Thanks for your comments you heathen:) I actually have many friends who are of like beliefs!
I will clarify “heathen” for anyone who may not know the meaning:
one who adheres to the religion of a people or nation that does not acknowledge the God of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. Such persons considered as a group; the unconverted.
I am sure you know that theory, as explained in the dictionary means:
A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted , and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.
For those who may need a bit of specific definitions for a few words I believe are RELEVANT to this response, I include 5 definitions.
1.conjecture: statement, opinion, or conclusion based on guesswork
2.analyze: Examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations.
3.hearsay: unverified information heard or received from another; rumor.
4.irrelevant: unrelated to the matter being considered.
5.faith: firm belief in something for which there is no proof; complete trust.
So Matt, the Heathen, my response is to you: I believe theory is one person’s conjecture, perhaps a group of people. However many reams of “evidence”, it is still conjecture.
In analyzing my studies over the years of many religions I realize that hearsay is common to the believer and the unbeliever. Some stories are true, some are not. It is most difficult to believe many stories as we know history has been altered by the word of man.
Did you ever play a game when with a group of people where the first person whispered something into the ear of the next person – and so on – until finally whispered back to the first person.? At that point you ALWAYS discover that what he had first whispered had been changed.
We humans hear what we want to hear. We take to heart what we choose for our lives and for those of us with a strong philosophy, we stick to what we believe.
I do however, believe that story would be relevant because it deals with the subject matter of Darwin’s theory.
My faith is as firm and strong for something that there is no “proof” as your disbelief is! You see, in MY HEART, I have chosen what I believe and nothing will shake it ever. The proof to me has been miracles in my life and something inside me that makes me know, and that’s all the proof I need.
Let’s just say in the conclusion of the matter, it’s all a matter of choice. I respect your right to choose what you believe, or don’t believe. I will always enjoy “sharing and exchanging” ideas
and theory. I will also always believe that in the final analysis, as long as we live, man’s convictions about the unknown will always be just theory. We may have some “proof”
of what is and what isn’t, but our intellect is just finite and I don’t believe we have the capacity to put our theory down as concrete for everyone else. Therein, a choice to believe or not.
I hope you are happy and have a wonderful day!
Marsha, the Christian
Relax, it's just Life! 
April 11, 2007 at 6:05 pm |
Hi Marsha the Christian,
I’m at work right now, so I’ll be brief…
I guess I would try to make two points:
1) There is one, dubious account that Darwin recanted on his death bed. Other more credible accounts say that the woman making this account never visited Darwin. I wouldn’t present her account as a “Did You Know?” type fact.
2) If, for example, Newton recanted his theory of gravity, or Copernicus, or Kepler, or Einstein or whoever… this would have no relevance to the validity of their respective theories. Related, sure, but not relevant to wheter their theories are correct.
Secondly, I think the approach you and I take to discovering the truth are fundementally different. I can understand someone like you who says they’ve had miracles in their lives, and something speaks to them and they just know. We could get into a long winded discussion about how Hindus says the exact same things to justify their belief, and how “miracles” always involve something like cancers going into remission (can be explained by science), and not lost limbs growing back (cannot be explained by science).
We are different because you say things like, “those of us with a strong philosophy, we stick to what we believe” or “I have chosen what I believe and nothing will shake it ever”.
Nobody can “choose” what they believe. Even if someone threatened me lest I do otherwise, I couldn’t choose to believe in Zeus or Thor. If I say, “I have a ball in my hand” and then I show you the ball, you have no choice to believe what I said was true. At the very best, we can assign probablities to how likely some theory is true.
Finally, a belief that is entirely closed to change is not reasonable. For pretty much every belief I have, I can tell you exactly what it would take for me to change that belief. Presumably, there would be SOMETHING, however fantastic/miraculous/improbable [think time-travelling scientists from the future taking us back to the crucifixtion 😉 ] that could change your beliefs.
Anywho…
Back to work. Cheers!