The Neurotheological Argument Against God "Neurotheology" is a term used by Dr. Andrew Newberg to describe the relationship between the brain and religious experience. In fact, many neuroscientists have performed studies claiming to find the part of the brain responsible for religious belief and experience. One approach is to use a single-photon emission … [Read more...]
Why Doesn't God Do Something About Evil?
We watch the news and are appalled at the unspeakable evils committed. We do not understand why such things happen. We do not have the answers, so we are often left asking questions. Where is God? Why didn’t He stop this? Why doesn’t He do something about evil? These are questions we should be prepared to answer. We should rightfully expect them when tragedy strikes. We … [Read more...]
Does Truth Exist and Is It Knowable? – Pt. 1
(pt.1 of 4) Does Truth exist? Even if it does, can we know it? Are we in the dark like Kant said that we are? Should we be absolutely skeptical as Hume told us we should be? This is Lesson #3 of our "Reason To Believe" Video Apologetics Class. Here we will begin to discuss the all important question of truth, and whether it can be known at all. We will be examining the claims … [Read more...]
My Word Is My Bond
The basis of all human transactions is trust. Trust that others will keep their word and do what they said they will do. Let me rephrase: in a well-functioning society the basis of human transaction is trust that other people will keep their word. In a society where some use power or force to get what they want, or others deceit, there will be considerable costs to us as … [Read more...]
Crossing the Most Dangerous Line: How some bioethicists undermine human value
Our point is only that there is nothing bad about death or killing other than disability and disabling. (Sinnott-Armstrong and Miller, cited below) The authors also do not agree with the term euthanasia for this practice [after birth abortions] as the best interest of the person who would be killed is not necessarily the primary reason his or her life is being terminated. In … [Read more...]
If Atheists Exist, God Does Not?
The following is an interesting argument presented to me by a friend. The originator of the argument is unknown to me at this time, but seems to be an acquaintance or friend of a friend of a friend. In any case, it is interesting, and I evaluate it below. D1: God is defined as omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent D2: Revelation is Gods disclosure of Himself to His … [Read more...]
Jesus and the Spiderman Fallacy
An atheist with whom I was in dialogue last week tried to support his disbelief in Jesus through the use of the “Spiderman fallacy”, which is a contrived argument that has been defined in the following way by Urban Dictionary: Archaeologists 1,000 years from now unearth a collection of Spiderman comics. From the background art, they can tell it takes place in New York City. … [Read more...]
Is God Good? Are Humans Bad?
The following is the transcript of a talk given at Church of the Cross during the "Dealing with Doubts" series on August 19, 2012. Today we are going to look at perhaps the most difficult question that any human can face: the problem of evil and suffering. The problem of pain. This is a problem that everyone has to resolve. Christians agonize over how to think about the … [Read more...]
A Transgender Child?
The other day, as I was catching up on news from the NFL combine, I came across a headline that caught my attention, "Transgender child banned from girls' bathroom". "Coy Mathis, 6, was born a male but has presented as a female since she was 18-months-old, her mother Kathryn Mathis told talk show host Katie Couric." I was confused and it was not about who used what bathrooms. … [Read more...]
Religion As A Crutch
A criticism that is sometimes levelled against religious faith is that it is ‘a crutch’ for those who want comfort and who are unable to deal with death and other hardships in life. It argues that belief in God is simply a coping mechanism and that if people were able to deal with life without God they would not believe in him. This criticism and others like it are particularly … [Read more...]