Daily Archives: January 15, 2011
Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask, part 8
Former Christian turned atheist DaGoodS (DGS) has compiled a list of eleven questions that he doesn’t think Christians can answer. I’ve decided to take him on, since I’m a sucker for questions that Christians supposedly can’t answer. Hopefully, DGS and I can learn something from each other.
I have temporarily skipped questions #7 and #8 so that I can do a little bit more research. These are questions that lie outside the area I generally consider my specialty (philosophy), so I want to do some research. Since I didn’t want to lose my incredible momentum of posing, I thought I’d work ahead to give me some time.
So, let’s cover question #10:
What law, moral code or justice system was God following when He absolved David of his sin? More importantly, what moral code or justice system was God following when He killed a baby as punishment for a sin He absolved? (2 Sam. 12:13-18)
This question is asked only from a complete ignorance of God’s ontology. Let’s cover divine simplicity, but let’s start essentially by isolating God from the universe.
First, when you apply an adjective to someone, some external quality is modifying or describing this person–in addition to this person’s ontological make-up (e.g. the indelible qualities that make him human). If I say that someone is moral, for example, I’m using some generally accepted definition of “moral” and saying that this person’s behavior and attitudes usually conform to it. Read the rest of this entry
Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask, part 7
Former Christian turned atheist DaGoodS (DGS) has compiled a list of eleven questions that he doesn’t think Christians can answer. I’ve decided to take him on, since I’m a sucker for questions that Christians supposedly can’t answer. Hopefully, DGS and I can learn something from each other.
I have momentarily skipped questions #7 and #8, since they require more science to answer. Philosophy is more my area of interest and specialty. I will get back to them at the end, so we shall move forward for the time being to enable me to do a bit of research into the arguments that these questions cite. That way, I can’t be accused of an ad hoc response.
Question #9 has been refuted numerous times by me and others. Let us groan along together as we re-read it for the 3,000,000th time, and refute it for the 3,000,000th time:
If your God determined the only way to resolve the cultural clash in the Tanakh was to engage in genocide, how is it he conveniently found virgin females could be rehabilitated, but not one-day-old males?
This is a re-statement of the old arguments about divine genocide. I’ve argued that these are reasonable here. Paul Copan has forwarded some arguments with regard to genocide in the Bible in this article. Copan has since expanded that essay into a book.
I don’t have the symposium that Philosophia Christi published on Copan’s article, but you can order Philisophia Christi, volume 11, #1 (2009) from the EPS here and read it for yourself. I’ve listed the essays below, in case you have access to more scholarly databases than I do and can thus find the essays without much trouble. I highly recommend reading these essays. Read the rest of this entry
Josiah Concept Ministries 