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Randal Rauser

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Archives for November 2010

The intrinsic value in learning to be good

November 30, 2010 by Randal

JD is sympathetic to my view of evil as being redeemed in God’s good universe, but he has a reservation: “The Book of Revelation foretells a future existence in which there will be all these marvelously rich things like life and sentience and mind but with no death, sorrow or crying. If God is able […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: free will defense, greater goods, moral evil, natural evil, problem of evil, theodicy

Would you rather be a bacterium? A rejoinder to the problem of evil

November 29, 2010 by Randal

Silver Bullet has ably expressed the common atheistic retort that this creation simply cannot be the product of a loving and powerful God because there is just too much evil afoot. It is a serious argument. Indeed, it strikes me as the most significant argument against theism, bar none. And yet I also believe it is […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: moral evil, natural evil, problem of evil, providence, theodicy

Could God command evil for a greater good?

November 28, 2010 by Randal

Silverbullet presents two scenarios: Scenario 1: God allows Fred to kill Suzie because of some greater good but the killing of Suzie is nonetheless evil. Scenario 2: God commands Fred to kill Suzie as a devotional act of commitment to God which leads to some greater good, but the killing of Suzie is nonetheless evil. […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: child sacrifice, greater goods, problem of evil, providence, theodicy

Meditation on yellow toilet water

November 28, 2010 by Randal

This past summer my daughter and I visited what must surely be the lamest tourist trap in Alberta. I won’t say what it was, but I will say that snapping this picture was the high-point. After I had gotten over the irony it actually made a disturbing amount of sense. Why not supply toilets with […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bottled water, public water supply

Randal’s Saturday evening movie recommendation: Requiem

November 28, 2010 by Randal

Anneliese Michel was a young German Catholic who reported being tormented by demons. Initially she reported hearing demonic voices telling her that she would be damned. But it didn’t stop there as her behavior became increasingly bizarre: she reportedly ate pieces of coal and spiders and sunk into a world of depression and paranoid delusion. Then, after […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: demon possession, Requiem, Sandra Hüller, The Exorcism of Emily Rose

An argument for Christian meatatarians to consider

November 27, 2010 by Randal

Every couple months a church I know puts on a social event called “Men and Meat” where all the chaps in the church get together, consume copious amounts of meat and, er, beat their chests? The event reflects a troubling notion that masculinity is tantamount to a machismo that, among other things, is expressed in […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: animal rights, eschatology, meatatarian, veganism, vegetarianism

Is eating turkey morally justified?

November 26, 2010 by Randal

Since my American friends are enjoying their Thanksgiving turkey this evening, I thought it a good time to raise Gary Francione’s argument for vegetarianism (veganism actually). Francione is a well known animal rights activist, though something of a pariah in some circles because he disagrees sharply with other leading theorists in the movement like Tom […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: abolitionist approach, animals rights, Gary Francione, Peter Singer

Did God raise up Bin Laden?

November 25, 2010 by Randal

The question is repugnant not only on the surface but all the way down to its very core. It presumes a moral framework that is utterly alien to my way of understanding the universe. And yet it is a question that kept bubbling to the surface as I read Clay Jones’ essay “We Don’t Hate Sin […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: 9/11, Clay Jones, divine judgment, genocide, Osama Bin Laden, religious violence

Three theses on devotional child killing

November 25, 2010 by Randal

The article I presented at the Atlanta SBL meeting, titled “‘I want to give the baby to God’: Three theses on devotional child killing” is now available! This is the biggest release since Gran Turismo 5! So to read and/or download the paper you can click here or go find it in the “Academic Papers” […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Dena Schlosser, divine command, ethics, genocide, herem, moral epistemology, natural law

I want to know what evil is

November 24, 2010 by Randal

The critics never liked Foreigner much, but then their mullet-wearin’ Camaro-drivin’ fans never liked the critics much. And really, who could resist the infectious drive of an arena-grade power ballad like “I want to know what love is”? Although Lou Gramm may have been asking what love is, I think he had a reasonably good […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: divine command, ethics, evil, moral skepticism, moral virtue, morality

The day God (didn’t) command a father to kill his child

November 23, 2010 by Randal

  Some quick background At the already mentioned evening of fun and frolic at SBL in Atlanta, I rediscovered something I already knew: that in the minds of many Christians it is perfectly fine for God to demand his followers sometimes to engage in extremely violent acts in his name, perhaps even killing their healthy children […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: divine command, human sacrifice, problem of evil

An update in the wake of Atlanta (plus a bit on rape and child killing)

November 23, 2010 by Randal

Well I’m back (as if anybody cares). Wait a minute. I care, so I’ll keep talking to myself if nobody else. It was a good time at the annual ETS conference (with a day at SBL thrown in). Let me say the weather was fine. It has been seven or eight years since I was in […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, ETS, genocide, herem, Matthew Flannagan, murder, Paul Copan, rape, Richard Hess, SBL

T-Rex dung as a problem for Christians

November 17, 2010 by Randal

Pearson International Airport in Toronto has decent FREE wi-fi so here y’are. A mid-day post free of charge. This is prefatory to John Loftus’ essay in The Christian Delusion on natural evil. (I will present an actual review when I get back to Edmonton next week and have the book in front of me.) I […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: John Loftus, natural evil, The Christian Delusion, theodicy, Tyrannosaurus Rex

What does the form of the good look like?

November 17, 2010 by Randal

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a comic book superhero geek. I grew up reading Archie comics. But nonetheless it has always seemed to me that Captain Marvel never got his due. And so this is the second time today I’ve made reference to this poorly understood caped crusader. I’m just trying to give the […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Captain Marvel, ethics, form of the good, God, morality, platonism

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