RE: Hi, I'm a Christian. Help Me Disprove My Religion!
September 28, 2015 at 5:31 pm
(This post was last modified: September 28, 2015 at 5:31 pm by Mister Agenda.)
Randy Carson Wrote:Do you not understand what is meant by a 'low claim'?TheRocketSurgeon Wrote:As has been pointed out to you by others, if I found a letter saying you had a friend named Trevor who died at age 17 in 2000, I would tentatively accept that as genuine because I had no reason to argue with it, and I would believe in Trevor's existence only to the degree that I had evidence for it. It's a low claim, so not much proof is required, nor is much belief required. It comes down to a "why not?"
If you were not already aware of this, I have posted thoughts by Prof. Richard Swinburne in another thread of this forum saying the same thing. We believe what others tell us in the absence of good reasons to reject their statements.
If you tell me you tied your shoes this morning, I'll take your word for it. You gain nothing by lying to me and I lose nothing by believing you.
If there's something important riding on it, I'd like some evidence, please, and I'm going to weigh your claim carefully, and consider how trustworthy I can know you to be. The more important the thing riding on the truth of your claim, the more careful I should be in estimating the odds that you are being truthful, are in a position to know the truth, etc.
For instance, let's do an experiment. I tied my shoes this morning. If this is true and you believe it, I'll send you fifty bucks. If it's false and you believe it, you send me fifty bucks. Go.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.