Comments on Over Coffee - Reflections on Things that Matter: Science Supplies the Answers

Stimuli can be internal and not sensuous. It all b...

2011-10-26T20:04:36.880-04:00

Stimuli can be internal and not sensuous. It all boils down to the fact that you prefer to believe ancient superstitions and as your "evidence" you point to experiences you can't understand.

I'm not sure where some of your above reply ca...

2011-10-26T18:57:41.577-04:00

I'm not sure where some of your above reply came out of my argument... but firstly, I don't like god of the gaps arguments, they try to make God too small, say He is only upholding what we don't have some physical mechanism for. I believe it's far more biblical to say He upholds EVERYTHING through the word of His power (like it says in Hebrews 1:3 as one example). Everything

It all comes down to this: You do not see a stimul...

2011-10-26T17:52:45.002-04:00

It all comes down to this: You do not see a stimulus (cause), therefore the uncaused effect must be God. But just because you do not see how there could be a stimulus doesn't mean there isn't one. Just because you can't conceive of how the brain firings produce all those effects doesn't mean they can't be explained by natural causes. It seems likely to you that God is the

Well firstly, sorry for the delayed reply. Second,...

2011-10-25T22:51:01.443-04:00

Well firstly, sorry for the delayed reply. Second, I do know that not everything is caused by demons. My mom has been in a major depression for what feels like forever (though it hasn't been that long). Have I considered that there could be a demonic issue here? Yes. Do I think there is? probably not, at least not in the sense of full-blown possession because there haven't been any

I might also add that people once thought that mul...

2011-10-18T19:47:27.491-04:00

I might also add that people once thought that multiple personality disorder was caused by demons. But it again comes down to brain chemistry. If you believe in the supernatural then anything can be caused by that even things we can prove in the lab. How do we know anything is real? Maybe everything is imagined and caused by demons, or by god. Once you acknowledge control of anything by the

Erin as a scientist you should know better. Of cou...

2011-10-18T19:37:15.615-04:00

Erin as a scientist you should know better. Of course chemistry can explain all your experiences. And I do mean all. Let's say for instance that the holy spirit did dwell inside you. The only way you would experience him is due to the formation of synapses in your brain. You would feel comforted by him because of the release of endorphins. Well sometime those reactions happen without a real

You're making the assumption that people can o...

2011-10-18T18:27:43.415-04:00

You're making the assumption that people can only have "religious experiences" from God. Demons can cause that sort of thing as well. I'm fully aware that hormones and the like can cause emotions, but that doesn't mean that there's nothing but chemicals behind what happens. You can cite all of the chemical reasons you want, but there's nothing to explain the full

"That's the big difference between having...

2011-10-16T11:50:37.682-04:00

"That's the big difference between having a scientific world view and a religious one."

Once I started looking at the world with a completely scientific world view, there was no going back for me. It's actually a relief to not live in a way that depends on the mystical and mythological.

It reminds me of my Mom calling me up a while back. She was very upset

Just keep in mind that whatever religious experien...

2011-10-15T12:25:55.822-04:00

Just keep in mind that whatever religious experiences you've had, though the experience may have been real, your attribution that it was linked to the divine most likely is not. As a person who believes in scientific methods you have to ask yourself is it possible that your experience was caused by something completely natural. People in other cultures and from many other religions also have

Well firstly you are only half right about my back...

2011-10-15T09:56:40.614-04:00

Well firstly you are only half right about my background. I was raised in a nominally Christian home, but faith has never had a central role in our family. I was actually a closet atheist for a while (though I always had my doubts and wonderings). I was only an atheist (or only identified myself as such) because I took my professor's assertions that you couldn't be a scientist and believe

There is but one kind of evidence admissible in sc...

2011-10-15T08:33:25.529-04:00

There is but one kind of evidence admissible in science: Empirical evidence, the kind you can measure. Anecdotal evidence doesn't count because it relies on feelings and assumptions. You believe in Jesus because of how you were raised. Someone told you about him and then you read about him in the bible. Any other books you've read about him are just rehashes of bible stories. How do you

But you make an assumption as well. Namely that no...

2011-10-14T22:56:25.470-04:00

But you make an assumption as well. Namely that nothing can be known outside experimental evidence. When a Christian speaks of knowing God they're talking not about knowing some abstract principle, but a person. When you meet a person you don't put them in a test tube to see if they exist. If you haven't met them and you're trying to determine if they are real you don't go to

The weakness in your approach is that you start wi...

2011-10-13T22:35:10.557-04:00

The weakness in your approach is that you start with the major assumption that God is behind it all and that science is just a way to understand how he did it. At least you seem to accept scientific reality but there is no need to make your God assumption. If you postulate God then he must come under the same scrutiny of empirical evidence as everything else. God doesn't get a pass. Science

As a Christian scientist I really have to disagree...

2011-10-13T22:14:54.526-04:00

As a Christian scientist I really have to disagree. The Christian worldview, by definition, says that God is behind everything, even processes we have a 'scientific' explanation for. You are correct that just because we don't understand something isn't reason enough to stop investigating it. On the flip side just because we may understand the process that God uses and upholds