Thesis: Compelling Evidence Does Not Exist

Video Summary: There is nothing that can compel belief, so it's confused or intellectually dishonest to demand "Compelling Evidence".

There, now you don't have to watch the video, but you still may if you'd like. 🙂

Thesis: There is no such thing as compelling evidence.
Recently an atheist asked me for “evidence” for God. I gave it, and instead of believing, he now stated that he wanted “empirical evidence” for God. I gave it, and instead of believing he now stated that he wanted “compelling evidence” for God.
Ultimately what this fella was interested in was a piece of information that, when viewed would compel him to believe that which I claimed was true, he wanted “Compelling Evidence.”
Compelling evidence, however, does not exist.
Let’s break down the phrase. Evidence can be any object, statement, piece of information, philosophical proposition, or thing that leads a person to consider a conclusion. The same piece of evidence may be interpreted multiple ways and lead to different conclusions: A wet spot on the floor in front of the fridge may mean that someone spilled some water, or it may mean that someone let an ice cube melt on the floor, it may even mean that it was raining outside and that there is a leak in the roof.
A testimony given by a witness may mean that the event they described did happen in the way they described it, or it may mean that the witness is lying, or otherwise incorrect.
The same piece of evidence, thereby, can be read to different conclusions.
So how can compelling evidence exist if each piece of evidence has multiple conclusions? How can any piece of evidence lead everyone who views it to the same answer if no piece of evidence ever does?
But let’s grant the premise, let’s say that somewhere there exists a piece of evidence which is only capable of being understood or interpreted to a singular conclusion. Is that then compelling evidence?
Still, no, it is not. To be compelled means that the individual would have no choice but to believe the conclusion, but belief isn’t always the result of rational investigation. Belief, outside of that which is miraculously given by the Holy Spirit, is a choice.
A person may be shown comprehensive evidence of a fact, it may be demonstrated to them in multiple ways, and they may still choose to believe contrary. No matter what, a person always maintains the capacity to say “I was not convinced”, to remain eternally a skeptic.
Hence the misguided or intellectually dishonest request for compelling evidence. Convince me that this is true… Impossible; compelling evidence does not exist.