Friday, February 26, 2010

Interview with Satan About Views on Church


This one speaks for itself! Click on the link below to watch Christian speaker Craig Groeschel conduct an "interview" with the devil. Humorous, but some good points are raised!:





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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

S.O.S. for Darwin


It's time again to discuss evolution. Not from the standpoint that I will attempt to prove or disprove it; many people smarter than I have tried to do that, and have neither succeeded or failed. In fact, many people are simply more or less puzzled by the theory in general. Dr. Francis Collins says it is an undeniable fact. Dr. Michael Behe says it is fiction. Many reputable scientists believe it, over 100 other reputable scientists have gathered together to sign a document called 'A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.' We may never know (at least in the near future) who is right. What I am more concerned about in this article is loosely outlining some of the things that make me nervous when it comes to the theory of evolution. Namely, what author Lee Strobel calls the 4 Icons of Evolution. Lets look below at each of these, and then the reasons why they make me nervous.

1.) The Miller Experiment. Remember him? This is the man who claimed to have proved that a livable atmosphere could come into being via random chance; as long as the necessary constituents were present. The problem is that there is now almost NO evidence that the early earth consisted of a primitive ammonia-methane atmosphere. Most have now abandoned this experiment as a legitimate proof for anything - yet it remains in current science text books!

2.) Tree of Life. This is the diagram showing how apes evolved into modern day humans. Very compelling upon first glance. The problem is that these are drawings, not real-life photos. Also occurrences that have come to light since Darwin's time - such as the Cambrian explosion - help reduce the idea that life evolved slowly with thousands of transitional species. It is an excellent depiction of Darwin's theory, but not such an excellent demonstration of reality based on the fossil record.

3.) Haeckel's Embryos. This was the compelling picture of early stage embryos of different animals compared to a human embryo, showing all the similarities. This, in effect, was supposed to show that if traced back far enough, we all "looked the same" biologically. The problem is that these were also drawings, and that it has been later discovered that Haeckel cherry-picked his embryos, and also made illustrations of the different embryos at different stages in their development; comparing apples to oranges so to speak. He was first accused of fraud in the late 1860's by his own colleagues! Haeckel had used the same wood-cuts to produce the appearance of similarity in the drawings, due to his confidence that time would prove him right.

4.) Archaeopteryx. This was the half bird / half reptile fossil that appeared in National Geographic some years ago. It was slated as the "missing link." Problem is that this was later proved to be all bird, and not a half-and-half transitional form. Yet it is still discussed as a fact which helps prove evolution even today! A spin-off fossil named archaeoraptor was later pointed to in order to provide Darwinian proof also. It was later discovered (I'm not making this up) that someone had glued a tail onto the end of a bird, and faked the discovery.

Granted these are only 4 pieces of evidence, but they helped shape some of the modern day atheists I think. They were certainly presented as facts when I was in school. I have watched numerous debates in an attempt to collect more compelling evidence, but I find that even authors like Dan Dennett and Richard Dawkins cannot seem to nail the coffin of doubt shut for me. The debate rages on. Both sides of the debate have eloquent speakers. Both sides contend to have truth on their side. I am still nervous.

What I think is happening is this. People from both sides of the fence are falling into the trap of thinking that if evolution is true, it must erase God. Microevolution may very well be true, in fact it probably is. There is actually a lot of evidence for this; small changes occurring within the same species. Macroevolution on the other hand seems a stretch for me; the idea that we can take this theory on a minor scale, and use it to explain the origin of life on a larger scale seems highly implausible.

What then is the answer? What is the reason I listed off the 4 Icons of Evolution? I believe these things (and others like them) have succeeded only in causing confusion. Evolution I think is a giant McGuffin or Red Herring. In other words: if macroevolution is true, you can still have God. If in 30 years or so we find that it isn't true at all, you can still have God. This theory as a mechanism for human development neither subtracts from Scripture, nor discredits the thousands of personal testimonies of believers everywhere who know God is real, nor does it detract from the onslaught of scientific evidence out there that points directly to a Creator. Let's hope we use evolution neither as a crutch OR a hurdle. Trust me, God is still God either way.


* Evidence taken from The Case for a Creator, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, Darwin on Trial, and Icons of Evolution.



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So What do Priorities Matter?


When we address the issue of priority, we can go many different directions. One way is to address where we put God in relationship to the other things going on in our life. To take myself for example, I find that I often fill up my time with things that lead to no real fruitful end -- video games, surfing the web, watching movies for instance. These things are my bad habits. But even the things that our culture normally considers "good" (such as working hard, reading a book, or managing finances for example) can get us into a bind if we aren't' careful. These things, among others, make us "busy."

If we look at Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament, we get an interesting bit of wisdom from Solomon regarding priority. The Scripture below talks about the accumulation of wealth and "stuff", but I think what it also addresses is where we place our priorities... where we are storing up our 'treasure':

"I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." Ecc 2:10-11.

Where in all of our toil and busyness is God? How often I find myself thinking "I'm too busy to pray," or "I can't squeeze Bible study in this week," or even my personal favorite: "God will understand." And then back to those other pursuits I go. After all, I'm BUSY, right? Now not all of this is bad. There are good things also. There is raising children, attending to our spouse, etc. But the issue is not if we do these things or if we don't do them, but rather, does God take priority in all of it? Are we honoring our vow to Him?

We are God's children first. We are husbands and wives and brothers and sisters second. We (who are born again) wrote God a love letter when we accepted His son and became baptised. We were adopted into the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. We must honor this down payment of Grace. He will honor His part.


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Interesting Quote


"Does your problem seem bigger than life, bigger than God himself? It isn't. God is infinitely bigger than any problem you ever had or will have, and every time you call a problem unsolvable, you mock God."


- Bill Hybels



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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Welcome to the Blog


Welcome back everyone. If it has been a while since you have visited - it's good to have you back. Please feel free to search around and leave comments with your opinion. On this site I make an honest attempt to defend God and Christ in the face of a smorgasbord of differing beliefs out there. Hope you enjoy!


If there is a question you have that hasn't been addressed by any of the articles on this blog, feel free to send me an email. I will try to get back to everyone in a reasonable amount of time. Otherwise, I usually respond to comment posts.


- Jon


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Monday, February 1, 2010

Interesting Quote


"Are you trying to define God based on your 'God-Box'? Everyone has a God-Box, it is a little sphere that holds all of your views about what God should be, and what He should or shouldn't do. With Jesus, God was trying to brake through people's God-Boxes. He was trying to say, 'Listen up... this is who I REALLY am!'"


- Andy Stanley (as paraphrased from his talk Belief in God; It's Personal)


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Resurrection Sunday Still Matters

The literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is the linchpin of the Christian faith.  It doesn't matter which denomination or slant ...