(January 8, 2024 at 8:13 pm)JJoseph Wrote: Dear Atheist Friends, what would convince you that the Lord Jesus Christ is real?
For e.g. If He appeared in a dream or a vision to you, for e.g. Or if He worked a healing miracle in your sight. Or an airtight logical argument. Or a very convincing syllogism. Or if He helped you by His Love in a tangible way. Or something like that.
Just trying to understand the heart of the objection toward someone as Good as Jesus Christ. Looking forward to a pleasant discussion. God Bless.
I have no idea what would convince me.
It's like asking someone in the 1200's, what would convince you that 'invisible' organisms are responsible for disease? Long before microscopes are even something they can conceptualize existing.
Appearing in a dream or vision is not even in the ballpark of being convincing. After all, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, etc, see their gods in dreams and visions regularly.
If a 'healing miracle' happened in my presence, I would be seriously impressed, but why would I equate it with a god? Your god specifically? How would you rule out an advanced alien race using technology way beyond our abilities?
An airtight logical argument (with demonstrably true premises), would be a good first step. But so far, none exist. Kalam, ontological, teleological, presupositional "logical" arguments are all demonstrably fallacious.
Not sure what you mean by "helped by his love"? Like getting off drugs? Quitting a life of crime? People do that kind of stuff all the time on their own. Just because some of them claim a god is responsible for it, does not mean it is true.
I have a lifelong friend and surfing buddy. In his late 20's he fell in with the wrong people, and got himself addicted to drugs and alcohol, started living on the streets here in LA, and doing petty crimes for money. One day he walked into a Hindu temple during a celebration and claims he had a vision of Krishna. His transformation after that day was dramatic, he cleaned himself up from drugs, got some menial jobs on construction sites, got himself trained. He now owns his own respected contracting company, has a great family, donates his time to help people on the street. And to this day, he is a practicing Hindu. And he attributes his turn around to the Hindu gods
So, was he helped by the love of the Hindu gods?
The heart of the objection is: lack of demonstrable, falsifiable, verifiable evidence that a god exists. Lack of valid and sound arguments that a god exists.
All I can say is, if a god exists, that truly wants me to know he exists, and would know what would convince me of his existence, he would do so.
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.
