EvC Forum: Absence of Evidence

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Topic: Absence of Evidence

Theodoric

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From: Northwest, WI, USA

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Message 15 of 39 (905415)
01-26-2023 10:23 AM

Before Phat drags this off-topic and into apologetics, I want to get a comment in.

I have a friend that is a "ghost hunter". he truly believes he is talking to and recording ghosts. I have tried to explain to him that even though he is using scientific tools he is not doing science. At times he is finding anomalies but anomaly does not equal ghosts. I have asked why the answer is always ghosts and not demons, aliens or even leprechauns. Another friend and I call him the leprechaun hunter. He takes it as an insult.
What makes this on topic is that his argument back to me is "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence". As I tell him that does not support him and is actually meaningless. All it means is that absence of evidence is nothing. It does not support anything. It is a platitude nothing more.

Ok, Phat can hijack the thread with his grade school apologetics.

What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. -Christopher Hitchens

Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts

"God did it" is not an argument. It is an excuse for intellectual laziness.

If your viewpoint has merits and facts to back it up why would you have to lie?

Theodoric

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From: Northwest, WI, USA

Joined: 08-15-2005

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Message 17 of 39 (905417)
01-26-2023 10:45 AM

Reply to: Message 16 by Tangle
01-26-2023 10:25 AM

Re: Can I Get A Witness?

What I was meaning was that there were highly literate historians and diarists alive during those times and in that location whose work we have but who did not mention Jesus or those events.

A subject we have addressed already on this forum

Writers who could/should have mentioned Jesus
Message 8

Mostly it was a lot of different prophets doing the same apocalyptic riffs and a few of their fantastical stories being picked/fabricated many years after the "fact".

In Phat's post, we can see the dishonesty of the christianists. In one breath they claim that we can not expect records or accuracy from the time period because most people were illiterate(adult male literacy rate, the only ones that counted was probably 20-25%). In the next breath, they claim a concerted smear campaign and that what finally was written down decades later is accurate, even though we have no authors' names or backgrounds or source material.

What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. -Christopher Hitchens

Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts

"God did it" is not an argument. It is an excuse for intellectual laziness.

If your viewpoint has merits and facts to back it up why would you have to lie?

This message is a reply to:
	Message 16 by Tangle, posted 01-26-2023 10:25 AM		Tangle has replied

Replies to this message:
	Message 18 by Tangle, posted 01-26-2023 10:53 AM	Theodoric has replied
	Message 21 by Phat, posted 01-26-2023 11:28 AM	Theodoric has not replied
	Message 28 by Phat, posted 01-26-2023 2:59 PM	Theodoric has replied

Theodoric

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Posts: 9463

From: Northwest, WI, USA

Joined: 08-15-2005

Member Rating: 6.0

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Message 20 of 39 (905420)
01-26-2023 11:16 AM

Reply to: Message 18 by Tangle
01-26-2023 10:53 AM

Re: Can I Get A Witness?

I have it bookmarked. That thread has saved me a lot of research through the years.

What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. -Christopher Hitchens

Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts

"God did it" is not an argument. It is an excuse for intellectual laziness.

If your viewpoint has merits and facts to back it up why would you have to lie?

This message is a reply to:
	Message 18 by Tangle, posted 01-26-2023 10:53 AM		Tangle has not replied

Theodoric

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Posts: 9463

From: Northwest, WI, USA

Joined: 08-15-2005

Member Rating: 6.0

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Message 26 of 39 (905435)
01-26-2023 12:57 PM

Reply to: Message 23 by Phat
01-26-2023 11:59 AM

Re: Can I Get A Witness?

When you have nothing present an unevidenced conspiracy theory.

What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. -Christopher Hitchens

Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts

"God did it" is not an argument. It is an excuse for intellectual laziness.

If your viewpoint has merits and facts to back it up why would you have to lie?

This message is a reply to:
	Message 23 by Phat, posted 01-26-2023 11:59 AM		Phat has replied

Replies to this message:
	Message 27 by Phat, posted 01-26-2023 2:44 PM		Theodoric has not replied

Theodoric

Member

Posts: 9463

From: Northwest, WI, USA

Joined: 08-15-2005

Member Rating: 6.0

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(1)

Message 30 of 39 (905447)
01-26-2023 4:13 PM

Reply to: Message 28 by Phat
01-26-2023 2:59 PM

Re: Can I Get A Witness?

I don't care or want you to walk away from your beliefs. I want you to understand that these are your beliefs, no one else's. Also, they have no evidence. But that is ok for you because that is what you believe.
Your right-wing conservatism is another thing.

Edited by Theodoric, .

What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. -Christopher Hitchens

Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts

"God did it" is not an argument. It is an excuse for intellectual laziness.

If your viewpoint has merits and facts to back it up why would you have to lie?

This message is a reply to:
	Message 28 by Phat, posted 01-26-2023 2:59 PM		Phat has not replied

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