Certainly, there are plenty of people who do lie about these things - for recognition, in lying to themselves, for fun, pathologically or otherwise - and others who exaggerate experience or self-select.
People don't need to lie to be mistaken.
Even taking that into account, there is a tremendous level of consistency with which certain "spiritual" experiences take place. We know that people are sometimes able to exhibit superhuman strength, tossing aside cars and whatnot. Sheer physics tells us this should not be possible.
Physics tells us that bumblebees can't fly... Oh, and I have like the anti-prediction thing going on. Once I was at a party and 3 people weren't there yet. I said, three times, that one particular person wasn't going to show up. Every single time, the bell rang immediately after and it was that person.
-> God exists!
In other words, your conclusion is a deus ex machina.
It is common for the dying to see the dead, about a month or so before their own deaths (and thus not part of any "brain death hallucination").
No it's not common for the dying to see the dead. But if I want to see the dead, I can convince myself that I see my grandmother sitting on the couch right now. I won't, because she's not and it wouldn't be good for my mental health to pretend that she is.
Maybe it's true in certain cultures that people see the dead before they're dying, but that just shows that those cultures are more prone to convince themselves that they see dead people when they start to feel bad.
Many people see people at the moment of that person's death in a place the person cannot be (i.e., the "I saw my uncle in the dining room and said, 'How nice of you to visit!' and then when I went to tell my wife, he was gone. My aunt called then and said he had died 300 miles away").
Again, this does not support the existence of a god. This maybe supports the existence of an extra sense, or coincidence. Imagine all the uncles and aunts dying continuously, and how frequently such visions occur? It's bound to be right some of the time.
Dismissing all of this as "the world is lying to me" or "people are lying to themselves" is very difficult. The numbers are much higher than, say, alien abduction stories, and so dismissing it as hysteria or schizophrenia or a similar disorder is extremely flippant.
I don't find it difficult to dismiss a lot of people as irrational and delusional. In fact, I find that a lot of people are extremely irrational, and quite frequently delusional. I would use the term mass psychosis though.
In other words, atheism goes against anecdotal evidence that rises to a level that it cannot be merely discounted and swept under the rug.
Anecdotal evidence for god? Really? That's what you are going to go with? People are unreliable. Do you realize how many women (and men) were killed after being accused of witchcraft? There was plenty of anecdotal evidence to support witchcraft, too.
So witchcraft must exist and it cannot be merely discounted and swept under the rug.
Btw, based on what you told us about yourself, you appear to be a witch, and should be burned at the stake.
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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- 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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*NM*
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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- 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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*NM*
- 20/12/2011 04:37:35 AM
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