re: Satanic Temple puts up display at Michigan Capital

quote:

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This is not a timeline issue.

A fact is verifiable in the present.

A belief is not verifiable in the present.

Try to philosophize this all you want, but it does not change it

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What this boils down to is whether or not a truth claim is actually true, and whether or not such truth can even be known "for a fact".

Not all truth is verifiable in the present. We see examples of this all the time. Take any case where, at the time, all of the evidence pointed towards a person's guilt in a court of law, yet the truth of innocence wasn't able to be proven until years later with advances in technology. The truth was always the truth, but the verification of it wasn't able to be made "in the present" at that time.

Similarly, either Heaven exists or it doesn't. There's no scientific way to prove it, but that doesn't mean it cannot be verified. The only known possible verification of it is death, which, unfortunately, renders communication about said verification impossible. You have to experience it to know whether or not the truth claim is actually true.

Some beliefs are verifiable in the present while others aren't. Like I said before, my wife can tell me something and I can believe it as true. I can accept her at her word (faith) or I can verify it. I can still believe something while having the ability to verify it in the present. When it comes to religious truths, those aren't necessarily verifiable in the present, but it doesn't mean that they can't be verified in the future (such as at your death).