From: Keith Miller (kbmill@ksu.edu)
Date: Fri Sep 12 2003 - 23:56:25 EDT
> The point, Keith, is that yours is just an opinion -- not based upon
> any scientific
> fact. Belittling my example (which I only proposed as possible -- not
> probable) as
> "reducing God to a human engineer" only shows debatemanship -- and
> specious at
> that. You reject all alternatives as non-viable points of discussion
> without so much
> as a tip of the hat. With that attitude, your approach to dialogue
> will always be
> "my way or no way".
Virtually nothing that I say is "just an opinion." I doubt whether I
have ever said anything truly unique and novel. We all develop our
views within a cultural, theological and professional context. We
rely on the expertise of others and the history of theological and
scientific discourse. My comments are then reflections of all those
complex influences and are shared with various modifications by large
numbers of others. No argument can be rejected on the basis that it is
"just an opinion." It must be accepted or rejected based on how it
stands up to critical evaluation.
As Christians I believe that we should have a high regard for the
truth. Truth matters -- and rejecting what we have every reason to
understand is false is a reflection of the pursuit of truth. I am not
a theologian, so my theological views have developed in response to the
arguments and positions of trained and respected theologians within the
context of a larger church community. My scientific views, even within
my own discipline, must also be built on the great body of work that
has preceded me. Perhaps, my own research has served to add in a very
slight way to that body of knowledge and theory. My scientific
perspective is largely that of the consensus of the scientific
community that is founded upon a vast store of accumulated observation,
experimentation and modeling. I reject scientific claims that have
failed the test against this huge body of data. If I did not reject
such views, I would be accepting an agnostic view in which the real
state of the material world is inherently unknowable, and all we have
are diverse opinions among which it is impossible to choose. However,
I do believe that as God's image bearers, we do have the capacity to
know the world in which we live as God's stewards.
If I value truth, I must also value the considered theological and
scientific scholarship of the past and present. My views continue to
evolve (and hopefully mature) as I interact with that scholarship. We
do not find truth as isolated individuals, but in community.
Keith
Keith B. Miller
Research Assistant Professor
Dept of Geology, Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506-3201
785-532-2250
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~kbmill/
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