Yesterday my article “Do you have enough faith to be a theist? Or an atheist?” drew an interesting comment from a reader named Bilbo who reflected: “At a very dark perod [sic] in my life, when I was angry at God for everything, I tried living as an atheist for a few years. The bleakness […]
existential argument
Life is meaningful because it does (or doesn’t) go on forever
Many times I’ve heard theists who accept the doctrine of human immortality talk about the fact that human life is meaningful because it continues forever. Thus, they’ll say things like this ditty from Maximus (Russell Crowe in “Gladiator”): “Brothers, what we do in life echoes in eternity.” And then there is this classic observation from […]
The Existential Argument and Sam Harris’ Big Diamond
In the thread to my article “In defense of existential arguments for belief in God” Matt DeStefano commented that my argument “doesn’t address what Jerry (or Harris) is pushing in this dialogue. Either God exists, or God doesn’t exist. No amount of “wishing” (or positive benefits associated with belief) justify accepting the proposition that “God exists”. With […]
In defense of existential arguments for belief in God
This article is borne out of a conversation betwen Bilbo and Jerry Rivard in the blog. Let’s begin by recounting the exchange. It all begin when Bilbo observed: “I couldn’t deal with the emptiness of a Godless universe, so I came back to faith.” This prompted Jerry Rivard to inquire: “In what way does this […]
