(December 7, 2016 at 4:14 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote:(December 7, 2016 at 4:04 pm)Simon Moon Wrote: A high percentage of Hindus, Jains, Zoroastrians, Muslims claim to have positive 'god' related experiences with mutually exclusive deities...Yet, according to Neo, they are wrong and only those that follow his brand of religion are right. Yet, most of the people from those other religions claim the same thing...I am sure that Neo-Scholastic would not accept his epiphany actually being caused by the Hindu gods, right?...The only thing Neo has to differentiate my friend's religious experience, to the ones related to his god, is special pleading.Three time you have put words in my mouth. Simon, you should know by now that I am very ecumenical. Contrary to the position you have projected on me, I could accept the idea that your friend had a genuine encounter with the Divine. I truly enjoy meeting and talking with people like your friend. Usually, we find quite a bit of common ground. IMHO both atheists and believers can be so literal-minded about details that everything appears like a contradiction to them.
I apologize.
But do you accept he had an actual experience caused by the Hindu god?
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
