See how well that works?! 
Well, since I have no objective reason to believe your ‘experiences’ - and threads in the past have detailed what those are and the far simpler explanations for them - I can speak with utter surety that what you believe is in fact ‘faith’ - as in -
and that is the concept of ‘faith’ as attributed to religous definitions - of which yours fits perfectly.
you “seeing” them does not make it reality - again, given the methods to which you ahve ‘seen’ them - NO ONE ELSE HAS.
Sorry if you don’t like that - but it is accurate.
You cannot speak for me. You can, if you wish, not believe me. But for me I am certain of my experiences because I lived them.
I am not speaking ‘for you’ - I am responding ‘to you’ -
I’ve said this in post #9 in this very thread and I’ll repeat it for your benefit:
“You believe what you believe because you believe it and find it internally consistent.”
I’m not sure many would argue vehemently with you for holding these views unless and until you state them as obvious truths and facts - which they are not - but which is something you have a tendency to do. So perhaps your comments are more suited towards IMHO. But since these kinds of discussions occur more frequently in GD, you’re at a disadvantage for stating your views without the ability to cite reliable evidence.
I get that you want your contributions to be taken as seriously as you obviously take them, but in absence of some credible evidence for you side, you may need to adjust your expectations.
Again, I know, I have experienced, how clearly can I make it. I don’t care if you don’t believe me. It is OK if you don’t believe as I do. My experience is my evidence which can’t be shared, I know that and you know that, so why worry about it. I will not ask you to believe as I do.
It is not logical nor rational to tell someone their experience was different than what they said it was. You can only believe or not believe. Or you can do as I do just file it under “to be checked out.” Everything does not have to be right or wrong.
to be checked out? Truth will out.
Aloha
God’s only gift to his children is His Son.
His Son is All Creation and in Him only does Truth/Christ abide.
Thru Christ alone is the human family given the ability to develop Faith in their Oneness in Him. The upside? Commensurate with Faith comes a Sense of Humor.
A fully developed SOH is proof that God exists.
Note that the words used (God, Christ, Faith and whatever) are metaphors and can be freely substituted for. I like Santa for God.
But I can tell you this, life without SOH is pure Hell.
Aloha
I did not question that ***you ***believe it - I said that there is no objective (external) evidence for us to verify/validate/believe it
I also did not use the term ‘right’ or the term ‘wrong’ - I said what you are describing is the very essence of ‘religious FAITH’, no matter how much you want to assert it being ‘reality’.
In short - you are arguing with yourself and reading into my response just to have that argument.
Now why’d you have to go and say a thing like that for?..
When you say “why worry about it”, I assume that you mean “why concern yourself and argue with what I say”… is that right?
Well, we’re on this board to discuss all sorts of stuff. Much of it for our own pleasure and edification. So you say a thing, and I reply to that thing… etc… You’ve been here long enough to know how it works.
So if you just want to say things without anyone challenging what you say, you may want to reconsider posting that thought here and instead write it on your blog where no-one will challenge you on it.
But that’s not as satisfying, is it?
You’re here for an argument. Granted, sometimes it feels like a getting hit on the head lesson. (I’ve had my share of those.) Notwithstanding, you can’t insist that your views not be challenged on this forum. To avoid the frustration of being challenged you can either adjust what and where you post, or, continue posting in the same way and adjust your expectations.
And again, I’m not worried that you’re going to impose your beliefs on me. We’re just talking, right?
Of course there are things unknown now, just as there were many centuries ago. But I am speaking of known facts at the present. We now know the earth is not the center of the universe, that is a proven Fact at one time it was a belief. Once something is proven it is no longer faith, but Fact.
We also know the sun doesn’t rise ,but the earth turns, etc. There are many things we do not know, and may never know, but I am under the impression we are dealing with the Now, not something in the future. My family can say in fact I am alive but in maybe 12 years or more I would not be. it is unknown. Faith is what one desires but truth is what is. Until faith is proven it is just that Faith!
A person can believe it’s spouse is faithful or un faithful, but in some cases the spouse will be found either not faithful, or indeed faithful. Depends on what truth comes out! Some people will not want to know, others may. It is How much they want to believe or trust.
Okay, I think I get it. For instance, if I say “The electron is composed of two smaller particles which have not yet been discovered,” that’s a statement of faith, not of science, because, even if it turns out to be true, I don’t have any evidential basis for the claim.
It’s a question of faith when someone declares a specific “unknown fact.”
I only took issue with your phrasing, which made me think you were arguing that it requires faith to believe in future discoveries of fact. Just a semantics thing. Moving right along!
True, but faith is just that unless proven. Once proven it is no longer faith but fact.
What turns faith into fact. Experience. There are thousands of people living in the US who have never seen an ocean. They have read about them and heard about them and seen pictures of them, but they have never experienced an ocean. They believe in oceans because of their exposure to the material about oceans. Now is this faith or fact? So you take them to an ocean and let them walk on the beach and wade in it. Put them on a ship and take them out beyond the horizon to experience the vastness of the waters, at night let them see the brightness of the stars hanging so close you can almost touch them. Now their believe in oceans changes to a knowing. Their perception has changed dramatically from whence the ocean was only a thought instead of a reality. When they speak of the ocean in the future their words carry feeling and meaning in them. Never more will the ocean just be a lot of water. So it is with the Creator and His love for His children. What was once faith is now fact.
How does that explain magical illusions (to be clear, i’m talking about magicians, here). I’ve experienced the sight of someone being cut in two; should I be certain that it happened? That was my experience.
There is no way I can know that since it was your experience not mine.
Have you yourself never seen any magic tricks, then? Optical illusions?
Believing is seeing, it’s that simple. Aloha