(May 3, 2015 at 3:20 pm)PhilosophicalZebra Wrote: An interesting question to ponder is what would qualify as substantial enough evidence to convince atheists like us of the existence of something greater? If the very simplistic scenario of a big man with a white beard appearing before us was contemplated, most of us would probably still believe it to be more rational to attribute this to some sort of hallucination; thus, this leads to the question: what would be enough to convince us non-believers? I think it's a difficult but interesting thought.
For me all it would take was for me to personally witness (as opposed to hearsay or on TV say where it could be faked) a real miracle. One that could not be attributed to psychology (i.e. faith healing does not count at all as a miracle to me) and one that involved some inexplicable visual change i.e. a limb growing back before my very eyes rather than some internal healing that I'd have to take on trust.
Rightly or wrongly I would probably trust my own vision if something like that did occur because as far as I know I have never had a hallucination. So that would make me easier to convince than you guys cos I'd be happy with my own senses rather than needing external verification. That said, I read somewhere about a curious effect for sailors at sea where somehow due to the bending of light it looked, in certain places, like the sea was rising up in walls all around them. If early sailors saw that I'm not surprised they'd think they had seen the end of the world or a miracle. So there can be a rational explanation even for something like that (i.e. the bending of the light) but intuitively I still think I would trust my own senses first and foremost.
