Our Lord and God is Christ, Our Message is His Gospel, and Our Context is God's Love.
Let’s start the discussion we should have had long ago.
Is Islam a religion of peace? Yes or no
And
How do we know? What is the basis for our conclusion?
A rational civil discussion.
Insults and crude language will be removed from comments.
A debate was scheduled at the Oxford Museum of Natural History between Atheist Richard Dawkins and Christian Denesh DeSuza, who was called away at the last minute for a family emergency. Luckily Dr. John Lennox was in the crowd and graciously accepted the offer to take DeSuza’s place. Much to Richard Dawkins shagrin.
You see, the two of them debated once before, and Dawkins has apparently been reluctant to debate Lennox ever since.
You will enjoy this.
February 8, 2017
Christ Centered Teaching
Leave a comment
Darwin didn’t know in 1838 what we know now after decades of scientific research.
The missing link on which Darwin’s theory depends, never existed.
Darwin’s theory has evolved into an epic fail.
Darwin’s”science” can’t pass the test of scientific method.
Darwin’s theory of “Differences of Kind” does not stand up to it’s own test of ,”Observable Evidence”.
Darwin’s theory unravels with the introduction of “millions of years” thus again failing the “Observable Evidence” test.
Darwin’s “finches” show only adaptation, not what Darwin theorized to be “Differences of Kind”.
Neither biology or the fossil record show any proof in the form of “Observable Evidence” of “Differences of Kind” or transitional links in kinds among the 14 species of living things.
As time goes on, the evolution of scientific sophistication and accumulation of scientific evidence only confirms what we were told in the beginning.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
(Gen 1:1 NKJV)
December 22, 2014
Christ Centered Teaching
5 Comments
Compare this digital rendering of Human DNA with the stained glass window below it. DNA is magnificently ordered. Information with order is proof of intelligent origin.
The book of Genesis in the Bible records that God spoke all things into existence. God spoke and it was. DNA is an echo of what God said.
The question of origin is one of the biggest questions in life.
The answer to the source of life, our origin, could help answer the other big questions of, meaning, morality, and destiny.
The problem is that ideas and theories formed before the discovery of DNA.
And the facts about DNA unfolded little by little over decades, almost completely without being noticed for the deepest meaning of DNA.
Darwin formed his theory of Evolution long before DNA was even discovered, and even longer before we would discover the complexity of DNA.
DNA is not a complexity that is born out of randomness, but it is a complexity that is highly sophisticated and ordered.
In fact, the complexity of DNA transcends the realm of science and ushers us into the realm of the miraculous. Scientists agree despite themselves.
Sir Francis Crick for instance, who took credit for discovering the incredibly ordered appearance of the Double Helix form of DNA,
believed aliens must have brought DNA to Earth.
But in time we would learn that even Crick’s theory of alien supreme beings sending life on our planet only moves the question of a intelligent engineer / creator back one step without answering the question at all.
We are left to then ask, who was the supreme being who engineered and created the aliens ?
Later Crick would partially concede by calling the presence of life as we know it, Almost a miracle.
The issue here is that the universe is not old enough for random chance to assemble our level of complexity, and the same is then true for all life in the universe, such as alien life forms.
Mathematicians cannot find evidence to support Darwin’s theory of Evolution. On the contrary. When they calculated the odds of time plus matter plus chance arriving at complex human protein formation, they discovered the odds of Darwin’s theory are,”beyond ridiculous”. Even with 13 billion years since the Big Bang, our human proteins could not have formed by chance.
But we have understood far more about human proteins than we understand about our DNA language, which appears far more complex than proteins. Yes, DNA is a language. Remember that God spoke all things into existence?
One recent discovery, for example, is that geneticists recently found another layer of DNA that was previously “hidden” , it works in harmony with the previously known DNA.
And before that, scientists discovered that DNA that was labeled as unnecessary or “junk DNA” , is in fact absolutely necessary and serves functions we could not have previously envisioned.
It took years to map Human DNA, but mapping DNA is not understanding DNA. Scientists who know DNA best say that understanding the DNA language will keep them busy for the next 100 years.
Even if the universe was several times older than 13 billion years, the complexity of DNA could not have formed by random chance.
To put it in contrast, we are told that the universe has 10 to the 85th power total atoms. That’s the number ten followed by 85 zeros. A big number for sure.
Now picture a number 471 times bigger than that. That is the odds that life came into being by Darwinian random chance. It really is beyond ridiculous. That is 10 to the 40,000th power against Darwinian theory.
Even if the the presence of carbon in the universe halved that number, as some proposed, it would still be beyond ridiculous to believe Darwin.
Each strand of DNA contains 3.1 Billion bits of highly ordered information. The recently discovered additional layer of hidden DNA will no doubt increase that number above the 3.1 Billion bits of information. Our universe is 13 billion years old. You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to see evolutionary random chance simply could not have the time to assemble our DNA.
Even Hawking can’t understand the complexity of why the universe goes to,“all the bother of existing”.
Apparently Hawking discovered that in the properties of the laws of physics, the big bang had to be precise withing 1 Quintillionth of a second or the universe would have immediately re-collapsed on itself.
This was only one of some 31 contingent events that all had to happen with such exact properties and in precise correlation to each of the other that it would take more faith to believe the Big Bang happened by mere random chance than it would to believe the Big Bang was carefully orchestrated by God.
Hawking confidently stated that the universe didn’t need God?
Why does the scientific society cling to old scientific theories that have been proven false by newer scientific fact ?
That question is an even tougher one to answer.
What we now know about DNA means that it takes more faith to believe in evolution than to believe that God is our Creator.
As time goes on and scientific gains are made in all areas of proven scientific fact, all facts increasingly support the miraculous and Biblical account of God as Author and Creator.
Science really is discovering how God did it.
God spoke, and it was, and at the core of life DNA echoes what God said. Information with order equals intelligence. The all knowing intelligence of God.
Consider this. God made us for a relationship with Him. And God has gone to even greater lengths to make a way for us back to Him.
As it is written in God’s word about Jesus in the Bible.
“giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”
(Colossians 1:12-16)
May 24, 2014
Christ Centered Teaching
2 Comments
“For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.”
(Heb 4:2 NKJV)
18 inches is approximately the distance between the human heart and head.
It has been described as the longest distance we will ever travel.
And in the twenty first century western humanity is suffering from a pandemic of decapitation between our hearts and heads.
That is why this verse was very important to understanding the supremacy of faith in relation to how we grasp God’s truths from the Bible.
I remember how this scripture impacted me when I first realized that I was accustomed to filtering truth from error by intellect alone!
But God lives above this realm we live in. He created the natural realm with all it entails,but He is not subject to the laws of nature, for God is Supernatural.
Even our minds stumble at the thought of the miraculous.
But what is miraculous to us is quite simple to God.
Indeed, it is pure intellectual contempt and out right denial to even judge the possibility of the existence of an all powerful God by the laws of the natural realm that a true God could transcend in the first place.
God’s truths transcend the laws of logic and reason, just as God’s limitless power transcends the laws of physics ,nature and science in general.
All our science, truth, and natural laws coincide with God’s and even point back to Him as the single source of everything, but even science has repeatedly hit it’s head against the undeniable fact of the miraculous in all disciplines of nature from DNA to the Cosmos.
Our greatest science has only yielded greater questions that repeatedly defy scientific explanations and can only be explained by a transcendent miraculous being, the same being known for eons as God,Yahweh, Jehovah.
In light of the possibility of existence of a miraculous being, miracles make perfect sense.
Why has this verse been changed in so many new translations when it’s truth is so vitally important and needed?
The ESV, NIV 2011, and many others have caved to evolutionary science influences and a general Christlessness that has permeated western Christianity.
This can only attributed to the continued downward slide of western Christianity into the prophetic apostasy of the last days before Christ’s return.
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
(2Tim 3:1-4 NKJV)
Christ Centered Teaching hopes to serve as a reminder to both this teacher and all seekers of truth that Christ alone is the source of all truth, the way to live.
Jesus is the life everlasting, and the only way to an eternal destiny of all we ever sought and hoped for.
Jesus Christ is the Divine God, Creator, Saviour, and Lover of Lost Souls who died for them, was buried and in three days He rose in victory over death. He gives eternal life to all who believe by faith and ask Him to come into their hearts.
Christ fills those hearts to overflowing.
Simply ask and by FAITH receive the gift of eternal life from the all knowing , all powerful, miraculous Lover of our souls.
Christ is more than words can describe, but I will continue to try to give readers a glimpse of who He is, but the one absolutely essential ingredient in knowing Jesus Christ is faith.
Without faith we cannot know Him or hope to know God.
With faith, we become family of God.
May 8, 2014
Christ Centered Teaching
Leave a comment
We are saved by Grace. We know this as God’s unconditional and unmerited love.
Some very wise people question, “How can God’s love be unconditional if I will be sent to Hell for all eternity if I reject Christ as my Savior.”
The answer is found in the realization of understanding the difference between God’s unconditional love to us,
(God so loved the World)
Christ’s having satisfied those conditions for us,
(That He gave His only Son)
and our having met the only condition for the restoration of a relationship with God.
(that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
God personally settled the condition for us to be restored to a relationship to Him.
He took responsibility for our debt on Himself.
All He asks is that we freely receive His offer.
He will also allow us to reject Him,
But we must then accept responsibility for that decision
ourselves.
————————————-
The following link is to a half hour audio on this subject.
I gave it my own title because the audio actually covers a lot of theological ground , but covered this subject well here.
In this audio, the speaker reveals how he is often invited to speak with some of the world’s richest and most influential people.
On one occasion, the speaker was invited to go on a private yacht owned by a very wealthy man who had recently come to Christ through attending an event.
Before the speaking event, this man told the speaker that he only came to fulfill a promise to his own wife that he would be there.
Ravi then told the man that having fulfilled his promise to be there, he could leave at any time while he is speaking if he chooses, and that would be okay.
Instead, the man accepted Christ as his Savior at the event.
This man then invited many of his own friends, and the speaker, to a private yacht cruise along the coast of Sicily.(perhaps in hope they would find new life in Christ as well).
This audio tells of a man on that cruise who also became a Christian when he finally understood true love and relationships all have conditions for them to exist.
Yacht (Photo credit: WaterpoloSam)
“It has been said that when human beings stop believing in God they believe in nothing. The truth is much worse: they believe in anything.”
Malcolm Muggeridge
Our Declaration of independence reads,”We hold these truths to be self-evident”…
So what happens when a previously free society no longer accepts Absolute Truth?
If; “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free,” then to deny the truth means you will loose your freedom.
Government becomes a kind of god because selfish people no longer behave responsibly with their freedoms.
Government gets big.
Government takes more and more.
The people stop providing for themselves and become slaves to the government.
Totalitarianism is inevitable to those who deny truth and the personal responsibility that comes with knowledge of the Truth.
Freedom cannot survive as our one and only truth.
Freedom is the result of acceptance and application of Truth.
Truth sets us free.
Without it we are slaves.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
(John 8:32 ; 36)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)
June 15, 2013
Christ Centered Teaching
Leave a comment
Demolition (Photo credit: hoskarsson)
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
― George Orwell
“Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.”
― Blaise Pascal
Deconstructionism of truth is prevalent in today’s society.
“There are no absolutes”, is the theme of Deconstructionism.
(also known as Relativism,Existentialism and Postmodernism)
The negative effects are broad and damaging to society, industry, and politics.
No facet of society is left unharmed by the denial of truth.
Until we believe there are truths that we can believe in, we will have nothing in which we can invest belief, for truth is the subject,and belief is the action.
Conversely, to the degree that we are sure of that which we believe, to that same degree we will have confidence, courage, and willingness to take risk.
Truth gives solid ground for the activation of belief, and belief attempts things that doubt ignores.
Belief is as essential to innovation as water is to life.
Truth, belief and innovative creativity are interdependent.
Truth inspires us to believe we can achieve new possibilities.
Truth is called,”light”, in the Bible, enabling us to see possibilities.
Without belief that something came be done that has never previously been done, nothing new would become reality,
because we would not believe it can be done, and would therefore not attempt to do it.
That is how truth fosters belief ,creativity and innovation.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)
Related articles
June 7, 2013
Christ Centered Teaching
4 Comments
A bible from 1859. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“It is impossible to enslave, mentally or socially, a bible-reading people. The principles of the bible are the groundwork of human freedom.”
― Horace Greeley
“Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?”
(The Apostle Paul – Galatians 4:16)
The vast majority of modern Americans believe everything is relative and there are no absolutes.
Deconstructionism of truth, and the growing sceptisism regarding the authority ,accuracy and relevance of the Bible as the source of all truth, is creating a generation of people who feel lost and alone.
In this environment, anyone who has absolute faith and belief in a given truth, and states it as such, will likely be considered rude, pushy ,over bearing ,and judgemental.
The inevitable degradation of society will follow any people who abandon truth.
Without truth as a basis for what can be known, we cannot hope to solve the problems we face because we cannot build upon what is known since we deny that anything can be known!
“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
(John 17:17)
The source of truth is the Bible. The living , breathing Word of God is Jesus Christ.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
(John 1:1-5)
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
(John 1:14,15)
May the light of truth of Jesus Christ the Savior, shine in our hearts and minds.
Related articles
June 5, 2013
Christ Centered Teaching
Leave a comment
Brumidi, Constantino – Apotheosis of Washington, detail E Pluribus Unum – 1865 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
E Pluribus Unum, (Out of Many ,One), is part of the history that made us a great nation and that made the world a better place for many.
We need an anthem of basic truths that inspires us to live in unity again.
These basic truths once formed a general basis for consensus,unity, and resolve for improving our society.
Without a clear definition of right and wrong, truth and error, everything will be a blend of gray without clear meaning.
To solve problems, reach solutions, make a diagnosis,theory, hypothesis, create, and improve anything, we need known truths to build upon.
(Educated guesses if you will, things we can say we are confident we know).
And the more sure we are, the bolder we will be in our attempts to make solutions to problems.
And the more of us who agree on basic truths, the more frequent and soon we will come to consensus on issues that demand our solution.
But without basic fundamental truths to unite us, we will remain divided, and will fall.
Without a basic assumption that anything can be known, we cannot hope to begin to reason solutions to our problems
by building educated guesses upon known fact and truth
because we deny that truth even exists!
(such as presuppositions, ideological underpinnings, hierarchical values, and frames of reference)
Truth activates belief, and belief attempts things that doubt ignores.
This is the heart of realizing new realities and achievement.
Related terms are postmodernism, existentialism, and deconstructionism, but what all of these terms have in common is the abandonment of surety in truth.
Without the ability to say with can be confident of anything, we will likely lack the confidence to do or achieve anything.
This is also true in our attempts to create art or theater, be it novel or feature-length movie.
Is it any wonder that good theater seems more miss than hit?
Is it any wonder that the great art, theater and literature is in the past, or is based upon older literature or re-made movies ?
Is it any wonder that the overall approval ratings of government and officials is at an all time low?
Is it any wonder that the greater portion of change our politicians bring is for the worse?
Is it any wonder that political parties almost always make decisions down party lines ?
Is it any wonder that scientific and political debate quickly degrades into personal attacks?
Is it any wonder that thoughtless and absurd political dealings threaten the fabric and integrity of our American government ?
(These men and women are supposed to represent our finest leaders and patriots).
Is it any wonder that ,”we the people”, are often called,” we the sheeple”?
(If we deny the ability to absolutely believe anything we will likely fall for anything).
Is it any wonder that the best days of American ingenuity seem to be behind us?
Yet,we can rediscover truth as a nation and a people.
We can build the basic absolute truths that serve as a basis for consensus.
“Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.”
(John 14:6)
Jesus is the truth.
If we reject Jesus, we reject the truth, we lose the way, and we forfeit life as a people, and a nation.
If we know Him we know truth.
Jesus is the way. If we know Him we know the way.
Jesus is life. If we know Him we know life.
This is where you can start.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
(John 3:16)
Jesus Falls Beneath the Cross (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
(Yes. It is that simple. Jesus did all the heavy lifting on the cross).
Just believe and receive Him and His love gift of life that He bought with His blood for you.
Pray ,and He will hear you.
Write me, and I will rejoice with you.
And I pray that we all can one day soon, rejoice in unity as a nation.
Out of many, one.
Francis Schaeffer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Written in 1984 ,Francis Schaeffer’s last book “Marking the Watershed” reads like a prophetic foretelling of what our future would look like if we fail to put Christ first in our hearts. In fact, it reads like a prequel to Ravi Zacharias‘s 2013 open letter to America.
Schaeffer uses a watershed as an illustration.
A Watershed is a place where snow would accumulate in the mountain peaks, and is it melts, the water would separate go in opposite directions and eventually end thousands of miles apart.
Schaeffer saw this beginning to happen to Christianity in regards to Biblical infallibility among evangelical Christian leaders as early as the early 1970’s.
My summary-Christianity ,in the past, has influenced the moral consensus for political debate, art, and books and movies in the United States of America, and the World. Now we are the minority, and so is our ability to influence culture.
As I’ve said before ,the will of the people is good so long as the people are good .</strong
These following excerpts,though almost thirty years old, resonate with current relevance.
“the Bible’s absolutes provide a consensus within which freedom can operate. But once the Christian consensus has been removed, as it has been today, then the very freedoms which have come out of the Reformation become a destructive force leading to chaos in society.” Francis Schaeffer
“The primary emphasis of biblical Christianity is the teaching that the infinite-personal God is the final reality, the Creator of all else, and that an individual can come openly to the holy God upon the basis of the finished work of Christ and that alone. Nothing needs to be added to Christ’s finished work, and nothing can be added to Christ’s finished work. But at the same time where Christianity provides the consensus, as it did in the Reformation countries (and did in the United States up to a relatively few years ago), Christianity also brings with it many secondary blessings. One of these has been titanic freedoms, yet without those freedoms leading to chaos, because the Bible’s absolutes provide a consensus within which freedom can operate. But once the Christian consensus has been removed, as it has been today, then the very freedoms which have come out of the Reformation become a destructive force leading to chaos in society. This is why we see the breakdown of morality everywhere in our society today — the complete devaluation of human life, a total moral relativism, and a thoroughgoing hedonism.”
“Without a strong commitment to God’s absolutes, the early church could never have remained faithful in the face of the constant Roman harassment and persecution. And our situation today is remarkably similar as our own legal, moral, and social structure is based on an increasingly anti-Christian, secularist consensus.”
The New Neo-Orthodoxy
There is only one way to describe those who no longer hold to a full view of Scripture. Although many of these would like to retain the evangelical name for themselves, the only accurate way to describe this view is that it is a form of neo-orthodox existential theology. The heart of neo-orthodox existential theology is that the Bible gives us a quarry out of which to have religious experience, but that the Bible contains mistakes where it touches that which is verifiable — namely history and science. But unhappily we must say that in some circles this concept now has come into some of that which is called evangelicalism. In short, in these circles the neo-orthodox existential theology is being taught under the name of evangelicalism.
Martin Luther said, “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.” (1)
“For the existentialist it is an illusion to think that we can know anything truly, that there is such a thing as certain objective truth or moral absolutes. All we have is subjective experience, with no final basis for right or wrong or truth or beauty. This existential world view dominates philosophy, and much of art and the general culture such as the novel, poetry, and the cinema.”
May 22, 2013
Christ Centered Teaching
3 Comments
Bust of Aristotle. Marble, Roman copy after a Greek bronze original by Lysippos from 330 BC; the alabaster mantle is a modern addition. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
God created man in His image.
Aristotle identified three primary areas of influence and response that comprise the mind, heart, and soul of mankind.
He called them Ethos, Pathos, and logos.
God is sovereign and all Powerful- this is Ethos
God is the author of wisdom and is all knowing- this is Logos
God is Love and so loved the world He gave His Son – this is Pathos
The Psalms puts it this way;
Psalms 139:1-4 “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.”
God knows us, understands us, comprehends us altogether because He loves us.
His pathos brought His ethos and logos to our rescue.
His pathos / love bridged the gap between us and God through Christ.
God wants our love as well.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6)
The most remarkable thing about what God requires from us is that He gave all of himself for us in Christ first.
He expressed all His ethos, pathos, and logos for our benefit through the cross.
Is God not worthy of all our love in return?
April 29, 2013
Christ Centered Teaching
2 Comments
Our genetic code is language, and is but a record of what,”God said.”
Lee Stroeble , former Court Journalist for the Chicago Sun Times, presents the overwhelming scientific evidence found in our DNA to support the Biblical God as our Creator.
Using the Story line from the movie,”Contact”, Stroeble makes his case.
Stroeble points out that Carl Sagan said that if we ever received an ordered message with content from outer space, then we could reasonably conclude that the message originated from intelligent life.
Though Sagan denied God as creator, his claim for ,”order with content,”as proof of Intelligence would come years after his death in modern Genetic scientific discoveries in DNA.
The Bible record of creation in the book of Genesis repeats the words,”God said”,11 times during the creation of the world and all living things.
The correlation between Genesis and the language of DNA at the core of all living things means our genetic code is but a record of what,”God said.”
DNA is a ,”message with content,” far more sophisticated than our greatest minds can fully grasp.
DNA is a coded language so sophisticated that our greatest minds still can’t fathom it fully, and those most familiar with the ongoing work say we will be deciphering it for the next 100 years. (Genetic Encyclopedia Project,ENCODE, 2012)
Appendix
The 3% of our DNA that is “STRUCTURAL” meaning that it defines our biological characteristics, has been mapped.
The rest of our DNA appears to work as a series of switches comprising a communicational network for our structural information, and was previously considered random ,”junk”.
It is this apparent communication network that we know least about.
This is the part of our DNA that is subject to discovery.
JUNK DNA- May Not Be Junk After All
(Quoted from Gene exchange no 2, 1996)In another reminder that we may not understand the full ramifications of genetic engineering, Science magazine recently reported new work on the function of genetic material*. Scientists have long been puzzled by the fact that fully 97% of the DNA in human cells does not code for proteins and appears to consist of meaningless sequences. The possibility that this apparently useless DNA has some as yet unknown function continues to tantalize scientists.The Science article reports on a paper suggesting that the non-coding 97% of the DNA, commonly referred to as junk DNA, might have a function.
The authors of the paper employed linguistic tests to analyze junk DNA and discovered striking similarities to ordinary language. The scientists interpret those similarities as suggestions that there might be messages in the junk sequences, although its anyone s guess as to how the language might work. (* F. Flam, Hints of a language in junk DNA, Science 266:1320, 1994)
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26,27)
April 7, 2013
Christ Centered Teaching
Leave a comment
Part 1 of 2
Part 2 of 2
Part 1 -This is the same interview from a different source in case the first one has been removed again-
Part 2 – This is the same interview from a different source in case the first one has been removed again-
“Mankind suffers from two excesses: to exclude reason, and to live by nothing but reason.” ~ Blaise Pascal~
Faith owns the comprehension of things eternal.
Reason owns the comprehension of things temporal.
The eternal transcends the temporal.
Carson did an incredible job interviewing Rand. Although the video is 26 minutes long, the basis for her beliefs and philosophy are revealed in the first few minutes.
He starts right off by asking her,“What are the basic principles of your definition of objectivity and of your philosophy you believe in ?”
Her answer said it all, “The basic principle of objectivism is that man must be guided exclusively by reason.”
This glaring hole in her philosophy exposes her atheism,which she openly professed to believe.
We all have the right and freedom to choose our own path and destiny, but to deny the laws that govern the means of arriving at our desired destination belong to our creator, whom she openly denies to exist.
“The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)
The laws of reason and nature do not dictate the actions or ability of the Creator.
Rather, God dictates the laws that apply to us, and He lives beyond those limitations.
To believe in God’s unlimited abilities is to have faith, which transcends reason.
The seeds of postmodernism can be found in her belief that we should arrive at the same moral truth purely by reason.
Time has proven Rand is wrong.
She believed that altruism and self interest were in opposition to each other and that society must choose one or the other.
Yet she even conceded to Carson that philosophy had many definitions for morality and what is ethical.
Rand believed in capitalism. What she failed to see was that capitalism only works so long as democracy is sustained.
Democracy is dependent on freedom, and freedom requires personal responsibility.
Personal responsibility requires a moral standard. Jesus is that standard, and His sacrifice is our model.
A moral standard is sameness.
This is where Ayn Rand has been proven wrong.
The predominate philosophy today is postmodernism, the belief that,”what you believe is okay for you and what I believe is okay for me.”
Postmodernism does not fulfill Rand’s vision of a single standard for morals and ethics.
Having come from an extreme socialist country, Russia, she clearly disavowed forced altruism,which is what socialism is.
But Rand however did not disavow Communism’s atheism. For had she embraced Christianity, she would have seen in Christ, the inspiration for self sacrifice that most of our founding fathers saw and followed.
Jesus Christ is the supreme symbol of moral standard many signers of our Declaration of Independence followed when they willfully gave their lives and possessions for a higher ideal.
Ayn Rand’s philosophy is anti-socialistic, which would appeal to fiscal conservatives who do not have a well developed religious philosophy.
The problem is that Ayn Rand’s philosophy is also fatally anti-democratic.
Selfishness leads to greed, which is not only morally wrong, it is killing our politics, banking system, government and people.
And when self becomes the god of a nation, democracy fails.
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (NIV Bible)
Proverbs 19:17 “He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord,
And He will pay back what he has given.”
“Mankind suffers from two excesses: to exclude reason, and to live by nothing but reason.” ~ Blaise Pascal~
September 9, 2012
Christ Centered Teaching
2 Comments
Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“Two things awe me the most. The starry sky above me, and the moral law within me.”
Immanuel Kant – 18 Th. Century philosopher
Kant’s works in mathematics were an early influence on Albert Einstein.
Influenced by Newton’s work, Kant correctly laid the theory for the formation of the universe from gaseous nebulas – in the late 1700’s !
Kant also correctly theorized that the Milky Way was composed mostly of stars like our sun.
Still, His works of philosophy and reason are seen as even greater contributions.
I find it very interesting that such a great thinker would find both creation and human conscience the two things that ,”awe,” him most.
The reason I say that is because the Bible speaks specifically to both as empirical witnesses of the existence of God.
“The Starry Sky Above Me”
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
(Romans 1:20)
“The Moral Law Within Me”
“Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)”
(Romans 2:14,15)
I believe the two immutable realities of the Moral Law Within and The Starry Sky Above are the reasons why those of use who resist them become angry so quickly and to such a severe degree.
April 27, 2012
Christ Centered Teaching
Leave a comment
We love because he first loved us.
1Corinthians 16:14 , 1John 4:19
Christ Centered Teaching 