>Next, you side with David in believing that YECs ignore the laws of radioactive decay. But these 'laws' are based on assumptions - as you must well know! What is observed today may not be what applied 1000 years ago. Would you therefore not agree that you are proceeding by faith rather than by sight in respect of this?
If what is observed today may not be what applied 1000 years ago, how do we know that dead people stayed dead 2000 years ago? Unless the laws of nature are consistent, miracles are indistinguishable from whims of nature. Christianity is founded on the premise of the truth of certain historical events. Unless we can determine something reliable about the events of 2000 years ago, our faith is an idiotic waste of time.
Christianity gives several reasons to expect nature to behave consistently. Nature is the creation of a consistent God. He created us to be stewards over creation, so we must have some capacity to understand and predict the behavior of creation. God does perform miracles, but only on particular occasions (see especially Jesus' temptation).
Of course, it is possible to claim that a particular event was such an occasion. However, it is inconsistent to simultaneously propose a physical explanation and claim that it was miraculous. Likewise, it is problematic to claim either physical or miraculous explanations that conflict with the available evidence.
Regarding the reliability of radioactive dating, all the necessary assumptions are also necessary for Dr. Gentry's polonium halo claims. It is inconsistent for YECs to allow the assumptions for the latter while denying their credibility for the former. Many claims about the purported arbitrariness of radioactive dating also are simply false.
Dr. David Campbell
"Old Seashells"
Biology Department
Saint Mary's College of Maryland
18952 E. Fisher Road
St. Mary's City, MD 20686-3001 USA
dcampbell@osprey.smcm.edu, 301 862-0372 Fax: 301 862-0996
"Mollusks murmured 'Morning!'. And salmon chanted 'Evening!'."-Frank Muir, Oh My Word!
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