Looking for religious information, especially Christian

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Buut on the other hand, sometimes in rare cases yesterday's monsters thought to be supernatural myths that only crazies and liars claim to have seen end up being accepted scientic discoveries of tomorrow.

Like those mysterious giant squids that wash up dead on beaches. They look an awful lot like the "kraken" as described in folklore.

Yes, they are fish and not man-eating monsters, so there is no need to do special rituals for them. Theists who do not perform special rituals appear to be atheists.

Generally, at least as I'm used to the terms an atheist is someone who doesn't positively believe in any gods:

Strong (positive, explicit) atheism is the positive belief in a lack of gods; materialism is a positive belief in the lack of the supernatural; physicalism is the related idea that everything in the universe is ultimately physical.
Weak (negative, implicit) atheism is a lack of belief in gods without a positive belief in the absolute lack of gods.

Weak atheism can also include:
Agnostics, people who are uncertain over the existence of gods;
Ignostics, people who think it's a stupid or incomprehensible question, theological noncognitivism is a partial synonym.

Some agnostics lean towards yes on the question, others practice a religion while also doubting the existence of it's god(s). I wouldn't consider these people to be properly described as atheists.

There's also:
Apathism, which is genuinely not caring about the question, regardless of the answer or the validity of the question;
and deism (which collie described pretty well), basically god is detached and unknowable. If the universe is a simulation or an experiment, they're right.

There's also people who have spiritual beliefs, but without any religious sentiment. Some of these people are actually atheists to an extent, but not materialist atheists. Others are deists who believe in a less detached god, whether as a personal god or something to worship.

Personally I feel materialist and ignostist describe my positions the best.

Absolutely, but proving they're real always also proves they're not supernatural, so it just shifts the nature of the discussion.

If the onza is just a puma with long legs (for example) it's no longer something distinct, whether natural or supernatural.

It's certainly possible, but also.... the 5 senses can be faked. Whether via hallucinations, or through stimulating the brain electronically.... you can be made to taste, smell, feel, see, or hear things that aren't there. Doesn't mean the 5 senses are fake. Theoretically, there is a part of the brain that is meant to communicate w God, and that could be wrongly stimulated like the 5 senses.

DMT is a naturally occurring chemical, human beings produce it. It's also a potent hallucinogen that's known for producing trips that are often spiritual in nature. I'd strongly anticipate that it's relevant for at least some of those sorts of experiences.

Again, possible, but the existence of hallucinations doesn't mean things are always fake.

I don't have schizophrenia, but I do experience parasomnia hallucinations.... exploding head syndrome comes and goes. I'll be falling asleep and hear things crashing all around me, startle awake.... everything's normal and fine.

I would need evidence that couldn’t be explained by something else to believe that a subjective experience was caused by a spiritual entity.

Well I'm talking about many multiple experiences that convinced me, not one that I expect to convince everyone else. I am allowed to come to my own conclusions.

No, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and since no one's ever presented anything of the sort, I've gotta lean towards believing natural explanations are more likely to correct than supernatural ones.

I'm sure for the individual (subjectively) it's a genuine experience, but that doesn't make their understanding of what actually occurred (objectively) correct.

Perhaps I really did experience his noodly appendage, but odds are it wasn't really the flying spaghetti monster and people aren't being unreasonable when they discount my claims that it must have been the flying spaghetti monster rather than a more grounded-in-reality answer.

Replace the flying spaghetti monster with any other deity and that statement remains just as true. It's just that the more widespread belief in the deity in question is, the more impolite it is to question claims, no matter how unsubstantiated they may be.

Absolutely, everyone is entitled to reach their own conclusions, but that doesn't mean the conclusions they reach will be grounded in reality. If someone describes their experiences with the faeries, most people would take a dismissive position. I don't see any reason to treat some supernatural claims more seriously than others. I don't expect my skepticism to change any minds, I just wish people would apply their anti-superstition filters more widely instead of only dismissing the supernatural claims they're told are acceptable to dismiss while treating other claims as impolite to even question.

Good thing I'm the only one who needed convinced by my personal experiences then. I'm not trying to convert anyone based off it.

No, of course not. I just hope you're able to understand why such claims sound so absurd to non-believers. If you'd dismiss claims of experiences with leprechauns you already know why non-believers are skeptical to dismissive of a broader range of supernatural claims.

A couple of your posts come off like people are in the wrong for applying critical thinking instead of accepting absurd claims at face value.

I wasn’t meaning to imply that you aren’t allowed to draw your own conclusions. I was just expressing my personal stance when it comes to supernatural experiences and beliefs.

“We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.” - Richard Dawkins

I’ve known quite a few people who have had demon experiences because that was normal for my previous belief system. None of the experiences couldn’t be explained by something else. I knew one person who thought that a demon was trying to strangle him in his sleep. It turned out that he had sleep apnea.

At any rate, I think the fact that so many people have experiences based on their beliefs (or the beliefs of their culture) demonstrates how strong the power of suggestion can be and that people are prone to magical thinking. Many people I grew up with were more likely to jump to a supernatural cause rather than look for a more mundane explanation for their experiences.

I want to see some miracles. The Christian belief in the Chinese countryside says that prayer can increase the production of sows, cure the sick, and make the car accident unscathed. I want to hear the foreign version. The claim that Chinese characters are related to Christianity is interesting but not falsifiable, so leave it aside.

My aunt who was extremely poor thought that God was adding flour and rice to the bins in her pantry. It’s a shame that God doesn’t provide the same help to the people, including children, who starve to death everyday.

In all seriousness, my aunt does not have a rational bone in her body. She’s more of an intuitive thinker than a rational one and is highly susceptible to magical thinking.

There are a lot of people in the US who believe in faith healing and other nonsense like that.

New to me.