Anecdotal Evidence

[bennyboy]

Well you seem to be saying that testimony is not science..... what does that mean in regards to the discussion?  
Yet again, you seem to be saying that if you do not see it for yourself, that it is not evidence, or that it is only evidence to the one who has seen.   Do you not know anything, which you have not personally seen? (it must be a small world for you).

People are more likely to accept "testimony" about categories for which they already have experience, to have curiosity or suspicion about those categories for which they do not already have experience, and deep suspicion or disbelief for those which contradict what they already know, not only in detail but on a more fundamental level.

For example, if someone says they saw Johnny and he's wearing a nose ring these days, I'm likely to take that at face value. I might be surprised that Johnny would do such a thing, but I know people sometimes change and do stuff like that.

If someone says Johnny walked on water and gave a blind man his vision, I'm unlikely to take that at face value.

To you, it's the same process: somebody said something, and their "testimony" is evidence of truth. But the farther claims range from what I believe to be true, the more likely I am to resist the claim.

In the case of science, I've done relatively few investigations. However, of the few I've done with my own hands, they have ALWAYS turned out as expected. I therefore believe if I follow a course of science, I will learn a lot about the world, and my trust comes from the fact that I can either reproduce, or have a sensible explanation about why I can't reproduce results.

In the case of religion, my own inquiries have produced little results. Instead of clarifying their position, those religious spiritualists whom I've met attempt to cloud or mystify the subject. They cannot accurately describe how they made their own inquiries, or how I can make mine to produce a useful result. Their testimony does not provide me with any benefit to my world view-- nothing is well-explained, answers to those questions I care about are not really given. I'm not willing to sit in a monastery for 20 years on a promise that eventually I will come into communion with God.