Hick eschatological verification (response to Ayer)

• Hick says religious statements can be verified and are factually significant and meaningful according to the verification principle.
• he agrees with Ayer that only statements that are factually significant are meaningful, and that factual significance is judged by whether the truth or falsity of an assertion makes a difference to our experience of the world.
• He agrees with Ayer that factual significance is best assessed by whether it can be verified.
• He agrees with Ayer that religious propositions cannot be falsified, for him it is the potential verifiability of religious statements that make them meaningful.
• the parable of the Celestial city:

  Two men follow a path, one believes it to go to Celestial city and the other thinks it will lead nowhere. They both experience pleasant parts and unpleasant parts. One believes the pleasant parts are encouragement and the unpleasant as trials of his purpose and the other believes none of this.
• (parable of celestial city meaning) Hick believes the journey of our lives with its hardships is part of soul making and the rewards of life after death compensates for the suffering of life on earth. Eschatological verification is verification after our death in the next life. Many religious claims state there is an afterlife, meaningful because these claims can be verified in the afterlife.