Science Tuesday

I listen to Dr. Fuz Rana's podcasts and have a couple of his books.  He is a top notch scholar, peer-reviewed, and well reasoned.  Enjoy a walk through some current understanding of the problems for the Evolutionary Hypothesis. While this may be a bit of a 'high-brow' topic, it is incredibly insightful concerning the so-called Cambrian Explosion of biological diversity.

An Excerpt:

Known in Darwin’s time, the Cambrian explosion refers to the dramatic appearance of complex animal life in the fossil record about 540 million years ago. Within a short period of time—perhaps less than 5 million years—anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of all animal phyla to ever exist on Earth appeared. The animals that came into existence during the Cambrian explosion were marine creatures. Instead of relatively simple organisms originating at the base of the Cambrian and then evolving toward increased intricacy, complex animals appear suddenly. The traditional evolutionary explanation argues that life should transition from simple to complex in a gradual, branching, tree-like fashion. On the other hand, such explosive appearances are exactly what should be expected if a Creator is responsible for orchestrating life’s history.

Reminder to share the love within us

Watch this video and have joy.  It's by one of my favorite bands, needtobreathe.

Spread your Light that you have inside!  This video is soooo awesome and reminds us that no matter where we are, we can make a difference in this sinking-ship-world.

Besides, it's such a cool song, you'll be blessed by the rock and roll!

More proof of God?

When reading History--any history--it is wise to remember one specific thing: all history is written for a purpose.  Today, I was reading some writings of the Roman historian Tacitus.  I checked out volume 15 of 1952's Britannica Great Books series the other weekend and finally got around to opening this one.  The reason I checked it out in the first place was to gather secondary source information about history besides the Biblical account.

Analog TV

Here in central Minnesota, there are still analog television signals broadcast.  Well, there is at least one of which I know--it is a little station, and my buddy turned me on to it today.  I don't get it here at home because I don't have access to an old-style antenna but he seems to when he unplugs his digital box.  The cool thing is that my buddy--we'll call him Mark--does not believe in the same Christ that I do; nope, he is not a Christian--Mark likes his well, we'll call them vices, too much.

Contingency Plans

When things don't go as planned, human nature, intelligence, and being itself requires that we adapt and react with optimism and hope. Otherwise, we can quickly find ourselves in a nihilistic spiral (indeed, just look at nations/regions of the world where Secular Humanism has taken firm roots and the correlation of suicide).

In the spirit of this optimism--particularly for those who have seen that for the first time in American history one will be forced to purchase something just for the privilege of being a citizen--I post a contingency plan from yesteryear.

When the first men walked on the moon, they didn't know if they would return.  We know that it works out in the end, but this memo

Competing Worldviews; Dog vs. Cat

The Dog’s Diary:
8:00 am – Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am – A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am – A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am – Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm – Milk bones! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm – Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm – Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm – Dinner! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm – Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm – Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm – Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!
——————————————
The Cat’s Diary:
Day 983 of my captivity.
My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates my capabilities. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a “good little hunter” I am. Jerks!
There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of “allergies.” I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage. Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow, but at the top of the stairs.
I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released, and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird must be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now.

Where do our rights come from?

Congressman Paul Ryan on the steep climb to reclaim American idea

Freedom of Choice

“To esteem “freedom of choice” as an expression of individual autonomy and the basis of human dignity and responsibility is to miss the point. The so-called freedom to be the “master of my fate, the captain of my soul” is at bottom joyless and cheerless. For this is a freedom which denies dependence on the other as the source of one’s own personhood. This “freedom of choice,” Barth rightly reminds us, is what lies behind the fall of humanity, not its emergence into true personhood. We are not only determined by the other, and ultimately and originally by God, but we are made to respond in such a way that we do this “gladly,” in joyful recognition of our own being. This is the image and likeness of God.”




~ Ray S. Anderson, On Being Human: Essays in Theological Anthropology

Christian Philosopher Explores Causes of Atheism | Christianpost.com

Well, I suppose I found the next book for my shelves...;)

Christian Philosopher Explores Causes of Atheism | Christianpost.com

Excerpt:

God has made His existence plain from creation – from the unimaginable vastness of the universe to the complex micro-universe of individual cells, Spiegel notes. Human consciousness, moral truths, miraculous occurrences and fulfilled biblical prophecies are also evidence of the reality of God.

But atheists reject that, or as Spiegel put it, "miss the divine import of any one of these aspects of God's creation" and to do so is "to flout reason itself."

This suggests that other factors give rise to the denial of God, he notes. In other words, something other than the quest for truth drives the atheist.

America’s Dictators

A timely warning with which I agree (though his grammar could use some improvements...).

America’s Dictators:

An excerpt:

However, the most hideous and dangerous aspect of their current agenda is to completely subvert all of the founding documents that this country was established upon: The Declaration of Independence, The United States Constitution and The Bill of Rights.

These documents clearly establish that all of our rights are inalienable rights, which means that they are given by God and not by man or government. William Penn, the founder of the Pennsylvania Colony said, “Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.” Yet, Senator Schumer was recorded as stating that they intend to determine what our inalienable rights will be. In other words, they fully intend to take over the roll of God in determining what rights Americans will have. That clearly falls under the definition of tyranny and a dictatorship.

My health-care plan

If one can get passed the partisan, pro-Republican candor, her plea for sanity is a good one.

(By the way, the original meaning of the term Republican, properly understood, means to be Constitutional and pass rights to the states and to the most local level. This centralized, leftist/Statist, Washington D.C.-centric situation that we endure is not what the Framers had in mind when they struggled over the Constitution. I submit that, if Leftist's true intentions were known--that of power at the Federal level and incremental growth in government, re: Woodrow Wilson, FDR, et al--they would have been voted out long ago. It didn't just start since the 'Free-love' days; it was long before that. *sigh* But alas, it was meant to be, I suppose.)

My health-care plan

Wayward wolf not welcomed home | StarTribune.com

Wayward wolf not welcomed home | StarTribune.com

Upon her return to the cage this wolf was attacked by her two sisters. Scientists say it was because they wanted to 'increase their rank' among the pack. When this wolf left, she was a female leader, but when she was brought back home, exhausted and worn-down, she was attacked.

This reminds me of humans today. Bathed in a consistent world-view of materialism and Darwinian evolution, our culture is gradually becoming more animal-like. Morality is just an annoyance when acknowledged, or it is simply irrelevant. Television shows are formed on the premise of stabbing your once-loved ones and former friends in the back just to 'increase your rank' in the pack. More and more, the secular-humanist world-view that ignores the inherent dignity in other humans increases.

Of course morality and love of others is not gone--I suggest that it is less useful, and so it is commonly brushed away. People are tools now and steps to use to get somewhere else. 'Since there is no God, there can be no justice against my apathy towards you' seems to be a statement of truth. When morality is not a real thing but something that culture makes up, you get wolves attacking each other.

Science Tuesday

Hundreds of years ago, tax money was used to fund churches in this country.  Churches, properly termed, preach the Good News that redemption awaits those among humankind that humble themselves to God in Christ's Name.  Tax money stopped going to churches because not everybody agrees with the above Good News.  Therefore, why should they pay for it.  I concur with this argument.  Indeed, the Bible says that not everybody will agree that Jesus is the King of Kings.  So in America, this was the most equitable situation for all citizens.

I know of another situation that is equal and we do not need to delve back into history to see it; it is happening before our very eyes.  Today, yours and my tax dollars go to a modern church.

If I were the Devil

If I were the Devil. . .

I would gain control of the most powerful nation in the world;

I would delude their minds into thinking that they had come from man's

effort, instead of God's blessings;

I would promote an attitude of loving things and using people, instead of

the other way around;

I would dupe entire states into relying on gambling for their state revenue;

I would convince people that character is not an issue when it comes to

leadership;

I would make it legal to take the life of unborn babies;

I would make it socially acceptable to take one's own life, and invent

machines to make it convenient;

I would cheapen human life as much as possible so that the life of animals

are valued more than human beings;

I would take God out of the schools, where even the mention of His name was

grounds for a law suit;

I would come up with drugs that sedate the mind and target the young, and I

would get sports heroes to advertise them;

I would get control of the media, so that every night I could pollute the

mind of every family member for my agenda;

I would attack the family, the backbone of any nation.

I would make divorce acceptable and easy, even fashionable. If the family

crumbles, so does the nation;

I would compel people to express their most depraved fantasies on canvas and

movie screens, and I would call it art;

I would convince the world that people are born homosexuals, and that there

lifestyles should be accepted and marveled;

I would convince the people that right and wrong are determined by a few who

call themselves authorities and refer to their agenda as politically

correct;

I would persuade people that the church is irrelevant and out of date, and

the Bible is for the naive;

I would dull the minds of Christians, and make them believe that prayer is

not important, and that faithfulness and obedience are good enough to get by;

Hmmm...I guess I would leave things pretty much the way they are.
(Paul Harvey)

Americans' Global Warming Concerns Continue to Drop

Americans' Global Warming Concerns Continue to Drop

As much as I dislike polls, I find the way this question is posed to be enlightening. Unique insight into the AGW picture.

My Response to the Census 2010

The following is from Lew Rockwell's website (in courier font--get it?):

I pass this along letter on the census for your information, only. I do not counsel anyone to break the law. Of course, I’m not real sure of what the law is. A direct and literal reading of the U.S. Constitution it seems to me, a non lawyer, is clear as to what the law is: people are legally obligated, only, to cooperate in a head count for political representation purposes. But, my fear, my expectation, even, is that present courts will not interpret the law in that way, and may instead punish census rebels who refuse to furnish additional required (requested?) information. In any case, the following will undoubtedly be of interest to all people concerned with liberty; I offer it exactly as it was sent to me:

Science Tuesday

Late--early Wednesday morning.  Oh well.

The DNA structure! Amazing! Its information bearing properties and the bonding relationships of its chemical constituents are not actually chemically bonded in the longitudinal message-bearing axis! The nucleotide bases are able to equally and with identical probability attach at ANY site!

In other words, that only four(4) nucleotides can give the enormous amount of specified information we see in all of the Life on Earth is beyond chance.

Death in the Family, tears for some

After some seriously difficult 'transactions' with a brother of mine, I have been seriously reconsidering my own tactics and understanding of how to be a family member.  A day later--today--my best friend's father died.  These two unrelated situations sort of taste the same in my mouth.  Let me explain a bit.

When No One is Looking--Thoughts on Family

Every single one of us has opinion on family, because every one of us came from one.  I know my family was one that many would not be able to relate to 'cause people just didn't get beat up and verbally assaulted on a regular basis like we did in our family.  And now, we live scattered around the countryside, far outside of a quick drive for mom's cooking.  One generation before ours was equally scattered and equally, if not more, abused.  But the family hasn't always been like this.

Lessons from Football

In life, we have a lot of downtime.  We all know this--in some form--in the back of our minds.  Our lives are so full of stuff, but at the end of the day, most of it doesn't really matter.  But we know that some of it does matter.

A while back during the NFL playoff season, there was an article in the Wall Street Journal that broke down the broadcast by, well, the minute and found that during the course of the television broadcast of the game, very little football is actually being played.  Indeed, in the whole of a 3+ hour broadcast, the ball is in play for an average of 11 minutes.  I thought this was interesting, but not really surprising.

Holy Subversion by Crossway Pubs.

Holy Subversion from Crossway

For my fellow believers, I am intrigued by the idea of this book so I wanted to share.
Happy Friday!

Digging post holes

As I notice the culture around me and it's incessant quest to explain the world around us, I am at once encouraged and frustrated.

What are Universals?

I now write on what I believe to be the most defective point to the philosophical position of the Biblical skeptic.  This is certainly not original with me; yea, it has been consistently promoted throughout the 20th Century where those putting forth the idea pointed rearwards to centuries prior and claimed to have read others, like Blaise Pascal, promote the very concept.  Well, Pascal himself wrote in regards to the idea, "In what I am writing, let no one think I am saying anything new." That this point has not been disproven to this day--the same line of reasoning, the same clear idea, the same consistent thought--speaks to the power and simplicity to the argument itself.

Are There Secular Reasons? - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com

To continue on the Darwin strain from an earlier link today:

Are There Secular Reasons? - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com

In other words, prior metaphysical commitments--so as long as they don't come from the Bible!!--are the source of secular argumentation. This is logically unsound since secular argumentation cannot ever justify metaphysical commitments due to the nature of their understanding and world-view. Randomness doesn't create order and matter does not create Universal abstracts.

More on this tomorrow...

Depression’s Upside - NYTimes.com

Depression’s Upside - NYTimes.com

Wait.

Darwin is now the model for more than a Theory of Human's origins? There are so many problems with this...

Politics and Heated Topics (Part 2)

New York! He was found in New York!
Op-Ed Contributor - We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change - NYTimes.com
Following the recent news that global warming has not been accurately presented to the public (i.e. the outcomes were predetermined and the data was skewed to show likewise), Al Gore has been located. He is fine.  In fact, he even had time to write a piece for the N.Y. Times. Moreover, 'What's a few mistakes?' seems to be the motivation for his Op-Ed. He assures us that, "the overwhelming consensus on global warming remains unchanged."  Read: plan on increased, expensive abridgments to your liberties even though the globe has not warmed in 15 years. We still assert that mankind is responsible guilty. This, in spite of world-class experts who can be found to disagree with me--experts who are actual scientists.

Mr. Gore: surely you are aware that Truth and Facts are two distinct things.  Facts can be presented as untruth (like, say, the DaVinci Code), and truth can be presented without facts (e.g. Dickens' A Christmas Carol).

Some questions: 1) If Humankind is guilty, to what Justice do you wish to appeal?  2) When has there ever been a 'consensus' in the history of objective science, particularly on an issue with this much variability (since a 'scientific consensus' is a contradiction of terms)? 3) When there have been consensii, haven't they occurred when those in authority dishonestly colluded to bring the masses under tyrannical control? 4) Have there ever been scandals in the Scientific Community where, for example, they find results because they need money?

***In my view, there is a natural cycle to the Earth.  The climate changes.  This is normal.  Scientists have observed evidence, gathered data, and documented trends supporting this history.  This is an equally plausible explanation (I argue a more plausible one) as the theory of AGW (anthropogenic global warming).  Further, some scientific explanations point to the probability that CO2 levels are a trailing indicator to temperature changes.  So, it seems suspect that mankind is having that significant of an impact, according to an objective reading of the evidence.  In spite of this, I am reading Al Gore's book to have a balanced perspective (a little late to the party, I know; many of the 'facts' have been disputed to cause what is asserted in his thesis, but I want to understand what he is saying anyhow.)***