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Premise 2
 Because of the nature of time, it cannot be said that time, or the universe, began to exist. The second premise of Craig’s kalam argument is, he feels, “the more controversial premise”: The universe began to exist.
Personally, I don’t view this as controversial. It is simply incorrect. My overarching objection to this entire section of the chapter can be summed up by saying: “There was never a point in time at which there was no time.” Because of that fact, the Universe cannot be said to have begun to exist. Nor can it be said of time. This is a point that Craig comes so close to making himself, but I’ll come to that shortly. Continue reading…
As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m tackling On Guard in smaller chunks now. The reason for that is best illustrated by this segment from the first part of my critique of Craig:
The dilemma of modern man is thus truly terrible. That atheistic worldview is insufficient to maintain a happy and consistent life.
-p. 45
No, it’s not.
Man cannot live consistently and happily as though life were ultimately without meaning, value, or purpose.
-p. 45
Yes, we can.
If we try to live consistently within the atheistic worldview, we shall find ourselves profoundly unhappy.
-p. 45
No, we won’t.
In instead we manage to live happily, it is only by giving lie our worldview.
-p. 45
No, it isn’t.
Each of his statements in this passage really requires more attention than I paid them. Don’t get me wrong. He has a total lack of understanding of the human condition and the quotes deserve swift dismissal, but simply leaving it at that the way I did does nothing to really counter his beliefs, beliefs which he is not alone in holding.
For starters, there is no unifying atheistic worldview. Being an atheist consists of only one thing: disbelieving the statement, “A god exists.” There are, quite literally, an infinite number of worldviews compatible with that position, just as there are an infinite number of worldviews compatible with believing in a god. This poses a problem for Craig, since a good portion of the worldviews that include belief in a deity also lead people to be profoundly unhappy. It is my belief that there is probably no worldview which guarantees a lifetime of happiness. It may, in truth, be a contradiction, since a lifetime of uninterrupted happiness would be exceedingly boring and probably not fulfilling in the least. Continue reading…
Craig’s third chapter of On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision (my second installment) is mercifully short. A scant ten pages. And in that ten pages, as will become clear, Craig believes that he conclusively demonstrates that there is no way God does not exist. Seriously. Ten pages!
 Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, world-class mind who proved God's existence, or clinically retarded? Read on to find out! Why Does Anything at All Exist?
This is an excellent question. Why existence? There could have been void. No Universe. No consciousness, no light, no matter, no stars, nothing. I have one problem right off the bat: Why do we always assume that ‘nothing’ is the default state? Of course, if there were nothing, there would be no one to wonder “Why is there nothing rather than something?” But that is neither here no there. We do exist. In a Universe which exists (although I’m aware of some compelling math which suggests that the internal forces of the universe all cancel each other out so, from the outside, it may appear we do not exist, but that’s a discussion that’s way over my head). This Universe has a boundary; a furthest extent. Now, this fact implies (it does not demand) that something lays on the other side of that boundary. It remains to be seen whether we have the ability to even contemplate what that might be, let alone describe it, since our Universe’s laws of physics and logic are null and void beyond that boundary.
But Craig’s going to take this on anyway and manage to sew it all up in ten pages. He’s either brilliant or making some incredibly stupid arguments. Care to wager which? Continue reading…
So I elected to work my way through On Guard in order. I’m skipping the first chapter, which is just an introduction to apologetics and not really worth my time.
As a side note, I’m writing quotes from the book by hand, as there doesn’t appear to be any digital format of the book available (perhaps to prevent exactly what I’m doing. Who knows?), so if I make mistakes in my quotations, I apologize and will endeavor to correct them where I find them.
And hang in there, because this is really long. The headings all correspond to the subheadings in the book, in case you were wondering.
What Difference Does it Make if God Exists?
Craig opens the second chapter, titled ‘What Difference Does it Make if God Exists?’, with an anecdote from the former Soviet Union. He was speaking with Andrei Grib about the nature of the Russian people’s return to religion after the fall of the U.S.S.R. According to Craig, Grib responded: Continue reading…
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