Podcasts

Douglas Groothuis lectures on the kalam cosmological argument

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I watched the lecture above and it was excellent and comprehensive. He even talked about J.P. Moreland, Alan Padgett and other scholars. There were some things I had heard before, and some things that were new. He covered a lot of books that I had to read when I was sorting all of this stuff out, too.

Here’s the description from the video:

Doug Groothuis gives a lecture on the Kalam Cosmological Argument. What’s interesting about this lecture is that Groothuis did not accept the Kalam Cosmological Argument at first but was later convinced by it.

Notes:

http://www.relyonchrist.com/Lecture/13.htm
http://www.relyonchrist.com/Lecture/14.htm

Kalam Cosmological Argument

(Moreland, Scaling the Secular City; see also William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith [Crossway, 1994]; Paul Copan and William Lane Craig, Creation from Nothing [Baker, 2004]; William Lane Craig and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, God: A Debate Between a Christian and an Atheist [Oxford, 2004])

Preliminary: concepts of (a) the actual infinite and (b) the potential infinite

1. The universe had a beginning
2. The impossibility of the actual infinite (distinguish from potential infinite)
3. The impossibility of traversing an actual infinite (even if it exists); forming an actual infinite through successive addition, piece by piece…
4. Scientific confirmation from Big Bang cosmology (absolute origination). See also John Jefferson Davis, “Genesis 1:1 and Big Bang Cosmology,” in The Frontiers of Science and Faith (InterVarsity, 2002), 11 — 36; and Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers (revised ed., 1992).
5. Scientific confirmation from second law of thermodynamics.
6. Astronomer Fred Hoyle (who once advanced the steady state cosmology) argues against the universe being infinitely old in virtue of its hydrogen consumption. The argument can be stated as a modus tolens deduction (denying the consequent).
7. Can everything come from nothing without a cause? The “pop theory” (biting the metaphysical bullet)
8. Philosophical critique of everything from nothing…
9. God and time (see Greg Gansell, editor, God and Time: Four Views [InterVarsity, 2001])
10. Argument against an impersonal cause
11. Argument against God needing a cause (Bertrand Russell)
12. Quentin Smith’s acceptance of Big Bang cosmology and denial of God’s existence.
13. Unitary: Ockham’s razor
14. Incorrigible, inextinguishable (having existed, God cannot fail to exist)
15. Personal, volitional (“personal explanation”—R. Swinburne)
16. Omnipotent: nothing is a greater expenditure of power than exnihilating the entire cosmos. This is rational to hold, given the argument.
17. Supplies the necessary conditions for impeccable and omnipotent goodness: (1) – (4). Need (5) moral argument and (6) the Incarnation for the final necessary condition, which, with (1) – (4), make for necessary and sufficient conditions.

What I liked about this lecture is that it kept my attention all the way through. It was very fun to listen to, because he considers a ton of alternative views and explains his view, which doesn’t agree with Bill Craig all the way. There is a 17 minute Q&A period at the end.

News

Gay man who captured, chained up and repeatedly raped boy gets 11 year sentence

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From Sun News Canada.

Excerpt:

David James Leblanc, 48, was sentenced to 11 years in prison Friday after he previously pleaded guilty to charges including kidnapping, forcible confinement and sexual assault. He also pleaded guilty to charges in an earlier case involving the sexual assault of two young boys.

The teen’s mother said her son was prescribed anti-HIV drugs and anxiety medication after he was chained and raped by two men in a cabin in Upper Chelsea, a rural area about 125 km west of Halifax.

“If there’s anything good that can come from this sickening crime against my son it would be to have David James Leblanc declared a dangerous offender,” the mother said in her victim impact statement.

“He has been filled with such an overwhelming amount of despair and hopelessness and to have your 16-year-old child tell you through tears and sobs that he doesn’t want to live anymore.”

While she spoke, Leblanc rolled his eyes, sighed and shook his head.

[…]In September, Leblanc promised the teen a painting job.

The boy said Leblanc conned him into getting into a van in Halifax, and drove him to a cabin in Upper Chelsea, where he met Leblanc’s partner, Wayne Alan Cunningham.

Leblanc gave him alcohol and offered him money to see his penis, and the boy said he was marched into a bedroom, chained to the floor and sexually assaulted.

Over the next 10 days, the teen said he was sometimes chained standing with his arms above his head and other times locked to the bed while Cunningham and Leblanc took turns raping him.

It seems to me that the responsibility of the criminal court system is to protect the public from predators. How much does an 11-year sentence for kidnapping, forcible confinement and sexual assault deter future crimes like this one? Something tells me that if the victim had been a woman, and the perpetrator a straight white male, then that would have drawn a much longer sentence.

News

UK: Half a million new STI infections in 2012

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From the left-leaning UK Independent.

Excerpt:

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are soaring among young people, with chlamydia the most virulent, health officials have warned.

Nearly half a million people were diagnosed with STIs last year, with those aged under-25 experiencing the highest rates of infection, according to new figures released today.

Health experts have warned that the rise in STIs shows too many young people are still putting themselves at risk by failing to practice safe-sex.

Last year there were 448,422 diagnoses, which was a rise of five per cent from 2011, said Public Health England (PHE).

Almost half of all infections were chlamydia, amounting to 46 per cent of total STI diagnoses.

The number of new gonorrhoea diagnoses increased by 21 per cent, which is a particular cause for concern among health officials as the global threat of antibiotic resistance grows.

People aged under-25 accounted for 64 per cent of all chlamydia and 54 per cent of genital warts diagnoses in 2012.

The UK has some of the most aggressive and early sex education of any Western country. But all of this effort to educate young people hasn’t reduced the amount of sexual activity at all. When young people learn about the mechanics of sex, and are taught that recreational sex is normal and healthy, then they have more of it. Young people aren’t able to assess risks like adults can. They think that nothing will happen to them. No amount of sex education can cure youthful recklessness.