OBJECTIVE OR SUBJECTIVE?

OBJECTIVE OR SUBJECTIVE?

1. SUBJECTIVE

   • A claim that is based on a PRIVATE DECISION.
   • Religious experiences are OFTEN regarded as subjective...
     • ... because NO OBJECTIVE CRITERIA can be applied in order to JUDGE THEIR MERIT, AUTHENTICITY or elsewise.
   • CANNOT be considered as 'SCIENTIFIC,' because a subjective distinction DOES NOT offer any EMPIRICAL or INTELLECTUAL PROOF.
   • A LACK OF UNIFORMITY between different accounts of apparent religious experience DOES NOT NECESSARILY mean that these reports are INCORRECT or INAUTHENTIC!
   • 'Everyday life' is DECEPTIVE and therefore subjective to the individual recipient.
     • We DO NOT KNOW exactly what God 'looks like,' and even SCULPTURES are NOT able to depict exactly what God's physical appearance is.

2. OBJECTIVE

   • AUDIOVISUAL EXPERIENCES
     • 1. PSYCHOPATHEOLOGICAL
       • The recipient suffers from a MEDICAL CONDITION.
     • 2, The MIND can 'MISJUDGE' experiences under EXTREME CONDITIONS.
       • e.g. Mirages in the desert.
   • A claim that is OPEN to testing.

3. CONVERSION

   • Many would suggest that Conversion experiences can be QUITE EASILY VERIFIED because the RESULTS of such an experience have been often OBSERVED.
     • HOWEVER...
       • ... Conversion experiences could be RULED OFF as PSYCHOLOGICAL CAUSES, and not a meeting with God or some other 'DIVINE INTERVENTION.'
         • OBJECTIVE
         • Sigmund Freud
           • SUPPORTED this idea that PSYCHOLOGICAL CAUSES are responsible for what people refer to as 'Conversions.'
             • Conversion is a 'reaction to a hostile world.'
               • Insecure people will reach out to God in search of a 'Father Figure.'
         • Voltaire
           • "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."
         • SOME PHILOSOPHERS believe that these sort of approaches are attempts to REDUCE the phenomenon of a Conversion experience or any religious experience for that matter; in doing so, supporting THEIR CLAIMS, and unjustifiably demolishing the potential for truth.
     • SUBJECTIVE