theism

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

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

The Evil God Challenge

There is a helpful post by Daniel Mocsny on the Evil God Challenge over on the Debunking Christianity website: https://www.debunking-christianity.com/2025/03/the-evil-god-challenge-part-one.html The post includes a link to this interesting video of Stephen Law discussing the Evil God Challenge: The post by Mocsny also includes a number of other helpful links to more articles on the Evil The Evil God Challenge

Evaluation of Definitions of the Word “Miracle”- Part 5: A Good Definition

WHERE WE ARE In my initial post on miracles, I analyzed eight different definitions of the word “miracle” into seven different elements: IMPACT – the emotional or psychological effect of a miracle GENUS – the most general category to which a miracle belongs SPECIES – the sub-category (of the most general category) to which a miracle belongs AGENT/CAUSE – Evaluation of Definitions of the Word “Miracle”- Part 5: A Good Definition

Evaluation of Definitions of the Word “Miracle”- Part 4: The Element of Purpose

WHERE WE ARE I have previously analyzed eight different definitions of the word “miracle” into seven different elements: In Part 1, I examined the elements of Impact, Genus, and Species. In Part 2, I examined the elements of Cause/Agent, Exception, and Baseline. In Part 3, I argued that we should eliminate the Exception and Baseline Evaluation of Definitions of the Word “Miracle”- Part 4: The Element of Purpose

Evaluation of Definitions of the Word “Miracle”- Part 3: Aquinas & Hume on Miracles & Nature

BASELINE AND EXCEPTION ELEMENTS I have analyzed eight different definitions of the word “miracle” into seven elements: Two elements found in most definitions are what I call the “Baseline” and “Exception” elements: BASELINE – the ordinary or normal circumstances from which a miracle departs EXCEPTION – the way in which a miracle departs from ordinary or normal Evaluation of Definitions of the Word “Miracle”- Part 3: Aquinas & Hume on Miracles & Nature