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Author Topic:   101 evidences for a young age...
Otto Tellick
Member (Idle past 2321 days)
Posts: 288
From: PA, USA
Joined: 02-17-2008


Message 94 of 135 (518848)
08-08-2009 9:43 PM
Reply to: Message 93 by wirkkalaj
08-08-2009 6:58 PM


Re: reality testing
wirkkalaj writes:
It is your "belief" in an old/young Earth that drives people to find an agreeable dating system or discard contradictory ones.
No, I'm afraid you are drawing a false parallel there, between people whose "belief" supports an old Earth, and people whose belief "supports" a young Earth.
The former people discard other beliefs and explanations when there is no real data -- no observational basis -- to sustain those beliefs and explanations, and especially when those beliefs and explanations are in direct conflict with reliably observed evidence. They do not discard the observations (the evidence that must be explained by a coherent and accurately predictive theory).
The latter people discard or ignore evidence when it conflicts with their chosen beliefs and explanations.
In other words, the crucial difference between these two groups of people is this: for "old Earth" folks, the belief has to conform to the evidence, whereas for the "young Earth" folks, the evidence has to conform to the belief.
It's very important to understand that the motivations for "old Earth beliefs" did not arise from Darwin's consideration of the time depth needed for evolution to be a viable theory; they arose from the careful study of geology, astronomy, physics and radioactivity. Our current "old Earth beliefs" are the necessary logical outcome of reconciling the available evidence from all these domains.
The honestly scientific estimations for the age of the Earth have undergone numerous adjustments, based on evidence, since the 18th century. There has been no fundamental change in the evidence itself, and none of it has been discarded or ignored. Each new revision to the estimated age is tested against all available evidence. Any discrepancies or conflicts will lead to refining the explanation further, and/or revisiting and repeating observations to confirm whether they are accurate and reliable.
{AbE, to clarify:} It's both possible and desirable for older observations to be replaced or superseded by newer ones, using more careful controls, more accurate instruments, and more representative samples. This is especially valuable when new observations can reveal why the older ones were inadequate, leading to explanations that cover the old evidence as well as the new.
Regarding the Earth-age estimations among young-Earth believers, I'm not as familiar with the issues here, so I have to ask: What in particular are these estimates based on? How many different estimates have been proposed? How would you evaluate each one as to its "accuracy", if you were trying pick one as being "the most accurate"?
If your answer is "such accuracy doesn't matter", then your position is simply "ignorance is sufficient -- true knowledge of our world is unnecessary." If the answer involves reference to proper interpretation of Biblical text, then your position is "physical evidence must be ignored," and you will necessarily face the problem of divergent and irreconcilable interpretations of the Bible. I think it's rational and sensible to reject both of those positions.
Edited by Otto Tellick, : added a paragraph as noted.

autotelic adj. (of an entity or event) having within itself the purpose of its existence or happening.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 93 by wirkkalaj, posted 08-08-2009 6:58 PM wirkkalaj has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 95 by wirkkalaj, posted 08-08-2009 11:33 PM Otto Tellick has not replied

  
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