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"How, indeed, could one argue, from the existence of evil that it is unlikely God exists?" (Plantinga, 1974, 61). We have every reason to believe that "…all natural evils have perfectly natural causes," Plantinga quotes from Cornman and Lehrer; and therefore it is "…unreasonable to postulate some non-natural cause to explain their occurrences" (62).
Is Atheism really comforting?
McCloskey may be comforted with his beliefs, and a Christian will not and would not intrude on his comfort zone without just cause. But he is talking in circles when he speaks about the "self-respect" and "self-reliance" that comes with being part of atheism. Actually those phrases fit perfectly into the Christian theology as well. McCloskey's use of semantics and filibuster -- and rhetorical bluster -- just shows the flimsiness of his argument. In fact, the words of William Lane Craig are germane to this issue. Could anyone be comfortable believing God does not exist? If he does not, then, Craig explains, "…life is futile. If the God of the Bible does exist, then life is meaningful… [and as a result belief in God] enables us to live happily and consistently"
(Craig, 2008). In conclusion, Craig rightly explains that it is important for the Christian to "push [the atheist] to the logical conclusions of his position… [because the atheist] affirms meaning, value, or purpose without an adequate basis." And as the thesis of this paper pointed out, Christians...
Systemic Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 1993.
Comfort, Ray. How to Know God Exists: Scientific Proof of God. Alachua, FL: Bridge Logos
Foundation, 2008.
Craig, William Lane. "The Absurdity of Life Without God." In Reasonable Faith: Christian
Truth and Apologetics, third ed. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008.
Leff, Gordon. William of Ockham: The Metamorphosis of Scholastic Discourse. Manchester,
UK: Manchester University Press, ND, 1975.
McCloskey, H.J. "On Being an Atheist." In Question Journal, 1968.
Plantinga, Alvin. God, Freedom, and Evil. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing,
1974.
McCloskey, H.J. "On Being an Atheist." In Question Journal (vol. 1), 1968, p. 51.
Leff, Gordon. William of Ockham: The Metamorphosis of Scholastic Discourse. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press ND, 382.
Comfort, Ray. How to Know God Exists: Scientific Proof of God. Alachua, FL: Bridge Logos Foundation, 2008.
Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 1993.
Plantinga, Alvin. God, Freedom, and Evil. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
Craig, William Lane. "The Absurdity of Life Without God." In Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics, third ed. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008.
Bibliography
Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Systemic Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 1993.
Comfort, Ray. How to Know God Exists: Scientific Proof of God. Alachua, FL: Bridge Logos
Foundation, 2008.
Craig, William Lane. "The Absurdity of Life Without God." In Reasonable Faith: Christian
Atheist In "On Being an Atheist," H.J. McCloskey discusses what it means to him to be an atheist. In doing so, he criticizes the classical argument in favor of God's existence. This is not a new criticism, as people have been arguing about whether it is possible to prove or disprove the existence of God for years. However, McCloskey goes further in his argument against the existence of God by
McCloskey responds to this by asking "might not God have very easily so have arranged the world and biased man to virtue that men always freely chose what is right?" But in that case, humans would not have genuine free will. And God is justified, Evans argues, in creating free creatures who are capable of committing evil because it is better to have both free creatures and evil than
6 Is there any comfort in these? None. There is no comfort in believing that one's existence -- joys and sufferings included -- is meaningless. If it were so, then there's no point in doing good rather than evil. If there is no immortality with God, then there is no Judgment and Hitler won't be any less of a saint than Mother Theresa. In a world without God, morality loses
McCloskey's refutation of the arguments of existence of God and illustration of how God (and metaphysics) can be perceived in different ways and that this precludes us from making any final judgments regarding His existence and manner of rulership. The Cosmological argument maintains that God's existence can be deduced from the fact that every act of creation needs an initiator. The world had a beginning -- after all it is
Worldviews Remification Of Worldviews Mortimer j.Alder an American philosopher an intellect and a person of remarkable wisdom did not believe that education should be determined by social engineering but unchanging standards of truth. What Alder was trying to say? Mortimer Alder in his statement "more consequences for thought and action follow affirmation of denial of God than from answering any other basic question" was trying to point out an argument about existence of
Nevertheless, personal experience is a powerful method of argument, especially when the credibility of the individual is not called into question. The moral argument in favor of the existence of God is weak because the existence of human morality does not in itself mean that God is the origin of morals. Rather, God has often been used as a motive to prompt people to act a certain way, according