Showing posts with label How to. Show all posts
Showing posts with label How to. Show all posts

Thursday, June 25, 2009

How to convert an Atheist: Part Two - Miracles

Today I will be dealing with a contested subject among Atheists and Christians alike.
Miracles.
This proof that will indeed convert me very quickly is extremely difficult to produce depending on your definition of a miracle. Since you're trying to convert me specifically here, we'll use my definition and then I'll go about converting the rest of those stubborn unbelievers.

Item the Second: Miracles
Conversion Status: Absolute until proven false
Ease of Evidence: Difficult

Well you're off to a good start- every religion claims miracles were done(and usually are the basis for the religion in the first place), and that miracles happen frequently still.
I'd like to see one.
Here's how you do it: Predict when and where a miracle will occur(you can use prophecy here for a double whammy) and get me there to witness it. OR if your particular religion grants YOU the ability to perform one, simply throw one down right there.
But Liz, you ask, what miracle would you like us to do? I can speak in tongues or attest that the sun rises every day- isn't that enough to inspire your faith?
No. Let's define a miracle, shall we?
"A miracle is a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature, such that can be explained by divine intervention, and is sometimes associated with a miracle-worker." This is from Wikipedia, which is a website I can only assume Christians have seen and had a chance to edit- thusly it's the accepted definition.
I have previously defined what does not count as a miracle- things that have explanations you just don't understand, or things that are mundane but "good" (finding your car keys or overcoming a disease) and things that have been proven not to be miracles, but are established phenomena of the human psyche or emotional reactions.
So- while your mother overcoming cancer is not a miracle, everyone in an entire hospital suddenly overcoming their ailments with no medical explanation might be.
Here are some examples:
Amputee Limb Regrowth
Verifiable Resurrection (not just brain death- but total cessation of life processes and decomposition begins)
Translocation or Transmutation of objects(again, verifiable only please)
Demonstration of abilities not possibly possessed by an individual- heavy investigation required

Things that do not represent a miracle-
Things that have no apparent cause(investigate. Don't draw a conclusion first, then test for it.)
Mundane Occurrences
Occurrences that through denial of established scientific fact, then lack a cause
Things that have a natural or explainable cause

Proofs I will accept for a miracle:
Witnessing it personally
Testimony of multiple witnesses that were not in a highly-emotional state, at least one who is/was a skeptic, with correlating evidence(pictures, video footage, the end result of the miracle) - this will be investigated thoroughly.
Cataclysmic evidence (IE, mountains that have actually moved, geological evidence, must be material)

Proofs that I will not accept:
Your personal testimony
Testimony from ancient texts
Testimony from a large group of people in a highly-emotional state
Testimony from individuals unable to think critically about other things
Video evidence alone, or pictures alone, or transmogrified object alone.
Proofs of non-miracles, or miracles that could be fakes(stigmata, speaking in tongues, telepathy) - you will have to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is true, due to the ubiquitous nature of falsehoods surrounding these.

The idea of a miracle is however, difficult to maintain. As the late, great Arthur C. Clarke once said- "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." and rightly so. I could travel back to any point before 200 years ago and perform magic with only the knowledge of today- not even the technology. Miracles performed in ancient times could only be the result of lack of knowledge about the world around them leading them to believe in a supernatural cause.
Do not be surprised if a miracle you have come to believe in gets debunked or explained- this is only the march of progress. It does not disprove your faith, only fails to affirm it, and returns to you the burden of positive proof, a reason to believe.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

And I give unto thee, a LIST. How to convert an Atheist: Part 1

So- my Christian (or any religion) readers, are you up to the monumental task of converting an Atheist?
The reward: saving a soul from eternal damnation. And the satisfaction of proving yourself right, which is always fun.
Atheists: If you disagree, or have additional caveats to these challenges, please post below.

For the next few days I am going to post a guide to converting Atheists. Giving these proofs will, depending on the category of the claim, convert us there on the spot, or will give us serious pause.

I'll post the stats for the claim, and then you must read all of the conditions(as in, don't stop at the title.). Post in the comments, e-mail me or blog about it and link to my blog(which will provide a trackback url so I can see it) and we'll get to the business of my(and many others) salvation.
Please note: I began this list inspired by this video- but I am adding a substantial amount of information as well as rejecting some, and adding my own.

The first thing that could convince me you're on the money about this whole God/Holy Book thing is the question of Prophecy.

Item the First: Prophecy
Conversion Status: Absolute
Ease of evidence: Difficult

The first thing that would probably convince me that your book/ideas are the genuine article is a prophecy. Let me first define a prophecy:
A prophecy is a prediction of the future that relies on information not available to the prophet at the time, is clear and concise about its predictions and gives accurate results. It also has a lot of specific information attached to it, so it cannot be interpreted to apply to more than one event.
Now, exclusions:
A prophecy is not vague and does not rely on heavy symbolism to describe the event. Descriptions of prophecy can be a little off, as someone from another time would describe technology of today(steel birds are airplanes, horseless carriages are cars, etc.) but things like "a great darkness upon the heart of man" or "a savior will deliver us from evil" are very vague. They could apply to Jesus, Barack Obama and even Hitler. "Evil" is a very loosely defined word and "deliver us from" could mean anything. "A great darkness" could be the evils of society, or a disease that attacks the cardiovascular system. Any of these could be interpreted to also pertain to multiple events- it must be either a one-time occurrence or something date-related.
A prophecy cannot also be self-fulfilling, as in "the Jews returning to Israel" or a statement made about someone specific about their destiny, and then that person doing their best to fulfill that destiny. This is of course perfectly fine in the case of performing miracles, or other supernatural occurrences.

As for prophecies in the past:
Prophecies have to have undeniable proof to have actually happened. Prophecies such as the ones predicting Jesus, or aspects of his life or later events in the bible(not counting things that have not happened, like revelations) could easily have been written to fit each other, like Jesus being written about to fit information in prophecy previously written about, or prophecies in the old testament that have not been verified as to predate Jesus that could have been inserted later.

Actual evidence you must present:
Historical documents that prove the authenticity of the prophecy, as in letters from the era regarding it, or historians(that are credited and respected among the general historical community) that attest to the document's authenticity, and why they attest to it. Carbon dating is also accepted- but only on older documents as things that occurred less than a few hundred years ago are difficult to pin down.
Photos or evidence of the documents themselves.
Evidence of the event(as long as it's not happening now, or recently, where we might have video evidence).
Evidence that the event is not applicable to other events in history, or that the interpretation has not been stretched to the point of metaphor.