Re: [asa] Creation Care

*Christians believe things not in absence of the evidence but in the
very teeth of it.*

I think you're projecting problems concerning origins onto global warming.
The fact is that evangelicals have been remarkable in their acceptance of
global warming as a real problem. If the climate scientists aren't
convincing the public, it isn't the Christians' fault.

On 1/26/07, Rich Blinne <rich.blinne@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 1/26/07, Dawsonzhu@aol.com <Dawsonzhu@aol.com> wrote:
> > Reason, wisdom, experience, common sense, faith, and revelation, in
> varying
> > proportions as the circumstances dicate, is the basis on which we need
> to
> > evaluate truth claims and make decisions. A recapture of the classicle
> > virtue of phronesis and the Biblical virtue of wisdom is what we
> need. The
> > last thing we need is to abrogate our duty to think for ourselves to
> some
> > supposedly authoritative community. Most people are not as stupid as
> other
> > people think they are.
> >
> > Since this is a matter that would become that of public policy, it is
> > certainly
> > something that needs to be explained clearly enough that most of the
> > people with a high school education can understand what is being
> discussed
> > at some reasonable level.
> >
> > On the other hand, if they don't want to listen, then what?
> >
> > Also, whereas it is part of the duty of a scientist/expert in
> > a field to explain the concepts clearly, the tendency for the layman
> > to expect some polished AV show in executive summary form is
> > more than a small inconvenience for people devoted to doing their
> > job as scientists. When you have only 5 minute to explain years
> > of careful, detailed research, a polished straight to the point
> > performance is more than a small Herculean accomplishment.
>
> Thomas Acquinas classified thinking into three categories: rational,
> irrational, and suprarational. In the third category he put faith.
> Faith may be above reason but it doesn't operate against it. When
> scientists have to explain over and over and over and over and over
> and over and over and over and over that which is patently obvious and
> well-supported by evidence it starts to wear on them. To add insult to
> injury the scientists are then falsely accused of operating a cabal! I
> am not at all surprised that our secular colleagues wrongly believe
> that Christian faith is irrational because they see all the time that
> Christians believe things not in absence of the evidence but in the
> very teeth of it. Even that can be overlooked because we are all
> ignorant about many things, but when the evidence is ignored and the
> scientist is blamed for the lack of persuading the unpersuadable then
> this bad stereotype of faith as baseless credulity gets reinforced.
>

-- 
David W. Opderbeck
Web:  http://www.davidopderbeck.com
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