Vaguaries

"Why should we be the ones who have to do all the work to satisfy your testing?" the student asks. "If you want to find evidence, you figure out how to test it."

"We could do that," you reply, "but then you'll come back and say we didn't get your idea right. The only way we can be sure to get your theory is if you're the one who tells us how to test it."

"What's your hang-up with testing everything anyways?"

"If you can't test it, how do you know it's real? For instance, take the suggestion that while a man was unconscious, he went up and spent an hour and a half in heaven. There's absolutely no way we can go back and see if it was just a dream of his, or whether he actually did go to heaven. If we just accept everything anyone says, we'll be led into chaos. We need some filter to determine what's true, and scientific testing is the best we have."

"Heh, you'll see," the student says.

"And what do you mean by that," you ask.

"Well, what would you say if God came down from heaven and told you Himself that, for instance, he'd created the world and all the creatures in it?"

"I'd say it's still an untestable claim, and we only have his word for it."

"So you wouldn't accept the word of God Himself about reality?" he asks.

"If I'm a priori convinced it's God and he wouldn't lie, then maybe I would. But you'll have to clear that hurdle first."

"Well, let's just see. I have good word, directly from Michael Behe of the Discovery Institute, that you should be seeing something like this very soon." This statement is met with laughter from the majority of the class, but given what you've seen tonight...

Head back to report that Behe and the Discovery Institute might be behind this.

Stay here and continue the debate until you reach some resolution.