(May 2, 2009 at 2:15 pm)Sai Wrote: In fact, I can turn the question around: do you require evidence for every little facet of life? I'm sure you don't - we constantly trust and believe in what our body and our soul tells us. But once the consciousness gets "trained" to work with evidence, it begins to deny the other ways of finding truth.Well it's hard to demand evidence for EVERYTHING in your life....but when you feel something then I usually think that is at least generally self-evidence that you are feeling it! For example....
The truth of it on the other hand is more guess-work, it's hard knowing why and how you feel what you feel sometimes... but just because I can get it wrong - for example - and it NOT be evidence doesn't mean I DON'T only wish to believe in what there is evidence of...
What used to be evidence, in science for example, in the past, isn't ALWAYS evidence any more because science makes mistakes, because it's not perfect because scientists aren't perfect, because people aren't perfect...etc.
But the fact that science continues to keep looking to the evidence, looking to the evidence, and keep going back to the evidence - is one of the things that makes it so awesome....
Just because they get it wrong sometimes - or you can misjudge your own feelings because it's not always very reliable evidence in regards to YOURSELF and your OWN feelings (or feelings of others, empathy etc) - doesn't mean to not keep looking...
And the thing is, feelings have got absolutely nothing to do with the existence (or non-existence) of things in the real world, they're not evidence of existence.
They're more about empathy (the truth of feelings that is, e.g). I mean no matter how you feel about 'God' or 'Jesus' it doesn't count as evidence of his existence...because you can feel like that about anything! Existent or non-existent.
If you have awesome feelings towards Superman, The Hulk, or Spiderman, for example! Hypothetically speaking - and you just "FEEL" and "KNOW" that they really do exist ( I mean if you say and believe that)....does this count remotely as evidence that they actually exist outside comic books, cartoons, TV shows and movies, etc?
No.
Same with Jesus or God. Feelings are not evidence.
EvF
P.S: Oh, and as Adrian basically says: WHAT other ways of finding truth? As far as we know empirical evidence is the only way to go for the evidence of the existence of things!
And if you have any other evidence besides just feelings (that AREN'T evidence), for the existence of God, I'd like to know what you believe this evidence IS?
