts for July:

1. Six Errors Jesus Mythicists Repeatedly Make
2. Planned Parenthood is Selling Body Parts. Here's What You Can Do.
3. How Did the Early Christians Influence Their Culture?
4. How Should Christians Engage Others Online?
5. How to Spot Impostor Christianity

Top Five Apologetics Blog Posts for June 2015

There was a lot to talk/write about in June with the Supreme Court's redefinition of marraige, the recent attack on churchgoers in Charleston, among other headlines. Last month's top five posts reflect those concerns as articles associated with the events made the top five. In fact, the top two articles nudged their way into the top five most popular of all time!

It was a record-breaking month at the blog as we surpassed 30,000 pageviews for the first time, helped by a couple of articles on atheism. Here are the top five apologetics blog posts for June.

1. Responding to Atheist Critiques of Christian Hypocrisy
2. Secularism isn't a Neutral Position
3. How Do We Defend Christian Values to Non-Christian Audiences?
4. Why God Doesn't Reduce the Evil in the World?
5. The Events in Charleston Contradict the New Atheists

Top Five Apologetics Blog Posts for May

The news event in May were showstoppers. As the Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments over the legality of same-sex marriage laws, a more interesting event was happening in Canada, where a same-sex couple didn't protest because a Christian store owner rejected their business, but accepted it gladly. The story was enough to be one of the blog's top read posts.

This month, the blog saw over 28,000 pageviews, making it the second most popular month yet. In addition to the story above, top articles included the origin of life arguments, how the so-called "lost Gospels' stack up against the four canonical Gospels, and why we all need to be better prepared to share our faith. Here are the top five blog posts for May.

1. Flipped: Same-Sex Couple Demands Christians NOT Provide Wedding Service
2. Os Guinness Says "We Are All Apologists Now"
3. Does a Fertilized Egg Have a Soul?
4. The Odds Against a Natural Account of Life's Origin
5. Why There's No Such Thing as a Lost Gospel

Top Five Apologetics Blog Posts for April 2015

April was a busy month at Come Reason. Still, we held steady at the blog with our 22,000+ readers. The most popular article this month continues a series I began this year entitled "Jesus and Logical Fallacies." Readers have really appreciated the attention drawn to the Gospel accounts of various fallacies the opponents  of Jesus wold raise against him and how he provides us an example in identifying and answering them.

The second most popular article was published just days ago and focuses answering those who object to God's existence because of the terrible earthquake in Nepal. While broader answers to the problem of evil are available, they tend to be abstract. This answer goes another direction and shows why earthquakes are not in and of themselves evil, but necessary for life.

Here are the top five apologetic blog posts for April:

• Jesus and Logical Fallacies: Answering Absurd Claims
• Why Would a Loving God Allow the Earthquake in Nepal
• Scholars Agree: Luke and Acts are History
• Answering "You'd be Muslim if You Were Born in Morocco"
• Biology Cannot Account for Personhood

Top Five Apologetics Blog Posts for March

March was a very busy month for the ministry, with one of our Apologetics Missions Trips to Berkeley taking place right in the middle of it. Of course, this always offers some new insights for the blog.  There blog itself served up 22,742 pages, showing continuing growth. The top posts last month focused on atheism and the existence of God, and defining a cohesive worldview lead the way.  Without further adieu, there are the top five blog posts for March 2015.

1. Five Things Your Worldview Must Account For
2. Why Doesn't God Provide More Proof He Exists?
3. Overcoming Objections to an Apologetics Ministry
4. The Incomprehensibility of Naturalism (Quote)
5. Claims of Contradictions May Display Prejudice

Top Five Apologetics Blog Posts for February

February is the shortest month of the year, but it proved to be the busiest on the blog. Our stats continue to grow with nearly 30,000 pageviews this month. Three posts broke into my top ten most popular of all time.

Myths were the main attraction. My response to President Obama's comments on the Crusades at the National Prayer Breakfast quickly shot to the most viewed blog post I've written. Debunking the Jesus-Horus myth, a common charge of atheists who think Jesus never existed, just as quickly became #2. Other items of note were several posts looking at the evidence for the authors of the Gospels, taking on Stephen Fry's objecting to God on the basis of the suffering he sees in the world, and encouragement from J.P. Moreland on getting Christians to use their minds.

Here are the top five blog posts for February:

1. What Were the Crusades? Busting Some Myths
2. How to Quickly Debunk the Horus-Jesus Myth
3. J.P. Moreland: Why the Church Must Overcome Its Aversion to Intellectual Development
4. How Would Stephen Fry Answer His Own Challenge to God?
5. Was the Bible Changed to Make it Look Like Jesus was Worshiped?

Top Five Apologetics Blog Posts for January

2015 kicked off a flurry of posts, and many of the most popular proved to be focusing on the strength of the Bible and its reliability. This is partly in response to an article Newsweek chose to run in its Christmas week edition that set the reliability of the Christian Bible squarely in its sights. The top two articles for the month answered two of those charges.

Rounding out the top five is an article focusing on the reasonableness of believing in miracles, how Jesus handled a logical fallacy and an article I wrote in honor of Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Here are the top five apologetics posts for January:

1. Why You Can Be Confident We Have the Original Bible Texts
2. Is the Bible Reliable Since Its Been Translated So Many Times?
3. Miracles Don't Contradict The Laws of Nature
4. Jesus and Logical Fallacies: The False Dilemma
5. Why Would the Press Ignore a Real Life House of House of Horrors?

Top Five Blog Posts for December

While the holiday season proved a busy one, we had a lot of folks stop by the blog. Last month saw over 25,000 pageviews which is the largest month to date! Three of the top five posts focused on Jesus, which was befitting. Two others took on atheism and naturalism. So, without further adieu, here are the top five posts for December:

1. Why Naturalism is Simply Unbelievable
2. History Testifies that Jesus Worked Miracles
3. To Witness Like Jesus, Use Logic and Reason
4. The Resurrection is Central to the History of Jesus
5. What the 'Atheist Invocation' Really Demonstrates

2014 Top Five Apologetics Podcasts

The Come Let Us Reason Together podcast has continued to grow in 2014, seeing an average of nearly 1,700 downloads a month as we approach the end of the year. Part of Some of the increasing popularity has come from people interested in listening to previous podcasts, a task that was made much easier since we have redesigned the podcast page and integrated it into the comereason.org site.

Of the popular topics for 2014, two of them ("Tools for the God-Fearing Mind" and "Science, God, and Knowing") deal with some complicated issues. Yet, these made it into our top five. Some others deal with questions that you hear from skeptics and the top podcast topic is one we've approached before: how to understand and witness to Muslims.

Here, in reverse order of popularity, are the top five podcast topics of 2014.

1. Would the World be Better Without Religion?
   Skeptics such as Richard Dawkins often claim that the biggest evils in the world are perpetrated because of religious beliefs. Does religion cause more wars, more hatred and prejudice than other views? What would a world free of religion look like? Join Lenny as he shows why such objections have no grounding in reality.
2. What's the Conflict between Faith and Reason?
   We constantly hear that faith and reason are opposites; if you have faith in something, you’ve left reason behind. Do Christians follow a "blind" faith? Is reason the enemy of faith? Listen in as Lenny shows why Christianity is an inherently reasonable faith.
3. Tools for the God-fearing Mind
   Jesus commanded us that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, but many Christians simply don't know how to love God with their minds. Before we can think rightly about God, we need to learn to think rightly, to think logically. In this talk, Lenny teaches you how you can tell the difference between good arguments and bad ones and how you can offer unbelievers rational, persuasive arguments for your faith.
4. Science, God, and Knowing
   Today, people look to scientists to find the answers to our problems in the world. But does science have limits? Are there other ways to know something as fact? And how are questions about God and religion tested scientifically? In this class, Lenny shows why scientific objections to God fail.
5. The Challenge of Islam
   Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the world, but is still a mystery to most Christians. Is it a religion of peace and a breeding ground for terrorists? Join us as we examine Muslim beliefs and discuss how to effectively witness to Muslims.

Top Five Apologetics Posts for November

November came in with a bang, as the blog continues to draw over 20,000 readers a month. They found several topics engaging, with a lot of shares for the eight part series Tips for Sharing Your Faith. Most posts finished just under the top five, but advice to "Slow Down" was quite popular. However, our top post this month shot to the #3 all time position within 10 days of it being published. Glad to see our readers are thinking!

Here then are the Top Five Apologetics Posts for November:

1. Christianity is a Thinking-Man's Faith
2. Morality Relies Upon God's Character, Not Simply His Commands
3. One Reason Why Jesus Cannot be Mythical
4. Tips for Sharing Your Faith: #1 - Slow Down!
5. What If You Can't Be Reasonable Without Faith?

Top Five Apologetics Posts for October

People turned to the articles on the Apologetics Notes blog 21,799 times last month. One key piece that generated our second-highest traffic of all time focused on the recent Hillsong controversy. While I've written before about the importance of holding to natural marriage as the only legitimate form of marriage, I took a different tack with Hillsong, calling them out for their unbiblical Word-Faith teachings. The post really resonated and generated a lot of talk on social media. Here then are the top five posts for October:

1. The Missing Piece in the Hillsong Controversy
2. What Archaeology Can Tell Us About the Bible
3. Moral Laws Necessitate a Moral Lawgiver
4. Christianity Properly Diagnoses the Human Conditon
5. Does Being Old Disqualify the Bible's Teachings?

Top Five Apologetics Posts for September

September means back to the basics of Readin', Writin', and 'Rithmatic and it seems that our top five Apologetics posts reflected the basics, too. The post that looks at the tensions those who hold to atheism face far out paced all others for the month, but we still saw the basics of Darwinism, creation, and the existence of God make strong showings. The blog boasted 20,000 views for the month, which isn't too bad! Thanks to all our regular readers.

Here then are the top five posts for September:

1. 10 Conflicting Beliefs of Modern Atheism
2. Three Ways Our Universe is Designed for Life
3. Why the Darwinist Version of Life's Origin is Anti-Science
4. The Strength of a Cumulative Case
5. Taking a chance that there is no God

Top Five Blog Posts for August

Below are the top five apologetics blog posts for the month of August. Articles on atheism were the most popular, but we saw a significant amount of traffic when I responded to Ann Coulter's criticism of Kent Brantly, the American missionary doc who contracted Ebola. Rounding out the top five is an article with theological impact and an observation that skeptics seem to not be skeptical of their own viewpoints. Here are the links:

1. Atheist insults believers and is stunned at the response
2. Atheists contradict themselves by seeking invocations
3. Ann Coulter is Wrong: People are More than Numbers
4. Why didn't God create a world where everyone would go to heaven?
5. Why isn't the skeptic skeptical about his morality?

Top Five Come Reason Apologetics Blog Posts for July

Facing off against atheists, Mormons, and those who would hold Gandhi in the same regard as Jesus are among our top five resources for July. Also is a collection of resources dealing with the science and religion controversy.  Here are the top five apologetics blog posts for July:

1. When an atheist says it's OK to rape her sister
2. Are Mormons Christians, too?
3. We Don't Know What We Believe
4. Is Gandhi a better model for Christians?
5. Science and Religion Resources