re: Report of Demon Possesion in Indiana

Want to know why you can't sense God?

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The folklore surrounding Christianity is literally riddled with stories that are almost identical to the ones told by pre-Christian pagans

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Dude all I can tell you is that Christianity is not about traditions and rituals, he actually didn't have a worldwide birthday part for himself every year and make people sing the same songs. It is about the practical applications of His teachings. Like I have said before, just because you see holes in the history, does not make the teachings any less valid, or a benefit to society. The guy you are arguing with is literally saying that his life with Jesus is better, and you are combating with "oh yeah? do you even know why you have a Christmas tree?!" Do you really think that is going to change anyone's mind?

It's quite clear that you have never given much thought to what the Gospel is all about, but rather just learned enough to convince yourself that it isn't for you, which is fine. But it doesn't appear you have learned enough to convince someone that you know what you are talking about either.

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The problem I have with what he said and others who share this line of thinking is that the very scientific method they espouse (and I as well) does not begin without first proposing a hypothesis.

Only then can you answer the question of whether or not the evidence upholds. If it doesn't, then you move on to the next hypothesis or await further evidence.

But HYPOTHESIZING an explanation for some phenomenon is an important part of science.

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I don't think that's what he's doing. He's not arguing against hypothesizing "aliens." He's arguing against simply declaring it as "aliens." That's what most people in the UFO camp do. He goes on to say he's open to any and all evidence should it come forward...so clearly those making that hypothesis can feel free to bring some forward.

I posted it here to show that tons of camps use this same form of special pleading depending on their pet belief. Simply declaring "I seent it" just isn't, at all, compelling to anyone that does not already believe what's being sold.

You'd be wrong

It's really simple. It took me a long time to figure out though, but that's just me.

God doesn't have anything else to prove to me or to you. He won't do some parlor trick for your delight or approval.

However, if you come to him and genuinely accept Jesus as your lord and savior, he will send the holy spirit to you. It's noticeable.

He rewards faith as far as I can tell

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You'd be wrong

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Hooray...more special pleading.

I could, you understand, make these same obnoxious arguments for any character in fiction if the only response I needed to give skeptics was, "Do you know why you don't believe?"

I can be proven of the existence of anything. Of course, it falls to those making the case for the existence of a thing to provide evidence of said thing's existence. It's not my fault that when asked in this case, I'm told that there is evidence but I can't see it (whatever the flying frick that means) or that simply asking for evidence is somehow crude and besides the point.

If I walked up to you and told you that there was this horse-like creature that lives in Africa that had black and white stripes, you might say, "Really? That sounds interesting. Do you have any evidence for it?" Now...at that point, I could either roll out skeletons, and videos, and hides and art, and blood samples, etc...or I could snidely tell you that my word ought to be good enough and you even asking is a crazy thing to do.

I mean...I get why YOU'D want to do the latter, but I hope you understand why I'd want the former. I'd assume you'd expect that of other people when they make incredible claims...right?

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However, if you come to him and genuinely accept Jesus as your lord and savior, he will send the holy spirit to you. It's noticeable.

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So when devout Muslims do this, and tell others this EXACT SAME THING, what are they experiencing? Are they lying? Are they delusional? Are they mistakenly experiencing Jesus despite praying to Allah?

What about Buddhists? What are they experiencing?

Hindus?

Jews?

Non-believers?

Could it be that you've simply arrived at a calm place in your life and that praying (essentially meditating) helps you reach that? would that not be a more logical conclusion as to why ALL faiths can come to the exact same conclusion despite them all having diametrically opposing beliefs?

Nope. Because there is power in the name of Jesus. Not so much with your other listings

FYI the Jews are the "chosen" race so you may want to exclude.that.

Ok bro. See your child on their deathbed. Hold a dying friend. You won't be so tough then.

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While I respect your position here in theory, to me it seems like the serves are coming from your side of the fence quite often.

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Occasionally, sure...but I tend to think that's largely a product of the times. It's only recently that you can have discussions like this and not be completely ostracized...or worse if you take the opposing side. It's why you see so many of these discussions on the internet where people are able to discuss these things more freely.

As for the rest of the time, all I can tell you is to try and imagine what it's like to live in a society where the vast VAST majority of people believe in a thing they are unwilling or unable to prove that's supernatural and this beliefs permeates almost EVERYTHING in society. Trust me, when I described it as returning serve, I was being generous. It's more like having a JUGGS machine chucking balls at one constantly and you're just dodging them. when I finally decide to step in and have at one of these discussions, it's usually after passing on a bunch of them first.

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If you truly thought it to be mythology, I wouldn't think that you would give it the time of day.

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I addressed this already. If I wasn't inundated by this particular belief daily, I wouldn't care about any more so than I do other beliefs I think are bogus. The fact that I have to keep an eye on our school system so that they don't sneak Intelligent Design into my sons' schools, as an example, means I have to do more daily thinking about evangelical Christianity than I do Zoroastrianism.

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This thread isn't 10 pages long because of demons, which we can all (hopefully) agree to be mythical.

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We can't, obviously...did you miss the handful of guys in here arguing for their existence? Hell...I'm currently arguing with BigEd who is doing just that!