Resources by Daniel McCoy:
Daniel McCoy
Daniel is happily married to Susanna, and they have 3 daughters and 2 sons. He is the editorial director for Renew.org as well as a part-time professor of philosophy for Ozark Christian College. He has a bachelor’s in theology (Ozark Christian College), master of arts in apologetics (Veritas International University), and PhD in theology (North-West University, South Africa). Among his books are the Popular Handbook of World Religions (general editor), Real Life Theology Handbook (with Andrew Jit), Mirage: 5 Things People Want From God That Don't Exist, and The Atheist's Fatal Flaw (co-authored with Norman Geisler).
A Core Conflict within Atheism
Why do people become atheists? There are many reasons given for why people stop believing there’s a God, but a reason that rises to the top for many people is the problem of so much suffering. Atheist Andrea M. Weisberger explains that there is just so much evil in the world that, if there were...
Daniel McCoy
How to Love Well During Pride Month: 6 Bible Passages
LGBTQ+ Pride Month can bring dilemmas for disciples of Jesus. We want to show our love for everyone, but we do not want to dishonor the teachings of God’s Word about sexuality and gender. As LGBTQ+ beliefs and practices take center stage during Pride Month, many of us may find ourselves in difficult relational and...
Renewing Your First Thought of the Morning
And the first thought of the morning is . . . What is that beeping sound? Wait a second. . . . The second thought is . . . Oh yeah, I was asleep and that’s my alarm. Just like every morning. And now that you’re awake and clearheaded, you arrive at your third thought:...
Daniel McCoy
The Great Mother’s Day Temptation
What kind of grinch would want to cancel Mother’s Day? As it turns out, the first person to petition to have Mother’s Day canceled wasn’t a grinch at all. She was the person who had invented it. The Origin of Mother’s Day Anna Jarvis was the ninth of eleven children born to Granville and Ann...
Daniel McCoy
The Breastplate of Righteousness: 3 Ways Righteousness Guards Our Hearts
In describing spiritual “armor” which protect followers of Jesus, the apostle Paul includes the “breastplate of righteousness.” But what is it about righteousness that protects us? How does righteousness, as a physical breastplate protects the heart, guard our inner life? Here are three ways. Former U.S. Senate chaplain Peter Marshall gave the following illustration: “An...
Daniel McCoy
Confronting Bad Plot Summaries
Have you read any of the “bad plot summaries” that are going around the internet? For example, here’s a bad plot summary of the Lord of the Rings movies: “Group spends 9 hours returning jewelry.” Here’s one for Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back: “Talking frog convinces son to kill his dad.” Here’s a bad plot...
Daniel McCoy
TEOLOGÍA DE LA VIDA REAL: COMBUSTIBLE PARA EL DISCIPULADO FIEL Y EFECTIVO (Real Life Theology) (Spanish Edition)
RESPUESTAS DE LA VIDA REAL A LAS PREGUNTAS MÁS IMPORTANTES DE LA VIDA. Teología de la vida real te invita a una nueva forma de vivir tendiendo un puente entre dos áreas de tu vida: lo que sabemos sobre Dios y…
Real Life Theology Conversations: A Guide to Essential Questions and Answers for Family Discipleship
A GUIDE TO LIFE-CHANGING CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUR CHILD (IN FULL COLOR) What could be more important than helping your child know God? Most Christian parents want to help their children to know God. They want to help them build their lives on God’s truth. Yet…
What Are the Christian Beliefs Most Central to Christianity?
What are the Christian beliefs most central to Christianity? While not every belief is equally important in Christianity, some deserve to be considered “essential beliefs,” and without them, it no longer deserves to be called Christianity. The Christian beliefs most essential to Christianity involve believing that God exists, that Jesus is our risen Savior and...
Daniel McCoy
Are All Religions True?
Are all religions true? The idea that all religions are true often feels right to people who separate religious faith from objective truth/reality. Yet these religions themselves teach countless core truths that contradict other religions in irreconcilable ways. Some try to sidestep the problem of contradiction by emphasizing that religion is a matter of personal...
Daniel McCoy
What Is the Meaning of Easter?
What is the meaning of Easter? Easter is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, which happened the Sunday after he was crucified on Friday. Jesus’ resurrection is worth celebrating for six reasons: His resurrection means that 1) his execution wasn’t the end, 2) there’s an afterlife, 3) he was successful in saving us from...
Daniel McCoy
God Renews Youth, Covenants, and Things
God is a God who loves to renew things. Like what? Here are three. God renews forgotten youth. I’m not sure if you look back at your younger years with joy or sadness. Whatever our particular story, it’s true our earliest years are a time of great promise. Our youngest selves were trusting and hopeful....
Daniel McCoy
When the Devil Gains a Foothold in a Nation
“And do not give the devil a foothold.” (Eph. 4:27, NIV) Be forewarned. This article is going to ask all of us to do something that sounds impossible. Especially something that sounds impossible right now. By now, we’re referring to where we sit stunned and sickened in the aftermath of a mass shooting at a...
3 Ways to Respond to Mass Shootings
Have you heard of the “Serenity Prayer”? Although the original prayer written by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr is longer, here is the prayer as it is commonly quoted: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” It’s a popular...
Daniel McCoy
God Renews Spirits, Minds, and Lives
God is a God who loves to renew things. Like what? Here are three. God renews crushed spirits. You ever been crushed underneath the weight of something dark you did in secret? You ever try to hide something because you just know that, if people find out about it, they’re going to stop admiring you?...
Daniel McCoy