Dr. Ergun Caner is going to CVCC in Lynchburg to debate anyone willing to come. THIS IS NOT A SERMON. He will be speaking about why he believes in God and more specificly Jesus, he is giving an apologetics speech. After this he will take questions for the rest of the night for whoever comes. We need the support of the local atheist. If you know any in the Lynchburg area invite them. If you do not know Dr. Caner is the President of Liberty Theological Seminary (Jerry Falwell's School) and was a guest on the RRS radio show.  7:30 P.M. December 4 in the Meritt building Room 5118, free pizza and drinks.

Welcome to essay number 5.
The introduction to the fourth essay summarises what has come so far.
The essays have focused on the conditions for reason, so also its limits and where it is applicable to our problems of everyday life. This one attacks a certain attitude to reason that many people hold, and I try to show that it is based on assumed premises of practical reason that are unjustified.

Special Note for Hamby
This topic will not really effect our debate.
These essays were written to address a wide range of concerns, and the debate between me and you on whether theism can be 'rational' (that is, using the definition of 'rational' that you use) won't really be touched on in this essay.

Pope attacks 'cruel and unjust' atheism in his message of hope

 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2977564.ece

The Pope launched an attack on atheism today, saying that it had led to some of the “greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice” known to mankind.

In his second encyclical, Spe Salvi (Saved By Hope) Pope Benedict said that atheism purported to be “a type of moralism, a protest against the injustices of the world and of world history”. Atheists argued that “a world marked by so much injustice, innocent suffering and cynicism of power cannot be the work of a good God”.

MOD EDIT: DELETED FOR REDUNDANCY

The fifth essay in the series.
The introduction to the [url=http://www.rationalresponders.com/forum/sapient/atheist_vs_theist/11353]fourth essay[/ur] ought to summarise what has come before.

Special Note for Hamby
You'll notice that I'm using the same uses of 'reason' and 'rational' that I did in the first essay.
This is more because it's too soon to re-write the entire series of essays.
This essay won't do anything to push the conclusion that theism is 'rational' (as in 'rational' as you use it) but this series of essays weren't purely to press that point. This essay was more about vindicating a person's refusal to tackle certain questions in a scientic/analytic manner. I like to think you'll find this topic interesting in it's own right, I just thought that our debate won't be covered here.

Here's a man who wrote a book about his experience in hell. Apparently he spent 23 minutes there before God pulled him out. He believes that hell is located beneath the earth's surface because he talks about "people up on the surface of the earth." His book titled, "23 Minutes in Hell" is on the Christian book list at Beliefnet.com.

Here's some excerpts from the book by Bill Weise:

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This is a hypothetical question directed towards Christians.  The question may seem a bit silly, but I really am curious about this. 

Let's say an advanced alien civilization came to Earth and they were able to teach us many things about the universe that we did not understand.  All of our religions are foreign to them and it is obvious that they have never heard of Jesus Christ.  We'll say that they've been in existence for millions of years and were able to prosper as a civilization over this time.  Would it be a Christian's duty to try and convert this alien race to Christianity or are souls only exclusive to humans?  Would you view these aliens as messengers from God?  Would you think that God was testing your faith?  I'm just really curious how Christians would react to such an event in religious terms.  I know this is a hypothetical question, but I find it to be an interesting one.  When I was a Christian I used to wonder if every civilization had a Jesus since that would be the only way to go to Heaven.  Anyway, thanks for responding if you do.

let's see what you have Gavagai

This is the fourth essay in the series.
The first two essays, The Reason for Reason and The Roots of Logic tried to take a look at reasoning, focusing on why it is applicable to our everyday life. Where follow the rules of rules, why are they applicable and where are they not?
Aim was to show that where rules of logic/reason and are applicable, they are rooted in rules that we are already supposed to be following anyway, in the rules of the 'language game' that we were using to discuss the issue in the first place.