Yeah the history channel has a lot of shows about the theory of ancient aliens helping the primitive people establish their cultures and evolution of course. For Wade, Cheesey and Christianity's sake - I hope their wrong. I'm going to just keep an open mind and hope my ancestors aren't all a bunch of dumbasses. I'm starting to lean more towards science than 2500 year old dessert fables.
Help me Wade and Cheesey to keep the faith.
Originally Posted by: DakotaT
1. All of science is based on sampling.
2. No matter how good the sample, making an inference from a sample requires a willingness to believe that which is not in the sample is "like" that which is.
3. The ability to "repeat the experiment" doesn't change #1 or #2. It just changes the sample size a bit.
4. And when it comes to matters of life, the universe, and everything, the sample is really small compared to the population.
You can't practice science and make inferences about its results without acts of faith.
In the end, the only question is where you put your faith.
When it is in reference to worldly things like prices and material goods and the strength of bridges, I'm perfectly happy to base my faith on reason and human sampling methods.
When it comes to matters of the nature of life, the universe, and everything, well, all I can say is human beings have gotten the science wrong over and over again. I do not expect this to change. All our opining and our pontification and our scholarship is smaller than a gnat on the buttocks of an elephant. I do not expect this to change either, no matter how many hundreds of Nobel Prizes we award to each other, and no matter how many tens of thousands of books we publish, and no matter how many millions of scholarly articles we scientists publish. Time is too long and the universe is too wide and, most important, the possibilities are too uncountable.
If it were just choosing between the desert fables of dead men, and the modern work of science and scholarship, I'd go with science and scholarship. But it isn't. It's about trusting men (yesterday's OR today's) or trusting God.
My money stays on God. I know man doesn't have a chance in hell of ever getting beyond samples -- or sampling error -- on his own.
Rejecting religion is fine, DakotaT. Religion is the activity of gnats.
Just don't reject God.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)