Saturday, August 16, 2008

The bizarre world of Christian apologetics

Glenn Miller is a Christian apologist, and his articles are often cited on the Internet as refuting sceptics.

It is interesting to see just what utterly bizarre and stupid things Christian apologists will say in their determination to defend their beliefs.

Here are two stories from a Holy Text.

The first is from Chapter 2 Verse 249 of the Quran , which is about the first king of Israel, called Talut in the Quran.

So when Talut departed with the forces, he said: Surely Allah will try you with a river; whoever then drinks from it, he is not of me, and whoever does not taste of it, he is surely of me, except he who takes with his hand as much of it as fills the hand; but with the exception of a few of them they drank from it.


So when he had crossed it, he and those who believed with him, they said: We have today no power against Jalut and his forces. Those who were sure that they would meet their Lord said: How often has a small party vanquished a numerous host by Allahs permission, and Allah is with the patient.


Here is the second story from a Holy Text.

It is from Judges 7:4-7 Read it and see if you can spot any similarities with the Islamic story.

Then the Lord said to Gideon, "The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Therefore it shall be that he of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go."


So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, "You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels to drink." Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men; but all the rest of the people kneeled to drink water.

And the Lord said to Gideon, "I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands; so let all the other people go, each man to his home."

There are quite a lot of similarities, aren't there?

Now let us enter the bizarre world of Christian apologetics.

Glenn Miller writes 'As a matter of fact, the ONLY points of continuity are (1) the mention of a 'hand' (even there it is used quite differently in each story!); and (2) the general motif that God can take on large armies with smaller armies (a general pan-cultural theme in no way implying borrowing!). At most we have a very vague similarity with the biblical passage.'

Yes, Christian apologists can read the two passages and declare that there is a very vague similarity and the only things they have in common are the mention of a hand and that God can take on large armies with smaller armies.

This is just totally bizarre, verging on the weird, yet Glenn Miller is recommended to me by many Christians!

The conclusion? Christian apologists are as nutty as a fruitcake.

Only a total dingbat, who has lost contact with reality, can read those two stories and say the only things in common are the mention of a hand and God taking on larger armies with smaller armies.


Of course, if you have to defend stories where the Creator of the Universe thinks a suitable test for people is if they lap water with their tongue , rather than cupping water with their hands, then losing contact with reality is easy to do.

Can anybody read the story from Judges without laughing at the idea that this is an inspired work, Holy Scripture that God wanted people to write and read?

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

William Lane Craig and the God of Scooby Doo

In the cartoon series , Scooby Doo, the villain would always have succeeded in his plans, if it wasn't for meddling kids.

The famous Christian apologist, William Lane Craig, thinks his God is like a villain in a cartoon series. A few children can easily wreck his plans.

I quote Craig in Slaughter of the Canaanites God knew that if these Canaanite children were allowed to live, they would spell the undoing of Israel. The killing of the Canaanite children not only served to prevent assimilation to Canaanite identity but also served as a shattering, tangible illustration of Israel’s being set exclusively apart for God.

Craig's solution is for his alleged god to have all the children killed.

Then they wouldn't be able to wreck his plans.

Perhaps the new film of Batman could have Batman chasing William Lane Craig's alleged god around, preventing this god from carrying out his murderous child-killing sprees...