The Dangers of Fundamentalism -- John Dominic Crossan.

[_JAK]

I viewed one of Craig's online videos, and he said that he "knows Christianity is true because the Holy Spirit revealed it" to him. Maybe he hasn't talked to many ordinary Muslims. Craig's testimony sounded much like what you'd hear on Fast Sunday, and his apologetics reminds me much of Mormon apologetics. If you have a problem, look at the evidence, and eventually it will confirm what you know "by the Spirit".

Tom Paine's deism sounds a lot more reasonable to me.

Speculation does not make for confirmed, objective, multiple observations resulting in analytical commentary. Personal and emotionally involved supposition is unreliable.

“If you have a problem” means what exactly? If “you” are skeptical, consult with those who have a greater objectivity than yourself. Garner as much information, evidence, and countervailing perspective as you can. Being introspective only exacerbates the “problem.” It does not solve for it.

JAK

[_Ray A]

Personal and emotionally involved supposition is unreliable.

JAK

I don't discount emotion.

Perhaps you've heard of Daniel Goleman.

Or the concept of Emotional intelligence.

As a result of the growing acknowledgement by professionals of the importance and relevance of emotions to work outcomes,[8] the research on the topic continued to gain momentum, but it wasn’t until the publication of Daniel Goleman's best seller Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ that the term became widely popularized.[9] Nancy Gibbs' 1995 Time magazine article highlighted Goleman's book and was the first in a string of mainstream media interest in EI.[10] Thereafter, articles on EI began to appear with increasing frequency across a wide range of academic and popular outlets.

I don't wear the idea that emotion should be excluded as an important factor in decision-making. We can deny it 'till the cows come home, but emotion/intuition play a large role in decision-making.

I am not an automaton who operates only by "logic", though that certainly is very important.

[_richardMdBorn]

It seems to me that JAK uses jargon to accuse people who are religious of using jargon.

[_Ray A]

For many years I wondered what happened to A.N. Wilson, author of Jesus, a critical look at Christianity. I see from Craig's website that Wilson (who was atheist) has "returned to the fold".

A.N.Wilson.

Wilson's April Daily Mail Article Religion of hatred: Why we should no longer be cowed by the chattering classes ruling Britain who sneer at Christianity.

This reminds me too much of Malcolm Muggeridge, another who returned to the fold late in life.

I read a few of Wilson's books and watched a video he did debunking Christianity, and I believe he was actually quite "religious" but lost his faith. In any case, this is a very interesting development as I had wondered for years what happened to Wilson.

[_richardMdBorn]

For many years I wondered what happened to A.N. Wilson, author of Jesus, a critical look at Christianity. I see from Craig's website that Wilson (who was atheist) has "returned to the fold".

A.N.Wilson.

Wilson's April Daily Mail Article Religion of hatred: Why we should no longer be cowed by the chattering classes ruling Britain who sneer at Christianity.

This reminds me too much of Malcolm Muggeridge, another who returned to the fold late in life.

I read a few of Wilson's books and watched a video he did debunking Christianity, and I believe he was actually quite "religious" but lost his faith. In any case, this is a very interesting development as I had wondered for years what happened to Wilson.

I've never been impressed with Wilson. Circa 1993, I picked up his biography of C.S. Lewis in a bookstore and found a mistake on the first page I perused. So I can't be too pleased with him now holding similar view to mine, See also:

http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/20 ... ce-atheism

Was Muggeridge a believer early in life?

[_Ray A]

I've never been impressed with Wilson. Circa 1993, I picked up his biography of C.S. Lewis in a bookstore and found a mistake on the first page I perused. So I can't be too pleased with him now holding similar view to mine,

So you don't welcome him back to the fold?

He seems to have gone a bit overboard in his Mail article, but Muggeridge wasn't much different.

[Guest]

No doubt an intriguing person also.

If you aren't aware, Craig holds the view that each person has received a verdical witness from the Holy Ghost of the truth of Christianity and therefore no argument is necessary for justified belief. On Craig's view it would be irrational and unforgiveable not to believe. And by "Christianity" we're not talking about any theological view that might be labeled Christian. He has something more narrow in mind.

What he says might sound like the LDS religious experience test, but it's actually substantially different. He's saying that everyone knows in their bones, so to speak, that Christianity is true. It's only through the corrupting influence of sin and willful disobedience of God that people deny this. LDS typically don't argue that everyone already has an innate witness from the Holy Ghost that Mormonism is where it is at. Rather they take an ask and ye shall receive approach.

[_Ray A]

Was Muggeridge a believer early in life?

I have read bits and pieces about that over the years. I could only manage to find this one online:

Malcolm Muggeridge's journey.

What this familiar criticism overlooks is the extent to which Muggeridge had always been a deeply religious character, a "pilgrim." As an adolescent, he would secretly read the Bible-secretly, because he knew his father would not have approved. At Cambridge, he seriously contemplated a religious vocation. His diary is full of entries minuting his religious fears, cravings, and exaltations. Muggeridge understood that the merely human is at best the nearly human. At the same time, his revulsions are at odds with the ampleness of the faith he proclaimed. In an interview from the 1960s, Muggeridge said that he "saw life as an eternal battle between two irreconcilable opposites, the world of the flesh and the world of the spirit." Yet "God made the world and saw that it was good." It seems a pity that this robust soul should have mistaken affirmation for indulgence.

[_richardMdBorn]

I've never been impressed with Wilson. Circa 1993, I picked up his biography of C.S. Lewis in a bookstore and found a mistake on the first page I perused. So I can't be too pleased with him now holding similar view to mine,

So you don't welcome him back to the fold?

He seems to have gone a bit overboard in his Mail article, but Muggeridge wasn't much different.

It's not up to me. But I am not comforted if he agrees with me.

[_Ray A]

If you aren't aware, Craig holds the view that each person has received a verdical witness from the Holy Ghost of the truth of Christianity and therefore no argument is necessary for justified belief. On Craig's view it would be irrational and unforgiveable not to believe. And by "Christianity" we're not talking about any theological view that might be labeled Christian. He has something more narrow in mind.

What he says might sound like the LDS religious experience test, but it's actually substantially different. He's saying that everyone knows in their bones, so to speak, that Christianity is true. It's only through the corrupting influence of sin and willful disobedience of God that people deny this. LDS typically don't argue that everyone already has an innate witness from the Holy Ghost that Mormonism is where it is at. Rather they take an ask and ye shall receive approach.

The Book of Mormon does teach that, or something very similar:

15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.
18 And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.
19 Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ. (Moroni 7:15-19)