I thought I’d get a leg up on Easter this year. In preparation for the obligatory “miracles are impossible” and “historians have disproved Jesus existed” emails (especially those that appeal to Bayes Theorem approaches), I thought I’d post some links.
- On Hume’s arguments against miracles, see this review (2015) of R. Swinburne’s, The Concept of Miracle. Swinburne is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford.
- On using Bayes Theorem to prove God doesn’t / Jesus didn’t exist:
- Bayes Theorem Proves Jesus Existed (And That He Didn’t)
- I’d say there’s a flaw in that method.
- Richard Carrier’s Deeply Flawed Argument To Show God Is Unlikely
- A Mathematical Review of “Proving History” by Richard Carrier
- Does Richard Carrier Exist?
- Applying Bayes Theorem to one of its proponents; you have to love that.
- Bayes Theorem Proves Jesus Existed (And That He Didn’t)
I’m hoping that Simcha Jacobovici doesn’t “discover” something else (just in time for Easter) that will have us all explaining what a non sequitur is again. I have two fantasy drafts on Saturday, so I’m busy.
All that matters is the “Carrier of faith.” Cracks me up.
yes; it was clever.
Does Richard Carrier Exist = hilarious and thought provoking
My own journey led me in the direction of proving (rather than disproving) God’s (of Abraham) existence. I’m not a theologian nor philosopher and my own history was more involved, as a youngster with an awareness of the holy spirit, without any attempts to label it (as my personal experience is that people would rather quote Bible verse than truly ‘get’ it). Because the Bible is basically unfathomable to the mind (in it’s entirety).
I realize than most everyone disagrees with that idea, but the truth is we can only guess at what the biblical text is eluding too when it speaks of God. God is of the highest dimensional reality (a spiritual kingdom) and words do not suffice.
Therefore to make yourself open to any dialog of say ‘Revelations’, you have to be prepared to allow another level of human awareness to evolve to study and diagram it.
Not a task that can be mastered, without the hand of Jesus involved, because Jesus surrendered to the level of sinfulness within and therefore can guide anyone to complete the journey to knowing God yourself (without human intervention or guidance).
In simple terms, you can study the Bible, but never truly experience it without letting go your ideas about God.
The Bible is the way to keep yourself close to God’s plan for us, if you stop trying to define it (with the human mind and all it’s ideas, judgements and concerns). It also matures you enough to love God unconditionally (which no one can do when in the state of sinfulness).