WOTM: An Epidemic Of Projection
As you know, we've spent some time looking at Michael Jone's comments regarding Atheists and their imagined unwillingness to change their minds in the face of clear evidence for God's existence and the resurrection of Jesus. But now I'm seeing every Christian apologist and their brother use the same tactic. And they were given some ammo from Peter Atkins, who had a very public failure of imagination. Of course, we'll never know whether we'd change our minds because there's no clear evidence the believe can offer up.
On top of that, these folks don't even recognize the time-honored path we Atheists are following, in terms of demanding actual evidence. Shame on them!
Thanks again gang! Two more good ones to come — all thanks to Inspiring Philosophy. Another gift that keeps on giving. B
Comments (7)
If Jesus is alive today, he has an actual touchable body. No? It would be soooo easy to settle the-existence-of-God question. Today. Now. Why don’t we experience Jesus like any other thing of actual being? Instead of experiencing Jesus as a mundane fact of life, we have arguments for his existence. What kind of evidence for God would be persuasive? The best answer to this question is that the kind of evidence I would expect would be the reality of God in everyday life. That is, the reality of God would be like the reality of your friends and family. I would expect the reality of the supernatural to be as mundane today as it was in biblical times. This would not be a one-time super demonstration type of supernatural reality but a mundane everyday fact type of reality. A world in which no evidence would be needed for talking dogs or cats, because that type of thing happened all the time. A world in which everyone knows someone who came back from the dead. The reality that I would know the supernatural existed like I know the Atlantic Ocean, my sisters, and New York City exist. How silly would it be to devise an argument for the existence of New York City? Wouldn’t you start with evidence? Why don’t we talk about the existence of God like we talk about the existence of New York City? We have evidence for NYC but arguments for God.
Great stuff! I may steal bits if you don’t mind.
Evidence…!?! EVIDENCE…!?! Tsk. I think Stephen Fry hits the nail on the… hand… when it comes to gawd's supposed existence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suvkwNYSQo
Yeah, that’s a favorite of mine too!
I want a public appearance. I want witnessed healings of amputees. I want a Q&A session with journalists. I want . . . uh, it doesn't matter. Even if this "god" were to exist, I would not worship it. Worship demeans the worshipper and the worshipped.
There's a whole host of stuff that would, if not instantly make me a believer, would at least make me sit up and take notice! Like if intercessory prayer worked better than chance, I would have to take the claims of the believers more seriously. Mountains being moved by prayer alone would definitely get my attention. The dead rising from their graves and walking around would be terrifying, and totally add credibility to what believers say. But not even this happens.
I set up a test 25+ years ago that could be used by someone claiming supernatural abilities (god, psychic, time traveler, etc...) to convince me that it's true. I'm still waiting.