The final part of the article:
(And What Is Not Capable Of Proof)
“Proof” is an essential part of man’s daily activities, though most people are not
aware of it. When some one places a postal stamp on an envelope, purchases a
ticket before entering a bus or train, or when one places his rubber-stamp on a
document, all of these form part of everyday legal proof.
Though we are surrounded with so many activities that involve proof and evidence,
most of us do not take time to study the concept of proof. Even among researchers
the ideas related to proof and evidence are often hazy.
Consequently they end up
claming proof for things which are not capable of proof. They also claim to have
disproved things which cannot be disproved. While such claims make no difference
to the secular world, they do make all the difference to the Christian Apologist. It is
his duty to expose the fallacies.
The first step is to understand what is capable of proof and what is not. Some of the
important categories are given below:
a. Universals Cannot Always Be Proved: Statements which apply to avery large
population cannot generally be proved.
For example, if someone were to try to prove that all ravens in the world are dark.
it would be an impossible task as no one can physically locate and check all the
ravens in the world.
On the other hand, finding a single non-black (gray, brown)
raven will immediately falsify such a statement. Thus falsification of universal
statements is possible, but proving them is simply not possible in day-to-day life.
Coming to the Bible, if someone were to make a statement (as many radicals in
1800s did do) that the art of writing was not known at the time of Moses, he is
making a universal statement.
He is assuming that all possible information about all
ancient civilizations have been discovered exhaustively. Any reasonable person can
see the fallacy of this assumption because by the very nature of it, archeology and
history can neither preserve nor deliver exhaustive information about such matters.
They can be used to discover what existed, but cannot be used to make claims
about what did not exist. It must also be kept in mind that even after 200 years of
excavation, only about ten per cent of Bible-related sites have been excavated.
b. Only Mathematics Has Universal Proofs: While universal cannot be proved in
daily life or life-related sciences like history, they can be handled in mathematics
and physical science.
Thus one can prove that the sum of the two sides of any triangle (in plain
geometry) will always be greater than the third side. In fact most of mathematics
depends upon universals. Trouble arises when people expect the same thing to
happen in other fields of study and try to prove things universally where it is not
possible.
Trouble also arises when they try to use mathematical proofs in
non-mathematical areas such as theology. A prove or refute the doctrine of Trinity
with the help of mathematics.
Physics, Chemistry, and other such physical science have many Universal Laws.
One should always keep in mind that this Universality is much different from that in
mathematics. While universality in maths is an essential part of the
presuppositions. These presuppositions are in turn the result of a Bible-based
theistic view of the universe.
c. The Existence Of An Object Or Phenomenon Can Be Proved: This happens
to be the major function of all researches. They try to discover and study laws that
exist about which one may or may not have prior knowledge.
Today every educated person knows about gravitational attraction. The whole
universe is sustained by this force. People also know that carbon is the main
constituent of Organic Chemistry, and therefore carbon is the main constituent od
all living thing.
Moving to historical science, the existence of many of the Pharaohs (contemporary
with Abraham), kings of Persia and Babylon (some of whom are mentioned in the
Bible), Herods, Alexander the Great, the early Greek Philosophers and numerous
other persons is known.
Information is also available about the existence of
numerous places, races, and people. Scientific investigation can demonstrate all
that. But if one tries to prove that a phenomena, person, or people-group does not
(or did not exist), things are not easy.
Common people, and often even researchers, assume that if a person, place or
event is not mentioned in archeological records, then that person or place never
existed. This is false deduction. Lack of the information is not proof, but only
deficiency of material.
In mathematics there are many problems for which nobody
has been able to find a solution. But that does not mean that it is unsolvable, or
that a solution does not exist. It only means that the present level of mathematical
competence, or the routes taken so far to solve that problem, are not sufficient.
The existence of an object, person, or phenomenon can be proved, but it is not
always possible to prove that someone or something did not exist. In other words
non-existance cannot be proved in most cases.
d. Lack Of Proof Does Not Prove Or Disprove Anything: This is one area of
proof where many people go wrong.
Though man has been studying nature for thousands of years, he has barely
scratched the surface. What remains to be discovered is infinitely more than what
has been discovered so far.
This means that there are very large gaps and holes in
man’s knowledge of Physical as well as historical and social sciences. Consequently,
a gap in information does not mean anything, least of all a disproof.
The Christian Apologist needs to keep this always in mind, specially when he faces
those who attack the Bible form a historical perspective. These critics frequently
use lack of information to mean lack of proof or even disproof. First of all, this is
wrong in principle. Second, countless times they have been proved wrong.
They
claimed a certain person or race did not exist because no proof was found, and
eventually proof came forth and their claims were exposed to be false.
The same mistake can be done in empirical sciences also. For example when AIDS
started to because an epidemic in the late eighties and early nineties, many people
claimed that AIDS does not spread through any bodily fluids other than blood. The
reasoning was that the HIV Virus was never found in bodily fluids such as saliva or
tears. However, this was a false claim.
All what they should have claimed is only
this much: “so far HIV has not been found in other bodily fluids, but this is not a
guarantee that it shall never be found”. And sure enough, HIV eventually made its
appearance in almost all fluids emanating from the human body.
Whether it is the empirical science or historical, lack of proof does not prove
anything either positively or negatively.
e. Each Thesis Needs Proof Belonging To Its Own Category: A statement may
be historical, sociological, economical, or empirical in nature. It might also be
logic-related or mathematical.
The proof also should belong to the same category.
Historical information needs canons of historical proof, and empirical information
needs experimental demonstration, not vice versa. A good example of
mis-application can be seen in class rooms where teachers claim that Einstein’s
Relativity has proved that everything in this world (including moral values) are
related.
This is a totally wrong application because what Einstein postulated applies
only to objects in motion, not to anything else. Further, even for objects in motion,
this is only a “theory” and not a law.
The Nobel Prize committee clearly recognized
the theoretical and philosophical nature of he Theory of Relativity, and Einstein was
not given the Nobel Prize for Relativity. On the contrary, he was awarded the Nobel
Prize for explaining the Photoelectric effect on a sound mathematical basis.
Each claim should be established by the canons of proof that are applicable for that
kind of information. Physics cannot be used to disprove ethical values, and history
cannot be used to disprove Chemistry. The same with all the subject.
f. Circumstantial Evidence Is Not Proof: When the circumstances surrounding
an event point to a certain person or cause, but when no direct evidence is
available, a solution is proposed based upon what is called “circumstantial
evidence”. However, this is not proof, because a proof needs to be cent-per-cent
accurate, and there should not be an exception to it.
Circumstantial Evidence, on the other hand, only indicates that a certain event was
probably caused by a person or a certain cause. However, the every word
“probable” shows that it is not certain.
What is not certain is not acceptable proof.
While circumstantial evidence does have some value in legal investigations,
deductions based upon them have on many occasions been demonstrated to be totally wrong.
Circumstantial Evidence has led to the conviction of many innocent
people in the law courts around the world. The error did come to light in many
cases and the original judgment was reversed, but often it was too late for the
innocent person who was punished on the basis of more circumstantial Evidence.
Every Christian Apologist should remember that circumstantial Evidence is not
proof. It is only an expression of probability less than one into error. Such evidence
should not be used against or in favor of Bible.
Summary
Almost everyone in the world thinks that anything in the world can be proved or
disproved. They are wrong in thinking so. At present only a well-defined set of
things can be proved. These range from mathematical upto historical truths,
provided the well-developed canons for proof in the respective areas are used.
Anything that violates these canons is not a proof even if they are presented by the
most respected scholar in the most sophisticated manner.
About The Author
Dr. Johnson C. Philip is a Christian Apologist based in Ernakulam. He received the
degree of Th.D. in Apologetics in 1984 and Ph.D. in Physics (Quantum
Chromodynamics) in 1991.
He was awarded the DSc in Alternative Medicines in
2003 and DNYS in 2004. So far he has authored more than 2500 popular articles
and research papers and more than 50 books in the fields of physics,
communication, apologetics, and theology. This includes many Indian “firsts” like a
Systematic Theology and a 4-volume Bible Encyclopaedia, both in the Malayalam
language.
He is a voting member of numerous professional societies including: Creation
Research Society, American Scientific Affiliation, The Society Of Christian
Philosophers, Indian Physics Association, etc. He is a founder and life member of
the Indian Association Of Physics Teachers.
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