“Scientists who have their satellite dishes pointed toward the sky in the hope of hearing from intelligent life out there know how to distinguish incoming messages from background noise. Otherwise, there would be no point. We know what information looks like, and we know what kind of source it comes from. This is because information …
And With Our Guidons Flapping Smartly
“Of course, we were bound to get to the subject of evolution sooner or later . . . You think that creationists are bereft of any intellectual dignity whatever, and I agree with Malcolm Muggeridge that in retrospect evolution will be seen to have been one of the great jokes of history. Well, if your …
Logic Without Color or Weight
“Once you grant that the world workds this way, anyone who comes bustling up to you with stories about men who came back from the dead is a prima facie nutjob. Simple. But you need to look at your closed-system-universe again and look more closely at the price tag this time. Not only is this …
The Book of Ibid
“Matthew is referring to both, quotes one, and gives the credit, according to their custom, to the major prophet [cf. Matt. 27:9-10; Zech. 11:12-13; Jer. 32:9]. Your objection here actually amounts to saying that Matthew should have followed the Chicago Manual of Style. But it would be just as valid for Matthew to claim that …
With God Slow on the Uptake
“Since the idea of divine impotence in effect un-gods God, not many of us have taken this route. But in this effeminate age, some professing Christians are now trying it, and they call their explanation the ‘openness of God.’ God troubleshoots as we go, but He actually does not do it very well. In this …
And Not All Bone Boxes Either
“Why do you halt between two opinions? Atheism not only casts doubt upon the idea of a benevolent God (which it certainly does) but it also destroys the very concept of benevolence itself. Benevolence is simply a chemical reaction that some organisms experience in their bone box” (Letter From a Christian Citizen, pp. 58-59).
Atheism As Failure to Grasp the Implications
“If the two of us [an atheist and Christian] were looking at a new report of the latest atrocity, I would say that at some point in the future, in some fundamental way, that will be put right. You want to say, as an atheist, that it will not ever be put right. But you …
The Necessity of Atheistic Impotence
“You want to rage, but there is no object for your anger. There is no wall to punch. Because above you and them is ‘only sky.’ You want to rail against God, but He is not there. But that means He didn’t do it. So who did? There is no who. Only sky above us …
Anger With the Non-Existent
[Addressing Sam Harris’ indignation at the devastation caused by a tsunami] “Now I can only understand you being indignant with God over this if He is really there. But what if He is not there? What follows then? This event had no more ultimate significance than a solar flare or a virus going extinct or …
Truth Stays Put
“In other words, the ‘facts of the case’ never check with us first to see if ‘them being true’ will put us out in any way. The square of the hypotenuse is what it is quite apart from me having indigestion over it. Two apples added to two apples will result in four apples however …