(July 10, 2012 at 11:30 pm)Jeffonthenet Wrote: I don't care what you call yourself or me… I believe, like many many other Christians based on the personal experience of God.
Oh, so you've had "a personal experience of God"? Great! But people have also reported "personal experiences" of being abducted by aliens, riding on comets and having conversations with invisible beings. You're in some mighty fine company.
Quote:Yet personal experience is by definition unsharable, so I cannot communicate to you that experience, I can only testify to you based on my experience.
So what exactly was this "experience"? Because I'll bet we could provide some plausible explanations beyond "God".
Quote: Why am I obligated to prove God in this case?
Only if you want to convince us your imaginary friend is real are you obligated to "prove god". Otherwise, you can live in your little delusion and we don't care.
Quote:I also disagree that the existence of God is an extraordinary claim that requires extraordinary evidence.
The existence of an invisible, all knowing and all powerful being who supposedly created the entire universe isn't an extraordinary claim? I can't really think of anything that would be more extraordinary.
Quote: God's existence has been, conversely, taken for granted up until the enlightenment.
Yes, as soon as people started to gain real knowledge about the natural world belief in your god began to wane. See a connection there?
Science flies us to the moon and stars. Religion flies us into buildings.
God allowed 200,000 people to die in an earthquake. So what makes you think he cares about YOUR problems?
God allowed 200,000 people to die in an earthquake. So what makes you think he cares about YOUR problems?