Probability Theory

The Prior Environmental Fitness of Nature: An Argument for the Existence of God

Cosmic Fine-Tuning, Cosmic Fine-Tuning, Existence of God, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Probability Theory, Science /

Over the past several decades, science has amassed considerable evidence of design in nature – evidences which may be drawn from both the physical and life sciences. This evidence suggests, contrary to popular wisdom, that the Universe was made with us in mind – that it was intended for beings like ourselves. In this article, we will consider a sample of evidences that force us to reconsider man’s place in the Universe.

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Let’s Help Harvard Understand Intelligent Design

1 Comment / Biological Design, Existence of God, Intelligent Design, Miracles and Epistemology, Philosophy, Probability Theory, Science /

Last week, my wife and I spent an afternoon at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, in Cambridge, MA, near where we live. We both were generally impressed by the exhibitions, particularly the dinosaur section, and would recommend the museum to anyone visiting Boston. I was, however, quite disappointed to see this notice at the entrance to the display on evolution.

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Bayesian Probability and the Resurrection: A Reply to Brian Blais

9 Comments / Evidence for the Resurrection, Messianic Prophecy, Miracles and Epistemology, Modern Miracles, Philosophy, Predictive Prophecy, Probability Theory /

This week, a two part series of essays was published by atheist physicist Dr. Brian Blais. These essays challenged some of my key contentions from the debate, particularly my employment of Bayesian epistemology. In this essay, I reply to Dr. Blais’ remarks.

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Extraordinary Claims and Evidence: A Review of Jonathan Pearce’s Book on the Resurrection (Part 1)

43 Comments / Book Reviews, Evidence for the Resurrection, Messianic Prophecy, Miracles and Epistemology, Modern Miracles, Philosophy, Predictive Prophecy, Probability Theory /

Since the resurrection is intended, in Christian theology, to function as an authenticating sign, it is highly predicted that Jesus’ resurrection will deviate from the normal course of nature. That the resurrection does, in fact, deviate from the normal course of nature should not be taken as a cause for concern.

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Is the Bible Without Error? Inspiration, Inerrancy, and Christian Epistemology

8 Comments / Bible Contradictions, Dealing with Doubts, Inerrancy and Inspiration, Philosophy, Probability Theory, Theology /

A common litmus test for Christian orthodoxy is adherence to the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy, which maintains that the Biblical text, in the original autographs, is completely without error in all that it affirms.

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The Propriety of Allowing Science to Illuminate Scripture

13 Comments / Apologetic Method, Genesis 1-11, Probability Theory, Science and Faith /

The “young earth” teaching introduces an unnecessary and erroneous tension between Scripture and science that has confused many and I have personally met many people who have turned aside from their faith due to what they see as the impossible challenge of trying to reconcile that understanding of Scripture with the clear scientific evidence. They end up being neither ‘old’ or ‘young’ earth and worst of all not believing that God is the Creator at all.

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Do Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence? Assessing Carl Sagan’s Dictum

6 Comments / Philosophy, Probability Theory /

So confident was David Hume about this principle that he said, humble man that he was, “I flatter myself that I have discovered an argument…which, if just, will, with the wise and learned, be an everlasting check to all kinds of superstitious delusion, and consequently, will be useful as long as the world endures.”

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A Bayesian Approach to Intelligent Design

Biological Design, Existence of God, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Probability Theory, Science /

The Bayesian formulation of biological design arguments is, in my opinion, deserving of greater attention. Bayesian inference is widely used when dealing with design in the physical sciences. Perhaps the time has come for this structure of argument also to be used in design arguments in the life sciences.

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The Argument From Prophecy and Bayes Theorem (Part 1): How to Express the Evidence of Prophetic Fulfillment

2 Comments / Non-Messianic Prophecy, Probability Theory /

The probability of the evidence given your hypothesis does not need to be high for your data to carry evidential value. Rather, it only needs to be higher on the assumption that your hypothesis is correct than on the assumption that it is false.

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