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Date Posted: 04:19:48 03/02/02 Sat
Author: Rev Gadfly (posted by Paul)
Subject: Re: Brian Emig part 2 response by RevGadfly
In reply to: Paul, for the Rev 's message, "Brian Emig's message to Dennis, response by RevGadfly" on 02:30:56 03/01/02 Fri

Hello Paul. Thanks for the compliment. I noticed that I did not answer the
second point; visitors showed up and I emailed it off incomplete. To begin, I
will quote my earlier post:

"Your email is based on two themes; one that the bible isn't in a state of
contradtion, but balance, and second, that your personal experiences somehow
validate the Bible. Well, let's take them one at a time."

The first issue, which is of interest to the panel was dealt with in my previous
email; the second issue I will deal with here. I know that your personal
experiences may hold validity in your opinion about the bible, but one can
easily find anyone from any religion, and they will claim that their personal
experiences validate their particular religions.

For example, while I was in university, I knew a Hindu woman who told me that
she knew Siva existed and loved her due to her personal experiences of praying
and having her prayer answered [she had a sick daughter who mysteriously
recovered]. I seriously doubt that a Christian would take here personal
experiences at face value; for to do so, is to admit that Siva is real. Yet
Brian, we can apply the same standard to you; you may say that your personal
experiences somehow proves something, but personal experiences are not evidence.
My personal experiences proved to me that Christianity is a fraud; a blasphemy
against what I consider God to be morally. So you see, subjective statements are
invalid as a means of proving anything. Actually, such an argument is a logical
fallacy:

*Petitio principii (begging the question) Can be illustrated by the claim that
the Bible is the Word of God; but not demonstrating it. Or in your case, that
the Bible is true because your experiences support it. If you want to use that
as an argument, then you beg two questions:

1) How do you prove that your experiences are hold any validity?
2) How do you prove that your experiences are directly related to the Bible, and
not some other cause. For example, take the Hindu woman I mentioned above, she
ignored the fact that her child was under the care of excellent doctors -- is it
not possible, ever so slightly, that medicine and not a divine being were
responsible for the recovery of the child?

To argue a position logically, you must avoid fallacies and your explanation
must pass Occam's Razor [All things being equal, the best hypothesis is the one
making the fewest assumptions].

So you may have had some experiences, but those experiences are worthless from
an objective point of view; and trying to validate the Bible with such an
argument fails before it even starts.

peace

Rev Gadfly

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