Craig, Plantinga, and others have said that the Witness of the Holy Spirit is such a powerful, immediate, and veridical feeling, it provides them with an intrinsic defeater defeater to any counter evidence that might come up that suggests that their God view is not correct.
I thought and prayed about it all day today, and I am now having my own special witness in my heart that is informing me about a transcendental reality. In fact, my experience of the Witness of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in my heart is so powerful, it gives me an intrinsic defeater defeater defeater to their Jesus beliefs.
My point is this. When confronted with the possibility that there could be evidence that would undermine his conclusion that the Christian God exists, or that Jesus Christ is the savior of humanity, William Lane Craig has said that the witness of the Holy Spirit is so powerful and so assuring, and he's so utterly convinced of its veracity, that he has a built in, intrinsic defeater. Prior to even confronting that evidence, Craig has announced that nothing could convince him that he's made a mistake. Furthermore, his access to this special witness of the Holy Spirit is something private that he feels inside his head. How does he know that this special feeling can be trusted? Because it is a very powerful feeling that inspires complete trust in him. How does he know that this feeling is more than just a feeling, it is a reliable indicator of the truth outside of his head? The feeling is a very powerful, assuring feeling that it is accurate about the truth outside of his head. Craig's feeling is the measure of its own reliability, hence "intrinsically justifying" is just a distracting way to say his reasoning is utterly circular.
The point of the Flying Spaghetti Monster Witness example is to show just how ludicrous this story is. What's to keep every other believer in other incompatible divine beings from announcing the same? And what standard would those of us who don't have the feeling use to judge between these reports? If I'm having this feeling, and feels like it's authentic, is that sufficient to establish that it is? Of course not. What if the ardent Spaghetti follower announces that his feeling not only informs him about the authenticity of the FSM, but it also informs him, intrinsically, and incorrigibly, that anyone else who claims to have a intrinsically justifying Witness belief in any other God is wrong? The FSM voice in his head tells him, "If anyone says he's got an intrinsic defeater defeater for his belief, don't worry. I'm giving you an intrinsic defeater defeater defeater, so you can rest assured that you're believing in the one true divine being and all of the rest of them are deluded."
Craig's witness of the Holy Spirit justification for theism, and his intrinsic defeater defeater response to objections is complete silliness obscured by pseudo-epistemological jargon.
4 comments:
That seems to give rise to an infinite regression of defeaters
I actually agree with Craig that 1) a god exists 2) it’s the xian god and 3) this xian god is the source of his internal witness/
sensus divinitatis. Craig is mistaken, however, about the reason why he feels certitude about his intrinsic defeater defeater.
In reality, only about 144,000 Coptic Christians from the 4th century CE held the accurate orthodoxic affirmations required for salvation. The reason the xian god gives Craig and others a feeling of certitude is to provide an opportunity for him to show his wrath and make known his power (Rom 9:18-24). Craig is an object made for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy (those 1440,000 Coptics).
The xian god has sent Crain a powerful delusion so that he will believe the lie and so that he will be condemned for not believing the truth but for delighting in his wicked non-orthodox beliefs (2Thess 2:11-12). After all, the xian god hardens the hearts of whom he pleases (Rom 9:15-18). Craig is like a prophet who, when deceived when he has spoken a thing, yhwh himself has deceive that prophet, so that he can stretch out his hand upon him and destroy him in the midst of his people (Ezek 14:9).
Clearly, one can believe in a divine, Christian source for his “Internal Witness” and _still_ have no reason to assume that it accurately reflects reality. As Craig has used a skeptical theistic position against Stephen Law and others to resist the evidential POE, he invites Erik Wielenberg’s Divine Deception argument. For what it's worth, many xian scriptural passages exist to support the Divine Lies argument.
" How does he know that this special feeling can be trusted? Because it is a very powerful feeling that inspires complete trust in him. How does he know that this feeling is more than just a feeling, it is a reliable indicator of the truth outside of his head?"
The same questions can be asked about atheists who believe in real objective morality. How do they know such an objective morality exists? Is it the strong belief they have in their head?
What sort of empirical proof do they have that such objective moral properties exist outside of their head?
When a Christian "believes in Jesus" they do not just believe such a person existed. Belief in his moral teachings are also bound up in that claim.
So you see comparing "belief in Jesus" to a belief in the flying spaghetti monster is about as fair as comparing your belief in objective moral properties with believing in the flying spaghetti monster.
I have offered a few of my reasons why I think your analogy with the Salem Witches is off base and not a double standard. Can you tell me why your belief in real moral properties is any different than believing in the flying spaghetti monster?
Let’s put the faux-analytical hyperbole away for a while and look at reality: Kalaam Cosmological Argument, teleological argument, First Cause/Unmoved Mover, the impossibility of infinite causal regress, the necessity of at least one unconditioned reality, the Argument from Reason, Fine Tuning of Universal Constants, irreducible biological complexity, the argument from morality… While you sit there in your Hitchens-Dawkins parroting bubble and regurgitate pseudo-intellectual douchisms, your entire world view lies shattered at your feet. If you truly honor the gods of reason and critical thinking half as much as you claim, you would plant your face firmly into your hand, step away from the device, find a quiet place, and rethink your life. But otherwise, thanks for your steaming pile of regurgitated pseudo-intellectual neck bearded blather, you r/atheism inspired, GNU obsessed, faux-analytical proto-basement dweller. Yours is a worldview so petty, so trivial, so earth bound, so unworthy of the universe.
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