Has Science Disproved Christianity?
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Hasn't Science disproved Christianity? Jim Mason, PhD Hasn't Science disproved Christianity? No, it hasn’t! Outline Age of the Earth Evolution The Big Bang Outline Age of the Earth radiometric dating geological column Evolution origin of life (abiogenesis) mutations and natural selection The Big Bang origin of the universe the distant starlight ‘problem’ This presentation contains slides that contain a lot of information! Viewer attention is advised! Creation Ministries International creation.com Creation Ministries International Featured article of the day Creation Ministries International Store front page Creation Ministries International Store: resource listings Your Name username@address.??? ANA NAN Pass to next person Some things about Science What is science anyway? “Science (from Latin scientia meaning ‘knowledge’) is an enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.” - Wikipedia accessed 2014/01/05 Some things about Science Not all science is the same “The goal of physics is to understand the basic dynamics of the universe. Cosmology is a little different. The goal is to reconstruct the history of the universe.” Dr. Michael Turner, Theoretical Cosmologist University of Chicago Coined the term ‘Dark Energy’ Cho, A., A singular conundrum: How odd is our universe?, Science 317:1848– 1850, 28 Sept 2007. Physics Cosmology “the goal … is to “The goal is to understand the reconstruct the dynamics of the history of the universe” universe.” Some things about Science Science is all about doing repeatable experiments “… A basic tenet of science is that you can do repeatable experiments, …” Dr. James Gunn, Professor of Astronomy Princeton University Co-founder of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Cho, A., A singular conundrum: How odd Credit: Wikipedia; photo by ServiceAT is our universe?, Science 317:1848– 1850, 28 Sept 2007. Some things about Science Science is all about doing repeatable experiments “Cosmology may look like a science, but it isn’t a science. A basic tenet of science is that you can do repeatable experiments, and you can’t do that in cosmology” Dr. James Gunn, Professor of Astronomy Princeton University Co-founder of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Cho, A., A singular conundrum: How odd Credit: Wikipedia; photo by ServiceAT is our universe?, Science 317:1848– 1850, 28 Sept 2007. Physics Cosmology Is this really science? “the goal … is to “The goal is to understand the reconstruct the dynamics of the history of the universe” universe.” “you can do “you can’t do that repeatable [repeatable experiments” experiments]” Some things about Science “The goal of physics is to understand the basic dynamics of the universe. Cosmology is a little different. The goal is to reconstruct the history of the universe.” “Cosmology may look like a science, but it isn’t a science. A basic tenet of science is that you can do repeatable experiments, and you can’t do that in cosmology.’ Some things about Science “The goal of biology is to understand the basic dynamics of living things. Evolution is a little different. The goal is to reconstruct the history of life on Earth.” “Evolution may look like a science, but it isn’t a science. A basic tenet of science is that you can do repeatable experiments, and you can’t do that in evolution.’ Biology Evolution Is this really science? the goal … is to The goal is to understand the reconstruct the dynamics of living history of life on things Earth. you can do repeatable you can’t do that experiments [repeatable experiments] Some things about Science Science cannot prove anything to be true “The title of the 6 May News of the Week story “At long last, Gravity Probe B satellite proves Einstein right” (p. 649) made me cringe. I find myself frequently repeating to students and the public that science doesn’t “prove” theories. Scientific measurements can only disprove theories or be consistent with them. Any theory that is consistent with measurements could be disproved by a future measurement. I wouldn’t have expected Science magazine, of all places, to say a theory was “proved”.” The Editor’s response: “Bennett is completely correct. It’s an important conceptual point, and we blew it.” Charles L. Bennett • Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. • Principal Investigator of NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). Charles L. Bennett, “Science Title Misstep”, Letter to the Editor, Science 332:1263, 2011 Example If I eat a large pizza, then my stomach will be full My stomach is full Therefore I must have eaten a large pizza all the ways my eating a large stomach could pizza filled observations/data mutations data consistent natural selection with theory #1 speciation data consistent with theory #2 data consistent cannot ‘prove’ with both theories either new ✘ inconsistent observation/ with theory measurement something required by or not possible and/or not implicit in the theory what is observed Some things about Science Falsifiability A proper scientific theory should make falsifiable predictions that can be tested by repeated experiments Karl Popper Some things about Science Data do not ‘speak for themselves’ “Data cannot speak for themselves; they have to be interpreted through a theoretical model. Some correlations are spurious and some are not: extracting inferences about causality requires an understanding of theory, statistics and how the data were collected.” Economists and their data (so, so much data); Dr. Stephen Gordon National Post, 6 March 2017 Département d’économique, Université Laval, Ville de Québec, QC Some things about Science The Ruling Paradigm Science is normally done under a “ruling paradigm” data are interpreted within a particular interpretative framework (theory) that is just assumed to be true Data that are inconsistent with the theory are … treated as errors by the researcher, dismissed because the researcher is judged not to have appropriate credentials, dismissed because the researcher is considered to have Thomas Kuhn unacceptable political leanings or funding sources, or accommodated within the ruling paradigm by ancillary hypothesis Accumulated inconsistencies eventually cause the ruling paradigm to be replaced Is this really science? the goal … is to The goal is to understand the reconstruct the dynamics of … history of … you can do repeatable you can’t do that experiments [repeatable experiments] interpretation interpretation theory/ruling paradigm theory/ruling paradigm speculation speculation presuppositions presuppositions Mainstream presuppositions & ruling paradigms Ruling Paradigms The Big Bang Universality of laws of The Nebular Hypothesis physics Uniformitarian geology Abiogenesis Evolution Naturalism/Materialism Man defines truth Biblical presuppositions & ruling paradigms Ruling Paradigms • 6, 24-hr days • life created each after its own kind Universality of laws of physics … • about 6,000 yrs ago … except when augmented by God’s • initial perfection spoiled by sin direct action • global flood about 4,500 years ago i.e. miracles as recorded in the Bible • humans all descended from two people and spread around the world post-Babel The Word of God (Bible) is true God defines truth Impact of presuppositions: Naturalism/Materialism The origin of the 747 Happened Happened by design by accident Naturalism/ Materialism Impact of presuppositions: Naturalism/Materialism The origin and diversity of life Happened Happened by design by accident Naturalism/Materialism Dr. Richard Lewontin 1929 - Evolutionary Geneticist Harvard University “We take the side of science [materialism] in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, ….. in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism.” Dr. Richard Lewontin 1929 - Evolutionary Geneticist Harvard University “It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot let a Divine foot in the door” Dr. Richard Lewontin 1929 - Evolutionary Geneticist Harvard University Materialism Naturalism Age of the Earth How do you know how old something is? Have a written record attesting to its history The most reliable way to know how old something is is to have written record from a reliable witness or recorded by a reliable scribe on behalf of a reliable witness This is exactly what Genesis is regarding the origin of the universe/earth/life: the witness is God the scribe is Moses ∼6,000 years The age of the earth is 4.54 ±0.05 billion years (4.54 x 109 ±1%). … This age is based on evidence from radiometric dating of meteorite material and is consistent with the ages of the oldest-known terrestrial and lunar samples. Wikipedia: Age of the Earth last accessed 2019/09/26 The age of the earth is 4.54 ±0.05 billion years (4.54 x 109 ±1%). … This age is based on evidence from radiometric dating of meteorite material and is consistent with the ages of the oldest-known terrestrial and lunar samples. Wikipedia: Age of the Earth last accessed 2019/09/26 The age of the earth is 4.54 ±0.05 billion years (4.54 x 109 ±1%). … This age is based on evidence from radiometric dating of meteorite material and is consistent with the ages of the oldest-known terrestrial and lunar samples. Wikipedia: Age of the Earth last accessed 2019/09/26 Which shooter is more accurate? The age of the earth is 4.54 ±0.05 billion years (4.54 x 109 ±1%). … This age is based on evidence from radiometric dating of meteorite material and is consistent with the ages of the oldest-known terrestrial and lunar samples.