I recently posted the following question on Twitter: If a Muslim imam prays for a man stricken with cancer, and the tumor immediately disappears, can a Christian interpret that as a miracle wrought by the Christian God? — Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) October 18, 2021 One commenter noted that, in his view, if the Christian God […]
God
On the Holy Piety of Getting Angry with God
Some Christians think that the life of Christian discipleship is a life of victorious Christian living in which we are content in all things. But what if Christian discipleship has room for the full range of human emotional responses to God including doubt, sadness, disappointment, and even anger?
Is God a Necessary Being?
Today, I was a guest on John Petersen’s YouTube channel to talk about God as a necessary being. I parachuted into the conversation about 20 minutes in (I had another meeting before then) and then I had to leave early. But I had a great time while it lasted!
I could never worship a God who…
Has anybody ever said to you, “I could never worship a God who [fill in the blank].” Does that make sense? In this video, I take a look at that all-too-common declaration.
What caused God? What floats my boat?
Sam Harris raises the old village atheist query “What caused God?”. As he puts it: “the notion of a creator poses an immediate problem of an infinite regress. If God created the universe, what created God? To say that God, by definition, is uncreated simply begs the question.” Sorry, but that’s like saying “if you […]
Does God answer the prayers of nice rich people who want to purchase a new luxury?
Let me tell you about Jones. He’s a very wealthy businessman, a respected philanthropist who has established an effective and impacting charitable foundation for disadvantaged youth, and a generous Christian who tithes north of 10% of his income to the church as well as an NGO that is providing clean drinking water to villages in […]
God and the Tooth Fairy
Two days ago, I posted the following tweet: “Every time I hear an atheist compare belief in God to belief in the ‘tooth fairy’ I get more evidence for my observation that atheists don’t even understand what they are rejecting.” The tweet elicited several responses. Predictably, those included responses that defended the analogy by insisting […]
The problem with a god who suffers
The doctrine of divine impassibility was widely assumed by Christian theologians throughout the history of the church. But that consensus was fractured in the twentieth century with the decline of a widely held theological model belatedly known as “classical theism”. With the fracturing of a consensus on the classical theist model, several divine attributes were […]
Is belief in God like belief in Santa Claus?
In this 2014 podcast, now adapted into a new video, I provide the answer, and all in under a minute!
An Atheist Defining Theism: The Curious Case of Sean Carroll
This week Unbelievable features a dialogue/debate between atheist Sean Carroll and theist Luke Barnes on whether God or naturalism best explains the universe. I was thirty minutes into the program when I found myself needing to press pause and ask, “Did Sean Carroll really say that?” And the answer is, yes, yes he did. So […]
God and the Weather Revisited
Ten days ago I posted an article titled “‘I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth…’ Could God be punishing Texas?” Since then I rewrote and expanded the article and this morning it was posted at Strange Notions as “Does God Punish People Through Natural Weather Events?“
Does God exploit individuals for the benefit of others?
Yesterday I had a Twitter exchange with Justin Schieber regarding his claim that allowing person A to suffer for the benefit of person B constitutes an exploitative use of person A. Although Justin doesn’t define “exploitation” he presumably means something like “selfish or immoral utilization”. I don’t share that intuition. Consider a simple illustration. Mrs. Jones has […]
If it’s okay for God to allow horrors, then we don’t know much about God (Part 2)
This article is part 2 of a guest post by Dr. Jason Thibodeau. For part 1 click here. Jason teaches at Cypress College and blogs at The Secular OutPost. You can also visit him online at “Not Not a Philosopher.” III: Reply #1: We Know Enough In his recent book, An Atheist and A Christian Walk […]
If it’s okay for God to allow horrors, then we don’t know much about God (Part 1)
This article is part 1 of a guest post by Dr. Jason Thibodeau. Jason teaches at Cypress College and blogs at The Secular OutPost. You can also visit him online at “Not Not a Philosopher.” I: The Problem of Evil Every year in the United States an average of 37 children die after being left in […]
