Tag: Soul
How the Soul Makes Freedom Possible
Objection: Dear Tim, What exactly is a soul and by what exact mechanism does it make libertarian free will possible where it is otherwise impossible? If one person has a soul and another person doesn’t, how does the soul lead to better or more informed decisions in the first person? If their brains are otherwise … Continue reading How the Soul Makes Freedom Possible
Thinking about Sickness and Death
Death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart. (Ecclesiastes 7:2, NIV) Over the last few weeks, I have made some interesting sociocultural observations. For example, a local grocery store has limited the number of sanitizing wipes available for its customers and has offered to disinfect shopping carts for shoppers entering … Continue reading Thinking about Sickness and Death
Should Christians Reject the Soul for Biblical Reasons?
Question Dear Dr. Erasmus, Tim Stratton shared your post, Objections to the Existence of the Soul, to the UK Apologetics and Evangelism Facebook group, of which I am a member. In that group, there is a very knowledgeable Christian who does not seem to believe in the existence of a soul yet says he is not a … Continue reading Should Christians Reject the Soul for Biblical Reasons?
Objections to the Existence of the Soul
In a recent blog post, Professor Keith Parsons offers three reasons for why (he thinks) the soul does not exist. (You might recall that Parsons debated William Lane Craig in 1998). Since Parsons’ objections to substance dualism (for simplicity, I will hereafter refer to substance dualism simply as ‘dualism’) seem rather common among lay atheists, … Continue reading Objections to the Existence of the Soul
Brian Cox, Souls, & the Large Hadron Collider
There are so many great scientists out there. The things they get to discover and explain to the rest of us lay people are always very cool. Every so often, however, a well-known scientist will get a bit of publicity over a controversial comment they make. When theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking’s book, The Grand Design … Continue reading Brian Cox, Souls, & the Large Hadron Collider
Ghosts, Zombies, & Substance Dualism
Question Tim, have you seen that CERN has provided scientific proof that the soul (or the “ghost in the machine”) does not exist! Too bad for your Freethinking Argument! This scientific data does fatal damage to the Interactionist Substance Dualism you argue for because the only way for an immaterial substance to move a material object … Continue reading Ghosts, Zombies, & Substance Dualism
How Heavy Are Your Beliefs?
Is your brain true or false? How much does a belief weigh? If you gain new beliefs do you gain weight? Do these questions even make sense? These are more examples of incoherent questions! Why are these questions incoherent? Because based on the logical law of identity we know that brains and beliefs are two different kinds … Continue reading How Heavy Are Your Beliefs?
The Image of God: The Kalam & Freethinking Arguments
The Freethinking Argument was first crafted at Biola University in Scott Smith’s philosophy classroom. I had been playing around with the idea for some time, but it was Dr. Smith’s teachings that provided the catalyst to complete the argument.[1] The Freethinking Argument (FTA) has received much attention ever since — especially since freethinkingministries.com was launched not long … Continue reading The Image of God: The Kalam & Freethinking Arguments
Are Miracles Metaphysically Impossible?
“It’s impossible for God to interact in the physical world. For example, say we have a material object and God wants to move it. Newton made it clear: every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore, since God is an immaterial being He could never cause anything to happen or occur in the material/physical universe. … Continue reading Are Miracles Metaphysically Impossible?
Substance Dualism, Interaction, & Idealism
A common objection to the notion that a human being is composed of both a material and an immaterial aspect of existence (substance dualism) is the problem of interaction. The naturalist will object and question: “How can an immaterial soul cause matter to do anything?” Even though we have scientific evidence suggesting this occurs, explaining exactly how … Continue reading Substance Dualism, Interaction, & Idealism