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…
Did Jesus Exit? – Part 18
When I was a young boy, I enjoyed watching many episodes of Superman on a black-and-white television. When I was about ten or eleven years old, my family would gather on evenings when the TV show Batman was on; we would eat hot-buttered popcorn while watching the show together. Later in my life Hollywood began … Did Jesus Exit? – Part 18
The Christian Doctrine of the Resurrection of Jesus
Let’s represent the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus as follows: (C) The Christian doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus is true. Sometimes the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus is summed up this way: (R) God raised Jesus from the dead. The Christian doctrine of the resurrection asserts that the resurrection of … The Christian Doctrine of the Resurrection of Jesus
Did Jesus Exit? – Part 17
Does L, the special source used by the author of the Gospel of Luke, represent Jesus as a male descendant of the Hebrew people? Like Mark and Q, L uses masculine nouns, pronouns and verbs of Jesus: L 7:11b-15 “his disciples” “with him” “As he approached” “When the Lord saw her, he had compassion” “he … Did Jesus Exit? – Part 17
A Ten-Year Project – Part 2
Before deciding what topics and issues to cover in my multi-volume critique of Christianity, I want to look over some lists of common topics in (a) Christian Apologetics, (b) Systematic Theology, and (c) Philosophy of Religion. I looked through the table of contents of a number of handbooks on Christian Apologetics to come up with … A Ten-Year Project – Part 2
A Ten-Year Project
I’m starting to build a plan for a ten-year project for myself. The goal will be to produce a multi-volume critique of Christianity, with a focus on Evangelical Christianity, but I would also like to touch on Catholic Christianity and Liberal Christian views. One objective would be for the critique to be systematic and comprehensive, … A Ten-Year Project
God as a ‘Necessary Being’ – Part 3
Richard Swinburne analyzes the concept of ‘necessary being’ into two implications (COT, p.241-242): 1. It is not a matter of fortunate accident that there is a God; he exists necessarily. 2. God is necessarily the kind of being which he is; God does not just happen to have the properties which he does. In his … God as a ‘Necessary Being’ – Part 3