Last spring, my church hosted a debate about the textual reliability of the New Testament. The response to the event was mostly positive, but one reader emailed me to explain that the debate was a bad idea because...Satan could have hijacked it. I promise I did not make that up. … [Read more...]
Fallacy Friday: Tu Quoque (But you did it too!)
Last week I looked at the Straw Man Fallacy, today I want to explore the tu quoque fallacy. In Latin tu quoque (too kwo-kwee) means “you too”; in fact, the phrase “you did it too” is a good, succinct account of this fallacy. A tu quoque occurs when one rebuts a particular criticism of one’s own position by showing one’s opponent’s position is subject to the same criticism; … [Read more...]
The Speeches in Acts: Are They Authentic?
Much of the book of Acts -- about 50% -- is comprised of speeches, discourses and letters. Among them, a total of eight speeches are given by Peter; a total of nine speeches delivered by Paul; there is Stephen's famous address before the Sanhedrin (Acts 7:2-53); a brief address at the Jerusalem Council by James (Acts 15:13-21); the advice given to Paul by James and the … [Read more...]
Poached Conversations
Greg West at the Poached Egg website has graciously shared a story of his own personal failure in dialoguing about life's biggest questions. He described his story over Skype and I used the recording to pen this version of the story. He has reviewed it and confirmed its accuracy. The Story Dolores (not her real name) was a friend of Greg's. Though she and her husband were … [Read more...]
A Brief Word on Atheism, Pineapples, and Shunned Messages
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science tweeted a story this morning that caught my attention. I follow them for informational purposes, and occasionally something interesting comes to my feed from them. This particular story was about an atheist society getting kicked out of a freshman club fair for displaying a pineapple and naming it "Mohammed". Yes. A … [Read more...]
Rejecting Claims Because They Have Inconvenient Implications
Often people reason as follows: (1) If claim C is true, X is the case. (2) I find X difficult, inconvenient, repulsive, or undesirable in some other way. (3) (So) claim C is false. Of course, this isn’t a valid argument. It’s missing a premise: (4) If I find X difficult, inconvenient, repulsive, or undesirable in some other way, X is not the case. Premise … [Read more...]
But… you're so reasonable!
This is an absolutely priceless story submitted by a reader. Names and details have been deliberately altered / removed, but it is not difficult to imagine a conversation like this taking place at just about any College or University in any Western nation. What may be difficult to image is the conversation turning out as well as it did. … [Read more...]
Fallacy Friday: The Straw Man
In my last Fallacy Friday I covered the The Genetic Fallacy, the error of arguing that an idea is false on the basis of where it originated from. Today I want to look at what’s known as the “straw man” fallacy. Origins of the Name This fallacy takes its name from a practice common in the middle ages. A knight would practice jousting by putting a straw man on a horse and … [Read more...]
Why Every Christian Must Practice Epistemic Humility
There are three primary categories for virtue the Christian/theist will affirm. The first are the transcendental virtues: truth, beauty, and goodness. The second set is the theological virtues: faith, hope, and love/charity. Then there are the four cardinal virtues: prudence, courage, patience, and justice. It’s my belief that every Christian must practice epistemic … [Read more...]
Understanding the Calling of the Apologist
There seems to be a widespread misconception, even within the church, that the ambition of Christian apologists is to argue nonbelievers into submission to the truth of Christianity. I admit that up until a few years ago, I even held a version of this idea myself. I thought that if your arguments were "good enough," the person they were aimed at would hit their knees in … [Read more...]