Quote Originally Posted by ThisYouWillDo View Post
Now you might say, if the above statements are true, they simply reflect the incomplete state of science at the moment. If you do, my reply is, that's your belief, and you cannot prove it anymore than a religious believer can prove God's existence.
This is a copout. No reputable scientist will ever claim that what science claims is the absolute, definitive proof of anything. By its very nature science questions everything. The whole point is that we truly don't know everything. We try to make the most rational conclusions about observed phenomena that we can and define certain "laws" about them. When something then comes along which seems to defy those laws we must either find out what is causing that to happen or change the laws.
The whole point of faith is to believe something despite what the real world shows. And clinging to that belief even when evidence points to the contrary. A good example is the search for Noah's Ark. Many deeply religious people, including an American astronaut, have hunted diligently for evidence of Noah's Ark on Mt. Ararat in Turkey. Yet the Bible, which they use as their source of information, clearly states that the Ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat, not on Mount Ararat. And besides, that mountain was not even named Ararat until the 18th or 19th century. This is akin to searching for evidence of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania!
As for the items you noted, I'm going to take some time to do my own research on these. Most of them I "believe" I know the answers to, but since you have taken the time to ferret them out, the least I can do is take the time to respond intelligently.
And please understand, I am not trying to destroy anyone's faith in God or any other belief. My whole point is to try to make people realize that what they believe is not necessarily the whole, absolute truth.