“Strong” Logical Argument from Evil Against God: RIP?

Last updated on: November 28, 2018 at 2:46 pm By Dave Armstrong

[for general, philosophically lay-level background, see my paper: “Logical” Problem of Evil: Alvin Plantinga’s Decisive Refutation] ***** Atheist Jeffery Jay Lowder (prime mover behind the influential Internet Infidels / Secular Web network) maintains that the former position is currently widely accepted: Ever since Alvin Plantinga refuted J.L. Mackie’s logical argument from evil, the majority of contemporary philosophers of religion have come to believe that logical arguments from evil are unsuccessful. This opinion is not unanimous, however. Philosophers Richard Gale, Quentin Smith, and Howard Jordan Sobel challenge... Read more

Dialogue with an Atheist on the “Basic” Issues

Last updated on: November 27, 2018 at 3:23 pm By Dave Armstrong

Creation, Freedom, Rebellion, Suffering, Etc. This exchange comes from the Debunking Christianity blog (my favorite atheist / agnostic haunt at the moment), from a discussion thread Daniel Morgan’s words will be in blue. * * * * * “God desired to love and be loved by other beings. God created human beings with this end in view. To make us capable of such fellowship, God had to give us the freedom to choose, since love cannot be either automatic or coerced. This sort... Read more

Dialogue w Atheist on Premises & Axioms of Atheism

Last updated on: November 27, 2018 at 2:37 pm By Dave Armstrong

From an atheist discussion list: 13 January 2002, uploaded with editorial permission from Steve Conifer, whose words will be in blue. * * * * *I’d like to get down to basics and inquire as to the atheist’s (or agnostic’s) first principles, axioms, starting-points, premises, initial presuppositions or assumptions (pick your favorite term). Then I’ll play Socrates a bit if I may. :-) Just a summary is fine; I’m not looking for a treatise at this point, or even a bare-bones... Read more

Dialogue w Atheist on Epistemology of Disbelief in God

Last updated on: November 26, 2018 at 5:02 pm By Dave Armstrong

From public discussions on an Internet List devoted to the question of existence of God: May-July 2001. Uploaded with the full permission of Sue Strandberg (who refers to herself primarily as a secular humanist). This was one of the best dialogues I’ve ever had with anyone (maybe my second favorite ever; and the other was with an atheist, too). Her words will be in blue: ***** It is the hidden nature of the facts of religion, the revelatory truths that are not... Read more

Was Luther Excommunicated Due Partly to Sola Scriptura?

Last updated on: November 26, 2018 at 2:09 pm By Dave Armstrong

Anti-Catholic Reformed Protestant Luther expert James Swan had a lively exchange with a Catholic (Mark Rome) on the anti-Catholic CARM forum. I am concentrating on this particular back-and-forth: Mark Rome: Luther was excommunicated and declared a heretic for many issues including his insistence on sola scriptura and setting himself up (and every individual) as the private judge of faith. James Swan: Where? In the Edict of Worms? That was the most important document that declared him a heretic. Read the “Items” in the Edict, Where... Read more

Faith Alone & Original Sin: Reply to Smalcald Articles

Last updated on: November 23, 2018 at 1:46 pm By Dave Armstrong

I offer extensive Catholic replies to portions of the Lutheran Smalcald Articles (1537). It was written by Martin Luther and is part of the Lutheran Book of Concord: which is binding on all Lutherans who wish to follow their denomination’s historical doctrinal teaching. Luther’s words will be in blue. ***** I. Of Sin 1] Here we must confess, as Paul says in Rom. 5, 11, that sin originated [and entered the world] from one man Adam, by whose disobedience all men were made... Read more

Materialism & Narcissism: Protestant Self-Critique #3

Last updated on: November 20, 2018 at 2:20 pm By Dave Armstrong

[from the original 1994 manuscript of my first book, A Biblical Defense of Catholicism; this portion dated 6-20-91] 1. Materialism A. Kenneth Kantzer, professor of Theology and Dean of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a senior editor of Christianity Today, declares that: The overriding problem of the evangelical church today . . . is materialism . . . as a way of life . . . The Bible is so diametrically opposed to it that to profess it and to profess Christianity... Read more

Worldliness & Compromise: Protestant Self-Critique #2

Last updated on: November 20, 2018 at 1:54 pm By Dave Armstrong

[from the original 1994 manuscript of my first book, A Biblical Defense of Catholicism; this portion dated 6-20-91] Prominent evangelical leaders have critiqued themselves quite strongly. Evangelicals will be exclusively quoted, with the exception of two excerpts. 1. Donald Bloesch, well-respected professor of theology at the University of Dubuque, has some hard words to say, quoting the renowned writer A. W. Tozer as well: Although evangelicalism constantly warns against the encroachment of worldliness, its accommodation to cultural norms and values is almost as... Read more

Pragmatism: Protestant Self-Critique Number One

Last updated on: November 20, 2018 at 4:22 pm By Dave Armstrong

[from the original 1994 manuscript of my first book, A Biblical Defense of Catholicism; this portion dated 6-20-91] 1. Pragmatism: A Definition Pragmatism, according to the dictionary, is defined as follows: An American movement in philosophy founded by C. S. Peirce and William James and marked by the doctrines that the meaning of conceptions is to be sought in their practical bearings, that the function of thought is to guide action, and that truth is pre-eminently to be tested by... Read more

Protestantism: Compromising & Liberalizing Tendency

Last updated on: November 19, 2018 at 2:08 pm By Dave Armstrong

[from the original 1994 manuscript of my first book, A Biblical Defense of Catholicism; this portion dated 6-20-91] 1. Louis Bouyer Bouyer continues his remarkable analysis of Protestant historical pathways in his chapter, “The Decay of the Positive Principles of the Reformation”: What the Reformation took over from the Middle Ages was just what it should have criticised and rejected; in fact, it led the positive principles the Reformers had brought to light to assume a negative and polemical aspect.... Read more