(September 29, 2009 at 6:32 pm)Rhizomorph13 Wrote: From the first website I found with Google ... "The scientific method is ..."
Question: If you do not follow this process, then you're not doing science?
(September 29, 2009 at 7:38 pm)Eilonnwy Wrote: As far as evidence for the "big things" or "supernatural" things: evidence that meets the rigors of the scientific method with claims that are falsifiable.
Just out of curiosity, what constitutes a "big thing"?
(September 29, 2009 at 7:58 pm)EvidenceVsFaith Wrote: Like now, when you [Frodo] say that prayers are answered if they're genuine. But without a further argument, that implies that if a prayer isn't answered then it must not be genuine. In itself that is fallacious reasoning, because you can just say that any prayer that isn't answered is because it's not genuine, regardless of whether it is or not.
First, genuine prayers are never unanswered. Period. Second, it's not a No True Scotsman fallacy, because the problem is not a logical one but an empirical one—such that even a genuine prayer can appear to go unanswered, even though it wasn't. God can answer a prayer in a way that is either not immediately obvious (e.g., what was prayed for occurs later) or perhaps not expected (e.g., the answer was no), leaving the one who prayed feeling, in that moment, as though the prayer went unanswered. Christians who treat God like Walmart and prayer like a shopping cart are frequently left disillusioned because the answer they are looking for, in both content and timing, blinds them to the answer actually given. A prayer may seem unanswered, but was it really? The problem is not a fault in logical reasoning but in empirical reasoning; i.e., there is no empirical test for evaluating whether the prayer was unanswered or only appeared to be.
(September 29, 2009 at 7:58 pm)EvidenceVsFaith Wrote: And no, this doesn't display my ignorance on the subject. It just displays that I haven't found any evidence, regardless of whether there is any or not.
What evidence exactly are you looking for? If you say "any evidence at all," that may be your problem; i.e., without identifying what evidence you're looking for, how could you expect to find it?
FRODO: What are you doing?
EVIE: Looking for something.
FRODO: What, exactly?
EVIE: Anything.
FRODO: Then how will you know when you've found it?
Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when
called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
(Oscar Wilde)
called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
(Oscar Wilde)