(Originally written April 26, 2007 in Book 25)
Class Notes
Plantinga views this problem as a purely logical inconsistency. Thus, any coherent dissolving of the apparent inconsistency is sufficient. Plantinga uses transworld depravity to dissolve the inconsistency.
Verification principle: a sentence is only meaningful if and only if a sentence, in principle, is verifiable by empirical evidence.
Falsification: (Antony Flew) in order to be a meaningful statement, a statement must be, at least in principle, falsifiable.
God loves us as a Father loves his children. According to Flew this is a meaningless statement because we have many experiences that do not fit nicely with this statement.
The fact that believers allow nothing to count against God's love shows that their language is unfalsifiable and therefore, meaningless.
R. M. Hare
Blik - an unfalsifiable statement that is an assumption that you cannot change.
Hare asserts that Flew is correct on the grounds that he states, but has completely misunderstood religious language.
Hare asserts that when Christians hold that God loves us as a Father they are not making factual assertions, they are assuming bliks.
Basil Mitchell
The parable of the stranger: the leader of the resistance movement will sometimes be seen resisting and sometimes fighting against the resistance. We have to assume that no matter what, the stranger knows best.
Mitchell asserts that God loves us as a Father despite events that seem to contradict that statement.
Thus, what he believes is in principle, falsifiable. He simply does not allow the events to falsify his beliefs.
Mitchell concedes to Flew that believers normally do not allow evidence to falsify their beliefs, but they do feel the tension of the seeming inconsistency between evil and a loving God.
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