Rationality From Ignoramus To Rationalist Alan Bunning Rationality: From Ignoramus to Rationalist 2nd edition December 6, 2020 West Lafayette, Indiana Copyright © 2020 by Alan Bunning. Verbatim copying and distribution of this book in its entirety is permitted for free non-commercial use provided that this notice is included. This book is available in both online and printed versions. The online version includes embedded hypertext links, searchable text, and can be downloaded from the Internet for free. The printed version is merely provided as a convenience at the publishers cost and the author does not make any profit from any printed or e- book formats that may be offered for sale. Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................................................... 1 i.1 Principles of Rationality ............................................................................... 2 i.1.1 No Religion Allowed ............................................................................. 2 i.1.2 Evidenced Based Reasoning .................................................................. 4 i.1.3 Intellectual Consistency ......................................................................... 5 i.1.4 Objectivity ............................................................................................. 7 i.1.5 Seekers of Truth .................................................................................... 7 i.2 Advancement to Rationalist .......................................................................... 9 Chapter 1: From Ignoramus to Atheist ........................................... 13 1.1 Philosophical Nonsense ............................................................................. 14 1.1.1 Relativism ........................................................................................... 15 1.1.2 Pluralism ............................................................................................. 16 1.1.3 Tolerance ............................................................................................ 16 1.2 Unobtainable Proof .................................................................................... 17 1.3 Advancement to Atheist ............................................................................. 18 Chapter 2: From Atheist To Agnostic .............................................. 21 2.1 The Burden of Proof .................................................................................. 21 2.2 Sociological Perspective ............................................................................ 22 2.2.1 The New Ontological Argument ......................................................... 23 2.3 Irrational Atheists....................................................................................... 25 2.3.1 Religious Atheists ............................................................................... 26 2.3.2 Alogical Philosophy ........................................................................... 28 2.4 Atheist Pretenders ...................................................................................... 29 2.5 Amoral Lifestyle ........................................................................................ 30 2.5.1 The Fruit of Atheism .......................................................................... 31 2.5.2 Judeo-Christian Atheists ..................................................................... 33 2.6 Advancement to Agnostic .......................................................................... 34 Chapter 3: From Agnostic To Supernaturalist ............................... 39 3.1 Religious Agnostics ................................................................................... 39 3.2 Pascal’s Wager ........................................................................................... 40 3.3 Characteristics of Miracles......................................................................... 42 3.3.1 Statistical Coincidences ...................................................................... 42 3.3.2 God of the Gaps .................................................................................. 43 3.3.3 Unexplainable Phenomena ................................................................. 44 3.3.4 Reliability of Witnesses ...................................................................... 45 3.3.5 Scientific Validation ........................................................................... 46 3.4 Scientific Evidence of the Supernatural ..................................................... 47 3.4.1 Life after Death ................................................................................... 48 3.4.2 Kirlian Photography ........................................................................... 50 3.4.3 Fasting Without Water ........................................................................ 52 3.4.4 Prayer .................................................................................................. 53 3.5 The Skeptic’s Response .............................................................................. 55 3.5.1 Cry Baby Excuses ............................................................................... 56 3.5.2 Scientific Voodoo ............................................................................... 58 3.6 Advancement to Supernaturalist ................................................................. 59 Chapter 4: From Supernaturalist to Theist...................................... 65 4.1 The Cosmological Argument ..................................................................... 65 4.1.1 The Big Bang Theory .......................................................................... 66 4.1.2 The Creation of Atoms ........................................................................ 68 4.2 The Law of Biogenesis ............................................................................... 68 4.2.1 Spontaneous Generation ..................................................................... 69 4.2.2 Panspermia/Transpermia ..................................................................... 71 4.2.3 Life is Supernatural ............................................................................. 71 4.3 The Teleological Argument ........................................................................ 73 4.3.1 Intelligent Design Theory ................................................................... 74 4.3.2 Examples of Design ............................................................................ 75 4.3.3 Directed Panspermia ........................................................................... 76 4.3.4 Superior Intelligence ........................................................................... 77 4.4 The Moral Argument .................................................................................. 78 4.5 The Scientific God ...................................................................................... 79 4.6 Advancement to Theist ............................................................................... 80 Chapter 5: From Theist To Abrahamist ........................................... 83 5.1 Theological Significance ............................................................................ 83 5.1.1 Is God Knowable? ............................................................................... 84 5.1.2 Is God Credible? ................................................................................. 85 5.1.3 Is God Relevant? ................................................................................. 87 5.2 Comparative Religion ................................................................................. 88 5.2.1 Subjective Marketing Techniques ....................................................... 89 5.2.2 Establishing Religious Claims ............................................................ 91 5.2.3 Contradictory Claims .......................................................................... 91 5.2.4 Objective Evaluation Criteria .............................................................. 92 5.2.5 Analysis Summary .............................................................................. 94 5.3 The Abrahamic God ................................................................................... 97 5.3.1 Ancient Origins ................................................................................... 97 5.3.2 Source Reliability ................................................................................ 99 5.3.3 Internal Consistency .......................................................................... 100 5.3.4 External Consistency ......................................................................... 101 5.3.5 Supernatural Knowledge ................................................................... 106 5.4 Advancement to Abrahamist .................................................................... 110 Chapter 6: From Abrahamist To “Christian” ............................... 115 6.1 Valid Scripture ......................................................................................... 115 6.1.1 Formation of the Old Testament ....................................................... 116 6.1.2 Formation of the New Testament ...................................................... 117 6.1.3 Additional Books .............................................................................. 118 6.2 Invalid Scripture ......................................................................................