book_review

Free Web Hosting Provider - Web Hosting - E-commerce - High Speed Internet - Free Web Page

The reviewer
I am Paul Saenen. I am an electronics engineer interested in all sciences and a freethinker.
It took me one week to read the book and two weeks to review it.
my email address: paul
Thanks to JR for proofreading.
copyright notice: This review can be freely copied or quoted or distributed.

Summary
The book is an attempt by the authors to prove the existence of supernatural forces from basic principles. From this follows the inescapable conclusion that Christianity is the only true religion.
The book starts with the layout of a 12-point plan, each point building upon the foundation of the previous one. After that promising start, the book falls apart.
The first two chapters (1. Truth about reality is knowable, 2. The opposite of true is false) are utterly unnecessary and can only be intended to flesh out the book and perhaps flaunt the author's knowledge of philosophy.
The third chapter contains the purpose of the book. It purports to prove that the universe is created and that evolution is false. A motley crew of creationist extremists is paraded in front of the unfortunate reader to argue various points. The author's ingenuity is stretched to the limit here. All possible methods of obfuscation are used: straw man fallacy, omission of evidence, invincible ignorance, deliberate errors, mistakes, selective quotation, and of course the straight lie. Sadly, after disgracing themselves in this way, the authors use the false conclusion at the end of chapter 3 as a cornerstone for proving that miracles exist in chapter 4-5 and that Christianity is the true religion in chapter 6-12.
Generally the authors seem to have a fair command of scientific jargon but fail to understand the very basics of science.
Inevitably in a book trying to prove falsehood the authors contradict themselves a number of times. From chapter 6 things get worse very quickly and the exhortations of chapter 1 about truth are joyfully thrown out of the window.
After tediously perusing the book the tired reader realizes that there is no 12-point plan. There is a 1-point plan to prove that the universe is created and the point fails to be made.

spelling mistakes
surprisingly few: good spell checker.
It is particularly gratifying that the use of the word virtually is kept to a minimum.
p.371: site must be cite.

page	type	description

title	contradiction	Bad start. The title of the book "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist" is unfortunate. Why? because it implies that it is better to have less faith, and taken to the extreme, no faith.
		INTRODUCTION
17	straw man phallacy	Phillip E. Johnson triumphantly crows: "One who claims to be a skeptic is actually a true believer in another set of beliefs." The authors attempt to sow confusion by equating two different meanings of the word believe. The religious believe relates to faith. The skeptic believe relates to opinion.
19	error	"University": The term university is a composite of the words unity and diversity." This blunder proves that the authors are eager to deceive university is derived from the Latin universitas (corporation).
26	ignorance	The authors disagree with Carl Sagan saying "the Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be." But Carl is perfectly entitled to specify a set named "Cosmos" with elements being all there is. The author's alarm obviously stems from the fact that God is an element of a set.
27	straw man fallacy	"skeptics have faith that skepticism is true." This statement is false. Scepticism is not a belief but an attitude of doubt and scrutiny. The authors "prove" later in the book that a belief system cannot prove itself using the verification principle. Here they are setting skeptics up to be proven wrong later.
27	contradiction	"atheists are skeptics." The authors demonstrate elsewhere that people can be atheists for a number of reasons not necessarily including scepticism.
30	straw man fallacy	Nietzsches statement "if one where to prove this God of the Christians to use, we would be even less able to believe in him" is based on his conviction that Christians have distorted and misunderstood the teachings of Jesus.
31	contradiction	C.S. Lewis in his usual style decides that God has limits. The authors prove elsewhere He has not.

page

type

description

title

contradiction

Bad start. The title of the book "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist" is unfortunate. Why? because it implies that it is better to have less faith, and taken to the extreme, no faith.

INTRODUCTION

straw man phallacy

Phillip E. Johnson triumphantly crows: "One who claims to be a skeptic is actually a true believer in another set of beliefs." The authors attempt to sow confusion by equating two different meanings of the word believe. The religious believe relates to faith. The skeptic believe relates to opinion.

error

"University": The term university is a composite of the words unity and diversity." This blunder proves that the authors are eager to deceive university is derived from the Latin universitas (corporation).

ignorance

The authors disagree with Carl Sagan saying "the Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be." But Carl is perfectly entitled to specify a set named "Cosmos" with elements being all there is. The author's alarm obviously stems from the fact that God is an element of a set.

straw man fallacy

"skeptics have faith that skepticism is true." This statement is false. Scepticism is not a belief but an attitude of doubt and scrutiny. The authors "prove" later in the book that a belief system cannot prove itself using the verification principle. Here they are setting skeptics up to be proven wrong later.

contradiction

"atheists are skeptics." The authors demonstrate elsewhere that people can be atheists for a number of reasons not necessarily including scepticism.

straw man fallacy

Nietzsches statement "if one where to prove this God of the Christians to use, we would be even less able to believe in him" is based on his conviction that Christians have distorted and misunderstood the teachings of Jesus.

contradiction

C.S. Lewis in his usual style decides that God has limits. The authors prove elsewhere He has not.

location	type	TRUTH ABOUT REALITY IS KNOWABLE
35	ignorance	This whole arduous chapter "proves" that truth is knowable. Incredibly the authors are not aware of the incompleteness theorem proven by Kurt Gödel in 1931 (For any consistent formal theory that proves basic arithmetical truths, it is possible to construct an arithmetical statement that is true but not provable in the theory.). Truth is not always knowable.
44	straw man fallacy	"They say truth can't be known." False: They say some truths can't be known.
54	half truth	<either-or> logic and <both-and> logic do not exist. The logic terms are <inclusive or> and <exclusive or>. It is clear from the context however that the authors mean <either-or> religion and <both-and> religion.

location

type

TRUTH ABOUT REALITY IS KNOWABLE

ignorance

This whole arduous chapter "proves" that truth is knowable. Incredibly the authors are not aware of the incompleteness theorem proven by Kurt Gödel in 1931 (For any consistent formal theory that proves basic arithmetical truths, it is possible to construct an arithmetical statement that is true but not provable in the theory.). Truth is not always knowable.

straw man fallacy

"They say truth can't be known." False: They say some truths can't be known.

half truth

<either-or> logic and <both-and> logic do not exist. The logic terms are <inclusive or> and <exclusive or>. It is clear from the context however that the authors mean <either-or> religion and <both-and> religion.

location	type	THE OPPOSITE OF TRUE IS FALSE
59	straw man fallacy	Empirical verifiability. "That was it and I sat down". The authors indulge in some smug self-aggrandizement here. It is well known that the principle of empirical verifiability cannot prove itself directly. In such a case proof by contradiction or proof by exhaustion is used. It is inconceivable that a professor would not know this. Therefore the whole scenario is a lie.
59	straw man fallacy	"Immanuel Kant says there is no way to know anything about the real world". The philosopher says nothing of the kind. Kant actually said the opposite: there are a priori and a posteriori truths. Kant firmly stated that his work does not deny the reality of external objects. The senses can be deceived however. e.g. A prism shows that white light is a mixture of colors.
61	contradiction	"Assume that... the idea in your mind accurately represents the thing in the real world". This is madness and dangerous. Anybody would be a sitting duck to liars. Nothing would ever be investigated. A drunk would see two trees and bump into both of them. The authors contradict this later when Norm mistakes plastic flowers for real ones.
61	error	"How does Kant know the real world is there?" answer: a priori and a posteriori truths.
62	error	"The law of the excluded middle" means only true/false results are allowed. This law is not applicable to real life. A famous counterexample is Schroedinger's cat that is alive and dead at the same time. The law is applicable however to some limited logic systems.
63	error	"Your eyes must be built into your body for you to see anything." False. Bats and dolphins see with sound. Some fish see with electrical fields. The authors perforce have to use bad analogies because they try to prove a false statement.
64	contradiction	"All the letters on this page are black." False. There are an infinite number of white letters on the page. The author's uncertain grip on the rules of logic shows up, not for the last time.
65	ignorance	"Only people write books" Not true. Books and music have been written by computers. The authors should have written "up to 2006 only people have written good books".
67	half truth	"black were the property of their owners". In reality all slaves, some being white, were the property of their owners, some being black.(Michael A. Hoffman II)
68	insult	"People are pigs with brains". Traditional insult to skeptics. When common sense fails, use emotion.
68	insult	"Hindus ignore the cries of the suffering". For good measure another billion people are insulted. Rich Hindus traditionally give alms to the poor.

location

type

THE OPPOSITE OF TRUE IS FALSE

straw man fallacy

Empirical verifiability. "That was it and I sat down". The authors indulge in some smug self-aggrandizement here. It is well known that the principle of empirical verifiability cannot prove itself directly. In such a case proof by contradiction or proof by exhaustion is used. It is inconceivable that a professor would not know this. Therefore the whole scenario is a lie.

straw man fallacy

"Immanuel Kant says there is no way to know anything about the real world". The philosopher says nothing of the kind. Kant actually said the opposite: there are a priori and a posteriori truths. Kant firmly stated that his work does not deny the reality of external objects. The senses can be deceived however. e.g. A prism shows that white light is a mixture of colors.

contradiction

"Assume that... the idea in your mind accurately represents the thing in the real world". This is madness and dangerous. Anybody would be a sitting duck to liars. Nothing would ever be investigated. A drunk would see two trees and bump into both of them. The authors contradict this later when Norm mistakes plastic flowers for real ones.

error

"How does Kant know the real world is there?" answer: a priori and a posteriori truths.

error

"The law of the excluded middle" means only true/false results are allowed. This law is not applicable to real life. A famous counterexample is Schroedinger's cat that is alive and dead at the same time. The law is applicable however to some limited logic systems.

error

"Your eyes must be built into your body for you to see anything." False. Bats and dolphins see with sound. Some fish see with electrical fields. The authors perforce have to use bad analogies because they try to prove a false statement.

contradiction

"All the letters on this page are black." False. There are an infinite number of white letters on the page. The author's uncertain grip on the rules of logic shows up, not for the last time.

ignorance

"Only people write books" Not true. Books and music have been written by computers. The authors should have written "up to 2006 only people have written good books".

half truth

"black were the property of their owners". In reality all slaves, some being white, were the property of their owners, some being black.(Michael A. Hoffman II)

insult

"People are pigs with brains". Traditional insult to skeptics. When common sense fails, use emotion.

insult

"Hindus ignore the cries of the suffering". For good measure another billion people are insulted. Rich Hindus traditionally give alms to the poor.

page	type	IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS A GREAT SURGE
73	ignorance	"cosmological constant" Einstein introduced this to fit the 1915 observation that the universe was static, not because he wanted to force the universe to be static. He could not know that the observation was wrong. Ironically, the cosmological constant is now accepted as real and is called dark energy, the dominant force in the universe..
73	error	"Arthur Eddington...confirmed...universe wasn't static." Not at all. This famous observation proved that gravity bends light as predicted. Nothing more or less. Eddington did formulate an expanding universe model in 1930.
74	error	"De Sitter found that the universe had to be expanding." Unfortunately the De Sitter model has no beginning which does not fit into the author's preconceived ideas.
74	error	Expansion of the universe has nothing to do with proving General Relativity.
74	error	"Einstein...wish for an eternal universe." Einstein must in fact have been gratified because the observations allowed him to make General Relativity more elegant, a scientist's dearest wish.
74	half truth	"Einstein believed in pantheistic God." True to a degree He called religious people naive. He stated that he did not believe in a God that meddles in human affairs.
75	error	"1. Everything that has a beginning has a cause." False. Virtual particles are generated without a cause. A random event like the decay of a radioactive atom has no cause.
75	begging the question	"2. the universe has a beginning". False. The universe has a singularity, not a beginning.
75	half truth	"Science is a search for causes." Not true. Science is a search for the nature of reality.
76	contradiction	"second law of thermodynamics requires a beginning of the universe." The authors should leave this argument alone since it would also require a beginning for any Superbeing. The alleged Superbeing can't be an exception as the authors almost prove on page 77.
76	begging the question	"The total amount of energy in the universe is constant." This is unknown at this stage.
77	ignorance	"Second Law of Thermodynamics" is valid universally but fails in a singularity.
78	ignorance	"A theory is magic" Here a professor has a bit of fun at the author's expense. The author does not understand humor and decides to write a book on the spot.
79	error	"Universe...a point that is actually nothing." This is speculation. It is unlikely that the authors are qualified to speculate about the beginning of the universe.
79	ignorance	"Once there was nothing." False. To start space inflation a mass of 10 microgram is needed e.g. a high-energy virtual particle.
79	ignorance	"There was no <before> the big bang." This is completely unknown. The authors have to explain what "time" is before proclaiming there was no "time" before "time". While they're at it they should also explain why and where there could be no "space" before there was "space".
80	straw man fallacy	"A swirling dust of mathematical points" Atkins, a professor in chemistry, is not an authority on cosmology. His description of the start of the universe is a personal hypothesis and not the view of science. He is rightly condemned in a debate.
81	ignorance	"positive and negative energy - Asimov". Actually Asimov whimsically proposed a 4-universe multiverse. Positive and negative energy would cancel each other out and positive and negative time too, resulting in no energy or time being required.
83	ignorance	"Exact to 1 part in 100,000". The authors in their scientific ignorance get it completely wrong here. The frequency fluctuations of the microwave background are 1 part in 100,000 but this has nothing at all to do with galaxy formation. It only means that there were slight temperature variations between regions in the early universe. The spacing of the ripples which were caused by sound waves is important as they are used to calculate the size and mass of the universe.
84	ignorance	"General Relativity shows that you can't have time, space and matter separately." Not true. It shows that gravity affects space and time and that matter is equivalent to energy.
84	contradiction	"consistency with Biblical accounts". The reader here is expected to forget the previous sentence "the details differ" where details stands for everything..
85	quote from authority	"Robert Jastrow: supernatural forces...are a scientifically proven fact." Robert hereby disqualifies himself as a scientist and an agnostic. He should be honest and identify himself as a Christian fanatic.
85	quote from authority	"Eddington: beginning...frankly supernatural" Eddington was superstitious and wrong about other matters too and eventually scientists stopped taking him seriously.
86	error	"Big bang theory consistent with the Bible." Not one line in the Bible is consistent with the big bang theory.
86	half truth	"cosmic rebound theory has no evidence." This is true. A rebound would randomize the whole universe. This means there is also no evidence against it.
86	error	"Not enough matter in the universe to pull everything together." This is simply unknown at present.
86	error	"Second Law of Thermodynamics predicts...energy would be lost." False. This is an amateur's interpretation of thermodynamics. Tolman has proved the opposite: energy is gained at each rebound. This results in increasing cycles until eventually at the last rebound the universe would expand forever.
87	ignorance	"Stephen Hawking...imaginary time...fizzles." How foolish to ridicule a genius. With "imaginary" Hawkings obviously means "other-dimensional." The authors will "prove" later that the Creator occupies a space remarkably similar to imaginary time.
87	half truth	"uncertainty." The authors should mention here the existence of virtual particles as a result of Heisenberg's principle. They do not because they are aware their carefully tweaked reasoning would collapse.
87	error	"Some atheists question the principle of causality." Not atheists - scientists. The uncertainty principle allows for virtual particles to exist for a very short time. These virtual particles are uncaused. The authors are so dismayed that they fail to mention this (refusing to speculate).
88	ignorance	"Our very attempts at observing them are the cause of their unpredictable movements". Not true. Uncertainty is a property of reality. Even unobserved particles have uncertainty.
88	insult	"Jastrow: astronomers are curiously upset." Scientists are accused of lying. This is the first instance of a conspiracy theory in the book and the way to madness.
89	insult	"Religion in science." More conspiracy. Jastrow insults scientists again in a condescending manner. The image of scientists being traumatized by their findings is melodramatic. Let Jastrow produce the name of one single traumatized scientist.
89	contradictory	"Refusing to speculate." What Jastrow really means is "refusing to stop speculating about natural explanations". Ironically this crime is committed many times by the authors.
89	contradiction	"The universe was created by something outside of time, space and matter." A sudden turnaround. The authors admit here that Hawkings is right after all on page 86.
90	ignorance	"Radioactive elements decay...so the Earth cannot be infinitely old". True, but the authors try to prove that it is the universe that is not infinitely old. All elements are continually produced in supernova explosions, they are not remnants of the big bang. Only hydrogen and helium were produced in the big bang.
90	ignorance	"Kalam argument: if time is eternal today cannot be reached." This is a variation on Zeno's paradox. To use this stupid idea the originator(Craig) cooked up his very own type of infinite set with the property that nothing can be added to it. This is the very opposite of the definition of infinity, which makes it very useful for "proving" any number of cockeyed theories. The Kalam argument should carry the warning label "only for the insane."
91	contradiction	"Abstract infinite series." A curious artifact. The authors claim mathematics somehow cannot represent reality. This is contradicted in the chapter on absolute truth.
91	ignorance	"You can't fit an infinite number of books between them." Fascinating reasoning; it has nothing to do with the previous kalam argument. One glaring error is that the authors are comparing space with time.
92	contradiction	"A beginning must have a beginner." Using logic as explained by the authors before, this statement is wrong because it implies that all possible beginnings have been examined. What they should write is: A beginning may have a beginner.
92	contradiction	"As an eternal being." Here the author contradicts his statement on page 91 that an infinite amount of time cannot exist.
93	error	"self-existent." The authors are invited to describe a non-self-existent object.
93	ignorance	"Unimaginably powerful." The current estimate of the power needed to start a universe is 10 billion joule. Substantial but easily imaginable: imagine the energy released by the burning of 250 liters of petrol.
93	half truth	"Incredible precision." The authors will try and fail to prove this later.
93	half truth	"First Cause is Personal." Intimidating but meaningless."
94	scary	"If there is no God, why is there something rather than nothing." This is a statement dressed as a question. There is an alternative question "if there is a God, why is there something rather than nothing." This question has more scary answers than the previous one.

page

type

IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS A GREAT SURGE

ignorance

"cosmological constant" Einstein introduced this to fit the 1915 observation that the universe was static, not because he wanted to force the universe to be static. He could not know that the observation was wrong. Ironically, the cosmological constant is now accepted as real and is called dark energy, the dominant force in the universe..

error

"Arthur Eddington...confirmed...universe wasn't static." Not at all. This famous observation proved that gravity bends light as predicted. Nothing more or less. Eddington did formulate an expanding universe model in 1930.

error

"De Sitter found that the universe had to be expanding." Unfortunately the De Sitter model has no beginning which does not fit into the author's preconceived ideas.

error

Expansion of the universe has nothing to do with proving General Relativity.

error

"Einstein...wish for an eternal universe." Einstein must in fact have been gratified because the observations allowed him to make General Relativity more elegant, a scientist's dearest wish.

half truth

"Einstein believed in pantheistic God." True to a degree He called religious people naive. He stated that he did not believe in a God that meddles in human affairs.

error

"1. Everything that has a beginning has a cause." False. Virtual particles are generated without a cause. A random event like the decay of a radioactive atom has no cause.

begging the question

"2. the universe has a beginning". False. The universe has a singularity, not a beginning.

half truth

"Science is a search for causes." Not true. Science is a search for the nature of reality.

contradiction

"second law of thermodynamics requires a beginning of the universe." The authors should leave this argument alone since it would also require a beginning for any Superbeing. The alleged Superbeing can't be an exception as the authors almost prove on page 77.

begging the question

"The total amount of energy in the universe is constant." This is unknown at this stage.

ignorance

"Second Law of Thermodynamics" is valid universally but fails in a singularity.

ignorance

"A theory is magic" Here a professor has a bit of fun at the author's expense. The author does not understand humor and decides to write a book on the spot.

error

"Universe...a point that is actually nothing." This is speculation. It is unlikely that the authors are qualified to speculate about the beginning of the universe.

ignorance

"Once there was nothing." False. To start space inflation a mass of 10 microgram is needed e.g. a high-energy virtual particle.

ignorance

"There was no <before> the big bang." This is completely unknown. The authors have to explain what "time" is before proclaiming there was no "time" before "time". While they're at it they should also explain why and where there could be no "space" before there was "space".

straw man fallacy

"A swirling dust of mathematical points" Atkins, a professor in chemistry, is not an authority on cosmology. His description of the start of the universe is a personal hypothesis and not the view of science. He is rightly condemned in a debate.

ignorance

"positive and negative energy - Asimov". Actually Asimov whimsically proposed a 4-universe multiverse. Positive and negative energy would cancel each other out and positive and negative time too, resulting in no energy or time being required.

ignorance

"Exact to 1 part in 100,000". The authors in their scientific ignorance get it completely wrong here. The frequency fluctuations of the microwave background are 1 part in 100,000 but this has nothing at all to do with galaxy formation. It only means that there were slight temperature variations between regions in the early universe. The spacing of the ripples which were caused by sound waves is important as they are used to calculate the size and mass of the universe.

ignorance

"General Relativity shows that you can't have time, space and matter separately." Not true. It shows that gravity affects space and time and that matter is equivalent to energy.

contradiction

"consistency with Biblical accounts". The reader here is expected to forget the previous sentence "the details differ" where details stands for everything..

quote from authority

"Robert Jastrow: supernatural forces...are a scientifically proven fact." Robert hereby disqualifies himself as a scientist and an agnostic. He should be honest and identify himself as a Christian fanatic.

quote from authority

"Eddington: beginning...frankly supernatural" Eddington was superstitious and wrong about other matters too and eventually scientists stopped taking him seriously.

error

"Big bang theory consistent with the Bible." Not one line in the Bible is consistent with the big bang theory.

half truth

"cosmic rebound theory has no evidence." This is true. A rebound would randomize the whole universe. This means there is also no evidence against it.

error

"Not enough matter in the universe to pull everything together." This is simply unknown at present.

error

"Second Law of Thermodynamics predicts...energy would be lost." False. This is an amateur's interpretation of thermodynamics. Tolman has proved the opposite: energy is gained at each rebound. This results in increasing cycles until eventually at the last rebound the universe would expand forever.

ignorance

"Stephen Hawking...imaginary time...fizzles." How foolish to ridicule a genius. With "imaginary" Hawkings obviously means "other-dimensional." The authors will "prove" later that the Creator occupies a space remarkably similar to imaginary time.

half truth

"uncertainty." The authors should mention here the existence of virtual particles as a result of Heisenberg's principle. They do not because they are aware their carefully tweaked reasoning would collapse.

error

"Some atheists question the principle of causality." Not atheists - scientists. The uncertainty principle allows for virtual particles to exist for a very short time. These virtual particles are uncaused. The authors are so dismayed that they fail to mention this (refusing to speculate).

ignorance

"Our very attempts at observing them are the cause of their unpredictable movements". Not true. Uncertainty is a property of reality. Even unobserved particles have uncertainty.

insult

"Jastrow: astronomers are curiously upset." Scientists are accused of lying. This is the first instance of a conspiracy theory in the book and the way to madness.

insult

"Religion in science." More conspiracy. Jastrow insults scientists again in a condescending manner. The image of scientists being traumatized by their findings is melodramatic. Let Jastrow produce the name of one single traumatized scientist.

contradictory

"Refusing to speculate." What Jastrow really means is "refusing to stop speculating about natural explanations". Ironically this crime is committed many times by the authors.

contradiction

"The universe was created by something outside of time, space and matter." A sudden turnaround. The authors admit here that Hawkings is right after all on page 86.

ignorance

"Radioactive elements decay...so the Earth cannot be infinitely old". True, but the authors try to prove that it is the universe that is not infinitely old. All elements are continually produced in supernova explosions, they are not remnants of the big bang. Only hydrogen and helium were produced in the big bang.

ignorance

"Kalam argument: if time is eternal today cannot be reached." This is a variation on Zeno's paradox. To use this stupid idea the originator(Craig) cooked up his very own type of infinite set with the property that nothing can be added to it. This is the very opposite of the definition of infinity, which makes it very useful for "proving" any number of cockeyed theories. The Kalam argument should carry the warning label "only for the insane."

contradiction

"Abstract infinite series." A curious artifact. The authors claim mathematics somehow cannot represent reality. This is contradicted in the chapter on absolute truth.

ignorance

"You can't fit an infinite number of books between them." Fascinating reasoning; it has nothing to do with the previous kalam argument. One glaring error is that the authors are comparing space with time.

contradiction

"A beginning must have a beginner." Using logic as explained by the authors before, this statement is wrong because it implies that all possible beginnings have been examined. What they should write is: A beginning may have a beginner.

contradiction

"As an eternal being." Here the author contradicts his statement on page 91 that an infinite amount of time cannot exist.

error

"self-existent." The authors are invited to describe a non-self-existent object.

ignorance

"Unimaginably powerful." The current estimate of the power needed to start a universe is 10 billion joule. Substantial but easily imaginable: imagine the energy released by the burning of 250 liters of petrol.

half truth

"Incredible precision." The authors will try and fail to prove this later.

half truth

"First Cause is Personal." Intimidating but meaningless."

scary

"If there is no God, why is there something rather than nothing." This is a statement dressed as a question. There is an alternative question "if there is a God, why is there something rather than nothing." This question has more scary answers than the previous one.

page		DIVINE DESIGN
95	insult	"James Tour: Only a rookie who knows nothing about science would say science takes away from faith." James demotes just about all scientists to rookies, himself excluded.
98	ignorance	"If oxygen were 25% fires would erupt spontaneously" Wrong. During the Perm period oxygen level reached 31%. The oxygen level in Apollo capsules used in the moonlanding was 100% and this caused one disastrous fire.
98	ignorance	"Below 15% oxygen humans would suffocate" Wrong. Humans can survive 8%, equivalent to an altitude of 8000 meter.
100	half truth	"Atmospheric transparency". There is no doubt that biological systems can adapt to different levels of atmospheric transparency. Some life forms survive without any light at all.
100	error	"Tidal effects too small or too large would make life impossible." The moon was about 15 times closer 4.5 billion years ago at 26,000 km. Tidal effects were 225 times greater. The authors seem to hint that without tides life is impossible; science is eagerly awaiting evidence to support this hypothesis.
101	half truth	"CO2 level higher...we would burn up." No. The CO2 uptake of biological systems would increase in a biological feedback loop, decreasing CO2 levels. Also there would be more rainfall, washing CO2 out of the atmosphere.
101	error	"low CO2...plants would not be able to maintain efficient photosynthesis." This would increase CO2 again in a biological feedback loop. Volcanoes replenish CO2
102	error	"Gravitational force altered by 1/10^38 ; %...sun would not exist." Good Heavens! The constant of gravitation is not even known to that accuracy, (6.674 +/- .001) * 10^(-11) ). Someone seems to have stumbled upon the statement "the force of gravity is 1/10^38 % of the electromagnetic force."
105	ignorance	"1. If the centrifugal force of planetary movements did not precisely balance the gravitational forces nothing could be held in orbit around the sun." What the heck? This is the kind of statement one would expect in a lunatic asylum. On the other hand it neatly sums up the whole book in one sentence.
105	ignorance	"2. if the universe had expanded ... more slowly ... or faster." The rate of expansion is increasing even now for an unknown reason possible related to dark energy. It is impossible to give an exact value of the rate of expansion necessary for life to exist. Most people don't notice the expansion.
105	ignorance	"3. .. slight variation in the speed of light...impossible for life to exist." Not true. The speed of light has changed over the eons with a very small fraction. Although the speed of light affects a lot of natural constants there are many combinations of constants that would allow some form of life.
105	ignorance	"4. Water vapour...greater...temperatures too high...less...too cold to support human life." True, but water vapor is in a negative feedback loop. Heat causes evaporation, causes clouds, causes cooling.
105	ignorance	"5. Jupiter...cosmic vacuum cleaner." Not true. Comets are in a hyperbolic orbit and will be deflected by Jupiter, not removed. Worse, Jupiter disturbs the orbits of asteroids and comets in the Oort Belt, sometimes causing them to fall towards the sun. Jupiter is a cosmic troublemaker.
105	ignorance	"6. If the thickness of the Earth's crust were greater...oxygen would be transferred, if it were thinner...volcanoes." The ignorance of the authors is hilarious. 46% of the Earth's crust is oxygen. The authors must please explain where the oxygen will travel to and what it will do upon arrival. Volcanoes are caused by convection currents in certain areas, never mind the crust.
105	ignorance	"7. Earth rotation slower...temperature differences...greater...winds." Earth is slowing down 1.4 ms per day per century. A day lasted 6.5 hours 4.5 billion years ago. A longer day will increase temperature differences between day and night. The solution is to sleep late.
106	ignorance	"8. 23 Degrees axial tilt." The tilt varies in a small range at present. In 2 billion years it will be 66 degrees. In the past it probably changed chaotically but life persisted.
106	ignorance	"9. Lightning...too much...destruction...too little...too little nitrogen fixing." Wrong. Nitrogen is fixed by bacteria. Some places have no lightning, some have a lot. There is no evidence of lightning affecting population levels.
106	ignorance	"10. Seismic activity." Some places have a lot of earthquakes, some none. People live with it..
106	error	"122 constants necessary for life." Most are irrelevant as shown. There are 6 physical constants that have to be in a certain range for life to develop: Nu, Epsilon,Omega, Lambda, Q and Delta. Other constants are constrained by these 6. The age of the universe and the fact that it exists calibrates these values automatically to values that favor life.
106	error	"One change in 10^138 for all constants to be right." That is wishful thinking, not calculation. Scientists use the Drake equation to calculate a somewhat different figure of 1 in 10^7 which means 10,000 planets supporting intelligent and communicating life in our galaxy. This is a worst case scenario.
106	appeal to authority	"Hugh Ross." Has already rejected intelligent design.
107	error	"We happen to be lucky enough to be in a universe with the right conditions." Causality is violated here. The assumption is that the environment had no influence on human evolution.
107	error	"Multiple universes...there is no evidence for it." Nobody is qualified to make that statement. A correct statement would be: "There is no evidence for or against it as yet", as the authors tacitly admit one line later: "they're beyond our ability to detect." The multiverse theory is indeed a hypothesis but it is built on quantum mechanics, not blind faith.
107	error	"There can't be an unlimited number of universes." The theory is that universes can sprout new universes, especially in the first femtosecond when energy density is high. That this behavior leads to infinity is 5th grade mathematics.
107	error	"Multiple universes...they would need finetuning." Not true. According to string theory natural constants would be random when a universe started expanding. Inevitable a fraction of this infinite number of universes would have the right conditions for life.
107	scary	"Multiple universes...any event can be explained by it." One hypothesis of quantum mechanics does just that. If it is true then there is a universe where I am a religious fanatic and the authors are skeptics.
109	error	"If the stars were closer together or farther apart, planetary orbits would be affected." No they would not. Binaries have been found with planets. The authors must explain how orbits would be affected if stars were farther apart.
109	error	"No limits...the heavens." According to the Bible the heavens are a crystal half-sphere containing about 4,000 light bulbs. That's the limit.
109	contradiction	"Infinity of God." The reader must now forget previous "proofs" that infinity is impossible.
109	error	"Infinite power." All but the most stubborm fanatics acknowledge God must have limited power because of the paradox "can God make a stone so heavy he can't lift it?"
109	error	"Infinite knowledge." Proven to be impossible because of the principle of undecidability.
110	error	"How high are the heavens above the Earth?" When pressed, any Jew living in Biblical times would have said about 5,000 km.
111	appeal to authority	"John Glen: not believe in God is impossible." This may be true for John. It is known to be false for other people.

page

DIVINE DESIGN

insult

"James Tour: Only a rookie who knows nothing about science would say science takes away from faith." James demotes just about all scientists to rookies, himself excluded.

ignorance

"If oxygen were 25% fires would erupt spontaneously" Wrong. During the Perm period oxygen level reached 31%. The oxygen level in Apollo capsules used in the moonlanding was 100% and this caused one disastrous fire.

ignorance

"Below 15% oxygen humans would suffocate" Wrong. Humans can survive 8%, equivalent to an altitude of 8000 meter.

100

half truth

"Atmospheric transparency". There is no doubt that biological systems can adapt to different levels of atmospheric transparency. Some life forms survive without any light at all.

100

error

"Tidal effects too small or too large would make life impossible." The moon was about 15 times closer 4.5 billion years ago at 26,000 km. Tidal effects were 225 times greater. The authors seem to hint that without tides life is impossible; science is eagerly awaiting evidence to support this hypothesis.

101

half truth

"CO2 level higher...we would burn up." No. The CO2 uptake of biological systems would increase in a biological feedback loop, decreasing CO2 levels. Also there would be more rainfall, washing CO2 out of the atmosphere.

101

error

"low CO2...plants would not be able to maintain efficient photosynthesis." This would increase CO2 again in a biological feedback loop. Volcanoes replenish CO2

102

error

"Gravitational force altered by 1/10^38 ; %...sun would not exist." Good Heavens! The constant of gravitation is not even known to that accuracy, (6.674 +/- .001) * 10^(-11) ). Someone seems to have stumbled upon the statement "the force of gravity is 1/10^38 % of the electromagnetic force."

105

ignorance

"1. If the centrifugal force of planetary movements did not precisely balance the gravitational forces nothing could be held in orbit around the sun." What the heck? This is the kind of statement one would expect in a lunatic asylum. On the other hand it neatly sums up the whole book in one sentence.

105

ignorance

"2. if the universe had expanded ... more slowly ... or faster." The rate of expansion is increasing even now for an unknown reason possible related to dark energy. It is impossible to give an exact value of the rate of expansion necessary for life to exist. Most people don't notice the expansion.

105

ignorance

"3. .. slight variation in the speed of light...impossible for life to exist." Not true. The speed of light has changed over the eons with a very small fraction. Although the speed of light affects a lot of natural constants there are many combinations of constants that would allow some form of life.

105

ignorance

"4. Water vapour...greater...temperatures too high...less...too cold to support human life." True, but water vapor is in a negative feedback loop. Heat causes evaporation, causes clouds, causes cooling.

105

ignorance

"5. Jupiter...cosmic vacuum cleaner." Not true. Comets are in a hyperbolic orbit and will be deflected by Jupiter, not removed. Worse, Jupiter disturbs the orbits of asteroids and comets in the Oort Belt, sometimes causing them to fall towards the sun. Jupiter is a cosmic troublemaker.

105

ignorance

"6. If the thickness of the Earth's crust were greater...oxygen would be transferred, if it were thinner...volcanoes." The ignorance of the authors is hilarious. 46% of the Earth's crust is oxygen. The authors must please explain where the oxygen will travel to and what it will do upon arrival. Volcanoes are caused by convection currents in certain areas, never mind the crust.

105

ignorance

"7. Earth rotation slower...temperature differences...greater...winds." Earth is slowing down 1.4 ms per day per century. A day lasted 6.5 hours 4.5 billion years ago. A longer day will increase temperature differences between day and night. The solution is to sleep late.

106

ignorance

"8. 23 Degrees axial tilt." The tilt varies in a small range at present. In 2 billion years it will be 66 degrees. In the past it probably changed chaotically but life persisted.

106

ignorance

"9. Lightning...too much...destruction...too little...too little nitrogen fixing." Wrong. Nitrogen is fixed by bacteria. Some places have no lightning, some have a lot. There is no evidence of lightning affecting population levels.

106

ignorance

"10. Seismic activity." Some places have a lot of earthquakes, some none. People live with it..

106

error

"122 constants necessary for life." Most are irrelevant as shown. There are 6 physical constants that have to be in a certain range for life to develop: Nu, Epsilon,Omega, Lambda, Q and Delta. Other constants are constrained by these 6. The age of the universe and the fact that it exists calibrates these values automatically to values that favor life.

106

error

"One change in 10^138 for all constants to be right." That is wishful thinking, not calculation. Scientists use the Drake equation to calculate a somewhat different figure of 1 in 10^7 which means 10,000 planets supporting intelligent and communicating life in our galaxy. This is a worst case scenario.

106

appeal to authority

"Hugh Ross." Has already rejected intelligent design.

107

error

"We happen to be lucky enough to be in a universe with the right conditions." Causality is violated here. The assumption is that the environment had no influence on human evolution.

107

error

"Multiple universes...there is no evidence for it." Nobody is qualified to make that statement. A correct statement would be: "There is no evidence for or against it as yet", as the authors tacitly admit one line later: "they're beyond our ability to detect." The multiverse theory is indeed a hypothesis but it is built on quantum mechanics, not blind faith.

107

error

"There can't be an unlimited number of universes." The theory is that universes can sprout new universes, especially in the first femtosecond when energy density is high. That this behavior leads to infinity is 5th grade mathematics.

107

error

"Multiple universes...they would need finetuning." Not true. According to string theory natural constants would be random when a universe started expanding. Inevitable a fraction of this infinite number of universes would have the right conditions for life.

107

scary

"Multiple universes...any event can be explained by it." One hypothesis of quantum mechanics does just that. If it is true then there is a universe where I am a religious fanatic and the authors are skeptics.

109

error

"If the stars were closer together or farther apart, planetary orbits would be affected." No they would not. Binaries have been found with planets. The authors must explain how orbits would be affected if stars were farther apart.

109

error

"No limits...the heavens." According to the Bible the heavens are a crystal half-sphere containing about 4,000 light bulbs. That's the limit.

109

contradiction

"Infinity of God." The reader must now forget previous "proofs" that infinity is impossible.

109

error

"Infinite power." All but the most stubborm fanatics acknowledge God must have limited power because of the paradox "can God make a stone so heavy he can't lift it?"

109

error

"Infinite knowledge." Proven to be impossible because of the principle of undecidability.

110

error

"How high are the heavens above the Earth?" When pressed, any Jew living in Biblical times would have said about 5,000 km.

111

appeal to authority

"John Glen: not believe in God is impossible." This may be true for John. It is known to be false for other people.

page		THE FIRST LAW: NATURAL LAW OR DIVINE AWE
115	straw man fallacy	"Amoebae ...came together by spontaneous generation." This was believed by scientists and theists alike up to the 18th century and was disproved by Pasteur. Amoebae are in fact very advanced.
115	straw man fallacy	"All life evolved from that first amoeba." A simplification based on wilful ignorance.
115	insult	"From the goo to you via the zoo." A poetic image used to insult so-called "evolutionists." Inspired by American preoccupation with bathroom jokes.
116	error	"Information in amoeba DNA...1000 sets of encyclopedias." Wrong. Up to 99% of DNA is non-coding introns. The authors decline the challenge to explain why a Superbeing would put garbage in DNA(refusing to speculate). A highly specialized human cell has about 9 Megabytes of data in its DNA, that is 10 "I don't have enough faith" books or 1 small encyclopedia volume.
116	begging the question	"Intelligent being...why doesn't a message 1,000 encyclopedias long require one." A message has a well-defined source, destination and content. If DNA is a message then random data is too. Current thinking is that DNA functions like a computer operating system. The "message" mistake is repeated many times.
116	error	"Darwinists can't answer that question." They can. The mechanism is called evolution.
116	half truth	"Intelligence is ruled out in advance." That's true. Religion can be proven by eliminating all alternatives, not by ignoring them.
117	false assumption	"The emergence of the first life was a one-time...unrepeatable event." First the authors state that no human observed this event, then they claim knowledge about it. In any case, emergence of life was a series of steps, not one event, and scientists of course are trying to repeat it.
118	half truth	"Principle of uniformity... presidential faces on mount Rushmore." This is only half true. Stalagmites are known to produce shapes that resemble existing objects. Some people see saints in pancakes.
118	straw man fallacy	"discredited Urey-Miller experiment." The purpose of the experiment was to prove that amino acids could be created in the atmosphere of early Earth. Like it or not the experiment was 100% successful. The experiment was not intended to generate life. Jonathan Wells (aka Icon of Obfuscation) claimed that the parameters of the experiment (e.g. early Earth atmosphere) were wrong. He has been proven wrong.
119	straw man fallacy	"Richard Dawkins refuses to allow observation to interfere with his conclusions." Apparently it was time to insult another scientist. Richard explains his elegant conclusions in his book, sadly unread by the authors.
119	straw man fallacy	"Darwinists must keep repeating that reminder to themselves..." Johnson's hopes are inversely proportional to reality.
119	ignorance	"Which came first, DNA or proteins." The authors pretend not to know this: amino acids - proteins - self-replicating molecules - RNA - DNA
121	straw man fallacy	"Top evolutionists have to resort to Aliens." Ridiculous statement. It assumes that Fred Hoyle is an evolutionist. He is not. He is primarily known for outlandish ideas.
121	error	"Panspermia advocates recognize...intelligence...must be behind life." No they don't. The theory is that large organic molecules originate in comets.
121	straw man fallacy	"Michael Denton, though himself an atheist..." Michael first wrote a book called "evolution: a theory in crisis" Then he wrote "nature's destiny" convincingly debunking his first book. By then he had probably confused even himself.
122	error	"Darwinism...not philosophically neutral..." To the contrary, believing in magic is not philosophically neutral. Magic cannot be investigated.
123	straw man fallacy	"Dawkins: commitment to a real explanation as opposed to a lack of explanation." This is the strongest chastisement the authors are going to get from Dawkins. It is equivalent to being drawn and quartered by a less kind-hearted scientist.
123	straw man fallacy	"...we cannot allow a divine foot in the door." This is not the complete paragraph. The authors forgot to add "The eminent Kant scholar Lewis Beck used to say that anyone who could believe in God could believe in anything." which throws a different light on the statement.
125	error	"The probability of getting a protein molecule..." Probability not stated but the number 10^-156 can be inferred. This is a red herring. It is only true if 1) amino acids molecules are postulated and not bigger organic molecules 2) one specific type of protein molecule has to be produced and 3)there is no catalyst present. Using common sense assumptions the probability becomes an estimated 1%.
126	straw man fallacy	"I do deny that science can account for everything." True, because science is a tool. Ironically examples given to prove this also deny that supernatural forces can account for everything. Atkins should not have said "for everything" but instead "for everything in nature." He obviously assumed that this was the topic of the debate and got caught by a philosophical trick..
127	straw man fallacy	"It [Science] is not the only means of finding truth." That's not the point. The point is science is the only means of finding truth in nature.
127	error	"Science is built on philosophy". False. Science is built on empiricism, experimentation, and methodological naturalism. Science can investigate philosophy.
127	error	"Science cannot be done without philosophy." It's getting worse. Scientists proceed in serene indifference to philosophy. What's more, in later pages it becomes clear that with philosophy the authors actually mean religion.
128	error	"Philosophical assumptions can drastically impact scientific conclusions." Now it becomes clear. From the context is clear the authors really meant religious assumptions.
128	error	"If a creationist rules out natural causes beforehand (and we don't know of any who do)...." Let's refresh the author's memory: James Tour, Robert Jastrow, Michael Behe, William Paley, Phillip Johnson, Hugh Ross, William Dembski, etc ...
128	error	"Science doesn't say anything - scientists do Here is a conspiracy theory. The authors have to explain how one million scientists keep the secret.
128	straw man fallacy	"Materials makes reason impossible." Materialism is the wrong word. The right word is naturalism, the opposite of supernaturalism. The authors want to prove that abstract concepts like thought are supernatural. As this is impossible they attack a small part of naturalism and pretend it is the whole.
128	error	"Thoughts ... are not chemicals." And authors are not books. Thoughts are the result of chemicals and electricity. The authors state without proof that thoughts are supernatural.
128	straw man fallacy	"Human thoughts...are not comprised only of materials." The authors try to force the conclusion that thoughts are supernatural through repetition.
129	straw man fallacy	"How much does love weigh?" Surprisingly a feeling has weight as it changes the energy levels of atoms in neurons. Depending on intensity and using E=mc2 the feeling of love weighs a minimum of 10^-26 gram. A simpler emotion like hate would be less.
129	begging the question	"Make a living being...we cannot." . Presumable the authors mean a conscious being, which is less limiting. Although it is impossible now the authors are going to be mightily dismayed in the near future. There are a few dozen projects trying to do what the authors say is impossible.
129	begging the question	"Everyone...who ever had any kind of spiritual experience has been completely mistaken." So what. This is certainly possible, given that in the USA 40% of people have mental problems.
129	straw man fallacy	"If materialism is true then reason itself is impossible." There are several types of error in this paragraph. Nobody ever stated that thought is a chemical reaction only.
130	contradiction	"A defence of reason by reason is circular, therefore worthless." The same goes for faith. Reason has been observed to work however so we should stick to it.
130	error	"An effect cannot be greater than its cause." Obviously wrong. If true all systems would be self-dampening and eventually nothing would happen.
130	error	"reasonable...presupposes there is order, logic, design and truth." No. Logic is enough.
130	begging the question	"Darwinism borrows from the theistic world view." One must admire the barefaced cheek of the authors. If truth, logic, design and order were invented by religion, they should have patented it.
130	begging the question	"Intellect, free will...truth can exist only if God exists." This is called dogma. Not related to common sense. 1+1=2. Remove God from equation. It's still 2.
133	insult	"Darwinists have the wrong box top." A box top is called a prejudice in English. Scientists don't work that way. The puzzle is called the theory of everything and it is unknown whether there even is a solution. Theists think they have a box top but actually they have a hammer.
134	straw man fallacy	"Mixing chemicals of life in a test tube would produce life." No scientists ever said that. It is like declaring that throwing Bibles in a concrete mixer would produce the authors.
135	ignorance	"There are no known laws that create specified complexity." Or simplicity for that matter. Laws don't create. More to the point there are now known laws that forbid specified complexity.
135	ignorance	"Einstein said God doesn't play dice with the universe." Bohr proved Einstein wrong. Hawkings has joked "God plays dice with the universe and the throws the dice where you can't see them."
135	begging the question	"Two sorts of causes, intelligent and natural." The authors have failed to prove that intelligence is not natural and that bare intelligence is a cause. The have also failed to specify what intelligence is.
135	error	"Spontaneous generation of life...required to get the theory started." Not true. Evolution studies life, not the origin of life. That branch of science is called abiogenesis.

page

THE FIRST LAW: NATURAL LAW OR DIVINE AWE

115

straw man fallacy

"Amoebae ...came together by spontaneous generation." This was believed by scientists and theists alike up to the 18th century and was disproved by Pasteur. Amoebae are in fact very advanced.

115

straw man fallacy

"All life evolved from that first amoeba." A simplification based on wilful ignorance.

115

insult

"From the goo to you via the zoo." A poetic image used to insult so-called "evolutionists." Inspired by American preoccupation with bathroom jokes.

116

error

"Information in amoeba DNA...1000 sets of encyclopedias." Wrong. Up to 99% of DNA is non-coding introns. The authors decline the challenge to explain why a Superbeing would put garbage in DNA(refusing to speculate). A highly specialized human cell has about 9 Megabytes of data in its DNA, that is 10 "I don't have enough faith" books or 1 small encyclopedia volume.

116

begging the question

"Intelligent being...why doesn't a message 1,000 encyclopedias long require one." A message has a well-defined source, destination and content. If DNA is a message then random data is too. Current thinking is that DNA functions like a computer operating system. The "message" mistake is repeated many times.

116

error

"Darwinists can't answer that question." They can. The mechanism is called evolution.

116

half truth

"Intelligence is ruled out in advance." That's true. Religion can be proven by eliminating all alternatives, not by ignoring them.

117

false assumption

"The emergence of the first life was a one-time...unrepeatable event." First the authors state that no human observed this event, then they claim knowledge about it. In any case, emergence of life was a series of steps, not one event, and scientists of course are trying to repeat it.

118

half truth

"Principle of uniformity... presidential faces on mount Rushmore." This is only half true. Stalagmites are known to produce shapes that resemble existing objects. Some people see saints in pancakes.

118

straw man fallacy

"discredited Urey-Miller experiment." The purpose of the experiment was to prove that amino acids could be created in the atmosphere of early Earth. Like it or not the experiment was 100% successful. The experiment was not intended to generate life. Jonathan Wells (aka Icon of Obfuscation) claimed that the parameters of the experiment (e.g. early Earth atmosphere) were wrong. He has been proven wrong.

119

straw man fallacy

"Richard Dawkins refuses to allow observation to interfere with his conclusions." Apparently it was time to insult another scientist. Richard explains his elegant conclusions in his book, sadly unread by the authors.

119

straw man fallacy

"Darwinists must keep repeating that reminder to themselves..." Johnson's hopes are inversely proportional to reality.

119

ignorance

"Which came first, DNA or proteins." The authors pretend not to know this: amino acids - proteins - self-replicating molecules - RNA - DNA

121

straw man fallacy

"Top evolutionists have to resort to Aliens." Ridiculous statement. It assumes that Fred Hoyle is an evolutionist. He is not. He is primarily known for outlandish ideas.

121

error

"Panspermia advocates recognize...intelligence...must be behind life." No they don't. The theory is that large organic molecules originate in comets.

121

straw man fallacy

"Michael Denton, though himself an atheist..." Michael first wrote a book called "evolution: a theory in crisis" Then he wrote "nature's destiny" convincingly debunking his first book. By then he had probably confused even himself.

122

error

"Darwinism...not philosophically neutral..." To the contrary, believing in magic is not philosophically neutral. Magic cannot be investigated.

123

straw man fallacy

"Dawkins: commitment to a real explanation as opposed to a lack of explanation." This is the strongest chastisement the authors are going to get from Dawkins. It is equivalent to being drawn and quartered by a less kind-hearted scientist.

123

straw man fallacy

"...we cannot allow a divine foot in the door." This is not the complete paragraph. The authors forgot to add "The eminent Kant scholar Lewis Beck used to say that anyone who could believe in God could believe in anything." which throws a different light on the statement.

125

error

"The probability of getting a protein molecule..." Probability not stated but the number 10^-156 can be inferred. This is a red herring. It is only true if 1) amino acids molecules are postulated and not bigger organic molecules 2) one specific type of protein molecule has to be produced and 3)there is no catalyst present. Using common sense assumptions the probability becomes an estimated 1%.

126

straw man fallacy

"I do deny that science can account for everything." True, because science is a tool. Ironically examples given to prove this also deny that supernatural forces can account for everything. Atkins should not have said "for everything" but instead "for everything in nature." He obviously assumed that this was the topic of the debate and got caught by a philosophical trick..

127

straw man fallacy

"It [Science] is not the only means of finding truth." That's not the point. The point is science is the only means of finding truth in nature.

127

error

"Science is built on philosophy". False. Science is built on empiricism, experimentation, and methodological naturalism. Science can investigate philosophy.

127

error

"Science cannot be done without philosophy." It's getting worse. Scientists proceed in serene indifference to philosophy. What's more, in later pages it becomes clear that with philosophy the authors actually mean religion.

128

error

"Philosophical assumptions can drastically impact scientific conclusions." Now it becomes clear. From the context is clear the authors really meant religious assumptions.

128

error

"If a creationist rules out natural causes beforehand (and we don't know of any who do)...." Let's refresh the author's memory: James Tour, Robert Jastrow, Michael Behe, William Paley, Phillip Johnson, Hugh Ross, William Dembski, etc ...

128

error

"Science doesn't say anything - scientists do Here is a conspiracy theory. The authors have to explain how one million scientists keep the secret.

128

straw man fallacy

"Materials makes reason impossible." Materialism is the wrong word. The right word is naturalism, the opposite of supernaturalism. The authors want to prove that abstract concepts like thought are supernatural. As this is impossible they attack a small part of naturalism and pretend it is the whole.

128

error

"Thoughts ... are not chemicals." And authors are not books. Thoughts are the result of chemicals and electricity. The authors state without proof that thoughts are supernatural.

128

straw man fallacy

"Human thoughts...are not comprised only of materials." The authors try to force the conclusion that thoughts are supernatural through repetition.

129

straw man fallacy

"How much does love weigh?" Surprisingly a feeling has weight as it changes the energy levels of atoms in neurons. Depending on intensity and using E=mc2 the feeling of love weighs a minimum of 10^-26 gram. A simpler emotion like hate would be less.

129

begging the question

"Make a living being...we cannot." . Presumable the authors mean a conscious being, which is less limiting. Although it is impossible now the authors are going to be mightily dismayed in the near future. There are a few dozen projects trying to do what the authors say is impossible.

129

begging the question

"Everyone...who ever had any kind of spiritual experience has been completely mistaken." So what. This is certainly possible, given that in the USA 40% of people have mental problems.

129

straw man fallacy

"If materialism is true then reason itself is impossible." There are several types of error in this paragraph. Nobody ever stated that thought is a chemical reaction only.

130

contradiction

"A defence of reason by reason is circular, therefore worthless." The same goes for faith. Reason has been observed to work however so we should stick to it.

130

error

"An effect cannot be greater than its cause." Obviously wrong. If true all systems would be self-dampening and eventually nothing would happen.

130

error

"reasonable...presupposes there is order, logic, design and truth." No. Logic is enough.

130

begging the question

"Darwinism borrows from the theistic world view." One must admire the barefaced cheek of the authors. If truth, logic, design and order were invented by religion, they should have patented it.

130

begging the question

"Intellect, free will...truth can exist only if God exists." This is called dogma. Not related to common sense. 1+1=2. Remove God from equation. It's still 2.

133

insult

"Darwinists have the wrong box top." A box top is called a prejudice in English. Scientists don't work that way. The puzzle is called the theory of everything and it is unknown whether there even is a solution. Theists think they have a box top but actually they have a hammer.

134

straw man fallacy

"Mixing chemicals of life in a test tube would produce life." No scientists ever said that. It is like declaring that throwing Bibles in a concrete mixer would produce the authors.

135

ignorance

"There are no known laws that create specified complexity." Or simplicity for that matter. Laws don't create. More to the point there are now known laws that forbid specified complexity.

135

ignorance

"Einstein said God doesn't play dice with the universe." Bohr proved Einstein wrong. Hawkings has joked "God plays dice with the universe and the throws the dice where you can't see them."

135

begging the question

"Two sorts of causes, intelligent and natural." The authors have failed to prove that intelligence is not natural and that bare intelligence is a cause. The have also failed to specify what intelligence is.

135

error

"Spontaneous generation of life...required to get the theory started." Not true. Evolution studies life, not the origin of life. That branch of science is called abiogenesis.

page		NEW LIFE FORMS: FROM TO GOO TO YOU VIA THE ZOO
138	ignorance	"The information content of the brain...100 trillion bits." To put this in perspective, it is 12 Terabyte, a large hard disk in 2006. The processing power is more formidable: it can only be guessed at some 10^16 operations/second. The best supercomputers are expected to reach this power in 2017.
141	ignorance	"The surviving bacteria always stay bacteria." In their monumental ignorance the authors believe that the estimated 100 million species of bacteria are one species.
141	ignorance	"...macroevolution which has never been observed." The appalling ignorance of the authors becomes manifest. Macroevolution is called speciation in biology. A handful of speciation events have been observed as can be expected. The latest is by A P Moczek at Indiana in a study of horned beetles..
142	error	"Genetic limits." Creationist fanatics hint that there is a mutation counter in DNA. This would entail fantastically complex biochemical machinery.
144	begging the question	"Cyclical change...of Darwin's finches." Without DNA analysis it is impossible to say if Darwin's finches reverted to the original genotype when climate changed in the short term. Even if they did it would prove nothing. There was a large genotype change 3000 years ago when the climate changed in the long term.
144- 148	error	"Irreducible complexity." Scientific progress has rendered the whole chapter false. The intellectually honest fellow-theist Terry M. Gray has written a paper invalidating the examples given and imploring religious fanatics not to use this argument. He warns them they would have to retract everything. But there is no stopping the authors. They, together with their champion Behe, are left with egg on their faces.
148	error	"feathers are irreducibly complex." They are not, otherwise there would be only one type of feather. Feathers differ between birds and any one bird has different types of feathers.
148	error	"nonviability of transitional forms." This has been proven wrong in numerous scientific texts. According to the authors an ostrich and a lungfish are nonviable. Feathers have more functions than just flying. The authors also don't seem to know that birds evolved from dynosaurs, not reptiles.
149	scary	"Common ancestry or common Creator?" If a malicious Creator would create the appearance of common ancestry but would expect people to disbelieve the evidence there are some nasty surprises waiting for theists in Heaven .
150	error	"DNA similarity between humans and...apes 90 percent...between humans and mice is also about 90 percent." This is meaningless as the authors admit on the same page. The significant factor is not how many genes differ but which ones.
151	error	"Basic types are in molecular isolation from one another" This proves that basic types have evolved after speciation. In fact this is an argument for evolution, not against in spite of the feigned astonishment of Michael Denton. .
152	error	"the fossil record has turned out to be a complete embarrassment to Darwinists." The fossil record is now an embarrassment of riches. The authors should get rid of their 19th century schoolbooks.
153	half truth	"All groups of animals appear 500-600 million years ago." Not all but most. This is called the Cambrian explosion. The reason is not divine intervention but the development of hard exoskeletons, driving evolution and enabling fossilization. Earlier soft-tissue animals did not readily make fossils.
153	error	"99% of the biology of any organism resides in the soft anatomy which is inaccessible in a fossil." Right, that means there is 1% difference between a giraffe and a mouse fossil. I didn't know that. Moreover in spite of the author's proclamations fossils are sometimes found that show details of soft anatomy.
154	half truth	"Many missing links have been exposed as frauds or mistakes." True, and always by scientists. That's how science works. The missing link picture is now complete.
155	error	"The fossil record has nothing to tell us about...rhodopsin." Yes but biochemistry does. The feeble arguments of Behe are convincingly demolished by fellow-theist Gray.
156	begging the question	"Intelligent Design." Ken Miller remarked publicly about intelligent design being a total, dismal failure scientifically. The ludicrous ID theory was laughed out of court in Dover of all places. One of the many fatal flaws of ID is the assumption that evolution must have a Purpose.
157	begging the question	"1000 encyclopedias." DNA is not a message. It would be rather inefficient to use 1000 encyclopedias to send the message "hello I'm here".
158	half truth	"ID scientists are open to both natural and intelligent causes." This is a straight lie. ID scientists are committed to fraud as became evident in the Dover hearings.
158	half truth	"Give up." The reason religious fanatics want scientist to give up is fear. They are afraid that the search for a self-replicating molecule will be successful.
159	error	"Opponents of Galileo." The opponents were and still are theists.
160	error	"He could have a bias and still be right." No, he can't. Martin Luther: "What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good and for the Christian church...a lie out of necessity, a useful lie, a helpful lie, such lies would not be against God, he would accept them."
160	error	"Design isn't perfect." The authors skilfully dance around the issue that according to the Bible man is created in God's likeness. Animals don't have to be perfect, but man does.
162	straw man fallacy	"There must be something else at stake here." There is. The kind-hearted Richard Dawkins is constantly pestered by creationists trying to quote him out of context.
162	begging the question	"Allowing ...God...relinquish their claim of absolute authority." The authors have to produce the name of a single scientist who holds this view.
162	begging the question	"Miracles may happen." As there is not one single case of a verified miracle this is the correct attitude.
163	insult	"In Darwinism there is no moral accountability." Thank you very much. The picture of Darwinists as sexually depraved monsters seems somewhat extravagant. Wait a moment - no, that was priests and children.
167	half truth	"After our children see all the evidence." Great: the authors suggest teaching the general theory of relativity to children. Do the authors also recommend letting the children choose between different theories of gravitation?

page

NEW LIFE FORMS: FROM TO GOO TO YOU VIA THE ZOO

138

ignorance

"The information content of the brain...100 trillion bits." To put this in perspective, it is 12 Terabyte, a large hard disk in 2006. The processing power is more formidable: it can only be guessed at some 10^16 operations/second. The best supercomputers are expected to reach this power in 2017.

141

ignorance

"The surviving bacteria always stay bacteria." In their monumental ignorance the authors believe that the estimated 100 million species of bacteria are one species.

141

ignorance

"...macroevolution which has never been observed." The appalling ignorance of the authors becomes manifest. Macroevolution is called speciation in biology. A handful of speciation events have been observed as can be expected. The latest is by A P Moczek at Indiana in a study of horned beetles..

142

error

"Genetic limits." Creationist fanatics hint that there is a mutation counter in DNA. This would entail fantastically complex biochemical machinery.

144

begging the question

"Cyclical change...of Darwin's finches." Without DNA analysis it is impossible to say if Darwin's finches reverted to the original genotype when climate changed in the short term. Even if they did it would prove nothing. There was a large genotype change 3000 years ago when the climate changed in the long term.

144-
148

error

"Irreducible complexity." Scientific progress has rendered the whole chapter false. The intellectually honest fellow-theist Terry M. Gray has written a paper invalidating the examples given and imploring religious fanatics not to use this argument. He warns them they would have to retract everything. But there is no stopping the authors. They, together with their champion Behe, are left with egg on their faces.

148

error

"feathers are irreducibly complex." They are not, otherwise there would be only one type of feather. Feathers differ between birds and any one bird has different types of feathers.

148

error

"nonviability of transitional forms." This has been proven wrong in numerous scientific texts. According to the authors an ostrich and a lungfish are nonviable. Feathers have more functions than just flying. The authors also don't seem to know that birds evolved from dynosaurs, not reptiles.

149

scary

"Common ancestry or common Creator?" If a malicious Creator would create the appearance of common ancestry but would expect people to disbelieve the evidence there are some nasty surprises waiting for theists in Heaven .

150

error

"DNA similarity between humans and...apes 90 percent...between humans and mice is also about 90 percent." This is meaningless as the authors admit on the same page. The significant factor is not how many genes differ but which ones.

151

error

"Basic types are in molecular isolation from one another" This proves that basic types have evolved after speciation. In fact this is an argument for evolution, not against in spite of the feigned astonishment of Michael Denton. .

152

error

"the fossil record has turned out to be a complete embarrassment to Darwinists." The fossil record is now an embarrassment of riches. The authors should get rid of their 19th century schoolbooks.

153

half truth

"All groups of animals appear 500-600 million years ago." Not all but most. This is called the Cambrian explosion. The reason is not divine intervention but the development of hard exoskeletons, driving evolution and enabling fossilization. Earlier soft-tissue animals did not readily make fossils.

153

error

"99% of the biology of any organism resides in the soft anatomy which is inaccessible in a fossil." Right, that means there is 1% difference between a giraffe and a mouse fossil. I didn't know that. Moreover in spite of the author's proclamations fossils are sometimes found that show details of soft anatomy.

154

half truth

"Many missing links have been exposed as frauds or mistakes." True, and always by scientists. That's how science works. The missing link picture is now complete.

155

error

"The fossil record has nothing to tell us about...rhodopsin." Yes but biochemistry does. The feeble arguments of Behe are convincingly demolished by fellow-theist Gray.

156

begging the question

"Intelligent Design." Ken Miller remarked publicly about intelligent design being a total, dismal failure scientifically. The ludicrous ID theory was laughed out of court in Dover of all places. One of the many fatal flaws of ID is the assumption that evolution must have a Purpose.

157

begging the question

"1000 encyclopedias." DNA is not a message. It would be rather inefficient to use 1000 encyclopedias to send the message "hello I'm here".

158

half truth

"ID scientists are open to both natural and intelligent causes." This is a straight lie. ID scientists are committed to fraud as became evident in the Dover hearings.

158

half truth

"Give up." The reason religious fanatics want scientist to give up is fear. They are afraid that the search for a self-replicating molecule will be successful.

159

error

"Opponents of Galileo." The opponents were and still are theists.

160

error

"He could have a bias and still be right." No, he can't. Martin Luther: "What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good and for the Christian church...a lie out of necessity, a useful lie, a helpful lie, such lies would not be against God, he would accept them."

160

error

"Design isn't perfect." The authors skilfully dance around the issue that according to the Bible man is created in God's likeness. Animals don't have to be perfect, but man does.

162

straw man fallacy

"There must be something else at stake here." There is. The kind-hearted Richard Dawkins is constantly pestered by creationists trying to quote him out of context.

162

begging the question

"Allowing ...God...relinquish their claim of absolute authority." The authors have to produce the name of a single scientist who holds this view.

162

begging the question

"Miracles may happen." As there is not one single case of a verified miracle this is the correct attitude.

163

insult

"In Darwinism there is no moral accountability." Thank you very much. The picture of Darwinists as sexually depraved monsters seems somewhat extravagant. Wait a moment - no, that was priests and children.

167

half truth

"After our children see all the evidence." Great: the authors suggest teaching the general theory of relativity to children. Do the authors also recommend letting the children choose between different theories of gravitation?

page		MOTHER TERESA VS. HITLER
170	begging the question	"The fact that a moral standard has been prescribed on the minds of all human being points to a Moral Law Prescriber." Obviously false. Instinct and learned behavior would have exactly the same effect.
171	begging the question	"Every law has a law giver." Cannot be assumed, the authors must prove this. According to their own logic, the authors would have to know all laws and investigate every last one to be able to claim this.
178	contradiction	"C.S.Lewis: your ideas can be truer, and those of the Nazis less true." Lewis contradicts himself here. In the same book a few page previously he states that between moralities "the differences are not really very great; not nearly so great as most people imagine and you can recognize the same lay running through them all."
186	straw man fallacy	"Moral Law...most Darwinists avoid the subject completely." Untrue and unfair. Here is what they say: morals are part involuntary instinct and part learned behavior. Humans are not machines programmed by a Superbeing.
187	straw man fallacy	"Darwinism attests that only materials exist." The authors repeatedly insinuate that materialism is the opposite of supernaturalism. It is not. The opposite of supernaturalism is naturalism.
187	ignorance	"stronger instinct...not get involved." The authors treat a human as a machine. The decision to get involved is made on the basis of instinct but also thought. Probability of success, background, experience, fitness, age, legal issues, support and many other factors are evaluated. That is what a brain does.
188	error	"Darwinism...has no end." Darwinism is a theory. It is not supposed to have and end. Compared to this Christianity has as its end the destruction of the universe, punishment of common sense, reward of the stupid and terminal arrest of motivation.
188	error	"Self destructive behavior." The reason is posturing, with the purpose of impressing the opposite sex. Animals do it. Authors do it. Animals risk their own lives to help their own kind, especially females with young.
189	begging the question	"criminals and dictators have lengthened their own survival..." Not on this planet. The authors must give at least one name.
189	error	"Hitler: ...no right to exist." The authors should mention here that Hitler used the Bible to justify persecution of the Jews. Specifically the fact that Jesus assaulted Jews with a whip.
190	error	"Kill newborn infants." The idea does not originate from Darwinism. Infanticide in case of birth defect was practised by the Romans and probably by many other civilizations. It may be a coincidence that when the practice was stopped the Roman Empire collapsed. Infanticide is still practised in India and China.
190	error	"Darwinists can give no moral reasons." The authors gradually try to slip in the notion that morals are supernatural. However it is possible to have morals for intellectual reasons or even for no particular reason.
193	begging the question	"God doesn't make rules up on a whim." A Superbeing can do whatever It likes. The authors must reveal the source of their revelation and beware the wrath of the insulted Superbeing.
193	error	"Atheism cannot justify." Poor Darwinists: after being attacked for several chapters they suddenly turn into atheists.

page

MOTHER TERESA VS. HITLER

170

begging the question

"The fact that a moral standard has been prescribed on the minds of all human being points to a Moral Law Prescriber." Obviously false. Instinct and learned behavior would have exactly the same effect.

171

begging the question

"Every law has a law giver." Cannot be assumed, the authors must prove this. According to their own logic, the authors would have to know all laws and investigate every last one to be able to claim this.

178

contradiction

"C.S.Lewis: your ideas can be truer, and those of the Nazis less true." Lewis contradicts himself here. In the same book a few page previously he states that between moralities "the differences are not really very great; not nearly so great as most people imagine and you can recognize the same lay running through them all."

186

straw man fallacy

"Moral Law...most Darwinists avoid the subject completely." Untrue and unfair. Here is what they say: morals are part involuntary instinct and part learned behavior. Humans are not machines programmed by a Superbeing.

187

straw man fallacy

"Darwinism attests that only materials exist." The authors repeatedly insinuate that materialism is the opposite of supernaturalism. It is not. The opposite of supernaturalism is naturalism.

187

ignorance

"stronger instinct...not get involved." The authors treat a human as a machine. The decision to get involved is made on the basis of instinct but also thought. Probability of success, background, experience, fitness, age, legal issues, support and many other factors are evaluated. That is what a brain does.

188

error

"Darwinism...has no end." Darwinism is a theory. It is not supposed to have and end. Compared to this Christianity has as its end the destruction of the universe, punishment of common sense, reward of the stupid and terminal arrest of motivation.

188

error

"Self destructive behavior." The reason is posturing, with the purpose of impressing the opposite sex. Animals do it. Authors do it. Animals risk their own lives to help their own kind, especially females with young.

189

begging the question

"criminals and dictators have lengthened their own survival..." Not on this planet. The authors must give at least one name.

189

error

"Hitler: ...no right to exist." The authors should mention here that Hitler used the Bible to justify persecution of the Jews. Specifically the fact that Jesus assaulted Jews with a whip.

190

error

"Kill newborn infants." The idea does not originate from Darwinism. Infanticide in case of birth defect was practised by the Romans and probably by many other civilizations. It may be a coincidence that when the practice was stopped the Roman Empire collapsed. Infanticide is still practised in India and China.

190

error

"Darwinists can give no moral reasons." The authors gradually try to slip in the notion that morals are supernatural. However it is possible to have morals for intellectual reasons or even for no particular reason.

193

begging the question

"God doesn't make rules up on a whim." A Superbeing can do whatever It likes. The authors must reveal the source of their revelation and beware the wrath of the insulted Superbeing.

193

error

"Atheism cannot justify." Poor Darwinists: after being attacked for several chapters they suddenly turn into atheists.

page		MIRACLES: SIGNS OF GOD OR GULLIBILITY?
199	error	"God is infinite." The authors clumsily try to prove this with the assertion that if you subtract something from infinity you get something less than infinity. This is not true. Infinity - x = infinity.
200	begging the question	"He cannot ravish." Lewis tempts fate by prescribing how a Superbeing must think. By definition the thought processes of a Superbeing are inscrutable.
203	error	"...a God who created the entire universe..." The authors have failed to prove this in previous chapters. Now they are using this statement as the only proof that miracles occur.
211	contradictory	"Intelligent design." Cannot be classified as a miracle according to the author's logic because it does not break any natural law by definition.

page

MIRACLES: SIGNS OF GOD OR GULLIBILITY?

199

error

"God is infinite." The authors clumsily try to prove this with the assertion that if you subtract something from infinity you get something less than infinity. This is not true. Infinity - x = infinity.

200

begging the question

"He cannot ravish." Lewis tempts fate by prescribing how a Superbeing must think. By definition the thought processes of a Superbeing are inscrutable.

203

error

"...a God who created the entire universe..." The authors have failed to prove this in previous chapters. Now they are using this statement as the only proof that miracles occur.

211

contradictory

"Intelligent design." Cannot be classified as a miracle according to the author's logic because it does not break any natural law by definition.

page		DO WE HAVE EARLY TESTIMONY ABOUT JESUS?
221	error	"Flavius Josephus." The single paragraph about Jesus confirming the whole New Testament sounds too good to be true. It is. We now know that this paragraph was interpolated 3 centuries after Josephus wrote his book, probably by the infamous forger bishop Eusebius. The authors must know that.
222	error	"...the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ." At present count the existence of 19 Jesus Christs is known in the New Testament period, all of them involved in seditious activities and correspondingly short-lived. There is no way to prove that this episode concerns the right one or that there is a right one.
222	error	"There are 10 non-Christian sources that mention Jesus." Actually there are none. The Josephus source is a forgery. Celsus mentions the bastard son of a prostitute and a soldier, hardly edifying. Tacitus is probably a forgery since the term "Christian" did not exist in his time. The entry in the Talmud is a forgery intended to discredit Christians - as the authors themselves admit in later chapters. The letter from Pilate to Tiberius is forged. All the other sources mention Jewish sects, not Jesus or Christians..
225	half truth	"Rylands fragment...Earliest undisputed manuscript...117-138." This is misleading. The earliest complete manuscripts are from the 4th century, 200 years later. The uncertainty in the dating of the fragment is greater than the authors acknowledge, the range is 125-195 AD. By the way, this is a scrap 9 cm long, not a Bible.
226	half truth	"Number of surviving copies." The authors sadly neglect to divulge the quality of the surviving copies and the probability of forgery. Christian scribes had an incentive to forge, classical scribes not. Also non-Christian personalities leave other proof of their existence like coins and sculptures.
227	error	"50 AD...the scholar who first identified these fragments...New Testament...Jose O'Callahan..." Four partial words on a scrap of paper! Carsten Peter Thiede easily demolished that farfetched speculation.
227	error	"New Testament gap...25 years. " No, actually it is more than 200 years. This is artful deceit. The important factor is the time lapse between the event and its recording. For classical text this time lapse is usually 0: instantaneous. For the gospels the time lapse is an inexplicable 40-70 years. For comparison, legends about Beethoven arose during his lifetime.
229	error	"There is no way one scribe or priest could change the Word Of God." So they say. During the bitter fights between Christian sects in the 5th century bishop Faustus lamented: ""Many things have been inserted by our ancestors in the speeches of our Lord which, though put forth under his name, agree not with his faith..."
229	error	"200,000 errors in the New Testament." The authors neglect to mention that hundreds of New Testament books including a round dozen gospels are rejected because of non-conformity or errors. This is called preselection bias. They should be included in the error count, bringing it closer to 2,000,000. Some serious errors are not acknowledged; they would increase the real error rate still more.
234	half truth	"The New Testament writers had no reason to make up a new religion." False: this was the main preoccupation of the Jews, as the authors mention later. History of the Jews is replete with idolatry, false prophets, superstition. The Jews felt betrayed by Yahweh after the Romans destroyed Palestine and were looking for a new Hero.
238	error	"Of course!" Of course not! The gospels refer to predictions of the future. If the gospel authors knew that the events had transpired they would have no qualms inserting them as prophecies.
241	error	"Paul quotes from Luke 10:7." Not quite; the quotes are not identical (reward - hire) and one quote would not make a trend in any case. More likely is that both quotes refer to a lost Old Testament book. Paul quoted exclusively from the Old Testament. In spite of the efforts of the authors it is clear that Paul's letters were written 25 years before the first gospel and that he knew nothing about the gospels or the life of Jesus Christ.
242	error	"Where did Paul get what he received?" From the council of Jerusalem, about 51 AD. The religions of Paul and the apostles - the Paulites and the baptists - merged at this council.

page

DO WE HAVE EARLY TESTIMONY ABOUT JESUS?

221

error

"Flavius Josephus." The single paragraph about Jesus confirming the whole New Testament sounds too good to be true. It is. We now know that this paragraph was interpolated 3 centuries after Josephus wrote his book, probably by the infamous forger bishop Eusebius. The authors must know that.

222

error

"...the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ." At present count the existence of 19 Jesus Christs is known in the New Testament period, all of them involved in seditious activities and correspondingly short-lived. There is no way to prove that this episode concerns the right one or that there is a right one.

222

error

"There are 10 non-Christian sources that mention Jesus." Actually there are none. The Josephus source is a forgery. Celsus mentions the bastard son of a prostitute and a soldier, hardly edifying. Tacitus is probably a forgery since the term "Christian" did not exist in his time. The entry in the Talmud is a forgery intended to discredit Christians - as the authors themselves admit in later chapters. The letter from Pilate to Tiberius is forged. All the other sources mention Jewish sects, not Jesus or Christians..

225

half truth

"Rylands fragment...Earliest undisputed manuscript...117-138." This is misleading. The earliest complete manuscripts are from the 4th century, 200 years later. The uncertainty in the dating of the fragment is greater than the authors acknowledge, the range is 125-195 AD. By the way, this is a scrap 9 cm long, not a Bible.

226

half truth

"Number of surviving copies." The authors sadly neglect to divulge the quality of the surviving copies and the probability of forgery. Christian scribes had an incentive to forge, classical scribes not. Also non-Christian personalities leave other proof of their existence like coins and sculptures.

227

error

"50 AD...the scholar who first identified these fragments...New Testament...Jose O'Callahan..." Four partial words on a scrap of paper! Carsten Peter Thiede easily demolished that farfetched speculation.

227

error

"New Testament gap...25 years. " No, actually it is more than 200 years. This is artful deceit. The important factor is the time lapse between the event and its recording. For classical text this time lapse is usually 0: instantaneous. For the gospels the time lapse is an inexplicable 40-70 years. For comparison, legends about Beethoven arose during his lifetime.

229

error

"There is no way one scribe or priest could change the Word Of God." So they say. During the bitter fights between Christian sects in the 5th century bishop Faustus lamented: ""Many things have been inserted by our ancestors in the speeches of our Lord which, though put forth under his name, agree not with his faith..."

229

error

"200,000 errors in the New Testament." The authors neglect to mention that hundreds of New Testament books including a round dozen gospels are rejected because of non-conformity or errors. This is called preselection bias. They should be included in the error count, bringing it closer to 2,000,000. Some serious errors are not acknowledged; they would increase the real error rate still more.

234

half truth

"The New Testament writers had no reason to make up a new religion." False: this was the main preoccupation of the Jews, as the authors mention later. History of the Jews is replete with idolatry, false prophets, superstition. The Jews felt betrayed by Yahweh after the Romans destroyed Palestine and were looking for a new Hero.

238

error

"Of course!" Of course not! The gospels refer to predictions of the future. If the gospel authors knew that the events had transpired they would have no qualms inserting them as prophecies.

241

error

"Paul quotes from Luke 10:7." Not quite; the quotes are not identical (reward - hire) and one quote would not make a trend in any case. More likely is that both quotes refer to a lost Old Testament book. Paul quoted exclusively from the Old Testament. In spite of the efforts of the authors it is clear that Paul's letters were written 25 years before the first gospel and that he knew nothing about the gospels or the life of Jesus Christ.

242

error

"Where did Paul get what he received?" From the council of Jerusalem, about 51 AD. The religions of Paul and the apostles - the Paulites and the baptists - merged at this council.

page		DO WE HAVE EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY ABOUT JESUS?
251	error	"Claim to be eyewitnesses." Paul is the only possible eyewitness of Jesus who wrote Biblical texts. The authors must be dismayed by the fact that Paul, a law enforcer in Jerusalem, does not once mention seeing Jesus or being aware of gospel events, His trial, execution, darkness and earthquake.
259	contradiction	"Is there any doubt that Luke was an eyewitness?" Indeed there is. The authors claim that Luke can only be accurate if is he is an eyewitness. How can they know he was accurate without being eyewitnesses themselves? In any case nothing is known about the identity or even the existence of any of the apostles or gospel writers, which makes them bad eyewitnesses.
262	error	"Hematohidrosis." Sweating blood. This condition has never been observed by medical science.
262	error	"Since Luke is telling the truth then so are Mark and Matthew." Does not prove anything. Mark wrote the first gospel. Matthew, Luke and John copied it with progressive embellishments and antisemetism. Skeptics don't feel particularly devastated by this.
263	ignorance	"The wine miracle was an unlikely invention." No, wine or vinegar was used to sterilize water.
267	error	"Pilate had to walk a fine line." Not at all. Pilate was later recalled to Rome because of extreme brutality. What's more, Pilate held office in Caesarea, 110 km from Jerusalem. It was impossible to take Jesus to Pilate. Obviously the New Testament writers didn't know that. This is a serious error.
267	error	"crucifixion of Jesus...non Christians sources." None, only forgeries.
267	error	"John would not have known of this medical condition." Of course he would. With thousands of rebels routinely crucified these gory details would be the equivalent of the details of today's soap operas.
271	error	"Non-Christian writers collectively reveal a storyline." No, they don't. Not a single one.
271	error	"Why would they have done so for a fictional story." The authors must explain why Muslims do so for a fictional story. In any case, there is only one independently verified martyr, James. The Romans were not even aware of the new sect in the first century. Some martyrs were casualties from the bitter fighting between Christian sects, some were appropriated Jewish rebels and some were pure invention.
271	error	"Historical novelists don't use the names of real people." Of course they do, otherwise they would just be novelists.
272	error	"Grand conspiracy by 9 authors." The authors claim that this is impossible but a grand conspiracy by one million scientists concerning evolution is possible.
272	error	"Their accounts describe the same basic events but include divergent details." The authors assume that the Biblical copiers were stupid. They were not. Writing in Biblical times was expensive, you didn't get pen and paper but you slaughtered a donkey for parchment and a goose for a quill. The authors must have been upper class.

page

DO WE HAVE EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY ABOUT JESUS?

251

error

"Claim to be eyewitnesses." Paul is the only possible eyewitness of Jesus who wrote Biblical texts. The authors must be dismayed by the fact that Paul, a law enforcer in Jerusalem, does not once mention seeing Jesus or being aware of gospel events, His trial, execution, darkness and earthquake.

259

contradiction

"Is there any doubt that Luke was an eyewitness?" Indeed there is. The authors claim that Luke can only be accurate if is he is an eyewitness. How can they know he was accurate without being eyewitnesses themselves? In any case nothing is known about the identity or even the existence of any of the apostles or gospel writers, which makes them bad eyewitnesses.

262

error

"Hematohidrosis." Sweating blood. This condition has never been observed by medical science.

262

error

"Since Luke is telling the truth then so are Mark and Matthew." Does not prove anything. Mark wrote the first gospel. Matthew, Luke and John copied it with progressive embellishments and antisemetism. Skeptics don't feel particularly devastated by this.

263

ignorance

"The wine miracle was an unlikely invention." No, wine or vinegar was used to sterilize water.

267

error

"Pilate had to walk a fine line." Not at all. Pilate was later recalled to Rome because of extreme brutality. What's more, Pilate held office in Caesarea, 110 km from Jerusalem. It was impossible to take Jesus to Pilate. Obviously the New Testament writers didn't know that. This is a serious error.

267

error

"crucifixion of Jesus...non Christians sources." None, only forgeries.

267

error

"John would not have known of this medical condition." Of course he would. With thousands of rebels routinely crucified these gory details would be the equivalent of the details of today's soap operas.

271

error

"Non-Christian writers collectively reveal a storyline." No, they don't. Not a single one.

271

error

"Why would they have done so for a fictional story." The authors must explain why Muslims do so for a fictional story. In any case, there is only one independently verified martyr, James. The Romans were not even aware of the new sect in the first century. Some martyrs were casualties from the bitter fighting between Christian sects, some were appropriated Jewish rebels and some were pure invention.

271

error

"Historical novelists don't use the names of real people." Of course they do, otherwise they would just be novelists.

272

error

"Grand conspiracy by 9 authors." The authors claim that this is impossible but a grand conspiracy by one million scientists concerning evolution is possible.

272

error

"Their accounts describe the same basic events but include divergent details." The authors assume that the Biblical copiers were stupid. They were not. Writing in Biblical times was expensive, you didn't get pen and paper but you slaughtered a donkey for parchment and a goose for a quill. The authors must have been upper class.

page		THE TOP TEN REASONS
275	error	"Principle of embarrassment." The gospel writers don't write about themselves. The embarrassment is always used to make an idiological point at the expense of some hapless apostle.
276	half truth	"Embarrassing details about their leader, Jesus." The authors conveniently leave out the real embarrassing details. e.g. Jesus telling his mother "woman, what shall I do with you" or losing his Divine Temper and attacking Jews in the temple or ignoring his family etc.
280	error	"Why do we cite this as evidence of their trustworthiness?" Incredibly, the authors maintain that quotes from Jesus are true because it would have been easy to produce false quotes. This kind of logic needs long study in theology.
282	error	"Women...the first to learn of the resurrection." Really? The women has a plausible reason for being there, the men not. The inferior women do not learn about the resurrection. The resurrection is only confirmed when one brave man turns up.
283	contradiction	"Jewish...explanation for the empty tomb." On page 222 the authors use this explanation as a fact supporting the existence of Jesus, here they refute it.
284	error	"... could not have gotten away with outright lies." They could when the people were safely dead or far away.
284	error	"divergent details." The authors explain away some minor problems in the gospels. They carefully skirt around issues were the gospels are contradictory. Example: The original gospel according to Mark did not have a resurrection. A problem is also the great number of divergent details.
285	error	"Too uniform or too divergent?" Both. This is a result of the copy process, which was verbal. The main storyline would remain the same but details could be missed.
286	half truth	"Challenge their readers...to check out" Almost. This should read "challenges some fanatics at some location a long time ago."
288	half truth	"Mark 16:8: ...because they were afraid." Here ends the earliest version of the gospel according to Mark. No resurrection. Very stark indeed. Verses were added in later versions to avoid contradiction.
289	error	"...there was a violent earthquake..." No earthquake or darkness is recorded during this period.
290	error	"...abandoned long-held sacred beliefs..." The Jews had a good reason. Their beliefs hadn't worked and they had lost their country. There is little verifiable proof of persecution or martyrdom.
294	error	"Martyrs were eyewitnesses." There is no record of alleged eyewitnesses becoming martyrs.
295	half truth	"If you became a Christian in the Roman Empire before 311 you might be killed for it." In reality there was some persecution between 250-311. A Christian could easily avoid being killed by honoring the emperor.

page

THE TOP TEN REASONS

275

error

"Principle of embarrassment." The gospel writers don't write about themselves. The embarrassment is always used to make an idiological point at the expense of some hapless apostle.

276

half truth

"Embarrassing details about their leader, Jesus." The authors conveniently leave out the real embarrassing details. e.g. Jesus telling his mother "woman, what shall I do with you" or losing his Divine Temper and attacking Jews in the temple or ignoring his family etc.

280

error

"Why do we cite this as evidence of their trustworthiness?" Incredibly, the authors maintain that quotes from Jesus are true because it would have been easy to produce false quotes. This kind of logic needs long study in theology.

282

error

"Women...the first to learn of the resurrection." Really? The women has a plausible reason for being there, the men not. The inferior women do not learn about the resurrection. The resurrection is only confirmed when one brave man turns up.

283

contradiction

"Jewish...explanation for the empty tomb." On page 222 the authors use this explanation as a fact supporting the existence of Jesus, here they refute it.

284

error

"... could not have gotten away with outright lies." They could when the people were safely dead or far away.

284

error

"divergent details." The authors explain away some minor problems in the gospels. They carefully skirt around issues were the gospels are contradictory. Example: The original gospel according to Mark did not have a resurrection. A problem is also the great number of divergent details.

285

error

"Too uniform or too divergent?" Both. This is a result of the copy process, which was verbal. The main storyline would remain the same but details could be missed.

286

half truth

"Challenge their readers...to check out" Almost. This should read "challenges some fanatics at some location a long time ago."

288

half truth

"Mark 16:8: ...because they were afraid." Here ends the earliest version of the gospel according to Mark. No resurrection. Very stark indeed. Verses were added in later versions to avoid contradiction.

289

error

"...there was a violent earthquake..." No earthquake or darkness is recorded during this period.

290

error

"...abandoned long-held sacred beliefs..." The Jews had a good reason. Their beliefs hadn't worked and they had lost their country. There is little verifiable proof of persecution or martyrdom.

294

error

"Martyrs were eyewitnesses." There is no record of alleged eyewitnesses becoming martyrs.

295

half truth

"If you became a Christian in the Roman Empire before 311 you might be killed for it." In reality there was some persecution between 250-311. A Christian could easily avoid being killed by honoring the emperor.

page	type	DID JESUS REALLY RISE FROM THE DEAD?
299	error	"Habermas: ...all scholars agree." That is a lie. Fact 3,7,9,10,12 are historical; 8 and 11 are half-truths. The rest is wishful thinking. On page 284 the authors pontificate that writers can't get away with spreading lies about living people and here Gary does it.
300	error	"New Testament books were written within two generation." Not true. The New Testament was finalized at the council of Trent in 1563, sixty generation later..
304	error	"Swoon or apparent death theory." The probability of survival under conditions stipulated in the Bible has been calculated at 33% if the victim receives medical care. Some scholars claim that Jesus was given a narcotic on a sponge in order to bring on a coma. The authors don't address these uncomfortable possibilities.
306	ignorance	"Paul was then blinded for three days." Evidently this was the stroke that brought on his epilepsy
306	error	"I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting, he replied." Impossible. Nazareth was founded in the 4th century. There are no records of Nazareth existing before then. A big embarrassment for apologists.
310	half truth	"far-left group of scholars." This is actually a group of Biblical scholars with advanced degrees. They are more qualified to have opinions on Biblical themes than the authors.
311	half truth	"Supposed resurrection of mythical characters." Apart from the author's red herrings there is Prometheus who sacrificed himself for humanity and the legend of the Phoenix. The point is: there was a tolerance at that time for resurrection stories.
314	error	"Three or four 1st century sources that support your theory." This is the typical religious fanatic question. Obviously it is impossible to prove something did not happen. Nothing that doesn't happen is ever recorded.
316	contradiction	"Skeptical scholar." Crossan is not skeptical, the authors themselves identify him as religious. The authors also explain in page 215 that miracles can happen but they don't.
317	error	"Supernatural rather than natural." Not supernatural at all. In fact if an event was predicted it would give more incentives to religious fanatics to make it happen.
320	straw man fallacy	"Exceptional evidence." The authors get it intentionally wrong. exceptional evidence means verifiable or very good, nothing else.
321	error	"How do we know this about Alexander?" There are indeed few first-hand records. The records, in particular the library of Alexandria, were destroyed by Christian fanatics. Alexander's existence is verified by Phillip V (his father), Aristotle, the Bible, and some cities named after him. Alexander did not perform miracles, therefore extraordinary evidence is not necessary in any case.
322	error	"Why would he?" Because withholding evidence is lying, Superbeing or not.

page

type

DID JESUS REALLY RISE FROM THE DEAD?

299

error

"Habermas: ...all scholars agree." That is a lie. Fact 3,7,9,10,12 are historical; 8 and 11 are half-truths. The rest is wishful thinking. On page 284 the authors pontificate that writers can't get away with spreading lies about living people and here Gary does it.

300

error

"New Testament books were written within two generation." Not true. The New Testament was finalized at the council of Trent in 1563, sixty generation later..

304

error

"Swoon or apparent death theory." The probability of survival under conditions stipulated in the Bible has been calculated at 33% if the victim receives medical care. Some scholars claim that Jesus was given a narcotic on a sponge in order to bring on a coma. The authors don't address these uncomfortable possibilities.

306

ignorance

"Paul was then blinded for three days." Evidently this was the stroke that brought on his epilepsy

306

error

"I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting, he replied." Impossible. Nazareth was founded in the 4th century. There are no records of Nazareth existing before then. A big embarrassment for apologists.

310

half truth

"far-left group of scholars." This is actually a group of Biblical scholars with advanced degrees. They are more qualified to have opinions on Biblical themes than the authors.

311

half truth

"Supposed resurrection of mythical characters." Apart from the author's red herrings there is Prometheus who sacrificed himself for humanity and the legend of the Phoenix. The point is: there was a tolerance at that time for resurrection stories.

314

error

"Three or four 1st century sources that support your theory." This is the typical religious fanatic question. Obviously it is impossible to prove something did not happen. Nothing that doesn't happen is ever recorded.

316

contradiction

"Skeptical scholar." Crossan is not skeptical, the authors themselves identify him as religious. The authors also explain in page 215 that miracles can happen but they don't.

317

error

"Supernatural rather than natural." Not supernatural at all. In fact if an event was predicted it would give more incentives to religious fanatics to make it happen.

320

straw man fallacy

"Exceptional evidence." The authors get it intentionally wrong. exceptional evidence means verifiable or very good, nothing else.

321

error

"How do we know this about Alexander?" There are indeed few first-hand records. The records, in particular the library of Alexandria, were destroyed by Christian fanatics. Alexander's existence is verified by Phillip V (his father), Aristotle, the Bible, and some cities named after him. Alexander did not perform miracles, therefore extraordinary evidence is not necessary in any case.

322

error

"Why would he?" Because withholding evidence is lying, Superbeing or not.

page	type	WHO IS JESUS: GOD? OR JUST A GREAT MORAL TEACHER?
348	begging the question	"1. He fulfilled many Messianic prophecies." This is not proof. If can also mean that the evidence was manufactured to fit the prophecies.
348	error	"2. Sinless life." Almost. He was rude to his mother, aggressive on occasion, made conflicting statements (lies). And of course being human He inherited sin from his mother like everybody.

page

type

WHO IS JESUS: GOD? OR JUST A GREAT MORAL TEACHER?

348

begging the question

"1. He fulfilled many Messianic prophecies." This is not proof. If can also mean that the evidence was manufactured to fit the prophecies.

348

error

"2. Sinless life." Almost. He was rude to his mother, aggressive on occasion, made conflicting statements (lies). And of course being human He inherited sin from his mother like everybody.

page	type	WHAT DID JESUS TEACH ABOUT THE BIBLE?
363	error	"Moses had kicked his royal rear end." There is no reference to Hebrews in Egypt at any time. As the old Egyptians were compulsive chroniclers this is sufficient proof that there were never Jews in Egypt.
366	ignorance	"No record of apostolic miracles...after 62 AD." There is another probability. Magic always fails when observed. By 62 AD Christians would be under observation.
370	error	"Inerrant word of God." The biggest problem is not the errors in the Bible that the authors can explain but the contradictions. There are hundreds of contradictions in the Bible.

page

type

WHAT DID JESUS TEACH ABOUT THE BIBLE?

363

error

"Moses had kicked his royal rear end." There is no reference to Hebrews in Egypt at any time. As the old Egyptians were compulsive chroniclers this is sufficient proof that there were never Jews in Egypt.

366

ignorance

"No record of apostolic miracles...after 62 AD." There is another probability. Magic always fails when observed. By 62 AD Christians would be under observation.

370

error

"Inerrant word of God." The biggest problem is not the errors in the Bible that the authors can explain but the contradictions. There are hundreds of contradictions in the Bible.