Facts should be verifiable.
And that is the problem, dear Gopher (peace to you!): for many... most... and possibly most here... something is not a fact... until it is verified. But that's not really the definition trying to be sold. What is trying to be SOLD... is that something is not TRUE... until it is verified. And THAT... is a lie. Again, the earth was round BEFORE man verified that it was. Always was, regardless of what man thought, knew, and/or verified. And MANY things that are not accepted as fact BEFORE they are verified... are in fact TRUE... before they are verified. At least one here wishes to force upon us that something stated as true is NOT... unless and until it is verified. Which means that the earth was NOT round... until it was verified that it was. What shape, though, was it BEFORE it was verified? And were those who said it WAS round before such "verification" wrong? The cultures/societies of their time not only said they were... but that they were criminals for even suggesting it.
Just because we don't have the tools/means TO verify a thing... yet... doesn't mean it isn't TRUE. While it may not be a "fact", as that term is used NOW (something "verified" by scientific experimentation)... it still may BE. What some here wish is for one who knows something to be true to not SAY so... until SCIENCE says so... IF science says so... and if it doesn't, then one cannot say it.
I have a problem with that and here's why: when I first recognized my Lord as speaking to me, I shared what he gave me with men of the WTBTS, including a GB member. Now, I told them from who I received it, as well as tried to show them where it was written. Their position? "Well, okay, it (the Bible) might say that... but the WT doesn't say it. And until it DOES... YOU can't say it!"
It is absolutely NO difference to ME... than what some here wish for me, as well. I can't say what I KNOW to be true, based on what has occurred with ME... until THEY say I can... and THEY won't say I can unless and until science says it. Like the WTBTS, however, science doesn't come back and say, "Hey, you know what... you were right that time ago when you said. We just couldn't see/understand/had the tools to see it for ourselves at the time."
Perhaps when the proponents of science stop SPEAKING and ACTING like the proponents of religion, more people would listen to them. But as someone here once said of ME... "If it quacks like a duck"... well, either it's a duck... or it's a decoy at the other end of which is a gun.
Many scientific facts of today also cannot be varified by the average person.
This isn't necessarily a problem for me, dear Satanus (peace to you, as well!). This, though, is:
Certainly, science facts are incomplete.
As is a lot of religious doctrine/teachings/beliefs. The same people who say, "Don't swallow religion! There's just too many HOLES in it!" turn around and say, "But swallow this scientific theory. No, no, don't worry about the holes; they're of no real significance!" And then, when the holes ARE of significance... at least to ME... they say, "Well, we never said science was COMPLETELY accurate. Facts change as our understanding changes."
Who else, pray tell, says that very same thing? Religion (well, "christianity"): "Well, we never said that what we knew was COMPLETELY accurate. Facts change as our understanding changes."
Religionists can't see/understand where proponents of science are coming from when THEY say the facts "can change." Proponents of science can't see/understand where religionists are coming from when THEY say the facts "can change." Both would deny it, but to me, they are coming from the exact same place. And I don't want to "go" to either. And why should I? I have a Source that does not change. And that's good enough for me.
Peace!
A doulos of Christ,
SA
