Calmador said:
1. Absolutely, I would think that that would be obvious. I doubt a court case would be solved... by some guy saying.. Yeeaaah I saw him murder her... Judge says,"case closed" lol Nevertheless, testomonial evidence is used as support. That was my point. That's for a court case... However for me as an individual or any individual. Me personally seeing something super natural AFTER I prayed to ask for that specific something is easily 100% evidence of God's existence. All I was trying to persue the other guy was that wouldn't be logical... reasonabel for YOU the hearer of my testimony.. to (shrugs) check it out a little better? I mean I'm not the only guy... I personally met and know other people in real life that have had these experiences... let alone the rumors that are out there. Its definitely evidence. Why would people talk about things that never happened?
2. Maybe you didn't read my other posts... because I definitely have considered other explanations. The pyschological and nueroscience possibilities... are unreasonable because I don't have "visions" on a daily bases... nor do I do drugs.. or drink alchohol. I never have done any of those. Quantum physic, I don't know about it. Is there something in quantum physics that explains people's prayers being replied and then that they see geometric shape on the cieling, light green shape, in the middle of the night? I just did a quick google search on it... and found people saying it supports the idea of God.
3. It was definitely supernatural and it was definitely God. How do I know... because the God of the Bible does not share his God-hood. I prayed to that one God who doesn't share his God-hood and I asked him to prove himself in that image. He did and claimed it. I see a great difference between Christianity and all other major religions. Its like water and oil. They don't mix. Christianity says good is 100% good and evil is less than 100%. All other major religions tthink good and evil are relative... Islam does aswell... although people might mistake it for being black and white aswell. Islam and muslims believe God does both good and evil. Christians believe God only does good.
4. That's a fundementally HUGE difference and its like that with the rest of "spirituality." If the other spirituality as you put, exists... it wouldn't have identified itself as the Christian God. Instead, I got a confirmation of the Christian God and I'm really glad because he is easily most sensable, good, and most loving God of all.
5. What better proof is there than personal experience for an individual? And yes I can expect other people to believe my interpertation since its reasonable and straight foreward. I saw God respond to my prayer. It can happen by that alone... your the one who are basing your conclusions on bad grounds. When personal experience is GREAT evidence (you say otherwise which is pretty ridiculous by default)
I've been reading texts outside of religion for the past 25 years... There are many explanations but you'd have to be purposely difficult or naive to not see how easily the evidence of my testimony point to a certian explanation.
There was a time when I was very open to God not existing... I wanted to KNOW that existed by this vision. Now I know, give God a chance... Like, I said above... I have read non-religious books.. I have hundreds of them in my closest right now. I like reading. How about you? Have you read the Bible? Do you know the fundmental beliefs? Do you know what your agaisnt?
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1. Let me put it this way. The way a witness answers a question in court is heavily skewed by the vocabulary used when the question is asked. Memories are incredibly easy to manipulate and are influenced by numerous factors. Without supporting evidence, witness testimonials are next to useless.
2. If you've read up on psychology, neuroscience and simply the biology of your eyes, then you should also know that the brain is quite capable of conjuring up different images, especially when in the dark. You don't need drugs for the imagination to interpret what you see, or hear and give it context based on your own bias. The sub-conscious brain is more than capable of conjuring up thoughts or images that could be associated with god, especially when the context of prayer is put in. For instance, I've seen a figure in red robes when in a dark room (I wasn't praying) which wasn't there, but I now know how big a part the brain plays in vision and how the brain likes to interpret and put context into your sight. Had I been praying at the time, my own bias, the context of prayer and the coincidence of seeing the figure would likely have made me associate it with god. But that's not evidence of god, it's a trick of the human brain.
I recommend looking into some of the stuff Derren Brown has done and how easily the brain can be manipulated, even during the course of a 5-10 minute journey to work.
3. I don't want to get too far into a moral debate but 'good' and 'evil' are both human constructs and are both completely relative to the rules of the society you live in. They are forever changing. In the past, slavery was completely acceptable, now it's evil. You can die a martyr and by one group you're seen as the epitome of 'good' but by another you're completely 'evil'. It's all relative and it's entirely human.
On that note, even the formation of the new testament is heavily influenced by humans. There were far more texts than are currently included and the chosen texts were picked by humans, with all their flaws and bias.
4. There are 5 other major religions around the world and I'm pretty sure each one has individuals describing similar events as you're describing here. Spiritiuality isn't solely a Christian thing, it isn't even solely a god thing. Again, context is everything. If you were raised in a predominantly Hindu area, you're more likely to associate your personal experiences with Hindu gods as that's what your brain has the most knowledge of and you would have been praying to Hindu gods.
5. Personal experience is a horrible way to prove anything. We all have bias, we're all flawed and as I've alluded to in points 1&2, we're all incredibly easy to influence, mainpulate and delude. The best way to prove something is to gather data/information from multiple methods and sources, then scrutinise that information with a range of other people, test it and repeat until you have a solid argument.
Your testimony means absolutely nothing if you can't back it up with more information than personal experiences. I see no reason to treat you any different to any other witness, therefore I need to see accompanying evidence (other people's personal experiences are just as wishy washy for the reasons stated in points 1&2).
I also find it odd you say I'm basing my conclusions on bad grounds. What conclusions? You're the one basing conclusions on only a single method (personal and bias experiences). I'm saying there isn't anywhere near enough information to reach the conclusions you've come to.