Fundie: Math Proves the Resurrection

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Solauren
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Fundie: Math Proves the Resurrection

Post by Solauren »

What the Hell
Math Proves Christ's Resurrection?

It is faith, not proof, that makes Christians believe in Jesus Christ's resurrection, the central tenet of the religion. Until now.

Oxford University professor Richard Swinburne, a leading philosopher of religion, has seemingly done the impossible. Using logic and mathematics, he has created a formula that he says shows a 97 percent certainty that Jesus Christ was resurrected by God the Father, report The Age and Catholic News.

This stunning conclusion was made based on a series of complex calculations grounded in the following logic:

1. The probably of God's existence is one in two. That is, God either exists or doesn't.

2. The probability that God became incarnate, that is embodied in human form, is also one in two.

3. The evidence for God's existence is an argument for the resurrection.

4. The chance of Christ's resurrection not being reported by the gospels has a probability of one in 10.

5. Considering all these factors together, there is a one in 1,000 chance that the resurrection is not true.

"New Testament scholars say the only evidences are witnesses in the four gospels. That's only five percent of the evidence," Swinburne said in a lecture he gave at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne. "We can't judge the question of the resurrection unless we ask first whether there's reason to suppose there is a God. Secondly, if we have reason to suppose he would become incarnate, and thirdly, if he did, whether he would live the sort of life Jesus did." He says that even Jesus' life is not enough proof. However, the resurrection is "God's signature," which shows "his approval of Jesus' teaching."

The calculations that Swinburne says prove the resurrection are detailed in his book, "The Resurrection of God Incarnate."
Ummmm. YEAH.....

So, he says there's a 50:50 chance there is no god, but 97% that he was resurrected?

YEAH.
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Post by Pick »

:wtf:

That makes NO sense at all!
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Post by felineki »

Wow. That's awful. I can't understand how anyone can think that two possible outcomes means a 50% chance of either happening.
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Post by Nephtys »

This is the same excuse someone once jokingly applied to how nuclear war is inevitable. Example:

Chances of accidental nuclear detonation is 50/50. (50% OK)
Chances of war with Russia is 50/50 (25% OK)
Chances of war with China is 50/50 (12.5% OK)
Chances of war with Pakistan is 50/50 (etc... ad nauseum)

It's the worst and blatant miuse of clearly false and indeed, idiotic 'logic' possible.
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Post by Guardsman Bass »

What a pathetic attempt to warp math for the stupid. By that same logic:

I am either rich or not. (1/2)
If I am rich, I am either happy or sad (1/2)
If I am happy, it means I am probably getting laid.
The chance of me talking complete bullshit is 1 out of 10,000.
Therefore, the odds of me NOT being rich, happy, and getting laid are only 1 in 40,000. :roll:
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Post by SoX »

Im so mad after reading that.
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Post by SecondToDie »

Sadly, millions of people in America are actually going to believe this proves without a doubt that their religion is true, despite the fact that this moron is a professor of religion, not a professor of math.
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Post by Utsanomiko »

50/50?

*Checks under bed for treasure chest full of gold*

. . .

GOD DAMMIT!
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Post by Erik von Nein »

Of course Jesus is real! He's posing as my friend's brother. Just last night he went to the annual fair and preached to the masses.
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Post by Utsanomiko »

But wait!

*Checks under brother's bed*

Damn stupid luck! That should have been a 75% chance of being there!
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Post by The Spartan »

The first, and biggest, mistake is in their very first premise. The probability of God, i.e. the Christian God, exisiting is not one-in-two. It's more like one in a thousand, probably lower, because he has to compete with Zeus, Thor, Baal, Thoth(my favorite) and so on and so forth. With that in mind, the probability of the resurrection probably flips around to 1-to-1000 against(just to speculate).

And that's without considering other things, like parsimony, the impossibility of reviving a rotting corpse, etc.

These assholes, it seems to me, assumed their conclusion was true and then proceeded from there. Disingenuous to say the least. Also, something else to note is that this guy is "a leading philosopher of religion." Or, to put it another way, not a mathematician. Makes me wonder if he ever actually took a statistics course or if he did and decided to try and twist the math to his will. Fucker.
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Post by InnocentBystander »

A man with a BA in Economics wrote:4. The chance of Christ's resurrection not being reported by the gospels has a probability of one in 10.
And how does he prove this statement..?
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Post by Patrick Degan »

Richard Swinburne wrote:"We can't judge the question of the resurrection unless we ask first whether there's reason to suppose there is a God. Secondly, if we have reason to suppose he would become incarnate, and thirdly, if he did, whether he would live the sort of life Jesus did." He says that even Jesus' life is not enough proof. However, the resurrection is "God's signature," which shows "his approval of Jesus' teaching."
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Post by Gandalf »

There are about a million single women around my age in Australia.

They either will or won't turn up at my house looking for sex.

The odds of me being a virgin tomorrow are about 2 to the power of 1,000,000.
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Post by weemadando »

Utsanomiko wrote:But wait!

*Checks under brother's bed*

Damn stupid luck! That should have been a 75% chance of being there!
HAHA! That's because there's a 100% probability its under MY bed.

*looks*

FUCK! The Catholic Church must have stolen it using secret Jesus ninjas!
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Re: Fundie: Math Proves the Resurrection

Post by FSTargetDrone »

Oxford University professor Richard Swinburne, a leading philosopher of religion, has seemingly done the impossible. Using logic and mathematics, he has created a formula that he says shows a 97 percent certainty that Jesus Christ was resurrected by God the Father, report The Age and Catholic News.
Illogical use of math there. No doubt there is a reason he is a professor/philospher of religion and not mathematics.
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Post by weemadando »

I can't believe that this shit is coming out of Australia.
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Post by Adrian Laguna »

By this guy's logic I could probably calculate with 97% certainty that I'm God, and you're all my bitches. However it is way to deep into the night, and I'm too tired to try.
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Post by Zadius »

1. I am Jesus.
2. Jesus cannot tell a lie.
3. Therefore, I am Jesus.
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Post by Quadlok »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but every time you add a percent probability to an equation, the aggregate goes down, not up. The odds of flipping heads 8 times in a row is significantly less than doing the same once.
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Post by DPDarkPrimus »

Adrian Laguna wrote:By this guy's logic I could probably calculate with 97% certainty that I'm God, and you're all my bitches. However it is way to deep into the night, and I'm too tired to try.
Well, you have a 50% chance of being god, period! :lol:
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Post by wautd »

my respect to the word professor just took a big dent. I mean... what the fuck?!?
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Post by Noble Ire »

1. I am sentient, 50% chance
I am not sentient, 50% chance

2. Being sentient ensures that I am able to think 50% chance
Being Sentient does not ensure that I can think 50% chance

3. The ability to type is one of only 10,000 (exactly) things a thinking human can do

Thus, it is vastly improbable that I am capable of type the words you are reading.
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Post by Lord Zentei »

wautd wrote:my respect to the word professor just took a big dent. I mean... what the fuck?!?
Explanation:
Oxford University professor Richard Swinburne, a leading philosopher of religion
But sadly, I have to agree. Someone needs to beat this moron with a cluestick. Hard.
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Post by Lusankya »

Is he saying that only one of those things has to be true for the ressurrection to be true?

ie. There is a god, therefore the resurrection is true,

... I think my brain just exploded.
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