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LOGIC AND SCIENCE IN THE STUDY OF ORIGINS

LOGIC AND SCIENCE IN THE STUDY OF ORIGINS. By David A. Prentice, M.Ed., M.A.S.T. WHICH PART OF GOD’S WORD IS UNDER THE GREATEST ATTACK?. “In the beginning God created.”.

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LOGIC AND SCIENCE IN THE STUDY OF ORIGINS

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  1. LOGIC AND SCIENCE IN THE STUDY OF ORIGINS By David A. Prentice, M.Ed., M.A.S.T.

  2. WHICH PART OF GOD’S WORD IS UNDER THE GREATEST ATTACK? “In the beginning God created.” A number of school districts across the nation have tried to include “intelligent design” -- the mere possibility that an intelligence could be responsible for the universe -- in their curriculum. Every single one of them has been forbidden by the courts to even mention the possibility to students. The courts have decreed that we are an atheistic nation.

  3. DOES EVOLUTION MATTER? Nationwide reports indicate that a high percentage of Christian students – some say over 70% -- abandon the Christian faith within their first year of college. The most common reason: they cannot respond to evolutionary claims that contradict their faith, so they conclude Christianity is all a lie!How many Christian youths are “ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3:15)?

  4. THE FASTEST-GROWING RELIGION IN AMERICA: “NO RELIGION!” A 2009 survey by Trinity College shows that those who call themselves Christians have decreased to 76%, while “No religion” has increased to 15%. The biggest drop has been in churches that have abandoned the Bible.

  5. Why such a decrease in many churches? This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves… Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof… Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. (2 Tim 3:1-8) Is there a “form of godliness” in the shrinking churches?Of course! They are churches! BUT HOW POWERUL IS THEIR GOD?

  6. As of 3/27/09, almost 12,000 American MINISTERS signed the “Clergy Letter Project” stating that they believe in evolution. 1,049 congregations held “Darwin Day” in February. Their God either: 1. Doesn’t care if he tells the truth about how everything began, 2. Lied about it on purpose, or 3. Was not intelligent enough to tell the truth until Darwin did it for him. Having a form of godliness but denying its power!

  7. WHAT WE ARE CONSTANTLY TOLD: EVOLUTION IS SCIENCE INTELLIGENT DESIGN AND CREATION ARE RELIGION

  8. ? ? ? HOW DO YOUKNOW WHAT YOU KNOW? Or at least what youthinkyou know? ? ? ?

  9. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “KNOW” SOMETHING? 1. Personal Experience through the five senses. I know a bee sting hurts; I know how to ride a bike. 2. Reliance on Authority. I know the sun is 93 million miles away; Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. 3. Logic. I know 2 million + 2 million = 4 million, even though I’ve never counted that high. I know I have a brain, even though I’ve never seen it. 4. Feeling or Intuition. I know she’s the one for me; I know God has called me to the ministry. 6. Bluffing (lying) - you try to persuade others for an ulterior motive. You should buy these tickets from me because I know this team is going to the Super Bowl this year; I know evolution is a fact! 5. Wishful Thinking (you really want it to be true) I just know I’m going to win the lottery!

  10. WHAT CAN YOU BE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN OF? If someone tells you “There is no such thing as absolute truth,” ask them: Are you absolutely sure? The concept that each observer creates his own reality is not scientific, but religious! It is a fundamental part of Eastern philosophy (e.g., Hinduism), which assumes without proof that there is no personal God who determines truth.

  11. WHERE DID SCIENCE COME FROM? Eastern Religions Western Religions 1. The physical universe is real. 1. The physical universe is an illusion. 2. There is such a thing as objective reality. 2. There is no such thing as objective reality. 3. It is possible to accu- rately measure the uni- verse and know things about it with varying degrees of certainty. 3. Because of this, it is not possible to accu- rately measure the uni- verse or know things about it with certainty. RESULT: There isno pointin studying nature. RESULT: TheScientific Method. Science owes its very existence to Western religious belief.

  12. Though Eastern religions say the universe is just an illusion, those who claim to believe those religions still look both ways before they cross the street. They know those cars are really real!

  13. WHAT MOST PEOPLE THINK: EVOLUTION IS SCIENCE INTELLIGENT DESIGN AND CREATION ARE RELIGION BUT EXACTLY WHAT DO THE WORDS “CREATION” AND “EVOLUTION” IMPLY?

  14. EVOLUTION: Initial Disorganization with later increase in complexity and unlimited diversification. Not just change, but change in the direction of increasing complexity. T I M E Evolutionary “Tree” All life came from one simple cell

  15. 2 GENERAL MODELS OF EVOLUTION: Materialistic(Atheistic) Evolution Everything evolved by purely natural processes TheisticEvolution God used evolution as His method of creating 2 Specific Models About Evolution of Living Things: Neo-Darwinism: Evolution occurred slowly and gradually. Many have abandoned this belief because of the fossil evidence. Punctuated Equilibria: Evolution occurred in sudden jumps. The biological evidence against this belief is overwhelming.

  16. BIG MISTAKE: saying “Evolution is only a theory.” 1. In science, the word “Theory” is a very powerful term. It means that an idea has been tested over and over and has never failed a single test. Calling an idea a Theory is a high compliment. 2. Evolution is not a scientific theory because it is impossible to test! It is a HYPOTHESIS instead. There is no way we could perform an exper-iment to make apes evolve into humans. Likewise, the “big bang” is not testable. It relies on computer models rather than experimentation. It, too, is a hypothesis rather than a theory.

  17. CREATION: Initial Complexity with later deterioration and diversification within limits Not just change, but change in the direction of decreasing complexity. T I M E Creationist “Forest” All life came from multiple complex ancestors.

  18. 3 VARIATIONS OF CREATION: Recent RapidCreation (perhaps within the last 10,000 years) The Gap Theory (creation and ruin in the distant past, recent re-creation) Progressive Creation or the “Day-Age” Theory (creation spread out over billions of years -- really a theistic version of Punctuated Equilibria evolution) All are forms of Intelligent Design.

  19. CONTRAST OF BASIC MODELS: CREATION: Initial Complexity with later deterioration and diversification within limits (complex to simple) EVOLUTION: Initial Disorganization with later increase in complexity and unlimited diversification (simple to complex)

  20. CAN SCIENCE (AND SCIENTISTS) ALLOW US TO KNOW FOR SURE WHAT HAPPENED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE UNIVERSE, EARTH, AND LIFE?

  21. REASONS TO BELIEVE OTHERS WHO TRY TO PERSUADE US OF WHAT THEY “KNOW” IS IT BECAUSE: (1) They claim to havepersonal experience, OR (2) They appeal to an authority we trust, OR (3) We have checked out their logic and found it trustworthy? OR are we willing to trust their (4)intuition, (5)wishfulthinking, or (6)bluffing?

  22. THE PREHISTORIC PAST 1. No living person has personal experience. 2. There are no eyewitness accountsexcept the Bible, which is unacceptable to skeptics. SO HOW DO WE “KNOW” ABOUT THE BEGINNING? Through LOGIC ONLY.

  23. A FALSE CHALLENGE TO CREATIONISM “There is no evidence for creation.” • Such a statement shows a misunderstanding of what evidence is. Evidence is not “for” • one side or the other. • In a court of law, the prosecution and the defense refer to the same evidence – they just interpret it differently. • Likewise, both sides in the creation/evolution controversy use the same evidence, whether it be pieces of bone, rock strata, or the light from distant stars. We just interpret it differently.

  24. Both sides look at the same evi- dence… We just start with different logical premises to interpret it.

  25. THE TWO TYPES OF LOGIC 1. INDUCTIVE. Look at many phenomena and try to discover a pattern that points to a general principle. Inductive logic tries to determine the most reasonable (most likely) conclusion. This is the heart of the scientific method. 2. DEDUCTIVE. Start with general principles accepted as true and apply them to specific cases. Deductive logic tries to establish absolute truth, i.e., the conclusion MUST be true. This is the basis of mathematics, NOT science.

  26. CONTRASTING LOGIC Theconclusions of inductive logicresult from examination of observable phenomena (a posteriori). They aretestable. Thepremises of deductive logicmay come from inductive conclusions, or they may just be statements accepted as self-evident(a priori). They are not necessarily the result of testing.

  27. SCIENCE” UNTIL THE MIDDLE AGES: Based on the deductive logic of the ancient Greeks, who believed that logic always leads to truth. Testing was unimportant to them. Most famous Greek philosopher: Aristotle(inventor of the logic still used today), whose ideas were taught as fact for about 2,000 years throughout Europe, west Asia, and Africa.

  28. EXAMPLES OF INCORRECT CONCLU-SIONS BASED ON FAULTY LOGIC “Scientific” ideas of Aristotle TAUGHT AS FACT in European Universities for 2000 YEARS: 1. The earth is the center of the solar system. Falsified by Copernicus. 2. Heavier objects fall faster. Falsified by Galileo. 3. All objects possess an innate tendency to come to rest. Falsified by Newton.

  29. ARISTOTLE’S MOST BASIC MISTAKE IN LOGIC: 1. He reasoned that if the stars were different distances, they should display parallax. 2. He could not detect any parallax. 3. Therefore he decided “If I cannot see parallax then it does not exist.” Assuming there was no parallax led him to be wrong about EVERYTHING ELSE!

  30. Common Errors in Logic: Converses If I am at Mount Everest, then I am at the highest mountain in the world. TRUE. THE CONVERSE: If I am at the highest mountain in the world, then I am at Mount Everest. ALSO TRUE. A converse is ONLY reliable if there is an exact one-to-one match between the “If” and “Then” parts.

  31. Common Errors in Logic: Converses If I am at Victoria Falls, then I am at one of the largest waterfalls in the world. TRUE. THE CONVERSE: If I am at one of the largest waterfalls in the world, then I am at Victoria Falls. FALSE.

  32. PROPER LOGIC FLOW AT ONE OF THE LARGEST WATERFALLS IF AT NIAGARA FALLS IF AT VICTORIA FALLS IF AT ANGEL FALLS IF AT KAIETEUR FALLS IF AT OTHER LARGE WATER- FALL

  33. Common Errors in Logic: Converses If I am at Victoria Falls, then I am at one of the largest waterfalls in the world. TRUE. THE CONVERSE: If I am at one of the largest waterfalls in the world, then I am at Victoria Falls. FALSE. If evolution is true, then the universe and life would exist. TRUE. THE CONVERSE: If the universe and life exist, then evolution is true. FALSE. All teaching of “evolution only” in schools rests on the invalid use of a logical converse.

  34. POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS FOR THE UNIVERSE UNIVERSE EXISTS THEISTIC EVOLUTION CORRECT YOUNG-EARTH CREATION CORRECT ATHEISTIC EVOLUTION CORRECT OLD-EARTH CREATION CORRECT SOMETHING ELSE CORRECT

  35. EVEN WITH CORRECT LOGIC, FALSE PREMISES CAN LEAD TO FALSE CONCLUSIONS. All dogs bark. (Or, “If an animal is a dog, then it barks.”) Fido is a dog. Therefore, Fido barks. Not if Fido is a Basenji! Basenjis do not bark. If any oneof our premises is wrong, then our conclusion is unreliable.

  36. DEDUCTIVE LOGIC AND SYLLOGISMS If P is true, then Q is true.(Major premise) P is true. (Minor premise) Therefore, Q is true. (Conclusion) live on earth then Q live in U.S. live in La. if P if live in New Orleans To represent a syllogism graphically, anything inside the inner circle (“if”) is automatically inside the outer circle (“then”). Syllogisms can also be chained (transitive logic).

  37. POSTULATES - Premises that are taken as self-evident and accepted without proof. Euclid’s Parallel Line Postulate says that for any line, there can be only one parallel line through a point not on the first line. Point not on the first line Only one parallel line First line BUT IS IT REALLY SELF-EVIDENT? Riemannian and Lobachevskian geometry say that space is curved, so there is no such thing as an infinitely long straight line in the sense that we understand “straight.” One says space is positively curved, so there are an infinite number of parallel lines through a point not on a line. The other says space is negatively curved, so there are no parallel lines. All lines intersect at infinity. EACH OF THE THREE IS THE BASIS OF A DIFFERENT VERSION OF GEOMETRY, BUT NONE CAN BE PROVEN.

  38. IT TAKES ONLY ONE COUNTEREXAMPLE TO DISPROVE A PREMISE. “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

  39. BASIC PREMISES OF EVOLUTION AND CREATION EVOLUTION: CREATION: 1. A supernatural intelligence created the universe. Though most things are explainable by natural processes,some things may not be. This is as far as Intelligent Design goes; Creation specifies that the intelligence is God. 1. Everything must beexplainable by purely natural processes. a. Atheistic evolution: There is no God. b. Theistic evolution: Since the Big Bang, God has had little involvement with nature. Known as either NATURALISM, MATERIALISM, or ATHEISM. LIKE THE POSTULATES OF GEOMETRY, NEITHER SET OF PREMISES CAN BE PROVEN. THEY MUST BE ACCEPTED BY FAITH AS SELF-EVIDENT.

  40. THE FUNDAMENTAL PREMISE OF EVOLUTION: EVERYTHING must be explainable by PURELY NATURAL PROCESSES. (If something is a physical phenomenon, then it must have a physical cause.) But what if evolutionists find something that is NOT explainable by natural processes? Sure it is -- they just make up an expla-nation! And since they are smart enough to make up a clever story, therefore their story must be true.

  41. EVOLUTION: Natural Processes Only! "Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such a hypothesis is excluded from science because it is not naturalistic." Immunologist Scott C. Todd in a letter to Nature magazine, Sept. 1999 “... the theory of evolution itself [is] a theory universally accepted not because it can be proved by logically coherent evidence to be true but because the only alternative, special creation, is clearly incredible.” D.M.S. Watson, “Adaptation,” Nature, Vol. 123 (1929), p.233

  42. EVOLUTION: Natural Processes Only! "We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories*, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. “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 prioriadherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is an absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.” Richard Lewontin, Billions and billions of demons, The New York Review, p. 31, 9 January 1997 * A reference to Rudyard Kipling’s 1902 book “Just-So Stories”

  43. NECESSARY CHARACTERISTICS GOD 1. Only seen by what He does - INVISIBLE. 2. Established natural laws, so is not subject to those laws - SUPERNATURAL. 3. Preceded the universe - ETERNAL. 4. Influence extends throughout the universe - OMNIPRESENT. 5. Directly or indirectly responsi- ble for everything that has ever happened - OMNIPOTENT. 6. Nobody made Him -SELF- EXISTENT.

  44. IF THERE IS NO GOD, THEN WHAT? What if there is no God? Then the universe would have to be the result of a series of forces, processes, and events operating with no particular purpose for billions of years. We could call the whole series “evolution,” “quantum fluctuation,” or “accident.” Let’s use the term “Random Chance,” with the understanding that it represents the whole multibillionyear series of forces, processes, and events. What characteristics would Random Chance have to have?

  45. NECESSARY CHARACTERISTICS GOD 1. Only seen by what He does - INVISIBLE. RANDOM CHANCE 1. Only seen by what it does - INVISIBLE. 2. Established natural laws, so is not subject to those laws - SUPERNATURAL. 2. Established natural laws, so is not subject to those laws - SUPERNATURAL. 3. Preceded the universe - ETERNAL. 3. Preceded the universe - ETERNAL. 4. Influence extends throughout the universe - OMNIPRESENT. 4. Influence extends throughout the universe - OMNIPRESENT. 5. Directly or indirectly responsi- ble for everything that has ever happened - OMNIPOTENT. 5. Directly or indirectly responsi- ble for everything that has ever happened - OMNIPOTENT. 6. Nobody made Him - SELF- EXISTENT. 6. Nobody made it -SELF- EXISTENT. It is logically necessary to believe in SOME sort of God-like entity.

  46. BASIC PREMISES OF EVOLUTION AND CREATION EVOLUTION: CREATION: 1. A supernatural intelligence created the universe. Though most things are explainable by natural processes,some things may not be. 1. Everything must be explainable by purely natural processes. a. Atheistic evolution: There is no God. b. Theistic evolution: Since the Big Bang, God has had little involvement with nature. 2. God is powerful enough to useany method he chooses, including instantaneous creation. 2. Since there could be no other natural processes besides evolution, evolution is the only possibility. LIKE THE POSTULATES OF GEOMETRY, NEITHER SET OF PREMISES CAN BE PROVEN. THEY MUST BE ACCEPTED BY FAITH AS SELF-EVIDENT.

  47. ARE THERE LIMITS TO SCIENCE? Imagine a scientist who decides to learn what’s in the ocean. He makes a net 100 feet in diameter, with holes 2 inches across. He attaches the net to a 1 mile long rope, then repeatedly drops it into the deep ocean from a ship. His conclusion: EVERYTHING IN THE OCEAN IS AT LEAST 2 INCHES LONG AND HAS FINS. (If my net can’t catch it, it doesn’t exist.) His critics say, “You may be fishing in the wrong place, with the wrong net. There may be things in the ocean you can’t catch that way.” His reply: “You’re being superstitious. All the scientific observation shows that I’m right.” Their response: “You’re placing all your faithin your net and your choice of location.” He cannot prove that he is right (a universal negative), but the critics only need to produce one specimen to show that he is wrong.

  48. NO POSSIBILITY BUT EVOLUTION! “Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved.” "What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery," by Francis Crick (Nobel Prize winner for co-discovery of the structure of DNA) In other words, “Our minds are made up. Don’t try to confuse us with the facts.”

  49. BASIC PREMISES OF EVOLUTION AND CREATION EVOLUTION: CREATION: 1. A supernatural intelligence created the universe. Though most things are explainable by natural processes, some things may not be. 1. Everything must beexplainable by purely natural processes. a. Atheistic evolution: There is no God. b. Theistic evolution: Since the Big Bang, God has had little involvement with nature. 2. God is powerful enough to use any method he chooses, including instantaneous creation. 2. Since there could be no other natural processes besides evolution, evolution is the only possibility. 3. Since evolution has never been seen in human history, it must be very slow. The universe and earth have to be billions of years old. 3. Creation does not automatically require a specific age. a. Recent Creation: The earth is prob- ably less than 10,000 years old. b. Gap Theory & Progressive Creation: Because evolutionists must know what they are talking about, the earth has to bebillions of years old. LIKE THE POSTULATES OF GEOMETRY, NEITHER SET OF PREMISES CAN BE PROVEN. THEY MUST BE ACCEPTED BY FAITH AS SELF-EVIDENT.

  50. BASIC PREMISES OF EVOLUTION AND CREATION EVOLUTION: CREATION: 4. The Flood. a. Recent Creation:One worldwide flood. b. Gap Theory:Two worldwide floods. c. Progressive Creation: Noworldwide flood. 4. Because a worldwide flood would cut billions of years off the time needed to produce the fossil record, there can never have been a worldwide flood. LIKE THE POSTULATES OF GEOMETRY, NEITHER SET OF PREMISES CAN BE PROVEN. THEY MUST BE ACCEPTED BY FAITH AS SELF-EVIDENT.

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