Acid Test For Bible Bashers

[rattler]

I think the OP needs to spend some time speaking to scientists and mathematicians on the subject of what is fact and what is theory.

The term 'flat earth' is a very good example.

Science and mathematics are branches of philosophy, they rely upon intellectual constructs, if the construct is wrong the whole basis of the theory is wrong.

There was a time when the best minds of the day believed the earth to be flat, until someone demonstrated it was not - it is arrogance to assume the accepted scientific philosophy of today is unquestionably correct.

As for 'in 50 years from now'

The Roman baths at Bath in the UK have a stone carving of the earth - the earth is depicted as a globe.

Somewhere between the carving of that globe and the late middle ages the theory of flat earth crept in.

Don't asume scientific/mathematical philosophy is correct, and certainly do not assume it is a natural progression - there is no solid basis for either assumption.

I never assume science is correct but its a more rational way of trying to explain and replicate than inventing a fairy tale with magical "gods"

I could argue god was a peanut and no one could disprove it and according to some everyone should "respect" my view god is a peanut.

Oh dear...............pls tell me you arent serious??

[FunFon]

Life is about "playing the percentages" I think. Many governments can't do this, but individuals can. Christians, in general, are very good at some things. They aren't very good at others. But you are right, there are Christians who break the mold I'm sure, just as there may have been a KKK member or two that wasn't prejudiced. But, that doesn't detract too much from the power of the assortment of inferences one can make.

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#1 I have no idea what you're on about and #2 I don't think there's any true statement you can make generalizing about a group as large and heterogenous as "Christians", unless you mean something different by that term than my understanding.

Just to be clear, the statement

Christians, in general, are very good at some things. They aren't very good at others.

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is to me on the face of it abhorrent idiotic nonsense.

However just for entertainment value I'd love to see some examples of your thinking along these lines. . .

[driedmango]

What are you talking about? The concept of a spherical Earth dates back to ancient Greek philosophy from around the 6th century BC. As a sailor from the time of my childhood I can tell you that any sailor knew the earth was round by the age of 7. You sail into port and look at a mountain getting taller. Come on guys pick on a better myth.

Has anything I said precluded the ancient Greeks knowing the earth to be a sphere - erm no....

Feel free to go off on one of your disconnected rambles but please at least try to teather one end in something that I've said, not something you've assumed I've said.

You wrote, "The Roman baths at Bath in the UK have a stone carving of the earth - the earth is depicted as a globe. Somewhere between the carving of that globe and the late middle ages the theory of flat earth crept in."

Erm.... you are aware that the Roman empire reached Britania sometime after they conquered the Greeks aren't you?!

The logic, to spell it out for you is - The Greeks knew about the earth being a sphere, .... then came they romans, they knew about the earth being a sphere (probably from the Greeks) and then sometime between the carving of the sphere that is at the roman ruins at Bath the idea came about that the earth was flat.

So yes, I know what I'm talking about.

Have some fish oil, it might help.

almost all humans knew the earth was round. Just some idiots trying to convince others the earth wasn't round or they would think there was other life out there.

[NeverSure]

What about Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Max Planck, Kelvin, Mendel, Boyle, Faraday,Pascal, Descartes, Galileo?

"A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man." (Albert Einstein)

[NeverSure]

When we can't cure the common cold, or answer the question "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" (or the hen or the rooster for that matter) we are pretty danged arrogant to take a hard stand on that which we can't see.

Which I believe is what Einstein was saying in his own way.

[FunFon]

When we can't cure the common cold, or answer the question "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" (or the hen or the rooster for that matter) we are pretty danged arrogant to take a hard stand on that which we can't see.

Which I believe is what Einstein was saying in his own way.

Yes, investigating Einstein's religious beliefs is actually quiet eye-opening. Those seeking for confirmation of their theist beliefs tend to claim he was "religious" in some kind of traditional sense, but what it is that he did believe (in his heart/right-brain, not necessarily in the left-brain hypothesis-theory sense) was out there certainly didn't qualify as "God" by the lights of most practitioners and adepts of the worlds' major religions, which certainly allows the positive-atheists to claim him as one of their own.

I find the idea of many-world infinite-parallel universes from quantum physics, Schrödinger's cat etc and string theory to be an intriguing thought-experiment.

Just like if we were to go back in time with a C17-full of weapons and gadgets to dominate the world back then, we would be explained away according to the time-local paradigms, I think many of the major religion-stories are simply the result of Clark's technology=magic phenomenon.

Many things we don't understand today in realms where there isn't enough fundamental science to have even started to explore, will become much more clear to left-brain logic in future decades and centuries, explaining much phenomenon that the "pseudo-scientific" current scoff at.

To me the most scientific frame of mind is reflected in your username, and conversely, absolute certainty in any kind of dogma, even the theory of how gravity operates, to be very unscientific.