William Lane Craig, The Last Great Christian Apologist We'll Ever See!

The Trouble with Christmas

At this season let me leave you with some study material on Christmas.

For great reading on the history of Christmas see Thomas Flynn's book, Trouble with Christmas.
See also the Wikipedia Article on it. Check out Richard Carrier's essays on The Date of the Nativity, and The Problem of the Virgin Birth Prophecy at the Secular Web. Happy 25th!

Jonathan Pearce vs Randal Rauser Debate the Nativity Narratives

Jonathan Pearce debated Randal Rauser who co-wrote God or Godless?with me. They debated the historicity of the birth narratives found the gospels. The format was a 20 minute opening, 15 minute rebuttals, and so on. To the left is the amusing picture that Justin Schieber did at Reasonable Doubts, who hosted it. The link to the debate is right here! Jonathan writes at Skeptic Ink Network and wrote a good book on this topic: The Nativity: A Critical Examination.

The Kalam Argument and Counting Backward to Infinity

One of the philosophical arguments used to show the impossibility of an infinite past, per the Kalam Cosmological Argument, is that if an immortal being counted an infinite number of events we could never find her counting if we counted events backward in time. For no matter how many events we counted, the immortal being would already have finished her count to infinity. I've diagrammed it here. So let's suppose an immortal being has been counting events from the beginningless past. Then it's true that no matter how far backward in time we counted events from the present, she would already have finished counting an infinite number of events. However, there is nothing in the Kalam argument that forces us to think the immortal being stopped counting events. If she continued counting into the present then yes, we could find her still counting events. She could continue counting events into the infinite future too. So unless there is a reason to think otherwise this particular argument fails to show anything about whether the past is finite. It might be. It might not be. But this philosophical argument is irrelevant to establishing the case needed.

Top 10 Zombie Scenes in the Bible

Professor Gilmour of Providence University, Manitoba, Canada, has listed his favorite zombie imagery of the Bible. See his Top 10 Zombie Scenes in the Bible.

What Would Christianity Have Without Its Myths?

Christian "truth" is fabricated and propagated by Christian tradition and one of my favorites deals with my experience at Saint George Greek Orthodox Church here in Greenville, S.C.

While attending its annual spring Greek festival, I noticed the church was open so visitors could venture inside to get an introduction to the Greek Orthodox tradition and its icons, so I decided to check it out. As I entered, I was given a brief printed history which included the claim that the Greek Orthodox Church was the ONLY TRUE Christian Church established by Jesus Christ himself. (Wow, and I thought it was the Mormons!)

My Reviewers Reviewed, by Robert Ingersoll

This is the final part of a lecture delivered by Col. Ingersoll in San Francisco Cal., June 27, 1877. It was a reply to various clergymen of that city, who had made violent attacks upon him after the delivery of his lectures, "The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child," and "The Ghosts." [Thanks once again to Julian Haydon for this excerpt].

Three Biblical Spirits of Which One is Likely to Affect People This Holiday Season

A. The Holy Spirit (The promised “Comforter”, Acts 2: 4)

B. An Evil Spirit (Afflicted Saul, 1 Samuel 16: 14)

C. The Distilled Spirit (Lives in a bottle before possessing humans. Often cohabits with either of the above spirits! Proverbs 23: 31 -32)

May your Holiday Season be a spirit filled one! Harry

The World Will NOT END on December 21, 2012

The world will not end on December 21, 2012. I guarantee it. This is an easy prediction to make. Those who predict the world will not end on any particular day, month, or year have been right 100% of the time. Those who have predicted that the world will end on a particular day, month, or year have been wrong 100% of the time.  See Iowa State Daily Story.

What Kind of Christianity is This? A Review of Mark Roncace's Book

Professor Mark Roncace was raised in a conservative Christian church and attended a Christian school for thirteen years. He is now an Associate Professor of Religion at Wingate University in North Carolina who debunks the Bible in his popular level book, Raw Revelation: The Bible They Never Tell You About.His book is bittersweet for me, both a joy and a pain to read, brilliant and, well, ignorant. Yet, I recommend it highly just the same.

In a Godless Universe the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting is What We'd Expect Would Happen

Even though I'm a godless atheist I say this. Don't quote me though, at least not without my explanation. I'm not speaking about a godless ethic, that supposedly atheists do these kinds of deeds, and/or that they have no ethical standards to condemn such terrible senseless acts. I do have an ethic and I do condemn these kinds of deeds. That's a topic for another time so don't derail what I'm saying with irrelevant comments. What I'm saying here is something different.

The Use and Abuse of Scholarship by The Watchtower Society

         Of all the religious groups in America, the Jehovah’s Witnesses are probably the most zealous missionaries.  Chances are that one will knock on your door or approach you on the street to hand you a Watchtower or Awake magazine. Most of these missionaries are pleasant and well-groomed individuals, and they would like nothing better than to discuss their literature with you. What these Witnesses don't often know is how poorly researched their literature is.

The Late Semitic Scholar Anson Rainey’s Description of Most Jews Living in Israel and Scholarship

This email by Anson Rainey was his answer to my question over his conversion to Judaism. (One likely reason most Israelis would have let John Strugnell’s comments pass.) [Click on the email to enlarge for reading.]

Frank Moore Cross: A Secularist’s Assessment

It’s been two months since Professor Frank Moore Cross (1921-2012) died on October 17. Cross was Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages at Harvard from 1958-1992. In 1991, Hershel Shanks, the powerful editor of Biblical Archaeology Review, called him “one of the world’s leading Biblical scholars and probably the most influential.”

        

         Much has been said about his life and work, and I have left it to others to assess his enormous contributions to the study of ancient Hebrew poetry, the composition of the Deuteronomistic History, and many other areas of biblical studies.

         Here, I aim to place his work in perspective for those interested in the secular study of the Bible. In addition, I was the only openly agnostic/atheist doctoral student that he had as far as I know, and I completed my doctoral thesis under his supervision in 1991. Therefore, I may have a different perspective on the implications his work for secularism.

     Although Prof. Cross was no atheist activist, his work contributed much to undermining traditional Christian views of the Bible even if that was not always  his intention.

My Reviewers Reviewed, by Robert Ingersoll

This lecture was delivered by Col. Robert Ingersoll in San Francisco Cal., June 27, 1877. It was a reply to various clergymen of that city, who had made violent attacks upon him after the delivery of his lectures, "The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child," and "The Ghosts." Thanks once again to Julian Haydon for sending me this.

Science Denialism in Congress is Rampant and Appalling

We've been talking with David Marshall who denigrates and/or denies science in favor of his ancient holy book. So in order to highlight what we're talking about, Maria Maltseva, of Skeptic Ink Network (SIN), recently interviewed Dr. Donald Prothero who speaks to that issue. He tells us of some "scientific illiteracy and science denialism that are appalling enough by themselves, but even scarier is the thought that they come from the members of the House Science and Technology Committee!" Enjoy.

Quote of the Day, by David Marshall

Actually, John, I would say that almost all scientific evidence COMES TO US as historical evidence. Science is, in effect, almost a branch of history, as it transmits knowable and systematically collected and interpretted facts to our brains.

What then? Does the fact that you're not a scientist, and therefore have to trust what scientists say, entail that you don't have to trust science when it contradicts what you find in an ancient pre-scientific holy book based on the supposed historical evidence? Historians do not have at their disposal very much evidence to go on in many instances, especially the farther back in time they go. A miracle cannot be investigated scientifically since if it happened then the past is non-repeatable. Science however, progresses in the present with experiments that can be replicated in any lab anywhere on the planet. The only reason you want to bring science down to the level of the historian's very difficult but honorable craft is because you need to believe your faith-history is on an equal par with scientific results, only you place it above science because you say science is a branch of history, and not the other way around. You are therefore an ignorant science denier. You could become informed. You could visit a lab. You could notice the consensus of scientists on a vast number of areas. But no, you'd rather stay in your ignorance in order to believe in talking asses and that a sun stopped and moved backward up the stairs. Science or faith it is, and you choose faith. I choose science. The divide could never be more clearer.

Now There's A Queen James Bible! A Gay Bible for Gays ;-)

This was first spotted by Beth Ann Erickson at Skeptic Ink Network. According to the editors,

The Queen James Bible seeks to resolve interpretive ambiguity in the Bible as it pertains to homosexuality: We edited those eight verses in a way that makes homophobic interpretations impossible.

When I say there are all kinds of Christianities I mean it. *chortle chortle*

Look What Kind of Company I'm Keeping These Days!

Can you judge people by the company they keep? It depends. Sometimes you can and sometimes you can't.

Just the same I'm very grateful that someone thinks I'm to be included in this company. Now if Greg would include a picture of the revised WIBA then that would be perfect.

Thanks!

Christian Apologist David Marshall On Science

David Marshall opines, “Those who make wild claims about the scientific method often base their arguments not on good human evidence, but rumor, wild guesses, and extrapolations that would embarrass a shaman.” [From The Truth Behind the New Atheism, pp. 28-30] This sentence of his expresses a such very low view of science and its method that one wonders if he is Amish. People of faith must denigrate science in at least some areas, simply because science is the major threat to their faith. That’s the nature of faith. People of faith must deny science. To maintain their faith believers must remain ignorant of science. Yes, scientists have made mistakes in the distant past, but Marshall cannot possibly say this with a straight face about modern science. Yet he did.

An Excerpt From My Coming Book On the OTF

Dr. Randal Rauser objects to the Outsider Test for Faith (OTF) among other reasons, because he thinks it lacks one of the key intellectual virtues, that of being open-minded. As a refresher, the OTF is expressed in the following words: "The only way to rationally test one’s culturally adopted religious faith is from the perspective of an outsider, with the same level of reasonable skepticism believers already use when examining the other religious faiths they reject." I'm working on the edits for a book on this test right now, which can be pre-ordered: The Outsider Test for Faith: How to Know Which Religion Is True.Below is an excerpt where I respond to him:

What Kind of Atheist/Theist Are You?

I found an interesting discussion about the differences between atheism, agnosticism, gnosticism and theism which can be seen here. The "arrangement is an attempt to clarify and classify these words, so that their rogue meanings no longer confuse and muddle religious debate," we're told. The horizontal axis concerns what we think or believe (I don't have any beliefs). The vertical axis concerns what we think we can know. I found it unhelpful to truncate this graph like the author did later in his post, because there are people who think outside of it. In any case I placed a blue dot where I stand. The position of that blue dot has changed over the last few years since I'm becoming more and more of a gnostic. Where do you stand?

Welcome to Eternity Christian: What Heaven is Really Going Be Like!

{My first post for DC in 2006 (now revised)}

As a Christian, I heard the Bible verse of John 3:16 run into the ground about how “God so loved the world that he gave His only Begotten Son” to die for us because He loved us so much.

Why Nothing Bothers Me About Unbelief

Randal Rauser is at it again. Maybe I should just go along by playing his game? After all, he's invited me to his seminary in May to help promote our book, God or Godless? It looks like he wants me to do this pretty badly. He wants us each to say the "top three biggest problems that we face with our worldview," only now, it's "the things that keep us up at night." If he wants me to say what keeps me up at night, then it's some sort of sickness, or worry, or deep thought about something. But worry about unbelief? No, never! I do wonder about a lot of things though. Let me play his game by suggesting the three things I wonder about and show why they don't bother me in the least. Ready. Set. Go!

The Wikipedia Article on Atheism

This Wikipedia article looks very well-written. In the "See Also" part of it just before the "Notes" there is a link to a "List of Atheists." When you click on it and then click on a "List of Atheist Authors" yours truly is not there. Oh, well, maybe next time. I keep hoping! ;-) Some people like Dr. James Lindsay think my contributions "are often-overlooked." He said:

John Loftus blogs for Debunking Christianity, one of the biggest blogs dedicated to the task of examining faith versus relinquishing it, and his posts are nearly always deep, insightful, and well worth reading. This blog, however, is a far cry from why I think John Loftus is perhaps the most underrated author in this entire field. In my opinion, Loftus holds the honor of having come up with the most sterling silver bullet in the discussion since David Hume, surpassing, if I might suggest it, even greats of the early twentieth century like Bertrand Russell and and those of the late nineteenth like Robert Ingersoll. Link.

He's speaking of The Outsider Test for Faith, blurbs for my book on it can be found here. I'll have to await the judgment of history on these things (Hint: it'll be somewhere between 0 and 100 on that scale). For now I'll take whatever I can get. Perhaps one of the reasons I'm often overlooked is because I keep beating the evangelical horse that has been beat to death so many times before from all angles that most educated people don't care anymore. Until it completely morphs into liberalism as the New Orthodoxy evangelicalism has no chance of winning its case in the free marketplace of ideas.