(April 5, 2014 at 2:41 pm)Esquilax Wrote:(April 5, 2014 at 1:58 pm)ThomM Wrote: Actually - I would think that ALL of us in this group would be more than happy to "SEE" the proof that is being claimed - because that is what WE are looking for - substantiated statements from people who make them.
IF any thiest provided us - who are intelligent and logical - with proof that is both repeatable and verifiable - that without question proves that their religious belief is true - you would expect everyone to get on board.
Absolutely. I'm just saying, when a person begins their argument by outright stating that he's only addressing those already predisposed to believing him, that doesn't exactly inspire confidence as to the nature of the evidence going to be presented.
I believe by the tone of my response that you understand that I completely agree with you
AS I noted - An Xtian would not accept simply quotes from the Koran as proof of the god of Islam - YET - somehow they continue to quote their JUST AS USELESS bible and expect people to believe things that simply have no factual basis outside of religious writings
SO - what I did attempt to do - is set the bar to the level that would be REQUIRED for the XTIAN to admit he is wrong and accept another religion.
I see no ambiguity nor lack of reasonableness to that.
So - claimed individual "experiences" for which you offer no proof other than the written word - are no more acceptable than the Koran would be.
Results that have no statistical significance are also worthless.
Having studied the issue - I note that a number of people claim "near death" experiences as proof of their religion - when in fact they are actually of NO use in proving anything.
The problem is of course - that there are such claims for virtually ALL religions. A near death experience is actually considered a good omen in several asian religions and they tend to report more of them than any other religious group. But the main problem is that - when talking about them - ALL of the people see what they EXPECT to see - based on their religious belief or lack of. The muslims never see the christ or Peter - nor do the Hindi (Who report the most near death experiences). SO - it is simply proof that the mind is playing tricks on the person. Yet - there will be people who will still spout this nonsense - although it is NOT proof of anything.
IT is not that we are predisposed to anything against their beliefs - we are simply asking for the same thing they would want as proof against their beliefs.