tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805190.post788203633295227338..comments2024-03-01T07:35:49.740-08:00Comments on Come Reason's Apologetics Notes: Does the Resurrection Require Extraordinary Evidence? Lenny Espositohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04064209669748618955noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805190.post-45213697199696386102015-03-20T17:46:02.266-07:002015-03-20T17:46:02.266-07:00Every time I request the evidence for the Resurrec...Every time I request the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus from a Christian blogger or pastor, the first thing they do is refer me to some apologist's book. Dear Christian friend, if it takes an entire book to prove that your first century miracle happened, it most probably didn't.<br /><br />Open your eyes, friends. You wouldn't read a Mormon apologist's book to decide whether or not to believe Joseph Smith's supernatural claims. You wouldn't read a Muslim apologist's book to decide whether or not to believe Mohammad's supernatural claims. And you wouldn't read a Hindu apologist's book to decide whether or not to believe the supernatural claims of the Hindu gods.<br /><br />Nope. You would expect the person making the supernatural claim to give you sufficient evidence within a five minute conversation...unless that supernatural claim is YOUR supernatural claim...then you expect us all to read your apologist's book to believe it.<br /><br />Something's fishy, folks. Garyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02519721717265344702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805190.post-60012875836932912902015-02-10T11:10:20.178-08:002015-02-10T11:10:20.178-08:00Where do you think we got their names from? Where do you think we got their names from? Lenny Espositohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04064209669748618955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805190.post-9275864882004888382015-02-10T11:06:43.707-08:002015-02-10T11:06:43.707-08:00Is there any evidence that Matthew, Mark, Luke, an...Is there any evidence that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote these books?Garyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02519721717265344702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805190.post-8086759151779056652015-02-10T09:40:31.482-08:002015-02-10T09:40:31.482-08:00HI Gary,
I think the traditional understanding of...HI Gary,<br /><br />I think the traditional understanding of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is the most reasonable. Why do you ask?Lenny Espositohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04064209669748618955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805190.post-2605634560802843682015-02-10T09:01:08.909-08:002015-02-10T09:01:08.909-08:00Who wrote the Gospels?Who wrote the Gospels?Garyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02519721717265344702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805190.post-78544779284492617802014-07-02T09:49:29.189-07:002014-07-02T09:49:29.189-07:00Sorry, John. ANY extra-terrestrial life would be &...Sorry, John. ANY extra-terrestrial life would be "something the likes of which I have never seen." No one has ever seen it. To try and make a distinction here doesn't make sense. <br /><br />Part of my reason in posting this is to show that the phrase "extraordinary evidence" is intentionally ambiguous and therefore not very helpful. I laid out that eyewitness testimony does count as evidence toward the resurrection. Historical writings (such as the multiple accounts of the resurrection) count as evidence. Trying to dismiss those as not "extraordinary" is the problem. Evidence is evidence.Lenny Espositohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04064209669748618955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805190.post-75624452614513808902014-07-01T20:00:46.666-07:002014-07-01T20:00:46.666-07:00Well, what do you think Carl Sagan meant? We can&#...Well, what do you think Carl Sagan meant? We can't even understand what you're saying if you don't set out some criteria for what's extraordinary and what's not. It's no fair just to do it case-by-case.<br /><br />I suggest that an extraordinary event is "something the likes of which I have never seen." So if SETI discovers something in outer space that is like life on Earth, that would not be extraordinary. But if someone said a man could walk on water, that would be extraordinary.<br /><br />Sagan's quote is problematic because he too might be using a different definition for "extraordinary claims" versus "extraordinary evidence." The problem is that "something the likes of which I've never seen" cannot be used as evidence, because that itself would be unbelievable. Maybe Sagan's definition of extraordinary evidence simply means a great deal of evidence.<br /><br />I need a huge mountain of evidence before I can believe claims of things the likes of which I have never seen.John B. Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00234524731241646514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805190.post-53259616962955111922014-07-01T19:19:43.054-07:002014-07-01T19:19:43.054-07:00It isn't my definition of extraordinary that&#...It isn't my definition of extraordinary that's in question. The phrase "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" was coined by Carl Sagan and repeated countless times as a simple defeater for the evidence of the resurrection. I'm simply answering that charge.Lenny Espositohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04064209669748618955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805190.post-57854832699599778082014-07-01T00:03:50.875-07:002014-07-01T00:03:50.875-07:00Whoa - wait a minute. What's your working defi...Whoa - wait a minute. What's your working definition of "extraordinary"? It seems like you're using different definitions in different places, or else just your gut feelings. If it feels extraordinary in your guy, then it's extraordinary. Is that your definition?John B. Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00234524731241646514noreply@blogger.com