From: robm@void.ncsa.uiuc.edu (Rob McCool)
Subject: Re: God exists. Proof within.
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Organization: The Organization of Disorganization
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 10:47:20 GMT


Sorry, Jeff, no flame, but I don't think your argument holds water. I'd have
  talked to you in person but I'd like to keep the discussion open to everyone.

Jeffrey Richard Lamb (jlamb@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu) wrote:
: True, lack of disproof <> proof, but failure to acknowledge strong evidence
: is illogical. Also the closer you come to proving a whole the more credence
: you should give the idea. The theory of relativity hasn't been proven, but
: no evidence has come up against it and every test we have been able to
: think of has supported the ideal. Why is acceptance of the Bible different.

This example is not a good one. The THEORY of Relativity is just that: a
  theory. It has not been proven, even though the tests we are currently
  able to use show that it is true. However, there are a lot of holes in
  the theory which are unknown, and they remain precisely that. Unknown.
  To say that these holes must act how we expect them to is speculation
  and inference, not fact or logic. If one of these holes is disproven, 
  another theory will come along. And it will be just that. A theory.

Let's put it another way. Until the theory of quarks and leptons came along, 
  it was the current theory, as yet not disproved, that protons and electrons 
  were the smallest things in the universe, unbreakable particles of which 
  matter was composed. The theory was generally accepted, but not as a PROOF, 
  as a THEORY. Neils Bohr could have argued until his face was blue that
  it was true, and no one could disprove him, but that doesn't mean he was
  right. Logically, it was not truth yet, it was a guess which fit the
  current facts. 

But, you say, that is a bad example because blah blah blah....... Okay, then 
  let me bring up a concrete example.

Moses disappeared on a mountain top for forty days and came back down 
  again with ten laws on stone tablets for the Isrealites. Moses claims
  that a bush was afire (but not consumed), and God gave him the tablets.
  We have no proof one way or the other if he was right or not. The facts we
  have, in the Bible or elsewhere, just don't logically lead to the 
  conclusion that this must be the way it happened. Moses could have sat down
  and written them himself for all we know. What happened up there is unknown,
  and likely will never be. 

There are other examples I will not get into right now, which I can bring
  up if you like. Let me close by saying that your argument is based on a 
  faulty premise (the Bible must be completely factual since we can infer 
  the unknowns to be true due to lack of evidence to the contrary) and 
  therefore as it stands, your proof is not valid. If I am wrong, feel free 
  to correct me.

BTW I'd suggest taking the class offered down here called "The Bible As 
  a Piece of Literature". You might find it interesting.

--
Rob McCool, NCSA STG System Administrator
robm@ncsa.uiuc.edu r-mccool@uiuc.edu robm@imsa.edu
It was working ten minutes ago, I swear...

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