I have seen the Geisler/Till debate on video and have a copy of the transcript. Thus I am baffled by many of the statements made by Jeff Lowder. I also read it again when Farrell Till reposted it with his responses.
Let me address just one statement made by Mr. Lowder.
Jeff Lowder wrote:
> I have seen
>absolutelyt nothing from Geisler to indicate that he believes "If the
>Bible says it, it must be true."
Dar< This I find incredible. How can someone even remotely familiar with Geisler (as undoubtedly Jeff is) say this?
From his book entitled When Critics Ask (by Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe). Six sentences into their introduction, predictably entitled How To Approach Bible Difficulties, they give this:
"...there are not actual errors in the Scriptures. Why? Because the Bible is the Word of God, and God cannot err." (pg. 10)
Later same page he constructs a syllogism:
GOD CANNOT ERR. THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD. THEREFORE, THE BIBLE CANNOT ERR.
Dar<[Here is where it gets circular:]
"As any student of logic knows, this is a valid syllogism (form of reasoning). So, if the premises are true, the conclusion is also true. As we will show, the Bible clearly declares itself to be the Word of God. It also informs us that God cannot err. The conclusion, then, is inevitable. The Bible cannot err. If the Bible erred in anything it affirms, then God would be mistaken. But God cannot make mistakes." (pg. 11)
Isn't that a whopper!
Clearly Geisler and Co. is saying, as usual:
"If the Bible says it, it must be true."
Of course there many more examples since this is practically a mantram for fundamentalists. Just one more:
"Whatever the bible declares, is true -- whether it is a major point or a minor point." (pg.13)
Why? Because it says it is. See above.
Incidentally, McDowell does this too (here an excerpt from my book):
***
Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, in their book entitled Reasons Skeptics Should Consider Christianity, go on to use evidence based upon the same circular reasoning that all fundamentalists use when asserting the inerrancy of the very words of the Bible.
"The evidence that the very words of the Bible are God-given may be briefly summarized as follows: 1.) This is THE CLAIM OF THE classical TEXT (2 Tim. 3:16) 2.) IT IS the emphatic TESTIMONY OF PAUL that he spoke in Words...taught by the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:13) 3.) It is evident FROM THE REPEATED FORMULA, "It is written" 4.) JESUS SAID that which was written in the whole Old Testament spoke of him (Luke 24:27, 44, John 5:39, Heb. 10:7 5.) THE NEW TESTAMENT constantly EQUATES the Word of God with Scripture (Matt. 21:42, Rom. 15:4) 6.) JESUS INDICATED that not even the smallest part of a Hebrew word or letter could be broken (Matt. 5:18) 7.) THE NEW TESTAMENT REFERS to the written record as the "oracles of God" (Rom. 3:2, Heb. 5:12) 8.) And occasionally THE WRITERS were even told to "diminish not a word" (Jer. 26:2); JOHN even PRONOUNCED an anathema upon all who would add to or diminish from this book." -pg. 23 [bold mine]
If you read just the bolded text you will notice that in EACH AND EVERY INSTANCE the evidence put forth is based ENTIRELY upon what THE BIBLE says. **** That is to say once again: "If the Bible says it, it must be true." A statement which, anyone who has read any of Geisler's works can see, he most definitely believes.
D.