This is the issue I take with apologetics, and why Craig’s response to his critics should have been a part of his advertising up front. People in church will take these “answers” for their own assurance and not learn how to engage with others in a vulnerable, considerate way, as we would demand them to consider our perspectives (and then maybe judge them for whether they do or don’t).
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What bugs me is anyone talking about faith and not demonstrating it by their true religion works. If WLC ran a kibbutz in Haiti, I’d have to listen to what he had to say, as long as it wasn’t with words.
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on the other hand, I’m not willing to take someone seriously philosophically who is angelically good, but believes that half of the illuminati are inhabited by lizard shaped aliens. I have no reason to believe that WLC is a hypocrite, though I don’t agree with the Kalam argument. There’s a place for abstract reasoning, too, isn’t there?
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I liked both of your posts. I think there is a time and a place for everything and people are called to different things. I think @Mervin_Bitikofer Melvin just posted a word on fire podcast where it was suggested that philosophy of the higher ups always trickles down and how all of us are largely influenced by Nietzsche. So we definitely need to not just abandon philosophy and making Christian ideas mainstream. But it is easy to get lost in this. We are all called to charity and helping and loving our neighbors.
I must admit in today’s climate I get suspicious when I see a theology or NT conference. It’s literally an army of more well-to-do, older middle classed white men. I just joined two days of the Catholic biblical Association’s zoom meeting (they do the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, a very respectable and high end NT scholarly journal). They did a virtual session due to Covid and it was on the state of historical Jesus research and the viability of historical criteria (special focus on John Meier). It was absolutely wonderful and cordial—extremely informative— but I keep getting these “white male vibes.” I am one myself but I think there was 1-2 women each day out of 21 guests. And AJ Levine, a well respected scholar, also got a bit off the subject and went into how historical studies like these are now being attacked as antiquated white supremacy. She clarified a bit saying how the charge is that we are focused too much on reconstructing a world 2,000 years ago instead of focusing on Jesus and the church in the here and now.
I think there is a lot of grey in some of these areas. And I am not trying to get political at all. Just a feeling I get when I see a theology conference with 4 women and 60 white men. What perspective is the issue clearly being approached from?
Of course my experiences are certainly limited but I see scholarly consensus being driven from this perspective.
Vinnie
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There is this, however:
Where’s that bullhorn? I want to announce what I’m doing 
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Aye Randy, if you’ve got the headspace while serving the poor. That’s the best place to do it from.
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I can’t remember if I posted it here or not but one of the faith questions that bother me, not as in makes my faith weak but makes me unsure of how it needs to be reconstructed is how far does accommodation go and does it go as far as god using other faiths as a higher power to reach out and if all the morality was simply the morality changes needed for ancient Jews and first century people and that we have evolved emotionally to the point he now speaks to us through science and humanistic theology.
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