GOD, THE INFINITE REGRESS, & SPECIAL PLEADING
On: Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Here are some great examples of special pleading & pseudo-logic. Enjoy
Christian -
1. It follows that, if there is no beginning, then the past of the universe is also endless. Hence, if we try and regress into the distant past, we will just have to go on forever:
2. But this is supposing that the past flows in only one direction, i.e. away from the present, when the past really ends in the present and continues into the future:
3. Hence, the past is not endless but is rather extending towards infinity, and so is not itself infinite in degree.
4. It follows that the universe cannot have an endless past, but instead must have a finite past.
5. Therefore, the universe is not beginningless but must have had a definite and absolute beginning.
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Atheist -
Let us "theistically" (for the sake of argument) assume that God is beginningless:
1. It follows that, if there is no beginning, then the past of God is also endless. Hence, if we try and regress into the distant past, we will just have to go on forever:
2. But this is supposing that the past flows in only one direction, i.e. away from the present, when the past really ends in the present and continues into the future:
3. Hence, the past is not endless but is rather extending towards infinity, and so is not itself infinite in degree.
4. It follows that God cannot have an endless past, but instead must have a finite past.
Remember these are "examples" :0)
or are they?
Christian -
1. It follows that, if there is no beginning, then the past of the universe is also endless. Hence, if we try and regress into the distant past, we will just have to go on forever:
2. But this is supposing that the past flows in only one direction, i.e. away from the present, when the past really ends in the present and continues into the future:
3. Hence, the past is not endless but is rather extending towards infinity, and so is not itself infinite in degree.
4. It follows that the universe cannot have an endless past, but instead must have a finite past.
5. Therefore, the universe is not beginningless but must have had a definite and absolute beginning.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Atheist -
Let us "theistically" (for the sake of argument) assume that God is beginningless:
1. It follows that, if there is no beginning, then the past of God is also endless. Hence, if we try and regress into the distant past, we will just have to go on forever:
2. But this is supposing that the past flows in only one direction, i.e. away from the present, when the past really ends in the present and continues into the future:
3. Hence, the past is not endless but is rather extending towards infinity, and so is not itself infinite in degree.
4. It follows that God cannot have an endless past, but instead must have a finite past.
Remember these are "examples" :0)
or are they?
Cognitive Dissonance - Leon Festinger
On: Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Cognitive dissonance
"A man with conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.
We have all experienced the futility of trying to change a strong conviction, especially if the convinced person has some investment in his belief. We are familiar with the variety of ingenious defenses with which people protect their convictions, managing to keep them unscathed through the most devastating attacks.
But man's resourcefulness goes beyond simply protecting a belief. Suppose an individual believes something with his whole heart; suppose further that he has a commitment to this belief, that he has taken irrevocable actions because of it; finally, suppose that he is presented with evidence, unequivocal and undeniable evidence, that his belief is wrong; what will happen? The individual will frequently emerge, not only unshaken, but even more convinced of the truth of his beliefs than ever before. Indeed, he may even show a new fervor about convincing and converting other people to his view." - Leon Festinger, When Prophecy Fails, published in 1956:
1. https://sites.google.com/site/maartenboudry/teksten-1/how-convenient#_edn1
2. https://sites.google.com/site/maartenboudry/teksten-1/how-convenient#_edn2
"A man with conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.
We have all experienced the futility of trying to change a strong conviction, especially if the convinced person has some investment in his belief. We are familiar with the variety of ingenious defenses with which people protect their convictions, managing to keep them unscathed through the most devastating attacks.
But man's resourcefulness goes beyond simply protecting a belief. Suppose an individual believes something with his whole heart; suppose further that he has a commitment to this belief, that he has taken irrevocable actions because of it; finally, suppose that he is presented with evidence, unequivocal and undeniable evidence, that his belief is wrong; what will happen? The individual will frequently emerge, not only unshaken, but even more convinced of the truth of his beliefs than ever before. Indeed, he may even show a new fervor about convincing and converting other people to his view." - Leon Festinger, When Prophecy Fails, published in 1956:
According to cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, Schachter, & Riecken, 1964; Aronson, 1992; Tavris & Aronson, 2008),
when people are presented with new evidence that conflicts with their
previously held beliefs, this results in a form of cognitive tension
called “dissonance”. Importantly, the strength of this uncomfortable
tension depends on the degree to which people have invested in their
beliefs, for example by way of public commitment, or by the time and
effort spent acting in accordance with these beliefs (Batson, 1975).
If the psychological investment in a belief is high, people are more
motivated to reduce dissonance by rationalizing away disconfirming data.
In the refined version of dissonance theory, dissonance arises not so
much because of two conflicting cognitions, but because adverse evidence
conflicts with one’s self-esteem as a competent and reasonable person[1].
This accords with our earlier observation that, when people explain
away unwelcome evidence, they do so in a way that allows them to uphold
an illusion of objectivity. For example, if a psychic has publicly
professed his powers and risks losing his credibility, he is unlikely to
be put off his balance by blatant failure. Or if a believer has spent a
substantial amount of time and money on astrology consults, typically
no amount of rational argumentation and debunking efforts will make him
renounce his beliefs. As Nicholas Humphrey noted: “psychic phenomena
can, it seems, survive almost any amount of subsequent disgrace” (Humphrey, 1996, p. 150).
By contrast, if the psychological stakes are low, as in the everyday
situations we mentioned above, the motivation for belief perseverance
will be greatly reduced. Consider another example related to paranormal
beliefs: suppose that Anna and Paul both start to suspect that they have
psychic powers, but their level of confidence is not very high. While
Paul hastens to tell his friends that he may be psychic and even
performs some psychic readings, Anna decides to conduct an experiment on
herself at an early point, when her beliefs are still privately held.
All other things being equal, it is much more likely that Anna will
abandon her beliefs silently when she discovers that they do not pan
out (Humphrey, 1996, p. 105),
while Paul will rationalize his failures because he has already made a
public commitment. Thus, we would predict that people with an
inquisitive and cautious mindset are more likely to put their hunches to
the test early on, and are less likely to be sucked into commitment to
wrong beliefs like these. By contrast, people who rush to conclusions
and start spreading the news right away will more often find themselves
in a situation where they obstinately refuse to abandon a false belief.[2]
A
classic illustration of cognitive dissonance can be found in the
landmark study by Leon Festinger and his colleagues, who infiltrated a
doomsday cult and observed the behavior of the followers when the
prophesized end of the world failed to come true(Festinger, et al., 1964).
The followers who had resigned from their jobs, given away their
material belongings and were present at the arranged place and time with
full conviction in their imminent salvation, became even more ardent
believers after the prophecy failed, and started to proselytize even
more actively for the cult. However, those for whom the cognitive stakes
were lower (e.g. those who kept their belongings and stayed home in
fearful expectation of what was supposedly to come), were more likely to
abandon their beliefs afterwards.
2. https://sites.google.com/site/maartenboudry/teksten-1/how-convenient#_edn2
Jesus' Resurrection Debunked In One Page
On: Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Jesus' Resurrection Debunked In One Page by Chris Hallquist
Among Evangelical Christians, it’s become popular to claim that Jesus’ resurrection can be proved
with historical evidence. This is nonsense. Here’s why:
1. There is no evidence for the resurrection outside the Bible. Non-Christian historical references
to Jesus don’t occur until about six decades after the time when Biblical scholars think he probably
died. When these non-Christian sources refer to Jesus’ miracles, there’s no reason to see them as
anything more than a report of what Christians of the time believed.
2. There is little evidence that the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses, or based directly on
eyewitness accounts. Most of what the Bible says about Jesus’ life and supposed resurrection is in
the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, (a.k.a. the Gospels).
But Biblical scholars now agree these books were originally anonymous, their names added later.
The traditional Christian claims about who wrote them are now widely doubted by scholars.
3. This means that the Gospels can’t be trusted as evidence for miracles. Imagine someone trying
to convert you to another religion based on the “proof” of the miracles worked by the religion’s
founder... in the form of a handful of anonymous tracts recounting his life. Would you accept that
“proof”? Of course not. Among other things, the stories could just be legends.
4.One of Paul’s letters provides evidence that a number of people claimed Jesus had appeared to
them after his death. But this isn’t proof of a miracle. The passage is 1
most Biblical scholars agree it was really written by Paul. But again, would you accept similar
evidence in favor of another religion’s miracles? The Mormon church has statements signed by
several people attesting to miracles that are supposed to confirm the truth of the Book of the
Mormon, but you probably won’t convert to Mormonism based on that. Also, Paul doesn’t tell us
how he knows about all these appearances, so we can’t be confident his report is accurate.
5. Reports that Jesus’ disciples were martyred prove nothing. Reports of the martyrdom of Jesus’
disciples do not occur in this historical record until long after their deaths would have occurred, and
accounts sometimes conflict with one another. It could be that most, even all, of these stories are
legends. In any case, not only do people sometimes give up their lives for delusions, even outright
charlatans have been killed for their claims. Joseph Smith was probably a charlatan, but he died at
the hands of a lynch mob. So we can’t rule out deception among Jesus’ followers.
6. Claims that this or that individual couldn’t possibly have hallucinated are nonsense. Even
apparently sane people hallucinate for a wide variety of reasons and under a wide variety of
circumstances. We can’t rule this out for people who claimed to have seen the risen Jesus.
7. Even if there were several people in Paul’s day who would have claimed to have all seen the
risen Jesus at the same time, their testimony might not have stood up to scrutiny. There have been
cases where a group of children have claimed to see the Virgin Mary, and been taken seriously by
adults who should have known better. In many of these cases, the children were questioned
individually and their descriptions of what they saw didn’t match, suggesting deception or delusion.
8. That’s it. Part of me thinks that what I’ve said in this one page is all that needs to be said on the
subject. But if you want to know how I back up these claims, you can get my book UFOs, Ghosts,
and a Rising God: Debunking the Resurrection of Jesus. The book also includes a crash course in
New Testament scholarship, discussions of faith healing and Biblical prophecy, and plenty of tidbits
about the strange beliefs people have had throughout history. It’s available on Amazon, and there’s
more information, including links to reviews, on my website, UncredibleHallq.net.
Among Evangelical Christians, it’s become popular to claim that Jesus’ resurrection can be proved
with historical evidence. This is nonsense. Here’s why:
1. There is no evidence for the resurrection outside the Bible. Non-Christian historical references
to Jesus don’t occur until about six decades after the time when Biblical scholars think he probably
died. When these non-Christian sources refer to Jesus’ miracles, there’s no reason to see them as
anything more than a report of what Christians of the time believed.
2. There is little evidence that the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses, or based directly on
eyewitness accounts. Most of what the Bible says about Jesus’ life and supposed resurrection is in
the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, (a.k.a. the Gospels).
But Biblical scholars now agree these books were originally anonymous, their names added later.
The traditional Christian claims about who wrote them are now widely doubted by scholars.
3. This means that the Gospels can’t be trusted as evidence for miracles. Imagine someone trying
to convert you to another religion based on the “proof” of the miracles worked by the religion’s
founder... in the form of a handful of anonymous tracts recounting his life. Would you accept that
“proof”? Of course not. Among other things, the stories could just be legends.
4.One of Paul’s letters provides evidence that a number of people claimed Jesus had appeared to
them after his death. But this isn’t proof of a miracle. The passage is 1
most Biblical scholars agree it was really written by Paul. But again, would you accept similar
evidence in favor of another religion’s miracles? The Mormon church has statements signed by
several people attesting to miracles that are supposed to confirm the truth of the Book of the
Mormon, but you probably won’t convert to Mormonism based on that. Also, Paul doesn’t tell us
how he knows about all these appearances, so we can’t be confident his report is accurate.
5. Reports that Jesus’ disciples were martyred prove nothing. Reports of the martyrdom of Jesus’
disciples do not occur in this historical record until long after their deaths would have occurred, and
accounts sometimes conflict with one another. It could be that most, even all, of these stories are
legends. In any case, not only do people sometimes give up their lives for delusions, even outright
charlatans have been killed for their claims. Joseph Smith was probably a charlatan, but he died at
the hands of a lynch mob. So we can’t rule out deception among Jesus’ followers.
6. Claims that this or that individual couldn’t possibly have hallucinated are nonsense. Even
apparently sane people hallucinate for a wide variety of reasons and under a wide variety of
circumstances. We can’t rule this out for people who claimed to have seen the risen Jesus.
7. Even if there were several people in Paul’s day who would have claimed to have all seen the
risen Jesus at the same time, their testimony might not have stood up to scrutiny. There have been
cases where a group of children have claimed to see the Virgin Mary, and been taken seriously by
adults who should have known better. In many of these cases, the children were questioned
individually and their descriptions of what they saw didn’t match, suggesting deception or delusion.
8. That’s it. Part of me thinks that what I’ve said in this one page is all that needs to be said on the
subject. But if you want to know how I back up these claims, you can get my book UFOs, Ghosts,
and a Rising God: Debunking the Resurrection of Jesus. The book also includes a crash course in
New Testament scholarship, discussions of faith healing and Biblical prophecy, and plenty of tidbits
about the strange beliefs people have had throughout history. It’s available on Amazon, and there’s
more information, including links to reviews, on my website, UncredibleHallq.net.
Want To Sell Your Coat?
On: Friday, December 6, 2013
I recently had a really bizarre experience at one of our local thrift stores. As usual on Fridays I comb our local thrift stores for records or cassette tapes for my collection. (I will explain that later in another post.) As I was looking through some records I noticed I was being watched. Now normally this kind of thing doesn't bother me but this time it was different. There was a boy, I would say around 10 or 11 standing right next to me, you know, in my "comfort zone", staring at me. I tried to ignore this boy but he just stood there.
I slowly turned to look at him & he said "Do you like your coat?".
Stunned by what he asked I politely said "yes, I do".
I turned back to continue my search through the old vinyl when I heard him say, "Where did you get your coat?".
I had to think about this one. I replied "I did not buy it, my wife got if for me as a present"
Again the boy asked, "Do you like your coat?"
I thought,"what the fuck? Do I like my coat? What kind of question is that?" I politely said " why yes I do"
I turned away to find the boy still staring at me. I really hoped he would just go away but, no, he had to ask another question.
"Do you want to sell your coat", the boy asked
Ok, now I was bit freaked out. I began looking around to see if anyone was near by that the boy belonged to. I did not see anyone paying any interest in the boy.
It took me some time to think about a reply and all I could come up with was, "no, I don't think so"
The boy, looking blank, just kept staring at me. I decided I had enough. As I turned to leave I noticed that the boy had disappeared. Vanished without a trace. I needed to leave quickly before he showed up again.
As I was leaving, I thought to myself, "man., that was just creepy. Who would ever ask some stranger if they wanted to sell their North Face coat, at a thrift store, to a ten year old boy?" I think I will be more reluctant to visit that thrift store for awhile.
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