Keep Your Own Brain Turned On – And Question! « Why Should I Believe? Why Should You Believe?

25 May

Keep Your Own Brain Turned On – And Question!

Terry Read Blog 0 0

Recently, my mother was having higher than expected water bills. Being a retired bookkeeper, she would notice that. After watching some YouTube videos, I was ready to troubleshoot. My plan was to shut the valves in the water lines to all of the sinks and toilets and see if that stopped the water meter from running. Then if it did, open each valve until the meter started running again. Then I would know the problem.

But before I got over there, my mother had a city worker come over. He had my mother put some food coloring in the toilet tank. When the coloring showed up in the bowl, that indicated the toilet was the problem. My mother called me. I had her shut the valve to the water line for that toilet; and that did stop the water meter.

The city worker that came out stated we needed a universal toilet kit to replace the parts and stop the leak. My mother was not sure about that and had me call him to communicate with him directly. That is what he said we needed – a universal toilet kit. Since he was the expert, I just deferred to him. Before going to my mother’s that weekend, I picked up a universal toilet kit at Lowe’s. But working on the toilet, I figured out that a universal toilet kit is not universal. The toilet is a Kohler toilet – which is different. And struggling with the toilet, I accidently broke off the flush lever.

Since I was spinning my wheels and did not have the answer, we just set everything in another room and my mother talked about calling someone. She had another bathroom she could use in the meantime. Then that week, she went to Lowe’s and talked to their resident expert for plumbing. He sold her a fill valve, and a new handle and flush lever. So I went back the following weekend to try again. I replaced the fill valve. But then I saw the new handle and flush lever would not work because it was made to go on the front of the tank. The tank had the handle on the side. We went back to Lowe’s to get the correct handle and return the universal toilet kit that was not universal.

After replacing the fill valve, handle and lever, the toilet was leaking really badly from the bottom of the tank. The gasket for the flush valve was loose. I probably accidently loosened it in trying to take out the old flush valve to install the universal toilet kit that was not universal. So we went to a plumbing store and got an entirely new flush valve. After replacing that, it worked.

But looking back on it, I made my job a lot harder by just accepting the advice of the experts and not thinking about it myself before I got started. As already stated, the universal toilet kit was not universal. We needed Kohler parts. And even when my mother got the correct fill valve from the plumbing expert at Lowe’s, we still got the wrong handle and lever. Lowe’s was very good to take everything back.

But I wonder if any of this was necessary. I think maybe the chain from the lever to the flush valve had tension on it; causing the flush valve to not completely close. And a plumber my mother called had recently done some work. But I did not even think to check for tension on the chain because I just went with what the experts said that I needed to do. So I may have very well missed the simple solution.

The city worker is to be thanked. He made an extra effort to come over to my mother’s house and troubleshoot the problem. And he had the best of intentions with his advice. It was my fault for not checking things out myself. I did not have an open mind because of what I had been told by someone who knew more than me.

One of the logical fallacies frequently used by Darwinists is the “appeal to authority argument.”¹ This came up in a discussion on Darwinism, with some family members on my wife’s side, when I first started getting into biblical creation. I wish I could have that discussion all over again; because I would handle it much differently. No sooner did the discussion start than I was asked: “Are you a scientist?” This is the appeal to the authority argument – since I was not a scientist, I should just accept what the scientists say. And I was told that “99.99 percent of scientists believe in evolution” – meaning Darwinian evolution. I am pretty sure that was another logical fallacy – “arbitrary statements,” or making something up “out of whole cloth.”²

Scientists are human beings, with presuppositions and agendas, just like everyone else. Before we got married, a doctor kept saying that my wife had “typical migraines.” He would hold her hand and give her something to make her feel better. Very shortly after getting married, I took my wife to see a family doctor here in San Antonio. He did blood work. Imagine that! My wife had end-stage-renal-disease (total kidney failure). A normal creatinine level (measure of kidney function) is between .5 and 1.5 – the lower the better. My wife’s was over 19! She should have been in a coma. How could the first doctor, a medically trained scientist, have missed it? It was because he thought he had the answer and he was not open. He was not thinking that there may be another answer. I am not a medical doctor. But I knew something was really wrong and took my wife to a different doctor and got the right answer.

So do not succumb to the appeal to authority argument. Understand and investigate. A similar argument is “appeal to majority.”¹ Even if the family member was correct that “99.99 percent of scientists believe in evolution,” that does not make it right. As we just pointed out, scientists are human beings and have paradigms. I agree that Darwinian evolution is the current scientific consensus. But so was spontaneous generation.³ And Darwinian evolution is self-perpetuating. It is taught because it is the scientific consensus. But it is the scientific consensus because it is taught. But what is really being taught to our children – as fact, without question – is that they are at best just an animal engaged in a battle of survival; and the only purpose to life is to pass on our genes to future generations.⁴ Contrast that to the message that the Bible. I found this when I was in my forties and it looked as if I might not have children: “Don’t let foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will never let me be part of his people.’ And don’t let the eunuchs say, ‘I’m a dried-up tree with no children and no future.’For this is what the Lord says: I will bless those eunuchs who keep my Sabbath days holy and who choose to do what pleases me and commit their lives to me. I will give them—within the walls of my house — a memorial and a name far greater than sons and daughters could give. For the name I give them is an everlasting one. It will never disappear!” Isaiah 56: 3-6 NLT

Terry Read