Welcome to Reasons for God

by on August 1, 2011

carson3My name is Carson Weitnauer and I started Reasons for God in order to resolve people’s doubts, guide people as they determine their purpose in life, and encourage everyone to serve their neighbors.

In my daily work, I serve students at Harvard University, Boston College Law School, and other campuses around Boston with Telos Ministries.

On this page, I want to explain how I hope to serve you through Reasons for God.

Resolving Doubts

Many of us live in a pluralistic society that overwhelms and confuses us with a relentless number of choices. Every issue seems up for grabs: the existence of God, the nature of the Bible, the difference between right and wrong, the problem of suffering and evil, and the list goes on. These aren’t abstract matters for philosophers, but the questions that our friends ask us over dinner and that we ask ourselves when we’re trying to fall asleep at night. How can we really know that Jesus is God? We want solid answers for these pressing questions because no one wants to base their life on a lie or a myth.

Whether you are an atheist or an unsure Christian, a Muslim or an agnostic, in the midst of these intellectual challenges, my job is to research the issues, listen carefully to multiple perspectives, and present a clear, rational perspective on the topic at hand. My goal is to help resolve doubts. I want everyone to have a justified confidence that Christianity is not only true, but reasonable, and not only accurate, but a solid foundation for life.

Determining Purpose

We all want our lives to count for something significant. We want to make a difference at work. We want to be invested in some cause that’s bigger than ourselves. But then practical realities intervene: bills that need to be paid, getting stuck in traffic, struggling with illness, and so on. We get caught up in the rat race and distracted by entertainment. When we do think about getting involved, it is easy to feel hopeless: how can I find my purpose in life when the problems are so great?

Whether you are an all-star community volunteer, unsure what you want to be when you grow up, or at a crossroads in your career, my job is to share insights from a wide variety of sources, including the Bible, that will encourage you to make wise choices. I believe you were made for something far bigger than yourself – that you were made for God. When you grasp the goodness of God’s plan for your life, everything changes. Nothing will be the same. Finding your role in God’s growing kingdom is one of the most thrilling transformations that you will ever experience.

Serving Neighbors

I’ve learned that the best ideas can become a trap. Often we know the right answer, but we delay accepting it because we know that the cost is high. It just isn’t easy to live a principled life of conviction. Rather, the path of least resistance is simple: give token assent to noble ideas, but continually default to spending our money and our time on ourselves.

So we need accountability. We need challenge. We need to be made uncomfortable, to be disturbed, even to come to a place of repentance. It is absolutely essential to identify a specific need that you can meet – and then give of yourself until your neighbor is cared for, befriended, protected: in a word, that we love. The point of gaining a rational confidence that God exists, and of finding a clearly defined purpose for our lives, is that we might more wholeheartedly serve our neighbors in love.

Subscribe to Reasons for God

My goal is to add new content to Reasons for God three to four times a week. Knowing that you have a busy life, I don’t want you to miss out on a single post! The easiest way to keep benefiting from new content is to sign up for a free email subscription. You can sign up using the following form:


Find the Content You Want

There are three major sections to Reasons for God:

Reasons for God also hosts many resource pages:

Some of the posts that have sparked the most interest include:

I’ve also co-edited and written a book. Called True Reason, it has sold thousands of copies and received a number of encouraging endorsements.

Throughout the blog, my goal is to maintain a respectful and inviting tone to the conversation. I work hard to avoid name-calling, ridicule, and just being mean. If you think I’ve erred in that regard, please let me know.

A Fuller Biography

Born and raised in Atlanta, GA, my fascination with philosophy, theology and apologetics started in high school. I then specialized in philosophy during my undergraduate degree at Rhodes College and at Oxford University, and broadened my studies to include theology and Biblical studies while obtaining an M.Div. degree at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

For ten years I’ve served as a campus pastor, interacting with students about the whole range of life’s big questions. Currently, I spend time with students at Harvard University, Boston College Law School, Boston University, and international English language learners through Telos Ministries, a church-based campus ministry I launched at Church of the Cross in 2010. To be clear, my views on this blog are not the official position of my church.

I also serve as Vice President for the Christian Apologetics Alliance (CAA), an online networking community for thousands of Christian apologists. The CAA includes an outstanding variety of thinkers, writers, scholars, and volunteers; it is my joy to partner with them in providing a reasoned defense of the Christian worldview.

I married up – way up – and my wife and I are the proud parents of a very curious (and all-around wonderful) daughter.

You can follow me on Twitter @Reasons for God and connect with me on Google+.

Join the Reasons for God community:

I’ve found that relationships and community are essential to the pursuit of reason and truth. A healthy community offers us the opportunity to work out our ideas, grow in our ability to reason, and adds a lot of joy to our lives. By contrast, I’ve found that hit-and-run anonymous comments really distract from the overall user experience that I want to create. My current solution to allowing for (and encouraging) vigorous disagreement or further reflections on my own position is to host and facilitate a conversation with the followers of this blog on Facebook. So, please, join Reasons for God on Facebook and become a member of the RFG Team.

Behind the Scenes: The Technology Supporting RFG

Reasons for God is hosted at ZippyKid. I’m still testing them out, but so far, the process has been great. The migration to their servers was easy, the support has been fast, and I’m glad to be running my website with them.

The website itself is built on top of Thesis 1.8.5, with the Reactiv theme from Themedy for graphic design and a professional presentation. The Themedy developers are exceptional and I highly recommend them.

However, I recommend that you do not use Thesis. It used to be excellent, but the new version, Thesis 2.0, is unsatisfactory. More importantly, Chris Pearson (the lead developer and owner) has failed to communicate with the community and broken numerous promises about Thesis 2.0. If you are looking for an excellent WordPress theme, I recommend you consider Headway Themes, Standard Theme, or Genesis instead.

I use Buffer to make using Twitter more convenient and I partner with Amazon.com for my book recommendations.

For the curious, I’ve developed a Permissions Policy, a Privacy Policy, and a Comments Policy.

(The links in this section are affiliate links – if you purchase these services or products, please support the work of Reasons for God by using these links).

What else?

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Want to say “thank you” or get in touch?

Thank you for your time and attention. I look forward to getting to know you – through great conversations, a friendly community, and partnering together to benefit others. I hope that Reasons for God will strengthen your life that you might love God and your neighbor with an abundance of joy, self-forgetfulness, and simple kindness.