Coyoteman,
Please reply to post 172.
And I am routinely reading where today's latest "find" will cause reexamination of previously held beliefs in the field (the beliefs can no longer be "true" because of the new discovery), which does not give me a lot of confidence in the guesses of experts. Even if they have integrity, and are not trying to just get grant money for their new "sensational" studies/discoveries, they don't have a lot of stability or longetivity in their theories.
I am discussing points of science, not religion.
And I am routinely reading where today's latest "find" will cause reexamination of previously held beliefs in the field (the beliefs can no longer be "true" because of the new discovery), which does not give me a lot of confidence in the guesses of experts. Even if they have integrity, and are not trying to just get grant money for their new "sensational" studies/discoveries, they don't have a lot of stability or longetivity in their theories.
The broad outline of evolution has not been changing. Most of these new discoveries are filling missing details, and perhaps changing a few small points. Example: Neanderthal's position in the scheme of things is increasingly clear because of new finds and improved dating techniques.
This is what science does; it seeks data and tries to explain that data. The fact that science can modify theories, if needs be, or can discard theories that are shown to be wrong is a strength not a weakness.
I'd like to take a stab at answering post 172.
Post 172: [Would you consider the words of Jesus, the Creator of the universe, to be of significant weight as compared to the "best guess" of an expert? After all, He said "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."]
If I were looking for the answer to a religious question such as "Should I forgive my neighbor who has stolen my gas grill if he returns it and says he's sorry?" I would grant the words of Jesus (or the ones translated as such in the Bible) to have significant weight. If I were looking for the answer to a scientific question such as "Why is the flame in my gas grill blue instead of green or some other color?" I would not give the words of Jesus significant weight because I WOULDN'T BE LOOKING IN THE BIBLE FOR SUCH INFORMATION TO BEGIN WITH.