> On 10/30/07, Dave Washburn wrote:
>
> > On 30 Oct 2007 at 8:22, Yigal Levin wrote in part:
> >
> > >Since none of us have yet recieved direct prophecy from God, we
> > > cannot "take on faith" that the authors of the Bible did either.
> >
> > This is perhaps the biggest fallacy of all in "modern" scholarship. "It
> > hasn't
> > happened to me or anyone I know, therefore it doesn't happen." Yes, I
> > know I'm simplifying, but that's the essence of the argument. And it's
> > nothing but a cop-out.
>
> The argument is actually more complex. Let us suppose that we do
> have a proven example of a prophecy from God in exhibit A. How do we
> know that exhibit B is also an example of a prophecy from God? Well, if
> the text in exhibit B deals only with events that took place in the past, we
> could suggest that two necessary (but insufficient) conditions are that
> 1) those events took place exactly as described, and 2) the text is proven
> to have been written before those events. What this means, however,
> is that we have to prove both (1) and (2) independent of the assumption
> that it was a prophecy from God. Otherwise, we get into circular
> reasoning.
That wasn't what you said. And I'm not going to get into this any further
with you.
Dave Washburn
Why do it right when you can do it again?