Search Results for: self-refuting

Relativism is Self-Refuting

Posted on April 20, 2013 by humblesmith

People who hold to relativism in the area of goodness, evil, or morality hold that the standard of goodness can change from group to group. Relativists hold that each society can determine its own morality. Atheist Carl Sagan, for example, … Continue reading →

Posted in Morality, Philosophy | 13 Comments

List of Self-Refuting Statements

Posted on June 14, 2011 by humblesmith

Here is a list of self-refuting statements which I have shamelessly borrowed from my friend John Ferrer’s page on Facebook. A self-refuting statement is a statement which if true, contradicts what it means. A self-refuting statement is nonsense, being an … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy | 4 Comments

David Hume and Self-Refuting Skepticism

Posted on June 10, 2010 by humblesmith

Scotland produced perhaps the greatest skeptic that ever lived, David Hume. He applied a thoroughness and rigor to his doubt and skepticism that few take. His effort to provide a solid reason to doubt religion was taken to an extreme. … Continue reading →

Posted in Skepticism | Leave a comment

Hume on Skepticism

Posted on March 22, 2015 by humblesmith

David Hume (1711 – 1776) was the king of the skeptics. Many, if not most, of the modern skeptical attacks on Christianity are warmed-over versions of what David Hume said more powerfully. Here are a couple of interesting tidbits that … Continue reading →

Posted in Skepticism | 2 Comments

Did Aquinas Bring Greek Philosophy Into Christianity?

Posted on May 19, 2014 by humblesmith

Periodically we hear the accusation that we should not bring in philosophy, particularly Greek philosophy, into Christian theology. Tertullian is often quoted as saying “What has Jerusalem to do with Athens?” Also, is it not true that the apostle Paul … Continue reading →

Posted in Church History, Philosophy | 4 Comments

The Argument From Reason

Posted on May 13, 2014 by humblesmith

Naturalism is the view that all of life, indeed everything that exists, can be explained by physical and chemical causes. Such a view also results in every event being caused by a prior physical and chemical cause, to the extent … Continue reading →

Posted in Apologetics, Philosophy | 15 Comments

The Atheist Claim for the Illusion of Design is Self-Referentially Incoherent

Posted on August 19, 2013 by humblesmith

The current view of atheist scientists seems to be, at least on a popular level, that things in the universe have an appearance of design, but that in reality this is not the case.  As Richard Dawkins has stated, “Biology … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Philosophy | 2 Comments

Greek Scholars & The Watchtower: Julius Mantey

Posted on June 19, 2012 by humblesmith

 Julius Mantey was arguably the greatest Greek scholar of the 20th century. He was co-author of A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, a Greek grammar that was in use for half a century to teach Greek in prominent … Continue reading →

Posted in Apologetics, Bible, Uncategorized | 12 Comments

The New World Version & Translation

Posted on May 7, 2012 by humblesmith

The Jehovah’s Witnesses and their official organization, The Watchtower, publish a version of the Bible called The New World Translation (NWT). In it, they make a series of notable differences, especially in key verses that mention the nature of Jesus. Apologetic … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Theology | 14 Comments

Common Questions, with Answers

Posted on February 18, 2012 by humblesmith

Today I present comments that have been generated on other blog posts and the Christian responses to them. “It simply does not make sense if there is a God, intelligent force, cosmic consciousness etc., that everything should not be a … Continue reading →

Posted in Apologetics, Uncategorized | 19 Comments

In Defense of a Little Philosophy

Posted on January 23, 2012 by humblesmith

Christians have, in recent years, been wary of philosophy. “Recently” has been for a gaggle of centuries now, for mistrusting philosophy and philosophers has a long tradition in Christian circles. Much of this is justified, for significant levels of bad … Continue reading →

Posted in Aquinas, Bible, Philosophy, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Being Causes Becoming (Agency part 8)

Posted on August 18, 2011 by humblesmith

This is the eighth (and finally, last) part in a series establishing agency in God and humans. I am in the midst of responding to a series of objections to agency. The numbers below refer to the list in post … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy | 1 Comment

Circular Model Refuted (Agency part 6)

Posted on August 16, 2011 by humblesmith

This is the sixth part in a series proving agency and disproving the arguments against. But some will say, “perhaps time and movement are circular. It could be that movement has always been circular, without a beginning.” This is false … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy | Leave a comment

Failure of Kant’s First Antinomy

Posted on July 6, 2011 by humblesmith

In his monumental work, Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant presented four antinomies. These statements consist of a thesis and an antithesis, which contradict each other, but which Kant provides a proof for each. The idea is that if thesis … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Skepticism | 2 Comments

How Much Historical Evidence Is Sufficient To Go Beyond Doubt?

Posted on March 25, 2011 by humblesmith

Scottish thinker David Hume (d.1776) was the king of skeptics. Compared to Hume, most of the modern skeptics and agnostics are but amateurs, and many of them follow the same line of reasoning that originated with Hume. Hume carried his … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Skepticism | 2 Comments

If Evolution, Why Religion? (Part 2)

Posted on February 28, 2011 by humblesmith

We have already posed the question, ‘If evolution, why religion?’ in a previous post. See it here. In summary, the point of that post was saying that if evolution is true, then it produced religion, and therefore religion would be … Continue reading →

Posted in Apologetics, Atheism, Evolution, Philosophy | 1 Comment

Kant on Infinite Series, Part 2

Posted on January 7, 2011 by humblesmith

Last post we showed that Immanuel Kant’s first antinomy is not valid. Good thing, for its implications are significant; if true, it would preclude both science and religion from determining origins. As Christians, we would not know that God created … Continue reading →

Posted in Apologetics, Philosophy, Skepticism | Leave a comment

Kant on Infinite Series, Part 1

Posted on January 6, 2011 by humblesmith

Immanuel Kant (d.1804) was a giant figure in the history of thought. Kant had a major influence on many areas, including religion and philosophy, and even mathematics, science, and aesthetics. One of Kant’s ideas was something he called antinomy. Kant’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Skepticism | Leave a comment

Soul-Body Dualism? Or Soul-Body Unity?

Posted on December 12, 2010 by humblesmith

Rene Descartes (d.1650) is often credited with starting the discussion about a distinction between mind and body. In his book Meditations, Descartes began a mental exercise that involved systematic doubt. He doubted everything he could doubt……doubting whether his senses were deceived, … Continue reading →

Posted in Aquinas, Bible, Philosophy | 8 Comments

Absolute Truth or Relative Truth?

Posted on September 13, 2010 by humblesmith

Author and university professor Allan Bloom published a landmark book way back in 1987 called The Closing of the American Mind. In it, he claims that the modern view of education has in fact closed people’s minds, and this all … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Philosophy | Leave a comment

A Refutation of Skepticism

Posted on August 12, 2010 by humblesmith

Philosophical skepticism is notoriously difficult to refute. I am not speaking of popular skepticism, as defined by magazines such as Skeptical Inquirer and Skeptic. These are only skeptical of certain things, generally are not skeptical of the issues they support, … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Skepticism | 12 Comments

Moral Relativism vs. Moral Objectivism

Posted on July 21, 2010 by humblesmith

Moral relativists (MR) are those who claim that morals are not absolute, but relative to the society and culture that we live in. They claim that there are no absolute morals anywhere, that all ethical codes are conventions of society, … Continue reading →

Posted in Apologetics, Culture | Leave a comment

Proof for God, The Sequel

Posted on July 21, 2010 by humblesmith

A couple of days ago this blog had an article on a logical proof for God’s existence. At the risk of putting even more people to sleep, I’ll try to clarify a bit.  The argument was stated: Everything that has … Continue reading →

Posted in Apologetics, Philosophy | Leave a comment

How Can We Be Sure Of What We Know?

Posted on June 21, 2010 by humblesmith

Epistemology is the study of how we know things. The field apparently started going out to left field after Descartes, when people started wanting proof for sense perception….I had a lady once who said to me, “prove to me that wall … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy | Leave a comment

All Truth is Absolute Truth

Posted on June 21, 2010 by humblesmith

Many today believe that all truth is relative, that there is no absolute truth. But this is self-refuting, for the statement “all truth is relative” is proposed as an objectively true statement that applies to everyone. If someone were to say … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Philosophy, Skepticism | 3 Comments