I think in this day and age cold hard facts are few and far between. I think many people are under the impression that a lot of things are set in stone when in reality they are loosely proven hypotheses. I brought up the evolution versus creation debate in class today and I think this is an example worth expounding upon. There two main sides to this debate, one being that we evolved from primitive mammals originating from the big bang beginning of the earth. The other side is that of creation, acknowledging that God created the earth in seven days as outlined in The Bible.
I think many people on either side of this debate will tell you they adamantly believe their position to be true, to be fact. I think people on both sides could present some very convincing arguments as to the validity of their theory. I think both could produce substantial evidence in support of their cause. I think it is a debate that will not come to an end before the world itself comes to an end.
I do not however believe evolution is proven. I personally take the other side, that creation of the world by God is how we all ended up here doing this thing called life. I know many would say ok prove it! I would love to do that, trust me, I would. All I can do to this end would be show someone the passages in the Bible that depict the creation of the world, and then hope to convince them of the origins of the Bible and its absolute truth. That is where myself, and anyone else, has to decide whether they believe that or not. I believe in that, and I think evolutionists believe in evolution, and to each his own. That is where I make my point in this blog post. No matter how tight the supporting evidence, no matter how perfect the rhetorical presentation of the subject at hand, no matter how long the argument has been accepted as true, one must choose to believe that it is indeed a fact. One has to believe it in their own mind, accept it as true, and be willing to defend it as fact. So, I think that in every "cold hard fact" there is an element of belief.
I agree, everything depends on what you choose to believe.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds a lot like one of my earlier post not about evolutionist and creationist (I'm for the latter) but about how rhetoric is not as persuasive as everybody thinks it is. Rhetoric and any other form of communication is persuasive because people want it to be. Audiences are looking for something else to be adamant about. If an audience was 100% positive about something in their minds, all the "persuasive rhetoric" in the world is not going to change their minds. But say they are 99%, then they are not completely sure or want to find something else to think about.
ReplyDeleteI believe that you guys are right on target. Science after all is just our collection of repeatable observations. The only fact of the matter is that none of us alive today were here when the earth was made/the universe condensed and exploded and we have no one that we can ask to confirm our hypothesis of what actually may have happened. Personally, I find it much easier to believe in a God who loves me than to believe that very almost infinitesimally small probability that we are all here by chance. I'm just going to be lazy in that regard.
ReplyDelete