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“The biblical God commanded genocide”

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At last, in chapter 6 of God or Godless?, we have a real problem to debate.

Atheist John Loftus regards this as completely cut-and-dried: in several places in the Old Testament, the biblical God commanded genocide.  He cites the following texts: Joshua 6:16-25; Deuteronomy 2:4-34; 7:1-6; Numbers 31:7-18.  Since there can be no possible justification for this genocide, John thinks that apologists either have to concede that they never took place, or they have to argue that they did take place, but were mistaken in thinking that it was God who had commanded them. …

“Science is no substitute for religion”

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We’re up to chapter 5 of God or Godless, by John Loftus (atheist) and Randal Rauser (Christian).

Randal seeks to support his contention by pointing out that some scientists have a quasi-religious outlook on the cosmos.  The natural world is their God, and the scientific method their dogma.  But this religious impulse should be directed at the Creator, rather than the creation.

John, in his opening statement, pretty much reverses the original assertion by saying, in effect, “religion is no substitute for science.” …

‘The biblical God requires child sacrifices for his pleasure’

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This is the strange theory advanced by John Loftus in chapter 4 of God or Godless?.

I call it ‘strange’ because I had not come across it before.  I hastily looked up the passage he cites (Exodus 22:29-30) to see what I had been missing all these years.  We read:

‘You shall not delay to offer from the fulness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses.  The first-born of your sons you shall give to me. 

…

“If there is no God, then everything is permissible”

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This is the topic of debate in chapter 3 of God or Godless?

Randal Rouser opens by imagining the mind-set of someone who tortures and kills people for fun.  He imagines the character denying that what he does is evil, because (on the assumption that there is no God) morality is a purely subjective concept, with no objective basis for deciding whose morality is right and whose is wrong.

John Loftus, in his opener, says that the title of the chapter assumes that there is one God, whereas there are multiple concepts of God, with their own moralities. …

‘The biblical concept of God evolved from polytheism to monotheism’

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In chapter 2 of God or Godless? John Loftus asserts that the biblical concept of God evolved over time from polytheism to monotheism. He infers from this that there is no unified teaching about God in the Bible, and that the choice of one (Yahweh rather than Baal, say) is more or less a historical accident.

John’s argument is full of sweeping statements, right from the start.  When he says, “biblical scholars long ago acknowledged…”, he should have said, “Some biblical scholars think…”.…

“If there is no God, then life has no meaning”

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This is the first topic debated by Randal Rauser (a Christian) and John W. Loftus (an atheist) in their book God or Godless?

John Loftus concedes that if there is no God, then life has no intrinsic purpose and we have to either (a) muddle along in a purposeless existence, or (b) construct some kind of purpose for ourselves.

Yes, I agree with that.  If it were proven to me that God did not exist, life would either become meaningless for me, or I would have to construct some kind of meaning.…

God or Godless?

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This is the title of a recent (2013) book of written debates by John W. Loftus (an atheist) and Randal Rauser (a Christian).

Twenty topics are covered in all, half chosen by one protagonist and half by the other.  For each topic there is an opening statement of about 800 words from each person, rebuttals of about 150 words, and closing statements of 50 words.

It’s an interesting approach, although not without its weaknesses and limitations:-

  • The opening statements were written completely independently, and so sometimes do not focus on the same subject-matter.
…

How the Old Testament deepens our love for Jesus

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When we read the Old Testament,

  1. we are reading Jesus’ Bible – the Old Testament Scriptures were Jesus’ Bible
  2. we are learning Jesus’ language – his teaching was saturated with Old Testament words and concepts; more than that, he saw the Old Testament scriptures as fulfilled in himself
  3. we are singing Jesus’ songs – the book of Psalms was Jesus’ hymnbook
  4. we are feeling Jesus’ feelings – passages such as Psalm 22 and 69 display Christ’s sufferings in an especially powerful way
  5. we are hearing Jesus’ voice – as the one mediator between God and us, it is his voice that we hear speaking to and pleading with sinners
  6. we are seeing Jesus in action – as the ‘Angel of the Lord’ he visited the earth many times
  7. we are admiring Jesus’ trophies – considering how much less they knew, the Old Testament saints are in some way even more remarkable the those of the New Testament

Summarising this article by David Murray…

What to say to Christian boys

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Roger E. Olsen has been been asked by a friend who is a youth pastor to speak with the boys of his Christian youth group.

Here, in outline, is what he plans to say:-

  1. It’s good to be a boy.  Just like girls and women, boys and men should be proud of what God has made them to be.
  2. A boy or a man may need to reign in the tendency towards testosterone-driven aggression.
  3. Ignore the popular sterotypes, such as, ‘men don’t cry’.
…

Questioning God

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My heart goes out to Dr Muhammad Taufiq Al Sattar, whose wife and three teenage children were killed when their Leicester home was set alight two weeks ago.  As a father myself, I can only begin to imagine the grief he must be experiencing at the moment.

I also admire Dr Taufiq’s attitude at this most difficult time.  He has paid tribute to the Leicestershire Police, for their thorough investigation of the tragedy, and has expressed his ‘delight’ that community relations in Leicester have remained peaceful.…