Show NotesTom Holland’s book ‘Dominion’ has caused quite a stir in Christian apologetics circles over the last few years and we’ve been reading it. We also attended a church leader’s evening where he was the speaker.  So we thought we would start a “Doubts Aloud Book Club” with Dominion the first book covered.We introduce Tom, his current faith position and the book, we discuss his style and how much we enjoyed the read.  We present the key messages that Tom seeks to make and talk about whether it’s a book useful for apologetics.  Finally, we read some extracts that had struck us and discussed them.A later episode on the book will cover more on the critical responses, including ours.  He makes a bold and interesting set of claims that we can both learn from and see where we, and historians, may disagree. Links:That book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dominion-Making-Western-Tom-Holland/dp/0349141207 The Justin Brierley Spectator article: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-christian-revival-is-under-way-in-britain/   Doubts Aloud Links:Please give feedback and ask questions using:  doubtsaloud@gmail.com Join the Facebook Group discussions: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1023280847835278/  Meet us all in person again at the monthly  “Unbelievable Christian and Skeptic Discussion  Group” in central London, see: https://www.meetup.com/Unbelievable-Christian-and-Skeptic-Discussion-Group-London 

Show NotesWe are excited to have guest Rev Michael Roberts with us, he’s an Oxford geologist who subsequently became an Anglican vicar. He is extremely knowledgeable on the history of geology and the age of the earth in science, Christian academic thought, theology and the modern Young Earth movement. Did you know that Darwin was a geologist at the start of his career? Neither did we. Links:Michael’s blog is: https://michaelroberts4004.wordpress.com/ Michael’s paper “Just before the Beagle”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17qo3zEeYKZlwL_Y8DpoX3F-35BO4rPPz/view?usp=sharing His 5 day trip exploring Darwin in Wales https://www.newscientist.com/tours/retracing-charles-darwins-travels-across-north-wales/? fbclid=IwAR372bjMkHAcr0UU4p6B9KqztYkaOk5bxLH4PUgXRT06Nfo75iuhank-gac That Ovid book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphoses That Genesis Flood 1961 book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Genesis_Flood( The link also mentions the Bernard Ramm book “The Christian View of Science and Scripture” we mentioned.) That irreverent cartoon on Adam and Eve overpopulating the globe due to obedience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziQrzXmjk-M Doubts Aloud Links:Please give feedback and ask questions using: doubtsaloud@gmail.com Join the Facebook Group discussions: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1023280847835278/ Meet us all in person again at the monthly “Unbelievable Christian and Skeptic Discussion Group” in central London, see:https://www.meetup.com/Unbelievable-Christian-and-Skeptic-Discussion-Group-London

Show NotesThis month we return to that different form of Apologetics - Presuppositional Apologetics. Please see Part 1 - Episode 70 - where we gave a more social and historical background to it. Here we look at the basic argument made: the Transcendental Argument for God, “TAG”. We set it out and discuss implications and objections to it. Links:The Debunking Christianity material on Presup: https://www.debunking-christianity.com/2022/08/the-failure-of-van-tillian.html The short clip of someone doing a ‘reverse Presup’ on Presuppositional Apologists, invoking a “non-conscious power”: https://youtu.be/BPF8lcYWQ1Y?si=_B8mO9jUKdA6z8Q7 Blog expanding on our point that our desire for there to be reliable rationality does not show there ishttps://useofreason.wordpress.com/2019/05/10/the-limitations-of-transcendental-arguments/ Julian Baggini’s book “How the World Thinks” https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-World-Thinks-History-Philosophy/dp/1783782285 The Dan Linford paper given to us by Josh on skeptical theism and how it destroys TAG https://www.dropbox.com/s/4iojx3honcv4mv4/On_Knowledge_Without_God_Van_Tillian_Pre.docx?fbclid=IwAR34-aQh0Kny9J6pTCQbSKyiiuZauzza1j4ddu4WeCTE3XsXCGqdJFq4sa4 Doubts Aloud Links: Please give feedback and ask questions using: doubtsaloud@gmail.com Join the Facebook Group discussions: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1023280847835278/ Meet us all in person again at the monthly “Unbelievable Christian and Skeptic Discussion Group” in central London, see: https://www.meetup.com/Unbelievable-Christian-and-Skeptic-Discussion-Group-London

Show NotesWe deal with the current conflict in Israel and Gaza by looking at the influence of religion, in the minds of the Israeli leaders & the settlers taking land in the West Bank and also in the minds of the Evangelical Zionist backers in the UK and US. The UK evangelical influence is more of historical interest but the US is very current and is influencing events now. Links etc: The video by Al Jazeera used for extracts at the start of the show – “How Evangelicals Betray Christians In The Holy Land”https://youtu.be/nHT-SjIM0tA?si=yok7IZPkxAMyasQf Sky News – the Benjamin Netanyahu speech with translation, Amalek bit from 1min50shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5LmB6uup3o Guardian article with quotes from a settler and an administrator of settlementshttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/18/these-are-biblical-lands-promised-to-us-jewish-settlers-in-west-bank-hope-gaza-conflict-will-help-their-cause Pew Research on Jews in Israelhttps://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/03/08/in-israel-jews-are-united-by-homeland-but-divided-into-very-different-groups/ Israel Policy Forum article (an American Jewish organization that works for a negotiated solution to the conflict)https://israelpolicyforum.org/west-bank-settlements-explained/ The video from Turkish TV with a Rabbi condemning Israeli aggression in Gazahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FNtMV2i8-8 Factual article on the British evangelicals behind the Balfour Declarationhttps://balfourproject.org/evangelicals-the-balfour-declaration-and-zionism/ UK Christian teacher David Pawson's lecture:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ika1apsadrQ Video of Franklin Graham Meeting Netanyahuhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozWdH8s32pI Doubts Aloud Links:Please give feedback and ask questions using: doubtsaloud@gmail.com Join the Facebook Group discussions:https://www.facebook.com/groups/1023280847835278/ Meet us all in person again at the monthly “Unbelievable Christian and Skeptic Discussion Group” in central London, see:https://www.meetup.com/Unbelievable-Christian-and-Skeptic-Discussion-Group-London

Show Notes Merry Christmas one and all and what could be more festive than digging into the historical reliability of that Census? The one Luke uses to set up his nativity narrative. We make our case as to why this matters, after all, Luke is said to be a great historian by many. Then we get to it dealing with the 3 main historical issues with the census as presented by Luke:he says it covered the entire Roman world but there is no record of it elsewhere,he presents this strange idea of ‘everyone’ going to their ancestral home to register andhe that it took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria which was about 10 years after Herod died, but Luke (and Matthew) also place the narrative in Herod’s reign. Of course we dig into the better defenses apologists and bible scholars have proposed. Links etc: Read the key parts of the narrative: Luke1v5, v26-7 then Lk2v1-8 and then v22 and v39. A simple Uni Idaho link we used to start our research https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/ngier/census.htm

Show Notes This month we (in our view) bravely jump into a completely different form of Apologetics - Presuppositional Apologetics. It can be a bid disorientating as in Andrew’s words it can be summarised as “God’s word says you are wrong so you have no case to make". Frances is more measured with her summary: “the only proof of the Christian position is that, unless its truth is presupposed, there is no possibility of proving anything at all”. We give a brief history starting from Cornelius Van Til “the Father of presuppositionalism”. It is linked with Calvinism, also called ‘Reformed Theology’. It’s use in other religions and branches in Christianity is informative, as it’s usual bedfellow – Young Earth Creationism. There will be a Part 2 on this next year. Links:If you need more we recommend the treatment by the Reasonable Doubts podcast – episodes 97 & 98. Frances mentioned an article by Keith A. Mathison- here’s the link:https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/christianity-and-van-tillianism-2019-08/ Doubts Aloud Links:Please give feedback and ask questions using: doubtsaloud@gmail.com Join the Facebook Group discussions: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1023280847835278/ Meet us all in person again at the monthly “Unbelievable Christian and Skeptic Discussion Group” in central London, see: https://www.meetup.com/Unbelievable-Christian-and-Skeptic-Discussion-Group-London

Show Notes In this episode Andrew shares his research on the origins of the Book of Mormon and the early roots of the Mormon church. This includes discussing the belief that gold plates were discoverd near New York in the early 19th century that gave the purported story of jews emigrating from the holy land to the americas in around 600 BC. Andrew also covers aspects of the character and background of the founder of the Mormon church, Joseph Smith. Also discussed is the cultural context and setting with the probable sources that influenced the formation of the book of Mormon. We also discuss the very facinating succesors to the Jospeth Smith, Brigham Young and also his rival, a certain James Strang and his very facinating story. For the hosts of this podcast we cannot help but see so many parallels with Mormonism and evangelical christianity. The many schisms, the fundamentalist and progressive divide, the apologetic strategies, prophecies that were unfullfilled and the pure devotion and passion for the book of Mormon as the word of God. All these aspects ring so true with evanglical christianity. Its easy as outsiders to see right through Mormonism but not so easy to look at ones own faith with the same level of honest critiscism. We have so much evidence to wade through with Mormon history and we can't help but think what would the early roots of Christianity look like if we had the wealth of contempory evidence that Mormon history has at our disposal. Would it bring to light the dark side of the human interactions and stories surrounding christian origins that would shock us if the reality was like that of the history of the Mormon church? The facinating story of James Strang, a contender to succeed Josepth Smith. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl83_X1Zslw

Show Notes Andrew has been following a story about a ‘Curse Tablet’ found at an archaeological site in Israel which proponents claim should up-end Biblical Archaeology in such a way as to confirm the conservative evangelical view of the Torah – the first five books of the OT. We look into it and hear from both sides. This led on to Ed introducing the chapter in the ‘50 Arguments for God’ book on Biblical Archaeology. It concentrated on the NT and we picked up especially on one claim in the chapter, that the archaeology concerning 1stC tombs around Jerusalem helped confirm the gospel account. After some digging (yes, a pun) we think that we unearthed (sorry) a different story. Links: Link for apologists making hay on Curse Tablet: Sean McDowel with the main proponent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEVEKX_0x08 And after the push back, another episode with a Christian scholar who dismissed the Curse Tablet https://youtu.be/SBmuNw59AOg Responses from academic, Dr. Robert Cargill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkBByBE2OUo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Scp85Nlnk

This episodes is Part 2 of a 2 part show with just with Andrew on his own and and he recounts in detail his own de-conversion story.

This episodes is Part 1 of a 2 part show with just with Andrew on his own and and he recounts in detail his own de-conversion story.