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@BlueGreenEarth In the biblical sense, the word "faith" must be conceived differently than your characterization. In both "Hebrew" ("amunah") and Greek ("pistis") the word translated faith connotes "faithfulness." This nuance acutely raises the relevance of the classic Christian philosophical...

A good rule of thumb in deciding which modern books on Christian spirituality to read is this: generally ignore books whose quotations are all in the KJV. Why? Because it demonstrates that they have not formed their perspectives in dialogue with modern academic book commentaries on the Bible...

The posted video documents the facts of the KJV translation, not subjective opinion, apart from the narrator's opinion that the KJV is the greatest book ever written in the English language! I agree that no modern translation rivals it for majesty, despite its archaic language. My beef is with...

Few Christians are aware of the dramatic story of how and why the KJV was translated, the scholars of dubious character and reputation who did the translating (drunks, violent bigots, sycophants, etc.), and the political and hierarchical bias that the translators were required to serve. Despite...

LOL, in other words, you and David Taylor have nothing meaningful to say, and so, you flee honest dialogue in terror! Clearly, neither of you have read a standard academic book on the formation of the New Testament canon like the works of Robert M. Grant or Hans van Campenhausen.

Why do Baptists so often resort to insults when they are incapable of seasoning their penchant for bluster with a modicum of intellectual rigor. Now reread my argument and see if you can see past your gob-smacked reaction to make at least a token effort at a rational response.

Just the opposite! The Scriptures only have authority when they are faithful to church doctrine. How so? Because the Church (not the NT docments) gets her authority from Christ and because it is the Church that decided on the basis of Church doctrine which documents would and would not be...

(10) My next experience of "the word of knowledge" happened when I was a Theology professor at a Catholic university in New York state. I had just finished my 4-course teaching load and was exhausted. So I began to think about a much needed vacation. But that Friday night I became obsessed...

BlueGreenEarth: "Several New Testament books were excluded from this analysis because they were not relevant to the topic, their authenticity has been contested by a consensus of Biblical scholars, or have been demonstrated to be duplicative in that they are later versions of the same content...

I'm haunted by Luther's response at the end of his life to the question of whether he had any regrets. He replied, "I wish I had made my sermons shorter and more in a the language of the common people." Luther had a unique way of making his meaning graphically clear in few words. 2 examples...

Calvin's excessively verbose quote should have been greatly condensed to maximize its impact. The quote reminds me of my favorite quote from Woodrow Wilson in his insightful response to feelers put out to see if he might be willing to deliver the commencement address at Princeton University...

I promised a thorough engagement with your epistemology and all I asked is a good faith gesture to assure me that your own "confirmation bias" doesn't prevent you from the hard work of reexamining your core assumptions--and you have declined. Your responses to me about NDEs and ADCs demonstrate...

My complaint is more basic--a matter of courtesy and intellectual fairness. I have read through all the pages of your epistemology and only asked you in return to watch 2 short Shared Death Experience videos to start a conversation which might become far reaching. If you were open-minded...

Your critics have analyzed the literary style of these 27 threads and their consensus is that their style is so different than the authentic Willie that they must be deemed pseudonymous. Therefore, all who respond to those threads must address them to Deutero_Willy.

By your deafening silence, you admit you have not watched the 2 posted short videos, which document the very best evidential NDEs, which of course are shared NDEs in which the bedside family members and friends experience features of the dying person's NDE, so that any hallucinatory or oxygen...

Each of these issues would take its own lengthy thread. What we need to find is the right starting point that might prompt you to change your mind on Christian theism. Let's get started with NDEs and ADCs. If you could be convinced, that some of these experiences demonstrate postmortem...

We can all set up our spiritual quest for God in a way that is in principle unfalsifiable and therefore epistemologically meaningless. To do so makes meaningful efforts at persuasion futile. But my faith in God is indeed falsifiable in principle in several ways: (a) If I could be convinced...

BlueGreen Earth, Theistic arguments are only as sound as their underlying assumptions. But core assumptions derive from our experience. Therefore, theistic (or nontheistic) arguments depend for their merits on the spiritual significance of our experience, especially on experiences of a...

Halloween has provided some of the most treasured and sacred memories of my early childhood. My Dad was too involved with work and church service to spend time with his little son. But I (age 5) was dressed up as a ghost and led from house to house, receiving abundant candy. As a shy little...