Why Christian Apologists are Doomed to FAIL
WHERE WE ARE As a skeptic who has rejected Christianity and who tries to promote critical thinking about Christianity and religious beliefs, I see myself as a defense attorney. My primary goal is to dismantle arguments given in support of belief in God, belief in the divine inspiration of the Bible, and belief in the … Why Christian Apologists are Doomed to FAIL
Skeptics: 6 & Christian Apologists: 0
This is the current score on the important issue of the Swoon Theory. The Swoon Theory is the skeptical view that Jesus survived crucifixion and later met with some of his disciples, and that as a result, the disciples sincerely but mistakenly inferred from this experience that God raised Jesus from the dead. FOUR CASES … Skeptics: 6 & Christian Apologists: 0
Raymond Brown on the Trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin
LOWERED EXPECTATIONS ABOUT THE PASSION NARRATIVES As I mentioned in my previous post “Raymond Brown on the Trial of Jesus before Pilate“, Brown expresses significant doubt about the historical reliability and historical accuracy of the Passion Narratives in the Gospels. From the opening pages of his massive two-volume commentary on the Passion Narratives, The Death … Raymond Brown on the Trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin
Raymond Brown on the Trial of Jesus before Pilate
LOWERED EXPECTATIONS ABOUT THE PASSION NARRATIVES From the opening pages of his massive two-volume commentary on the Passion Narratives, The Death of the Messiah (hereafter: DOM), the eminent New Testament scholar Raymond Brown lowers expectations of historical reliability and historical accuracy from these important parts of the Gospels. On the first page of the introduction, … Raymond Brown on the Trial of Jesus before Pilate
Craig vs. Spinoza: INDEX of Posts
WHERE WE ARE Although Spinoza’s primary objection against miracles fails, Spinoza’s second objection against miracles appears to be a powerful and devastating objection against belief in miracles. Spinoza points out that humans cannot distinguish between true miracles (that are brought about by God) and fake miracles (that are brought about by some other supernatural being, such as an angel or a … Craig vs. Spinoza: INDEX of Posts
Craig vs. Spinoza: the Atheists Don’t Believe in Angels Objection
WHERE WE ARE Although Spinoza’s primary objection against miracles fails (see my post “Craig vs. Spinoza: A Big Problem for Belief in Miracles“), Spinoza’s second objection against miracles appears to be a powerful and devastating objection against belief in miracles. Spinoza points out that humans cannot distinguish between true miracles (that are brought about by … Craig vs. Spinoza: the Atheists Don’t Believe in Angels Objection
Craig vs. Spinoza: Craig’s Doctrinal-Context Objection
WHERE WE ARE In the third edition of Reasonable Faith (hereafter: RF3), William Craig presents three objections against Spinoza’s second objection against miracles, as we saw in my previous post on this subject. Craig’s first objection, lets call it the Insignificant Impact Objection, is an attempt to downplay the significance of Spinoza’s second objection against … Craig vs. Spinoza: Craig’s Doctrinal-Context Objection
An Attempt to Rescue Objection #4 (Winding Sheets & Entombment) Against the Swoon Theory
WHERE WE ARE In Chapter 8 of their Handbook of Christian Apologetics, the Christian philosophers Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli present nine objections against the Swoon Theory (the view that Jesus only fainted on the cross, survived his crucifixion, and at some later time met up with some of his disciples leading those disciples to … An Attempt to Rescue Objection #4 (Winding Sheets & Entombment) Against the Swoon Theory
Craig vs. Spinoza: Craig’s Objections to Spinoza’s Second Objection against Miracles
WHERE WE ARE In the first post of this series, I conceded that Spinoza’s primary objection against miracles fails, because Spinoza mistakenly assumed that the laws of nature were deterministic. In the 20th century, science has shown that some laws of nature involve probability and chance, and that natural phenomena can sometimes be random. However, … Craig vs. Spinoza: Craig’s Objections to Spinoza’s Second Objection against Miracles
Craig vs. Spinoza: A Big Problem for Belief in Miracles
SPINOZA’S MAIN ARGUMENT AGAINST MIRACLES FAILS Spinoza’s main argument against miracles is that everything that happens is according to God’s will. Furthermore, God is not fickle nor does God act on the basis of whim or fancy. God KNOWS what God wants and everything that happens happens precisely because that was exactly what God wanted … Craig vs. Spinoza: A Big Problem for Belief in Miracles