In Case You Noticed All the Recent Comments…

Over the last 18 hours or so, many of my older posts received comments from a blogger called humblesmith. He’s a Christian who believes that the Bible is reliable and was inspired by God. He and I have interacted a number of times over the years, and while we see things very differently, I think we’ve both become impressed with one another’s sincerity.

Several weeks ago, humblesmith emailed me and told me that some time ago I had challenged him to rethink his beliefs and critically examine the evidence against Christianity. So unbeknownst to me, he began researching many of the criticisms that I’ve laid out against it. In his email, he stated that he had come to the end of his study, and he wanted to offer his responses. He was giving me a heads up that he would soon be posting comments on a number of my articles. So that’s what he’s been doing since last night.

I only write this post to make it clear to my regular readers that all these comments are not some kind of spam attack. These are sincere responses from a Christian who had the integrity to consider criticisms I’ve made against his beliefs. I’m going to do my best to pay him the same compliment that he’s paid me by taking his arguments seriously. He and I don’t currently see Christianity the same way, but I do think he’s a good and sincere person. And since he believes that eternity weighs in the balance, I honestly appreciate the care and concern he’s shown for me by offering these arguments. Even if we never ultimately agree, he’s earned my respect.

Of course, I welcome the input of anyone who wants to weigh in on these subjects, but I do hope everyone will treat humblesmith courteously and focus on the arguments, not the individual. Who knows, he may offer some insights we haven’t considered before.

Here is a list of the articles he’s recently commented on:
https://findingtruth.info/2014/06/13/does-the-bible-contain-true-prophecies/#comment-30185
https://findingtruth.info/2011/02/15/prophecy-part-1-introductio/#comment-30186
https://findingtruth.info/2011/02/16/prophecy-part-2-throne-forever/#comment-30187
https://findingtruth.info/2011/02/21/prophecy-part-4-triumphal-entry/#comment-30188
https://findingtruth.info/2011/02/18/prophecy-part-3-egypt-rachel/#comment-30189
https://findingtruth.info/2011/02/24/prophecy-part-6-tyre/#comment-30190
https://findingtruth.info/2014/09/05/an-examination-of-ezekiels-prophecy-of-tyre-part-1/#comment-30191
https://findingtruth.info/2014/09/11/tyre-by-the-numbers/#comment-30193
https://findingtruth.info/2011/02/25/prophecy-part-7-isaiah-53-and-psalm-22/#comment-30196
https://findingtruth.info/2011/03/01/prophecy-part-8-conclusion/#comment-30197
https://findingtruth.info/2011/03/04/contradictions-part-2-two-examples/#comment-30198
https://findingtruth.info/2011/03/08/contradictions-part-3-brief-examples/#comment-30200
https://findingtruth.info/2011/03/09/contradictions-part-4-hares-chewing-the-cud/#comment-30201
https://findingtruth.info/2011/03/10/contradictions-part-5-out-of-egypt/#comment-30202
https://findingtruth.info/2011/04/18/the-problem-of-hell-part-2-logical-issues/#comment-30203
https://findingtruth.info/2011/05/30/a-review-of-lee-strobel-the-problem-of-evil/#comment-30204
https://findingtruth.info/2014/01/10/romans-9-a-divine-and-fickle-dictator/#comment-30205
https://findingtruth.info/2012/02/29/skeptical-bible-study-daniel-chapter-1/#comment-30206

It’s quite a lot, as you can see. This is part of a response I gave to him in one of those last threads:

Hey humblesmith,

Thanks again for taking the time to dig into all of these. It will probably take me a while to fully answer all the comments you’ve left on the various posts. This just happens to be a really busy time for me work-wise, and I want to make sure I consider your points before just spouting off my initial reactions. But I will eventually get around to all of them.

So it might take me a while to go through all of these. Most of them, I haven’t had a chance to read yet. It’s possible that humblesmith might sound condescending in some of these — I don’t know yet. But if he does, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. It’s not easy to read a whole bunch of criticisms of your worldview and then offer rebuttals without sometimes sounding short or flippant. I do think he’s a sincere individual, and I think his points deserve sincere consideration.

Thanks in advance to any of you who decide to help me look into these.