Why be good?

[Thumpalumpacus]

You're absolutely wrong. Why do you think I have that stuff online? I've had this "atheist in a foxhole" conversation several times before, and you're not the first theist to question what I've said about it -- hell, you're not even the first theist here at this forum; you can ask Drich about that. So I didn't expect at all to be accepted at face value, and that is exactly why I have this sort of stuff loaded onto my Tinypic.  If you go and look at the upload dates, you'll see they long predate this questioning.

Parkers, I do not and have never denied your service or your testimony about your experiences. So, I'm not sure why you keep referring me to your service records....I BELIEVE YOU.

That's the whole point of this...I can believe what you say about your service, your experiences with "atheists in foxholes" and the authenticity of the documents you have scanned and put online, etc.

I don't know you from Adam, but I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt in spite of the fact that you are highly motivated to prove me wrong (above just about all others in the forum have been out to do so since the day I arrived - and that's saying something).

I BELIEVE YOU because in the absence of evidence to the contrary about your character, your motivations, your mental state, etc., I have no reason to believe that you would lie about something important to you.

Neither did the apostles.

You're still missing the point, which is that I do not expect you to accept my word at face value. I expect you, and anyone else who claims to be intelligent, to ask for evidence if such is pertinent. It clearly is pertinent when you're pulling your Perry Mason act about asking me if I'd swear to it: here, I'll show you, you need not take my word is my response.

That is because I understand that the onus is upon me to demonstrate my claim.

When you can present evidence in proportion to the extraordinary claims made in the NT, we will once more have the basis for conversation. Until then, your comparison of the NT author's writings to the service history of any poster here is fatuous -- because our claims are documented.

I feel sort of embarrassed for you that you don't see such a simple point as the one I'm making here. I'm not accusing you of wronging me. I have not accused you of doubting my service. What I have done is show you what is required to evidence a claim. I'm saying that you don't understand something so simple as standards of evidence.