Internet Infidels Cannot Argue Consistently

In a previous video, I argued that Jewish anti-missionaries often argue inconsistently, holding the New Testament to a level of skepticism to which they would never hold their own writings.

At least the Internet Infidels do not have the same problem. They are willing to hold any religious text to the same level of scrutiny. Yet I still think that these skeptics are just as inconsistent, and deceptively so, as the anti-missionaries.

Skeptic John Loftus loves to bash Christian apologists for doing what he calls a "retreat to the possible." Instead of offering an answer to the skeptic's objection, the apologist will instead insist that as long as a solution to the problem is possible (e.g. the problem of evil), then the objection fails.

This complaint, I believe, is unwarranted. It confuses two different types of possibility: epistemic possibility and metaphysical possibility. If something is epistemically possible, then for all we know, it could be true. If something is metaphysically possible, then it is both logically coherent and does not contradict a known necessary truth. If our retreat to the possible is a retreat to epistemic possibility, then I agree that this may very well be an argument from ignorance. If it is a retreat to metaphysical possibility, then the argument is not from ignorance. It is a demonstration that two concepts (e.g. God and evil) are not logically incompatible.

However, many skeptics will give the same argument from ignorance, a retreat to the epistemically possible, of which they accuse Christian apologists. Just think with me a minute about some of the arguments for God. There's the Leibnizian Cosmological Argument, where everything needs an explanation for its existence, and demonstrates that God's existence is self-explanatory while the physical world's existence is not. There's the Kalam Argument where the physical world's origin entails its cause. There is the Teleological Argument where the fine-tuning of the constants and quantities at the beginning of the universe point to design. There are moral, aesthetic and is-ought arguments which demonstrate that certain values that we have to believe in to live out our lives are both mind-dependent and objective. Hence, only an eternal and perfect mind can explain them. There are entire families of epistemic arguments which show that our beliefs in inductive reasoning, the reliability of our mental faculties, and the reliability of our sense perception are unjustified without God. Finally, there is the Ontological Argument, of which I have made two videos, which shows that our modal intuitions entail the existence of God.

Alvin Plantinga's Two Dozen or so Theistic Arguments

The responses from skeptics are numerous. They object to the fact that the second law of thermodynamics gives us a finite past, by arguing that someone might hypothetically be able to construct a perpetual motion machine based on Brownian motion. They object to the expansion of the universe entailing its beginning by appealing to wildly speculative scenarios based on certain variations of string theory. They argue that teleological arguments are invalid because you cannot calculate the probability of an event after it has occurred. They argue that moral values are either not mind-dependent after all, or that they they are not objective. All of these objections seem to be pretty desperate and implausible. the question is: how do we show the absurdity of these objections?

I think the solution is simple: Ask the skeptic if he or she would accept the same line of reasoning for Young Earth Creationism. This is not to knock Young Earth Creationism (although I myself am an Old Earth Creationist), but to use it as an example. Because if there is one thing that atheists and other "non-prophets" hate, it is Young Earth Creationism!

If the skeptic says that the physical world came into existence uncaused and not out of anything and just happened to have the fine-tuning of values such as the expansion, argue that perhaps the world came into existence 6,000 years ago, uncaused and out of nothing. Or perhaps our solar system came into existence 6,000 years ago as a result of a random collision of particles. The probability that our solar system formed this way is not zero. If they object and say that the universe or the world looks older, tell them that all possible configurations are unlikely, the way any given hand in poker is as unlikely to be dealt to you as a royal flush. Besides, you cannot calculate the probability of an event after it has occurred.

Some skeptics in response to the scientific evidence for the beginning of the universe will say that it's possible that we may one day come up with a new model that proves the eternality of the universe. Well, science is always changing. It's also possible that scientists may one day come up with a discovery that proves the universe is 6,000 years old and that all species were created in their current form.

If they object to the existence of objective moral values, saying that they are mere instincts, tell them you intend to convince your family and friends of Young Earth Creationism by any means necessary. Who cares if you intend to be less than honest in giving all the facts? Our ideas of morality are just evolved instincts, anyway. It's not like they are obligatory.

One skeptic objected to the Ontological Argument by stating that I have not proven beyond a doubt that my premises are true. He argued that the premises need to be known with certainty in order for the Ontological Argument to be a sound argument. This is a terrible misunderstanding of the nature of arguments.

In a valid deductive argument, it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false, therefore it is irrational to believe the premises and deny the conclusion. You do not need to be certain of the premises in order for the argument to be sound. If certainty was the criterion for a good argument, there would be almost no good arguments. Instead, the premises of the argument merely need to be more plausible than their negations. As long as you believe the premises, you cannot deny the conclusion.

Always ask yourself whenever you face a skeptic's objection: what if it was the other way around? Would they tolerate this kind of reasoning if it was used against them? If not, then their objection is untenable, as inconsistency is a sure sign of a failed argument.