Burgy wrote:
But a couple of the statements
don't seem quite right.
Some obvious red herrings are buried in the statements, i. e.:
Difficulties in arriving at
truth:
Past
history is not directly observable
Geologic
and fossil records are discontinuous
Both
scientists and theologians come to the discussion with many
assumptions
Almost all
mutations are harmful—was this always the case?
Dating
methods produce inconsistent results
"Past history is not directly observable."
If you want to push the issue, only "now" is observable unless
we have it on videotape. But this doesn't mean we can't know the
past with a high degree of certainty.
"Geologic and fossil records are discontinuous."
Due to the reality that we don't have any place on earth that has
undergone continuous deposition over 4.6 billion years, one continuous
geologic column is not found in one place that covers the entire geologic
history of planet earth. We do have a fairly continuous geologic
column established by lining up the areas of overlap and observing the
geologic sequence from various sites and accounting for regional
differences. So the word "discontinuous" is misleading,
and only tells part of the story.
"Both scientists and theologians come to the discussion with many
assumptions"
Again, misleading. Scientists use verifiable data and evidence,
proven methods of collection and evaluation to support their theories and
try to avoid unfounded assumptions as best they can. Theology is
not bounded by the same rules of evidence. How would you falsify
the theology of a Muslim cleric who merely quotes from a book of
collected platitudes?
"Almost all mutations are harmful—was this always the
case?"
Questions are good. Not much harm in asking questions.
"Dating methods produce inconsistent results"
Grossly misleading, bordering on utterly false. All testing methods
have inherent limitations. IQ tests, drivers tests, medical
examinations, you name it. So you could say almost every test
produces inconsistent results - which says nothing really. A
more valuable statement would be: "Current methods of dating rock
samples produce consistent results within acceptable margins of
error."
Dick Fischer -
Genesis Proclaimed Association
Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
www.genesisproclaimed.org
Received on Tue Mar 23 10:35:04 2004