(January 28, 2015 at 4:01 pm)Drich Wrote: It shows those who point to a lack of evidence as 'proof it did not happen' that their's is an argumentum ad ignorantiam.The lack of evidence in the desert is far from the only factor that makes the exodus seem all but impossible. It's not even one of the more compelling factors-- the sheer numbers being put forth by the account are much more so, which is one point I keep making. There is no archaeological record of a group that large being held in Egypt, or a group of that size conquering the area supposedly promised to the Israelites.
The fact that you are explaining away the complete lack of evidence by saying that they didn't use stone and reused everything until it either turned to dust or was used in the conquest of the promised land (again, no evidence of that either) doesn't mean that the story is plausible.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould