[This post is a work in progress as part of the CAA Catechism.] [Add the title only in the title field, not in the body of the post.] Summary in 400 words or less: Introduction The skeptical issue in our culture mostly enters into the religious dialogue in the following way: “In the case of God, who isn’t some physical object but a divine being, what kind of evidence should … [Read more...]
Pneumatic Evidence
[This post is a work in progress as part of the CAA Catechism.] [Add the title only in the title field, not in the body of the post.] Summary in 400 words or less: The apostle Paul writes, "hope [in God] does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Rom 5:5 NRSV). In his book The Severity … [Read more...]
The Virgin Birth
[This post is a work in progress as part of the CAA Catechism.] [Add the title only in the title field, not in the body of the post.] Summary in 400 words or less: The account of the Virgin Birth is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew 1:18-25 and the Gospel of Luke 1:26-38. Matthew tells us in 1:23 that Jesus’ miraculous birth was to fulfill the prophecy of … [Read more...]
Arguments from Miracles and Providence
[This post is a work in progress as part of the CAA Catechism.] [Add the title only in the title field, not in the body of the post.] Summary in 400 words or less: Setting aside the miracles of the universe and life, the arguments from miracles and providence refer to more specific examples of things that could not have happened without God’s influence. Miracles are … [Read more...]
Great Expectations and the Office of "God"
Does God exist? That, of course, depends on what you mean by “God”. Philosopher Paul Moser suggests, “Much contemporary discussion of God’s existence suffers from consideration of an inferior counterfeit.”[1] The search for God often aims too low. For example, one may look for the First Cause or Designer of the universe. One may instead wonder whether an all-powerful Sovereign … [Read more...]
The Resurrection of Jesus and the Cognitive Dissonance Hypothesis
Introduction Cognitive Dissonance is all the rage these days. In other words, more and more skeptics are trying to postulate that the birth of the Jesus movement is the result of cognitive dissonance. As N.T Wright says: “One theory which would go against this conclusion [that the rise of Christianity is best explained by Jesus' bodily resurrection] was very popular a few … [Read more...]
The Moral Objection to Miracles
In New York, on March 3, 1964 at 3:15am, Kitty Genovese was attacked, raped, and killed after driving home from work. Her neighbors heard her screams and did nothing. They could have easily saved her from suffering, rape, and death. It would have taken, at most, a few seconds to call the police. Was that too much to ask for? By having not intervened, they seem to be partially, … [Read more...]
Are Miracles Rational?
Before we jump into this question, we need to define miracles. In some ways, childbirth, the sun rising, and various other events in nature are “miraculous” in one sense or another. However, for the sake of this discussion, we want to define miracles as “an interference with Nature by supernatural power” (C.S. Lewis, Miracles). Or, more specifically as “an event in the … [Read more...]
The Historian and Miracles
Received wisdom is that the historian can say nothing about miracles. This statement can take one of several different forms. For example, Bart Ehrman says of the Resurrection that "Historians can only establish what probably happened in the past, and by definition a miracle is the least probable occurrence. And so, by the very nature of the canons of historical research, we … [Read more...]
Hume and Modern Miracle Claims
In his famous essay “Of Miracles,” David Hume argues that “it forms a strong presumption against all supernatural and miraculous relations, that they are observed chiefly to abound among ignorant and barbarous nations; or if a civilized people has ever given admission to any of them, that people will be found to have received them from ignorant and barbarous ancestors, who … [Read more...]