There is also the very strange way in which the theme of 'wickedness' is treated, particularly as we move towards the end of the Nephites as a nation.
Over and over again we are told that the Nephites lose battles because they are 'wicked', however hard they fight. But who wins these battles? The Lamanites, who are not exactly model Seminary students themselves.
And, frankly, a world in which the wicked always lose battles and the good win them because God helps is just not anything like the world we live in. It is clearly a fantasy.
Not to mention the fantasy that god rewards the righteous with wealth.
Parley P. Pratt wrote:We must lie to support brother Joseph, it is our duty to do so.
I like DNA LDS Researcher Ugo Perego, but I don't exactly agree with that statement that he made.
The aforementioned wiki article seems to.
Actually quite the opposite. You have avioded my example of how scientists determine whether a species to have gone extinct or disappeared from an area.
Actually quite the opposite. You have avioded my example of how scientists determine whether a species to have gone extinct or disappeared from an area
"Indeed, scientists will often debate whether an experiment's result should be considered evidence of absence, or if it remains absence of evidence (e.g. the experiment could have missed what it was looking for)."
bcspace wrote:"Indeed, scientists will often debate whether an experiment's result should be considered evidence of absence, or if it remains absence of evidence (e.g. the experiment could have missed what it was looking for)."
We are not talking about an experiment. I already said there can be difficulties in some situations, but again you avoid what I asked. Tell me how scientists can determine whether the horse went extinct in the Americas?
by the way you misrepresent the quote you use. It does not say that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, only that scientists will often debate whether it applies to certain experimental results. Nice try though.
Tell me how scientists can determine whether the horse went extinct in the Americas?
Tell me how they might have missed what they were looking for.
First I have shown you misrepresented your quote to mean something other then what it meant. Now you avoid the question. Scientist have been uncovering evidence of the past of many things like horse remains. What they see is that the horse remains and other species start to disappear from the record. This is of course evidence that the horse populations declined and went extinct. This is how it is done, and why in this case absence of evidnece is evidence of absence, especially since they do have plenty of evidence before about 8-10k years ago. The wiki article gives other examples of how absence of evidence is evidence of absence. Now while it is evidence and in many cases meets the burden of proof, it like anything else is not absolute. I know of a fish species that was thought to be extinct being found again, but then that was back in the 1930's for a species that was much smaller then the horse and lived in deep ocean waters.