Best of All Possible Persons
Now this supreme wisdom, united to a goodness that is no less infinite, cannot but have chosen the best… If there were not the best among all possible worlds, God would not have produced any. (Gottfried Leibniz, Theodicy, translated by E.M. Huggard, 1951, p.128) According to Anselm, God is the being than which none greater … Best of All Possible Persons
One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 6
In Chapter 3 of Handbook of Christian Apologetics (hereafter: HOCA), Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli present twenty arguments for the existence of God. The very first argument is one of the Five Ways of Aquinas. This is not surprising, since Kreeft is a Catholic: The universe is the sum total of all these moving things, … One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 6
One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 4
In A Companion to Philosophy of Religion, there is an article by Jeffrey Jordan on “Pragmatic Arguments”, that covers Pascal’s Wager. According to Jordan, there are at least three versions of Pascal’s Wager. In this post I will examine one of the three versions, which goes something like this: 1. Either God exists or it … One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 4
One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 3
Here is a Christian argument for the existence of God: 1. If God raised Jesus from the dead, then God exists. 2. God raised Jesus from the dead. Therefore: 3. God exists. There is no need to make this into a modus tollens, because premise (2) clearly begs the question. The claim that ‘God raised … One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 3
One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 2
Here is another argument for God, based on answered prayers: 1. If God exists, then it is very likely that prayers to God for healing from injury or disease would usually be immediately followed by instantaneous and complete healing, except when the injury or disease was the result of self-destructive, foolish, or morally wrong actions … One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 2
One Man’s Modus Ponens…
Here is an argument for the existence of God: 1. If there is a God, then it is very likely that there is a book that was written many centuries ago that is purported to be a divine revelation, and that is widely known about, and that is filled with nothing but true facts and … One Man’s Modus Ponens…
Christian Apologists vs. the Kalam Cosmological Argument
In the last couple of days, two Christian apologists have published critiques of the Kalam cosmological argument. #1: Calum Miller Calum Miller provides an extremely thorough, open-minded critique. #2: Danny Faulkner Over at Answers in Genesis, Danny Faulkner has written an interesting article entitled, “Universe by Design: Misconceptions about General Relativity, Cosmology, and the Big … Christian Apologists vs. the Kalam Cosmological Argument
Preliminary Thoughts about Stephen Meyer’s Signature in the Cell
I’ve been reading Stephen C. Meyer’s massive book, Signature in the Cell. For those who are unfamiliar with the book, it is a sophisticated defense of the intelligent design (ID) hypothesis. Meyer argues that intelligent design is the best explanation for the origin of biological, functionally specified information. In other words, Meyers is not arguing … Preliminary Thoughts about Stephen Meyer’s <I>Signature in the Cell</I>
Atheistic Moral Realism – Part 11
If I understand William Craig’s third objection to AMR, then he is basically offering an inductive teleological argument for the existence of God (similar to how Richard Swinburne argues for God) based on the assumption that there are objective moral values plus the claim that humans and the circumstances in which humans find themselves are … Atheistic Moral Realism – Part 11
Atheistic Moral Realism – Part 10
When I argue against the resurrection of Jesus, I generally take a two-pronged approach. First, I argue that there are various good reasons to doubt the claim that Jesus was alive and walking around on the first Easter Sunday. Second, I make a concession for the sake of argument; I grant the supposition that Jesus … Atheistic Moral Realism – Part 10