Author: Roland

  • Two problems of revelation

    Every now and then I’ve seen two arguments against religion with regard to revelation. They are the problem of contradicting revelations and the problem of unclear revelation. Now I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t considered these arguments in any detailed way, but as far as I can tell each has a premise… →

  • Which Came First: Right or Law?

    I was thinking about the law today, as people do, and I was wondering which of the following two categories serves to ground the other: Inherent human rights, value or dignity (we’ll just call this “value”) Human duties or law (we’ll just call this “law”) By “duties” I mean [legal, moral and/or parental] obligations (what… →

  • A Brief Treatment of the Problem of Evil

    The problem of evil is usually considered one of the strongest arguments for atheism. In this short post we’ll consider it and possible responses available to the classical theist. The argument goes something like this: If God exists, then he is all-powerful (omnipotent) and all-good (omnibenevolent) and all-knowing (omniscient). If God is all-powerful, then he… →

  • A failed analysis of would-counterfactuals

    I was thinking about “would-counterfactuals” the other day and wondering how they’re meant to be understood on a libertarian account of free will that holds to contrary choice as a necessary condition for a free choice. I thought I had come up with some way of giving meaning to statements of the form “Agent S… →

  • More than sharing the gospel

    So… let’s talk about apologetics. Christians seem to have very different responses to the idea of apologetics. Some think it is indispensable in the Christian’s life while others sincerely think it’s a bad thing (for various reasons, which we’ll consider further down). To be clear, I fall in the former category. What is Apologetics? It might be… →

  • Defending the Moral Argument

    The Argument For those who don’t know, the Moral Argument is a class of theistic argument that attempts to argue for God’s existence from the existence of a universal moral law. Here I’m concerned with defending a single moral argument. It’s formulation is similar William Lane Craig’s (however, unlike Dr. Craig, I’m leaving out any… →

  • A Read to Remember: An Exhortation to Christians

    I can’t help but get the overwhelming impression that many Christians aren’t taking the time to think/read/learn about Christian doctrine or apologetics. Now I’m not expecting everyone to go out and get PhDs in theology or something, but rather to take an interest in learning both what we as Christians believe and how to communicate… →

  • A Case for Chronons

    Chronons are the discrete quantum of time. In other words they are the smallest (or indivisible) length of time. Naturally, if we think chronons exist, then we must hold that time is discrete. Admittedly, if we say chronons exist we have the following weird result: Two balls, each with a 10cm diameter, are moving in… →

  • Enabling, not burdening

    When we read the Bible we can see a pattern in the way God deals with those he saves. In the Exodus, God saves the Israelites and then gives them the law, telling them how they are to act as God’s people (Ex 20ff). Similarly, when we are saved as Christians we are called to… →

  • Burden of Proof

    It’s heard on the lips of of some atheists that they, unlike us theists, don’t bear the burden of proof in the question of God’s existence because they merely lack the belief in God. The theists bear the burden of proof, however, because they make the claim that God exists. I agree with this reasoning… →