Comments for aldenswan.com

Comment on There Are Stupid Questions by me

me — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 19:57:40 +0000

James, my comment at DC was similar. The NT itself shows that the “word of God” was being spread orally at that time, and it was many years before the NT Cannon was assembled. Oral tradition obviously worked well for the first few centuries.

Comment on There Are Stupid Questions by Steve Martin

Steve Martin — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 07:32:47 +0000

‘In the begining was the Bible, and the Bible was with God, and the Bible was God.’

The Bible is the manger for the Christ child. It is not God, but God is certainly there.

Comment on There Are Stupid Questions by James F. McGrath

James F. McGrath — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:53:40 +0000

I left a comment over at Debunking Christianity, pointing out what Fred did, but also adding that Christianity came into existence and endured for decades without a New Testament, and existed for most of its history without there being Bibles in languages that most people could read.

Comment on There Are Stupid Questions by Fred

Fred — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:43:09 +0000

Ha! Christians have disregarded the Bible for hundreds of years.

Wait a minute. That’s probably not a good thing.

Comment on Peter Hitchens: The Rage Against God by me

me — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:07:42 +0000

Kurt, you’ll have to make your own coffee, and pretend it’s as good as what I’m drinking…
(On my original blog design there was small print that said “coffee not provided.”)

Comment on Peter Hitchens: The Rage Against God by Steve Martin

Steve Martin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:45:09 +0000

Very interesting, Alden.

Thanks for the spotlight on P. Hitchens and his book.

Comment on Peter Hitchens: The Rage Against God by Kurt Spingath

Kurt Spingath — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:53:03 +0000

Sounds interesting, would like to read it. So, where’s the real good coffee?

Comment on On the Impossibility of Mulltiple Universes and Realities by Mike Haubrich, FCD

Mike Haubrich, FCD — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:12:35 +0000

How so Fred? Is a belief a concrete structure? Defend your statement, please. A meme is a cultural concept, even a gene is not a distinct entity but a description of an allele.

We live in a symbolic, abstract world.

And I have already gotten into the scientific literature of the 21st century. Catch up, man!

Comment on On the Impossibility of Mulltiple Universes and Realities by Fred

Fred — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:11:42 +0000

“Beliefs are independent of reality.”

Apparently Mike has stopped reading the more recent scientific literature—that being anything written in the 20th century.

Comment on On the Impossibility of Mulltiple Universes and Realities by Mike Haubrich, FCD

Mike Haubrich, FCD — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:39:51 +0000

Okay, okay, okay. I know you are having a bit of fun here, but your second proposition is a big, undemonstrated “if” and the rest of your syllogism falls apart pretty quickly without it. Especially the whole “atheism” part. Atheism is a demonstrated reality (your looking at it, sir.)

Beliefs are independent of reality, they are positions on abstract concepts and presuppositions.

BTW – courtesy Greta Christina

“Atheism is not the absolute certainty that there is no God. It’s the willingness to move forward with the reasonable conclusion that there is almost certainly no God — even though we can never be absolutely sure about it, and even though we understand that if new evidence for God appears we’ll have to change our minds.”