You’re probably familiar with this slide. This is Scientific Method as popularized by Sr. Francis Bacon (a Bible believer) in the 1600’s. It provides a formal method for determining scientific fact.
First, you start by stating a question, then proposing a theory (hypothesis), followed by experiments. You look at the data and draw conclusions. If the experimental results do not line up with the theory, you modify the theory. We see that the emphasis is on what actually happens in the physical world.
Notice that good theories are predictive and falsifiable. If a theory has no predictive power, it’s not very useful. A scientist friend of mine calls it…“stamp collecting”. Also, to be fair to the rules of science, a theory has to be falsifiable if new evidence comes along. Otherwise, it is simply a philosophical belief or dogma. At this point we can ask … can the theory of evolution be falsified? You’ll notice that to some of its adherents, it’s always true, regardless of what evidence you present.
Now what does the theory of evolution predict ? Just about anything you want it to. A few years ago I went to a talk by a distinguished physicist who predicted that in the future, we would be living on distant planets in space. Just as we had come out of the oceans and our gills evolved into lungs, we would be receiving oxygen through our skins by direct contact with chemical pools. Pretty far out stuff. At one point, I remember the audience getting real quiet, kind of in head-scratching disbelief. If it wasn’t for the international fame of this man, the audience might have snickered at his presentation.