Comments on: An Evangelical Is… http://withallyourmind.net/archives/2008/an-evangelical-is/ Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:50:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Barry Carey http://withallyourmind.net/archives/2008/an-evangelical-is/#comment-77033 Barry Carey Wed, 21 May 2008 11:59:10 +0000 http://withallyourmind.net/archives/2008/an-evangelical-is/#comment-77033 Vinny, I've read several of Craig's books and I think you have to take the above quote in the context of "justified belief". (Both he and Plantinga deal with this issue in more depth elsewhere.) He is making the argument that one's belief can be justified even if some evidence seems to count against it based on an even more compelling evidence (for that individual)of the witness of the Holy Spirit. He certainly does not think that this evidence would count much for someone who does not have the witness of the Spirit. I don't think that he would state that this evidence should convince anyone else of the truth of Christianity. Others do not place such an emphasis on the self-authenticating witness of the Spirit and would find evidence against the truth claims of Christianity much more troublesome. Vinny,

I’ve read several of Craig’s books and I think you have to take the above quote in the context of “justified belief”. (Both he and Plantinga deal with this issue in more depth elsewhere.) He is making the argument that one’s belief can be justified even if some evidence seems to count against it based on an even more compelling evidence (for that individual)of the witness of the Holy Spirit. He certainly does not think that this evidence would count much for someone who does not have the witness of the Spirit. I don’t think that he would state that this evidence should convince anyone else of the truth of Christianity.

Others do not place such an emphasis on the self-authenticating witness of the Spirit and would find evidence against the truth claims of Christianity much more troublesome.

]]> By: Vinny http://withallyourmind.net/archives/2008/an-evangelical-is/#comment-77017 Vinny Tue, 20 May 2008 16:28:55 +0000 http://withallyourmind.net/archives/2008/an-evangelical-is/#comment-77017 <i>The way that I know Christianity is true is first and foremost on the basis of the witness of the Holy Spirit in my heart. This gives me a self-authenticating means of knowing Christianity is true wholly apart from the evidence. And therefore, if in some historically contingent circumstances, the evidence that I have available to me should turn against Christianity. I don’t think that that controverts the witness of the Holy Spirit. In such a situation, and I should regard that simply as a result of the contingent circumstances that I am in, and that if I were to pursue this with due diligence and with time I would discover that in fact that the evidence—if I could get the correct picture—would support exactly what the witness of the Holy Spirit tells me.</i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-fDyPU3wlQ" rel="nofollow">William Lane Craig</a> This sounds to me like a guy who is going to believe what he believes regardless of the evidence. The way that I know Christianity is true is first and foremost on the basis of the witness of the Holy Spirit in my heart. This gives me a self-authenticating means of knowing Christianity is true wholly apart from the evidence. And therefore, if in some historically contingent circumstances, the evidence that I have available to me should turn against Christianity. I don’t think that that controverts the witness of the Holy Spirit. In such a situation, and I should regard that simply as a result of the contingent circumstances that I am in, and that if I were to pursue this with due diligence and with time I would discover that in fact that the evidence—if I could get the correct picture—would support exactly what the witness of the Holy Spirit tells me.William Lane Craig

This sounds to me like a guy who is going to believe what he believes regardless of the evidence.

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