(September 17, 2017 at 1:41 am)Mr.wizard Wrote:(September 16, 2017 at 10:32 pm)SteveII Wrote: Testimony is an assertion of fact. If you believe the person you accept the content of the testimony as fact. If you accept someone's testimony as fact, you have evidence to support a conclusion. Notice none of these steps are considered proof.Yes it is an assertion of fact, not an actual fact, in order for it to be fact it would need to be verified. So Testimony absent verification cannot be fact, therefore it cannot be evidence, since you defined evidence as "facts that support a conclusion".
I said that last statement because some people here think testimony is not evidence in any situation.
If your just going to let people assert their own "facts" without verification, you put yourself in a position in which you can't determine what is actually true. Your actually a walking example of special pleading because you accept these unverified claims of Christianity as fact, but you don't apply that same standard to the claims of the various religions.
Multiple assertions of the same fact is verification. We know a large number of people believed the same as the assertions (not because of them) -more verification.
You can't simply claim special pleading. Illustrate how there are similar circumstances in some other religion. Back up your argument.
