Recent content by BudJohnson

  1. BudJohnson

    Defending Dungeons and Dragons...

    That leads to a very good point: what is role-playing, after all? At the risk of redundancy, it's "playing a role." RPGs are a more structured form of make-believe, like children all over the place do. When I was a child I would pretend to be Batman or Spiderman or Superman. I was simply playing...
  2. BudJohnson

    Defending Dungeons and Dragons...

    "All things in moderation," as the creed of Apollo suggests. Any kind of game, activity, hobby, et cetera, can become a habit, addiction, or obsession. We are communicating with each other via the Internet, which I'm sure has created more addicts and destroyed more minds than Dungeons &...
  3. BudJohnson

    Were you ever taught logic?

    There's a version of the puzzle found in the movie "Labyrinth" (with David Bowie as the Goblin King). There are two doors. One door leads in the right direction, the other one leads in the wrong direction. There are two people standing in front of the doors. One always lies, and one always tells...
  4. BudJohnson

    Defending Dungeons and Dragons...

    I'm way too smart to get consumed by D&D. Afterall, I do have an 18 Intelligence. Actually, D&D did take control of me once. When I saw the dark path I was on, I said the exact same thing the girl in the Chick Tract said... "I don't want to be Elfstar any more. I want to be Debbie!"...
  5. BudJohnson

    Were you ever taught logic?

    The Captain changed his signature. No assumptions made here.
  6. BudJohnson

    Were you ever taught logic?

    There's nothing implicit about his definition of "good God." Premise 1 of his argument states most explicitly that a "good God" (i.e., a God who loves the world) is a God who lets many into heaven. And there's the rub: In his argument, he bases his conclusion that the Christian God is not...
  7. BudJohnson

    Were you ever taught logic?

    To put your signature in premise/conclusion form... P1- If God loved the world, then he would allow many into his paradise. P2- God does not allow many into his paradise. C- Therefore, God does not love the world. A logically valid argument - a good example of modus tollens. The...
  8. BudJohnson

    Were you ever taught logic?

    Perhaps, but I think the epistemological question you raise here, while relevant, is a separate discussion. One question I am raising is, how does the fact that many will not enter heaven demonstrate that God doesn't love the world? I suppose the casual response is to posit the premise that...
  9. BudJohnson

    Were you ever taught logic?

    If I may contribute to the derailment, I'd like to throw in a restatement of your signature... If I loved my child, then I would allow my child into my house. My child will not enter my house, however (The Book of Hypotheticals 7:14). Therefore I do not love my child. You're welcome to...
  10. BudJohnson

    Were you ever taught logic?

    I didn't study logic until college, and that was only because I was a philosophy major. No one in my circle of friends, no one with whom I work or go to church has studied logic formally. That doesn't mean they aren't intelligent; many of them are. They merely haven't been trained in the art and...
  11. BudJohnson

    Dinosaurs?

    Where, exactly, did I make such a claim? Can you find it and quote it verbatim for me? If my memory serves me correctly, I merely asked a question. What I happen to believe vis-a-vis the dinosaurs and the flood isn't the issue here. Let's stay on task.   I never play semantic...
  12. BudJohnson

    Dinosaurs?

    [/B] First of all, I've never said that my interpretations are equivalent to the "Word of God." Any conclusion at which I arrive concerning the dinosaurs' relation to the biblical account is merely that: my conclusion. I'd never say it was "Word of God." But since I haven't said anything...
  13. BudJohnson

    Dinosaurs?

    [/B] You're assuming that the Genesis account must be exhaustive in order to be accurate, and that's simply not true of any literary work. So Genesis doesn't say dinos died out before Noah... So what? The Bible doesn't say a lot of things. Does the Bible's silence on the issue of dinosaurs...
  14. BudJohnson

    Dinosaurs?

    I understand, but I don't see how that's relevant to my question. Every time new data is uncovered, people either revise or discard their current views. This occurs in science, philosophy, religion, psychology, et al. So what?   [/B] I don't recall positing any kind of argument. All...
  15. BudJohnson

    Dinosaurs?

    Which interpretations should be included in one's "literalistic reading of the Bible" is a matter of debate. But to address your response more directly, what's the problem with the idea that dinosaurs simply weren't around by the time of the flood? How you answer depends on...