Hope this isn't too philosophical for you but: How does one determine a statement to be ';true';?

Take ANY statement as an example: ';trees grow up from the ground';. When you first heard this statement, at some point you thought ';Yes, that sounds right to me...'; and accepted it as fact.





The same can be asked of religious statements you read or are otherwise exposed to.Hope this isn't too philosophical for you but: How does one determine a statement to be ';true';?
1. Logic


2. My trust of the source


3. EvidenceHope this isn't too philosophical for you but: How does one determine a statement to be ';true';?
Truth is in the mind of the beholder.


Fact is undeniable.
Yes, alot of what we accept as ';reality'; is based on our own perspectives and our own ';gut check'; of what is right and what is false.
Well....





I go to the Scriptures......and if the statement lines up with the truth of the Word of God......and the Holy Spirit confirms it in my heart to be the truth.....





Then it's the truth.





But that's not to say that I do that with every single statement. There are obvious statements that are not true. Like for instance: The color red is really blue.
In your own experience
Everyone of us has a worldview, and everyone of us measures all statements against our worldview to see if they are believable. That is true with religious statements as well.





grace2u
Because our spirit will bare wittness with his spirit that it is truth.
the same can be said with any statement
rebel use your reasoning %26amp; decision making abilities based on previous facts. why can not be explained can by hypothesized. So is God a hypothesis.
They say when reading the news paper only believe half of what you read. Hmmm I say, does this go for all books as well.





There is the reasonable doubt based on the balance of probabilities it may have happened and there is beyond reasonable doubt, where fact relates to the crime committed as proved beyond reasonable doubt.





Your DNA was allover the murder weapon and you were captured on closed circuit video TV and I say to you, you did it with nine hundred witness to testify against you.





So will you please plead guilty to the crime so I can go home.
it all depends on the point of view....it will be different for everyone.
nothing can be completely proven true or untrue because our senses are easily fooled. how often do you notice your blind spot? we can't experience what percentage of the spectrum? drugs and placebos (i.e. standard placebos, faith, and hypnosis) and dehydration and insanity can all cause delusion. how many people can look at a magic trick and instantly know how it's being done? our brains are not wired to be able to see the truth, if such a thing could even come about.
mere logic, precept upon precept, considers the truth :)
testable evidence.


though some trees can grow down from cliff tops, so 'truth' is not as absolute as I'd like.
If a few people believe something, it's probably true. If an entire society believes something, it's brainwash. But a tree growing from the ground can hardly be considered true, it's simply fact.
first you must accept that what our senses perceive is real, which is an instinctive choice; you have to work at solipsism. all things that are based upon verifiable and testable aspects of perceived reality can be accepted as most probably true. some truths are provisional and liable to change with the accumulation of more information, some truths are self-evident, (if we accept reality at face value then trees do grow up from the ground). things that cannot be directly perceived or experienced, but can be conjectured from what we have already established to be true are probably true.


things that cannot be perceived or experienced and cannot be conjectured from what we have already established to be true, empirically and theoretically,(such as the supernatural), may or may not be true. if you accept it to be true your choice is totally subjecive and it is reasonable for others to reject it.
first if is logical, second if is not contradictory and third if it has support, (Trustable)
You can't, but you can know if something is false.
Seeing is beleiving. You can see a tree growing from the ground. You know the sun rises in the east, because you see it. I have yet to see a man walk on water, calm a storm, raise the dead, heal the sick, or turn water into wine. That's where faith steps in. I don't have to have faith to know, if I play with fire, i will get burned.


But, it's touted too much as fact, that a man did all this in a book. One of the reasons I chose a different path is because too much was being asked of me in the word of faith, with no evidence.
When you see it with your own eyes or when you're given enough proof.
How could this be explained. Well how did Abraham find that there is one true G-d without anyone telling him. I think I can only answer it with a question but it comes down to being able to see. It is beyond logic or verifiable experience.
The word of God is truth, it's beyond any human understanding hence philosophy, psychology etc cannot be used to explain it.
I guess it depends on if you view truth as subjective, relative, objective, or absolute.
Observation. Experience, if possible. Reputable and objective third-party testimony.





And common sense, though it is often wrong.
Evidence