What do we mean when we talk about evidence, especially in discussions about God?


              When I get into discussions online with atheists and agnostics, typically I run into objections of the like that I do not have any evidence for God. What they typically mean by that is that they will only accept scientifically verifiable evidence for the existence of God. Not only can we provide one massive piece of scientific evidence for the existence of God in the form of the big bang theory, I want to demonstrate today that scientific evidence is not the only form of evidence that we consider in our day to day lives, and that non-theists move the goal posts of their usual day to day reasoning skills to deny an otherwise reasonable case for the existence of God.
              I want to start off by talking about the 4 gospels at the beginning of the New Testament. These gospels are accounts written by 4 of the disciples of Christ. These are written as eyewitness testimony so that those who would read them would be convinced of the character and mission of Jesus. In a court of law, we have to rely on eyewitness testimony to help establish the chain of events, and are perfectly acceptable pieces of evidence for modern events, so they should be acceptable for establishing events in the past as well. I have attached a link to discuss the other types of evidences that are acceptable in a court of law besides testimonial and scientific evidence.
              While testimony and other evidences are great to help establish a chain of events and can help to make a case, lawyers and case makers use evidences and their own logic to make arguments. Arguments are logical statements that rely on premises, supported by evidence, to lead one to a conclusion or truth statement. There are plenty of arguments about the existence of God or about the validity of Christianity that rely on all types of evidence. Some arguments are stronger than others, but I think that the intellectually honest person should admit that this collective case for Christianity from this litany of arguments is very formidable, and should be very seriously considered before dismissing it out of hand with some silly statement like “there is no evidence for God”.
              Hopefully this very brief statement has you considering your views on evidence and arguments. I hope that this has been informative, and I look forward to any discussions that you want to have. May God bless you and have a good rest of your day!
References
https://www.universalclass.com/articles/law/types-of-evidence.htm
https://www.comm.pitt.edu/argument-claims-reasons-evidence

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