Surely personal revelation must count for something on this? Granted, there's a wealth of personal revelations out there that go in all directions, but if one were to have an experience that was genuinely miraculous and clearly externally generated, i.e. Paul's conversion, yet personal, this should surely count for some credibility, yes?

We will find out after our last breath and last heartbeat (barring any artificial means of mechanical/medical life support). The choice to believe or not believe in God is ours, up to our last breath and heartbeat. The moment after that will explain it all. I’m still all in too John, without question.

“There may be a God. There may not be. People can screech about it until their eyes pop, but the fact remains that (um … as of this writing) it is exactly as reasonable to guess one as the other. “

Just because there are two possible choices, does not make them equally likely. If I claimed that your neighbor’s car trunk was either 1) empty or 2) contained a Fabergé egg, gilded with sapphires and bunnies wearing tophats in a cloth bag cut from Al Capone’s suit jacket; which would you put your money on? (Hint: empty)

You can legitimately say there is some higher power or the is not some higher power, but one is not as likely as the other. Things are further muddied here by presenting the false dichotomy of choosing between ‘no higher power’ and ‘a specific higher power’ (the Christian God). When the reality is that there are other options besides the Christian god.

It is not “exactly as reasonable to guess one as the other”.

I acknowledge the 'appearance' of design. Even if I were to concede actual design (I don't), that only takes the argument as far as deism. It offers no support for the Christian god whatsoever.

Re: the appearance of design…

A full understanding of natural selection and probability and the vast times involved well explains the appearance of design. It is far beyond the scope of this thread to educate readers here.

If any here would like to invest 2 hours (which can be viewed over time in small chunks) to watch a brilliantly done piece on Intelligent Design , view it here.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/program.html

Heck…send me your address and a couple dollars and I will mail you a copy on DVD.

If I claimed that your neighbor’s car trunk was either 1) empty or 2) contained a Fabergé egg, gilded with sapphires and bunnies wearing tophats in a cloth bag cut from Al Capone’s suit jacket; which would you put your money on? (Hint: empty)

I find it infinitely more absurd, based on what I've learned of the intricacies of all things and how they are in harmony with each other and about a gozillion other things that I could possibly deny the presence of an intelligent design.

I sincerely think that you have to try to not see it…I'm definitely all in!

JOHN'S VIABLE KNOWLEDGE AND USE OF WORDS NEVER CEASE TO AMAZE ME!

I'm also curious, what evidence do you regard as compelling for the historicity of the Old Testament, as well as the Gospels?