Hacker News Reader

Funny! :-P But seriously, since flying and causing thunderstorms are way more exotic and powerful abilities than merely having lunch with someone, they would be acceptable substitutes for lunch. Better than lunch!

a good deal of that might constitute stronger evidence than attending a lunch date, and therefore validate belief. Lunch makes a good testing bar, above which other proofs may pass.

but he won't. and neither would any other deity. they're just made up.

Now now, that's a skepticism failure. A proper skeptic should acknowledge that it's very very unlikely that Thor exists, but that there is a small nonzero probability that he might.

Yes, technically you are correct. But we think in terms of absolutes all the time in order to live in this world (e.g. The statue could wave it's arm, but it is such a remote possibility that we can discount it for practical purposes.