If there was a loving God, would you accept him?

[Confused Ape]

1) What is the difference between fact and truth?

Many of you have pointed to the lack of evidence. But do facts mean truth? Are they synonymous?

In my opinion, facts are simply points on our mental grid of what we interpret reality to be. Atheism is simply an interpretation of how these facts (points) intersect with one another. Therefore, facts can point in many ways. An atheist will look at the facts and interpret them one way. The theist will look at the facts and interpret them to fit their mental grid. But neither of these is necessarily reality itself. Reality is in fact only the right interpretation of the facts.

So is the issue between a theist and an atheist simply about facts (evidence)?

God exists as a subjective experience. Neuroscience is studying what happens in the brains of people who have religious/mystical experiences.

Andrew Newberg Research Questions

Is God only in our brain?

Our research indicates that our only way of comprehending God, asking questions about God, and experiencing God is through the brain. But whether or not God exists “out there” is something that neuroscience cannot answer. For example, if we take a brain image of a person when she is looking at a picture, we will see various parts of the brain being activated, such as the visual cortex. But the brain image cannot tell us whether or not there actually is a picture “out there” or whether the person is creating the picture in her own mind. To a certain degree, we all create our own sense of reality. Getting at what is really real is the tricky part.

The facts are that people have subjective experiences and something happens in their brains when they have these experiences. Individuals will interpret these facts in one of three ways - (1) God really does exist 'out there' (2) these experiences are just produced by the brain and there isn't a God 'out there' (3) not enough information to decide either way. The facts, however, aren't altered by however one chooses to interpret them.