Private Subjective Experience is No Evidence At All: Against William Lane Craig's Inner Witness of the Spirit
Since I've written a lot against Craig's claim of the inner witness of the Spirit I've decided to gather together the most important posts about it here. Christians are claiming I am ignorant about what he claims. Nope, I'm not. That's a typical response. I understand that Craig is not claiming this inner witness is sufficient to convince other people to believe. He's claiming instead that this supposed inner witness is sufficient to convince him. Thomas Larsen even asked if I've read Alvin Plantinga's Warranted Christian Belief, as if that would straighten me out. He said the questions I pose about this "are elementary and, frankly, quite embarrassing for you." But given the looks of Larsen he was still in diapers as I was taking a master's level class with Bill Craig at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School on Plantinga's epistemology. And I have read through the important parts of Plantinga's book and dissected them in Why I Became an Atheist.
My argument in a link below is that it doesn't matter how you dress it up philosophically. A delusion is a delusion is a delusion. I'm arguing that Bill Craig is deluded to claim such a thing and that he should know better. I know he's not trying to convince anyone else that he experienced it. He distinguishes between knowing Christianity is true from showing it to be true. He claims to know it's true by the inner witness of the Spirit. I'm trying to disabuse him of this claim, as impossible as it is to do so with a deluded person. And even if I can't, there are more reasonable Christians listening in who might be persuaded against Craig. I'm trying to point out to reasonable people how deluded such a claim is, regardless of whether any Christian sees it for what it is.
Listen up, God spoke to Moses privately, and privately to Paul, and likewise to Joseph Smith, and to Mohammed, and to many Pentecostals, and to David Koresh, and to many of the prophets we read in the Old Testament. Why does God always speak to people privately? Why do most people claim to know God in a private way? A private subjective experience has no more evidence for it than none at all. Given that most people are delusional when they make such claims it's extremely probable Craig is too. The ONLY reason evangelicals buy into this is because they need to believe. They would never entertain Craig's claim if they were a Mormon, or Muslim, Catholic, or Jew.
Is William Lane Craig Dishonest With the Facts? I've Drawn a Line in the Sand.
It Does Not Matter How You Philosophically Dress It Up. A Delusion is a Delusion is a Delusion.
William Lane Craig: "No Amount of Evidence or Reasoning Could Convince Me I'm Wrong."
Arguments supporting the proper basically of belief in the Christian God also work to support the proper basically of belief in Allah.
William Lane Craig: "Christian belief is not based on the historical evidence."
Delusional on a Grand Scale: Assessing The Inner Witness of the Spirit
William Lane Craig On Whether the Witness of the Spirit is Question-Begging
William Lane Craig is an Epistemological Solipsist
William Lane Craig is an Epistemological Solipsist, Revisited
My argument in a link below is that it doesn't matter how you dress it up philosophically. A delusion is a delusion is a delusion. I'm arguing that Bill Craig is deluded to claim such a thing and that he should know better. I know he's not trying to convince anyone else that he experienced it. He distinguishes between knowing Christianity is true from showing it to be true. He claims to know it's true by the inner witness of the Spirit. I'm trying to disabuse him of this claim, as impossible as it is to do so with a deluded person. And even if I can't, there are more reasonable Christians listening in who might be persuaded against Craig. I'm trying to point out to reasonable people how deluded such a claim is, regardless of whether any Christian sees it for what it is.
Listen up, God spoke to Moses privately, and privately to Paul, and likewise to Joseph Smith, and to Mohammed, and to many Pentecostals, and to David Koresh, and to many of the prophets we read in the Old Testament. Why does God always speak to people privately? Why do most people claim to know God in a private way? A private subjective experience has no more evidence for it than none at all. Given that most people are delusional when they make such claims it's extremely probable Craig is too. The ONLY reason evangelicals buy into this is because they need to believe. They would never entertain Craig's claim if they were a Mormon, or Muslim, Catholic, or Jew.
Is William Lane Craig Dishonest With the Facts? I've Drawn a Line in the Sand.
It Does Not Matter How You Philosophically Dress It Up. A Delusion is a Delusion is a Delusion.
William Lane Craig: "No Amount of Evidence or Reasoning Could Convince Me I'm Wrong."
Arguments supporting the proper basically of belief in the Christian God also work to support the proper basically of belief in Allah.
William Lane Craig: "Christian belief is not based on the historical evidence."
Delusional on a Grand Scale: Assessing The Inner Witness of the Spirit
William Lane Craig On Whether the Witness of the Spirit is Question-Begging
William Lane Craig is an Epistemological Solipsist
William Lane Craig is an Epistemological Solipsist, Revisited