Quote:I believe to be objective you cant be a skeptic. I have seen how some skeptics here say that X didnt exist because there is no empirical evidence (Neither is there for Socrates, they just chop and choose their skepticsm). Also if you reject the idea of X existing, you have already made your mind up that he doesnt exist. Its like the belief in Santa Claus, we dismissed this idea that Santa Claus was real with a belief, we were being as objective as we can be and we didnt see any reason to believe in Santa or to think he is real. This is how I propose we discern the 'truth' we start with a belief eg. There is a God, untill there is empirical evidence or strong arguments not to believe in a God, a belief is more objective and perhaps more rational. So Im not overtly skeptic because I would not be objective and I would go insane (I would question my own absolute existence)
The claim is that god exists, so it is that claim that must be tested. The problem is that it can't be tested, because personal revelation is, by definition, first person, subjective, and not amenable to scientific scrutiny. As such, no one is under any obligation to believe one person's personal revelation over that of another's.
'The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and seal. It could not be expressed better.'
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
