tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post406366554465793921..comments2023-06-01T14:08:49.977+00:00Comments on Confessions of a Doubting Thomas: The Christian Delusion - ReviewUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-10575909176359537802012-08-15T05:38:23.502+00:002012-08-15T05:38:23.502+00:00Hi Ricky, Nice post on healings. That reminds me, ...Hi Ricky, Nice post on healings. That reminds me, there's a video by Derren Brown who hosts a show called Mind Control, who has repeated the antics of Christians who claim to heal people on the street, with success. There's some videos on youtube about Derren's training a fellow to do the same things as well. Edwardtbabinskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-46073084928583969622012-08-14T14:05:31.206+00:002012-08-14T14:05:31.206+00:00Stumbled on your blog when searching for something...Stumbled on your blog when searching for something else.<br /><br />I made a Christian commitment at a summer Scripture Union holiday way back in the early 70s in Scotland. I ended up helping at those holidays and became very involved in various churches, Alpha courses - the whole nine yards.<br /><br />My faith followed a dry course in the early noughties, and this and other life events forced me to question a lot of things. Like you, I started to look outside the cocoon I'd been in for other's points of view. I was helped by more liberal minded Christians, events like the Greenbelt Festival, and forums like Ship of Fools.<br /><br />It was something akin to Chapter 6 above that was the final piece of Jenga removed, bringing the whole of my 33 years of faith tumbling down - in early 2005. It took me about a year to extricate myself from all my church roles - a somewhat uncomfortable time.<br /><br />Having crossed that bridge, I've moved on as an agnostic, but still look back with interest on what the wider church is doing now, and wondering what made me hang in there for so long.<br /><br />As a later post of yours notes:<br /><i>... be careful who you mix with, you will quite probably end up believing the same as them.</i><br /><br />Very true.<br /><br />Best wishes on the journey ahead.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-5150540770350653682012-01-13T05:12:01.127+00:002012-01-13T05:12:01.127+00:00Well,in my humble opinion it is obvious Loftus has...Well,in my humble opinion it is obvious Loftus has not analyzed the NT well since he should know the NT elevates the Golden Rule to the level of LAW several times.<br /><br />That is the highest possible level in Judaism,so for a regular Jew there was no failure to communicate at all.It is basic knowledge of Judaism andLoftus should know that.<br /><br />Avalos shows ignorance of basic exegesis when he says the NT encourages antisemitism,it does not,since the GOLDEN RULE being the LAW goes against antiSemitism,<br /><br />I think Avalos is not being honest here,he,as a scholar should know something so BASICminoriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08030653596590889158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-80047327449374351442012-01-01T09:07:22.861+00:002012-01-01T09:07:22.861+00:00Ed,
Glad someone else out there is on the same wa...Ed,<br /><br />Glad someone else out there is on the same wavelength as me!<br /><br />Regarding the 'miraculous' healings, have a look back at <a href="http://confessionsofadoubtingthomas.blogspot.com/2009/03/skeptical-position-and-apparent-miracle.html" rel="nofollow">THIS POST</a> from March 2009 and the string of posts which followed it. (And, indeed, a few comment threads which came before).<br /><br />I have a partially written post on miracles that will emerge eventually, although its been partially written for about 6 months now and there are another 7 partially written posts in process too...Ricky Carvelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17975085318645232701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-64169961379786816502011-12-31T22:42:38.300+00:002011-12-31T22:42:38.300+00:00Hi David, I came here not because John highlighted...Hi David, I came here not because John highlighted this blog, but because the mention of my name and/or "cosmology of the Bible" came up on my Google alerts.Edwardtbabinskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-13428218019664049142011-12-31T22:37:39.125+00:002011-12-31T22:37:39.125+00:00Hi Ricky, I agree with you more than you think on ...Hi Ricky, I agree with you more than you think on the agnostic questions you raised vis a vis my own. <br /><br />I'm also interested in reading more about those "minor healings" you mentioned, and reading more about your personal intellectual/spiritual/agnostic journey. <br /><br />We seem to have quite a lot in common, including an interest in comparing synoptic Gospels and the implications of the story of Jesus developing from Mark to John.Edwardtbabinskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-85325817082110443642011-12-31T16:02:46.422+00:002011-12-31T16:02:46.422+00:00In re: Atheism was not the cause of the Holocaust
...In re: Atheism was not the cause of the Holocaust<br />I think this is in the book due to the "religious right" folx here in the US claiming otherwise. Over, and over, and over...JoeBuddhanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-1179617272340435852011-12-31T10:37:43.962+00:002011-12-31T10:37:43.962+00:00LW,
I just found all the 'PhD's unnecessa...LW,<br /><br />I just found all the 'PhD's unnecessary. Without further explanation, this wasn't 'credentials' it was just showing off.Ricky Carvelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17975085318645232701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-63700628812754720402011-12-31T09:55:11.778+00:002011-12-31T09:55:11.778+00:00Enjoyed the review, but your annoyance by authors ...Enjoyed the review, but your annoyance by authors referencing their credentials came across as rather strange ans silly.L.W.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-25442037183797747822011-12-31T08:24:52.101+00:002011-12-31T08:24:52.101+00:00Hello new people to my blog.
Ed, if I'd know ...Hello new people to my blog.<br /><br />Ed, if I'd know you'd be reading this I'd have said more about your chapter!<br /><br />David, welcome too. I started reading your (67 page!) document on the Avalos and Carrier chapter rebuttals, but I'm afraid to say I didn't get too far into it. Basically because I'm not particularly interested in either debate.<br /><br />If you'd refuted Loftus's 'Failure to Communicate' chapter, then I'd have been far more interested, as it - in my opinion - is the Christianity killer in this collection of writings.<br /><br />Ed, regarding your 'what kind of God?' questions, I see your points and agree with them, but you are (apparently; by default) assuming that God = Creator/Designer. That's one of my agnostic issues. The more I look into it, the less design I see. But I have witnessed some minor 'miraculous healings' and other things that it is very hard to explain away using psychology and/or trickery. The best explanation I can see (at present) is that some 'supernatural' agent, who is able to effect minor healings, answers when people pray to 'Jesus' (and possibly when others pray to God using other names too). This God need not be a creator, and I see no evidence that he is all powerful, etc. but - for the moment at least - I can see something there... <br /><br />And Mike, feel free to usurp the comments discussion on my blog again, I don't mind... ;o)Ricky Carvelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17975085318645232701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-84355292595007990902011-12-30T23:39:23.705+00:002011-12-30T23:39:23.705+00:00Ricky: John highlighted your blog, which may expla...Ricky: John highlighted your blog, which may explain visits from strangers, like myself and (presumably) Ed. <br /><br />I'm a sparring partners. I wrote a book rebutting the New Atheism four years ago, and have been jowsting with the ranks of skeptics like John and Hector on-line quite a bit since. <br /><br />Loftus is a likeable fellow, as is Ed, but often these books are, I think, not just wrong, but dead wrong. <br /><br />You might enjoy my review of John's last two books on Amazon, and the debates that followed there. (Also posted in more readable form at christthetao.com.) As a scholar of world religions, I've also argued on my blog that John's Outsider Test for Faith not only fails, but if taken seriously, strongly supports the truth of Christianity. See "Why Christianity Passes the Outsider Test for Faith" and "Did Christianity Cause the Holocaust" for two of several rebuttals there.<br /><br />Also, I hope you enjoy Wright: his work is profound.David B Marshallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04029133398946303654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-38855627825341963042011-12-30T15:55:52.924+00:002011-12-30T15:55:52.924+00:00Want to avoid another comment thread becoming a de...Want to avoid another comment thread becoming a debate of my experiences. Your answers are probably here:<br />http://confessionsofadoubtingthomas.blogspot.com/2011/11/explanatory-power-of-unseen-infinite.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-7593050902626598292011-12-30T14:49:57.954+00:002011-12-30T14:49:57.954+00:00Hi Ricky, I think John included my chapter on bibl...Hi Ricky, I think John included my chapter on biblical cosmology because he wanted to highlight the "delusion" (currently held by Christian young and old earth creationists and I.D.ists) that the Bible begins with historical scientific truth. I also mentioned some ANE parallels of other sorts as well, not just cosmological ones. See for instance these online pieces: <br /><br />http://edward-t-babinski.blogspot.com/search?q=monotheism<br /><br />Let me know how your journey progresses. I'm agnostic. The evidence appears less than clear as to what kind of "God" may exist. <br /><br />a)What "creator/designer" works for millions of years creating life forms that continue dying painfully and becoming extinct, sometimes en masse in major extinction events? Carefully crafting new creatures only to destroy many of them en masse during the next eon? Allowing countless branches to simply go extinct? A "God" that can't achieve it's goals without plenty of death? What kind of "God" do you think it would take to create a cosmos with such fragile short-lived life forms? At best this cosmos is filled with wildly dangerous levels of radiation, unstable planetary bodies sterile of life, comets and asteroids smacking into such planetoids even the ones with life on them, and stars that sometimes get too near each other or explode, as well as galaxies that sometimes collide. At best this wild mix up of atoms and energies in the cosmos produces living organisms in a few teensy "habitable zones," and I bet most of the places in the cosmos where life is found only consist of single celled life forms.<br />b)So the cosmos appears at best, in equilibrium with life and death. And the intelligent life on this planet is living on the shifting quaking surface of a planet hung like a shooting gallery in space.<br />c) And we are restricted to the surface such that if we ascend up or down five miles from the earth's surface we'll freeze or burn. And most of the earth's shifting surface isn't extremely amenable to human habitation, it's either frozen tundra, sandy desert, too rocky and steep, or too infested with diseases and parasites.<br />d) What kind of God allows so many different religious views to co-exist? And has so many people's visions and NDEs differ? Most people who are revived do not even report having an NDE. Of those who do, Betty Eade met a Mormon Jesus, a Thailand Buddhist met a turtle God, another person met a clown, another person claims he met a guy named "Bob" who comforted him. Most NDEs are not highly descriptive, just a tunnel and light. And of those whose NDEs free them from fear of death, not all of them are Evangelical Christians, far from it. So the NDEs and visionary experiences of say, native Americans and Hindus and Buddhists and Christians differ in many respects. There's also Christian mystic universalists like Julian of Norwich, and Christian mystics whose experiences and writings have commonalities with mystics from other religions.<br />e) So the question is not simply "God or no God." The question of what kind of God would create this kind of cosmos, and also allow so many different religions (and rival inspired writings and commentaries of those writings) and such varieties of visions and NDEs to exist, is a question that remains wide open. What do we really know?Edwardtbabinskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-74904425644443290872011-12-30T14:33:54.019+00:002011-12-30T14:33:54.019+00:00Hi Mike, What kinds of supernatural experiences?Hi Mike, What kinds of supernatural experiences?Edwardtbabinskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20930767.post-21068256741589304512011-12-30T11:02:33.876+00:002011-12-30T11:02:33.876+00:00Hah, hello!
Very interesting stuff. I think I'...Hah, hello!<br /><br />Very interesting stuff. I think I'm in the same boat as you where I agree with all of it but they can't quite manage to explain my supernatural experiences without claiming I'm mentally deluded.<br /><br />Interesting to hear more about the take-down of liberal Christianity as there's where I am sitting right now (e.g. the Bible isn't infallible, historical Jesus searching, somewhat dismissive of church tradition).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com