Introduction – What’s Been Going On
2022 to the present has been an extremely painful time for me. I have experienced a lot of loss, pain, and changes to my life, and this has affected the extent to which I can create content for the public. In 2022, I made the decision that I would like to become a vocational biblical scholar, so in 2023, I ended The Cerebral Faith Podcast. I ended it for several reasons; (1) I was working myself into the ground between all the hours I was getting at Dollar General, caring for my sister in light of my mother’s passing [1]For those who don’t know, my younger sister has a disorder called Cri Du Chet. She has a very high functioning form of it, but she will never function on exactly the same level as a … Continue reading, in addition to blogging, making YouTube and TikTok content, and other things I won’t mention as you don’t need my entire to do list. I was overwhelmed. I was working myself as hard as a Japanese animator. This was damaging my mental and emotional health. I needed to reduce the workload. (2) I knew that if I went to Seminary to work for degrees, my workload would get worse. I would have to work full-time through school. In my head, I imagined no free time to do anything outside of making money and trying to get good grades. (3) The topical nature of the podcast eventually was its undoing anyway. The more episodes I made, the harder it became to come up with things to talk about. I went over some of these reasons for ending the podcast in its final episode.
Then in 2024, in the light of a certain controversy over a development in my theological anthropology, I wondered if I would have been able to become a vocational Bible scholar at all. I regretted the articles I wrote on that subject. I attracted the most vile ire I have ever received. I have been attacked for controversial beliefs before; however, this was on a whole new level. I was filled with so much hurt and anger that I came dangerously close to walking away from Christianity. Had it not been for the solid evidential foundation my Christian worldview is based on, I might have. But as Christian Apologist Frank Turek has said, “It’s a lot harder to walk away from what you know is true rather than what you think might be true.” As I sat in the ashes in ruined relationships, the thought occurred to me “Is that even what I would want to begin with? I thought God called me to this.” We’ll come back to that second thought in a moment. In my mind, I had done a profoundly foolish thing in writing the articles that stirred up so much irrational wrath in the hearts of so called Christians, and I had concluded that I was deeply lacking in the wisdom department. I had analyzed the possible pros and cons for months. I also prayed that God would lead me to the correct answer. So I thought I had concluded the right choice to make, and yet…..I regretted it. Despite all my deliberation, I still ended up making the wrong choice? How? I concluded that intelligence and wisdom are not the same, and that to gain wisdom, I needed to (1) Ask God for it (see James 1:5-7) and (2) Pursue it. Hence, I began a deep study on the wisdom literature of The Bible. I have read many books and commentaries on the book of Proverbs and sometimes just wisdom in general. One book relevant to mention here is “Decision Making and The Will Of God” by Garry Frieson and J. Robin Maxen.
That next to last one was a crucial book. Garry Frieson and J. Robin Maxen defended the thesis that God does not have an “individual will” for the believer’s life. God does not want you to marry a specific person, move to a specific city, get a specific job, et. al. And to an extent, I never believed God desired for our lives to unfold in such micro-managed ways. God may micro-manage in His sovereign will [2]Friesen and Robin are likely deterministic compatiblists based on how they explained God’s sovereignty in its relationship to human agency in chapter 12 of “Decision Making and The Will … Continue reading. When it comes to who we marry (or even if we should get married at all), I’ve never believed in the concept of a “Soul mate”. I also thought you could choose whatever vocation you wanted, or where you wanted to live. The only exception I made is to the “calling into ministry”. If a man felt that he was called to be a missionary, a pastor, or, in my case, a biblical scholar, then you God had a specific will for your life that you could miss or not miss. My view was a bit of a hybrid of what Friesen and Robin call “The Way Of Wisdom” and “The Traditional View” of God’s will. I won’t defend the view here, but I will just say this; This book was not off brand. I saw how many times the word “Wisdom” appeared in the latter chapter headings, and since anxiety over decision making is what I was aiming to resolve in my pursuit of wisdom, I knew this would be part of my wisdom “Study Stack”. [3]It isn’t literally a stack though as all the books mentioned so far are either in Logos or Kindle. I actually just take screenshots of the covers of books I want to read on a subject and line … Continue reading Friesen and Robin defend the proposal that God has a moral will for all our lives spelled out in his special revelation; The Bible. There is also God’s Sovereign Will pertaining to what he wishes to to happen in history; how he orchestrates the unfolding of history and human events. He says that these two “Wills” are biblical, but that Christians have unwittingly added a third will; “the individual will”. God’s moral will is discoverable and quite easily so. All you have to do is pick up your Bible and read it. The sovereign will of God is not always discoverable, at least not in the present in the future. You can see the sovereign will of God, if you look to the past whether in the Bible or in the newspaper, but you don’t know it in the present. And this is why it is called by some theologians the “secret” will of God.
Friesen and Robin defend the proposal that an individual will of God is not only not discoverable, it doesn’t exist. Not for most people anyway. I have come to agree with their conclusion on the basis of their biblical argumentation. What I appreciated about this book is its thoroughness. This book took me quite a while to get through. It has 22 chapters, a concluding chapter, and even two appendices. it not only looks at the issue of whether or not there God specifically wants you to, say, be a missionary or a pastor (or a biblical scholar), but it also shows ways to live out the alternative view which the authors call “The Way Of Wisdom”.
(1) In areas where God commands, we must obey. (2) In areas where no explicit command is given, we are free (and responsible) to choose, (3) In the circle of freedom, God gives us the wisdom we need to make good choices. (4) When we have chosen what is moral and wise, we must trust the sovereign God to work all the details together for good.
I had already been suspecting that even my “soft” view of the “Individual Will Of God” might have been mistaken, but Friesen and Robin convinced me. In light of this, I now knew that I had the freedom to choose what to do in life that would best serve God and my neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40).
Changing Course – My Dream Career Would Be A Nightmare
Although a part of me still regrets my decision to write those articles, in a way, it might have been God’s way of saving me from a nightmare career that would suck every last ounce of love for studying his word that I have. So what should I do? In light of my regret, I realized that had I know what would occur, I would have made different choices. To make a well informed decision, the key is in the name; information. You must have adequate information before you can properly discern which course of action you should take. So, in order to figure out whether vocational biblical scholarship would even be right for me (or whether I had a romanticized view of the job), I would need to gather info. What’s it like to do this? What’s it like to get a professorate? What’s it like in the daily life of the John Waltons and N.T Wrights of the world? It did not take long for me to come across information that made me go “Nope! Nope! Nope! GEHENNA NO!”
I direct you to a video made by Egyptologist David Falk called “Six Reasons Not To Become A Biblical Scholar (And One To Be)” There are, as the title suggests, six factors, all of which deterred me. But what bothered me the most were reasons 1 and 3 in the list. First, let’s say that I get into a school, do the work, and come out with a degree. Once I graduate, the odds are stacked against me that I would be able to actually USE my degree! In Falk’s words, becoming a vocational Bible scholar is “not unlike winning the lottery”! Wait, what? Ok, but let’s say lady luck is on my side, or let’s say you believe I had “the calling” of God to do this (because I’m totally like Moses or Paul) so I end up becoming Professor Minton at Fill-In-The-Blank Seminary. Well, one of my toxic traits is being committed to the truth at all costs and tipping over sacred cows in the church. I agree with Martin Luther’s proverb “Peace if possible, truth at all costs” and Carl Sagan’s proverb “If it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed by the truth.” The whole time I’ve been doing Cerebral Faith, I have had a large degree of intellectual autonomy. Yes, I’m accountable to my local church and fellow believers, but if I came to an unpopular conclusion, then the worst case scenario is that I would just have to find another church. My very livelihood wouldn’t be on the line. And yet, as David Falk said in the linked video above;
“Biblical studies departments are very political, risk-averse, and despise people who make waves or disrupt the tranquility of the community. I used to tell people the three rules for getting through grad school; know the system, jump through the hoops, and don’t make waves. Unfortunately, when you become part of the academy, the first two drop off, and the third becomes paramount. It’s one thing to be a grad student but working in the academy is an entirely different game that demands a different skill set. Academic departments demand a nebulous requirement euphemistically called ‘collegiality’ Collegiality is the ability to ‘fit in’ and what we mean by fitting in is that you will work diligently in the department without inviting controversy, without drawing attention to yourself, and without making any waves that could disturb the rest of the faculty.
if you think as a Bible scholar that you will be defending the historic Christian faith, think again! If you take any stand at all for the historic Christian faith (whether your institution believes in it or not), you will be thrown under the bus at a moment’s notice and driven out because you have disturbed the peace and tranquility of the community.” [4]David Falk, “Six Reasons Not To Become A Biblical Scholar (and One To Be)”. — https://youtu.be/Bv8MJ2zwB-Y?si=O9YmGMaSEYlctaV0
I don’t think I have to say more on this point.
So What Now?
Back in October, I went on a trip to North Carolina with my Pastor and church. I rode with my pastor in the van. We had gone up there to help rebuild Halls Chapel Baptist Church, which had been devastated by Hurricane Helene. On the way home, I told him about my concerns. I told him “Honestly, if I could just continue to study and teach The Bible for the rest of my life, I’d be happy with that. I wouldn’t care what that looks like.”
One Piece fans will understand the subtle reference in the feature photo. In light of a devastating defeat and tragedy, Captain Luffy put his pirate adventure on pause to train with Raylee, Gold Roger’s former first mate, to become stronger. Since he had been separated from the rest of his crew (they literally were sent flying in different directions by Bartholomew Kuma), he had to get the message out to them that they would not, as previously planned, regroup at Sabaody in 3 days, but would regroup in 2 years. Through a series of cunning events, Luffy ended up getting his photograph in the newspaper where “3D” on his arm was crossed out and “2Y” was written underneath it. The rest of the Straw Hat pirates understood the subliminal message and decided to spend 2 years training where they were currently were. And cue the time skip.
I have decided that the next 4 years of my life, I will “train” with my Teacher (Matthew 23:10). For most of my Christian life, I’ve been running around trying to do everything I could for The Lord. I was like Martha. Going, going, and going, and eventually getting overwhelmed. I think the *wise* thing for now is to assume the position of Mary. I need to spend some time sitting at the feet of Jesus and soaking up every word that He has to say. (see Luke 10:38-42).
This isn’t goodbye, or at the very least I don’t intend for it to be. When I come back, I want to start a new podcast. I’m thinking of calling it “Cerebral Faith Bible Study”. This will be different from the previous podcast in that it will not be a topical podcast primarily about Christian Apologetics. I will teach through entire books of The Bible, and only occasionally do a topical episode or two. For this reason, I need to take some time away to study more. I want to know the word of God so intimately that if all The Bibles in the world were destroyed, I could reconstruct it in a “Book Of Eli” fashion. And not just memorize it, but understand it, and to know every different interpretation of every passage and why I land on one instead of the other. Recently, I woke up groggily quoting scripture. It was Romans 6:23 and I can’t remember why I was reciting it. Perhaps I was having a dream that involved a theological discussion. I want the word to be that intricately connected to me. I want Psalm 119 to be my song. After intense study for a few years, I feel like I will be equipped to do this kind of podcast.
But make no mistake; I am not learning for the sake of the podcast. That is only my secondary motivation. Even if I don’t see you in 4Y [5]I’ve learned the hard way not to boast in my future plans, as James warns against in James 4:13-14. I’ve gone through intense spiritual warfare that most people outside of my closest friends don’t even know about. I am now no longer in the habit of forgetting my unseen enemies. I am as convinced of the existence of Satan as I am of God. They are in an intense custody battle over me (cf. 1 John 3:10). The offensive part of The Armor of God is the Sword of The Spirit (Ephesians 6:10-17). God’s word is truth (John 17:17). Every word of The Bible is breathed out by God. As 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (NIV)
I miss the good old days when my spiritual warfare only amounted to “tearing down arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5). [6]See “On Apologetics and Spiritual Warfare” by Bob Perry, September 16th 2021, on CrossExamined.org. –> https://crossexamined.org/on-apologetics-and-spiritual-warfare/ My spiritual enemies are changing, and they are not flesh and blood. For this reason, I need to become the “greatest swordsman in the world”. That means contacting the Spirit who lives inside me and empowers my blade (1 Corinthians 6:19, Ephesians 6:17, 2 Timothy 3:16-17). I will be aiming for sanctification in leaps and bounds during this time, aiming for perfection if it’s possible. And why wouldn’t it be possible? After all, did Jesus just come to free us from sin’s penalty, or its power as well? What kind of Savior is He? But even if I’m not perfect, when I return, you will undoubtedly be introduced to a version of Evan Minton 10 times more godly than I am now. The key, I suspect, is in verses like (Psalm 119:9-10 cf. John 8:32). This won’t be an undertaking just to have my head full of more Bible knowledge. This sabbatical will be a quest to pursue holiness and a closeness with God like I have never before experienced. It will be strict training to crucify the flesh and its sinful tendencies through the truth.
I have rambled on enough. The point is this; although I have not been creating much anyway, you will probably get next to nothing out of me for the next 4 years. But I do plan on returning if I am able, provided if life doesn’t throw any more surprises at me that prevent me (James 4:13-17). When I do, I plan on doing an expositional Bible podcast. The podcast will include apologetic defenses of scripture, exegesis of scripture, systematic theology, and everything you come here to get. It just will not be a topical study of this or that subject as the original podcast was. For those who are Patrons, I pray you don’t leave. I will pause the account so that it doesn’t charge you during this era of silence. If The Lord sees fit and I come back, I’ll reactivate the account. And once you start getting charged again, this time, you will get EARLY early early access. You see, not only will this expository style of presenting to prevent “Podblock”, but I plan on stacking my content so that it doesn’t dry up in times when I can’t devote to creation. And I suspect that it will run for much longer than the previous one. Think about it; if I’ve just wrapped up talking about Mark 10, what should I talk about in the next episode? Well, gosh! Maybe expositing Mark 11!
It’s not my intention for this to be the end. But right now, I hardly have the emotional energy to do this. I can’t even begin to describe all the horrors that came one after another in my life since my mother passed away in 2021. I need to train with Jesus so my fingers will be ready for battle. Right now, I’m just trying to survive emotionally and spiritually. And when things become a bit more stable, and when I have grown in my faith and in my knowledge of the scriptures, then I hope to come back. For the blog, I plan on just uploading transcripts of “Cerebral Faith Bible Study”, the podcast I previously mentioned. Please pray for me as I have no idea how long this onslaught of demonic attacks will endure. Satan wants me dead. For privacy’s sake, I won’t divulge all the information, but some of my closest friends and family know the kind of suffering I’ve been going through. Please pray for me, that the armor of God will not crack until the battle is won. But be encouraged that God is growing me in this valley (see 1 Peter 1:7). I can feel myself becoming different for the better. Through these trials and study of his word, I believe God will make me an even more effective witness for Christ in the years to come. Through the Spirit working in me, my life will become as powerful of an apologetic as the arguments I’ve put up on this website.
One last thing I want to say is that this doesn’t mean I won’t interact with people in the comment section. It also doesn’t necessarily mean that this website will be frozen in time for the next 4 years. I might write articles here and there if I have something to say. But I would prefer not to. I can’t promise I will or won’t publish any new blog posts. Again, I’m trying to be more like Mary, not Martha. But I may have some thoughts about what I’m learning [7]Blog articles like “The Gender Of God” and “Finding Meaning In Your Work” are prime examples of articles that have been the result of my study on Proverbs. I just have to get out there. Maybe I’ll try to use my Logos notes as much as possible as an outlet for that. In a way, it’s like I’m trying to reinvent myself and this ministry. I studied apologetics for a while before starting this site. This blog all started because I wanted to jot down what I was learning to share with others (and also so I wouldn’t have to exposit a lot of things in social media debates).
References
| ↑1 | For those who don’t know, my younger sister has a disorder called Cri Du Chet. She has a very high functioning form of it, but she will never function on exactly the same level as a “normal” person. It is a rare genetic disorder that many people have never even heard of. The most I can tell people when trying to explain it to people is to say that it’s “like” Down Syndrome. Although, that is misleading. You can read more about it here –> https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24084-cri-du-chat-syndrome |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Friesen and Robin are likely deterministic compatiblists based on how they explained God’s sovereignty in its relationship to human agency in chapter 12 of “Decision Making and The Will Of God”, but I simply mentally translated their core thesis in Molinistic ways. For a defense on the view called Molinism, see my article “The Case For Mere Molinism.” |
| ↑3 | It isn’t literally a stack though as all the books mentioned so far are either in Logos or Kindle. I actually just take screenshots of the covers of books I want to read on a subject and line them up in a Canva document so I can keep track what I’ve read and need to read next. |
| ↑4 | David Falk, “Six Reasons Not To Become A Biblical Scholar (and One To Be)”. — https://youtu.be/Bv8MJ2zwB-Y?si=O9YmGMaSEYlctaV0 |
| ↑5 | I’ve learned the hard way not to boast in my future plans, as James warns against in James 4:13-14. |
| ↑6 | See “On Apologetics and Spiritual Warfare” by Bob Perry, September 16th 2021, on CrossExamined.org. –> https://crossexamined.org/on-apologetics-and-spiritual-warfare/ |
| ↑7 | Blog articles like “The Gender Of God” and “Finding Meaning In Your Work” are prime examples of articles that have been the result of my study on Proverbs. |
“Had it not been for the solid evidential foundation my Christian worldview is based on, I might have.”
Interesting. What “evidential foundation” are you referring to?
For context I have a fascination with religious belief. I have skimmed over a few of your posts.
It is unfortunate that, considering the number of posts and the amount of work you must have put in you have received so few comments.
While it is clear you have a love of apologetics, and far be it fir me to tell you how to host your blog, as a way of encouraging more visitors have you considered making your posts shorter/ snappier?
I actually get quite a few comments, it’s just that they’re mostly on Facebook where I market the content.
But almost nothing here….
Again, it takes a special individual to wade through a blog post that you you list as a 60 minute read!
And let’s face it, while you seem to be an ardent apologist nothing you write in Christianity’s defense is new, the field in question having been plowed many times.
Personally, I find posts on Christianity’s much more engaging where a specific topic is addressed in a succinct fashion rather than
a tome size piece.
To the question…
What “solid evidential foundation” are you referring to, Evan?
First of all, I’m not interested in presenting anything “new”. I’m interested in teaching others about the reasons to believe the Christian worldview as well as talk about nuances of theological subject matter. I make this content to win unbelievers and equip believers primarily, and ultimately to get people to intellectually engage the Christian worldview. Sometimes I do apologetics, other times I talk about theology, sometimes I talk about what’s going on in biblical scholarship. All for the sake of cultivating “an intellectually satisfying Christian worldview.”
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Secondly, it is only some of my most recent written works that are long. If you peruse the site more, you’ll find plenty of short articles and medium length articles as opposed to these essays that are meant to be thorough.
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Thirdly, I find it odd that you’d be 5 articles into my Gospel Reliability series and not have a clue about what I mean by an “evidential foundation.”. The cosmological and fine-tuning arguments are also part of that evidential foundation. So are the Moral and Ontological Arguments for God’s existence. And finally, there are both the Minimal Facts Argument and the Maximal Data arguments for the resurrection, both of which have their merits, although I find the latter to be much stronger than the former. Again, I’m not going to answer questions you can get the answers to by just deciding to read one or two articles. I’m not gonna play the atheist game of you saying “No evidence. No evidence. No evidence.” when I present copious amounts of evidence. If you want to know how I defend these arguments, read the articles I wrote about those arguments. If you think my arguments are faulty, feel free to leave your objections in the comment section of those arguments. But please stop asking questions you could readily have answered by just looking at what I have put up on this website. I have a day job and a life outside of this, and I don’t have the time to reinvent the wheel.
1. “I’m interested in teaching others about the reasons to believe the Christian worldview as well as talk about nuances of theological subject matter.”
I understand your enthusiasm in this regard but if the intent is to educate, presumably those ignorant of the faith, then a tome size piece seems a bit of a” mouthful” for a newbie to deal with, don’t you think?
Maybe bite size would be better? Just a thought. As I wrote, ‘Tis your blog.
2.Everything you have listed as “evidential foundation” are based on theological and or philosophical arguments and not evidence.
For example. You might insist that the tale of Adam and Eve is evidence, yet the Human Genome Project dispelled any such notion of an original human couple as depicted in the Bible.
The same goes for the Noachian Global Flood tale and the Exodus narrative. Solid evidence refutes each of these bible claims.
So when you write “evidential foundation”, in truth you have accepted theological arguments based largely on faith.
Would you also consider there is an emotional component in play?
I’m sorry but I can’t cater to short attention spans of those whose brains have been rotted by TikTok. If one wants to meaningfully research something, then that takes time and effort. I try not to be more verbose than necessary, but some articles are intended to be thorough essays, while others are meant to be short blog posts you can get through during your morning coffee. Speaking of which, the coffee cup at the top of the article will give you and indication of approximately how long it will take the average reader to go through. One can judge whether they have the time or whether they should come back later.
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Moreover, I have recently begun turning the near-entirety of the blog into a series of books. So far, “The Case For The Reliability Of The Gospels: A Cerebral Faith Blog Book”, “Making A Case For The Trinity: Responding To A Jehovah’s Witness Pamphlet”, and “The Kalam Cosmological Argument: Blog Posts From Cerebral Faith” are available. The digital versions are only $0.99 and that’s just because KDP required I charge SOMETHING for it. Maybe this will be a more enjoyable way of consuming the content?
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I am always surprised when I encounter skeptics who don’t recognize the value of philosophical arguments. Don’t you realize that an argument is a verbal articulation or a written articulation of an interpretation of evidence? You can’t present evidence without arguments. Listen in on any court trial and you will not see prosecutors, presenting evidence for the guilt of the defendant without articulating a case for why the evidence is best interpreted and light of the view that the defendant is guilty. What the defense attorney is going to do is try to argue why the evidence at the crime scene (which could be a weapon, video footage, eyewitness testimony) are not best explained by the hypothesis that the defendant is guilty. He’s going to say things like “The video footage is too low quality to adequately identify my client.” And/Or “These witnesses have a history of lying.” Court trials are basically a big debate. But in no case do you have mime attorneys just silently putting the murder weapon in front of the judge and silently going back to their seats. And so, when it comes to the Big Bang origin of the universe, or the fine-tuning of the universe, how am I supposed to use that as evidence for a creator without resorting to some sort of argument? Without philosophy, all I’m left with is the bare fax with no interpretation of it. Indeed, I don’t know what background you’re coming from. But I would wager that you’re an atheist. At the very least you argue like one. But atheists reason that there is no God on the basis of evil and suffering. How are they going to do that without philosophy? How are you going to argue that evil is evidence against God unless you philosophically infer that conclusion? Philosophy is inescapable. Even in telling me that philosophical arguments are not evidence, you have resorted to philosophical reasoning to reach that conclusion. Thus, your argument is self refuting. Can you give me evidence that philosophy is not evidence? If not, why should I believe your claim. You see, it’s silly to demand evidence without philosophy tagging along. Technically it’s true that philosophical arguments are not evidence. Philosophical arguments USE evidence to support their premises. And assuming that the form of the syllogisms are sound, if the premises of those arguments are true, then the conclusions follow logically and necessarily.
“I’m sorry but I can’t cater to short attention spans of those whose brains have been rotted by TikTok.”
I sincerely hope this was not a personal swipe directed at me?
If you aren’t man enough to take a little
constructive criticism over the presentation of your material how do you expect to
engage with anyone on a serious level.
Furthermore, as you have written part of your goal is to reach non – believers to
dismiss my comment in such a fashion is risible and rather defeats the object of the
exercise wouldn’t you say?
Apologetics is all about defending your faith simply because you have no evidence.
This why elaborate arguments are
constructed to quell the tremulous hearts of
believer who are unable to provide any sort
of “evidential foundation” for their beliefs, and why the likes of Turek and Strobel make money from apologetics.
Also, this emotionsk uncertainty of birvers was part of the reason for my question
wondering if there is an emotional
component in play?
Yes, I am an atheist. I lack belief in gods, your god Yahweh and every other so far encountered /presented solely on the basis of the compete absence of evidence.
As I raised the subjects of Adam and Eve, the
Noachian Global Flood and the Exodus narrative I am hoping you at least have a firm
grasp of what is and is not evidence and
what I am asking for?
This is why I asked for evidence of the tomb, and it is unfortunate but somewhat telling you immediately jumped on the defensive and all but hand waved away the question.
So, in light of the above what “evidential
foundation” are you referring to and was /is
there an emotional component in play (as it was for someone such as Francis Collins for example)?
No, I wasn’t intending to take a personal swipe at you. But I also have no obligation to do what you say. I reserve the prerogative to refuse advice if I don’t think it’s good advice. And again, like I said, plenty of the articles on this site are written with the intention of being short articles that you can read through in 5 to 10 minutes. 20 minutes on average. But others are meant to be thorough essays. Still others were ones I didn’t intend to be through, but they kind of ended up that way.
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You wrote “Apologetics is all about defending your faith because you have no evidence.” – If I had no evidence, I wouldn’t be able to defend it at all. There would be no arguments without evidence. All there would be is preaching and emotional appeals. But that is not the case. Now, you’re free to disagree with the soundness of the arguments I put forth. But I would ask that you actually address these arguments and tell me why you think I have failed to support my case. I invite questioning and debate. But again, I am not going to let you play by the Matt Dillahunty playbook and think repeating “No evidence” and “Not convinced” ad nauseum are good counters.
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Moreover, I refuse to answer your question about an “emotional component” because it is irrelevant to the arguments I present on this site. Look, we can psychoanalyze each other all day long, but where would that get us? How would you respond if I said that the real reason you’re an atheist is because you’ve got sin in your life that you’re in love with and you don’t wanna part from it. If Christianity were true, then you would have to repent of your sins or face unpleasant consequences in the hereafter. I’m guessing you would say that that is presumptuous because I don’t know anything about you, and it has no bearing on whether or not atheism is true. And you would be quite right. And that’s why I don’t bring those things up. I want to focus on the arguments for our worldview. This motive guessing is a fruitless endeavor.
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I also refused to answer the question about Adam and Eve and Noah’s flood because they are irrelevant. I don’t have direct evidence for those stories, but I would argue that there’s good enough Reasons To Believe that God exists and that the Bible is overall reliable, that there is indirect theological justification for affirming the histories of the stories so far as our exegesis leads us to conclude that the historicity of Adam or Noah was the author’s intent. I got into this a bit in my Gospel Reliability series in which I talk about the implications for one’s doctrine of scripture that would follow if we historically established that Jesus claimed to be God, and then he died and rose from the dead. Which we do have a lot to direct evidence for. As far as what you said about the genome, guess what? I am a Theistic Evolutionist who finds himself quite favorable to William Lane Craig’s historical Adam model that he defends in “The Quest For The Historical Adam: A Biblical and Scientific Investigation”. There is a review of that book on this blog which I wrote quite recently. Given your fixation on these parts of scripture, though, would I be correct in guessing that you come from a very fundamentalist background where your church taught that christianity rises or falls on the literal interpretation of the Genesis narratives? And then, of course, as anyone does, when they study actual real science, they find out that young earth creationism is a sham, and that caused you to lose your faith, and you went into atheism? Because you no longer thought the Bible could be trusted. Is that a correct guess?
As I wrote, ’tis your blog. Of course you needn’t “do what I say”. It was merely a suggestion. After a number of years engaging apologists/Christians, so many have a tendency to throw the kitchen sink at interlocutors. As I find religion fascinating it would be nice to read a different, more
succinct approach. For me, it is far easier to engage and as I am familar will all the usual apologetic arguments it is hard going trying to find the wheat among the chaff
“If I had no evidence, I wouldn’t be able to defend it at all. There would be no
arguments without evidence. All there would be is preaching and emotional appeals.”
In fact this is exactly the point of apologetics
to make a faith based case/argument in the absence of evidence.
If there was evidence it would be laid out in a
straightforward manner… Case closed.
However, none of the foundational tenets of your faith have a scrap of evidence to demonstrate the veracity of the claims they make.
I raise the subject of the emotional component as in my experience it always
features in the conversion accounts of believers and is also cited by most of those who deconvert. I offered Francis Collins as a example. I presume you are aware of his conversion story?
“I also refused to answer the question about Adam and Eve and Noah’s flood because they are irrelevant.”
In fact they are highly relevent as the speak to the lack of reliability/credibilty of the bible in general, and especially as the character Jesus of Nazareth refers to Moses as a genuine, historical real-life figure when evidence tells us he is simply a composite hero figure at best or merely a mythological character. Furthermore the Exodus narrative is nothing but a geopolitical foundation myth.
Therefore, it brings into question whether Jesus was aware of this?
I was never more than a cultural Christian.
I am aware you are a theistic evolutionist.
I read the page.
As for Adam and Eve… The HGP put to rest any notion of there being a single breeding couple as per the bible tale.
I have no truck with Lane Craig. He defends divine command theory.
The subject of “evidential foundation” has still not been adequately addressed.
Is it possible you could write a simple paragraph and bullet point two or three examples I could look at?
Thanks.
No offense, but you don’t strike me as someone who is familiar with apologetics and has been engaging Christian Apologists for years. The things you’re saying against Christianity are quite low hanging fruit. They are well thought out responses at all. And I’m not saying that because I disagree with you. There are skeptics who come on here like Sam Burke who really say some thought provoking things. But saying things like “I want evidence. Don’t give me arguments. Arguments aren’t evidence”. And saying that the historicity of Jesus’ burial can’t be affirmed because it can’t be found in Paul (even though Paul literally says Jesus was buried in 1 Cor 15 – but I digress) doesn’t give me a whole lot of confidence that you know what you’re talking about. You don’t argue like a well read skeptic who knows the ends and outs of the cases for and against Christianity. Also, dismissing one of the world’s top 10 preeminent and influential philosopher/theologians because you disagree with his take on Divine Command Theory also doesn’t strike me as a very intellectual thing to do. Don’t you realize that someone can be wrong in one area and right in others?
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And there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t expect people who come here to be experts or brainiacs. Otherwise, But perhaps your tone of confidence shouldn’t be as high as it is. And I think that you prefer bite sized apologetics shows me you’ve probably not done the adequate level of research you ought to have done. I’m not saying any of this to hurt you or be mean. But I want you to rise above this level of what I like to call “Reddit Atheism”. Ultimately, I would like for you to come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and to experience the love He has for you. And if you’re a thinker with doubts and objections, that is going to take some time and effort to work out depending on how much evidence or answers you need before you are confident in becoming a Christian. Lee Strobel, for example spent 2 years reading books arguing for and against Christianity, interviewing biblical scholars and philosophers putting their feet to the fire before he was evidentially satisfied and felt confident that becoming a Christian was the rational thing to do.
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But I guess if bite sized answers are what you really want, then you can check out my TikTok page @evannealminton. I haven’t made anything over there for a while, because TikTok refuses to let me categorize my videos, the level of conversation over there is abysmal, and I hate their character limit in the comment section. But I have made some content over there. William Lane Craig also defends apologetic arguments in short, animated films. But given that you’re going to dismiss anything he says because of one thing he said you took issue with, I don’t suppose you’re going to check him out. But I reiterate that if short form content is all you consume, you’re not going to go very deep. You’re going to have a shallow understanding of the topics. And I want better for you.
I do have to go to work now, so I won’t be able to respond for a while. But please take what I’ve said into consideration. You’re only going to continue to have a bad time engaging with Christian thinkers who have put in the work if you yourself are not.
“No offense, but you don’t strike me as someone who is familiar with apologetics and has been engaging Christian Apologists for years. ”
No offense taken. You are more than welcome to read some of the religious posts on my blog.
As you mentioned earlier you are not trying to post anything new in the field of apologetics so why would you think I was not familiar with your stock in trade approach?
“The things you’re saying against Christianity are quite low hanging fruit..”
Because the higher up the tree one goes the fruit becomes ever more obscure, and obfuscated
Furthermore, as so many apologists never quite seem able to deal with the “low hanging fruit” with any serious degree of scholarly integrity without often resorting to gish gallop and obfuscation there is little to be gained by scrambling up to higher boughs.
Re Craig
“Don’t you realize that someone can be wrong in one area and right in others?”
Of course they can. I simply consider anyone who defends DCT to be of low moral character and a despicable individual.
Perhaps is you might enjoy watching Harris take Craig to the cleaners over some of his rather revolting views?
” Lee Strobel, for example spent 2 years reading books arguing for and against Christianity, interviewing…”
That you would introduce Strobel immediately informs me you ha e nit done your homework and are merely toeing the apologetic line in his defense.
” Ultimately, I would like for you to come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior….”
Excellent! Then I encourage you put aside your faith-based perspective for a short period, put on the hat of a secular scholar and present evidence to demonstrate the veracity of your belief the character Jesus of
Nazareth is Yahweh incarnate.
This would go a long way for you to establish some serious credibility.
“You’re only going to continue to have a bad time engaging with Christian thinkers who have put in the work if you yourself are not.”
*Smile*
I am very familiar with how Christians think.
But thanks for your advice. 😊
However, I am ever hopeful that I will occasionally engage with one that has a degree of integrity that rises above the level of hum drum, run of the mill apologetic arguments.
In my experience such integrity is in short supply and when it surfaces will often precede deconversion.
You should read some of the testimonies on the Clergy project. com.
Hi Arkenaten: I’m just a rando busting in from nowhere, sorry, but I would love to know where your blog is. I looked around online but couldn’t find it.
(Evan, please excuse my intrusion and impolite request. Best wishes to you as you navigate the next chapter! You have a lot on your plate—I’ve been a caretaker too, and it’s hard, hard, hard.)
Unfortunately, Arkenatan won’t be able to respond. He was such an insufferable troll who refused to stop breaking rule 4 in so many comment sections across this blog, that I eventually had to ban him. But from what I can tell, he’s provided the web address in his comment above. He just weirdly put a space between the word “project” and “.com”.