Some random thoughts led to this...
Apr. 14th, 2018 02:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kengrFirst thought (a quote whose origin I don't recall)
"You are entitled to your own opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts."
This lead to some interesting ideas for questions in a science class (high school or junior high)
1. scientists performed an extensive series of experiments that confirmed [something "everybody knows"]. Was this a good use of resources? Why or why not?
2. Scientists performed an extensive series of experiment whose results contradict [widely held belief]. Should they have released the results? Should they have bowed to public opinion?
3. it is a fact that "The Bible says creation took six days." . True or False.
4. it is a fact that "Creation took six days". True or false.
(add various questions that deal with correlation not equaling casaution)
(add various questions about the difference between what an experiment measured and what those measurements "mean")
This would definitely put the cat in among the canaries. Especially if you threw in fact/not fact questions about what various "holy books" say and whether what they say is a fact.
"You are entitled to your own opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts."
This lead to some interesting ideas for questions in a science class (high school or junior high)
1. scientists performed an extensive series of experiments that confirmed [something "everybody knows"]. Was this a good use of resources? Why or why not?
2. Scientists performed an extensive series of experiment whose results contradict [widely held belief]. Should they have released the results? Should they have bowed to public opinion?
3. it is a fact that "The Bible says creation took six days." . True or False.
4. it is a fact that "Creation took six days". True or false.
(add various questions that deal with correlation not equaling casaution)
(add various questions about the difference between what an experiment measured and what those measurements "mean")
This would definitely put the cat in among the canaries. Especially if you threw in fact/not fact questions about what various "holy books" say and whether what they say is a fact.
no subject
Date: 2018-04-15 03:22 pm (UTC)1 I have repeatedly given someone pause by countering their "everybody knows" with "How many times in your personal experience has what 'everybody knows' been wrong?" Science can tell us.
2 Yes, if only so fresh eyes might find the explanation.
3 I don't read Hebrew, but I *have* read what those who do say about this. Hebrew - like English - has several meanings for the word for "day." To know which meaning is intended you need the context. Unfortunately, context is the first casualty of translation. In the context of the original language it's "day" as in "a long period of indeterminate length." In English the equivalent would be something like "The day of the Roman Empire." So, six long periods or stages of creation, not six twenty-four hour spans.
I also keep in mind what one biblical scholar wrote on this topic: The creation story in Genesis is God explaining the origin of the universe to a group of illiterate goatherds.
One thing I find interesting is that the descriptions of creation _can_ be seen as poetic phrasings of how we now know our solar system formed.
One thing to keep in mind is that the Bible itself warns in at least two places against taking what it contains literally. "Do not trust the written or spoken word but think for yourselves."