“If, when we compare two versions of a story, the second known to be a retelling of the first, and find that the second has more of a miraculous element, we may reasonably conclude we have legendary (or midrashic or whatever) embellishment. The tale has grown in the telling. This sort of comparison is common in extrabiblical research and no one holds that it cannot properly indicate legend formation there.” IfsFirstsMayTwoStoriesReligionCommonKnownAtheismElementsResearchPositive AtheismTalesVersionsCompareComparisonLegendsMiraculousFormationLegendaryRetellingEmbellishment Book:Beyond Born Again: Toward Evangelical Maturity Source: Beyond Born Again: Toward Evangelical Maturity
“But if they did really refer to some kind of a "personal relationship," it would in effect be a case of channeling. I suspect this is why fundamentalists who condemn New Age channelers do not dismiss it as a fraud..., but instead think that Ramtha and the others are channeling demons. If they said it was sheer delusion, they know where the other four fingers would wind up pointing!” IfsThinkingKnowsKindSaidAgeCasesFourAtheismEffectsWindFingersPositive AtheismDemonDelusionSuspectsFraudSheerThey SaidNew AgePointingChannelingPersonal Relationships Author:Robert M. Price
“It is quite likely ... that the central figure of the gospels is not based on any historical individual. Put simply, not only is the theological "Christ of faith" a synthetic construct of theologians, a symbolic "Uncle Sam" figure, but if you could travel ... back to First-Century Nazareth, you would not find a Jesus living there.” IfsFirstsJesusIndividualChristAtheismCenturyFiguresHistoricalPositive AtheismUnclesConstructsTheologianSymbolicTheologicalSyntheticNazarethUncle Sam Author:Robert M. Price
“A critic may reject some miracle stories as legendary, and not others, with no inconsistency at all for the simple reason that even if one holds miracles to be possible, one need not hold legends to be impossible! There are other factors, literary and historiographical ones, that might lead a critic to conclude that even though miracles can happen, it does not appear that in this or that case they did.” IfsNeedsMayDoeReasonStoriesMightHappensReligionSimpleCasesImpossibleMiracleCriticsFactorsRejectsLegendsLegendaryInconsistencyMiracles Can Happen Book:Beyond Born Again: Toward Evangelical Maturity Source: Beyond Born Again: Toward Evangelical Maturity
“By itself, 1 Corinthians 15 just wouldn't mean much. He wants the appearances of 1 Corinthians 15:3-11 to be read as if they had in parentheses after them 'See Luke 24; Matthew 28; John 21.'” IfsWantMeanReligionAppearanceLukeMatthewParenthesesCorinthians Author:Robert M. Price
“The notorious tendency of conservative apologists and New Age paperback writers alike is to leap from mere possibility to the right to believe. "If there might be space aliens, we can assume there are." "If the idea of Atlantis is not impossible, we can take it for granted." "If the traditional view of gospel authorship cannot be definitievely debunked, we can go right on assuming it's truth." No, you can't.” IfsBelieveIdeasMightAgeSpaceViewsImpossiblePossibilityAssumingMereConservativeTraditionalTendenciesAliensGrantedLeapNew AgeAuthorshipNotoriousAtlantisSpace Aliens Author:Robert M. Price
“Whatever can be threatened, whatever can be shaken, whatever you fear cannot stand, is destined to crash. Do not go down with the ship. Let that which is destined to become the past slip away. Believe that the real you is that which beckons from the future. If it is a sadder you, it will be a wiser one. And dawn will follow the darkness sooner or later. Rebirth can never come without death.” IfsBelieveRealPastDarknessShipsDawnSlipsSooner Or LaterCrashWiserThreatenedDestinedRebirthReal You Author:Robert M. Price
“My point is, however, that churches do promote beliefs that would more appropriately find a place in a context of intellectual debate. They wind up cheerleading for highly dubious opinions on historical, scientific, and metaphysical matters, simply on the bases of emotional preference and the inertia of tradition. They demand conformity to these beliefs, and if you cannot swim with the current, then, well partner, maybe you'd be happier in another pool, another lake in fact, the one ablaze with burning sulfur.” IfsWellsMatterFactsBeliefChurchOpinionEmotionalWindDemandIntellectualTraditionBasesHistoricalCurrentsPartnersDebateBurningLakesSwimConformityPoolMetaphysicalPreferenceInertiaDubiousCheerleadingSulfur Author:Robert M. Price
“For the believer in divine creation, the open question of the Mystery of Being is like an open wound. It stings and gapes, and the believer cannot rest till it be healed up, closed up, smeared with the soothing balm of an answer, even if his doctrine be a sophisticated one like Aquinas's or that of the latest Liberal Protestant theologian.” IfsAnswersMysteryCreationDivineBelieverWoundsDoctrineSophisticatedTheologianHealedProtestantsSoothing Author:Robert M. Price
