I have no experience with the god you talk about.
For me, those experiences that you describe are equivalent.
And instead of acknowledging that I cannot share those experiences that you have had, you tell me that I have said something offensive.
“By offering that example, you are implying that God is of the same order, a story parents know is false that they tell children for whatever reason (bemusement, control, whatever). But, Eve, you DO NOT and CANNOT know that about God. You are assuming an equivalence that simply doesn’t exist.”
That is my real experience.
Why do you feel entitled to tell me my experiences are less real than yours?
I have never claimed to know anything about god. I am an agnostic. I’ve been very clear about the limits of my own experience. Yet you argue with me about my experience, as if my experience shouldn’t be my primary guide for my own beliefs.
In offering my experience with Santa Claus, I have offered my best attempt to understand your question. I would have to be that child in order to know which experiences were meaningful for him, what the quality of his evidence meant to him, how he assimilated that into his beliefs.
Why can’t you extend that courtesy to me?
This is you, telling me to reject my experiences, as if you are that philosophy professor, and I am that child:
“You are not stupid. Your are not delusional. Your professor is wrong.
Walk out. Get your money back. It worked for me.
Much love,
Jack”
But you cannot love a person you cannot listen to. I have never thought I was stupid or delusional. And this all started because I asked you how you saw the world.
Maybe that does make me stupid and delusional.
