Are there any believers who have been swayed by the lack of evidence supporting their belief?

Question

Someone recently asked if skeptics have been convinced by the evidence collected by paranormal researchers. A corollary to that question might be: Are true believers swayed by a complete lack of evidence in support of the paranormal?

Skeptics are often asked, "What would it take you to believe?" My response is usually, "What would it take for you to *not* believe?"

Naturally, personal experience comes into play. However, since there appear to be many believers who haven't had an experience and some reported experiences are in less than ideal conditions (i.e. around sleepy time), how many true believers are willing to keep an open mind to the *lack* of evidence?

Personally, 20 years ago I was a true believer.

Answer 1

you got the point there's luck of evidence but how do you explain what i see what i feel could i be mentally challenged when i seem as a normal thing instead of ignore that's what i did most of my young life (I'm30)i decided to go for it just for my self even if it wasn't true it makes me feel stronger to go trough life cause i haven't see many nice things I'm fighter but i don't think such things need evidence cause we will all know one day you say many believers i don't know many maybe the only ones on this section and not all of them are for real

Answer 2

I think a "true believer" is someone who has had a personal experience that could not be explained.

     A believer is someone who is fascinated in the phenomenon and wishes they could experience something.  

     And a skeptic just can't make up their mind.

     Fact is, there is no concrete evidence in any paranormal activity. It is just that every time you have a paranormal (the unexplained) experience, we try to re-create it just to see if it can be done. It is done to rule out the potential for a breeze blowing a door closed slowly, or causing the hair on the back of our neck to raise. We are merely "looking for evidence" to prove or dis-prove that it had anything to do with the paranormal at all.

I AM a TRUE BELIEVER, so when you ask how many believers are willing to keep an "open mind" to the "lack" of evidence....let me just say this.....when you have had an experience, and cannot re-create it.....you have just experienced your "evidence".

I have been a believer all my life, cause I have experienced paranormal activity all my life. I don't think you or anyone will ever come up with anything that will cause me to change my mind!!

Answer 3

I was a true believer in my youth as well. I kept a lot of those beliefs, for no apparent reason other than perhaps sloth, until college and grad school where I begin to question the nature of things and to apply a systematic way of discovering what is real and what probably isn't. It didn't take long before the majority if not all of my earlier paranormal beliefs were relegated to the "probably isn't" side, and again that was based on lack of evidence.

Somebody here already gave a great answer but it bears repeating. Lack of evidence isn't evidence of lack. But at some point you have to look at the glaring lack of evidence and think that there probably is a good reason for it.

Answer 4

The basic element of "belief", is based on a presumption of fact.  The key is how the "fact" is attained and how is it verified. That is what separates fact  from mere assumption or presumption.

This naturally varies with individual experience and training. Even those who base their beliefs on "evidence", still often  presume that the evidence is accurate because it fits a preconception, and thus requires no further scrutiny.

Reputable scientists "believe" their data because they can cite empirical evidence attained by disciplined, established and consistent processes and methods, generically called "the scientific method". Yet, any reputable scientist will tell you that the proof is only as good as the evidence, and the evidence is only as good as the process that collected it.

Unfortunately, most people generally draw conclusions based on superficial or incomplete forms of "evidence", which is linked less to objectivity and a consistent investigative process, and more on personal, psychological needs or cultural assumptions.

Answer 5

How do you think atheism began in the first place?

Absence of evidence may not be evidence of absence, but certainly one should prioritize the evidence that they do have. Otherwise you end up wasting part of your life chasing magical sky fairies.

Answer 6

Most of us start out as believers.Santa,The Tooth Fairy and ghosts.Certainly by 9 or 10 kids figure out the truth.Santa and the fairies anyway.Ghosts last a little longer,most are over the silliness by voting age.After that it's probably too late they're mired in it.

Answer 7

Certainly there is evidence to suggest that some events were imaginary or not what the person claims to be. It is the responsibility of the researcher to question the event on a case by case basis.

Frequently there is evidence that the participant has been 'dosing'. Other times like I have explained before, the house I grew up in had a spiral chimney and the wind howled a lot. A ghostly howl might not even get my attention. There is always the opportunity for a naturally occurring phenomenon like fog, mist, dew on the grass and sounds carried over distances.

Everything is on a case by case basis but sure there have been times I figured it out even when the other person was dead serious and not faking it.

But to question the existence of the supernatural & paranormal, never. I was born like this and life has been an adventure even as small child I had 'special' experiences. Neither have I had any teachers or positive influences until the last few years, in fact I was once 'beaten' for telling my mother of an event, not because my father didn't believe me, he did he knew it to be true because he himself knew it was possible and witnesses had also told him, but because my mother wanted 'normal' children. Nothing has ever changed or swayed my belief in the paranormal not even a beating.

Answer 8

Well for me, if i had never had the experiences i did, i dont think i would of being a believer...As a child even at 10, i had no idea about ghosts, or anything like that ever existing, never heard anyone ever bring it up..and i never believed in the tooth fairy or santa..i just wasnt brought up on fairy tales at all.. Christmas was just about the birth of christ, and presents came from people, not from santa...

So when i first saw a ghost, and not just some shadow or a noise in the cubard, but a person fully appear in our room (i was sharing at that time) and started walking around, could be seen by both of us, I was like what on earth is going on here, i was never taught or told about this kind of stuff...So pretty hard to put it in my imagination of where this thing came from, and he was there for quite some time, so it wasnt a quick flash, but rather a person standing and walking around our room, just like looking at another person...He appeared then disappeared hours later, never leaving that room...

No there isnt any scientific evidence, but some people have to put it down to experience that it does exist, I have no doubt in my mind and will never change my mind, Like some of us, we have enough of our own evidence...And yes i have had many experiences while asleep or almost asleep, but they are experiences that i dont count as evidence to myself, unless some information was given to me by someone who has passed, and that information comes true, how can i argue with that, if there was no other way of knowing what i had been told....No amount of lack of scientific evidence will ever change my mind...

Answer 9

Yeah I hear ya, I always ask those skeptic questions. But, in answer to your question, yes. I was raised in a really strict religious environment. I completely believed in everything I was raised to believe. Jesus, heaven, h**l, sin, demons, eternal bliss/damnation the works. But around 13/14 years of age, just through exposure to the world, I pretty much rejected everything I was told to believe. I mean, none of it made sense. But the thing that really brought it all down like a house of cards was the way that any time you asked a question about spiritual matters the only evidence anyone ever used validate their arguments was from the bible. I realised pretty early on that the bible is just a collection of testimonies from various human beings just like you and me. A lot of times they even contradict one another and give completely different renderings of events. If this simple fact doesn't alert people to the fact that the bible cannot be taken literally and definitely not as a reliable historical text then people must be pretty dumb. Anyway, now that I'm a bit older I am starting to have some questions about the nature of the universe and wondering if there is more to it than meets the eye (I'm sure there is), but I tell ya, I'm not about to go walking into a church looking for answers.

Answer 10

Hi Peter, thanks for asking this question. I will say yes to that. Remind you I had a ghost sighting so I am a true believer and I fought that belief years and years until I finally just gave up and said yes, ghosts do exist.

Here is what has changed about me. When I first got on the internet, my ghost experience lead me to join many ghost groups and visit ghost research websites and I falsely believed these people to be somewhat of experts after all they were promoting themselves as scientific researchers and many had written books and been involved in movies and were big enough for documenteries to interview them.

I was decieved because they claimed to be "Professional Ghost Researchers" That word Professional mislead me.

I met many authors and I freely gave information out which ended up in books but I was not credited for the information. My delema was to find out that these experts were just ordinary people  who were succesful at marketing themselves. They would join ghost groups get information from people then make money off others information. that is one reason I hate to see the so called  professional come on here asking for people to join them and asking for ghost stories because if they are writers they will use the information and act like they are somebody special.

I first got on the orb bandwagon and believed that we could document ghosts, but after a while I come to realize that ghosts cannot be documented. So I disbanded my team and now I go alone when I go and usually without any instruments because I am no longer trying to document anything.

I am still a true believer, but have become a very skeptical person when it comes to the paranormal researchers.

Does that make any sense? I also have a problem with those who see and hear ghosts in everything. For me a ghost appeard yes I had just woke up and I tried to tell myself I was dreaming but it did not go away and my wife at the time woke up and screamed because this man was in our bedroom, so I am a firm believer that if a person sees a ghost they will know it. If you have followed my posts you know that the old man vanished and I went looking for him. Then I described him to a neighbor who showed me a picture and asked if that was the man and it was, so my experience differs from most. I do not expect you or anyone who has not had an experience to believe me because I know that to you I may come off as a weirdo and that is okay.

I get frustrated with people who get frustrated with the skeptics. I understand the skeptic. I used to be one.

My experiences has taught me that most people see ghosts when ghosts are not there. I felt silly when I felt good about  the ghost orbs I had taken and when I took a basic fundamental photography course and found out about dust, bugs etc I felt silly.

I now cannot unerstand why people have specks in photos and say it is a ghost, yes I did that for a while because the "Professional" scientific researchers taught me that these were ghosts. I used to believe ghosts could be photographed but after 1,000's of photos, I do not now.

Another thing that has changed is I now see how that word professional is so grossly misused to decieve people.They do not think it is deceptive but when you purposly present yourself as a professional and use words like scientific researchers and come to find out you are a high school grad and work as a blue collar worker and spend lots of mony to support you profession that is misleading.

To me  a professional is someone who earns a living doing that professional or in some cases they may not earn a living at it but they have extensive college traing and degrees to support them as professionals. How many of these scientific researchers have a real PHD at a credited university?

I may be a hypocrit because I still love this interest and talk to people about it but there are deceptions I do not like.

I see very few ghost clubs anymore and the same people are ghost research societies now.Just be honest and admit it is a hobby and a belief and not a profession or a science.

If I had to believe in ghosts due to the so called evidense then I would not be a believer

BB