Season 5 Podcast 128, A New Voice of Freedom, Argument for the Existence of God, “Standards of Judgment.”

Season 5 Podcast 128, A New Voice of Freedom, Argument for the Existence of God, “Standards of Judgment.” 

There are certain absolutes which are beyond the realm of science, beyond empirical proof, upon which Christians should not budge.  

There is practical science, which per force must strictly stick to the scientific method. There is an old saying, “The proof is in the pudding.” It is practical science that gave us computers and that put a man on the moon. 

And there is theoretical science. This podcast is aimed at the fallacies of theoretical science. Science is born out of theory and hypothesis. They are necessary to science, but not sufficient. At some point every theory must fall under strict scientific scrutiny and obey the scientific method or it will remain a theory. 

My argument is that too many theorists no longer strictly follow the scientific method. They assume that theory is fact and present opinion as proof, such as the theories that surround evolution, the origin of the universe, the origin of life, the rejection of God and intelligent design, etc.

Here are the ten greatest fallacies of scientific theorists today:

1.     They do not close the gap between premise and conclusion. 

2.     They do not distinguish among fact, inference, opinion, and judgment. 

3.     They do not prove assumptions.

4.     They do not strictly adhere to the scientific method such as the necessity of accurate predictions or the possibility of empirical falsification.

5.     They accept paradox as the final answer rather than a starting point for enquiry.

6.     They ignore the laws of probability.

7.     They accept chance, accident, coincidence, luck, and serendipity of circumstances as answers to scientific dilemma. 

8.     They believe that something can come from nothing. 

9.     They ignore evidence that contradicts their opinions such as freewill

10.  They ignore logical fallacies. 

It is the irresolvable gap among fact, inference, and judgment that I challenge. In the following, I list what I consider to be absolute truths that are the essential standards of judgment to evaluate scientific theory. Furthermore, I claim that any theory that contradicts the following standards of judgment is false.

Each Christian must develop his own standards of judgment in evaluating the claims of theoretical science. I recognize that the foremost authority of Christians must first be the Holy Scriptures. They are the safest standards of judgment.

All of us need to be careful, however, that we do not confuse tradition and dogma with doctrine. For example, to claim that seven days of creation mean seven twenty-four-hour periods is illogical considering that the sun, moon, and earth, which give us our time, are part of the creation story, not the cause of it. But we also need to be careful that we do not lay aside like a used napkin truth that we know to be true through the spirit.  We cannot forget the Holy Ghost that confirms faith.  Truth will always triumph.  The following are some of the standards of judgment I use in evaluating the claims of modern scientific philosophers.  I call them the celestial Forty-Five.

Standards of Judgment

1.     Truth exists.  Truth is absolute.  And truth is not subject to democratic principles. 

2.      God created all spheres, and with those spheres he organized complete sets of laws so they could be independent. It was ordained by God that man should act for himself; otherwise, there is no purpose to existence.