How Christians and there god sound to me.

[The Grand Nudger]

Right, you know everything about the population of {you, me}. But your claim isn't about that population. It's about a much bigger population.

Well, to be fair..not -everything- just that neither of us can establish that a god has interacted with us. This -would- be evidence that it hadn't. Now, clearly you and I aren't representative of the entirety of the population of the earth...except..perhaps strangely.... that the rest of us seem to be just as incapable of or unwilling to establish such interaction as we are.

This is horrible, horrible logic. "We haven't been able to establish p, so we can conclude ~p!"
The fact that you haven't been able to prove something isn't persuasive in the least.

Well, you can't seem to decide whether or not we're talking about proof or evidence can you? You asked me for evidence of absence...and the absence of evidence qualifies as such.

What have you done to establish it? What do you think the state of evidence is with regard to the hypothesis in question (whether God interacts with people)?

Well, I asked you didn't I? You didn't seem to have any evidence, I'm not aware of any evidence, no one else has come forward with any evidence........

Why should I think that your opinion about the state of evidence is reasonable (i.e., what reasons/evidence do you have to support your characterizations of the evidence for the hypothesis)?

Oh you don't have to at all Clive, I mean hell, you could always show that my opinion is entirely unreasonable by reference to a single example (or contend that it isn't reasonable without a single example - as you have done thusfar-). Of course this can also be turned right back at you, why should I think that your opposition to my opinion about the state of evidence is reasonable? We wouldn't get very far that way though would we...and it seems fairly silly to go down that road if the subject is evidence, it's either there or it isn't. I contend that it isn't, that's just the null man, you seem to be opposed to this (but similarly unwilling to directly oppose it by claiming that it is, or presenting it)

I mean, all you're doing is saying "There is no evidence for the hypothesis." That's it. No evidence for your claim (other than the evidence of my own personal testimony), you're just baldly asserting it.

I'm asserting that there's no evidence in support of the hypothesis because no one seems to be willing or capable of presenting any....you think that this is a problem? Again, absence of evidence qualifies as evidence of absence. What you mean to say (likely) is that there's no proof......

The reason why I'm asking for evidence is that I could just as easily say, "There is plenty of evidence for the hypothesis." And, based on your standards of bald assertions without supporting evidence, our claims would now be equal and we'd be at an impasse. Both of these claims are useless in a debate without evidence.

You could, absolutely, and I'd ask you were it was, since you'd be contending that it exists. So...where is it?

Then why did you ask me for my testimony???

Well, if you had any, and you could establish it's accuracy...then that would be all the evidence required for me to change my position...now wouldn't it?

But you're just claiming that there's an absence of evidence. You're just flatly asserting, "There isn't evidence", and asking me to disprove you. That's bullshit. What is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

I'm still looking around...I'm still not seeing any evidence. I'm not asking you for proof of anything Clive...I'm asking for evidence. If i had any evidence, or was aware of any evidence..it would be difficult to come to the conclusion that there isn't any...now wouldn't it? Would whatever you offer prove - one way or another- anything about gods interaction (or lack thereof)...well that's hard to say without having that evidence at hand to consider...don't you think? You're pretty selective about when you attempt to leverage that quote aren't you? Unfortunately it doesn't apply here, you and I both are suffering from a complete absence of evidence...which is evidence of absence. I asserted, -we- provided. Thanks for the help btw.

Now, for a break from evidence, and since you asked about my opinion up there..I'll give you my opinion on something. It's my opinion that this discussion is diversionary, a deflection from that lack of evidence that seems so damning to me and so unimportant to you. A deflection from our previous conversation about your self defeating interpretation of a proverb. It's my opinion that apologetics are all deflection, start to finish (and just to tie the circle...this conversation would be my evidence of the accuracy of that opinion - but wouldn't qualify as proof that this opinion was accurate).