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Is your creation or evolution perspective infallibly correct?

rmwilliamsll

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So majority concensus rules then? Wouldn't the same be said of religionists?

neither science nor religion appears to be majority driven consensus, but rather some subgroup consensus. In science it appears to be a subgroup of people interested in this specific topic, a ever changing group. In religion in appears to be more community based with power elites that rule differently in various communities.

In science, try to trace out the changes for big events like the changing idea of ulcers caused by infection or BSE caused by prions. see how the various communities formed and reformed over the years as those ideas were pursued by single people with extraordinary desire to overturn the consensus. both are interesting examples.
 
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VinceBlaze

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By measures of the expansion of the universe (supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations), and by observing how the cosmic microwave background is lensed from when it was emitted.
How can something so far away possibly be empirically observed?
 
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VinceBlaze

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How many Old Testament canons do you believe the early Jews had? I'm specifically referring to the early Jews before the time of Christ.
 
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rmwilliamsll

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How many Old Testament canons do you believe the early Jews had? I'm specifically referring to the early Jews before the time of Christ.

at least 3 that i know of:
babylonian, palestinian and alexandrian.

notes:
on palestinian and alexandrian at:
http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/canon1.html

the idea of a babylonian comes from the difference between the Masoretic text from the 6thC CE, the now lost Hebrew underneath the LXX, and the questions raised by the Peshitta.
The Peshitta version of the Old Testament is an independent translation based largely on a Hebrew text similar to the Proto-Masoretic Text.
from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshitta

On top of this is the differgence of the two Jewish communities: Alexandrian and Babylonian based on a different Talmud(see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Talmud).

see:
http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1035&letter=B
 
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Tomk80

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And who specifically decides what constitutes valid empirical knowledge?
First, I do hope you realize that you are changing the topic in another direction here? My statement was that scientists will be providing new empirical knowledge. Now, this empirical knowledge is reasonably well defined, in that it refers to evidentially based knowledge. That does not mean that all new knowledge that a scientists produces is also valid.

As to who decides what constitutes valid empirical knowledge. Basically other scientists, through peer-review and repeated testing.
 
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rmwilliamsll

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That must have been after the Jews were dispersed. What about before they were dispersed?

when dispersed? which diaspora?
there are several.
destruction of the northern kingdom
destruction of the first temple

70AD-the destruction of the second temple
135AD*

the most interesting factoid on this early time period that i am aware of it that the Falashim do not have the book of Ruth and forward in time, being separated from the body of Jews before the Babylonian captivity. They also are the only other community of Jews to retain the office of High Priest(down to the present time) along with the Samaritans.


notes:

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_diaspora

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ancient_Israel_and_Judah
 
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VinceBlaze

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First, I do hope you realize that you are changing the topic in another direction here?
Nope, I don't realize it.

As to who decides what constitutes valid empirical knowledge. Basically other scientists, through peer-review and repeated testing.
Seems like a closed group.
 
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Wiccan_Child

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Seems like a closed group.
Technically, anyone can buy a scientific journal, read the papers, and respond. It's just that the uneducated masses won't be familiar with the terminology, and the majority won't be interested in reviewing rather tedious amounts of data.
I, personally, would find some papers quite fascinating, but most (geography, biology, biochemistry, statistical analysis, etc) would bore me

So, it is the peers who review it. Not because they are the only ones 'allowed', but they are the only ones who can (that is, who can review it with a full understanding of the text).
 
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VinceBlaze

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Sounds much like religious leaders and their bible readings.
 
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Wiccan_Child

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Sounds much like religious leaders and their bible readings.
You assume all religious leaders have Bible readings

I don't see the parallel though. Peer review is different to reading the bible in a group.
 
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VinceBlaze

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You assume all religious leaders have Bible readings
When they need the bible to say something.

I don't see the parallel though. Peer review is different to reading the bible in a group.
I don't see the parallel either. How did we get onto reading the bible in a group?
 
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razzelflabben

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razzelflabben

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Sure, that is why science is inherently agnostic. It does not ask the 'God'-question untill it finds a method on how to test this question. What you do with that in your daily life is a different matter.
all I am suggesting is that science cannot dismiss the possibility of god/God/gods without evidence to do so because doing such would leave "holes" in our scientific explorations that leave it biased when we strive to be unbiased.
 
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razzelflabben

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Consistency is not your strong suit. Here, you force a dichotomy - "...considering both possibilities" - but further on you will say that you "embrace all sorts of possibilities."
Yeah, we started out talking about God and not God, but as we progressed in our discussion, god and gods became included. The consistency you are questioning is in looking at what is possible not in limiting the discussion to only what you and I believe. Thus consistancy does prevail. The consistancy of looking at all the possibles, on occasion limiting the discussion to make it more managable. This is a common communication method, condensing and expanding as the discussion warrants.
In any case, I am certainly not willing to stipulate that there is precisely the same amount of evidence for God's existence as against, especially where science is concerned.
That is your belief, but you have not presented any evidence to support your position, how about giving it a go?
The "empirical world" is evidence for the empirical world, full stop. Complexity has been show to arise from natural processes. I don't have much idea what you mean by "chaos and 'miracles.'"
Again, we draw conclusions based on premises, your premis is that the emprical world is the empirical world, mine is that the empirical world exists so that we can exist and therefore is more than simply an empirical world but also a life giving world. Thus our conclusions will be different using the exact same evidence. This is why I suggest that you have a problem with the premis and not the evidence as you keep asserting.
Science, however, does not consider "all possibles." Science - theory-making in particular - employs parsimony as a tool.
As tom suggested, agnostisim allows for all possibles as to the existance, or non existance of god/God/gods, thus an unbiased approach. It is those who do not attempt the unbiased approach that cause arguements with the "believers" in every religion. Or at least the staunch arguements. Some people will argue about anything that is not what they believe word or word.
Uh huh.

Right. So, what do you think about lightning? Zeus-caused or not?
The evidence suggests otherwise, so that Zeus' existance is not determined by this evidence of lightning, but that Zeus creates lightning is determined.

Just a side note I find interesting, Gen. is a book that argues the existance of God over gods like Zeus. and why, something most often overlooked in exchange for an arguement about origins. Just and side note of interest. In fact, the crux of the arguement is that if God created the sun, moon, stars, etc., then they can't be gods. IOW's a logical flow of ideas centered around an understanding of our empirical world. The problem most often is that people look at it as a scientific explaination of our empirical world rather than an arguement for the exisitance of God. Puts a whole new meaning to the literal translation of Gen. doesn't it?
 
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razzelflabben

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You assume all religious leaders have Bible readings

I don't see the parallel though. Peer review is different to reading the bible in a group.
Reading the bible in a group is like reading a science textbook in school. The real work comes from study of the book and arguements about the correct interpretaion of a the bible are prevalent, just as peers would review, "argue" over conclusions of data. There are parallels to be sure.
 
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Wiccan_Child

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When they need the bible to say something.
My point is that you assume all religious leaders need the Bible. There are other religious texts, you know.

I don't see the parallel either. How did we get onto reading the bible in a group?
You compared peer reviewed scientific journals, with Bible reading. I fail to see the parallel.
 
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