From: bivalve (bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com)
Date: Mon Jul 14 2003 - 17:45:44 EDT
>Correct. Limiting the source material considered to be religiously authoritative can lead to corresponding limitations in the spectrum of religious worldviews derived from it. Narrowing the scope of a "religious data base" can lead to greater certainty in the theology (religious theory) derived from it. If certainty is the goal, then limiting the sources to be consulted sounds like a good strategy.<
Personal experience or personal theological preference are also limited and limiting sources.
Thus, it is a limitation of the source material considered to be authoritative if you decide that a particular Bilical passage should not be accepted because it does not fit with your view of God. It is also a limitation of the source material to decide that your view of God needs modification because it does not fit with a Biblical passsage.
In fact, rejecting the Biblical theological evidence in favor of personal experience seems to closely parallel the YEC scientific approach, because both are rejecting the historical element.
>But look what happens if we were to follow the same strategy in science. Selecting one set of data and discarding other available data sets might lead to a scientific theory that seems very highly supported -- one in which we might have (whether warranted or not) a high degree of certainty, but what is the price of that sense of certainty? As a scientist, you know the answer. Certainty has been purchased at the cost of accuracy or truth, or at least an opportunity to get closer to the truth. As scientists, we value truth above certainty.<
This is an oversimplification. Although the extent of this is exaggerated by extremes of postmodernism, science does require discarding a lot of available data as noise or irrelevant. Additionally, there are data sets like Woodmoreappe's anomalous radiometric date list that prove to be bogus. Likewise, there are some potential sources of theological data that are highly suspect, and some that appear to be merely noise or statistical error.
Dr. David Campbell
Old Seashells
University of Alabama
Biodiversity & Systematics
Dept. Biological Sciences
Box 870345
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0345 USA
bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com
That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droitgate Spa
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