If you rather base your entire belief on a subjective questionable experience than scientific fact, I cannot stop you. But I will not admit that you have a monopoly on truth based on an experience which cannot be repeated or transferred for actual scrutiny.
Let us postulate that I claimed to have the exact same experience but in my case it was the God of the Islamic faith. Now when two people both claiming similar experiences and crediting them to different things we are now faced with a problem.
1. Both claims cannot be repeated or tested.
2. We have no mechanism or structure for actually comparing both experiences. i.e apart from us claiming the same thing we cannot actually know if the experiences are in fact alike.
3. Truth and evidence are not subjective. Evidence which can only be recieved or experienced by one person, is by nature not tangible or useful evidence.
Now when I take a step back and weigh the claims,the evidence for those claims and validity of the evidence, I am inclined to side with the evidence which supports the origin of species by means of Natural Selection.
I base my belief on truth. My experience wasn't subjective. I saw what I saw... after I prayed. I asked God for a vision. God gave me a vision. It's truth.
Science.. not science.. it doesn't have to be done with mathematics or any other scientific disciplines. Truth can easily be explained with the art of language. Communication... me orally telling you, informing you... what happened. What the truth is... what I saw with my own eyes.
The real problem is you just don't want to accept it.
Next, you tell me that you don't want to give credit to something that can't be repeated for actual scrutiny... your words.. I'll quote your exact words...
"But I will not admit that you have a monopoly on truth based on an experience which cannot be repeated or transferred for actual scrutiny."
Please, re-read that again... many times and think about evolution and the big bang theory... please. Can we repeat that? No of course not lol But no, the exception must be evolution and the big bang theory.. right?
Also, I did repeat the experience...
So, I do have a "monopoly" on truth because you didn't see how the universe was created.. however I did see God in action. I did see God respond. I do have ground to speak on that I only imagine few can speak on. So, if I tell you God exists because I was there when God responded. And you tell me that you think billions of years ago.. we were formed by the process of evolution... an unproven theory... while the question is... Does God exist? What is more fundamentally important here? My vision... or this unproven theory when you weren't even a witness of creation... I'm a witness of God's existence... it's pretty clear that what I am telling you trumps everything you could ever tell me on your basis of argument/theory. I saw God in action therefore God does exists.
Islam in short is "copy and past and add in and take away a few things from Christianity or Judaism." Anyways, my answer will be as if you didn't mention Islam.
1. Wrong, actually, I did manage to repeat and test it. I have a record of my spiritual vision. Besides that, I also have physical evidence on a prayer response.
2. Wrong again, actually there is a method to "test" what I have seen and the results I have gained. It's simple, God asks for our faith and you may see miracles happen in your life. Maybe not always because it's up to God to decide that but there is a method and the results do happen.
3.I'll add to that... Truth is subjective to God. But on our side of the fence, truth is objective to us. Next, I want to quote you "Evidence which can only be received or experienced by one person, is by nature not tangible or useful evidence." and first of all say that, that was one of the worst statements about truth or evidence I've ever read. It doesn't take a group of people or more than one person to confirm evidence... it takes truth. That's all it takes... just being honest.
Either way, I explain below that this didn't happen to me only. I know family and I've met other people with these experiences.
I'll give you a hint... I don't think it's for-fetched to say that, usually, on a daily basis... we live our every-day lives off evidence that is received or experienced by one person... on a daily basis.
Another hint... U
The vision still stands. I'll throw in, my brothers seeing a demon and quote, he said "I was chased by a monster"
He also saw me being followed by what he described as a man that was completely black and if I recall correctly I felt as if someone was following me... just before he told me about that. I think it's worth noting that when he told me this... I saw his face and his eyes were wide and his mouth was wide open and it looked like he stumbled on his back... I never saw him so scared... and he said "Didn Didn Didn't you see it?" and he explained what he saw. I then told him, "it's okay, those things can't hurt us, we're with God."
These things didn't happen just one time... or just me. I know people... not just family either.
God loves you so much that he was willing to die for you. However because people love evil so much.. they deny it and suppress the truth. That's what the scriptures say and I'll be praying for you. I think this about it. I'm going to be talking to you for the next few weeks and maybe no results.
This is one of the verses that hits home with me...
Jeremiah 33:3
[SUP]3 [/SUP]‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.
The reason I had a vision was because of the story of a man in the Bible. His name was Gideon.
Judges 6:39
[SUP]39 [/SUP]Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.”
He had faith in God and he decided to confirm God's will with a test. I looked at his story and his test as a way to end my skepticism. I realized Faith was key. I've read the Bible and realized that it was good. Why not have Faith in God who always does good? What's wrong with "thou shall not murder?" Or "thou shall not steal?" It was reasonable to give God my faith and that's what I did... I gave God my Faith which apparently is how the system works. I prayed, asked and trusted in God to give me a vision. I said, if he gave me one like he did to his prophets that I'd serve him all my life but if he didn't I'd never believe in him no-matter what.
Just in-case your wondering I converted because I wanted truth and justice. I got truth and with the truth of God's existence. I know he'll bring perfect justice as-well.
So, here I am, knowing God exists.