34
votes
Accepted
What are scholarly objections to the divine inspiration of the Book of Mormon?
The arguments against the authenticity and veracity of the Book of Mormon are multiple. To name a few:
Convenient absence of the original 'golden plates' According to Joseph Smith the golden plates ...
- 30.9k
17
votes
What are scholarly objections to the divine inspiration of the Book of Mormon?
Reformed Egyptian and archeology
Only a select few ever claimed to have seen the golden plates Smith said contained the records of the Book of Mormon. The plates were said to have been written in ...
- 1,321
15
votes
According to Protestantism, what are the strongest apologetic arguments against the doctrine of Intercession of Saints?
For those denominations that take the Bible fairly literally, everyone that has ever died (with one notable exception) is still dead and buried and awaiting resurrection.
For the living know that ...
- 7,288
11
votes
According to Protestantism, what are the strongest apologetic arguments against the doctrine of Intercession of Saints?
On an official German protestant website exactly this question was answered with the following arguments (loosely summarized in English by me):
Protestants do not have a hierarchy of the deceased. ...
11
votes
Accepted
How do Cessationists respond to "the counterfeit proves the real" argument?
To make your syllogism more obvious for the Cessationists's argument, switch:
"Satan or his demons" to "Elvis impersonators"
"Godly version of X" to "Real Elvis ...
- 20.6k
10
votes
What are scholarly objections to the divine inspiration of the Book of Mormon?
Why should we believe Mormonism's one and only source? The content of the Bible enjoys the benefit of what historians call "multiple independent attestation." that is, the events, people and ...
- 4,323
8
votes
What is the meaning of 'is' in the context of the Trinity?
Divine Relations are depicted in green:
(original image source)
The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God.
Here, "is" means "has the same essence as." (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas's ...
- 36.4k
8
votes
What are arguments for the divine inspiration of the longer ending of Mark (Mark 16:9-20)?
The following is quoted from this article at the Early Church History website which outlines the very early attestation of the longer ending of Mark:
Irenaeus, Justin, Tatian and Hippolytus were very ...
- 13.1k
6
votes
How do Cessationists respond to "the counterfeit proves the real" argument?
No.
Just to be clear, I'm a Continuationist, but I think that argument is totally invalid. You can't derive anything about God from what Satan is doing, because the whole purpose of what Satan does is ...
- 1,023
6
votes
Accepted
How do Latter-day Saints respond to the non-LDS argument that Joseph Smith's death was not comparable to the martyrdom of the ancient apostles?
A Martyr for the testimony of Jesus
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consider Joseph Smith a Christian martyr.
John Taylor, who was present when Joseph Smith was assassinated,...
- 10.4k
5
votes
What is the meaning of 'is' in the context of the Trinity?
Short answer is, “identity.” Each Divine Person is perfectly identical to the Divine Essence.
Perhaps the best exposition of this idea is given by St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa theologiae [S.Th.].
...
- 13.2k
5
votes
Why do Cessationists consider recent testimonial evidence for the gifts of the Spirit less reliable than 2000-year-old evidence for the resurrection?
There is no reference to tongues/healings/miracles in the pastoral epistles nor the later writings of John. References to Pentecost are about the utterance of foreign, earthly, languages.
Then no ...
- 21.8k
5
votes
Does Modern Science come to the aid of Christianity's Doctrine of Creation, exposing a flaw in Atheism's plank of "No Cause"?
I am an ex-atheist Christian. I think I can safely promise you that no line of reasoning presented by another person will convince an atheist against his will. Logical "proofs" of the ...
- 1,306
4
votes
Accepted
Have any Christian thinkers expressed the idea that the Trinity can be proven independently from Scripture?
Anselm of Canterbury attempts to do exactly this in his Monologion, an 11th century work that attempts to logically deduce God's existence and attributes without the use of Scripture.
Overview in ...
4
votes
Accepted
How do Trinitarians respond to syllogistic arguments against the divinity of Jesus?
These are easy to answer, specifically because they depend on logical or linguistic fallacies.
Argument 1
"The Father is the only true God"
"The only true" simply modifies "...
- 8,095
4
votes
How do Latter-day Saints respond to William Lane Craig's philosophical objections to the Mormon view of creation?
My response comes in two parts:
Creation ex-nihilo (in a separate answer for readability)
Theosis & the Nature of God (this answer)
(Sorry, no money-back guarantee for those anticipating a 3-...
- 10.4k
4
votes
How do Cessationists respond to "the counterfeit proves the real" argument?
The purpose of sensational events is to distract from the gospel itself : the godly, sensible, sounding forth - by real preaching - of the truth of the gospel once delivered to the saints.
The '...
- 21.8k
4
votes
How do Cessationists respond to "the counterfeit proves the real" argument?
Cessationists aren't atheists; of course God could perform powerful miraculous signs through his people today. Cessationists teach that even though God could do this, he doesn't as it is not part of ...
- 19.3k
4
votes
Accepted
Has any trinitarian these days ever come across an argument for proof of the deity of Christ that goes like this:
I have never heard any Trinitarian put forward such a simplistic argument. The first hurdle to clear is to define “God”. The second hurdle is to define what is meant by “Jesus saves”. Let me ...
- 27.5k
3
votes
Accepted
What are the strongest apologetic arguments in defense of the veracity of the doctrine of Intercession of Saints?
The Catholic Answers website has some good material on this. The main entry defending the doctrine is How to Defend the Intercession of the Saints. It addresses the "common" objections from ...
- 2,805
3
votes
How do Latter-day Saints respond to William Lane Craig's philosophical objections to the Mormon view of creation?
To begin with, Dr. Craig's presentation of what LDS believe doesn't seem to be quite accurate. It is unfortunately not uncommon among those who would minister to LDS to set up philosophical strawmen ...
- 1,794
3
votes
How do Trinitarians respond to syllogistic arguments against the divinity of Jesus?
I will give my own "syllogistic" argument that proves the divinity of Jesus Christ and the divinity of the Person of the Holy Spirit. Obviously we already know the Person of God the Father ...
- 4,323
3
votes
How do Trinitarians respond to syllogistic arguments against the divinity of Jesus?
Let's take these one by one.
Argument #1
This is indeed a tricky scripture for Trinitarians (the only one of the 16 that is), but scripture is not absolutely clear that it means the Father is the only ...
- 30.9k
3
votes
Accepted
What is an example of a deductive argument that Biblical Unitarians would present to prove that Jesus is not God?
There are a large number of arguments that can be made from a Biblical Unitarian standpoint that Jesus is not God. Although I am skeptical of deductive arguments such as you are looking for (and ...
- 6,403
3
votes
Accepted
Is God fully Jesus?
The short answer is that, yes, Jesus, the Divine Son, is 100% God (and also 100% man), provided we understand that God does not have “parts” and so could percentages could never be properly attributed ...
- 13.2k
3
votes
Are the Five Solas considered "Axioms" or "Theorems" in the logic of salvation in Protestant theology?
I know what 'The Five Solas' are (being of the Reformed Protestant 'school'). I know what an axiom is (established principle; self-evident truth). I know what a theorem is (proposition not self-...
- 23.2k
3
votes
Are the Five Solas considered "Axioms" or "Theorems" in the logic of salvation in Protestant theology?
I wouldn't call them axioms; indeed the whole point of Sola Scriptura is that nothing outside the scriptures is infallible or definitive.
If there were axioms of Christianity they would be things like:...
- 19.3k
3
votes
How do people who deny Biblical inerrancy understand this argument on inspiration?
This is not a valid deductive argument. 4 does not follow from 1, 2, and 3. Even the proposed edit to 4 that removes the phrase "and are inerrant" would not make it valid.
4 does not follow ...
- 2,805
3
votes
What are arguments for the divine inspiration of the longer ending of Mark (Mark 16:9-20)?
A. It was quoted by early Church fathers.
The versus in question were quoted by Irenaeus, Justin, Tatian and Hippolytus in the second century AD [1]. While manuscripts from these authors don't predate ...
- 2,655
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