notverylikely: you are a grand debater, I'll tip my hat to you. You were right about my understanding of falsifiability.
Yes, reality isn't limited to what we know, but what we know of reality is limited. We agree on this. Here we still do not agree: I still believe, hold firm, that we know reality through leaps of faith.
I said before: I sense God. Billions of other people do too. The details may be blurred due to perception.
You said: "More people sense a different God than the Judeo Christian god. Is it just yours that is right? Perception isn't always right. You don't feel the earth spinning but it is. "
Many people think it is the same God, only different perspectives of the same entity. That is how I feel. So the question you really should ask, in my opinion, is not "Is it just your [God] that is right?" but instead "Is it just your perception that is right?"
Concerning reality and perception regarding God:
- I asked an atheist friend what he did believe or think of the world. He said that we are the same cells as billions of years ago and that when we die our cells will still be there... sort of a Lion King philosophy of being a part of the circle of life. He continued to say that we are all connected and in all we are one organism. I agree with my atheist friend, only I call that one organism God. To me this sounds similar the christian theology of all people being One Body, Many Parts.
- Reading a little bit on Hinduism there are chief god(s) and many, many lesser gods... reminds me of Catholicism's one god, many saints.
- Reading Greek Mythology with Zeus (similar to Jesus) and his thunder reminds me of the Jewish Torah's God in the clouds with His thunder.
- Many old religions all have a flood story. Check it out for yourself: The Flood Myth
- All the largest and oldest religions generally teach the same values concerning peace and love. I listened to the Dali Lama speak at UCLA and I've heard Pope John Paul II speak in Rome: generally it was the same message.
When i go to the kitchen I have faith that it is there just like it was yesterday or five minutes ago, but the first time I ever went into the kitchen i wasn't taking a leap of faith, i look around until I found it, I looked for a room that matched the criteria that a kitchen has, a stove, microwave, sink, refrigerator. I don't just have faith that the room with the toilet is the kitchen because it doesn't pass the test for "what is a kitchen". You know reality through observation, tests and critera whether you are in a lab or have to go to the bathroom or get a beer.
It makes me believe it is all the same stuff, only different perspectives. We all know what a kitchen and a bathroom are, when we go to someone else's house we generally understand what these realities are (unless someone has a total different lifestyle and their bathroom is in the kitchen ). We know where to get a beer and where to take a dump, but we can have very different opinions on the cleanliness of these places, how they are designed, what is attractive, comfortable, practical. Memories in these places can be very different, some may not like bathrooms because they remind them of bad smells or throwing up, others may see them as a place of relief, some both. Some people may not have a bathroom and prefer an outhouse or they may be homeless so they have no bathroom or kitchen.
We all know what a god is, we understand the concept of a higher being and even in other religions we get that they have similar concepts. People who call themselves an atheist also know the concept of what a god is. To define atheist you must know what a theist is. Most nouns are defined by what they are, to define them by what they are not would be a ridiculously long list. To define "atheist" you can only define it by what it is not, which presupposes knowledge of what it is not. So we all know the concept of God: our perceptions of what God is and if God exists are different. Interesting how much time we spend talking about God...
Thus said, it is my understanding that yes: God exists, is constant, a reality if you have faith in God or not; it is religion and lifestyle that differ. Religion, for me, has always been a form of discipline, a source of joy and a place for a family community.
I said: "and, in reality, due to our different perspectives: none of us may know for certain what is reality except on faith."
You said:
Only if you choose to limit your perpspective to what your own five senses can immediately detect. For instance, I have personally never tested that gravitional acceleration at sea level on earth is 32 feet per second squared, but so many other people have and it's so well documented and it works so well for so many calculations I have faith in it. I also have never seen old faithful but I have seen videos, documentaries, talked to people that have seen it. In other words, there is ample verfiable evidence.
This goes to show the point I was making in the very beginning. We believe something is true/We know reality based on either our senses or based on what other people tell us. AND other people get their information from their senses. Anything we do not experience ourselves we are trusting another persons' experience. There are lots of videos, documentaries, people who have seen it when it comes to miracles and supernatural things as well. I've talked to people who have seen supernatural things.
I agree that reality doesn't change, however I stand firm that we do not know for certain what is reality except based on faith.
Sometimes we get false information from scientists, they make corrections to their works all the time, but most of the time scientists give us good information. Sometimes we also get false information from mystics and spiritual leaders, such as folklore/urban legend, superstition, con artists and power mongers, however, not always. There are miracles/supernatural events that have been well documented, many observers, etc... some repeated... favorites of mine, being a Catholic, are the Marian Apparitions.
Speaking about what you know even though you don't experience it first hand reminds me of an Emily Dickinson poem:
I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.
I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given.