"First off, private debates are pointless"
Who said anything about it being private? I invited you guys to a public forum (though the debate would be one-on-one). Since you guys are apparently a lot smarter than me, I explicitly stated we should do it on a Christian-based web forum where one of you guys could not only destroy me, but do it in front of other Christians and show them why Christianity is stupid.
That's a win-win-win situation for any one of you, right?
"since there's no one there to keep score. Second, debates are of limited value anyway because it's rather easy to win using bullshit and rhetorical tricks -- they are not an especially good forum for finding truth."
Which is funny because in this entire thread, I've heard nothing but bullscat and rhetorical tricks from all of you atheists. According to you, that's one more reason any of you would have the upper hand!
But seriously, this is just cowardly. You guys start this thread about me, acting as if you're geniuses compared to me, then when I ask for a debate, "It's pointless, and you can use tricks and etc. etc."
That's actually pretty amusing.
"Second, the question of God and Occam's razor is a nontrivial one, and indeed fundamental to the debate. In order for "magic man done it" to be a legitimate argument, one has to explain at least to a reasonable first approximation how it was done, how the speaking of a word can bring a universe into being, etc -- fundamentally, a Theory of God. Not one creationist -- not one, ever -- has offered a coherent Theory of God that satisfied the current base of scientific data. The closest anyone's come is Dembski's muddled riffs on information theory, which have been torn apart by many people attacking the premises. Practically everyone else has sidestepped the question completely, implying or outright stating that inquiry into a Theory of God is blasphemy."
Since when did I come in here claiming evolution was false? I would grant for the purpose of the debate that evolution did take place because it really doesn't affect my arguments. Atheism/naturalism is still irrational.
Be careful what you assume.
"Your turn. Lines in the sand and appeals to discredited ID/Creationist arguments will not be allowed. (You may want to check the Index to Creationist Arguments on talkorigins.org as you formulate your answer. There's rather a lot of stuff there.)"
How typical of atheists. Using science to sneak their unscientific philosophy of metaphysical naturalism in "under the radar". I never said evolution was irrational, and yet here you are going on and on about it.
I guess since debates aren't a good way to get at truth (instead of the much better way of getting at truth by sitting on a website and mocking people behind their back where you're almost never criticized), I guess I'll have to let the matter drop. It would have been fun, though. :(
For those of you interested here's a recent debate I had, which I wasn't exactly in top form for, but demonstrates my style. I think you guys are severely underestimating the current state of Christian philosophy.
http://www.christiandiscussionforums.org/v/showthread.php?t=95600
That was me in poor form, by the way. Because I'm shipping out for boot camp on the 11th (of March), I was rushed to get it finished (both my opponent and I agreed to make this take place as quickly as possible).
Although I am leaving, any of you are still free to send me an e-mail to initiate a debate (perferrably on a web forum), I just won't see the e-mail for a few months.
IrishFarmer@gmail.com
