A Scale Depicting Extraordinary Claims
I'm toying with something and wondering what my readers think of it. I put together a scale that depicts extraordinary claims by different groups below. See what you think and of my explanation.
This scale to the left shows us which groups have more and more extraordinary claims. The agnostic makes no positive or affirmative claims about the questions before us. I call this the default position. If nothing else we should all be agnostics.
The atheist position is not far from the agnostic for the agnostic already rejects all supernatural explanations. The atheist merely concludes what the agnostic refuses to do, by saying that it's probable there are no supernatural explanations at all, and as such the cosmos is all that exists. And this is not an extraordinary claim to make. In fact it's the opposite of one.
As we move off into the other direction the pantheist claims all is ONE. While it's a hard claim to wrap one's head around, it is a simple claim.
With deism we see this group will only accept what reason leads them to accept, and for most of them this means there is a creator God. This claim is more extraordinary than pantheism since they now affirm a spiritual reality that exists beside the reality we experience, a creator God.
The (Orthodox) Jew accepts the existence of a creator God but in addition also accepts the Old Testament as a revealed revelation from God.
The Muslim accepts some of the early portions of the Old Testament but in addition will accept the Koran as revealed by God (i.e. Allah), and that Jesus was his prophet.
See a trend here?
The Christian, or at least the evangelical, accepts a creator God, the Old Testament, and also the New Testament as the revealed will of God. While neither Jews nor Muslims accept a trinity, an incarnation, an atonement, nor a resurrection of Jesus, Christians do.
Now when we look at these groups based on who makes the greater number of extraordinary claims, then isn't it quite obvious Christians do?
Now consider the following undeniable facts: 1) The larger the claim is then the less likely it is to be true. 2) The larger the claim is then the more evidence is needed to show that it is true. 3) The larger the claim is then the more other things have to be defended such that if any one of these other things are shown to be improbable then the whole house of cards falls to the ground.
One conclusion I draw from this is that Christianity is by far less likely than Islam, or Orthodox Judaism, or Pantheism. But since Christians were raised in a Christian culture they think it's more likely because they are more familiar with it. Yet that does not follow at all.
This scale to the left shows us which groups have more and more extraordinary claims. The agnostic makes no positive or affirmative claims about the questions before us. I call this the default position. If nothing else we should all be agnostics. The atheist position is not far from the agnostic for the agnostic already rejects all supernatural explanations. The atheist merely concludes what the agnostic refuses to do, by saying that it's probable there are no supernatural explanations at all, and as such the cosmos is all that exists. And this is not an extraordinary claim to make. In fact it's the opposite of one.
As we move off into the other direction the pantheist claims all is ONE. While it's a hard claim to wrap one's head around, it is a simple claim.
With deism we see this group will only accept what reason leads them to accept, and for most of them this means there is a creator God. This claim is more extraordinary than pantheism since they now affirm a spiritual reality that exists beside the reality we experience, a creator God.
The (Orthodox) Jew accepts the existence of a creator God but in addition also accepts the Old Testament as a revealed revelation from God.
The Muslim accepts some of the early portions of the Old Testament but in addition will accept the Koran as revealed by God (i.e. Allah), and that Jesus was his prophet.
See a trend here?
The Christian, or at least the evangelical, accepts a creator God, the Old Testament, and also the New Testament as the revealed will of God. While neither Jews nor Muslims accept a trinity, an incarnation, an atonement, nor a resurrection of Jesus, Christians do.
Now when we look at these groups based on who makes the greater number of extraordinary claims, then isn't it quite obvious Christians do?
Now consider the following undeniable facts: 1) The larger the claim is then the less likely it is to be true. 2) The larger the claim is then the more evidence is needed to show that it is true. 3) The larger the claim is then the more other things have to be defended such that if any one of these other things are shown to be improbable then the whole house of cards falls to the ground.
One conclusion I draw from this is that Christianity is by far less likely than Islam, or Orthodox Judaism, or Pantheism. But since Christians were raised in a Christian culture they think it's more likely because they are more familiar with it. Yet that does not follow at all.
