tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283007732024-03-07T19:16:43.315-08:00ScriveningsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger294125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-71861393078366968322019-04-27T13:29:00.000-07:002019-09-05T04:29:21.134-07:00Miracles by Craig S. Keener — Two Con Men Who Invented A New Form of Faith Healing Spectacle: John Alexander Dowie and John G. Lake
Craig Keener in his work, Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament, mentions Dowie and Lake as healers extraordinaire. But many of their claims have been revealed to be cons, including in the end, conning themselves.
Con Man, John Alexander Dowie
John Alexander Dowie and the Invention of Faith Healing, 1882-1889
John Alexander Dowie invented a new form of faith healing spectacle in the Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-72154964186789854252019-04-25T18:15:00.000-07:002019-09-04T06:30:07.075-07:00Miracles by Craig S. Keener — Smith Wigglesworth Raised the Dead?
Craig Keener in his work, Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament, mentions that “fourteen” raisings from the dead are attributed to “one of the most famous healing evangelists,”[1] a Pentecostal preacher from the U.K., named Smith Wigglesworth (1859–1947). Keener adds that “Wigglesworth claimed that the greatest test of his obedience was when he Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-40619657562083077232019-04-24T15:56:00.000-07:002019-09-05T04:25:15.237-07:00Miracles by Craig S. Keener — Boy Sees Out of Empty Eye Socket?
Ronnie Coyne lost his right eye in a baling wire accident when he was a boy, but claims he attended a healing service and afterwards could see out of his empty eye socket, either with his artificial eye in the empty eye socket or not. He grew up to become Rev. Roscoe Ronald Coyne, evangelist–healer. The late Mr. Coyne is no longer capable of being tested but his presentations can be seen Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-18184587661904965002019-04-14T14:26:00.000-07:002019-09-05T04:26:35.760-07:00Miracles by Craig S. Keener — The Miracle of Speaking in Tongues?
The following post is an extended endnote to an essay of mine to be published in fall 2019, “Tidal Wave or Trickle? Assessing Keener’s Miracles,” a chapter in The Case Against Miracles.
The Miracle of Speaking in Tongues?
As a former tongue–speaking Christian I tried spelling out what I was saying phonetically on paper and soon noticed the repetitive nature of many of the Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-85657594726049968362019-03-03T00:59:00.001-08:002019-12-01T22:36:59.319-08:00Questionable Views of Thomas Aquinas / Thomism
Thomism is Aristotelianism viewed through a Christian lens. For instance:
“The Eucharist, a Catholic mystery, needs Aristotle's thought to establish its philosophic legitimacy. Scholasticism, with its categories of ‘substance,’ ‘accidents,’ ‘genera,’ ‘substantial forms,’ is the sole authorization of this ontological three card monte which permits affirmation of the bread really, not Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-41102274539574190892018-05-11T16:13:00.000-07:002019-09-04T06:15:31.694-07:00Edward Feser’s Imaginative ad hoc Excuse for Eternal Punishment
Christian apologist: In his Of True Religion, Saint Augustine describes hell as a place where there is no truth and no reasoning, because there is no shining of the light of the Logos. This makes sense: rationality is the distinctly human feature, and hell is where humanity is in ruins.
Response: So God makes it metaphysically impossible for anyone in hell to ever change, locking people into Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-12999394306562661412017-08-23T02:17:00.000-07:002019-09-04T06:16:05.006-07:00Christians admit that difficult questions arise when one attempts to reconcile Christianity and Evolution
From Pete Enns:
‘Evolution is a serious challenge to how Christians have traditionally understood at least three central issues of the faith: the origin of humanity, of sin, and of death.’
“Evolution claims that the cause of sin and death, as Paul understood it, is not viable. That leaves open the questions of where sin and death come from. More than that, the very nature ofEdwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-88377505849874254712017-08-22T22:26:00.000-07:002019-09-06T00:18:22.274-07:00The Resurrection of Lazarus, Questions Galore
The Anointing Stories in the Synoptic Gospels Raise Questions Concerning the Historicity of the Raising of Lazarus Story in the Fourth Gospel
According to the Gospels Jesus was anointed with (or received) perfume numerous times in his life. Are all the tales true? Are any of them symbolic, legendary? At his birth Jesus allegedly received a visit from an unknown number of wealthy star gazers (Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-39333249332533147442017-08-10T06:48:00.000-07:002019-09-06T00:18:59.636-07:00Is the Atheist My Neighbor? a book by Randal Rauser, reviewed by Edward Babinski
Dr Randal Rauser is Professor of Historical Theology at Taylor Seminary and blogs at The Tentative Apologist. In his book, Is the Atheist My Neighbor? Randal denounces the narrow “rebellion thesis,” i.e., that atheists moreso than any other people are in rebellion (often conscious direct rebellion) against the one true God and one true religion.
Randal points out how popular the Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-3040661440679424062017-07-08T13:52:00.000-07:002019-09-06T00:19:40.758-07:00Tyler Cowen on "Why I Don't Believe in God" and Ross Douthat on "Should Tyler Cowen Believe in God?"
Ross Douthat, the 37 year old Catholic New York Timesʼ wunderkind op ed columnist is on a quest to save intellectual conservatism, and tried to lead prof. Tyler Cowen at George Mason University toward the Christian fold or at least back toward classical theism, because Tyler recently wrote, Why I Donʼt Believe in God.
In response, Ross wrote, Should Tyler Cowen Believe in God?
In Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-49363174044594985972017-02-04T14:55:00.000-08:002019-09-06T00:20:30.254-07:00Christian Comedians Should Leave Satire and Sarcasm to the Experts
Funny Simpson and Futurama quotations on religion
The Simpsons as Religious Satire
The Onion [on God]
The Onion [on Christ]
The Onion [on Religion]
Which Circle? [celebrating the truth, beauty, & absurdity of Christian campus ministry]
…or at least leave it to Christians who have a more expansive and less of a narrow-gate-ish sense of humor:
The Door Magazine [Christians Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-68774228344756651352016-12-15T19:03:00.001-08:002019-09-06T00:24:57.124-07:00Mark Twain on the Problem of Evil
“Little Bessie,” The Myth of Providence by Mark Twain
“In His wisdom and mercy the Lord sends us afflictions to discipline us and make us better…All of them. None of them comes by accident; He alone sends them, and always out of love for us, and to make us better, my child.”
“Did He give Billy Norris the typhus, mamma?”
“Yes.”
“WhatEdwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-70478423951861105332016-12-06T22:21:00.000-08:002019-09-06T00:23:09.952-07:0014 Biology Lessons for I.D.ists (Intelligent Design advocates)
We donʼt see genes or organisms simply popping into existence out of nowhere. They all appear to have natural lineages. Connections abound in nature, not disconnections and miracles. Hereʼs what Intelligent Design advocates WANT to say happened, notice how unconcerned they are with continuing to examine all the connections in nature, and how eager they are to promote disconnections Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-44386220745222832432016-10-16T13:51:00.000-07:002019-09-06T00:24:08.265-07:00Was Benjamin Franklin a Christian? Or to be more precise, did Benjamin Franklin convert to “true Christianity” in middle-age as Christian apologist Bill Fortenberry suggests? (HT: James Patrick Holding J.P.Holding)
Before proceeding, one might ask, does such a question matter? If you are a Christian apologist who seeks to prove that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation, it might. But if one is trying to prove that converting to Christianity provides a great boon to every individualʼs life in this case Franklinʼs, there is little evidence of him changing much if at all (provided he did Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-61763658279399370432016-04-24T14:18:00.001-07:002019-09-06T00:27:00.975-07:00Leading I.D.ists & Creationists Admit Evidence that Humans & Apes Share Common Ancestry
The evidence for common ancestry is so overwhelming that even the biologist Michael Behe (whose books advocate “intelligent design,” and who is a senior member at the Discovery Institute) concurs. Behe wrote in his second book:
“Evolution from a common ancestor, via DNA changes, is very well supported” (p. 12).
“[O]ne leg of Darwinʼs theory—common descent—is correct” (p. 65).
“The bottom Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-53548527272949254892016-04-19T17:21:00.000-07:002019-09-06T00:27:56.044-07:00The Apostle Paul “Winged It” According To Christian N.T. Scholar, Peter Enns, author of The Sin of Certainty (Scrivenings: Paul Fanaticus Extremis Series)See previous parts of this series here.
According to Christian New Testament scholar, Peter Enns:
As I read Romans, I donʼt walk away thinking, “My, what a carefully planned out letter.” I think more, “Paul is winging it.” I know that might not seem very reverent, especially since Romans is often thought of as the primo example of Paul at his difficult yet Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-50322074107140643572016-04-17T10:39:00.000-07:002019-09-06T00:29:52.950-07:00“Eyewitness” Reports of Jesus's Resurrection? Or Gospel Trajectories? (A Piece I Wrote Years Ago, When Dr. Gary Habermas and I Were Exchanging Letters)
Concerning Jesusʼs post-resurrection appearances some apologists contend that we have accurate objective ‘eyewitness’ reports in 1 Cor. 15 and the Gospels and book of Acts.
Yet Paul does not give a single detail as to what anyoneʼs eyes ‘witnessed,’ not even himself (except for Lukeʼs account of what Paul saw, which amounts to no more than a bright lightEdwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-61962002808678369402016-04-12T22:28:00.001-07:002019-09-06T00:30:57.045-07:00Sorry Creationists, Death Existed Since “The Beginning”
I used to be a young-earth creationist, but realized I could not defend the idea of “no death before the Fall of Adam and Eve.” For instance, plants are alive, their cells have the same basic structures as those in animals, like a nucleus, cytoplasm and cell wall, and they died per Genesis 1, not because of sin, but because they were given as food. And the mere fact that ‘foodEdwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-43085249570252366192016-04-10T17:36:00.001-07:002019-09-06T00:31:40.466-07:00Prophecy about Jesus? “Mighty God, Everlasting Father” Isaiah 9:6
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6
Is the above passage a prophecy concerning the one whom Christians would come to call “God the Son, second person of the Trinity?”
No.
First, the Hebrew states that Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-63684566843625493872016-03-25T00:01:00.000-07:002019-09-06T00:32:32.545-07:00Evolution of the Human Brain, Past, Present, Future...
Also see:
Prominent Hominid Fossils
Creationist Arguments: Brain Sizes
According to The Big History Project concerning the history of the cosmos, life and humans, our distant ancestors in Africa began to move about more as the trees there were replaced by ever widening grasslands. Due to trees growing scarcer and grasslands widening between groups of trees our ancestors were forced to walk Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-3670937817642440272016-03-24T01:35:00.002-07:002019-09-06T00:33:19.049-07:00Cambrian Explosion, No Help to I.D.—Agassiz trumps Darwin? (Stephen C. Meyer, Signature in the Cell, Darwin's Doubt, Louis Agassiz, Discovery Institute, Intelligent Design)
In honor of a recent three-way debate between Stephen Meyer of the Discovery Institute and two evolutionists (one of them a Christian), I am sharing the following link to an earlier post I have re-edited and added pics to:
Cambrian Explosion, No Help to I.D.—The Impatience of Intelligent Design Advocates—Agassiz trumps Darwin?
Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-14058924251166699362016-03-22T02:19:00.001-07:002019-09-06T00:34:28.027-07:00Lawrence Krauss, Stephen Meyer, Denis Lamoureux: What's Behind it All? Problems with Intelligent Design not discussed by the debaters. Including “The Junk DNA Question,” “If I.D. were true,” “The Enzyme Fold Fallacy of Douglas Axe,” and, “Why I am not an I.D.ist”
The debate can be viewed here.
There were stronger responses to I.D. that were not mentioned. I am including them below along with highlighted links to their sources.
The Junk DNA Question
There is a considerable percentage of DNA that still appears to be junk, while other evolutionists views the glass as half full and view such DNA as raw material available for future use but of little to Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-69865295820101464812016-03-14T02:29:00.002-07:002019-09-06T00:35:11.683-07:00Flat-Earth Folly by Dave Matson (guest post in which Matson demonstrates the sphericity of the earth to modern day flat-earthers such as those crowing about a “worldwide sphere-ist conspiracy” over on youtube)
by Dave Matson
We are as gods compared to the ancients. The ingenious Greeks actually deduced the spherical shape and size of the Earth. But they never dreamed that a day would arrive when astronauts would routinely see the curvature of the Earth, when satellites would photograph the whole sphere of the Earth time and time again, when mechanical probes from a variety of nations would actuallyEdwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-1343698428289578582016-03-10T02:36:00.000-08:002019-09-06T00:35:43.769-07:00Pawn Sacrifice. How the Bobby Fischer phenomenon inspired future grandmasters, Michael Rodhe, John Fedorowicz (The Fed), Joel Benjamin & their non-grandmaster teammate, My Three Years of Chess Bliss, 1973-1975
The movie Pawn Sacrifice brought back a flood of chess memories… including a queen sack of mine that appeared in a syndicated chess column published in 200 papers, my Woody Allenesque piece in Chess Life magazine, “Losing is Everything,” and several future grandmasters (one of whom was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame) against whom I competed, and also teamed up withEdwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-79436163909662786722016-03-02T16:51:00.000-08:002019-08-28T23:33:53.813-07:00Religious-Affinity Fraud & Christian Corporate Swindlers: Fleecing the Flock, Preying on the Faithful, Using the Lord's Name in Gain
From 1984-89 Americans were swindled out of $450 million via religious-affinity fraud.
In the early 1990s a North American Securities Administrators Association report, “Preying on the Faithful: The False Prophets of the Investment World,” described scams and cons by ‘religious’ entrepreneurs. One outfit cited the blessing of the tribe of Asher by Moses in Deuteronomy Edwardtbabinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13036816926421936940noreply@blogger.com1