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None of us are mind readers... In other words, "Yes, Mormon boy, let's relish seeing you squirm while you try to avoid what we all know is clear: your scriptures are crap!" Reverend, while I can't read Jenkins' mind any better than you, I'll take the other side of this re-narrating Jenkins. Bias is...

Yes, we don't want to commit the error of argumentum ad hominem. At the same time, if stem wants to claim that Carrier is "all about the history," when I think that is questionable, I think it is entirely fair for me to point these things out. Hold up...I didn't say he's all about the history. I su...

Thanks, Kishkumen, for your input. I'm going back to what I said at the first of this trail, it doesn't really matter to me whether Jesus actually lived or not. It's an inconsequential question. You mean, I hope, that you feel it is inconsequential to you. I assure you that as a historical question...

Reason isn't as bad as it sometimes seems. I think that we are our synapses, or rather that we are the algorithm-like pattern that they form. It's also my working assumption that synapses and molecules and all that stuff changes and moves deterministically. But that doesn't seem to me to mean that ...

I don't know that the decisions in his personal life say anything about his scholarship. He could be seeking fame and adoration, and such could suggest he's lying or fooling people. Or it could mean he's let things go to his head even if he's offered some good work to consider. I haven't decided. I...

The issue we have here is humans are more complex than this. Of course feelings of meaninglessness can lead to criminal and harmful behavior. Religion seems to get a win here because it's so dominant. But we fail to acknowledge people find meaning outside of religion all the time. And, it may be th...

I don't know that the decisions in his personal life say anything about his scholarship. He could be seeking fame and adoration, and such could suggest he's lying or fooling people. Or it could mean he's let things go to his head even if he's offered some good work to consider. I haven't decided.

Stem, you're right about this point. The existence of Jesus isn't the issue. So why should Carrier even make the claim, especially when there are proofs to the contrary? For the sake of history. Its his discipline and he seems intent on letting the evidence take him where it leads. I realize people...

In the threads from the old board there were discussions on how Carrier misrepresented the evidence or even abused it. This included instances where he argued for unusual readings of the Greek, cherry picked phrasing, dismissed historical practice, and generally took advantage of people who seemed ...

The question of free will is often framed counterfactually: could I have had oatmeal instead of toast for breakfast? If I had wanted to have oatmeal then presumably I could have, but could I in fact have wanted oatmeal, or was I unavoidably foreordained to want toast this morning? But see, I'm not ...