Jacoby-Shermer Debate (7/10)

[Jacoby's Rebuttal of Shermer]

The debate between international Christian speaker Douglas Jacoby and agnostic and skeptic Michael Shermer took place Saturday June 23, the highlight of the 2007 International Apologetics Conference, sponsored by the Apologetics Research Society. The debate topic: Does God Exist?

Dr. Shermer is one of the three or four most famous atheist / agnostic scholars in the world, author of 12 books and President of the Skeptic Society. He has held dozens of debates, appeared on Oprah, 20/20, Dateline, Tom Snyder, Larry King Live and The History Channel. Dr. Jacoby, director of the Athens Institute of Ministry, has spoken in hundreds of cities in some 80 nations.

This exciting event was held before a packed house, with an overflow crowd watching close circuit monitors outside the venue. Kedron Jones (Board member of ARS) was moderator and affable host. Shermer and Jacoby both bring their best analytical skills to this debate. The interchange is lively, with both speakers willing to concede points made by their opponent. You will benefit greatly from weighing the arguments put forth. Douglas' clear and incisive arguments for the existence of God are persuasive. He argues from cosmology (both its creation and its complexity). and the unmistakable fact that moral absolutes are part of reality. Shermer makes the case that religions are socially constructed, historically dependent, and that the faith you adhere to and the god you believe in depend largely on when in history and where in the world you were born.

The two-hour debate is lively, engaging and instructional. You can watch each speaker's opening, rebuttal, rebuttal summary, and conclusion here at YouTube. For the entire debate in one DVD, however, including the 40+ minute Q&A session, please visit www.douglasjacoby.com. The Skeptics Society website is www.skeptic.com.

To post further comments, please visit Jacoby's forum at www.jacobyblogs.com.

Category:

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Tags:

• jacoby
• shermer
• debate
• god
• exist
• evidences
• apologetics

[cjunk351]

I agree, God is immaterial, invisible and out side of space and time...ie Non existent.

[martiangrundy]

I find it SO hard to believe that these apologists are so dim that they fail to realise these arguments could only ever appeal to someone already brainwashed. I'm sure they must.

They never fail to come across as dishonest snake oil peddlers.

They "prove" it impossible to disprove a deist deity, then slip in their own "god"

It's also very dishonest the way they try to co opt beauty, music, art, and feelings the way they do. Religion certainly has no monopoly on the numinous, awe and splendour.

[dimabbq]

@dwheel39 in an atheistic world, suicide isn't "wrong"...

[kelbykross1]

Jocoby says the man analyzing the music may not enjoy it as much as the common listener. I and Feynman would disagree. Knowing the deepest reality and appreciating roses on cellular levels, and appreciating rainbows when learning of their polarization and the trajectories light takes through water to create rainbows and sunsets can not make you appreciate them any less.

Learning and taking the time to know how things work takes interest and appreciation of whatever it is.

[1empathy]

@CarmineFragione you are a fuckwit.

[CarmineFragione]

From the perspective of being outside of the property of another human being, thus observing from an adequate distance, we can accept that the person seems to be alive and acting intelligently, even if we don't really understand what intelligence is. But to be inside the other person , shrunk so small, we cannot get a grasp of any certain view point,we cannot reckon that what we are invading the space of is an intelligent human being. Being inside the world, we cannot see the outside views

[CarmineFragione]

Reality is not just the thing and the things, but Reality is the behavior of things, and the behavior of all things can be described as greater than just the things without motion and without correlating behaviors, to be God. God is a Verb, not just a Noun, Can't find evidence of the Noun Sense of God, but before all our eyes is the Verbal Evidence of God, where God is the Way , the interconnecting behavior of everything, so that it all seems to rise to the threshold of an Intelligence

[jmg94j]

What do you mean Shermer never connected with any of the points you made initially? The only point that you have made during this debate so far is that the universe is fine tuned, and incredibly complex, therefore God did it. That is the "God of the gaps" argument and Dr Shermer smacked that argument down by pointing out that many gaps that people used to attribute to God have now been filled with natural explanations, and any gaps that remain are not proof of God, they are only proof of gaps.

[JerezJulio]

the bottom line is that in science, it is the owner of the claim that has to produce material evidence.

Maybe some Email from heaven with a return address, maybe a recipe for reproducing a miracle, stuff like that is acceptable proof. Your personal beliefs are not proof, since no one can reproduce then the way you see then.

same goes for Alien and Alien adoptions, until someone come up with material evidence,

at best, it is just personal anecdotes from people who lost their sanity.

[dwheel39]

@cjunk351 are you serious? Do you know how silly that sounds, seeing that you're invoking reason and attempting to use "intelligence" to refute an intelligent origin for your intelligence. So if there is no intelligent source, or origin, for intelligence, then how on earth can your reasoning be valid?!! seriously ..think about that. No knee jerk reactions you picked up from some favorite atheist of yours, but seriously ponder this and take your time. :)

[cjunk351]

@dwheel39 Actually, there is no evidence whatsoever for intelligent design