Ok, thanks for pointing out the clarification, and sorry for directing my comment specifically to you. I’ll change my “YOU” to point towards a larger swath of zealous missionaries, you specifically not necessarily included. (although some of your other posts do seem to fit the 2nd sentence - that is, being the lucky bearer of ultimate truth).
Thanks, and apologies, as I realize some of my posts were unclear. And I do in fact believe I am the (very) fortunate bearer of ultimate truth…I wouldn’t be Christian if I didn’t.
BTW, this is exactly why science is not a religion. Scientists do not claim to know the truth; they only argue what they believe to be the current best explanations for things, given the limitations of available measurement technology. Being proven wrong is how science advances. By contrast, religion claims absolutely to know the truth (sometimes in spite of measurements and scientific reasoning), and those truths are immutable - like axioms in a mathematical system.
Correction: Science does not claim to know the truth. Scientists, however, do make claims regarding truth all the time, while backing those claims with what they offer as logical scientific evidence when it’s really just supposition and hypothesis. NDT does this a lot and it annoys the crap out of me.
This is not true. Supposition and hypothesis based on the limited data and evidence that we do have is a starting point, and scientific theories require rock-solid evidence for them to be accepted and if they’re proven to be inaccurate or inconsistent with reality then they are rejected. Comparing science and religion simply isn’t a fair or honest comparison.
Ok, thanks for pointing out the clarification, and sorry for directing my comment specifically to you. I’ll change my “YOU” to point towards a larger swath of zealous missionaries, you specifically not necessarily included. (although some of your other posts do seem to fit the 2nd sentence - that is, being the lucky bearer of ultimate truth).
Thanks, and apologies, as I realize some of my posts were unclear. And I do in fact believe I am the (very) fortunate bearer of ultimate truth…I wouldn’t be Christian if I didn’t.
BTW, this is exactly why science is not a religion. Scientists do not claim to know the truth; they only argue what they believe to be the current best explanations for things, given the limitations of available measurement technology. Being proven wrong is how science advances. By contrast, religion claims absolutely to know the truth (sometimes in spite of measurements and scientific reasoning), and those truths are immutable - like axioms in a mathematical system.
Certainly, but we don’t claim to know the truth about absolutely everything either. Out of curiosity, what scientific reasoning and measurements do you think contradict Christianity (and specifically Catholicism)?
Well, for one, the power of prayer. Scientific studies have repeatedly failed to find any evidence that prayer has any effect whatsoever, while Christianity (and other religions) insist that it does.
You really think God would submit to scientific experiments so humans can measure, when His children ask him to jump, how high His jump will be?
If he existed then he should.
You might as well assume lab animals could use other lab animals to conduct experiments, in order to measure how their human observers react, without humans realizing what they are doing.
Lab animals are not as sophisticated as humans are. If lab rats had the same level of intelligence and ability to communicate and build things as we do then it would actually be completely reasonable to assume that they’d be capable of doing such a thing.
God already said to not put Him to the test, so I don’t think He’d appreciate that.
This is easily my most loathed religious concept, the idea that the gods’ wrath is directed towards those that dare to question them. As a character trait, it’s villainous and disgusting, and in a practical sense this is what turns so many religious people off to science and education. A lot of the rightwing and religious anti-academic sentiment stems from this kind of thinking.