Unraveling of Dan Barker

Video on the Dan Barker/James White debate.

Debate confrontation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ-NBFFMm90

Debate Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00WOGeGcjYo

Debate Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw1gVAWaRVw

Exegesis of Justin Martyr:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqf3OvKqG6E

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Jesus
• Christ
• Christian
• Christianity
• Bible
• Biblical
• Scripture
• Scriptural
• church
• Catholic
• Catholicism
• Orthodox
• Orthodoxy
• Anglican
• Anglicanism
• Dan
• Barker
• James
• White

[unmaschio]

Dude - I could hardly watch this after a few minutes. First, how haughty of you to say that a person can't get above their raising. Dan is not an idiot. He explains in his writings (after this video) how his mental transformation took place, but it's only people who have never been through that who can't seem to grasp how it happens. I do think Dan overreacted to the citation of his book, but you have not refuted any of Dan's claims, given the ability to do so at your leisure.

[labarum312]

@unmaschio Dan Barker used the same arguments on the topic of the debate in two books over a period of decade and a half. Any elementary search of the topic would have shown those arguements were complete nonsense. It was actually Richard Carrier who ended up telliing him shortly before the debate what he was saying was complete bs. if you are placing something in writing that long without ever bothering to check your sources, that still sounds pretty fundie to me.

[FatherofMan25]

this is so typical of christians. in 2000 years there is still no evidence at all for the existence of a god. let alone the specific god you insist upon. i don't know whether dan barker did or didn't commit some sort of error in this debate. it doesn't matter to me at all. it doesn't change the fact that all religions are scams that rely on misinformation and preying upon children in order to exist. "look everyone dan barker messed up!" who cares you fundie. go read a book not called the bible.

[labarum312]

This was hardly a matter of a simple debating misstep. Barker had been using the same arguments for over a decade and a half, included them in two books (one less than two years ago), and even a cursory check with anything resembling scholarship would have shown it to be complete bs. Now he tried to exclude it from the debate but admitting his past error. As for reading, my videos and your comments demonstrate I have read a lot more than you. So whose the fundie?

[laserwolf130]

I'm not sure what this guy is even talking about ...where do these god people come from ?? what kind of fantasy life have they been living ...christianity and islam are just plagerisms of judaism ...and judaism was just pure fantasy to give an obscure people an identity .....why is it not bleeding obvious to these religious nutbars ...because their egos tell them they have to be right ....WRONG I say

[labarum312]

@laserwolf130 Let's see... ignore the topic of the video...check! Ignore the evidence presented...check! Ad hominem attacks ... check! Amateur pyschoanalysis ... check!No clue about history ... check! Yes, another day on Youtube.

[PowerRedBull]

I think there are more ways of looking at it. An atheist is still an "emotional"person who can get mad, make a mistake in a discussin and what not. However, the whole concept of the bible is something that is so absurd that I think it's quite rediculous one has to even seriously come up with "arguments/sources/reasons"and what not for proviing it's all pure nonsense. Would that not mean that every purely fictional character in a book has to be 'proved not to be real' to be labeled as"FICTIONAL'?

[unmaschio]

...cosmic evil and the "evil experienced by people in the form of calamity." Either way, I am I supposed to think it's great that God created this? Do you hold the same position as CARM? Dan acknowledged in the debate that he might not hold some views he previously wrote about (and the debate, as he said, was not about his previous writings). Anyway, if there's a single issue that you think Dan supports now re: early Christians or anyone else, say what this is in print so that I can look it up,

[unmaschio]

Ok, here's an "elementary search" of the first specific example you give about 11 minutes in, and it's a Bible quote re creation of "evil" or "calamity." The CARM.org (Christian Apologetics site) explains the issue this way:

The "evil" that is spoken of is not ontological evil, but the evil experienced by people in the form of calamity.

I'm not so sure that if I were a kid whose parents were wiped away in an earthquake that I would be making a fine distinction between some sort of....

[PissedFechtmeister]

@labarum312 Barker's objection was one of the strangest things I've seen in a debate.

[PissedFechtmeister]

I do want to say one thing about God creating evil. Is creating calamity any better? A morally perfect being would do no such thing.

[PissedFechtmeister]

I'm a Catholic turned Fundamentalist turned Liberal turned Atheist turned Jesus Myther (and still an Atheist) and I have to say that I agree with almost everything in this video. I only watched the opening statements and some of the question/answer segment and it was painful to watch Barker try to defend a thesis that can be disproven with 5 minutes of Google time. The origins of the Jesus Myth are firmly within Judaism. (cont.)

[wowamonn]

Terrible, Terrible analysis of Dan Barker.