As a Christian fundamentalist, Robert Turkel, aka "J.P. Holding," believes in many things that are clearly not true-such as, for example, Young Earth Creationism. One of the many problems with believing in things that are not true is that you often cannot support your beliefs when you are pressed to do so. Below are a few examples of Turkel failing to provide answers to basic and important questions about his beliefs.
"What I mean by this specifically is: Mr. Holding, what would it take for you to admit that the Bible contained errors? What would it have to say to be discrepant? Can you give an example of a contradiction that you would accept as impossible to harmonize, and that you would agree casts doubt on the Bible's overall reliability and trustworthiness? All your erudition appears to have provided you with no end of creative ways to explain contradictions away. Is there any even hypothetical contradiction that could not be resolved by any of these techniques?""In my experience, asking this question is the way to tell the difference between an open and a closed mind. Closed-minded theists, such as I believe Mr. Holding is, may present very persuasive-sounding arguments elsewhere, and they may appear compelling and in command of the facts, but present them with a question like this and they will not - cannot - answer it. They will bob and weave, they will evade and segue into irrelevancies, they will give long lists of reasons why the question is unimportant, they will attack the questioner for asking it, but they will not answer it. So far, Mr. Holding's behavior fits this pattern to a T."
"The first time I asked him what would convince him he was wrong, he replied only with the non-answer, 'More than you've provided.' When I pointed this out, he composed an amusing second reply in which he claimed his answer was far more than that - but still refused to say what his answer actually was. Well, such evasive maneuvers will not help him. What's so hard about answering this question, Mr. Holding? What would you accept as a contradiction? We all await your next reply with bated breath."
Interestingly, in a different discussion, Turkel demanded that a forum participant demonstrate that his claim was falsifiable: "Now why don't you explain to us how your thesis is falsifiable and therefore actually worth consideration?" Robert Turkel/"J.P. Holding" December 7th 2004
Turkel says that he believes that Genesis is literally true, but he refuses to explain why he believes this. More information regarding "J.P. Holding's" young earth creationist beliefs is located here.
From the discussion thread:
"Hey 'Holding'-since you're a self-proclaimed bible expert, could you tell me if you think that your god made the statements above that are attributed to him? And if you do think these quotes are genuine, please explain why you think they are genuine.""If you do not think they are genuine, would you say that they represent bible errors?"
In the discussion thread Turkel employed a variety of tactics to dodge this question.
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4/25/05