On Creationism

Did the disciples see the risen Jesus? One alternative is they hallucinated. My personal opinion is that whatever they saw, it was in Galilee, probably in the order recounted in 1 Cor 15, and nothing like the events described in the gospels. We cannot say what they saw, and I am certainly not putting this forward as what happened - I do not think we have enough information to even make a reasonable guess. I am just looking at whether it is plausible . Grief Vision It is very common to have a vision of a loved one who has recently passed away. I couple of links here and here . Note that these are personal visions, so arguably not like the mass sighting seen in Galilee. That said, a grief vision by one disciple, Peter perhaps. Willful Belief This paper discusses how people believe what they want to be true. Here is the abstract: This article investigates collective denial and willful blindness in groups, organizations, and markets. Agents with anticipatory preferences, link...

The fine-tuning argument (FTA) is a popular one for theists wanting to prove God. Craig is a frequent proponent. Here is the Discovery Institute on the FTA, and here is CMI's take: Neither really give a formal argument, so I will give one from here : The fine-tuning of the universe to support life is either due to law, chance or design It is not due to law or chance Therefore, the fine-tuning is due to design How Finely Tuned Exactly? The argument is based on the claim that changing the nature of the universe even slightly would prevent intelligent life appearing. So far that has not been established - we just do not know what the effects would, or under what conditions life could form. Maybe not life as we know it, but how can we rule out life in an unimaginable form? It also seems to be the case that not so many parameters need to be fine tuned as certain people would like you to think. That is not to say there is no fine tuning. It is a thing, and it does need e...

I came across this recently (linked from The Sensuous Curmudgeon). It is an interview with John Lennox, whom I posted about a year or so ago. For all his credentials, Lennox seems a pretty poor thinker (but I suspect that is his religion clouding his brain specificall;y when it comes to thinking about religion). When atheists ask him how it is possible for him to be both a scientist and a Christian he inquires of them: "What do you do science with?" and he points to his head to make it obvious. Most of them reply that they do science with their brains. Lennox then lets them simmer on that thought and then asks them to tell them about their brains with which they do science. "What do you really believe about it? Give me a short history of the brain," he presses them. They often say something like "that's relatively easy because the brain is the end product of the mindless unguided process," he said. "And I look at them and I sometimes smile and...

Was it crucifixion? At least one scholar has said that what happened to Jesus was not technically crucifixion, but suspending from a pole. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/7849852/Jesus-did-not-die-on-cross-says-scholar.html I do not think the distinction matters so I am not going to address that here. I am going to consider any execution by of Jesus by the Romans to be crucifixion. There was a crucifixion, but... Some non-believers think there was a cruxifixtion, but Jesus did not die. This is the position of Muslims. Islam teaches that it was made to appear that Jesus died on the cross. This is usually taken to mean some made to look like Jesus was crucified, but could include the swoon theory. This very much is an important distinction, but not one I am concerned with here. This would still imply something happened; some kind of crucifixion was a historical event. So was Jesus crucified? Scripture I do think we have good reason to think it happened. I ...

We can see evidence of glaciation all over the world, so we can see with our own eyes that there was an ice age. Even some creationists have to admit that, and so Answers in Genesis have inventing an Ice Age (with capitals!). They offer this great timeline to help us understand what actually happened: https://assets.answersingenesis.org/doc/articles/am/v8/n2/ice-age-map.pdf So we have the Flood in 2350 BC, then three generations to the Tower of Babel, about 2250 BC, and the start of the Ice Age, which then lasts six generations, to about 2000 BC, when Abram was born. That is a very quick Ice Age. Back in reality, the last ice age started 2.5 million years ago, and is still going (we are in a warmer, interglacial period). What is fascinating is how fast stuff happens in this time line. The Elephant-Kind Mastodons first appear after two generations (around 2285 BC I guess), evolved from the elephant-kind on the ark, and woolly mammoths just two generations after that. That is s...

Christians say that because of the New Covenant, they are not required to follow the laws of the OT, the laws of the old covenants. Is that a Biblical position? Or just more convenient? But Jesus said... In fact, Jesus was very clear that the old laws of the OT still apply: Mat 5:18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. The usual response is to say that actually these laws only apply to Jews. Really? So God is a racist, and considers it only an abomination when a Jew eats shellfish? If it is an abomination for a Jew to eat shellfish, why is it not an abomination when a Christian does it? The New Covenant is for Jews It is especially odd because the Bible states that the new covenant is specifically for Jews: Jeremiah 31:31 "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the pe...

It seems almost certain to me that the various sighting of the resurrected Jesus in and around Jerusalem were made up, and the only actual sights - whatever they actually were - were in Galilee. While Mark makes that clear, he offers absolutely no insight into what was actually seen there. Paul Paul gives us no details on where it happened, but as oyr earliest account, is still very important. This was probably an early creed, so in fact pre-dates the epistle. 1 Corinthians 15:4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas,[b] and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, Peter The Gospel of Peter is truncated, and ends just at the important bit. [58] Now it was the final day of the Unleavened Bread; and many w...