(August 10, 2016 at 6:25 pm)Simon Moon Wrote:(August 10, 2016 at 3:47 pm)SteveII Wrote: Billions of people have entered into a relationship with God. Their experience/testimony would be empirical evidence for everything we are discussing.
Billions of people have CLAIMED to have entered a relationship with 'God', many gods actually.
If 1.5 billion Muslims clam to have a personal relationship with their god, is that 'empirical evidence' that Allah exists?
You are guilty of the fallacy of special pleading. Not too impressive.
I doubt whether you know what the term 'empirical evidence' means.
Do you believe that every Christian that claims to have entered a 'personal relationship with God' has actually done so, or is there some percentage of Christians that are delusional, or fooling themselves, or misinterpreting some other feeling as a 'personal relationship with God'?
1. Sure. But the doctrine of salvation in Christianity is unique. No other religion describes a personal relationship with God.
2. Muslims do not attempt to have a relationship with God. They specifically believe that is not possible.
3. Since there are no comparable religions to Christianity (specifically the doctrine of salvation), there is no special pleading.
4. Empirical: based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic.
5. No. I don't believe everyone who claims to be a Christian has experienced the event of 'salvation' and the effect of regeneration as described in the NT. Does that really change anything?
