Trading off false-positives and false-negatives — Hume has dominated how we think about miracles for more than 250 years. His popularity has not waned among atheists in our time. For example, Bart Ehrman takes a Humean approach to Biblical miracle claims.[1] Cambridge University philosopher Arif Ahmed’s famous debate on Jesus’ resurrection with Gary Habermas essentially became…

The problem of evil is perhaps the strongest argument against the existence of God. Going back to Epicurious (3rd century BC), it can be phrased: 1. If an all-powerful, all-good, and all-knowing God exists then evil does not. 2. Evil exists. 3. Therefore an all-powerful, all-good, and all-knowing God does…

A summary of the fine-tuning argument and response to key objections — The standard models of particle physics and cosmology contain 31 fundamental constants. (1) Many scientists expected that life would be possible for a range of universes. It turns out this is not the case. For example, physicist Luke Barnes (1) points out: …if gravity were repulsive, matter wouldn’t clump into…

McLatchie vs Paulogia Resurrection Debate: Why Priors Matter — Jonathan McLatchie (a Christian apologist) and Paulogia (an ex-Christian YouTuber) debated the resurrection in February 2023. This post is not a review of their debate. Instead, I want to reflect on the role of priors in discussions between Christians and atheists on the resurrection. Both McLatchie and Paulogia claimed to…

What did Jewish tradition teach about interpretation of this verse from Hosea? — In Romans 9, Paul quoted the prophet Hosea to argue God’s mercy extends to the whole world. Jew and non-Jew (Gentile). What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory — even us…

Introduction to a series on the resurrection — For Christians, the resurrection is one of the best-attested events in history. Yet many of our atheist and non-religious friends wonder how we could believe something so irrational. Are we condemned to talk past each other? Mutual head shaking? Slogans abound on both sides. “The Bible’s the claim, not the…

Part II of a series on Jesus’ resurrection — I recently finished a series on whether Jesus was the Messiah. The intention of these articles was to inform the prior probability of Jesus’ resurrection. This next series moves on to the resurrection. …

A reply to Martin Hartke’s YouTube video and blog — This is a response to Matthew Hartke’s blog article (1) on how cognitive dissonance theory (CDT) explains Christianity. My PhD is in social psychology — so I always enjoy engaging with articles combining psychology and Biblical studies. Hartke’s article brought back memories. As a final-year psychology undergraduate, I agonised over…

This is a collection of articles I’ve written on passages in Isaiah commonly thought to be about Jesus. Isaiah 6: Isaiah saw Jesus’ glory What Does John Mean by “Isaiah Saw Jesus’ Glory”? John 12's quotes from Isaiah on Jesus’ Mission and Identitymedium.com Isaiah 7: Immanuel Is Isaiah 7:14 About Jesus or Someone Else? Responding to Rabbi Tovia Singer’s criticisms of Matthew 1:22–23medium.com Isaiah 9: Unto us a child is born