Category: Philosophy

  • The Death of Logical Positivism

    The original version of this book killed off Logical Positivism. Here’s a PDF of the essay.

  • From Plato to Augustine to Calvin

    The following was from Grok (X/Twitter AI tool) since I’m not a subject matter expert. It was posed as a series of questions and answers. The questions are in bold. What is the link between Plato, Augustine, and Calvin? The link between Plato, Augustine, and John Calvin can be traced through philosophical and theological influences…

  • Ayn Rand and Christianity – Compatible?

    Some ThoughtsI’ve recently finishing listening to Ayn Rand’s “Fountainhead” on audio-book. I’ve read the book in paperback in the past as well as her book “Atlas Shrugged”. I won’t pretend to have a completely thought out approach to thinking about this subject of Rand and Christianity, but here’s some thoughts. EconomicsRand’s economic theory is Laissez-faire…

  • Epigenetics and Sin

    Epigenetics and Original Sin Interesting thought? That there’s more to our inheritance than merely the set of genes that are passed down. Somehow our behavior is passed down as well. The old nature vs nurture argument has shifted dramatically in the direction of nurture and away from the old mechanistic view that it’s all in…

  • Test cases and proof texts

    Test cases are almost the reverse of proof texts. A test case is a passage that is run through a paradigm to see if the paradigm can work with the test cases. A set of proof tests is used to construct a paradigm. Theological systems are paradigms. My last BLOG entry consisted of one such…

  • Old Earth/Young Earth?

    I do think that there is a knock down falsification argument against the most common young earth argument. Let me give it a shot on you and see what you think. Young earthers often say that Adam was created to look a particular age, say 21 for the sake of argument. This makes sense. Further,…

  • Going from Specific to General

    It can be problematic going from a specific Bible passage to a generality. One obvious example is: Exo 4:20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. Taking this passage as…

  • Another Great Author

    Updated 2025-01-13: William Lane Craig has a seriously defective Christology. William Lane Craig – Neo-Apollinarianism While I’m on the subject of great Christian authors, let me include another favorite of mine, Dr. William Lane Craig. Dr. Craig is currently Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California. Dr. Craig is…

  • Open Theism

    Open theists assert that God does not know the future until it happens. One verse that is difficult for their position is: Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; God…

  • Internal Consistency and Truth

    It is possible for a system to be internally consistent and yet false. For instance a system might assert five truths, call them A, B, C, D and E. Suppose that someone who holds this ABCDE system is asked to prove the A. Suppose then that person says, B proves A. Suppose the proof is…

  • Free Will Defense

    Here is a good article on free will and determinism which deals with some of the common objections to the Free Will Defense; Overcoming Objections to Self-determinism (Free-will).

  • Broken Syllogisms and the Equivocation Fallacy

    A syllogism is sometimes posed in order to prove that regeneration precedes justification: 1 – It is pleasing to God for someone to repent 2 – Those who are in the flesh cannot please God 3 – Therefore those who are in the flesh cannot repent The desired conclusion of this syllogism is that a…

  • Real or Imaginary Hypotheticals in Scripture

    Real or Imaginary Hypotheticals A hypothetical can be either a real or an imaginary hypothetical. It is important to classify the sort of hypothetical that is intended when reading an author who is using hypotheticals. For instance, “if pigs can fly” is an imaginary (not possible) hypothetical. Pigs do not normally have wings. There could…

  • Pair o’ Dimes

    Paradigms. That’s the fancy word for systems of belief. Definition #3 at dictionary.reference.com gives the definition of paradigm as: A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline. Everyone has a paradigm. In fact, everyone has a paradigm…