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Tag: epistemology

Cheap shot skepticism, courage and cowardly ‘free thought’

Today I am enjoying the privilege of sitting in on some high school senior religion classes (through virtual conferencing software) and taking the role of non-believer, challenging the students on what they believe, especially in regards to the resurrection.

Some may think it difficult to take the role of the skeptic but I find it to be astonishingly easy.  So easy, it reminded me of some observations about skeptics and their arguments- or more precisely, the wind that carries them- that I’ll share now.

It’s easy to be a skeptic because it is much easier to not believe something as … continue reading...

Recording of this Tuesday’s Debate on Faith, Evidence, Atheism, Rob Bell, and Hell

At the last ‘Knights of Contention’ discussion this last Tuesday we began by talking about faith, evidence, atheism, and Christianity, of course and ended up talking about Rob Bell and hell.  Naturally.  🙂

Here is a link for viewing that discussion.  It was about 2 1/2 hours long.

There will not be a discussion the second Tuesday of April as I will be preparing for some presentations and a conference as well as recuperating from the online apologetics conference my own ministry hosts April 7-9.  Details. … continue reading...

Reader’s Guide to “Antony Flew Goes to Heaven.’

For background on why I believe that this reader’s guide might be helpful, please see the posts immediately prior to this one.  This guide pertains specifically to the story “Antony Flew Goes to Heaven” but the principles it discusses will likely be useful for the other stories, and interpreting literature in general.

Reader’s Guide to “Antony Flew Goes to Heaven.”

According to Mortimer J. Adler in How to Read a Book, there are 3 general maxims of intellectual etiquette.  As calls for civility in public discourse abound today, it is good to see what qualifies in the mind of … continue reading...

PZ Myers Reviews “Antony Flew Goes to Heaven.”

The brilliant PZ Myers has ‘reviewed’ the second story in my short story collection, “Richard Dawkins, Antony Flew, and Mother Teresa go to Heaven.”   Read it.

As before, I have no interest in responding in any detail, although I might say some things when he is done.  I will say:  “PZ, what makes you think Antony awakes in a garden?”

After reading the last review and the comments it spawned it became apparent that a little extra help on my part is needed.   There seems to be difficulty understanding the texts in question.  Therefore, a reader’s guide for

… continue reading...

Uncertainty the Only Absolute Moral Value?

I’ve been chewing on this for a long time but a recent comment on one of my posts inspired me to finally post on it.  The post was discussing some ‘scholarly’ debate on “Gabriel’s Revelation.”

In the midst of the long comment, the gent said:

“ALL believe (sic) systems must be debunked when they claim their beliefs as fact”

There are several sentences like this, including one where he says there are “inherent frailties involved in trying to “prove the truth” of Christianity.” and adds, “It really applies to all belief systems. An honest search, perhaps … continue reading...

Religion (ie, Christianity) requires higher scrutiny because it demands massive commitments

In the last week or so I had two exchanges where the debate turned on why the atheist/agnostic was demanding a higher level of scrutiny for ‘religious’ claims than other kinds of claims.  In one of the cases, the really odd thing is that the person(s) had admitted that science, being limited as it is to the natural order, is unable to touch the supernatural and yet continued to say that science nonetheless remains the best way to learn about the world.   This is not coherent.  When pressed, in this case they again admitted that science couldn’t prove or disprove … continue reading...

No Scientific Proof? Well, that proves it!

I read a fascinating news article today about the worries that doctors have because some people are choosing not to get their measles immunization for their children (this could also be read:  doctors are annoyed people are challenging their judgment).  Here is the article about the jump in measles cases.

There are several parts of the article that caught my eye.

Many people are rejecting the measles shot out of concern that it might be a factor in making kids autistic.  To this, the article says, recapitulating the ‘party’ line:

Questions commonly center on autism and the fear that … continue reading...

A 1,000 Word Argument for Christianity

I was once asked to provide a concise, no more than 1,000 word essay, on why I believe Christianity to be true.  I think the hint was that I can be a little too verbose.  🙂  As I recall, this essay was well received, if only because it met the terms of the request.  I just found it on my hard drive, sitting around and playing video games, and otherwise being unproductive.  No sense in having that.  It was originally posted on my forum.  Feel free to use it yourself (with appropriate crediting, of course) and if you have questions, … continue reading...

Equivocation on the word natural by atheists and philosophical naturalists

Has anyone else noticed this?

As a case in point- in part because atheists have accused me of ‘inventing’ atheistic positions- consider this entry on my blog and the comments that follow.  But to be clear, I run across this phenomena all the time as I read and debate theism or ‘intelligent design.’

Let me illustrate what I mean by the real world quest for the origins for life.  Scientists are working like mad to recreate life from scratch.  It is requiring all their technology, all of their accumulated knowledge, and all of their expertise.  There have been some ‘successes’ … continue reading...

A Review of Antony Flew’s “God and Philosophy.”

This is not your normal review. I set aside my copy of Flew’s “God and Philosophy” to re-read for the purposes of writing this review and it has disappeared. 10 to 1, a certain other adult in the house ‘put it where it belong’ which is why I can no longer find it. So, I will be writing from memory. I had already read the book twice, so I have something to go on, but that was awhile back. So, on to it, but perhaps less thorough than I had wanted to do.

It might be argued that … continue reading...

A thought on ‘evidence’ and Christianity…

There is a thread on my forum right now where I discuss whether or not two of the members are in fact the same person.  (Click here to read it).  The conversation has gone just about how I expected it to.  It was dismissed by the interested parties, then as it became evident I was seriously proposing the idea, there was mockery, etc.  When it finally dawned on them that I was actually using their own arguments against theism and the supernatural, one ‘cut and run’ and the other went hostile.

The objection is that the types of arguments and … continue reading...