Riverwood Presbyterian Church

Faith and Science

Day and Night Suddenly Make Sense

by Tim Lien

Rest is good. Sleeping in on Saturdays does help.

But you don’t need me telling you that. Trust the Wall Street Journal instead, by clicking here.

Faith and Science

Cooling to Global Warming

by Clay Staggs

Believe it or not, even the BBC is admitting that, for the past 10 years, the earth has not gotten any warmer. Read it all here.

If Al Gore is right, how is this possible? The Beeb article blames La Nina, but that doesn’t seem very persuasive to me. After all, if we’re warming the plant so with our rapacious appetite for all things CO2-generating that we’re melting the ice caps and killing the polar bears, then how can the Pacific Ocean possibly cool down - even cool down enough to cool the planet?

Moreover, there have been nothing but increases in the worldwide production of CO2 for the last 10 years. Yet, no warming? One might be tempted to think that one had nothing to do with the other.

The Beeb assures us with the pontifications of many climate change luminaries that this is merely an aberrant year (or decade - whatever), and that soon we’ll have a really, really hot year. Wow - who could possibly foresee that?

Looking at this from my perspective as a Christian who believes that God is sovereign over his creation, this is all a bunch of hooey. Who will thwart the will of God? If God intends for an ice age to come over the earth (as it has in the past - before anthropogenic C02 production, mind you), all the greenhouse gases in the universe won’t stop it. Moreover, the arrogance of man to think that he (a) understands the intricate workings of all the forces (literally ranging from outer space to the depths of the oceans) that affect climate and (b) can change that climate is mind-boggling.

Faith and Science

The Odd Couple

by Tim Lien

R.C. Sproul interviews Ben Stein about his documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
You can watch it by clicking here. (It’s about 28 minutes long)

All of the basic philisophical questions come up.

At one point, Stein is impressed with Sproul’s breadth of knowledge. (at approx. 26:30, if you want to skip to that part)

Faith and Science

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

by Tim Lien

Ben Stein is releasing a documentary this month about how scientists are summarily dismissed and blackballed if they question Darwinism. Trailer below:

Faith and Science

Kirk Cameron the New Aquinas?

by Tim Lien

Refining his theological acumen in the serene cloisters of Hollywood, Kirk Cameron is out to “prove the existence of God without an iota of faith.” Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort debated the Rational Response Squad in NYC, moderated by Martin Bashir. Story here.

Question: Is he the best representative we have? Question: Is it healthy to dichotomize faith and science (again)? Question: Once God’s existence is proven, what makes someone want him?

Faith and Science

In a Related Story…..

by Jeff Miller

We have talked a bit about Richard Dawkins- author of The God Delusion and Oxford Professor. His book came up several times during the Sunday School sessions on faith & science. Wednesday night at the Alys Stephens Center in B’ham, he and John Lennox (fellow Oxford prof- mathematician and chaplain) will be having a debate concerning such things as the existence of God. It will be broadcast live on the local Moody (88.9) radio station from 7-9 pm.

It has become a rare opportunity to have an actual debate of this kind in a world where truth has become tantamount to opinion and ideas have no significant consequence. Should be interesting.

Faith and Science

I’m Glad That’s Settled

by Clay Staggs

So, I’m going about my ordinary day, doing my work, and while on the net found a link that said this:

“Parallel Universes Exist - Study”

Intrigued, I clicked through and found this article.

Now, I am surely not a mathematician or physicist, but this seems a bit much. These “Oxford scientists” have proved - on paper - that alternative universes exist? That, in fact, for every possibility in the physical world, the universe splits, one universe pursuing each possibility, and leaving us with an infinite number of universes?

I just want to know one thing, then. How do I get to the universe where Clay Staggs leads a life of leisure on the beach, instead of getting up and schlepping to work every day?

Wait a minute! If there are infinite universes where every alternative happens, how do I know I’m not really supposed to be in that Clay-on-the-beach universe instead of this one, and have just been abducted to this one by the alternate universe Clay, who is, even as I type this, on my alternate universe beach drinking my alternate universe beer?

Hmmm…..

Faith and Science

Appeasing the Gods of Carbon Neutrality

by Clay Staggs

If everything goes as planned, the United Kingdom will, by Easter of next year, have one of the most thoroughgoing, restrictive, and invasive laws regarding the emission of carbon dioxide of any nation on the planet. Under the terms of the law, within the next ten years, all new homes would have to be “carbon neutral” - whatever that means - and existing homes would face a “home energy audit” by the government, one presumes. And those who fail such an inspection would, in the words of the British Environment Minister, face “painful” financial sanctions. Read all about this monstrosity here.

Is it just me, or is this whole global warming/environmentalist movement going from being absurd to frightening? I’ve heard this movement described as worshiping the creation instead of the creator, and I think that’s spot-on. In fact, it’s more like some old B-movie about a jungle tribe trying to pacify their angry gods with self-sacrifice. But instead of sacrificing a virgin, the modern take on this is to sacrifice the Suburban for a bike.

It just all seems so phony-baloney to me. I’m not advocating waste, and I know that we’re commanded to be good stewards of the earth. However, the heights to which this “crisis” has been elevated are amazing. Think about the last time that a Western democracy did something as invasive of individual privacy as inspecting every home for compliance with some law or as economically disruptive as the proposed caps on CO2 emissions will be. World War II is about as close as you can come. It wasn’t this bad fighting the commies, a much more real and lethal danger to Western civilization than car exhaust.

I don’t know what displays the greater arrogance - that man think that he holds the power to change the very temperature of the earth, or that he thinks that laws mandating the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs can change it back. Whichever it is, one thing that’s certain is that when the kind of far-reaching power that the UK Climate Bill proposes is granted to government, it will be abused.

Faith and Science

Nomenclature and Classification as Scientific Truth

by Tim Lien

Last week, in Chester England, scientists revealed the five Komodo dragons that were born in captivity to Flora, their mother (also a Komodo dragon.)

Nothing is exceptional about this fact, except that Flora had not been exposed to a male Komodo—thus, making this, essentially an asexual and “virgin” birth. You can read all about it here.

Scientists were shocked when this happened, because there had not been a documented occurrence of this kind among Komodo dragons. So, before this event, scientists could forcefully say: “Komodo dragons do not asexually reproduce. They never have. They are not among the species that can participate in the process of parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction) And they never will.” But then Flora went and got asexually impregnated.

So to explain this puzzling turn of events (which stymied true explanation) respected scientists simply changed their current frame of reference and allowed for parthenogenesis to occur within the species of Komodo dragon.

Interestingly enough, Science has generally followed this pattern: 1) Refuse to accept the unknowable and non-tangible. 2) If it has to be accepted due to overwhelming tangible evidence, then name it. And by naming and classifying it, you limit it. You limit the occurrence of Phenomena. (Incidentally, naming is a powerful tool throughout the biblical record.)

And so, dear Science, I would like to submit a scientific designation for something you deem unknowable, so that together, we can limit its occurrence and change the current scientific framework: theotokos: mother of God, or if that is unsuitable, perhaps, Incarnationus Deum: the incarnation of God.