Here is a nice summary of the problem of divine hiddenness (also called the
argument from nonbelief) from Youtuber
TheoreticalBS.
You may also be interested in this article from John Schellenberg, the man who pioneered the argument:
What Divine Hiddenness Reveals, or How Weak Theistic Evidence is Strong Atheistic Proof
An atheist arguing with a Christian apologist is like driving down a highway with him (or her) in your car. As you drive along, he continually and randomly points to land, cars, buildings and even planes in the sky stating: “My family owns that . . . and we own this . . . and we own that . . .I KNOW we do without a doubt along with much more!” However, common sense tells the atheist that these claims aren't logical, in fact, they’re impossible and the atheist tells this to the Christian.
That's exactly where I want to be given today's free promotion. ;-)
The first puzzle he presents about omniscience purportedly shows that the divine attribute of omniscience is incoherent. The second puzzle about omnibenevolence and omnipotence shows that these two divine attributes are logically incompatible. The third puzzle about perfect rationality and omnipotence shows that these two divine attributes are logically incompatible. See what you think:
You can reach this huge audience with your product or service for just $75 a month here at DC. See the advertisement at the right for Reasonist Products? That's all they're paying. The ad doesn't have to be atheist oriented. It could be for an insurance agency, a financial agency, or an artist who wants to promote her work. Christian ads will cost more than that but I'll entertain them, I'm not scared. Contact me at johnwloftus@comcast.net. Serious inquiries only.
Recap: In
Part 1, our hero has met a hot lady whom he wants to marry. He loses a riddle bet due some trickery by the aforementioned lady friend, and is forced to kill thirty guys so he can steal their clothes to pay the bet. He’s bummed, so he bunks out at his mom and dad’s, and while he’s gone, his disloyal fiancé marries the best man from the canceled wedding. Time for some good, old-fashioned revenge!
Exhibit 5:
Samson said, “This time I cannot be blamed for everything I am going to do to you Philistines.” Then he went out and caught 300 foxes. He tied their tails together in pairs, and he fastened a torch to each pair of tails. Then he lit the torches and let the foxes run through the grain fields of the Philistines. He burned all their grain to the ground, including the sheaves and the uncut grain. He also destroyed their vineyards and olive groves.
Judges 15:3-5 (NLT)
Arson and animal cruelty. That’s two out of three of the psychopath indicators. Definitely not PETA-approved,and we have the deliberate destruction of private property.
Physicist Sean Carroll lays some of the problems with the popular "fine tuning" arguments for a god.
You can check out Carroll's post-debate reflections on his blog here:
http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2014/02/24/post-debate-reflections/
With as irate as fundamentalist Christians get about sex and violence in movies (well, sex at least- they are pretty okay with violence), it is surprising the kind Bible stories that get passed off as appropriate for the kiddies. Sunday School lessons are populated with all sorts of unsavory characters plucked from the pages of the Good Book, sanitized and shined up to be presented to impressionable children. Christians are so desensitized to the nature of what is really going on in the stories that they fail to see that maybe - just maybe - these Hall of Shame members are not the best role models for kids to look up to.
Today’s example: Samson, who even has been immortalized as an children's action figure.
Samson’s sordid saga is detailed in Judges, chapters 13 through 16. It is like one long and violent soap opera. For the sake of brevity, we’ll just hit the low-lights as I present evidence that this hero of the faith (Hebrews 11:32) was just a scoundrel living the thug life.
It's Episode 116 (my part begins around 31:30). Unlike almost all others this 30 minute interview was done in a studio. It's about my two recent books.
I received two comments telling me that I was wrong on the use of the word
the church (τη εκκλησια)
in Matthew 18: 17.
The first was more technical by a
Daniel and is quoted in full below.
Sadly for all Christians, their Holy Savior Jesus Christ (as a good Jew) swallowed this baseless Jewish myth hook-line and sinker! What we now find exposed is the fact that this all-knowing Son of God was little more than a wandering ignorant Jewish bigot (if he ever existed).
One of the most annoying and persistent accusations made against atheists is that we have a set of beliefs. Let me try, probably in vain, to disabuse believers of their ignorance on this. They utterly fail to understand what we think. It's as if they close their eyes and stop their ears and shout while we try to explain it. Randal Rauser claims he's trying to understand us. Is he? There is a distinction to be made. Can he make it? Let's see.
It's not often that one book can change the course of someone's life, but it does happen. That's what a reviewer recently said of a book. Which one? What else did he say? Here, read it for yourself:
The Southern Baptist Convention, under the leadership of Rev. Fred Luter Jr.
just voted to officially condemn the policy of the Boy Scouts of America, which now allows the participation of gay Scouts. They will seek the removal of executive and board members of the Boy Scouts who tried to allow gay members without first consulting religious groups. They affirm support for churches which decide to drop ties with the Boy Scouts..
The irony in all of this? The Southern Baptist denomination formed as a pro-slavery breakaway from American Baptists, in 1845. In 2012, they tried to atone for their racist past by
electing Fred Luter - a black man - as their leader. And now, under his leadership, they vote overwhelmingly to support bigotry against gays. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up!
Written by J. M. Green
Lately, I've noticed a number of instances of Christian schools (Protestant and Catholic)
firing teachers who become pregnant out of wedlock. The schools are the sort that like to micromanage the personal lives of their teachers, as well as their students, and often require teachers to refrain from ‘ungodly’ activities such as pre-marital sex, pornography, and homosexuality. Quite possibly masturbation or reading 50 Shades of Grey might also be firing offenses.
In
the case of Cathy Samford, she was engaged to be married and offered to move up the wedding date, so as to remedy her pregnant-out-of-wedlock status, but that simply wasn't good enough the squeaky-clean Pharisees at the Heritage Christian Academy in Rockwall, Texas.
According to Headmaster Dr. Ron Taylor,
"It's not that she's pregnant. The issue here is being an unmarried mother. Everything that we stand for says that we want our teachers, who we consider to be in the ministry, to model what a Christian man or woman should be."
Apparently, what the model Christian man would do is kick the pregnant Ms. Samford - along with her two dependent children from a previous marriage – out on the streets, leaving her with no job or medical care – WWJD – right?
You can now listen to the audio of our debate in Randal's home church. It was our third and last one. There is a twist though. Just listen to the introduction to hear what it is. Hint: the Q&A was different.
Enjoy. The video of it will be available soon.
{
Note: Occasionally I’ll receive a spam email from the far right. The email below really drives home the ideology of the
Tea Party as it confronts a changing America. Yet the
IRS is being attacked for not giving immediate tax exempt charitable (non-political) status to
Tea Parties with the mindset of the member below! Harry}
Written by a USMC Vet
(
Spammer's Comment: The saddest, albeit possibly most accurate, short message you will read. I'm afraid this guy might be right on target! I can't argue with any of it. Passing it along as it was received.)
He wrote:
The American Dream ended (on November 6th) in Ohio. The second term of
Barack Obama will be the final nail in the coffin for the legacy of the white
Christian males who discovered, explored, pioneered, settled and developed
The greatest Republic in the history of mankind.
Christian apologists claim that the detail of the universe proves the creation of a master designer: God. However, as you can plainly see in this video,
a man made dumb frequency generator can create many different detailed intricate designs. Enjoy!
let's now discuss what you're reading. What d'ya think?
[By the way, that is a damned good book even if I say so myself]. Victor is defending the "truth" but also the ridiculousness of the three-tiered world that is required in order to believe Jesus ascended into heaven (i.e. the sky). How does he do it? He rhetorically asks: "And if God is going to show first-century people that he went to heaven, how would you suggest he go about doing it?" My response: 
It's a book I wrote a blurb for and recommend highly. Here is their interview:
He said some really nice things about my book, The Outsider Test for Faith.
Here's the money quote: 
I wrote a three part review of it, which can be read beginning with this first post. Now it's available at an affordable price. GET THAT BOOK NOW! Don't delay. It is without a doubt the best book on slavery and the Bible out there, and probably the best atheist book published in the last ten years or more, depending on your interests.
The Southern Baptist Convention, under the leadership of Rev. Fred Luter Jr. just voted to officially condemn the policy of the Boy Scouts of America, which now allows the participation of gay Scouts. They will seek the removal of executive and board members of the Boy Scouts who tried to allow gay members without first consulting religious groups. They affirm support for churches which decide to drop ties with the Boy Scouts..
Lately, I've noticed a number of instances of Christian schools (Protestant and Catholic) firing teachers who become pregnant out of wedlock. The schools are the sort that like to micromanage the personal lives of their teachers, as well as their students, and often require teachers to refrain from ‘ungodly’ activities such as pre-marital sex, pornography, and homosexuality. Quite possibly masturbation or reading 50 Shades of Grey might also be firing offenses.