I Am Fascinated By Science, Religion, and Philosophy

@Bushranger Yes those scientism advocates usually try to dominate the discussion and shout down any other responses. Silly humans don't realize their version of 'scientific truth' is a religion.

@hippyjoe1955 So you should be able to accept it. I accept that you have faith.

@Bushranger As do you. Your faith is not the same faith as mine but you too have faith since you have no evidence to support your position.

@hippyjoe1955 Well, that is something that I'm attempting to determine with this discussion. If I believe in a scientific basis, does that mean I have to believe without evidence? I don't think so.

@Bushranger You don't have a scientific background and clearly don't understand science. You are simply a parrot repeating back what you learned in school. Here is a hint. The school had an agenda to disprove any contrary theory in order to keep materialism and hedonism top of the list.

@hippyjoe1955 I beg your pardon, but you know nothing of me or my educational level. Do not presume that you can judge everyone, for one thing it's not a very Christian trait.

@Bushranger What kind of scholar demands answers or refuses to investigate or refuses to even use a dictionary?

@hippyjoe1955 Answers can provide clarification in order to preclude misunderstanding. What is wrong with that?

@Bushranger That is why you need to do your own investigation and not rely on me. If you had done the same with your science teachers in high school you wouldn't be an advocate of evolution.

@hippyjoe1955 But I treated my religious teachers in the same way I treated my science teachers and now I'm an atheist.

@Bushranger No you believed your science teachers and they indoctrinated you in the religion of scientism. Nice try though.

@hippyjoe1955 I'm starting to find the use of the term religion in relation to science offensive. Science does not require faith, it requires enquiry. If the data don't support the hypothesis, move on to the next one. Keep testing, keep investigating.

@Bushranger Sucks to be you. Scientism is a religion and it it held to with religious fanaticism like few other religions.

@Bushranger [quote]Do not presume that you can judge everyone, for one thing it's not a very Christian trait.[/quote]
Actually, in my experience it's very much a christian trait.

@hippyjoe1955 Scientism a religion? Scientism means thought or expression regarded as characteristic of scientists. Science is evidence based; no belief in a supernatural entity required - there's the fundamental characteristic. Clearly science has nothing at all in common with religion. Are you really so desperate to believe in your god that you are willing to ignore simple facts?

Scientists have known for a while now that all known life on earth, past and present, originated from a single source. So evolution is fact, unlike beliefs in deities which are purely fictional.

The only possibility left for the 'god of the gaps' is that a deity could (however unlikely) have created the lifeform from which all other life evolved because scientists haven't been able to prove exactly how that happened yet. Once they do, even that 'gap' will be closed to religious fundamentalists. Either way, it already proves much of the bible is nonsense.

@fazer1k you didn't know? How else do you explain such fanatisim in the face of conjecture without proof?

@hippyjoe1955 You see science as conjecture? I guess that would explain why you put it on the same footing as religion.

@fazer1k Yes much of science is conjecture and based on interpreting evidence in only one way. If we are seeking truth we will look at evidence in every way possible and weigh said evidence based on logic and honesty. Unfortunately most people think science is a religion never to be questioned. Someone in a lab coat is the same as the medieval cleric with his collar on backward. People's superstitions always lie with the one they think is the 'authority' and so the no-minds never discuss evidence in a dispassionate manner.

@hippyjoe1955 So, do you question your God and His teachings? Do you test His words to prove their unbiased nature? That would be a bit of a dilemma, I think. God is supposed to be taken on faith and not questioned. So you would, by definition, be required to accept the teachings without question. Something you accuse and abuse scientists for doing. Does not appear to demonstrate a high level of consistency.

@hippyjoe1955 You are aware, I take it, of the process of scientific research? It includes hypothesis testing. If the hypothesis if proved wrong, the scientist moves on to another one. Continually questioning the data until a correct hypothesis is arrived at. Then the information is published so that others can test the hypothesis.

Doesn't sound very superstitious or unilateral.

@Bushranger Probably way more aware than you. I used to do it for a living.

@hippyjoe1955 Ok, I suppose that I can't argue with a genius.

@hippyjoe1955 And is there any field of human endeavour in which you are not qualified?

@Bushranger Just a regular guy that worked hard in life. Graduated top of my class and went into systems design engineering that became a research job. During that research I came to question my avid atheism due in large part to the systems we were working on. If our simple designs took so very much brain power to design and out methods didn't work then how could could life simply develop without any intelligence behind it. Simply look at the efficiency of life. A sparrow, if it were a Cessna 152, could fly across the US on a gallon of gas. The most simple life form has so much going on at a nanotechnology level that we can't even see it let alone understand it. We don't even understand DNA and how it works. I knew a man who had a double lung transplant. He hated pasta his entire life but after the surgery he discovered he loved pasta. It turns out that his donor loved pasta. I was talking to a woman I went to school with who had a liver transplant many years ago. She knows a woman who also had a live transplant. The woman I know is a very happy vivacious woman that is a joy to be around. Apparently the other woman is constantly depressed. It turns out the other woman received the liver of a man and now when she looks in the mirror she sees a man. Strange things that scientism refuses to debate. Scientism is a religion that is extremely closed minded even as it claims to be open to discussion. Science should be all about asking questions and not removing possible explanations simply because someone thinks such explanations is not 'scientific'. There is so much more unknown in our universe than is known it is pure hubris on mankind's part to say we can look at DNA and recognize similarities and thus conclude it is the result of evolution. That is one possible answer. Another equally viable answer is the Creator of life uses the same 'coding' to achieve the same purpose in many life forms and only varies from that base 'coding' to bring about variety in His creation. After all no life form exists in isolation but rather all life forms exist in an extremely complex relationship where one life form provides food for another and is in turn eaten by another thus completely recycling all the material used in live. What's more such a relationship has existed for BILLIONS of years! The interaction of life form is so interlocked ancient people believed the entire planet was a living organism. Some, more modern scientists, are starting to ask if the entire universe is intelligent. I simply smile and acknowledge that the entire universe is contained within a living intelligent Being I know as YAWHEH (I AM). From that basic minuscule understanding of a BEING self identified as I AM the entire universe and all that we know exists and even that which we do not know makes perfect sense.

@Bushranger I have no idea who you are talking to, but, I thank you for your replies.