Hi Flyer,
Glad to see your first proposed topic catching on so well. Very interesting discussion (the only downside is reading up on the discussion eats up a bit of time).
Flyer75 writes:
I'm of the belief that although I disagree with it, evolutionists believe based on reason and logic and a little bit of faith to fill a few holes
You are correct that scientists do rely on faith. So do you. Presumably, when you get up in the morning you have faith that gravity will still keep you attached to the ground. Without looking in the garage (or the driveway) you'll probably assume that your car hasn't changed color overnight. It is much simpler to assume that things are much the same as they were last night, rather than to speculate that some unknown entity repainted your car and moved your house. Of course, you can always look out the window to be "sure".
In science, the simplest explanation is said to have the most "parsimony" (and no doubt scientists here will correct me if I apply the term incorrectly). Basically, a parsimonious explanation is that explanation which requires the least unevidenced or redundant parts to explain a phenomenon.
If I come upon a bloody murder, with the Butler standing right next to the victim holding a bloodied candlestick and wearing bloodied clothing whilst loudly exclaiming "I did it!", I could make the simple assumption that the Butler committed the murder with the candlestick.
However, I
could also speculate that the murder was committed by an intelligent race of spacefaring penguins, who cruelly framed the butler and are using mind control to make him confess to the crime. Either explanation could be true, certainly neither one is disproven at the scene of the crime. But the former is more parsimonious.
Explanations that are not parsimonious are generally deemed less likely than parsimonious ones. One might speculate that unknown forces altered the speed of light, and carefully adjusted every property of the universe to make it reflect that the universe is younger than it appears. It is certainly a possibility. But which requires more faith to accept? That the Creator is playing silly buggers with scientists? Or that considerable evidence for an old earth exists precisely because the earth is old?
There are always gaps in science, and we have faith that when those gaps eventually get filled they'll make sense, and hopefully mesh with the rest of what we know about the universe so far (otherwise it's back to the drawing board). There is no need to point out that evolutionists rely on faith. Every single person on this planet relies on faith to make it through the day. The reason creationism is not on par with the theory of evolution, is that the former requires many more leaps of faith, while the latter is more parsimonious.
Respectfully,
-Meldinoor