Analyses of God beliefs, atheism, religion, faith, miracles, evidence for religious claims, evil and God, arguments for and against God, atheism, agnosticism, the role of religion in society, and related issues.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
The F Word
I just gave a lecture to Cosumnes River College last night about faith based religious claims. The slides I used are here
Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Niddah Niddah 44b MISHNAH. A GIRL OF THE AGE OF THREE YEARS AND ONE DAY MAY BE BETROTHED23 BY INTERCOURSE; IF THE YABAM24 HAD INTERCOURSE WITH HER, HE ACQUIRES HER THEREBY;25 THE GUILT26 OF ADULTERY27 MAY BE INCURRED THROUGH HER,28 AND SHE29 CAUSES UNCLEANNESS TO THE MAN WHO HAD INTERCOURSE WITH HER SO THAT HE IN TURN CONVEYS UNCLEANNESS TO THAT UPON WHICH HE LIES,30 AS TO A GARMENT WHICH HAS LAIN UPON [A ZAB].31 IF SHE WAS MARRIED TO A PRIEST, SHE MAY EAT TERUMAH. IF ANY OF THE INELIGIBLE PERSONS32 COHABITED WITH HER HE DISQUALIFIES HER FROM THE PRIESTHOOD.33 IF ANY OF THE FORBIDDEN DEGREES ENUMERATED IN THE TORAH COHABITED WITH HER HE IS TO BE EXECUTED ON HER ACCOUNT, BUT SHE34 IS EXEMPT [FROM THE PENALTY]. IF ONE WAS YOUNGER THAN THIS AGE INTERCOURSE WITH HER IS LIKE PUTTING A FINGER IN THE EYE.
Did you really need like 30 slides to point out that trust/belief in something without evidence is not exactly in line with reason and logic? Whatever you have to do to sell your book, I guess. I'm sure the community college students were really impressed with this presentation. LOL.
Hmmm... your argument is a straw man I'm afraid. Religious faith (in the Christian sense at least) is always faith in SOMEONE. It is believing the testimony of a witness whom the believer deems trustworthy. It's something like me believing my friend when he tells me what the football score was. I have no evidence of my own that the score was 2-1 to Liverpool but my friend does have evidence - he was there at the match. I believe my friend because a) he's trustworthy and b) he was at the match. The Christian believes Jesus to be the trustworthy witness on the basis of the testimony of the apostles. Their claim that he appeared to them in the flesh after his death, ate in their presence, etc, is too tangible to be a mistake, it's either a lie or the truth, and the fact that they all maintained it in the face of execution/exile shows they were not lying. If the apostles' claim of the resurrection is true then Jesus can be trusted. He can be believed in as the one capable of revealing the true God because he has seen Him.
If you're going to attack the rationality of faith, why not rely on the definition or understanding of "faith" used by philosophers of religion like Swinburne, Plantinga, and Craig?
Or you could just pander to the masses, as Bee Lever rightly observed. Knock'em out of the park!
That photo on The Bad News slide is hilarious! I have had that picture forever!
ReplyDeleteBabylonian Talmud: Tractate Niddah
ReplyDeleteNiddah 44b
MISHNAH. A GIRL OF THE AGE OF THREE YEARS AND ONE DAY MAY BE BETROTHED23 BY INTERCOURSE; IF THE YABAM24 HAD INTERCOURSE WITH HER, HE ACQUIRES HER THEREBY;25 THE GUILT26 OF ADULTERY27 MAY BE INCURRED THROUGH HER,28 AND SHE29 CAUSES UNCLEANNESS TO THE MAN WHO HAD INTERCOURSE WITH HER SO THAT HE IN TURN CONVEYS UNCLEANNESS TO THAT UPON WHICH HE LIES,30 AS TO A GARMENT WHICH HAS LAIN UPON [A ZAB].31 IF SHE WAS MARRIED TO A PRIEST, SHE MAY EAT TERUMAH. IF ANY OF THE INELIGIBLE PERSONS32 COHABITED WITH HER HE DISQUALIFIES HER FROM THE PRIESTHOOD.33 IF ANY OF THE FORBIDDEN DEGREES ENUMERATED IN THE TORAH COHABITED WITH HER HE IS TO BE EXECUTED ON HER ACCOUNT, BUT SHE34 IS EXEMPT [FROM THE PENALTY]. IF ONE WAS YOUNGER THAN THIS AGE INTERCOURSE WITH HER IS LIKE PUTTING A FINGER IN THE EYE.
All who rape 3 year old children should be holocausted!
ReplyDeleteJews rape 3 year old children!
Did you really need like 30 slides to point out that trust/belief in something without evidence is not exactly in line with reason and logic? Whatever you have to do to sell your book, I guess. I'm sure the community college students were really impressed with this presentation. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI found the slides to be informative and entertaining.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... your argument is a straw man I'm afraid. Religious faith (in the Christian sense at least) is always faith in SOMEONE. It is believing the testimony of a witness whom the believer deems trustworthy. It's something like me believing my friend when he tells me what the football score was. I have no evidence of my own that the score was 2-1 to Liverpool but my friend does have evidence - he was there at the match. I believe my friend because a) he's trustworthy and b) he was at the match. The Christian believes Jesus to be the trustworthy witness on the basis of the testimony of the apostles. Their claim that he appeared to them in the flesh after his death, ate in their presence, etc, is too tangible to be a mistake, it's either a lie or the truth, and the fact that they all maintained it in the face of execution/exile shows they were not lying. If the apostles' claim of the resurrection is true then Jesus can be trusted. He can be believed in as the one capable of revealing the true God because he has seen Him.
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to attack the rationality of faith, why not rely on the definition or understanding of "faith" used by philosophers of religion like Swinburne, Plantinga, and Craig?
ReplyDeleteOr you could just pander to the masses, as Bee Lever rightly observed. Knock'em out of the park!