As you may know, I am currently writing a book on heaven for Baker. My goal is to have the manuscript done by the end of June. Currently I am getting into a stage of writing that requires my full attention so I will be suspending the blog for a period of time. I intend to return […]
Archives for May 2012
Psychopaths and General Revelation: The Dialogue Continues
My article pointing out the tension between general revelation as portrayed in Romans 2 and psychopathy received a range of responses which map out a range of possible responses to the dilemma, so it will be helpful to survey them. Getting Clear on the Problem If we are to deal with this problem adequately we […]
General revelation and the psychopath
A few months ago I devoted several posts to discussing the problem of psychopathy. Psychopaths are not merely “psychos” (i.e. completely “crazy”). Nor are they “the embodiment of evil”. Rather, they are persons who seem to lack some fundamental mechanisms in the human brain which help us to identify moral facts and to act on […]
Are Christian serial killers saved?
Some years ago I was at a coffee shop with a friend when we got into a heated discussion over the question of whether a Christian could be a serial killer. (He said yes, I said no. ) The dispute was not whether there might be self-identified Christians who moonlight as serial killers. That there […]
Do animals sin?
Theologians and philosophers have long identified two kinds of evil: moral and natural. The latter is rooted in suffering that arises from the processes and events of the natural world including all suffering that arises from the actions of animals. The only sources of moral evil in the world — and with it sin — […]
Loftus offers a rebuttal by making up a new argument (and this one’s even worse)!
A few days ago John Loftus came out with a new argument against Christianity. According to this argument, if Christians stopped evangelizing then Christianity would die out. But if Christianity were true God wouldn’t let it die out. Therefore Christianity is false. Uh huh. I offered an initial rebuttal here. The gist of my argument […]
Three reasons agnostics shouldn’t call themselves atheists
Recently the issue of defining atheism came up in the blog. In response, I thought I’d repost a January 2010 article I wrote at Christian Post on the topic. The Problem The line between atheist and agnostic used to be clear. Atheists believed that no God or gods existed. Agnostics didn’t have any belief as […]
Torture and the Parable of the Mustard Gas
Last week Bryan El commented in the blog on the defense of torture techniques to extract information that might save the lives of people. (Nor was he the only one defending torture.) He wrote: “I don’t think it’s wrong to cause someone extreme pain to get them to confess specific information (the whereabouts of a […]
Would Christianity die out if Christians stopped witnessing? And if it did would that mean Christianity was false?
John Loftus just came up with a new argument against Christianity. He summarized it like this: 1) If Christianity is true then the Christian faith will probably not die out if Christians stop proselytizing. (2) The Christian faith will probably die out if Christians stop proselytizing. (3) Therefore Christianity is false. It is, if nothing else, […]
Do I own my body?
Jag Levak’s belief that it would be morally praiseworthy for a woman to grant a dying child’s request for sexual favors has succeeded in illuming some grand canyons that separate our approaches to moral reasoning. In this article I’d like to address one of those deep fissures that lead to such different outcomes. That fissure arises depending on […]
Sex favors for dying children? A Response to Jag Levak
We all recognize it is good to be generous, but there are limits. For example, Herod was generous to offer the daughter of Herodias whatever she wanted. But he was just wrong to oblige the child’s request for the head of John the Baptist. What if the daughter was terminally ill and had made an […]
God or Godless gets a cover
This week John W. Loftus, my agent and I chose one of two covers proposed by Baker for God or Godless. You can see it at John’s blog here. Generally speaking it is a handsome cover, I think. But I had one misgiving: does the world need yet another book featuring a detail from Michelangelo’s […]
On living in a small town, Or the fine line between community and insanity
The best thing about living in a small town is that it is easy to get to know people really well. The worst thing about living in a small town is that it is hard not to get to know people really well. I lived in a small town for ten months. One day I […]
What makes for a good marriage?
Chris Hallquist said: “Some relationships make the switch from monogamy to non-monogamy and are the better for it….” I replied: “According to what standard?” Chris replied: “???” Yes folks, he gave me a triple IS (incredulity score). That is serious. Chris continued: “Both people are happier about their marriage? Seriously, what kind of question is […]
