Engage your brain before your mouth

In Victorian Literature this week, we are covering Darwin and Huxley and the general debate about evolution that occurred in Victorian England when Darwin published 'Origin of Species' and 'Descent of Man'. Sadly, one of the main readings consisted of an account of Huxley demolishing an English Bishop on the subject of evolution because the Bishop, quite frankly, didn't know what he was talking about.
There are so many things wrong about the theory of evolution that one does not have to be a world class biologist to see them. It takes some study and effort, but the time thus spent is worth it when you consider the cost of not spending it. When Christians open their mouths without knowing a) what they are talking about or b) what they really believe, they do nothing but destroy their own credibility.
The second part of our reading dealt with a Christian who attempted to suggest that God put fossils in the rock that give a false impression as to history in an attempt to test our faith. The point of this theory was to try to make both evolution and special creation valid. Macro-Evolution and Christianity are fundamentally opposed, one is based on death, disorder, and meaninglessness, whilst the other on Life, reason, and purpose. Christians do nothing but undermine themselves when they try to make arguments that they are either ignorant about or are unwilling to commit themselves to the Bible.
If you want to have an impact on the world, you must know what you are talking about and you must have a firm commitment to the infallibility of the bible. The Scriptures are unchanging, while scientists change their minds a couple of times a century.

In the Name of Clarity ...

To the left you will see that I have now several separate pages, one of which is the Arthurian Story. I'm still trying to figure out what the best format for this will be, but for right now its on a separate page.

When Men Are Angels

There once lived a young man, gifted beyond belief. Tall and strong with a tongue of silver, men followed his every thought, turning his visions into reality. The wise men of the city listened to him, and saw wisdom in all he said. His power grew until many recognized him as the ruler of their city.

As his age increased, so did his wisdom and power. Just laws were enacted throughout the land, the wicked were punished and the good were rewarded. With time, crime and murder were almost unheard of. Art and culture flourished, and the city became the wonder of the world, and the world looked on the people of the city, courteous, peaceful, and wise, and they said they must be as the angels of heaven.

On the borders of the city lived other cities who quickly accepted the man, now no longer young, as their ruler. So the empire was born, and it swiftly grew as great and beautiful and good as the city had been so that it was the wonder of the world.

Now, to the north of the empire lived barbaric peoples who lived a life of war and hardship. They dressed in animal skins and eked out a living from hunting and the little that would grow in the cold. They built no grand temples or vast cities, but wooden halls in which they drank away the harshness of their world.

So the people of the empire looked on these barbarians and saw the killing and the murdering and thought of their own peaceful cities. And they said to each other “Would it not be better if they were under our rule? Have we not been blessed with peace and goodness, and is it not our duty to spread our blessings to those who are more corrupt?”

So they gathered an army and marched north, ordering the barbarians to obey their laws and their customs. And they pointed to their cities, their healthy and peaceful families, and said “If you do as we tell you, you will be blessed with this.” And all who would not obey them they put to the edge of the sword.

So the barbarians looked at their own wars, and saw bloodshed and violence. Then they looked on the invaders and at the burning halls, violated women, and murdered infants, and determined that these invaders were the very demons of hell.

Should Be vs. Is Now

Over the last few days, a number of students at Texas A&M have been competing in jaw dropping competitions, seemingly astounded at the idiocy of students who want guns on campus or the stupidity of students who don't.

From what I have seen of both sides, the two arguments go something like this.

The right to bear arms is a fundamental right guaranteed by our Constitution. An armed campus is safer than an unarmed campus because you have a higher risk involved in opening fire on a class room when half the class might return fire. On an armed campus, gunmen cannot go on the kind of rampage that we saw at Virginia Tech, because students are armed and can stop them.

The reply to this is that first, arming students could be making it easier for psychopaths to get heavy weapons on campus (No one will report someone with an AK if its legal to carry them around). Second, students shouldn't be doing police work, and it would be way too easy for hotblooded teenagers to start throwing lead over emotional and academic problems.

In my opinion, the first argument is correct. It argues from where young people should be. If young people were responsible, I would have no problem with them wearing weapons to school. In early America ten year olds took their father's rifle to school in the winter.

Also, the second argument is correct, for it argues from where we are now. Lamentably, I believe that young people today do not have the responsibility or self control that ten year olds did in the past.

If I may make a proposition, why not arm professors? They have the responsibility lacking in younger students, and a blank fired off every now and then might help keep class awake.

Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Clearly!

Evolution is purely scientific, of course, nothing religious about it.

Evolution Made Us All from Ben Hillman on Vimeo.

This video really drives home the fact that evolution is a root of a larger philosophy that has something to say about everything. You can no more plug evolution into Christianity than you can plug theistic creation into atheism.

Really?

In a recent post on his blog Pharyngula, P.Z. Meyers makes the following statement in his discussion of atheists.

Dictionary Atheists. Boy, I really do hate these guys. You've got a discussion going, talking about why you're an atheist, or what atheism should mean to the community, or some such topic that is dealing with our ideas and society, and some smug [jerk] comes along and announces that "Atheism means you lack a belief in gods. Nothing more. Quit trying to add meaning to the term." As if atheism can only be some platonic ideal floating in virtual space with no connections to anything else; as if atheists are people who have attained a zen-like ideal, their minds a void, containing nothing but atheism, which itself is nothing. ...

If I ask you to explain to me why you are an atheist, reciting the dictionary at me, you are saying nothing: asking why you are a person who does not believe in god is not answered when you reply, "Because I am a person who does not believe in god." And if you protest when I say that there is more to the practice of atheism than that, insisting that there isn't just makes you dogmatic and blind.

Meyers has got this right, and it is something that people don't often realize. When you make a statement about the existence of God you are forced to make certain conclusions about the world if you are to remain consistent. Atheism has deep theological and scientific implications, and once you buy into a part of atheism, you buy into an interpretation of facts that is 1) not always consistent with itself, and 2)inconsistent with biblical thought.

This is why believing in an old earth is such a problem. Scientifically the claim is still questionable, and there are other conclusions that can be drawn from the scientific evidence. The belief that we live on an earth older than twelve thousand years old is one that was hammered out and and brought mainstream by the belief in evolution, a theory in and of itself diametrically opposed to the account given by Jehovah. In evolution, and belief in an old earth, death is a part of the fabric of the world, the driver of progress instead of a result of human sin, and how can you believe in a God who built death into the fabric of the world? If you want to read more on this, check out my post from a while ago Why does Creation Matter

Meyers' post is interesting, and I suggest that you read it, it gives an interesting look at atheism as some of the more influential and militant atheists see it. Also, just scanning his blog, you can see that all the man has to do if he wants to beat on Christianity before breakfast is scan the internet, find a few Christians making fools of themselves and walla! he's debunked christianity, again. Some of these people a good men who are fools in the world's eyes, but others are just simply being foolish. If Christians would take care of themselves and clean up our own act, we've have a lot easier time doing the Lord's work.

Interesting Note

I came across this the other day and was reminded of the perks of reading something in the original language. I have heard a lot about how reading stories in the original give an added dimension to that is lost in translations. Here is a practical example

In one Irish faerie tale, a son asks his father if he can have a certain castle for a day and a night. In the original language of the story, nouns worked something like they do in Greek, where there is no 'a' article. Instead, all nouns have the article 'the' attached to them when you are talking about a specific one. 'I see the sea' would have an article in front, while 'I see a sea' and 'I see sea' would look the same.

The father grants the son his wish and give him the castle for day and night. When the king comes to take possession of the castle the next morning, the son replies that it is his forever, for all of time is divided into day and night.

Unless you know original languages, you miss humorous things like this. Smart kid eh?

Don't feel to badly for the dad though, He was one of the faerie kings and owned more castles than his son had retainers.