Recent content by BlackLight

There are very few (if any) realms of knowledge in this world that are completely self-justifying. There is no Transcendent Central Authority that defines Biology as "the study of life." It was just something established a long time ago by ordinary men. If somebody wanders in and presumes to...

Nine times out of ten, when a Christian claims they used to be an atheist, what they really mean is that they lived their life without really considering the question of God's existence (which is very easy to do), and behaved as though God didn't exist (to a certain extent). These Christians...

Hitchens's point on this was that Pascal is specifically addressing "those who are so made that they cannot believe," and he's essentially advocating that these people fake it. And Hitch's point was to question whether such a God is worthy of worship that he's so dumb or egotistical as to let...

I can't really tell the difference. I'm not even sure how valid the test really is. In my opinion, one of the byproducts of ecumenism is that it allows "soft Christians" to find their voice. I've met self-identified Christians who don't think they need to believe that God is divine, that Jesus...

True, but this sort of error in circular thinking dominates in Christian apologetics. In the Cosmological Argument, they'll tell you that anything that began had a cause. But when you ask them what caused the Cause, they'll tell you nothing, because their Cause (God) exists outside of nature...

Well, with Craig, what he often does is employ some rather high-school level debating tactics. In his debate with Hitchens, we see this quite clearly. He immediately attempts to force the debate to exist only on his terms. "You must answer each of my 5 proofs for God, tear each of them down, AND...

Ironically, the world today is fucked up enough that you could almost argue we're living something like the Old Testament right now. It wouldn't take much to prove God by that standard. The biggest flaw in the Christian argument is the idea that their God gives them a world that's all sunshine...

If I were the preacher, I would have simply replied that our inability to understand God's ways *completely* does not preclude us from understanding God's ways *partially.* And in the case of salvation through Christ, the Bible is pretty explicit on this point. Jesus is the only way to...

I just have a general question about hacking. It's going to be obvious that I know nothing about hacking, and relatively nothing about computers, so forgive me if I'm painting with too broad a brush here. What practical uses do hacking skills have if you're not illegally breaking into computer...

For the record, here is a link to Sam Harris making the "child molester" comparison. The video is on the right, 3rd one down: http://newsinitiative.org/story/2007/06/19/interview_with_an_atheist Now, it may not be completely in context, but it doesn't seem like "good-natured hyperbole" on...

Sam Harris has said that "'atheist' is right next to 'child molester,' as a designation" - which seems more than a little hyperbolic to me. Dan Barker, a former minister turned atheist, has also remarked on atheism's PR problem. Honestly, it's never occurred to me to duck the atheist label...

I've heard this suggested recently, first by avowed theists, but also seemingly by some atheists. As I always imagined the 'God Spectrum," I had Theism on one end, Atheism on the other, and Deism in between (and far closer to the Atheism side). But an opposing view to this seems to be that...

If there are any Christians who'd care to offer their insight, or non-believers willing to offer their opinion, please chime in. Basically, I'd like to know what Jesus's sacrifice meant to humanity, vis-a-vis our sins and redemption. What you hear is that "Jesus died for our sins," or however...

Wouldn't surprise me. Craig is presenting a flawed and flimsy argument, but he's a solid orator, and for some reason, people seem to have trouble debating him. Even Hitchens couldn't deliver his typical "blow the doors off" performance when he debated Craig.

I've watched Krauss deliver this lecture on two separate Youtube videos, and when I get the time, I'm planning to sit down and watch his debate with William Lane Craig in the next couple of days, hoping that will further illuminate the ideas he presents. What I'm actually looking for his a...