This is not a good reason to believe in God at all. But, I’ve heard many theists use this like it’s their trump card. “I’ve had some experiences that have convinced me of God’s existence.” That’s great. But, what does your testimonial have to do with reality? How can you possibly jump from “crazy experiences” and go straight to God?

We have made some large leaps in the field of neuroscience and we now know many ways in which the brain can trick us. When our brains become deprived of oxygen (e.g., in a centrifuge) it will enter an emergency state that creates hallucinations. These situations are responsible for many of the so-called “near-death” experiences that people have claimed to be real. And during sleep we can have “out-of-body” experiences when functions go awry in our right temporal-parietal junction, which is important for the sense of spatial location of the self.

It is always more rational to have a natural explanation than to claim a supernatural one for any “crazy experience”. And even if there is no natural explanation, it by no means gives credence to any supernatural explanation. Like I have said before, a bad explanation is not better than no explanation.

In addition, the use of this kind of justification is just another mark of close-mindedness. This is because it is not a falsifiable claim. And usually the person who uses such a justification will readily admit that there is nothing that would change their mind of what is responsible for those “crazy experiences”.

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More »

1. Appealing to the Supernatural
2. Dead Logic
3. The Failure of Intelligent Design
4. Historicity
5. A Magic Man Done It