Sunday, June 11, 2006

Proving the Speed of Light

How do you know that the speed of light is 182,282.7 mph in a vacuum? Honestly? Are you relying on the written testimony of others? How can you be certain of the veracity of their claims? How can you be certain there hasn't been a conspiracy among scientists to cover up the real value? Or cover up the fact that they have no idea?

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If Genesis is merely a book concocted by humans, then it can't address the who and why question. The fundamental assumption is that Genesis was inspired by God. And if so, then it answers the who and why question. Negate that basic assumption and the conclusion falls down.

But I could argue the same thing applies to the world of science. You and I are left to assume what we are being told about the measurements taken, the experiments conducted, and the conclusions drawn are correct. They may not be.

Nobody has ever measured a quark. They've attempted to measure other things that suggest a quark. But nobody has ever seen a quark, touched on, measured it or really analyzed it. It may not really be there. The same thing applies to the entire world of cosmology, where theories about the origin of matter are pure speculation. People strive to fit theories within a framework of accepted mathematical formulas. But what if the formulas are fundamentally in error?

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For what it's worth, my man R.C. is fully in agreement that all the Christian's notions of God stem from two fundamental assumptions: that God exists, and that the Bible represents his truthful revelation. I've heard him say that if anyone denies either of those, then that person has no basis upon which to make any assertions whatever about the Christian God.

Note: Including personal experiences. I've had personal experiences as well. I was granted a momentary and complete mental awareness of the breadth of God's mercy and sacrifice. In just that fast it left me, leaving only a faint echo. But I can't prove it was real. I assume it was, but I can't prove it. And my experiences have no bearing whatever on others who have not experienced it.

That's why I firmly believe that trusting in the trustfulness of the Bible is as important as anything else in the Christian faith.

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My car broke down today ... I had to have it towed to the service shop. With 160K miles on it, it's amazing it hasn't broken down more. I think it's some kind of fuel or electrical problem -- the car will turn over (there is power), it will "start" (it's getting at least some fuel and it has at least some spark). But it runs very rough and then dies after 30 seconds.

The odd thing is the problem occurred immediately after going over a speed bump ... as if the jarring of the bump caused the problem. That might be coincidence.

Debugging car problems uses the exact same process as debugging WebSphere problems -- one rules out what we know it is not based on the symptoms, then we weigh what it may be based on what's left. Then we conduct tests to rule down the problem further.

Medical diagnostics is no different.

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