When did you accept God in your life, or realize you did not believe in him?

Is archeology not science?

20 years ago I would have agreed with this assessment. I'm not so sure anymore.

 

archeology? yeah, it's generally regarded as a science. why?

 

Outside of Genesis, archeology has corroborated many of the events described in OT.

 

I don’t want to speak for HB, but this is the way that I see this.

Let's break it down, Bill Nye style.

I have a belief – for the sake of this argument, let’s call it a hypothesis – that God exists and that the stories in the Bible actually happened. This really is not too different from the way that scientist operate. So the fact that one particular location does not contain the ark does not mean that the ark does not exist, any more so than a cure for cancer does not exist just because we have not found one yet.

A lot of this gets to what I had been asking in that thread here what if God’s plan was for us to use science to “find” Him.

 

Maybe, but let's say I wrote that the Great IPU came down from the heavens and pierced Mt. St. Helens in 1980 with her horn, causing a massive eruption. If future archaeologists did some digging, they would find that indeed, Mt. St. Helens did erupt in 1980, but does that mean that the Great IPU did it?

In case you don't know what the IPU is,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_pink_unicorn

 

Since you like analogies, lets analyze your beliefs about creation. Say you are walking down a beach and you come across, written in the sand, Welcome to the Beach Galethog!

You of course must believe that the waves randomly placed those pieces of sand there and spelled out those words. I, on the other hand, am smarter and realize someone you know knew you were going to the beach and got there before you and wrote that in the sand. Your beliefs are complete fantasy.

 

the events? such as?

it certainly doesn't corrobrate the great flood, unless you say that it didn't actually do what is claimed in the bible -- which would hardly make it a corroboration.

 

Jericho
The destruction of the temple
The slavery of the jews in Egypt
King David existed
Pontious Pilot existed
there was a census at the time of Jesus's birth
and yes, there was a great flood in the middle east, to those people, their world was flooded

 

the difference between scientific hypotheses and religious ones is that science subjects its theories to rigorous examination with the explicit attempt to discredit them, whereas religious investigators are generally looking to validate their initial assumtions.

good science (and there is bad science) is agnostic towards the big picture. they want the truth, not to "be right". the universe is expanding, no wait, it's not. okay maybe it is. maybe it's infinite or better yet, cyclical. these theories come and go as new information is collected a new methods of measuring are designed. nobody is steadfastly going to attack fellow scientists that don't agree with their pet theory from the 1950's. (again, there is bad science).

so if you really take the approach that you'll go where the science takes you, then sure. maybe your "theory" (i'm guessing it's more a bemusing thought than a real theory of yours) is right. but you have to be prepared that accept that it's completely going to fall apart at any moment. that's science. religion will never play by those rules.

 

See Warming, Global for a complete debunking of all of that.

A lot of people who make great scientific discoveries have as much devotion to their idea of the truth as a relegious person does.