Robert, no I do not take your statements personally, and mine in that post were not personal against Paul.
My comment about man of God or atheist was not disparaging Paul's or your religion or mine. I simply meant that a lift should be judged based on the lift, not on whether a person believes, doesn't believe, or is agnostic. I apologize if that was not clear.
Now, having said that. Let me, briefly, take this step by step.
I don't hate Paul. I found him to be a gentleman the one time I spoke with him, and have heard wonderful things about him (which can be proved), so this is not personal against Paul. Anything that can be proven about Paul I fully support just as I do with all lifters' histories.
But the backlift has not been proven, and there are substantial missing ingredients- even some of the factors purported to be proof have been shown not to be accurate. I will address only one here: The weight of the safe. It was not, as Paul said, 3,500 lbs. I did considerable research with safe manufacturers and with locksmiths and took measurements of the safe itself, and concluded that it was probably closer to 2,300 lbs. Paul's daughter had the safe weighed and proved this was about the weight. Now before you or anyone offers that 'well, other items were added to the safe to make it weigh 3,500 lbs', please remember that Paul himself said that the safe and its contents weighed 3,500 lbs. So, from the start the backlift total even if we ignore other problems, starts with a 1,200 lb overclaim.
The most misleading argument you make is that no one has proved it did not happen. Very, very difficult to prove a negative, and it is not required in debate. All we can do is examine the claims and address them one by one. Paul wrote in his book that when the weight on the platform reached exactly 6,270 lbs the backlift was attempted. But when he wrote to me he wrote that in fact it was about 200 lbs more so about 6,470 lbs?
You are entitled to your opinion but not to your own facts. And, my friend, you are wrong, I do know the backlift did not happen as claimed based on the incorrect weight of the safe. How those of you who believe can simply ignore the math baffles me.
You are also incorrect about me being the only one who doubts the lift. But whether I am alone or among the majority is not relevant because truth does not depend on a vote. It depends on evidence provided, and this lift, has none.
The hearsay in this situation is sourced mostly from 1. those trying to prove the lift using only opinion, 2. whether Paul was a good man, and 3. ignoring those items which cast doubt on the lift.