Some links and a great virus lesson

As you may be aware I read a bunch on different issues in theology, philosophy, and healthcare. In the last week I have come across a few gems that I wanted to keep and I though you might like them as well. The first is a post on a new method to medically fight viruses in Effect Measure. Some parts of the article are a little heavy on biology, but he starts by explaining how a virus hijacks the cells of the host (read "you"- your the host when the virus makes you sick) with an analogy to the inner functions of an office. It is a great analogy.

Another post that I wanted to save is on raising children to be more able to maintain a moral compass. I warn you that this was bent to support the argument that children raised by atheists are better than those raised by the religious (Raising Children Without God), but the point is still good. Many parents don't take the time to explain themselves to their children because it is more difficult and consumes time, but I (even though I am not an atheist) feel as if I explain myself to my children they are more likely to adapt our moral rules to other situations and not take some authority's word as equal to God's because he/she said so. Think of it as cult-proofing your child, or teaching them to be Bereans. We will leave the argument over whether God's rules are truly arbitrary for another time.

One more gem I was sent by Wonderful is a little more rough cut, but just delightful so I had to share it. It is certainly not original to me.

The Ten Commandments

Some people have trouble with all those 'shall's' and 'shall not's' in the Ten
commandments.

Folks just aren't used to talking in those terms. So, in middle Tennessee
they translated the 'King James' into ' Jackson County ' language....
no joke, (posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Gainesboro , TN )

(1) Just one God
(2) Put nothin' afore God
(3) Watch yer mouth
(4) Git yourself to Sunday meetin'
(5) Honor yer Ma & Pa
(6) No killin'
(7) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal
(8) Don't take what ain't yers
(9) No tellin' tales or gossipin'
(10) Don't be ahankerin' for yer buddy's stuff


Now that's plain an' simple. Y'all have a nice day.

How to read it

When I was a boy I remember a preacher quoting a verse in the New Testament (Ephesians 4:28) that instructs those who have stolen to cease from their thieving ways and find gainful employment. He quoted it like this - "Let him that stole steal no more; let him labor" and then played with the punctuation to get "Let him who stole steal, no more let him labor." The pastor's point was that the meaning of the passage can be changed by punctuation. Thankfully the Greek is not so difficult to decipher. The passage would have to be twisted purposefully to be misunderstood, but we do tend to make mistakes in how we read other parts of God's revelation. This is why context is so important to help us catch mistakes in reading.

The King James version of Ephesians 4:28 reads- "Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." Even if the punctuation was messed up and a few words left out to confuse for a moment the rest of the verse would cause one to consider other meanings that are probable for the verse. The same is true for the rest of God's revelations- when taken together they explain the message. This is why I cannot discredit something a scientist tells me simply because it disagrees with how I read the Bible. It is possible that I misread Scripture because of a bias and missed the point. Here is a great video to further illustrate how re-reading something can bring out other meanings- http://www.wimp.com/freakymessage/

Evil problems

In light of the recent earthquake I was reminded of the "problem of evil". God, as CS Lewis wrote, is not a tame lion who cannot be pegged into any certain category. It would be dishonest to say that accepting God makes it easy to accept the hard things that happen at His hand. I am reposting something I wrote a few months ago on another blog-

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Horror

The dream seemed to be as vivid as if I truly had been there, and the feelings of helpless horror were incredibly memorable. This dream was a continuation of a series of dreams that I have had since I first began reading as a preteen about the Nazi roundups and mass murders in the second World War. In this case I was a member of a group of Jews targeted for elimination and I stood helpless waiting my turn as I watched people ahead of me tormented in terrible ways before they were murdered. I awoke with a shudder and the question occurred to me "Why did I survive?" As my mind came back to full awareness I realized that my survival was as it always was in my dreams, but then I noted with revulsion that people are still torturing their fellow humans in such ways even today. While the dream was not real, it reflected in a small way events that happen all the time around the world where one group of people is powerful enough to treat others to such horrors as most Americans have no concept.

This is the problem I have with the form of Christianity that I practice in which I acknowledge the existence of a supreme creator deity that supersedes and controls every other member of reality. We call this deity The righteous, loving God and discuss Him as an all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful person who is perfectly good and just. With all this recognized why on earth (or any part of the universe for that matter) would this wonderful deity allow such things to occur as the horrors that people experience in the world today? This is my version of the problem of evil- If God is so good why does He let really bad things happen?

Some of the answers that come instantly to mind is that Satan causes evil or that God is doing a greater good by allowing suffering now. I instantly dismiss the claim that Satan is at fault for evil. Satan may be noted in the Bible as the actor that produces evil, but God limits and controls what evil Satan does. God, even if it is indirect, plans and controls the evil that happens. Think, for example, of the fateful conversation between God and Satan that is recorded in the book of Job where God gives incremental allowances for the level of suffering which Satan is to subject Job just to prove that God is right about Job's righteousness.

If God is truly good and just why does He allow evil when He can control it? Some of the arguments I have heard or thought of to explain this are the ideas that God wants us to have the option to choose Him so He allows the option to choose evil, that God allows us to see such horrors to contrast His goodness or to give hope of a better future in Heaven, and that God has a better view of what is going on and what is evil in our view is good in the bigger picture which He can only see. I have to admit that I am still unsure that any of these work. Is it possible that the common American Christian view of God as a sweet, wonderful, good God is mistaken? Maybe He is a mean, vindictive, petty God who picks and chooses evil events for His own twisted pleasure? What evidence in there in Scripture that God is good?

Belief, sincerity, and truth

"Belief and sincerity do not define truth; it exists despite belief and sincerity." I wrote this about ten years ago on a newsgroup discussion in which I was discussing with some members about how accurate some alternative health care practitioner's claims were. I don't remember the subject of the debate, but one of the members of the newsgroup picked up my comment and posted it to his page of favorite quotes. There- now I am famous in my own mind!

I still believe what I wrote a decade ago. I am now engaged in a bit of an e-mail debate with a close friend on how to interpret Genesis 1 and 2 and I am struck on how strongly his points are based on his instincts rather than facts. What amazes me (though it shouldn't) is the fact that so many people take very strong positions with equally strong belief and sincerity even though facts are lacking. Poor Wonderful acts as my barometer since she has little interest in philosophy, and so she is exposed to my unadulterated craziness to see how other people would see how my ideas would look. When she has that shocked look on her face I know to keep that idea to myself until it is better developed. What strongly disappoints me is that no one seems to be providing a similar service to Pat Robertson who is now exposing his poor understanding of history and theology- (thanks to nakedpastor for the cartoon)

The point is that just because it seems right to you (or me) doesn't mean that it is right. Truth is often found when we allow ourselves the discomfort of going against our gut feeling and examine the facts.

Pat Robertson obviously sincerely believes that God always makes natural disasters (such as the earthquake in Haiti) to punish people. The fact is that the Bible does not present this as a rule. What was God's punishment to Egypt to allow them a famine of seven years during Joseph's time? Looking at the way God tells the story it was not a punishment, but part of His plan. When I veiw these events I am reminded of the observation in Matthew 5:45 that God causes it to rain on both the just and the unjust. The rain may or may not be a good thing, but Jesus seems to have been saying that natural events may not have any more meaning than being part of God's plan (a point which is borne out in other areas of Scripture). The country of Haiti may not be under punishment of God, and there is no way to see for sure what His purpose is since the Bible doesn't address this particular earthquake. God may use this natural disaster as a punishment for some in Haiti and as a conduit of good for others. Pat Robertson does not speak for God, and I hope he figures out that no matter how strongly he feels his belief and sincerity does not define truth.

Another cause for concern

Ron Hamilton (Patch the Pirate) and his wife are awaiting word on what has happened to his father-in-law Dr. Frank Garlock who was in Haiti with his wife for ministry when the earthquake hit this week. Dr. Garlock spoke to his daughter just a little while before the quake hit and the family has not received any more contacts from either Dr. Garlock or his wife since the quake. Keep this inspirational man and his family in your prayers as they deal with this situation. Majesty Music has a page dedicated to the situation- http://www.majestymusic.com/t-drgarlockupdate.aspx

Misterious Islands

The Mysterious Islands

Starring: Doug Phillips, Joshua Phillips Director: John Erwin

This is a film that is strong in young earth creation (YEC) philosophy. To summarize- YEC ideas are "pre-suppositional" which states that in order to properly understand anything in the world of science and history one must first accept that the Bible is literally true from Genesis to Revelation with a few obvious exceptions (Song of Solomon being one good example). This means that every finding in geology, astronomy, biology, and any other science must first be explained as having occurred in the last 6,000 years having been a part of the plan of the personal God described by conservative evangelical Christians. In fulfilling the above requirements Doug Phillips finds an incredible team consisting of photographer and videographers to document a trip to the Galapagos islands with his son and Dr. Morris- a teacher respected in YEC circles.

The images are absolutely stunning and well-framed. This team really serves up a delightful visual feast from a beautiful place and interesting animals.

Doug Phillips has historically maintained the YEC line that erroneously points to Darwin's ideas as being the philosophic basis of the horrific atrocities committed by Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot. He follows this line in the the film and also maintains the mistaken view that the best description of Darwin's ideas is "survival of the fittest". Phillips successfully argues against the mistakes of the dead Darwin with recent discoveries, but struggles in explaining how modern discoveries are able to support YEC ideas.

This film presents a summary of "mediated design", the YEC explanation of how evolution is real without seeming to agree with the philosophy that seems to be behind Darwinist evolution. Phillips and Morris haltingly argue genetic evolution is actually theistic evolution, but rename theistic evolution "mediated design" and limit their view of theistic evolution to evolution "within kinds".

Sadly Phillips and Morris fail to adequately describe what defines a "kind" and resort to using vague concepts of species typing. Another major disappointment is that they totally gloss over any genetic evidence for YEC ideas, and expose their gross misunderstanding of what consists of genetic information by stating that genetic mutations only result in "lost information" in a bow to the debunked entropy argument against Darwinist evolution.

If the reader wants a good summary of YEC ideas with awesome images I highly recommend this film, but if the reader wants to see good science and find evidence that will stand strong against modern evolutionary science and philosophy this film will disappoint.

Special stuff

Thanks to Wonderful's sisterI was able to buy this cool camera at a decent price as an entry level "DSLR". At any rate, I am taking way too many pictures and getting up close and personal with family members and pets. This Saturday I will be taking Brain to the USS Alabama and I plan on taking my now "beater" kodak and Canon EOS with me for lots of awesome picture goodness. Consider me totally psyched man.