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SCIENCE AND SKEPTICISM

John Oakes2011 ICEC

Christianity and the Paranormal

Approaches to deciding Truth

Rationalism

Empiricism

Biblicism

A class I have taught: Induction, Deduction, Revelation

Rationalism

What is true must be logical. It must make sense.

“I cannot accept that. It does not make sense to me.”

Is this a good argument?

This is rational Christianity.

Empiricism

What is true is what can be demonstrated to be true by observation or experience.

Until we have actual physical evidence that ghosts, demons, etc. are real, the default position is that they are not real.

Flip side: I experienced this, therefore it is real.

This is experiential Christianity.

Biblicism Biblical statements (or at least my

interpretation of them) trumps all other arguments.

If the Bible said that Jonah swallowed the whale, I would believe that.

This can be irrational Christianity.

A Suggested Approach

Eclectic, Skeptical No-particular-ism

The Problem of Philosophy….

Augustine: We know in order to believe.

Aquinas: We believe in order to know.

William of Ockham and Nominalism

A proposition

Philosophy is a useful tool but truth should not be a tool of philosophy.

The Truth…

The truth is not [always] rational.

The truth is not irrational.

The truth is always biblical.

If the Bible were irrational, then it would not true.

A Case Study:Augustine, Faustus and Manichaeism

Can one commit to being rational and to the authority of the teaching of Manes?

Is Manichaean cosmology irrational?

Side note: Is Hindu or Buddhist cosmology irrational?

Conclusion (for now) We can learn from and use

philosophy and reason.

We can learn from and be informed by science and experience.

We can rely on biblical authority.

But none of these gets to trump the others.

Before We Start

I lean toward biblicism.

I am skeptical of skepticism. Skepticism needs to work both ways.

Ghosts Biblical warrant weak at best. 1 Sam 28?

Rational warrant weak at best.

Empirical warrant weak (based on anecdote)

Alternative rational and biblical explanations exist.

I say it is very likely ghosts are not real.

Satan/Demons/Demon Possession

Biblical warrant very strong.

Rational warrant somewhat weak. Is evil real?

Empirical warrant weaker. Again, based on anecdotes.

I believe demons are real, demon possession in the past was real, and likely it is real today.

Witchcraft, Shamans, occult, etc.

A weaker biblical warrant. Perhaps related to demonology.

Many will say that belief in such things is irrational.

Empirical evidence is weak (anecdotal).

Conclusion: I do not know, but I am VERY skeptical.

Aliens, astrology, numerology, leprechauns, etc.

Zero biblical warrant.

Zero rational warrant.

Zero empirical warrant.

These things are not real.

Final Thoughts

We need to learn how to accept a fairly wide range of thought on some of these things.

The role of the teacher is to help people learn how to think about these things rather than tell them what to think about these things.