Faith Under Fire: Debate Between D. Chopra and G. Koukl

This is a pretty good exchange between these two gentlemen. The debate is facilitated by Lee Strobel and was first broadcast on Strobel’s television show “Faith Under Fire“. The show had a 2 season run before stopping (not really sure why it did stop).

Anyway, some from class have heard me numerous times talk about this show and I think I mentioned this particular debate a couple of times. It is pretty good and you really get to see Greg Koukl in action. It is about a 36 minute clip, but don’t let that deter you.

Enjoy!

Debate: Deepak Chopra v. Greg Koukl

The GCU Transcript Saga

So last week I gathered my banking information together to find out when the universities I had attended previously had charged me for sending my official transcripts to GCU. Then, armed with that information, Davina made some phone calls to each school and told them that they had charged our account on such-and-such a date and wanted to know when the transcripts had been mailed out by them.

After she got those dates, I sent a lengthy email to the Academic Records office at GCU with all of that information. They responded while I was out of town in California last week, so I was able to call them this morning. Get this, they had all my transcripts the entire time. However, they were filed in a different location because they all included my middle name and GCU did not have a record of my middle name, therefore they did not know that those transcripts belonged to me. I do remember putting my middle initial on the GCU paperwork, but not my full middle name. So I suppose that is my mistake. Oh well, the good news is that I will not be yanked from my classes - which is nice because I’m getting a 96% overall in my Philosophy 101 class right now and I would hate for that to get axed because of this error.

Thanks for all the prayers - whew!

Philosophy 101: Week 5 - Day 2

A new week, a new set of tasks to accomplish…

This week the class is looking at a very simple (probably the most simplistic) argument for Design. This argument was first put forth by Christian philosopher Thomas Aquinas (1225-1275) that (1) some parts of nature appear designed so (2) some parts of nature are designed. Fairly basic and straight forward. Down through history and with advances in both philosophy and science, as the skeptics objections have become more sophisticated, the Argument from Design for the existence of God have also become more sophisticated and indepth.

In opposition to this view we are also looking at Neo-Darwinism and how it contrasts with the Argument from Design. The modern proponents against the Design argument were British philosopher David Hume, Charles Darwin and, most recently, British biologist Richard Dawkins.

We are also continuing our debate for the existence of God withing our smaller groups. Also, this week I will submit my outline for my main paper which is to summarize my worldview and how it passes the test for a valid worldview. This means that I have to touch on the following concepts (God, metaphysics [the nature of ultimate reality], epistemology [study or theory of knowledge], ethics, and anthropology [the nature of human beings]), and how those concepts are shaped and understood within my worldview. In other words, how do I make sense of those concepts based upon what I believe about the world.

Interviews with a Former Atheist

Dr. Antony Flew left Atheism in a public statement in December of 2005. As one of the main spokespersons for the Atheistic worldview in his philosophical writings during the 20th Century, it was quite a shock to their community that he would abandon his stance against a belief in God and leave that worldview. However, it didn’t take long before the Atheist spin-doctors were on full-tilt and making all kinds of excuses for his rejection of their views.

When this first took place I had spoken about it in my Sunday morning Adult class a couple of times and I believe we talked briefly about his move from non-belief in a Supernatural Being to a belief in one. One of the key elements in Dr. Flew’s shift in thought and belief stemmed from his friendship with Christian Philosopher Dr. Gary Habermas and their many public debates they held against one another on college campuses. Drs. Flew and Habermas became friends even though they differed greatly in their worldview and over time that friendship became a catalyst for helping Dr. Flew change.

I’m writing all this “old” news because I just stumbled upon 2 online video interviews between Lee Strobel and Dr. Antony Flew. The videos are extremely brief (a little too brief if you ask me), but they are well worth the watch. In one of the videos, Dr. Flew talks about how Dr. Michael Behe’s argument for Irreducible Complexity in microbiological organism shows that their must have been an Intelligent Designer who was the ultimate creator and that we did not arrive here via Evolution (”from the goo, through the zoo, to you” as the saying goes).

Unfortunately, Dr. Flew still appears to be holding on to Deism and hasn’t quite made the move to Theism yet. Hopefully he will continue thinking about the possibility of a Personal Being and see that, if we are to know anything of this Being, that He must act within the world and reveal Himself to us. Dr. Flew appears to be right on the edge of this discovery, yet, he pulls back at the last minute. However, you can see how very close he is to making that next connection in his thought process.

Video 1: An Interview With A Former Atheist: What Is God Like?
Video 2: An Interview With A Former Atheist: Why Did Your Beliefs Change?

I hope you enjoy them.

Philosophy 101: Week 4

This week we didn’t have any papers to turn in which was good, because I was sick and probably wouldn’t have felt like writing much of anything.

The discussion questions for Week 4 were the following:
1. What considerations might be given to justify believing that the naturalist worldview is true?
2. Do you think that the Big Bang Theory of the universe has implications for the existence of God?

Short answers:
1. None
2. Yes, but in a positive way

The other assignment beginning this week is the debate on the topic Does God Exist?

This debate will last for about 3 weeks and then wrap up with a power point being generated and turned in for the final grade.

Next Page »