Re: Didn't Absolute Truth Used to Be, Well, Absolute?

"Steven J." wrote
..
AiG offers its take on Barry Bonds and his possible asterisk.

<http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2007/08/08/taking-stock-of-

"Only a few people (witnesses) might know for sure whether the Giants
slugger [took performance-enhancing drugs.]. Just as with the debate
over origins, we recognize that on a human level, one can never
ultimately prove with 100% certainty-scientifically or evidentially-
which side is right (either in the steroid debate or the origins
controversy). ... Indeed, most people fail to recognize that with two
sides of a story, ultimately it does not come down to a matter of
'their evidence vs. ours.' Evidence is actually interpreted, and we
may have the same observations (unless tainted by a third party
conveying the information, which can happen through the media) and the
same data available."

What I want to know is, how can they engage in reasoning like this and
then criticize people for abandoning the idea of absolute truth?

To be fair, this is supposedly balanced by the belief that the
Bible is absolutely true. A Christian rationalization of this sort
of reasoning can be found here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fundamentalism-Word-God-J-I-Packer/dp/0802811477
http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentalism-Word-God-James-Packer/dp/0851103022

Epistemologically, you can believe in some sort of evidentiary
nihilism and still believe in the "absolute truth" of some statements.
(What you may be missing is this statement is actually correct
from a philosophical POV, and it does not preclude simply forming
an opinion based on the preponderance of evidence; I believe OJ
is a double murderer, but it is possible I am wrong.)

The fact that there are so many competing and contradictory
statements about what God believes more or less forces a
fundamentalist into this position. I take the position that because
of this riot of God-beliefs I am not obligated to believe anything
about Him because the situation is so ambiguous. (There is a
funny scene in a recent movie in which a person puts a gun to
someone's head and says imagine a bullet in your head. The
person complains that this could mean two distinct things, and
even his partner says "You put a gun to someone's head and
tell him to do something, it's only fair to be completely clear
about what you want.")

It's also this fact that drives such individuals into a very simplistic
interpretation of the Bible: believing in the literal truth of every
statement short circuits any kind of intellectual analysis, which
invariably leads to what they see as error.

--
Craig Franck
craig.franck@xxxxxxxxxxx
Cortland, NY

.

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