The Faith of My Family
See below:
Dr. James McGrath is Blogging Through Earl Doherty's Book
Dr. James McGrath is reviewing Earl Doherty's book Jesus: Neither God Nor Man - The Case for a Mythical Jesus
in reverse chronological order which can be read by clicking here.
in reverse chronological order which can be read by clicking here.I'll be Speaking in Chicago May 12th, and In Minnesota May 15th
If you're close at hand come out and see me.
Chicago here I come.
Minnesota Atheists Public Meeting - Southdale Library
When: Sunday May 15, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Where: 7001 York Ave. S., Edina, 55435
Chicago here I come.
Minnesota Atheists Public Meeting - Southdale Library
When: Sunday May 15, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Where: 7001 York Ave. S., Edina, 55435
The Pastor Dave Schmelzer Interview
Dave is a Pastor of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship Church in Boston.
He interviewed me for his podcast. Check it out.
There Is a Lot of Evidence Concerning the Resurrection of Jesus We Don't Have But Would Like To Have
When it comes to the evidence that Jesus was raised from the dead consider what we don’t have, but would like to, things that Christian apologist Michael Licona admits. We do not have anything written directly by Jesus himself or any of his original disciples, nor do we have anything written by the Apostle Paul before he converted telling us about the church he was persecuting, nor anything written by the Jewish leaders of that time about Jesus or the early preaching of Paul, nor any Roman documents that mention Jesus, the content of his preaching, why he was killed, or what they thought about the claims he had resurrected. [Note: Michael R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, 2010), p. 275.] There are other things Licona does not have, but would like to. We do not have any legitimate Old Testament prophecies that specifically refer to Jesus’ resurrection. We also do not have present day confirmations that God does these kinds of miracles in today’s world. Basically then, we lack a great deal of needed independent collaborative evidence. What else would we like to have but don't?
Derek K. Miller Has Died
Another atheist goes out in dignity. He wrote this last post before he died and requested his family to publish it after he did. It's very touching. I would say the same things about my loved ones. I too wonder what the future will be like. The most any of us can hope for is that we made the world a better place. Hat Tip: PZ Myers.
Osama Bin Laden Was Probably a Good Man
The Elves of Iceland: "Hidden People" and "Nature Spirits"
What's interesting about the belief in Elves is that it comes from a country in Western society, not a third world country nor a primitive pre-industrial one. Many Icelanders really believe in "hidden people" such that it would be "political suicide" if a politician denied their existence. And what's more I doubt very much I could ever persuade these believers they are deluded. They would scoff at me and claim I'm an "enemy of the common good." They know they're right because of the stories told to them or because they had some kind of strange experience which they claim could only have come because they exist. Their children are brainwashed to believe in them in their homes. But I have no doubt at all that these Icelander believers are just like other people around the world, intelligent people. They just see the world through a different set of glasses using the lens they were brought up to believe.
Harry McCall: Mosaic Authorship of the Pentateuch is Unfounded
The belief that either Moses wrote the Pentateuch or that it predates the Deuteronomistic History (Deuteronomy – II Kings) is unfounded by the Biblical facts themselves:
Answering Some Questions Christians Ask
Lady Atheist send me this link to post. What do you think? How would you answer these questions?
Imagine by John Lennon on a CD to Help the Japanese People
We all know about the devastating tsunami that hit Japan and the ensuing loss of life, right? Here is a benefit CD to help raise funds for the people. To see what the first song is, click on the image to enlarge it. Yep. Imagine by John Lennon. It isn't hard to do in this midst of this kind of suffering.
Did You Know? Odds on the Resurrection of Jesus Are 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 to 1
Yep. Convert sinner. With odds like these what are the odds that Timothy McGrew and Lydia McGrew are standing on solid ground? Sheesh. Idiots.
DC Keeps on Growing in Readership!
Not too bad. Debunking Christianity keeps on growing and growing and growing. The key is how many times I post, what I have to say, and how many posts are in the archives. If you're interested I've written on how to increase traffic to your blog or website, so check that out. Thanks to all my peeps. ;-) It makes what I do worthwhile.
The Christian Faith Makes a Person Stupid
How many people have claimed to have finally debunked God? Way too many, This has been going on for centuries and someone is always popping up claiming to “Finally debunk God,The reason dimwit, is because Christianity is like a chameleon, ever changing in response to its culture, our criticisms, and science. The Christianities of yesteryear have been debunked. That's why you hold to the one you do today. And your type of Christianity will be replaced slowly into the future as well.
If God wasn’t real then why did it take over 2000 years to “Finally Debunk” Christianity? I call this “The Finally Debunk Crew”
Link
Dr. Avalos Predicts No Rapture On May 21: Why An Atheist Biblical Scholar Will Be Proven Right.
Link.
"Cutting Jesus Down to Size" by G. A. Wells is Wonderful!
I've written and edited several books against the Christian faith. So when I bought G.A. Wells' book Cutting Jesus Down to Size
I was only expecting to learn a few things. What I didn't expect was how much I would learn, which was quite a lot. Most of the book simply compares and contrasts the gospels and lets them debunk themselves. It's densely packed with scholarly references and fairly easy to read. His book brings the reader up to speed regarding higher criticism, and deconstructs the gospels like no other book I've read. It's too bad many Christians won't get it and read it. Many of them will simply dismiss it because Wells had been the leading Jesus mythicist of our generation. But he has "repudiated" (p. 334) his former view and now thinks there was a Galilean Jew who did in fact exist, whose sayings are found in Q, the lost document that most scholars conjecture formed the basis for the synoptic gospels. Very highly recommended! It's very impressive. To wannabe Christian apologists I challenge you to read and argue against it. On the gospels you won't find anything better.
I was only expecting to learn a few things. What I didn't expect was how much I would learn, which was quite a lot. Most of the book simply compares and contrasts the gospels and lets them debunk themselves. It's densely packed with scholarly references and fairly easy to read. His book brings the reader up to speed regarding higher criticism, and deconstructs the gospels like no other book I've read. It's too bad many Christians won't get it and read it. Many of them will simply dismiss it because Wells had been the leading Jesus mythicist of our generation. But he has "repudiated" (p. 334) his former view and now thinks there was a Galilean Jew who did in fact exist, whose sayings are found in Q, the lost document that most scholars conjecture formed the basis for the synoptic gospels. Very highly recommended! It's very impressive. To wannabe Christian apologists I challenge you to read and argue against it. On the gospels you won't find anything better.Is God to Blame for Weather that Kills People?
If you are a Christian and you believe the Bible is truth then the answer is an emphatic YES. The people recently killed by tornadoes? God’s doing. The people killed by Hurricane Katrina? God’s doing. The Bible is clear.
Tatarize: "I'm Only On the Fifth Chapter."
A guy named Tatarize on the Atheism About.com forum wrote this:
I'm part way through the book and already amazed. I thought the coolest thing in my copy would be Richard Carrier's signature. But, it's actually teaching me a lot about religion. It's the weirdest feeling. It's been years since one piece of media has seriously enlightened me on more than one or two topics. It's a rare gem to find something that dispels a misconception or suddenly clears up some issue, or corrects a mistake, or changes one's mind... but this book has already done all of those things and I'm only on the fifth chapter.What book is he talking about? This one. That's very gratifying to know, thanks.
What Do We Mean by Our Book Title, The End of Christianity?
Great looking bookI'll be saying the same thing that Hector Avalos does in his book, The End of Biblical Studies!
Hey-- can you answer this question -- what will you be saying, to make a quick response to the inevitable question to you, "What do you think will be the End of Christianity -- it just fades away into secularism, or mutates into something else, or gets absorbed into some other religion?" -- From John S.
. It's time that biblical studies as we know them should end. It's time to treat all ancient documents the same way, favoring none of them in the interests of learning how people in the ancient world thought, but not treating any of them as inspired. Avalos has a chapter in this book that sums up what he wrote. In it he calls for secularism. That's the goal anyway. Whether it takes place or not is the question.I think all three of your suggestions will take place depending on person and time, something which has been happening since the Enlightenment. There will probably always be pockets of people who embrace some of the Christianities that have previously existed. It's just that those groups will put themselves into the cultural backwaters. That is, so long as there is still something called a "Western Culture." If that becomes mutated into a global identity then Yahweh may even fade out of existence altogether, like Zeus, Thor and Odin have.
Sam Harris' Recommended Non-Fiction Reading List
And guess who's on it? See here. There are two pages to it.
Thomas Talbott's Critique of the Outsider Test for Faith
I am honored that Christian universalist Philosopher Thomas Talbott, of Willamette University, has offered a critique of my Outsider Test for Faith. Which can be found here. I plan on responding but I might not get to it for a month (it's not on my high priority list given the other projects I'm involved in right now). [Edit, sorry to say I didn't find anyone's criticisms to deserve the book I had offered for the best one.]
Thom Stark: "Is God a Moral Compromiser? A Critical Review of Paul Copan’s “Is God a Moral Monster?”
Remember when William Lane Craig held up Paul Copan's book, Is God a Moral Monster?
, during his debate with Sam Harris? Remember?
Now take a good hard look through Stark's review of it. Any questions?
, during his debate with Sam Harris? Remember? Now take a good hard look through Stark's review of it. Any questions?
Books like Copan’s will only take Christianity ten steps back-wards. In the name of inerrancy, the truth is trampled. Contemporary popular apologists tend to look for any way to salvage the text, no matter how unlikely or untenable the argument. They’ll use scholarly sources selectively, or pounce on one scholar’s argument and run away with it, without any concern for the fact the vast majority of scholars haven’t been persuaded by it. They’re not interested in what’s plausible, only in what’s “possible,” if it serves their immediate purposes. They trade in eisegesis, wild speculation, and fanciful interpretations, reading into the text what isn’t there, indeed, what’s often contradicted by the very passages they cite—something Copan himself does not infrequently, as we’ll see.
The question is whether or not Copan realizes he’s stealing home before the pitch. Is he aware that he’s presenting selective evidence, taken out of context, from sources that completely disagree with him? Is he aware that by ignoring certain questions and discussions, he’s able to give the impression that the evidence he loves to allude to (without citing) actually undermines his position? Perhaps he is. Perhaps he isn’t. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to believe that he isn’t aware, but I’ll reserve judgment and leave the question open-ended. Ultimately, however, whether Paul Copan is or is not a moral apologist, the fact of the matter is that he has failed, thoroughly failed, to demonstrate that the God of the Old Testament is not a moral monster.
Bart D. Ehrman on the Historian and the Resurrection of Jesus
[Written by John W. Loftus] Here's what Ehrman wrote:
brdeadite99 vs GearHedEd on Ken Ham/Kent Hovind
GearHedEd in response to brdeadite99:
Bring it, Shuggoth!
Time Magazine Cover: Is Hell Dead?
Christians have been reinventing their faith from the beginning. It won't stop. That's my prediction. So what will become orthodoxy in 20-30 years? This will. The orthodoxy of today started out as the unorthodoxy of yesterday.
Arizona Atheist: The Truth Behind the New Atheism: A Refutation
Since David Marshall comments here perhaps he'd like to discuss a review of his book here too.
Link.
Link.
Johann Hari: "Christianity Has Lost the Argument...It Will Go Into the Dustbin of History"
These are clips from the BBC documentary "Does Christianity Have a Future?" The full 60 minute documentary can be found here.
The Science of Why We Don't Believe Science, by Chris Mooney
We're not driven only by emotions, of course—we also reason, deliberate. But reasoning comes later, works slower—and even then, it doesn't take place in an emotional vacuum. Rather, our quick-fire emotions can set us on a course of thinking that's highly biased, especially on topics we care a great deal about.
In other words, when we think we're reasoning, we may instead be rationalizing. Or to use an analogy offered by University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt: We may think we're being scientists, but we're actually being lawyers (PDF). Our "reasoning" is a means to a predetermined end—winning our "case"—and is shot through with biases. They include "confirmation bias," in which we give greater heed to evidence and arguments that bolster our beliefs, and "disconfirmation bias," in which we expend disproportionate energy trying to debunk or refute views and arguments that we find uncongenial. Link.
On God Answering Prayers Retroactively
Christians like C.S. Lewis and recently William A. Dembski in his book The End of Christianity, claim God can answer prayers retroactively. Kevin Timpe explains by saying "past directed prayers, as I understand them, are requests for God to have done something at a time prior to the time of the prayer." And he argues like Lewis and Dembski that God does in fact answer these prayers on most accounts of God's foreknowledge. ["Prayers for the Past" Religious Studies (2005) 41, 305–322]. This raises some interesting problems and allows me to propose a scientific test for prayer.
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