James White recently criticized apologist Mike Licona for saying he was 80% certain that Christianity was true. White went on to suggest that you shouldn’t be an apologist unless you are certain. In this video, I offer a reply. ?
certainty
What would it take for you to give up your faith? (And is that a good question?)
Atheists and skeptics often ask Christians under what conditions they would give up their faith. In this video, I point out what is right and what is wrong with that question.
Should we be certain of our beliefs? Or should we doubt?
Is doubt virtuous? Is certainty arrogant?
I just read a Twitter profile that declares: “I believe doubt is a virtue that can lead to humility and certainty can lead to arrogance.” It’s the profile of Pinecreek Doug who just interviewed me. And I’d say, sure, just so long as we recognize that doubt can also lead to arrogance and certainty to […]
Should we be (most) certain that God exists?
Today this tweet from Douglas Axe (director of Biologic Institute who tweets here) caught my attention: Since we humans always have to settle for something short of absolute proof, I'm not sure we have to qualify our certainty of God's existence in this way. We can be as confident of his existence as we can […]
Conversations with Radical Doubt Part 1: How do you refute skepticism?
A few years ago I was contacted by a self-described skeptic seeking counsel. He was in a sorry state, epistemically speaking. Indeed, he doubted that he had any knowledge at all and was seeking aid in terms of a refutation of his skepticism. He was troubled by his deep and abiding doubts and was seeking […]
For the umpteenth time, certainty is not the problem
Epistemic humility is popular theses days. All things considered, that’s a good thing: it’s good to be epistemically humble. That forces you to keep in mind that you don’t know everything and to contemplate the fact that you could be wrong. On the downside, many people seem to believe that being epistemically humble entails taking […]
Thoughts on Certainty: The Evangelical Leader and the Liberal Bishop (Part 2)
In my opening installment of this series I cited Dave Tomlinson’s parable of the evangelical leader and liberal bishop. I’m now going to begin offering some critical response to it. I’ve already observed how the parable is intended to be provocative and paint our two leaders in stark tones. And because it is aimed at […]
To be (or believe) is to risk
Over the last couple days Mr. Loftus has been providing his reliably ignorant commentary on what he calls “faith” over at his blog. I pointed out that it was ignorant and provided the simple definition of faith that I first explained and defended here: viz. assent to a proposition that is conceivably false. Adam Hazzard […]
I think, therefore I am (I think)
Hey everybody. I’m a bit busy at the moment for the following reasons: (1) We bought a new house and we take possession today. Although we have a couple weeks to move we need to get the keys, get new keys, get the carpets cleaned, and start moving; (2) My daughter has a figure skating […]
