My criticism is far stronger than "you can't prove a negative". My own personal experience has provided me with evidence (admittedly not conclusive) that there is some form of higher power at work, regardless of how we attempt to quantify it. The nature of the evidence (dreams, strong intuition, statements expressed without even thinking) is not the sort of thing that can be scientifically measured. However, the simple LACK of a means of repeating something, or even conducting an experiment in the first place, does not mean that the evidence has no value. Logical reasoning is the strongest and most consistent way to form opinions, but anecdotal evidence also tends to be accurate quite often, even if it has a higher probability for error and/or misstatement.
It's as difficult to prove as to prove to a blind man that the Sun exists. Sure, he's heard a lot about it, and you can try to take him outside on a sunny day, but the same feeling can be reproduced by putting him under a heat lamp. He has no reason to believe in the existence of something he himself has no way of measuring. Does this mean that a blind man has reason to say that there is no Sun?
The absurdities that you listed, like the Loch Ness Monster, are obviously different. In the case of the Loch Ness Monster, we know that humans can create fake experiences for others, people can lie and say they saw it, and mistake a simple natural occurrence for the Monster. While one can apply all of these possibilities to some forms of interaction with what we believe to be the Divine, it cannot explain most of the unusual experiences that I have had. Dreams that are told to third party witnesses who can corroborate the telling have then come true. I have witnesses, because otherwise I might be inclined to believe that my recollections of having dreamt something are hallucinations or that the relevance is misstated.
Ask my friend, to whom I said the following in July 2001: "You asked me to tell you if I had any dreams that could affect you and so I just wanted you to know that, on the basis of my dream last night, you should move out of downtown Manhattan because I dreamt there was a major terrorist attack downtown that devastated the whole neighborhood." The very reason he had asked me to warn him about my dreams is because of a whole series of dreams I had told him about prior to this.
I'm far from Pascal's wager and into the territory where my primary focus is to try to understand the how, the why and the implications.
It's as difficult to prove as to prove to a blind man that the Sun exists. Sure, he's heard a lot about it, and you can try to take him outside on a sunny day, but the same feeling can be reproduced by putting him under a heat lamp. He has no reason to believe in the existence of something he himself has no way of measuring. Does this mean that a blind man has reason to say that there is no Sun?
The absurdities that you listed, like the Loch Ness Monster, are obviously different. In the case of the Loch Ness Monster, we know that humans can create fake experiences for others, people can lie and say they saw it, and mistake a simple natural occurrence for the Monster. While one can apply all of these possibilities to some forms of interaction with what we believe to be the Divine, it cannot explain most of the unusual experiences that I have had. Dreams that are told to third party witnesses who can corroborate the telling have then come true. I have witnesses, because otherwise I might be inclined to believe that my recollections of having dreamt something are hallucinations or that the relevance is misstated.
Ask my friend, to whom I said the following in July 2001: "You asked me to tell you if I had any dreams that could affect you and so I just wanted you to know that, on the basis of my dream last night, you should move out of downtown Manhattan because I dreamt there was a major terrorist attack downtown that devastated the whole neighborhood." The very reason he had asked me to warn him about my dreams is because of a whole series of dreams I had told him about prior to this.
I'm far from Pascal's wager and into the territory where my primary focus is to try to understand the how, the why and the implications.
I'm sure you're familiar with its criticisms, so rather than repeat them here I'll just post a link. But how do you answer them?
Your other criticism of atheism essentially boils down to "you can't prove a negative". True, but no sensible person believes a positive without sufficient credible evidence. Until then, you assume the negative and lead your life as if the purported entity doesn't exist. This applies equally to extraterrestrial life, mythical creatures such as Nessie, and deities. Your supposed atheist who believes there's no possibility that a god could exist (as opposed to merely not believing that one exists) is a strawman: most atheists don't think that way, and those who do are wrong to do so.
The real point of difference is whether one accepts the evidence, such as it is, that a god exists. Just because I don't, doesn't mean I wouldn't if better evidence turned up.
Your other criticism of atheism essentially boils down to "you can't prove a negative". True, but no sensible person believes a positive without sufficient credible evidence. Until then, you assume the negative and lead your life as if the purported entity doesn't exist. This applies equally to extraterrestrial life, mythical creatures such as Nessie, and deities. Your supposed atheist who believes there's no possibility that a god could exist (as opposed to merely not believing that one exists) is a strawman: most atheists don't think that way, and those who do are wrong to do so.
The real point of difference is whether one accepts the evidence, such as it is, that a god exists. Just because I don't, doesn't mean I wouldn't if better evidence turned up.
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
Kim Jong-il is dead. Would you become a fervent believer?
19/12/2011 03:37:28 AM
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If I was a Christian, I'd pray that he would burn forever in hell.
19/12/2011 03:47:52 AM
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See, I can't be an atheist.
19/12/2011 03:53:55 AM
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I agree about atheism
19/12/2011 04:19:02 AM
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It's an approximation.
19/12/2011 05:40:05 PM
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no, I'm not saying that the sheer number of people alone is sufficient
19/12/2011 10:13:09 PM
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No, Pascal's Wager is stupid.
19/12/2011 03:09:42 PM
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You obviously misread my comments or ignored them.
19/12/2011 03:39:59 PM
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You're answering a different point to the one I was addressing.
19/12/2011 04:01:54 PM
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For atheism to be a tenable position, one must assume that millions lie about their experiences.
20/12/2011 04:11:53 AM
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Look, doesn't this go against your most sacred principle?
20/12/2011 06:43:27 AM
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No, it doesn't.
20/12/2011 08:30:55 PM
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Re: No, it doesn't.
20/12/2011 09:21:22 PM
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This militant atheism is somewhat amusing.
20/12/2011 09:48:57 PM
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... somewhat irrational at times too
21/12/2011 01:22:54 AM
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Huh?
21/12/2011 10:47:06 AM
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That's somewhat unrelated to the intended point of the post
21/12/2011 12:41:49 PM
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My "Huh?" was at your claim that any reasonable definition Kim Jong-il was a millitant athiest
21/12/2011 12:58:44 PM
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You're objecting to me calling the Military Dictator militant?
21/12/2011 03:13:35 PM
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Your position isn't rational nor logical
20/12/2011 12:45:03 PM
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I never stated it was either. That's the problem with spiritual matters.
20/12/2011 08:43:46 PM
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How about a faith atheist?
19/12/2011 04:28:59 PM
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Nevermind. It appears you answered that in your reply to Tim. *NM*
19/12/2011 04:32:19 PM
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Re: See, I can't be an atheist.
19/12/2011 04:57:23 PM
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It's impossible to tell if worshipping a false god would be worse than worshipping no god at all.
20/12/2011 04:14:59 AM
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Sounds like you must be a modern-day prophet
19/12/2011 05:24:24 PM
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Idiocy. Confirmation bias doesn't explain away external phenomena.
20/12/2011 04:19:10 AM
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Well.
21/12/2011 01:49:36 PM
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I didn't forget about it. I was getting ready to give up on it.
21/12/2011 02:27:18 PM
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Also, learn to use the subjunctive. It's "if I WERE a Christian..."
19/12/2011 03:54:20 AM
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The sad thing about that comment...
19/12/2011 04:52:57 AM
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I'm pretty sure there's plenty of middle ground between those two examples
19/12/2011 05:31:13 PM
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Tom, I think this means you should take up ForEx trading. *NM*
19/12/2011 04:00:20 AM
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I might. I'm close enough to it as is. I just did some ForEx ISDAs for clients...
19/12/2011 04:03:11 AM
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I thought you were asking if I believed in KJ-I, the Eternal Leader
19/12/2011 06:55:08 AM
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The article I just read said he died on Saturday.
19/12/2011 08:58:17 AM
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Yeah, he actually died on a train Saturday morning before Tom made the comment. *NM*
19/12/2011 09:13:44 PM
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I'm not claiming causality. And, for the record, I first made the comment on Friday afternoon.
20/12/2011 04:25:07 AM
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You know what's really weird?
19/12/2011 11:32:23 AM
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They took it down, apparently. *NM*
20/12/2011 04:40:24 AM
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Not surprising, still in the revisions if anyone wants to see of course
20/12/2011 11:06:05 AM
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He's not dead-dead. Neither is his father. Just ask the North Koreans.
19/12/2011 04:23:48 PM
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Re: He's not dead-dead. Neither is his father. Just ask the North Koreans.
19/12/2011 09:15:09 PM
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The problem with predictions that come true
19/12/2011 05:28:24 PM
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I don't make a lot of predictions. *NM*
19/12/2011 08:18:53 PM
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Well you should start at least journaling the ones that you do make.
19/12/2011 08:40:18 PM
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I actually now do tell my friends when I have dreams that have the "feel" to them.
20/12/2011 04:36:07 AM
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I can attest to the fact that this conversation took place on Facebook Saturday.
19/12/2011 09:19:06 PM
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Yes, TMJ, you also contributed in this case. *NM*
20/12/2011 04:38:42 AM
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Jeez, I hope I never get on your bad side
20/12/2011 12:06:54 AM
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Things did change for the better with Stalin's death.
20/12/2011 02:51:12 AM
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So I guess you want me to destroy the voodoo doll I have of you? Oh wait...never mind. *NM*
20/12/2011 04:37:35 AM
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