Atheism, Theism, Science & Philosophy

[Love]

I haven't ignored you, I've simply reminded you that reason cannot be removed from that example. I don't have any problem with empiricism either, I find the two work wonderfully together. Would you lean on empiricism as somehow justifying theism?
(you're repeating yourself after I've explained why what you wrote is unsatisfying to me, so I hardly see what room there would be to bitch about repeating yourself. You could have offered something else)

No, I would not use empiricism to justify my belief in God.

Another example: let's suppose I have purchased a bicycle from a shop. Let's assume that nobody witnessed or has knowledge of me buying or even owning the bicycle. A few years down the line I have lost the receipt of purchase and the company from which I purchased the bicycle dissolved. Suppose in a public setting I lock the bike and lose the key, and there is another person who comes along and makes a convincing reasoned argument and claims that the bike actually belongs to him or her. With absolutely no evidence (documentary, anecdotal or otherwise), how can I possibly prove to somebody that the bike is my property? The only real possibilities are: a person is going to believe me, a person is going to disbelieve me, or a person is going to reserve judgement. For a person who disbelieves me, he or she is perfectly within his or her rights because I have provided absolutely no firm evidence that the bike belongs to me. A person might choose to believe that I am telling the truth based on intuition, in which case reason is trumped by intuition in this instance and does, in fact, lead to the truth of the matter.