{"id":66163,"date":"2022-08-30T14:14:16","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T18:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=66163"},"modified":"2022-12-14T13:19:09","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T17:19:09","slug":"atheist-jonathan-ms-pearces-straw-man-global-flood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2022\/08\/atheist-jonathan-ms-pearces-straw-man-global-flood.html","title":{"rendered":"Atheist Jonathan MS Pearce’s Straw Man Global Flood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Atheist Jonathan MS Pearce<\/strong>\u00a0runs the blog,\u00a0A Tippling Philosopher<\/em><\/a>. He has in the past encouraged me to visit his site and offer critiques, and wrote under a post dated 12-14-21<\/a>: \u201cI even need to thank the naysayers. . . . Dave, you are welcome at my new place. Come challenge me. . . . thanks for your critiques of my pieces.\u201d<\/span> Again, in\u00a0a post dated 1-27-22<\/a>, he stated:\u00a0\u201cI do welcome disagreements because I don\u2019t want [my blog] to [be] just an echo chamber. . . . [S]omeone like Armstrong does give me ammunition for some of my pieces!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I replied (usually point-by-point) to Pearce\u2019s arguments 72 times<\/a>. He made some sort of response to maybe one-quarter of those and our relations seemed cordial enough. But when I provided him with several \u201cmeaty\u201d critiques in February 2022, he wrote\u00a0on 3-1-22<\/a>:<\/p>\n

STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT. Please stop this. All you are doing is spouting the absolutely debunked drivel apologetics that my book takes to task. . . . I welcome your comments, but these are totally off-topic and you show absolutely no desire to interact with my own material . . .<\/span> [caps his own]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite this disappointing display (at which point I quietly left his blog for good, out of consideration for him, lest he have a heart attack or a stroke), I continue to think that he\u2019s basically a nice guy. I think we\u2019d have a great time in a pub over beer.<\/div>\n
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Presently, I am critiquing Jonathan\u2019s insistence on bashing the global or universal or worldwide conception of the Flood of Noah, as if it is the mainstream (or biblical) position<\/em>. It\u2019s not<\/em>. In logic, we call that a straw man. Here is what he wrote in his article, \u201cNoah\u2019s flood is a heinous story\u201d<\/a> (OnlySky<\/em>, 8-8-22):<\/div>\n
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And don\u2019t get me started on how it [a global Flood] i<\/span>s not physically or practically possible by any stretch of the imagination. Moreover, there is simply no evidence for a global flood or even a large regional flood<\/span> that some theists<\/a>\u00a0will<\/span>\u00a0try to argue<\/a> [links to his replies to me on this topic] (a theory that makes equally little sense).<\/span><\/p>\n