That doesn’t answer the question in any useful way.
So miracles are not a basis for belief but arise out of belief.
I’m not sure what this means. If miracles are not part of the basis for belief why do you think that Wednesday can use them as part of the justification for her faith?
Further there are other supernatural entities that can be a part of miracles besides God.
And if someone performs miracles and says that Mormon deity isn’t real or is actually an evil entity, how would you respond?
I didn’t say Wednesday could use miracles but could use the Holy Spirit (which might be considered miraculous).
“And if someone performs miracles and says that Mormon deity isn’t real or is actually an evil entity, how would you respond?”
Having actually dealt with this claim before I can point to “by their fruits ye shall know them” with the rest of that chapter. As well as “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself”. As well as “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith”. I also would say pretty much what I have already said.
I didn’t say Wednesday could use miracles but could use the Holy Spirit (which might be considered miraculous).
The same point applies. I don’t care whether one calls it “miracles” or “special knowledge”- the essential point applies. If someone else had access to the essentially the same claimed experiences how would you respond?
Having actually dealt with this claim before I can point to “by their fruits ye shall know them” with the rest of that chapter. As well as “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself”. As well as “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith”.
I see. And if the other individual has his own set of contradictory scriptures, how do you decide that your set is better than his set?
If someone else had access to the essentially the same claimed experiences how would you respond?
The belief is that the Holy Spirit will not lie and will tell the same truth to everyone. So I would need to know specifically what was claimed, what knowledge was received, and if there actually is a contradiction.
If the person claims to have contradictory experiences to me yet everything else still matches then I would ask if their experience is reproducible. That is, my claim is that there is a specific procedure to receive revelation so I would want to know what theirs was. If there is none then I would be willing to dismiss the claim as someone that was aware of my faith attempting to deceive me. If there was one and it involved morally objectionable actions then I would chalk up the claim to a different entity, if the claim involved mind altering drugs I would chalk it up to the drugs.
If the procedure did not involve something morally objectionable then I would be willing to test it out. If an apparently contradictory answer was received I would then attempt to receive further revelation from both sources, specifically asking what was happening. In particular I would attempt to find some specific life action that is different between the sources of revelation and then see what the effects of following or not following that action are in other people. If either is obviously bad then I would know which one I don’t want to follow. If there is no obvious ill effect to either then I would ask each which one I should follow and see if there was a consensus. If both forms do agree as to which I should follow then that is the one I would follow and I would hope that an explanation could be had on the other source.
If there is no agreement and no way for me to determine if either is lying then I would go see a doctor to see if something is off with me. If there is and some method of fixing the problem is given I would then repeat both procedure to see which still responds. If they both still respond or if I am determined to be fine then I would decide at that point what to do, either continue following the one I have been and hope for the best or become a deist try not to violate anything of either and hope for the best.
Hopefully that answers the question. I do not anticipate running into anything past the first line of the third paragraph, being testing out the other procedure. Given that I answered poorly by using previous experiences I have tried not to let my own experiences on this subject influence my answer. Generally evangelicals will tell me to read the bible and pray about it, something that is completely consistent with my own beliefs and somewhat confusing given I have read the bible many times and prayed about it many times, I know it to be true.
if the other individual has his own set of contradictory scriptures, how do you decide that your set is better than his set?
First, I would read their scriptures to see what is said. If there is an internal contradiction I would ask for an explanation of said internal contradiction. That is in my experience as far as it has ever gotten, but we are dealing in hypotheticals here so I will continue. If the individual is still willing to talk with me and explain the apparent contradiction I would ask how can I know that their scripture is true. See above for the rest of the response.
That doesn’t answer the question in any useful way.
I’m not sure what this means. If miracles are not part of the basis for belief why do you think that Wednesday can use them as part of the justification for her faith?
And if someone performs miracles and says that Mormon deity isn’t real or is actually an evil entity, how would you respond?
I didn’t say Wednesday could use miracles but could use the Holy Spirit (which might be considered miraculous).
“And if someone performs miracles and says that Mormon deity isn’t real or is actually an evil entity, how would you respond?”
Having actually dealt with this claim before I can point to “by their fruits ye shall know them” with the rest of that chapter. As well as “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself”. As well as “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith”. I also would say pretty much what I have already said.
The same point applies. I don’t care whether one calls it “miracles” or “special knowledge”- the essential point applies. If someone else had access to the essentially the same claimed experiences how would you respond?
I see. And if the other individual has his own set of contradictory scriptures, how do you decide that your set is better than his set?
The belief is that the Holy Spirit will not lie and will tell the same truth to everyone. So I would need to know specifically what was claimed, what knowledge was received, and if there actually is a contradiction.
If the person claims to have contradictory experiences to me yet everything else still matches then I would ask if their experience is reproducible. That is, my claim is that there is a specific procedure to receive revelation so I would want to know what theirs was. If there is none then I would be willing to dismiss the claim as someone that was aware of my faith attempting to deceive me. If there was one and it involved morally objectionable actions then I would chalk up the claim to a different entity, if the claim involved mind altering drugs I would chalk it up to the drugs.
If the procedure did not involve something morally objectionable then I would be willing to test it out. If an apparently contradictory answer was received I would then attempt to receive further revelation from both sources, specifically asking what was happening. In particular I would attempt to find some specific life action that is different between the sources of revelation and then see what the effects of following or not following that action are in other people. If either is obviously bad then I would know which one I don’t want to follow. If there is no obvious ill effect to either then I would ask each which one I should follow and see if there was a consensus. If both forms do agree as to which I should follow then that is the one I would follow and I would hope that an explanation could be had on the other source.
If there is no agreement and no way for me to determine if either is lying then I would go see a doctor to see if something is off with me. If there is and some method of fixing the problem is given I would then repeat both procedure to see which still responds. If they both still respond or if I am determined to be fine then I would decide at that point what to do, either continue following the one I have been and hope for the best or become a deist try not to violate anything of either and hope for the best.
Hopefully that answers the question. I do not anticipate running into anything past the first line of the third paragraph, being testing out the other procedure. Given that I answered poorly by using previous experiences I have tried not to let my own experiences on this subject influence my answer. Generally evangelicals will tell me to read the bible and pray about it, something that is completely consistent with my own beliefs and somewhat confusing given I have read the bible many times and prayed about it many times, I know it to be true.
First, I would read their scriptures to see what is said. If there is an internal contradiction I would ask for an explanation of said internal contradiction. That is in my experience as far as it has ever gotten, but we are dealing in hypotheticals here so I will continue. If the individual is still willing to talk with me and explain the apparent contradiction I would ask how can I know that their scripture is true. See above for the rest of the response.