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TechnoratiPOST PUBLISHED INAugust, 2011
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Abortion and the old Coat hanger Argument
August 22nd, 201111:49 AM ET"We tried universal illegal abortion and the results were quite horrific." That statement was written by one of my faithful readers named Beetle and it is worth some reflection. It is worthy of that reflection because it provides a handy rehash of that most venerable and visceral of pro-choice arguments: the coat hanger argument. That argument see... -
Interview with Dana Pittman
August 18th, 201110:33 PM ETToday I had an interview on my books Finding God in the Shack and You're Not as Crazy as I Think with Dana Pittman from www.thetruevineonline.com . You can listen to the interview here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cwa-radio/2011/08/19/the-true-vine This is my first online radio interview and I must say it is great not to ha... -
Can we rationally believe in an atonement we don’t understand?
August 18th, 201103:02 PM ETHaving surveyed Ken Pulliam's discussion of the PST, I have now been asked by Robert: "How do the other theories fare? I'm guessing they have problems too, since men like Luther and Calvin rejected them in favor of PST." First off, Luther actually is associated with the Christus Victor model rather than PST, though Calvin most definitely is an adv... -
The End of Christianity? A Skeptical Review (Part 8)
August 18th, 201110:00 AM ETIn chapter 7 of The End of Christianity Ken Pulliam argues for "The Absurdity of the Atonement". In fact, his essay is focused not on the atonement per se but rather on a penal substitutionary theory of atonement (henceforth PST). This is a crucial distinction to which I shall return. However, before continuing let me make a personal observation. ... -
The Edsel of Christianity?
August 17th, 201107:25 PM ETI have now completed Part II of The End of Christianity, a section which aimed through the essays of Hector Avalos, Jaco Gericke and Valerie Tarico, to establish on biblical grounds why Christianity needs to end. At this point I'd like to take a look back at the section by identifying a set of assumptions that appear to lie behind the three essays ... -
The End of Christianity? A Skeptical Review (Part 7)
August 17th, 201112:58 AM ETChapter 6 of The End of Christianity brings us to Valerie Tarico's essay "God's Emotions: Why the Biblical God Is Hopelessly Human". While the argument of the essay is not altogether clear, it would appear that Tarico hopes to extend Jaco Gericke's assault on the biblical portrayal of God by arguing that the presence of "human" emotions in the bib... -
The End of Christianity? A Skeptical Review (Part 6)
August 15th, 201107:58 PM ET"Can God exist if Yahweh doesn't?" This is the question at the center of The End of Christianity chapter five written by Jaco Gericke. Some of the other chapters in The End of Christianity have bad arguments, and at least one chapter seems to lack an argument altogether. But the argument of this chapter is strange. Let me explain. Gericke beg... -
The End of Christianity? A Skeptical Review (Part 5)
August 15th, 201101:18 PM ETIn the fourth chapter of The End of Christianity Hector Avalos promises to explain "Why Biblical Studies Must End." I'll engage with the essay in three steps: first, a quick reading of what I take to be the main take-home point; second, an observation on how the essay found itself in the wrong place at the wrong time; and finally, a suggestion for ... -
The Devil and the Atheist
August 12th, 201110:58 AM ETJohn Loftus ends his essay "Christianity is Wildly Improbable" in The End of Christianity with an additional fifteen beliefs he finds wildly implausible. Since I already provided a critique that undercut his whole improbability method I didn't bother to deal with these points directly in my review of the chapter. But I'd like to engage one of them ... -
The End of Christianity? A Skeptical Review (Part 4)
August 11th, 201109:12 PM ETIn this installment of our ongoing review of Loftus, ed., The End of Christianity we turn to an evaluation of chapter 3 which is an essay by John W. Loftus titled "Christianity is wildly improbable". The essay begins with John's characteristic Braveheart-styled bravado: "When it comes to Christianity, two thousand years are enough. It's time this... -
The End of Christianity? A Skeptical Review (Part 3)
August 10th, 201104:04 PM ETProvidentialist history arguments have long been part of the arsenal of some apologists. One popular argument of this type defends the conclusion that the Jews are God's chosen people based on the fact that they have survived the seemingly endless persecution of their people throughout history. (Here's what I picture the skeptic retorting: that's l... -
How many ‘F’ words in a film is TOO many?
August 09th, 201103:04 PM ETIt has been nineteen years since conservative commentator and film critic Michael Medved published the bestseller Hollywood vs. America: Popular Culture and the War on Traditional Values (HarperCollins, 1992), a book that made him a hero for "family values" conservatives across North America. While Medved made some valid points about the... -
The End of Christianity? A Skeptical Review (Part 2)
August 09th, 201111:38 AM ETMy last exchange with David Eller over his essay in The Christian Delusion was not pretty. Simply because I pointed out that he forgot to include an argument in his chapter he responded that I was "clearly unfamiliar with the abundant literature". That's a great line. In fact it is so good that I've appropriated it for my arsenal. So if ever anyone... -
Johh Loftus responds: "It is a believing review of my book!"
August 08th, 201110:03 AM ETJohn Loftus has posted a, ahem, "response" to the first installment of my skeptical review of The End of Christianity at "Debunking Christianity". Make sure your brain is fully engaged before you read it. This is heady stuff. Here goes: "Then Randal Rauser claims he is offering a skeptical review of The End of Christianity. Say that again? He... -
The End of Christianity? A Skeptical Review (Part 1)
August 07th, 201102:54 PM ETJohn Loftus, ed. The End of Christianity. Prometheus, 2011. ISBN: 978-1-61614-413-5. The End of Christianity is the final installment in an atheistic triumvirate designed to decimate Christiainty. (Previous entries include Loftus, Why I Became an Atheist and Loftus, ed. The Christian Delusion.) This review is going to be long and messy. As pr... -
Who needs the Trinity? A Review of Fred Sanders, “The Deep Things of God”
August 06th, 201112:42 PM ETFred Sanders. The Deep Things of God. How the Trinity changes everything. Crossway, 2010. 256 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4355-1316-9. "Dear heavenly Father, we thank you for dying for us." I winced. The church elder meant well of course. He certainly didn't mean to endorse patripassianism. He was just aiming to provide an offeratory prayer in a sleepy subur... -
God’s arbitrary choices and election
August 04th, 201111:05 AM ETI have argued the the implications of the Calvinist view of election is that God's choice of those who are elect is arbitrary. But what do I mean by "arbitrary"? I mean this: Arbitrary decision: any decision between two or more options where one option is chosen but another option was equally feasible. For example, it is a choice between a and b w... -
Would Jesus drink a Budweiser?
August 03rd, 201104:11 PM ETYou know what the difference is between Catholic and Baptist communion? When the Catholic priest prays for the wine it becomes the blood of Christ. When the Baptist pastor prays it becomes grape juice! Okay, maybe it isn't the funniest joke in the world. Theological jokes do tend to be a bit on the stale side (kind of like the Halloween candy you ... -
Fantasy for fundamentalists or, how to defend Harry Potter to the conservative Christian
August 03rd, 201101:18 AM ETA reader named RB has offered a comment and question concerning our favorite magician, Harry Potter: "I really appreciate your blogs on Harry Potter and your goal to challenge typical evangelical thinking. It needs done. I'm wondering what your opinions are on sorcery being used within a story (as in LOTR, Narnia, and Harry Potter). I have no p... -
Has Stephen Law been sucked into an intellectual black hole? A Review of Law’s “Believing Bulls**t”
August 02nd, 201111:04 AM ETStephen Law. Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole. Prometheus, 2011, 271 pp. ISBN: 978-1-61614-411-1. In the vein of Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World (Ballantine, 1997) and Michael Shermer's Why People Believe Weird Things (Holt, 2002), comes this new book by Stephen Law, senior lecturer in philosophy ... -
Tigers, Tabbys, and God’s special love for his elect
August 01st, 201109:34 AM ETWho says God has to love everybody equally? (Sentimental Arminians, that's who.) "Au contraire mon frere" says the Calvinist. There is nothing wrong with God having a general love for all humanity even as he has a special love for his elect. And why shouldn't it be so? After all, as Linda asks, "Is it right for a man to love his wife differently ...
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An exploration of faith, knowledge, reason and doubt (with the occasional trite pop culture reference thrown in for good measure).
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