> Dear George,
>
> I am almost sure that you have often heard the statement: "How do you know?
> Were you there?" Everyday people use and understand such statements. Perhaps
> scientists don't. There is lot of evidence of past events. However, the
> final answer to the question of origins will forever remain a mystery to
> living man except as a belief.
a. An observer can only be "there" indirectly. There is always
some chain of inference from the events in question to the observer,
though in some cases that chain may be so short & obvious that it
requires little attention.
b. The notion that we can receive no signals from past events
is completely wrong.
c. I agree that we can't have absolutely final scientific
explanations of, e.g., the development of life on earth. But we can
have coherent theories consistent with the observational evidence which
is available, and thus worthy of some tentative degree of acceptance.
OTOH we are to believe that the Holy Trinity is the creator of all
things "with the certainty of faith" - which does not, however, include
details of _how_ God has created.
George Murphy