Quote:
Originally Posted by jfrog
Just because something works many repeatable times does not mean it will necessarily work the next time. However with this said, I have no problem dropping the requirement of absolute proof from knowledge and saying that in order for something to be knowledge it simply must be a very repeatable experience. This is the basis of our world and most of the knowledge we have.
However there is another kind of knowledge too. Historical knowledge. In historical knowledge we take the word of an authority, either someone that was there or extensively studied the subject. This kind of knowledge more than any other requires faith in the authority. In fact, the knowledge of the afterlife would most closely be tied in with this kind of knowledge.
Christians trust Jesus and books written by people close to Jesus and they believe that Jesus said that there was a heaven and a hell. Jesus is there authority, just like my history teacher and books written by other history teachers form the basis of my historical knowledge. In historical knowledge it is all about having faith in others and taking their words for something that we are never going to get to experience first hand.
Belief in an afterlife is alot like believing that an English King was excommunicated from the catholic church. We weren't there to see it happen. We will never experience that first hand. But, we still believe it is true. Why?
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Yes, you make some good points. However, the very nature of an afterlife is very different from that of an excommunication or a presidential election or an assassination or an earthquake. An afterlife can only be "known" by hearing or reading accounts of it by people who themselves claimed to have experienced it (which cannot be corroborated by anyone else) or who claim to have gotten a revelation from some kind of supernatural source. Both cases can be accepted by others or rejected by others.
But once you accept that there can be supernatural means of "knowing" things, you have a predicament: which claims do you believe? I submit that you have no basis for choosing, other than personal preference. Either that, or you must claim supernatural ability yourself, which Christians do -- they "have the Holy Spirit" to guide them in the truth. And it never seems to bother them much that the Holy Spirit apparently guides different people into very different truths. Oh well, it's a mere trifle, I'm sure.
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