Quote:
Originally Posted by SprayandPray
From above:
Americans have dismissed two of the most robust and widely tested theories of modern science: ________ and ________ . These are theories that have been verified in thousands of different ways by thousands of different scientists working in many different fields. (This doesn’t mean, of course, that such theories won’t change or get modified – the strength of science is that nothing is settled.) - Lehrer , parenthesis comment is his as well.
Yeah exactly. The fact that science is concerned with explanation, and not proof, is it's strength. It's open to new data. This is also where some theists get confused about scientific laws. To give an example, Newton's law of gravity worked pretty damn well for the stuff we knew about but Einstein changed the "law" in a way that better fit with the observations of his time. Note that during the period that Einstein was working on relativity we didn't have apples floating in mid-air while they waited for a decision. This is because scientific laws are
descriptive, not
prescriptive, which is why "laws must have a law-giver" arguments don't work very well for scientific laws.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SprayandPray
It's interesting, could Paul's (?) (Apostle?) writings on the law be taken like this (^^) as well. I mean clearly atheists will argue that he's not saying science is crap, but it has a little wiggle room within certain parameters.
Well I think that I agree in the sense that Christians would do well to acknowledge that they should be careful not to be too dogmatic in their interpretations of Scripture. However, there is a difference between science and Scripture in that science can demonstrate when it works. The purpose of the Bible is essentially to give you the tools you need to develop a relationship with God and get into heaven (I know I'm simplifying a bit here). As we can't talk to dead people we have no idea which interpretations work and which don't. We don't get to talk to guys who ate shellfish and ask them if it turned out it mattered or not. We don't get to ask murderers who made a deathbed conversion if that worked out for them. By contrast, science makes predictions that can be tested and observed and we can then see what works and what doesn't.