Tag: presup
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Dear Atheists: Please Get Better Objections
Joe is an atheist who takes issue with my asking another commenter about supporting evidence for his claims. When I asked the other visitor, “what’s your evidence that only evidence matters?” Joe responded, “Sir, you may not be stupid, but this phrase is nonsense. YOU use evidence to support everything.”
Apparently Joe buys into the idea that only evidence matters, that everyone uses evidence to support everything, and even that every claim must be supported with evidence. But if every claim must be supported by evidence, then the claim, “every claim must be supported with evidence” must also be supported …
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Rhology Responds to Reasonable Doubts (part 4)
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Rhology Responds to Reasonable Doubts (part 3)
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Chris Bolt on the Skepticule Record Podcast
Atheist Paul Baird recently invited me to come on Skepticule for an informal discussion pertaining to a number of topics. I would like to thank Paul once again for a delightful time.
You may listen here – http://www.skepticule.co.uk/2012/07/skeprec-013-20120613.html…
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The Recent Rise of Covenantal Apologetics (2 of 10)
Douglas Wilson contends that there are, “…two tenets (of modern feminism): 1. men are jerks, and 2. women should strive by all means to become like them.” So who is this Doug Wilson? He is the witty guy who made the similar claim that, “There are two tenets of atheism: One, there is no God. Two, I hate him.” Wilson holds undergraduate degrees in Classical Studies and Philosophy and a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Idaho. He serves in Idaho as the pastor of Christ Church and is a professor at New Saint Andrews College (which he …
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The Recent Rise of Covenantal Apologetics (1 of 10)
Years ago (oh how time flies!) I read a series of posts by Mark Dever called, “Where’d All These Calvinists Come From?” You may read the series here. Dever provides observations pertaining to the apparent recent growth of Calvinist(ic) theology amongst younger generations as famously pointed out by Collin Hansen here. Some believe these claims erroneous. Others consider them truthful, good news. Others true, but harmful. Whatever your opinion on the matter, I suspect that the “New Calvinism” just has to be an improvement upon “Ancient Pelagianism.” And who wouldn’t agree that it is better to be “Young, …
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Theistic Arguments and the Necessity of God
There are many different types of necessity.
Logical Necessity and the Ontological Argument
A logically necessary entity exists in every possible world. (A “possible world” is just a logically possible state of affairs.) That is, there is no logically possible state of affairs in which a logically necessary entity does not exist.
The ontological argument seeks to demonstrate, among other things, that God is a logically necessary entity. Since God is the greatest possible being, there is no logically possible state of affairs in which God does not exist. It is greater for God to exist in every possible …
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The Arrogance of the “Impossibility of the Contrary”
A lot of people have problems with the “impossibility of the contrary” claim often made as part and parcel of the covenantal or presuppositional apologetic method. A lot of people. And they have problems with it for very different reasons. I will address only two of them here.
The first is exclusivity. To say that anything contrary to some given position is impossible is to make a very bold claim to exclusivity. I am not going to enter into the various senses in which the covenantal apologist might be using the term “impossibility” here. But it will suffice to …
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Paul Baird On His Informal Discussion With Me