Final Anecdote.

One final thought and then some conclusions.
I would like to take this moment to stress that personal experiences and anecdotal evidence have truth in them. Your life, and your stories actually occurred. That is as real as it comes and when handled appropriately that leads to discovery of truth.

Of course, an example. Yesterday I bought tomato plants to plant in the Patagonia garden. When making this purchase in Tabor City, Mr. Fonville explained to me what I was supposed to do with the fertilizer and vegetables I had purchased. He was telling me “how I do it in my garden is…”. From years of experience growing his own crops he knew just how to tend, prepare, protect, and yield a great crop. Truly he got most of his information from trial and error, which led to his claims of how this plants will grow the best. Certainly scientist have done research to support his suggestions but his confidence and success year after year is supported most heavily by the outcome of his garden and the flavors that are laid on his table. Just as in this farming situation, the outcomes and evidence of real life experience are the confirmation of scientific, logical reasoning previously termed “online processing”. What happens in real life is the final determiner as to what is true.

Unfortunately, as we saw earlier, our experiences can often be misunderstood which could lead to false assumptions and beliefs about our world.

In review.
1. Personal experiences (anecdotal evidence) weigh more heavily into our conclusions than we give credit for.
2. Life stories give evidence that has in it the power of confirmation of truth.
3. Our interpretation of this real life evidence can be applied incorrectly and lead us to inaccurate theories and beliefs.


So where does this leave us?

This changes how we treat those who have different beliefs than us.
If you set of ideas, beliefs, and theories are partially biased and based of what your personal experiences have taught you then everyone’s thoughts are skewed in the same way. With this understanding we become much more charitable to others in terms of their views and thoughts about the world. This means in order to understand each other, in order to find common ground we have to put effort into grasping the effect each persons anecdotal evidence is having on their conclusions.

However, if we all live in the same world and we are all humans their must be truth than transcends our personal stories, a truth that remains even in our individual context. If only there were some truth that fit this mold. A truth that was able to satisfy, answer, and fulfill all the theories, faiths, and questions we have about life and how we should live it.

Tim Keller in his book The Reason For God he suggest attempting to prove things in life using our anecdotal evidence/personal experiences with reality to measure our theories about life by. He says… “A theory is considered verified if it organizes the evidence and explains phenomena (experiences) better than any conceivable alternative theory. That is, if, through testing, it (a theory) leads us to expect with accuracy many and varied events better than any other rival account of the same data, then it is accepted…” In other words, if your theory explains your circumstances and experiences and no other theory can explain it with any more clarity then you should accept that theory.

Tim Keller shows how the Gospel of Jesus is this truth that transcends and fulfills each persons anecdotal evidence about what life is. The Gospel of Jesus does this and he explains it well as Contextualization of the Gospel.

What does this mean for anecdotal evidence. Weigh your experiences and humbly consider the alternative theories other people offer to explain what your personal stories reveal. Keep searching for truth.




Sorry for the confusing discourse this week. I look forward to the day when I can more clearly dictate my thoughts. I hope Andrew Brown can provide a theory that provokes greater discussion. Please help me welcome our 5th theorist, Andrew Brown.