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THE WILLIAM LANE CRAIG / KEVIN SCHARP DEBATE

2/25/2016

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Last night, I attended a debate between Christian philosopher William Lane Craig and Ohio State University philosopher Kevin Scharp on whether there is evidence for God. I had previously seen portions of several debates with Craig on YouTube, and in those he always appeared to do rather well. I was surprised, therefore, by how poorly he performed yesterday. Craig managed to misunderstand some pretty straightforward points made by Scharp and – what's worse – on at least two occasions, his misunderstandings appeared to be willful.

One of the things Scharp argued is that there is a difference between having a belief and merely having greater than 50% confidence that something is true. The example he used to illustrate this point made it very clear what he was talking about: although he thinks it's about 51% probable that Clinton will be our next president, it would be incorrect to describe that as having the belief that she is going to be the next president. Belief requires greater confidence than that.

Now, this point seems rather easy to understand, and yet Craig acted very confused about it – and not just once, but twice. In other words, even after Scharp explained what he meant, Craig still didn't seem to get it. This was bizarre. Nevertheless, it did appear that the confusion in this case was genuine. My guess is that Craig was having a hard time interpreting the point because he was trying to figure out how it applied to his claims and just couldn't make the connection. (I myself don't see that it necessarily does apply to his arguments – that is, I didn't understand Craig to be claiming merely that the existence of God is more likely than not.)

But as I've already said, in some cases Craig appeared to purposely misinterpret the point being made – and that's more troubling.

The clearest example of that occurred when Scharp claimed that the resurrection violates known laws of nature – and therefore that even outlandish explanations for what really happened that do not violate such laws are preferable. To make this point, he used the crazy example that perhaps aliens came down to earth after the crucifixion and stole Jesus's body. He actually used the word “crazy,” or something to that effect, in describing this example. But in spite of that, Craig immediately responded with something like “Is that really where you want to go? Is that what you are going to claim?”

It got a big laugh, as well as enthusiastic applause, from much of the audience. Many of those in attendance obviously thought Craig had just demonstrated how foolish atheists are – so foolish they think Jesus's body may actually have been stolen by aliens. But of course that's not what Scharp was claiming, and surely Craig knows that.

In an earlier post, I wrote of my suspicions that sometimes Craig is dishonest. I'm sorry to report that as of last night, those suspicions have been confirmed.
​​

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DIFFICULTIES WITH THE ADAM AND EVE STORY

2/18/2016

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Debating whether Adam and Eve were real individuals is akin to debating the Easter Bunny hypothesis – it isn't something that anyone reasonable should get involved in. Just consider some of the “arguments” put forward by biblical scholars Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe in defense of the view:
  • “...Genesis 1-2 presents them as actual persons and even narrates the important events in their lives...”
  • “...they gave birth to literal children who did the same...”
  • “...logically, there had to be a first real set of human beings, male and female, or else the race would have had no way to begin. The Bible calls this literal couple 'Adam and Eve', and there is no reason to doubt their real existence.”

​(Quotes are from The Big Book of Bible Difficulties, pp. 31-32.)


But unfortunately – and in spite of arguments as bad as these – many Americans (56% according to one recent poll) actually believe that Adam and Eve were real people. It follows that raising questions about the Adam and Eve story probably isn't a complete waste of time.

With that in mind – or just for the fun of it – I offer the following list of difficulties, which go a little further than the well-known “where did Cain's wife come from?”
  • If Adam and Eve didn't know the difference between good and evil prior to eating the forbidden fruit, then how could they be held accountable for what they did?
  • If God didn't want anyone having knowledge of good and evil, why did he create the stupid tree in the first place? Why make such knowledge available, in other words – and by means of the eating of fruit that was “good for food” and “a delight to the eyes” (Gen 3:6), of all things? This sounds like a clear case of entrapment.
  • What is bad about knowing the difference between good and evil anyway? Isn't that supposed to be a good thing to know?
  • If the serpent in the Garden wasn't just a snake but was in fact Satan disguised, then why did God punish snakes? If the devil came to me in the form of a talking puppy and convinced me to do something wrong, would God take the legs away from all dogs and make them crawl around in the dirt too?
  • Adam was warned (Gen 2:17) that on the day that he ate the forbidden fruit he would die, but instead lived several hundred additional years – an incredibly long time to be on death row even by the standards of our current legal system. Was the warning just an empty threat?
  • After Cain kills Abel, he worries that “anyone who meets” him might kill him (Gen 4:14). But this was before Adam and Eve had any additional children, as one can see by Gen 4:25. So who were these people that Cain feared?
  • How is it possible for 56% of the population to believe in any of this stuff?
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