Credible/Honest Apologetics?

[Simon Moon]

But should personal testimony actually be considered good enough by anyone, is the question? Even to those claim to have had one?


People have "personal testimony" for an almost endless number of supernatural claims: various mutually exclusive gods, witches, UFO abductions, encounters with bigfoot, encounters with Jinn, ghosts, zombies, exorcisms, etc, etc, etc.

Most of the people that have some of these 'personal experiences', will understand that most of the other of these claims should not be believed based on the peroneal experience of others, many times because they are rightfully skeptical, and understand the unreliability of peroneal experiences. "My personal experience with my specific god is absolutely true... but come on, alien abductions. Let's be serious."

Well, you believe nearly all of the personal experiences you have every day. Unless you're probing the sidewalk in front of you to make sure it's not a hologram, or double checking the produce at the supermarket to check that it's not an illusion. 

Yes, because that is the world I am presented with, and those things are completely mundane. And all those people that claim personal experience with a god, also experience the sidewalk and produce in the same way I do. A Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Jain, Zoroastrian, atheist, etc, etc, etc, all experience sidewalks and produce in almost the exact same way, because we all agree we share a reality.

But atheists and skeptics, do our best not to add things that are not in evidence in our shared reality. Especially things that rely on personal testimony, because of the inherent unreliability of personal testimony. After all, more than 50% of the people miss the obvious in this video:





And as I have said multiple times, people of many religions claim to have personal experiences with their god, yet they themselves do not believe when someone of another religion claims to have had a personal experience with their god. Anyone with just a modicum or critical thinking skills should question their own personal testimony.

As I've said a couple of times now, we hold up our experiences, or the claimed experiences of others, against a pre-determined set of things we hold to be possible. And if the interpretation of the experience falls outside those boundaries, we reject it. 

Your boundaries are clear. Other people's are different. The point I was making is that you use these boundaries and standards in your continuing position as an atheist. These beliefs -- that certain kinds of testimony should be dismissed -- are essential to your atheism.

I haven't ruled out the possibility of the existence of gods, or other supernatural claim. I am open to demonstrable and falsifiable evidence, reasoned argument, and valid and sound logic to support the existence of gods. Has any ever been presented?

Yes, my boundaries are clear, because I don't want to be a credulous, gullible fool.