The Textbook Example of Strawman Arguments
A strawman argument is basically arguing against something that’s easier to debunk than what your opponent actually said.
For example, John W. Loftus calls this one of the most asinine claims made by Christians:
It’s claimed that people like Dawkins, or Hitchens, or Harris don’t know enough to reject Christianity. How much should a person know about a religion or the various branches of it in order to reject it? Really. I’d like to know. (source)
If that’s the way that Christians actually articulate this objection, then yes, that’s asinine! However, I don’t think that anyone is saying this in spirit, even if they are in words.
What I think they are trying to get across is that Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris don’t know enough about Christianity to adequately criticize it. Dawkins is the prime example–one of the arguments central to The God Delusion is the second grade retort, “Well, who made God then?” That’s pretty sad coming from a man of Dawkins’s caliber. He’s a decorated scholar and an eminent scientist; you’d think he’d realize that philosophy has long progressed past that point.
It’s undeniable learned scholars such as Dawkins venture into territory which they are not as familiar with as they should be before taking the plunge. Maybe they know enough to confidently reject Christianity–they probably know at least as much about Christianity as I do about Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Roman Catholicism and I reject all of those.
However, before I try to criticize something, I attempt to become familiar with what it actually argues. These guys don’t. They stick to surface-level arguments and barely take a nick out of those. Much of what they do is argue by outrage, which is the direct opposite of the rational inquiry that they always call for.
I have no doubt that, in a slip of many tongues, Christians have probably said that the New Atheists don’t know enough about Christianity to reject it. However, that isn’t correct. These men don’t know enough about it to criticize it. I have a feeling that, while the formulation may have been incorrect, the articles by my fellow apologists would clearly explain that these men have seriously misplaced criticisms due to profound misunderstanding of basic Christian doctrines, theology, or arguments.
And that makes this a strawman argument from John Loftus.
If Life Were Like a Game…
If real life were like Dungeons & Dragons, atheism wouldn’t be an option. Especially if you challenged a god by temple desecration and lynching followers.
Here’s a novel idea for an awesome web comic. Replace the Knights of the Dinner Table with the Four Horsemen. I bet it would look something like this:
So, I Haven’t Posted in a While…
So, I haven’t posted in a while. I actually have several posts in the works, but for some reason I was never quite happy with any of them.
Then, I got bit by the Creative Bug and turned to writing some fiction. I don’t write nearly enough fiction, actually. I have an “idea folder” filled with books and screenplays that I might write “someday.” I even have a proposal for a TV show that I’ve been kicking around for about two months that I’m not sure what to do with just yet.
As I wrote a blog article defending a Christian participating in fantasy role-playing games, I kept getting ideas for adventures. So, I thought, why not actually write one?
Dungeons & Dragons adventures are tough to write; maintaining game balance is difficult, especially when you lack the ability to playtest. Which led me to think backwards to my first brush with the world of role-playing games, the simplified board game of Hero Quest. Back in 1998, I wrote a trio of Quest Packs for a HQ fan site called Agin’s Inn (defunct now, the Ye Olde Inn has taken its place). I only ended up writing two of the three planned packs, both of which planted a seed for a fourth Quest Pack to tie up the storyline.
Typical me. I start projects which I never finish.
Anyway, with the fresh bite from the Creative Bug, I set to work revamping the two original Quest Packs that I wrote, and finally started writing the third and fourth.
This was all supposed to be a quick diversion from apologetics, which I confess I’m getting a tad burned out on. I had planned on maintaining a proper posting schedule here, but working on the Quest Packs wound up being all I did for the last two weeks. That was not planned, I assure you. But it was nice, and I needed it.
Then, I started getting tons of ideas for other HQ Quest Packs and D&D adventures. I opened a gate or something. It would be a shame to do nothing with them. I guess I could always sell the ideas on eBay for exorbitant amounts of money.
That’s when I thought: everyone has to have a creative outlet. Look at J.P. Holding’s Annals of Hearthstone. Why not me? So I thought I might create a blog that offers free D&D adventures (as well as adventures for other role-playing systems, and maybe some of my other fiction) from time to time.
I’m still working out the details of that. How often would I post? What would I offer? Strictly adventures, or some fiction as well? And what would that do the posting over here, especially with me starting training for Pharmacy Tech?
What’s in store on this blog? I’m glad you asked.
- The final two installments answering DaGoodS’s questions for Christians (I didn’t forget!).
- God “tells” people to do horrific things, and every devout Christian can justify obvious sins by saying that they “know” God approves. How, then, can we know what’s going on, then, if God places a “stamp of approval” on actions that contradict his word?
- Brief introduction to law and grace, and why that’s so important.
- The Parable of the Seeds (Mt 13:1-9) and how it applies to Christianity today.
- More questions theists allegedly “can’t” answer.
- Regular updates to my revamp of God is NOT Imaginary. Co-author Joshua Rasmussen has been sending me some replies of his own to add to the my material. I’m still trying to figure out exactly how I’m going to do this; the co-author thing is new to me. I’ve always been a one-man show.
In conclusion, I’m still here and I’m hoping you are, too. Stay with us; it should get very interesting from here on out!
I So Meant to Post this on Sunday
This song, an old hymn, really spoke to me this past Sunday. I meant to post it then, but I forgot. Ooops. So, here it is now:
Read the history behind this song carefully. Horatio Spafford suffered immense loss, first with the Great Chicago Fire and then the shipwreck of all four of his daughters. Despite this, he didn’t waver in his faith (as far as I know). He certainly would have been justified had he done so. He and his wife then became missionaries to Jerusalem. It would have been at his lowest point, passing the watery graves of his daughters, that he wrote “It is Well with my Soul.”
Contrast that with this:
I received a letter a month or so later telling me that they could not recommend me for ordination at this time. They did however, outline a process I should work through in order to clear up the issues in my life and with my theology. They provided a long list of books I should read and asked that I meet with Doughboy on a monthly basis for further counseling.
So let me vent for a moment.I’m living in a town 10 miles from the church I once pastored and they want me to attend the sister church of that congregation because my choice to attend a Baptist church shows that I have unresolved theological questions. I drink wine on rare occasions and smoke a good cigar on a quarterly basis so I am obviously morally bankrupt. I can go out and spend $19.95 online to get ordained but these wind bags have decided I don’t meet their criteria.
Have I told you that I hate Christians. . . ?
I don’t really think it would have mattered what I said to them because what small minds these folks possessed were already made up before I arrived.
This is one of the episodes that cemented my position as highly critical and pessimistic about the Church. (source)
So, petty in-fighting and stupid inter-denominational bickering causes this guy, going by Slow Break, to lose his faith and resign his pastorate (elsewhere in the article, he’s clear about not being a Christian anymore). On the other hand, Horatio Spafford loses all his material goods followed closely by 2/3 of his family, but remains firm.
Obviously, Spafford had it rougher.
Though, in the interest of full disclosure, Slow Break is having a difficult time making a living since resigning his pastorate. He’s currently working in a crime-ridden part of town as a car salesman but can’t make any sales and so lacks two pennies to rub together. He admits this is a low point for him.
Some may fail to see the difference between Spafford and Slow Break, but there is a huge difference. The fix Slow Break finds himself in is his choice. He voluntarily resigned, and so far as I gather from the article, could have taken another church but refused. Spafford’s circumstances were a matter of events beyond his control, seeming to conspire against him.
What happened to the ex-pastor was his own doing. He chose to leave his post. He chose not to accept an alternative one. Spafford did not set the Chicago Fire. He did not pilot the opposing vessel which sank his daughters’ transport. God, however, was always in control of those things. Knowing this, Spafford muscled on and did not blame God for his troubles. He remained faithful to God, and God mightily used him in missionary work.
I wonder if Slow Break blames God for all his trouble?
Why Aren’t Christians Better People?
C. Michael Patton began a series on questions he hopes no one will ask, which relates to my own series on DaGoodS’s questions that Christians hope no one will ask. I examined a few of his questions in brief already, and I had intended to continue examining them as he posted more. In the interest of time, I wanted to just write a small snippet on each and combine several in a single post.
That didn’t happen with the question of why Christians aren’t better people. Read the rest of this entry
When I’m Wrong, I’m Wrong
It appears as though I made a sweeping generalization in my last post that was unwarranted. I claimed that atheists lauded this idiot, who made a homeless person jump through hoops for his own amusement before he would give the needy man $20.
I found the video via ex-Christian.net. The comments section on ex-C.net contained things like this:
- Actually the film maker didn’t seem arrogant or particularly condescending to me. It did make the man uncomfortable (although not the woman to my eyes), but its never comfortable when our deepest held values and beliefs are up for public scrutiny by someone who disbelieves them. Maybe it will give him the impetus to do some self-examination. Certainly if someone had just given them $20 without the discussion, these parents would have seen it as “a gift from the Lard!” & “God’s provisioning!”
- Hey, if it’s OK to casually ask for money on the side of the road (and guilt people into donating using “God”), then what’s wrong with casually asking someone to cross out a word in exchange for money?
- The christbots still found and jumped through a loophole to get the money. I really wish the film maker had had ten thousand dollars in cash to really “test” their faith.
- Does anyone really believe that if he had a million bucks, as opposed to 20, that they wouldn’t have accepted? Please.
- Exactly! And if by some slim-to-none chance they wouldn’t have taken the million bucks, that alone would prove the extent of their brainwashing… or sheer stupidity.
- Sad, there they are living in an RV homeless and yet somehow think god is for them? So sad. Sadder even I used to be that stupid. Then I did what the guy in the video said, took accountability for my life. TADA!!!!! It worked! Well what do you know? Read the rest of this entry
The Moral Bankruptcy of Atheism
Let’s try this thought experiment:
On the side of the road is a man, his wife, and a child. They are holding up a sign that reads, “We lost our home. Help would be appreciated.”
Moved by their plight, I’m compelled to help them. I pull my car over to an out-of-the way place. I exit the vehicle and approach the family.
“Hi,” I call to them.
“Hello,” the man says. His wife and daughter remain silent, though his wife offers me a tenative smile.
“I feel for your plight, sir,” I say. “I’m going to give you $20.”
“Thank you,” the man says. His wife smiles more broadly this time, and she extends a hand to thank me.
“But first,” I say, dangling a twenty dollar bill from my fingertips, “I want you to do a little something.”
The woman drops her hand to her side. The man looks at me, while the woman raises a quizzical eyebrow.
Then I propose my deal. “I have a hula hoop, clown shoes, and a colored wig in my trunk. I want you to strip all of your clothes off–totally naked–and wear nothing but the wig and clown shoes. Then, I want you to spin the hula hoop as many times as you can while chanting, ‘I can’t provide for the basic needs of my family, so I’m begging people for money instead of looking for a job!'”
Awkward silence. I dangle the twenty dollar bill even closer to the man’s face. “I don’t think so,” the man growls.
“I’ll make it $50 if you do this at the busiest mall in town,” I say.
The man just shakes his head vigorously. His wife won’t look at me anymore.
In this example, I think that we can confidently conclude that I’m an asshole who should be shot. Making the homeless jump through hoops for my own amusement is reprehensible behavior. People who engage in it deserve the label “asshole.”
Well, what have we here:
Though no one would praise my actions in the itallicized example, folks on ex-Christian.net are applauding the actions of the maker of that video. Had the asshole done what I did above in the thought experiment, they (hopefully) would have universally condemned him. Yet, when he asks the homeless person to deny God for money, that somehow is awesome.
To recap:
- Make a homeless person jump through sadistic hoops for money = immoral.
- Make a homeless person deny his Creator for money = strong commentary on religion.
Conclusion: Atheists have little moral compass, especially when it comes to making religion look bad. Anything goes. This is so disgusting that I can’t even come up with words for it.
Remember, the spirit is more important than the flesh. Denying God has spiritual consequences greater than the physical consequences of turning down $20 from a complete asshole:
If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Phil 3:4-11)
And:
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. (Mt 10:29, 31-33)
Help for Family
From left: Destiny, Denise, Joe (Destiny's husband, Denise's son)
As I stated in a previous post, my cousin (Destiny) and aunt (Denise) were injured in a propane blast on the evening of February 13. It was powerful enough to blow the back door clean off the house. Both received 3rd degree burns and are currently in the burn unit at St. Vincent’s Mercy Medical Center in Toledo, OH.
Logan James Nicholson
The real problem was that Destiny was pregnant, and the baby had to be delivered by emergency C-section on Valentine’s Day. Not the way you want a little one to enter this world. But he is doing well. He’s in NICU for a few more days, and on antibiotics as a precaution. Logan weighed five pounds, four ounces and was 18 1/4 inches long. He was born three weeks early.
Continued prayers would be most appreciated.
Unfortunately, Joe and Destiny lost most of their possessions. Their house (which was a fixer-upper before) is in serious disarray. If you can offer any financial help, please visit their support website to donate.
If you’re on Facebook, you can join the Support Destiny Nicholson Group to receive updates and offer moral support.
E-mail isadj1@gmail.com with any additional ideas, comments, or questions.
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