Paul Copan has written a little critique of R. C. Sproul Jr. on the problem of evil:http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2008/09/taking-calvinism-too-far-rc-sproul-jr’s-evil-creating-deity/For the most part I’m not going to comment directly on Copan or Sproul Jr. I’m more interested in questioning one of the underlying assumptions. 1. Before we get to that I will comment on one of Copan’s statements:Sproul Jr., however, wants to get to the bottom of the matter and weigh in on what he takes to be the source of evil: God! Shocked? I certainly hope so.Whether this is shocking or not d... [read more]

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Weevils are evil. They damage crops. That’s a natural evil. So weevildoers are evildoers. Some weevils are more evil than others. They do more damage. It’s evil to choose the lesser of two weevils. That makes me complicit in the evil deeds of the evil weevildoers—not to mention the weevil evildoers. Therefore, if I have a choice between a lesser weevil exterminator and a greater weevil exterminator, it would be morally compromising of me to choose the lesser weevil exterminator over the greater weevil exterminator. Likewise, unless a pesticide can kill lesser and greater weevils alike... [read more]

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DMITRY CHERNIKOV SAID:Just as with so many things in Catholicism we are led from the corporeal to the spiritual, from the sensible to the intelligible, from the particular to the universal. But in reaching these higher matters, the means to them, that is, the corporeal, the sensible, etc. are not illusions but are perfectly real.The accidental properties of the communion elements are illusory rather than real since they don’t correspond to an underlying substance of bread and wine. Now Christ as a whole is present in the bread and wine, namely, body, blood, soul, and divinity.How is the b... [read more]

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john w. loftus said...If only he [Hays] was a reasonable polite discussion partner!?That would be easier if Evan were a reasonable discussion partner. He's not and he never will be. I can be perfectly polite when I have a reasonable discussion partner. He views us as pawns of the devil. True!He thinks we are purposely misleading others.True!We are not honest with the facts.True!We distort them because we love sin.True!Couldn’t have put it better myself. Loftus is really on a roll here.Such arrognace and hubris is as unbelieveable to me, as is the Calvinist gospel he preaches.Oh, well, not... [read more]

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Evan is so predictable. Like the sunrise, you always know that Evan is going to say something obtuse. This is his attempt to respond to my latest post on the Legend of Sargon:http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com/2008/09/sargon-redux.htmlTo fully appreciate the lengths the tribe will go to, it's necessary to revisit the sentence I wrote that started the whole fracas in the first place. I made a simple, declarative sentence:“I think the story of Sargon being floated in a basket of reeds down the river as an infant is a myth (that predates the Moses myth).”This created multiple posts ... [read more]

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From David Waltz:(Hopefully, they [Bridges, Hays] have been able to move past their Catholic serial killer mentality).Hopefully Waltz has moved beyond projecting his own opinions onto us and then shifting the burden of proof. Bridges seems to justify his stance with the points made earlier in a., b., and c.; he then recommends that I “take a gander at Carson and Beale”. Fair enough, so this morning I turned to Beale, who wrote:"The conclusion of those who see the New Testament use of the Old Testament as non-contextual is that twentieth-century Christians should not attempt to reproduce... [read more]

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Numerically speaking, the two major theological traditions are Catholicism and Orthodoxy. It’s striking that, in their different ways, both traditions have a deep commitment to theological illusionism.In Catholicism, you can see this in the dogma of transubstantiation. Here the illusion operates at two levels. To begin with, the consecrated bread and wine retain the sensible properties of bread and wine, but that’s illusory because, in essence, the communion elements have been changed into the true body and blood of Christ. So there’s no connection between the substance and the sensib... [read more]

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Every election cycle, Christians have the same debate. Should we choose the lesser of two evils? Some Christians take the position that it’s evil to choose the lesser of two evils. However, this reflects a semantic and conceptual confusion.When we speak of choosing the lesser of two “evils,” “evil,” in this context, doesn’t mean “wicked” or “immoral.” Rather, we’re using the term the way we call a natural disaster a natural “evil.” When we call a hurricane (to take one example) a natural “evil,” we’re not saying that the hurricane is wicked or immoral. The hu... [read more]

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In the context of Sarah Palin’s nomination to be McCain’s Veep, one objection I’ve run across in some conservative circles is that a woman shouldn’t be a civil magistrate. While the dominant culture would decry this objection as unbearably sexist, it raises a valid question which Bible-believing Christians must address.1.One objection I’ve seen is that a female magistrate runs counter to the creation-order in 1 Cor 11 and 1 Tim 2. There are, however, some complications with that appeal:i) The Greek words aner/gyne can either mean “man/woman” or “husband/wife.” Which sense ... [read more]

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(Posted on behalf of Steve Hays.)Hector Avalos writes:If Triablogue were as wise, they might have Dr. Hoffmeier to guest post on their behalf. But perhaps Triablogue does not have enough credibility to attract experts on their side.A few preliminaries are in order:i) At the time Avalos responded to Peter and me, he was not, himself, a guest blogger at DC. Instead, he emailed Loftus and Loftus posted his email. Therefore, if Hector's own conduct is any yardstick, I don't need to invite an expert to guest post on my behalf. It would be sufficient for me to do what Loftus and Avalos did.ii) An... [read more]

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