From: hamilton@hydra.cs.gmr.com (Bill Hamilton)
Subject: Re: Burden of Proof
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In article <1r69b7INN539@lynx.unm.edu> cfaehl@vesta.unm.edu (Chris Faehl) writes:
>In article <1r4b59$7hg@aurora.engr.LaTech.edu>, ray@engr.LaTech.edu (Bill Ray) writes:
>********NOTE: FOLLOWUPS go to alt.atheism,talk.religion.misc,talk.origins!
>
>[deleted]
>> If I make a statement, "That God exists, loves me, etc." but in no way
>> insist that you believe it, does that place a burden of proof upon me.
>> If you insist that God doesn't exist, does that place a burden of proof 
>> upon you?  I give no proofs, I only give testimony to my beliefs.  I will
>> respond to proofs that you attempt to disprove my beliefs.
>
>If you say X statement and give it the authority of fact, I will respond
>by asking you why. You aren't obligated to say anything, but if your
>intent is to convince me that X statement is true, then yes, the burden
>of proof is upon you. 

If what was being discussed could be established or disproven by 
experiment and observation, then I would agree with you, Chris.  
The burden of proof would belong to Bill. But the source
document for Christianity, the Bible, simply assumes God exists
and makes it clear (to us Calvinists, anyway :-)) that when a person
is in fellowship with God, it is because God has taken the initiative
in revealing Himself to that person. So from a Christian point of
view, the burden of proof belongs to God. Bill is being consistent
with what the Bible teaches in relating his own experience with God,
but it would be an error on his part to assume that there is a direct,
causal relationship between his testimony and someone else becoming
convinced that God exists and that he needs to be reconciled to God.

>
>If you are merely giving testimony to your beliefs, then you are an egotist.

Please excuse me if I missed an earlier part of this thread
in which Bill came across like an egotist. What I saw was simply
obedience to the scriptural command to "always be ready
to give a reason for the joy that is in you".  

Bill Hamilton

