DeletedUser
Lol. You are a silly fundie. The bible the bible. Blah. Yeah, it was written 2000 years ago. It must be true! We know how enlightened everyone was back then. Coming right out of believe in a god and goddess for everything to all of a sudden your god makes its presence known. That would be called a religious coup.
http://www.jcvi.org/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0308_060308_evolution.html
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2007/10/for_decades_darwinists_have_be.html
Now look here fundie, if you don't want to answer questions or even think about looking for answers other than in your precious bible then don't bother coming in here. I just gave you some sites where you can start your own education.
A scientific theory is not a theory as you believe. Gravity is a theory yet we know it works.
1. If scientific theories are the most important ideas in science, and scientists are confident in their validity, why are they still referred to as just theories?
Scientific theories are arrived at through inductive reasoning rather than deductive reasoning so that within the strict framework of logic these ideas must be referred to as theories. This would seem simple enough, yet there is confusion about the meaning of this word since most of the public and even astrophysicists often use the word theory when they should be using the word hypothesis.
2. What determines if a scientific idea / model is a hypothesis or a theory?
The analogy of solving a board puzzle is helpful in clarifying the distinction between theory and hypothesis. There may be several puzzle pieces that could be possible candidates to fill an open space in the puzzle. These puzzle pieces would be considered possible hypotheses. On trying out each of the puzzle pieces one of the pieces may appear to fit one of the sides of the puzzle. At this point it may be tempting to upgrade the status of that puzzle piece from being a good hypothesis to being a theory, but actually that puzzle piece is still only a hypothesis. Caution is needed, because as more evidence comes in, or in the case of the board puzzle as more pieces fit around it, occasionally a piece that we thought fit on one side will not match up on another side and so our hypothesis must be rejected. It is only when our piece proves itself by fitting on at least two or three sides that we can be confident that our piece fits the puzzle. In the same way, only when there are multiple distinct logical arguments based on factual evidence can we upgrade our hypothesis to the status of being called a theory.
Finally, again similar to our board puzzle piece, when the correct theory fits into our base of knowledge it does much more than just seem to fit with the surrounding evidence. Whereas a hypothesis just seems to fit some of the facts, a theory allows us to see the big picture so as to make sense of all of the evidence that surrounds it. Theories are the most important ideas in science because they allow us to see the significance of what was before just random information.
Now quit asking stupid questions when you don't even know what you are talking about in the first place. You don't know the definition of scientific theory. You don't know the difference between evolution and the big bang theory. You don't know about all the scientific breakthroughs in the last 200 years, let alone last 5 years. You don't know anything other than your bible is the know all and end all.
I know what being a christian is about so don't think I'm ignorant of that. I've been to church, I've sung the songs, I've read the book several times, I've done the entire dance. My boyfriend was a priest that work at the Vatican, I've got a friend that is a minister, my entire family other than myself goes to church and has faith. The difference between you and I is that you haven't bothered to get your head out of a bible long enough to explore the scientific side to things. You don't want to debate, you want to shove your faith down everyones throats. I wouldn't mind it so much if you weren't so blind to the world around you.
http://www.jcvi.org/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0308_060308_evolution.html
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2007/10/for_decades_darwinists_have_be.html
Now look here fundie, if you don't want to answer questions or even think about looking for answers other than in your precious bible then don't bother coming in here. I just gave you some sites where you can start your own education.
A scientific theory is not a theory as you believe. Gravity is a theory yet we know it works.
1. If scientific theories are the most important ideas in science, and scientists are confident in their validity, why are they still referred to as just theories?
Scientific theories are arrived at through inductive reasoning rather than deductive reasoning so that within the strict framework of logic these ideas must be referred to as theories. This would seem simple enough, yet there is confusion about the meaning of this word since most of the public and even astrophysicists often use the word theory when they should be using the word hypothesis.
2. What determines if a scientific idea / model is a hypothesis or a theory?
The analogy of solving a board puzzle is helpful in clarifying the distinction between theory and hypothesis. There may be several puzzle pieces that could be possible candidates to fill an open space in the puzzle. These puzzle pieces would be considered possible hypotheses. On trying out each of the puzzle pieces one of the pieces may appear to fit one of the sides of the puzzle. At this point it may be tempting to upgrade the status of that puzzle piece from being a good hypothesis to being a theory, but actually that puzzle piece is still only a hypothesis. Caution is needed, because as more evidence comes in, or in the case of the board puzzle as more pieces fit around it, occasionally a piece that we thought fit on one side will not match up on another side and so our hypothesis must be rejected. It is only when our piece proves itself by fitting on at least two or three sides that we can be confident that our piece fits the puzzle. In the same way, only when there are multiple distinct logical arguments based on factual evidence can we upgrade our hypothesis to the status of being called a theory.
Finally, again similar to our board puzzle piece, when the correct theory fits into our base of knowledge it does much more than just seem to fit with the surrounding evidence. Whereas a hypothesis just seems to fit some of the facts, a theory allows us to see the big picture so as to make sense of all of the evidence that surrounds it. Theories are the most important ideas in science because they allow us to see the significance of what was before just random information.
Now quit asking stupid questions when you don't even know what you are talking about in the first place. You don't know the definition of scientific theory. You don't know the difference between evolution and the big bang theory. You don't know about all the scientific breakthroughs in the last 200 years, let alone last 5 years. You don't know anything other than your bible is the know all and end all.
I know what being a christian is about so don't think I'm ignorant of that. I've been to church, I've sung the songs, I've read the book several times, I've done the entire dance. My boyfriend was a priest that work at the Vatican, I've got a friend that is a minister, my entire family other than myself goes to church and has faith. The difference between you and I is that you haven't bothered to get your head out of a bible long enough to explore the scientific side to things. You don't want to debate, you want to shove your faith down everyones throats. I wouldn't mind it so much if you weren't so blind to the world around you.
