Now you read me, now you don’t
I apologize for the extremely light posting and even lighter commenting. Unfortunately that will continue for awhile due to personal circumstances. I’m not quitting (by any stretch of the imagination), but rather giving an explanation for past and future lack of posting. What follows is purely personal, so if you’re curious feel free to read on. If you are looking for some indepth perspective on some serious issue, this is not for you.
Some Books on Science, Faith, and Darwinism
Here’s a list of books I have either read, purchased, or added to my Amazon wishlist on science. They are all highly rated, and interesting to me. Enjoy.
Gay marriage = higher divorce rates
Joe Carter at EO has a well documented article on how to call the bluff of most gay-marriage advocates – tell them that if they are really interested in the institution of marriage, they should push for stricter divorce laws – which will never happen, since fidelity, while a common human virtue poorly practiced, is practiced even less in gay relationships (at least, male ones). Joe provided a slew of stats, and this interesting observation from the National Review:
Suppose same-sex marriages were introduced by legislation that also
made divorce much harder to obtain. How many same-sex couples would then be rushing to join San Francisco’s wedding carnival? My suspicion is that lesbians would heavily outnumber gay
men and that there would be a great many grooms left waiting at the
municipal altar. It is not lifelong commitment that the couples are
seeking (except in moments of romantic fantasy), but the revolving door
of modern marriage with no-fault divorce.
Global Climate Change: Probable, not human-caused, and good
Jay W. Richards, Director of Acton Media and a Research Fellow at the Acton Institute, recently gave an excellent lecture entitled Is it Hot In Here? What Should Christ
ians Think About Global Warming? It is well worth a listen, but I would like to quickly summarize. He asked and answered five questions about GW:
- Is the earth warming?
- Are humans primarily responsible?
- Is global warming bad or good?
- Are the proposed corrective policies worth pursuing?
- How do you know when you are resisting established science rather than political orthodoxy in science?
Jindo’s Moses Miracle
Skeptics of Biblical miracles need to be more open minded about how such things could easily happen in nature, and that such miracles are miraculous because of their providential timing, and usually not because such things are impossible.
Case in point? The bi-annual appearance of a land bridge between Jindo and Modo islands in South Korea (click through both links to see the amazing pictures – those dots in the image at right are people!). Twice a year, a 2km land bridge appears at low tide, and people walk between the islands in a celebration. This same type of bridge has been identified in the Red Sea crossing. The more you do your archaological and historical research, the more you realize the stunning accuracy of the Bible.
Discovering the unknown
As an evangelical Christian, when I discuss issues with those who have a different belief system I have to always remember that the other person is often operating from an ill-informed, media-driven stereotype.
One of my favorite sites, Get Religion, deals with the media’s coverage of, obviously enough, religion. A recurring theme is the treatment of evangelical culture as if the reporter is working for National Geographic studying some lost people group in unknown regions of the Amazon jungle.
Three recent posts demonstrated that fact. One was dealing with an aspect of the purity movement. Another showcased clergy reaction to the California gay marriage ruling. The other highlighted one lone evangelical couple and their opposition to gay marriage. That post contained a link to a somewhat surprising site (at least to me): GaysDefendMarriage.com.
Quote of the Day #009 – Religion and Science
"Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes."
– Pope John Paul II
False absolutes and idolatries like scientism (science is the only valid way of knowing), evolutionism (‘it’s real science, I swear! As sure as gravity’), feticide (‘it’s just a blob of cells, and it is better to kill it than to allow it to suffer’), eugenics (‘we’re just helping Darwinism along, it’s for the good of the species’), slavery (‘of course they are less evolved!’), sexual permissiveness (‘people can’t be expected or encouraged to abstain, it’s against nature’ or ‘just because we can never produce progeny doesn’t mean that it’s unnatural’), etc.
Superstitions and errors like … [anti-religionists and thinkers (somewhat mutually exclusive groups), have a field day]
Wishing Sen. Kennedy well
Humanity trumps politics. Even though I vehemently disagree with virtually every position Sen. Ted Kennedy has taken over his career, I was saddened to hear that he has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. I’m praying for Sen. Kennedy and his family. This is one battle I hope he wins.
Not Ready For Prime Time?
Gravitas publishes ‘framework-agnostic’ science textbooks
Casey Luskin has a nice 13 minute interview with Rebecca W. Keller, founder of Gravitas Publications, which publish a series of science books for homeschoolers called Real Science 4 Kids. By ‘framework-agnostic’, I mean that she presents science and scientific methods withOUT committing to any specific philosophy-of-science framework like evolution, creationism, or ID. Or in her words:
I believe that the best science is rigorous and objective about the
facts, but open and tolerant of what those facts may mean both to
science and outside of science. In other words, we should be diligent
to practice science rigorously and carefully utilizing the scientific
method and critical thinking. But we should allow everyone to interpret
those facts through their own lens.Intelligent design is an interpretative framework for evaluating
scientific data as are evolutionary theory and creationism. Each are
different lenses used to understand and interpret scientific
information.
My Two Cents #122 – Atheism: Unpopular, FSM, Dawkins, Violence & Christianity
Here’s some recent stuff:
- Why atheism is politically unpopular in the US (Economist) – “One problem is that they are hardly a cohesive group. Another issue is simply branding. ‘Atheist’ has an ugly ring in American ears and it merely defines what people are not. ‘Godless’ is worse, its derogatory attachment to ‘communist’ may never be broken. ‘Humanist’ sounds too hippyish. A few have taken to calling themselves ‘Brights’ for no good reason and to widespread mirth. And ‘secular’ isn’t quite the word either; one can be a Christian secularist. But another failing of the irreligious movement has been its tendency, frequently, to pick the wrong fights.”
Two Different Candidates With The Same Problem
2008 is shaping up to be an odd election season. For the first time in recent memory, both parties’ nominees for President will have secured their nominations without winning an overwhelming majority of their respective parties’ votes. Both Barack Obama and John McCain will have a lot of work ahead of them to unite their parties. But they also share another similarity: both of them may need to select a running mate more conservative than they are in order to win the election.
Appeasers and Activists
Yesterday was a big news day with two unrelated events occurring that will each have an impact on this fall’s elections. While on the surface the two may seem unrelated both spell trouble for Democrats.
President Bush, speaking at The Knesset in Israel, used the opportunity to launch an unmerited attack against Senator Barack Obama. At least, that’s what Senator Obama, aided and abetted by the left-leaning media, would like voters to believe. Here’s the paragraph that got Democrats’ collective undies in a bunch from the transcript of the speech:
Playing with Obama’s rules
Rich Lowry details the strategy of the Democratic nominee in the general election with his excellent column: Obama Rules.
What Obama did and did not say
It is easy to take a political opponents words out of context and make them seem to be saying something unpopular or even incorrect. Some conservatives are trying to assert that Sen. Obama called Israel a “constant sore” in an interview. The actual quote shows that he said the unresolved conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians was a “constant wound” or a “constant sore” that “infect[s] all our foreign policy.”
John Hagee through Catholic eyes
When dealing with the issues of John Hagee and his endorsement of John McCain, I am delving into waters of which I am, for the most part, ignorant. I have no real experience with the Catholic faith and very limited exposure to Hagee, which is composed of a few seconds of his television program as I flip channels and one visit to his church while I was in San Antonio last year.
Hagee will stay in the news as a counter-weight to Rev. Jeremiah Wright. But after reading an account of a Catholic meeting with Hagee, there seems to be some differences between the two.
Evangelical Manifesto Released
Today at the National Press Club, a group of 80 Christian leaders signed on and released An Evangelical Manifesto: A Declaration of Evangelical Identity and Public Commitment. Justin Taylor wrote a summary, and Joe at EO also commented. I agree with Joe on this point:
It is not the term "evangelical" that the world despises but the
beliefs behind the word. Call yourself whatever you
want–’post-evangelical’ is my favorite–but the minute you tell the
world that homosexual behavior is sinful, that killing infants in the
womb is wrong, and that man has an inherent dignity because we are made
in the image of God then you can expect to have that label spat upon
too.How many labels are will willing to abandon before we finally realize it is our identity that we are shirking?
Me for one, I’m proud to wear the label.
Win in November? Yes we shall!
Forget Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain. I have found the candidate am I voting for in November: “Yes, we shall!“
Essential Products for Babies I – Medicines and Ointments
As a father of three, I have tried many products for babies and toddlers. Here’s my best of list.
1. Baby Oil – great for cleaning crusty noses and faces, moisturizing dry scalps and skin, and a great massage and marital aid
Conscious decision to see more
While the battle over ID and evolution rages on in a more public manner, the concept of consciousness is possibly the biggest threat to the theory of Darwinism according to JP Moreland.
