God and the dilemma with unfalsifiability

[LadyForCamus]

*popcorn*

[Astreja]

I'm beginning to suspect that Drich's alleged AIDS cure was a misdiagnosis, and that some other condition was present.

[Crossless2.0]

In essence one can test positive for AIDS and not have the HIV virus. That said I do understand the most popular way to get AIDS is from HIV.

Normally, I wouldn't indulge in quote mining, but this leaped out at me, practically begging to be used. 

[brewer]

I'm beginning to suspect that Drich's alleged AIDS cure was a misdiagnosis, and that some other condition was present.

Physical, mental or both? 

I'm going with a 30/70 ratio.

[LadyForCamus]

I'm beginning to suspect that Drich's alleged AIDS cure was a misdiagnosis, and that some other condition was present.

That's the most reasonable explanation.  Certainly more probable than, he had AIDS and it went away, lol.

[Redbeard The Pink]

Agree. Check out messenger/message thread i did a while back. God sent a messenger. He told me where I had been where I was, what was bothering me, and told me of things yet to come. Told me of prayers I had only prayed in my head. Also told me how it would all end. EVERYTHING so far has happened or had happened as this guy described.

So do revelations count as revelations? if so... Then God reveals Himself to those that follow Him and need said revelation.

Sooo...a fortune teller? You meet a fortune teller? I know a woman in Alcoa who can do the same thing for 20 bucks.

Fortunes are parlor tricks. They're not revelations. Got anything more solid?

FALSE, AIDS is a SYNDROME Meaning a condition in this case describes an auto immune deficiency. There are many reason why one can have a diminished autoimmune response. You are describing one AIDS response where the HIV virus destroys the body's ability to fight infection of sickness. There are also several non viral reasons AIDS.. In essence one can test positive for AIDS and not have the HIV virus. That said I do understand the most popular way to get AIDS is from HIV.

SO as I said God saw me through an AIDS diagnosis without any medication.

Ooooh my bad. I misunderstood you. I thought you were saying there were no treatments or cures for AIDS or cancer, but it seems you were actually saying that you weathered cancer and an immunodeficiency problem with no medications (why were you going to doctors then?). While that's impressive, it does in fact happen, and Christians/theists aren't the only people it happens to. An unexplained phenomenon does not give you license to paste in whatever explanation your book dreams up for you.

Don't know which group I belong to, but I know now when ever science has someone like me 20 years agao who tested positive and then could not explain my recovery it's called an anomally. when there are too many of us to deny they give us a name so as to futher take God out of the picture.

That crutch or term "elite controller" are for people like you who would rather deny someone who has been documented with AIDS and now is free than acknowledge God. So rather than have you deny undeniable 'proof' people like you give a mirical a name and somehow it is supposed to be less miraculous just because someone thinks they explain what happens.
In the end I take great confort in the fact that most of you can not explain what happened to me and need a crutch like an elite controller or non HIV AIDS to explain away people like me without having to say the "m" word.

You mean "magic?" Is that the M word you're talking about, Drich?

You're very lucky to have survived all of that with no medical treatment, but without more information, I see no good reason to attribute those events to the god you believe in.

No.. from what I understand when your kids are hated so much by so many, then tend to turn on themselves and hate themselves. I never fell down that road.. plus when you fight every day you get really good at it.

Sooo... you won a lot of fights, and you didn't let high school destroy your self esteem. Congratulations. Plenty of people do that without god's help, and so did you.

Good thing I'm not being judged by him and being punished by iron chariots like those found in the story of the book of JUDGES

The text says god wasn't able to drive out the people of the valley because they had chariots of iron. Technology never was his strong suit.

You have no idea what you are talking about. I am a shit happens person. it is when there is "NO WAY FOR THAT TO BE REAL" do I attribute it to God.

So I'd like to introduce you to someone named David Blaine...

For a homeless black guy begging for change know the prayer I pray in my Head, for Him to tell me about the family problem I was currently in the middle of and to accurately describe a relationship I was in.. To tell me about what was going to happen and it friggen did/is going on right now!!!
That is a God thing.

Ah, I see you've met him.

To be told by a doctor you have AIDS and then it gets resolved after much prayer... (I know science wants to claim it) but in 1993 to the doctors it was a GOD thing.

I sing a jesus song and find 5 bucks... that's a shit happens. because some poor guy lost 5 bucks.

I simply give credit where credit is due, and I am blessed with more.

So how exactly do you quantify the line between luck and god's magic? What if you find $100 instead of $5? How bout $1,000? Does the amount matter? Does where it came from matter? How do you know?

If you say "discernment," so help me...

Not from this side of the fence.
I denied God as long as I could, but in the end my search for truth lead me to no other conclusion.

So you can't be mistaken, huh? Well aren't you special?

Ahh... no. Buddhism is not a religion in the sense that it does not worship a central God figure or figures. Buddhism is a saddah. there are not deity. Buddhism is a philosophy of life.
Westerns try and turn the teachings of buddah into a religion, but have failed. as it's core and purest forms remain apart from what defines a religion.
http://www.buddhanet.net/nutshell03.htm

Sure, sure...and Christianity isn't a religion, it's a relationship.

Buddhism is a pretty direct offshoot of Hinduism, and they still believe in/strive toward supernatural concepts like karma and nirvana. Eastern culture historically doesn't recognize a clear line between philosophy and religion, and it's an extremely common trope for practitioners of any religion to insist that their religion is not, in fact, a religion. Plenty of Buddhist sects have stories and traditions involving gods, and the atheistic forms of Buddhism still count as religions under a more inclusive definition. Not every religion involves worshipping gods.

Name one religion that has superseded the culture that founded it outside of Christianity. In that it is practiced today as it was when it was founded.

Ahem...that would be Buddhism.

Also, virtually no religion is practiced the same today as when it was founded, Christianity included.

Like, yuh bruh. Judged sentenced and cast out.

God is not the only being who in the history of man to claim that title. If I remember correctly Lucifer and his peeps tend to pretend to be 'gods' when it suits them.

So how do you know your god is the good one and those others are the demons? Your war-mongering blood-tyrant of an imaginary friend might actually be the bad guy. Ever stop to think of that?

It is completely possible that You weren't mistaken, you just cant explain what or why you heard what you did. Or you've learned to dull your wits and senses to only focus on what is in front of you in the physical world..

Or I've realized that my phantasms and imaginings about a spiritual world were just that...phantasms and imaginings. I'm now content to acknowledge when I don't have enough information to explain something instead of filling in supernatural bullshit with no justification.

As it turns out, though, my religious and paranormal experiences aren't necessarily unexplained. Science has no shortage of possible explanations for why people might think they're having a supernatural experience when they're not, and those explanations are supported by far more good evidence than any religious claim I've ever investigated.

But again. not everything claiming to be God is God. the only true measures is how it stacks against what scripture says. for that you must know what scripture says yourself to discern what you see or hear is of God.

I would say test what you see. question everything hold on to what is good.

...return no one evil for evil. Strengthen the feint-hearted. Support the weak. Help the suffering. Honor all people...

Until now, I've never realized how Justice League that sounds...

[Godscreated]

Actually.. "We" do. and as such God is responsible for proof. Which He has made attainable for all of those who would humble themselves not before any of us, but before Him (quietly secretly)

No, actually we don't. I can honestly say, with total confidence and access to the membership database, that "he" has never even tried to register as a member here. So until then, looks like "he" is stiffing you with the burden of proof. Hey, take it up with "him".

 You are wrong and here's why, God has sent us and in essence has joined.

GC

[OYSTERPRICK]

Who am I to demand anything from God? But yeah, divine hiddenness is probably one of the more difficult theological problems. I guess the question in my mind is whether the things that are evident about the world give me sufficient reason to believe. I don't require certainty and maybe a fair amount of uncertainty is what makes it a true choice about whether or not to believe.

Theology is an interesting exercise.
Give unbelievable, crazy explanations, so absurd that as saint Augustin suggested, it will be believed.
Theolgy constantly adjusts the answer to make it acceptable in spite of science progress, and scientific proof of the absurdity of sacred texts.

Wandering in a vast forest at night, I have only a faint light to guide me. A stranger appears and says to me: "My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly." This stranger is a theologian. Diderot

---

Who am I to demand anything from God? But yeah, divine hiddenness is probably one of the more difficult theological problems. I guess the question in my mind is whether the things that are evident about the world give me sufficient reason to believe. I don't require certainty and maybe a fair amount of uncertainty is what makes it a true choice about whether or not to believe.

Theology is an interesting exercise.
Give unbelievable, crazy explanations, so absurd that as saint Augustin suggested, it will be believed.
Theolgy constantly adjusts the answer to make it acceptable in spite of science progress, and scientific proof of the absurdity of sacred texts.

Wandering in a vast forest at night, I have only a faint light to guide me. A stranger appears and says to me: "My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly." This stranger is a theologian.  Diderot

[Cyberman]

No, actually we don't. I can honestly say, with total confidence and access to the membership database, that "he" has never even tried to register as a member here. So until then, looks like "he" is stiffing you with the burden of proof. Hey, take it up with "him".

 You are wrong and here's why, God has sent us and in essence has joined.

GC

Then your god has poor judgement of representatives. I suppose it's down to not having a great deal of choice. I'd expect it to at least be able to spell, for one thing. Even in essence.

[I_am_not_mafia]

In essence one can test positive for AIDS and not have the HIV virus. That said I do understand the most popular way to get AIDS is from HIV.

Normally, I wouldn't indulge in quote mining, but this leaped out at me, practically begging to be used. 

Yeah HIV is totally in this season.