Author Topic: Searching for GOD...  (Read 3866787 times)

Maeght

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50700 on: May 25, 2024, 09:48:48 PM »
Maeght,

Because she said so sincerely silly! Never mind the absence of justifying reasons for her explanation - she was sincere dammit!

Oh yes, silly me.

Gordon

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50701 on: May 25, 2024, 10:05:25 PM »
If Jesus appeared to you and prophesied something which then happened in reality, what would be your take on it?

Speaking for myself, I'd hope I'd have enough insight left to seek out some psychiatric help, and failing that I'd hope that somebody I knew would be sufficiently concerned for my welfare to step in and arrange that help for me, in my best interests.

Alan Burns

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50702 on: May 25, 2024, 10:56:44 PM »

Oh and why did you just ignore the explanation I gave you for the anecdotal fallacy you're trying here?
The explanation fails to concede that there could be viable evidence to validate the personal testimony.

The truth will set you free  - John 8:32
Truth is not an abstraction, but a person - Edith Stein
Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. - CS Lewis
Joy is the Gigantic Secret of Christians - GK Chesterton

Maeght

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50703 on: May 26, 2024, 07:22:30 AM »
The explanation fails to concede that there could be viable evidence to validate the personal testimony.

What?

Outrider

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50704 on: May 26, 2024, 08:09:44 AM »
If Jesus appeared to you and prophesied something which then happened in reality, what would be your take on it?

That I need to see a medical specialist, as I'm having hallucinations. If it was Mr Blobby, or a talking fish, or three glowing disembodied eyes speaking perfectly accented Swahili you'd feel the same, but if it's 'Jesus' somehow that's different?

O.
Universes are forever, not just for creation...

New Atheism - because, apparently, there's a use-by date on unanswered questions.

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Gordon

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50705 on: May 26, 2024, 08:10:45 AM »
The explanation fails to concede that there could be viable evidence to validate the personal testimony.

Your claim, Alan, so it is your responsibility to present any 'viable evidence' by way of 'validation' regarding this particular personal testimony (which it seems you take seriously).

I, for one, would like to see exactly what type 'viable evidence' would objectively validate a claim of having a 'vision of Jesus', and I'm wondering why you didn't include this is your earlier post.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2024, 09:35:26 AM by Gordon »

Nearly Sane

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50706 on: May 26, 2024, 09:29:32 AM »
The explanation fails to concede that there could be viable evidence to validate the personal testimony.
This being a supernatural claim would need a supernatural methodology to have a definition of 'ebidence'. I've asked you, and others making such claims on here, hundreds of times foe one, and am still waiting. So, Alan, what is your supernatural methodology and what is its definition of evidence?

Sebastian Toe

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50707 on: May 26, 2024, 10:04:11 AM »
If Jesus appeared to you and prophesied something which then happened in reality, what would be your take on it?
If an angel appeared to you and prophesied something which then happened in reality, what would be your take on it!
"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends.'
Albert Einstein

bluehillside Retd.

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50708 on: May 26, 2024, 11:17:06 AM »
AB.

Quote
The explanation fails to concede that there could be viable evidence to validate the personal testimony.

What fresh doziness are you attempting now? No fallacies concern themselves with different arguments that could confirm that the fallacy’s conclusion is correct just as a matter of dumb luck. 

If I reason that a tossed coin coming up heads four times in a row is more likely than not to come up heads on the fifth toss because it prefers heads you’d be able to spot the flaw in my reasoning. If separate “viable evidence” then came to light that it was a rigged coin though that would mean my conclusion was correct, but my justifying reasoning for it was still false nonetheless.

Can you see why?

Oh, and when you posted the Youtube links you committed the anecdotal fallacy in any case because you expected me to take their claims seriously with no additional viable evidence of any sort. Repeating what they said and ignoring their (absence of) justifications for why they said it was schoolboy error stuff.   
« Last Edit: May 26, 2024, 11:38:18 AM by bluehillside Retd. »
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God

bluehillside Retd.

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50709 on: May 26, 2024, 11:20:11 AM »
AB,

Quote
If Jesus appeared to you and prophesied something which then happened in reality, what would be your take on it?

If Mohammed or Zeus or Vishnu appeared to you and prophesied something which then happened in reality, what would be your take on it?
"Don't make me come down there."

God

bluehillside Retd.

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50710 on: May 26, 2024, 02:55:02 PM »
Spud,

Quote
It couldn't be them because they're dead.

Vishnu is the god of Preservation, the great maintainer who often appears in various incarnations (avatara) to provide salvation for humanity.

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/beginners-guide-asian-culture/hindu-art-culture/a/hindu-deity-vishnu#:~:text=Vishnu%20is%20the%20god%20of,the%20gods%20Krishna%20and%20Rama.
"Don't make me come down there."

God

Alan Burns

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50711 on: May 26, 2024, 03:31:58 PM »
AB,

If Mohammed or Zeus or Vishnu appeared to you and prophesied something which then happened in reality, what would be your take on it?
I know of no verifiable testimonies which claim that such false prophets can do what our Saviour, Jesus Christ has done.

I make no apologies for offering this testimony from an ex Muslim woman who explains the profound difference between Islam and Christianity far better than I can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNcsa0FDDAU
« Last Edit: May 26, 2024, 07:05:29 PM by Alan Burns »
The truth will set you free  - John 8:32
Truth is not an abstraction, but a person - Edith Stein
Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. - CS Lewis
Joy is the Gigantic Secret of Christians - GK Chesterton

bluehillside Retd.

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50712 on: May 26, 2024, 03:39:46 PM »
AB,

Quote
I know of no verifiable testimonies which claim that false such prophets can do what our Saviour, Jesus Christ has done.

I know of no verifiable testimonies that demonstrate that your “Saviour, Jesus Christ has done” anything either. And nor I suspect do you.

Quote
I make no apologies for offering this testimony from an ex Muslim woman who explains the profound difference between Islam and Christianity far better than I can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNcsa0FDDAU

You don’t need to apologise for offering it. What you do need to do though is to apologise for claiming it to be evidence for your faith claims and for criticising others for not taking your unwitting attempt at the anecdotal fallacy at face value. 
« Last Edit: May 26, 2024, 03:43:31 PM by bluehillside Retd. »
"Don't make me come down there."

God

torridon

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50713 on: May 26, 2024, 05:18:52 PM »
I know of no verifiable testimonies which claim that false such prophets can do what our Saviour, Jesus Christ has done.

I make no apologies for offering this testimony from an ex Muslim woman who explains the profound difference between Islam and Christianity far better than I can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNcsa0FDDAU

So, cherry picking to suit your own position.  Most conversions between Christianity and Islam are going in the opposite direction.

Spud

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50714 on: May 26, 2024, 05:23:24 PM »
If you listened to the first link I gave, you would see a young woman from a Muslim family who converted to Christianity. 
...
Alan, could you repost this link please?

bluehillside Retd.

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50715 on: May 26, 2024, 05:28:24 PM »
Spud,

Quote
Alan, could you repost this link please?

Just to warn you, it's 100% what and 0% justifying why. Quite a nice example of AB's unwitting reliance on the anecdotal fallacy though:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdotal_evidence#:~:text=Misuse%20of%20anecdotal%20evidence%20in,which%20may%20not%20be%20typical.

 
"Don't make me come down there."

God

Spud

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50716 on: May 26, 2024, 06:19:31 PM »
Spud,

Just to warn you, it's 100% what and 0% justifying why. Quite a nice example of AB's unwitting reliance on the anecdotal fallacy though:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdotal_evidence#:~:text=Misuse%20of%20anecdotal%20evidence%20in,which%20may%20not%20be%20typical.
I was hoping for the link to the woman's story?
I know a security guard at Tesco who told me that he had once prayed to Jesus to be released from an addiction. He said that from the next day he no longer needed to use the substance.
When you know the person, a story like this is more convincing.
I once prayed with a friend for a sick person, who needed a naso-gastric tube. The nurses had tried three times to insert it but each time they were unsuccessful. At almost the exact time that we prayed (we found out later), a nurse successfully inserted it, having given her a sedative. When this sort of thing happens you find you need as much if not more faith to believe that this was just coincidence, and not God answering prayer.
Re Vishnu... He has 4 hands, according to your link. So not a real person!

Sebastian Toe

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50717 on: May 26, 2024, 06:34:14 PM »
I know of no verifiable testimonies which claim that false such prophets can do what our Saviour, Jesus Christ has done.

I make no apologies for offering this testimony from an ex Muslim woman who explains the profound difference between Islam and Christianity far better than I can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNcsa0FDDAU
If an angel appeared to you and prophesied something which then happened in reality, what would be your take on it!
"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends.'
Albert Einstein

Maeght

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50718 on: May 26, 2024, 06:37:01 PM »
I was hoping for the link to the woman's story?
I know a security guard at Tesco who told me that he had once prayed to Jesus to be released from an addiction. He said that from the next day he no longer needed to use the substance.
When you know the person, a story like this is more convincing.
I once prayed with a friend for a sick person, who needed a naso-gastric tube. The nurses had tried three times to insert it but each time they were unsuccessful. At almost the exact time that we prayed (we found out later), a nurse successfully inserted it, having given her a sedative. When this sort of thing happens you find you need as much if not more faith to believe that this was just coincidence, and not God answering prayer.
Re Vishnu... He has 4 hands, according to your link. So not a real person!

Only if you already believe in God and prayers.

Alan Burns

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50719 on: May 26, 2024, 07:08:36 PM »
So, cherry picking to suit your own position.  Most conversions between Christianity and Islam are going in the opposite direction.
The increase in Muslim population is down to birth rates.  Among adults there is a substantial drift away from the Muslim faith.
The truth will set you free  - John 8:32
Truth is not an abstraction, but a person - Edith Stein
Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. - CS Lewis
Joy is the Gigantic Secret of Christians - GK Chesterton

Alan Burns

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50720 on: May 26, 2024, 07:11:16 PM »
The truth will set you free  - John 8:32
Truth is not an abstraction, but a person - Edith Stein
Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. - CS Lewis
Joy is the Gigantic Secret of Christians - GK Chesterton

Gordon

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50721 on: May 26, 2024, 07:14:04 PM »
I was hoping for the link to the woman's story?
I know a security guard at Tesco who told me that he had once prayed to Jesus to be released from an addiction. He said that from the next day he no longer needed to use the substance.
When you know the person, a story like this is more convincing.


Only if you're highly credulous.

Quote
I once prayed with a friend for a sick person, who needed a naso-gastric tube. The nurses had tried three times to insert it but each time they were unsuccessful. At almost the exact time that we prayed (we found out later), a nurse successfully inserted it, having given her a sedative.

Have you considered that perhaps the sedative made all the difference?

Quote
When this sort of thing happens you find you need as much if not more faith to believe that this was just coincidence, and not God answering prayer.

Who said it was a coincidence, bearing in mind that the nurse actually did something specific (the sedative). Good luck with the 'answering prayers' nonsense since that is just more theobollocks unless, of course, you have a method to demonstrate that this is mutually exclusive from your own credulity.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2024, 07:36:56 PM by Gordon »

Gordon

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50722 on: May 26, 2024, 07:17:43 PM »
The increase in Muslim population is down to birth rates.  Among adults there is a substantial drift away from the Muslim faith.

Here in Scotland among adults there is a substantial drift away from the Christian faith - your religion, here at least, is in decline so perhaps you should be more concerned about that.

https://www.religionethics.co.uk/index.php?topic=21711.msg886357#new

torridon

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50723 on: May 26, 2024, 08:11:25 PM »
The increase in Muslim population is down to birth rates.  Among adults there is a substantial drift away from the Muslim faith.

Correct that the rise in Islam is mostly down to demographic change. However it's also the case that in terms of 'religious switching', Islam is gaining converts (est +420,000 over 5 years -2015 - 2000) whereas Christianity is hemorrhaging numbers (est -8,180,000) over the same time period.  Numbers from Pew Research :

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/04/05/the-changing-global-religious-landscape/

bluehillside Retd.

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Re: Searching for GOD...
« Reply #50724 on: May 26, 2024, 09:12:23 PM »
Spud,

Quote
I once prayed with a friend for a sick person, who needed a naso-gastric tube. The nurses had tried three times to insert it but each time they were unsuccessful. At almost the exact time that we prayed (we found out later), a nurse successfully inserted it, having given her a sedative. When this sort of thing happens you find you need as much if not more faith to believe that this was just coincidence, and not God answering prayer.

That’s brilliant!

I once hopped backwards in small circles with a pencil up my nose with a friend for a person whose car had broken down. The AA man had tried three times to start it by turning the ignition key, but each time he was unsuccessful. At almost the exact time that we hopped backwards (we found out later), the AA man successfully got it started, having filled it up with petrol. When this sort of thing happens you find you need as much if not more faith to believe that this was just coincidence, and not hopping backwards with a pencil up my nose that did the trick.

Quote
Re Vishnu... He has 4 hands, according to your link. So not a real person!

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/baby-born-four-legs-four-27397051

"Don't make me come down there."

God