Here's a Question I Like To Ask when arguing biblical accuracy versus scientific discovery: Postulating an omnipotent God and his potent yet subordinate nemesis: Which has the power to influence the minds of a few men to compose a persuasive text and create a regional following, and which to deposit…
It’s in the September 11, 2006 issue of Newsweek. The article explores the issues presented by the following three books:
It is a good sign that Newsweek is acknowledging some of the basic points raised by these books. For example, Newsweek has this to say about the position of Harris on skepicism:
“Tell a devout Christian … that frozen yogurt can make a man invisible,” Harris writes, “and he is likely to require as much evidence as anyone else, and to be persuaded only to the extent that you give it. Tell him that the book he keeps by his bed was written by an invisible deity who will punish him with fire for eternity if he fails to accept its every incredible claim about the universe, and he seems to require no evidence whatsoever.”
The Newsweek article presents the view of Dawkins regarding the basis for morality, as presented by many Christians:
“If there is no God, why be good?” he asks rhetorically, and responds: “Do you really mean the only reason you try to be good is to gain God’s approval and reward? That’s not morality, that’s just sucking up.”
Harris sharply questions the moral “lessons” of the Bible:
I recently ran into a site called the Biblelands project. It was there that I found an article called “Strategies for Dialoguing with Atheists,” by a man named Ron Rhodes. This article was typical of many conservative sites set up to rally the believers.
“I often ‘dialogue’ with atheists,” I thought. Maybe I should read Ron’s site. And yes, I did notice the quirk in his title. Interesting, how Rhodes assumes that anyone talking with an atheist would want to use his techniques.
In his opening paragraphs Rhodes points out, “No one is born an atheist. People choose to become atheists as much as they choose to become Christians.” Fair enough. But I’m tempted to think, then, that the “natural” state of human mindset would be agnostic. Shouldn’t that remain the default position through life?
But on with the methods of dealing with atheists. Here are some of the things atheists say, according to Ron, along with how we should respond:
…“There is no God.” Some atheists categorically state that there is no God, and all atheists, by definition, believe it. And yet, this assertion is logically indefensible. A person would have to be omniscient and omnipresent to be able to say from his own pool of knowledge that there is no God. Only someone who is capable of being in all places at the same time — with a perfect knowledge of all that is in the universe — can make such a statement based on the facts.
Diagrams have always helped me understand complicated things. Perhaps I'm this way because the 6th, 7th and 8th grade Catholic nuns made me diagram sentences several hours every week. I was therefore relieved to see that all of the major events of the end of the world have been been diagrammed, courtesy…
Post: The word by itself evokes for me a thick, square cedar pole standing up from, and presumably sunk down into the ground, waiting for the laundry line. Suppose you post a letter to the officer who posthumously posted your father to his army post in the post-war era. Words…