From: TURTLE              
To: DRAGONFLY           
Subject: relig & logic??
Date & Time: 05/23/91 19:04:06
Message Number 17059

>As I have stated at least three times, I equate truth with veri-
>fiability.
 
Yeah, and it's been a ridiculous statement all three times. A statement
is true if it describes a real phenomenon or event or condition, not if
some highly evolved monkeys can /prove/ that it describes reality. The
statement 'The world is essentially spherical, rather than flat' is
true now and it was true two thousand years ago when nobody could prove
it, and it was true when there weren't any sapient beings around /to/
priove it. (Or would you suggest that that statement has only just
recently become true?) The universe exists in a particular way and
behaves in a particular way, and it doesn't give a damn whether or not
some BBS user in Sarasota, Florida can demonstrate to the satisfaction
of his peers that it behaves that way. Once again: If the world was not
created six thousand years ago, and you believe that it was, the thing
which you believe is not true. Since you seem to be making up
defintions that suit your argument wherever it's convenient, though,
I will once again turn to the Random House dictionary and tell you
what it has to say about truth: "True or actual state of a matter; state
or character of being true; actuality or actual existance." Of the
word "True," it says, "In accordance with or not contrary to fact;
being really such; authentic." Damn, I do believe that means statements
about the world's age or the existance of God or the like can be true
or not true /by DEFINITION/ without regard to your ability to /prove/ it.