Things that Even a Bible Believer Can't Believe

I am always fascinated by the things that strain the credulity of conservative Bible believers.  For example, Christian apologists  insist that the reports of Jesus' postmortem appearances couldn't be the result of hallucinations because hallucinations are individual experiences and Jesus is reported to have appeared to groups of people.  Apparently the idea that more than one person would claim to have seen the same vision (or that one person would claim that others had seen the same vision he saw) is so far fetched that it is eminently more reasonable to believe in Jesus' body coming back to life with the ability to appear and disappear at will while passing through solid objects.

In the 13th Chapter of Mark, Jesus makes various predictions about the cataclysmic events that will surround the coming of the Son of Man and tells his listeners "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place."  Mk 13:30.  This passage is troubling for many Christians since Jesus seems to have made a bad call.  That generation is long gone and Jesus hasn't returned yet.  Many apologists have argued that Jesus must have meant something other than that some of the people who were listening to him at the time would still be around.

Over at Grace and Miracles , one apologist seemed to think that Jesus couldn't have meant that some of his listeners would still be alive because he couldn't have been that foolish.

For under such an assumption Jesus would have had to have in mind such events as the Jews being disbursed to ALL the nations as well as ALL the nations being reached with the gospel. But this is hardly something one would expect of Christ—since it requires us to believe that One who was savvy enough to shame his aggressive and ambitious interrogators until they dared not ask him further questions before the people, would also imagine with the greatest naiveté that such a Dispersion and Spreading of the Gospel to ALL nations could take place within a single generation.

The Bible is filled with incredible and fantastic prophecies and Jesus himself predicts events that are unimaginable and unprecedented.  None of these these prophecies will the apologist deem too far fetched not to be fulfilled in exactly the way that the Bible describes.  Nonetheless, if a prophecy violates the apologist's common sense notion of how long it will take for a particular set of events to occur, Jesus must have meant something else. It is absurd to think that Jesus would have been so naïve as to think that these unprecedented events could have taken place within an unprecedentedly short time frame. Oh no!  Jesus was much too savvy to think that.

Who Cares What Standard and Poor's Thinks?

One of the most disturbing aspects of the financial crisis is that so many people who couldn't get a job writing the daily horoscopes still have their financial forecasts taken seriously.

QOTD

I keep saying I am not a Democrat because I have no idea what their economic policy is, and I am not a Republican because I know EXACTLY what their economic policy is. That is our policy choices: Inept cluelessness on one side, and hapless fantasy-based lunacy on the other.

Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture

My Comments are Banned by an Atheist

It appears that I have been banned from posting comments by John Loftus at Debunking Christianity.  The comments that got me banned concerned John's claim that the quality of any academic program in Christian apologetics could be judged by whether or not it dealt specifically with the books he has written on counter-apologetics.  I suggested "that criticizing apologists for not specifically addressing your arguments is the exact same tactic that apologists use to dismiss scholars they don't like."

Apparently, however, it is my agnosticism about the historical Jesus that really ticked John off:  "Vinny you are like every other atheist I have met who does not think Jesus existed. You have cookie cutter mentality. If I do not fit the mold you will find something to criticize me for if you can."


My response to that comment was evidently the straw that broke the camel's back:

John,

I do not in fact believe that Jesus did not exist. I am agnostic about the historical Jesus. I don't think it really matters whether the historical Jesus existed or not because I think he has been too thoroughly mythologized to be recovered either way. I think that historicists overestimate the strength of their case and underestimate its vulnerability. However, I think that mythicists generally do the same thing.

I do find the discussions of mythicism interesting and I enjoy participating in them to test my own thinking and understanding. I have generally tried to be polite although I realize I can be a smart ass sometimes.

I think you are completely overreacting to my comment. If it's not too late to vote on whether you should take some time off from counter-apologetics, I think I might vote yes.

The next time I returned to John's blog, I found that I would not be allowed to post any more comments.  I have been banned from the blogs of some conservative Christians, however, this is the first time that I have been banned by an atheist.

I regret this because Debunking Christianity has always been one of my favorite blogs, and as far as I can tell, I have not violated any part of John's Comment Policy.  However, I guess it is just as well that there is one less internet site that I will have reason to waste time on. 

I was gratified to see that John has decided to take some time off from blogging.  I don't know whether it had anything to do with my suggestion.

We Are So Screwed

The economy is barely moving and the Democrats and Republicans are arguing over how hard to push on the brakes.

Evidence Doesn't Matter to Rick Perry

I don't have any problem with people who believe that the Bible is a supernatural book.  I do have a problem with people who believe that objective evidence proves that the Bible is a supernatural book.  I have seen the convoluted mental gymnastics that people use to convince themselves the empirical evidence justifies their belief in a magic book.  I think that engaging in such distorted reasoning inevitably impairs their ability to deal with empirical data in other areas as well.

Here is a perfect example with Texas governor Rick Perry.  Confronted with the fact that Texas has the third highest teen pregnancy rate in the country, Perry insists that Abstinence Only sex education works.  He has no idea why Texas has such a high teen pregnancy rate, but that doesn't matter because his personal subjective experience tells him that "abstinence works."

 
Watch live video from texastribune on Justin.tv

On August 6, Governor Perry will be hosting "a solemn gathering of prayer and fasting for our country" called The Response at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Here's how he is promoting the event:

Fellow Americans,

Right now, America is in crisis: we have been besieged by financial debt, terrorism, and a multitude of natural disasters. As a nation, we must come together and call upon Jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles, and thank Him for the blessings of freedom we so richly enjoy.

Some problems are beyond our power to solve, and according to the Book of Joel, Chapter 2, this historic hour demands a historic response. Therefore, on August 6, thousands will gather to pray for a historic breakthrough for our country and a renewed sense of moral purpose.

I sincerely hope you’ll join me in Houston on August 6th and take your place in Reliant Stadium with praying people asking God’s forgiveness, wisdom and provision for our state and nation. There is hope for America. It lies in heaven, and we will find it on our knees.

Some problems might be easier to solve if we tried to figure out what actually works based on empirical evidence rather than our subjective feelings about what we wish would work. I don't know whether there is a God, but if there is, I think he wants us to use the brains he gave us to address our problems.