8Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you;
rebuke a wise man and he will love you.
9Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still;
teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.
– Proverbs 9:8-9
]]>Even in Genesis, God “evolves” woman from man, taking a part of him and creating something new that did not exist before. This is absolutely testament that evolution happens and that God may indeed be at the center of its happening. Yet, pro-creation arguers insist that evolution doesn’t happen? This is absurd at best.
Similarly, the pro-evolution arguers insisting that such miraculous events could occur purely by random chance seems too optimistic for my tastes. We have very little evidence of “evolution gone horribly wrong” which would inevitably need to happen much more frequently than evolution getting it right to get us to where we are today. Yet, the fossil record is clearly lacking this proof. Apparently, the evolutionary stasis in the observed fossil record is clear.
Scientists have coined the term punctuated equilibrium to describe the short bursts of evolutionary improvement that happens. Why is it so hard to accept that these apparently miraculous core changes to a species wasn’t guided somehow? Believing that these rare and unlikely events, which now seems to not stem from constantly failed random attempts, can happen repeatedly is like winning the lottery every time you buy a ticket, and repeatedly buying tickets and winning every time! Sorry, that kind of luck is … Godlike, to say the least.
Tags: religion, creationism, evolution, punctuated equilibrium
]]>Now, I imagine for most parents who have gone through Sunday School and otherwise grew up in a church already have a bunch of favorite Bible verses. For me, this isn’t the case; I was only baptized at the end of 2005. I suppose I could skim through and try to find meaningful passages, but for some reason it just seems wrong to do that.
So, I put out a call to my Twitter friends asking for their favorite Bible verses and several people responded! Here’s the first few responses that came in:
- Micah 7:8 – “8Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall I will rise; Though I dwell in darkness, the LORD is a light for me.” [from @jaymartinez]
- Proverbs 31:8-9 – “8Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. 9Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” [from @jerseymomma]
- Leviticus 24:15 – “15And speak to the people of Israel, saying: Anyone who curses God shall bear the sin.” [from @jgrossberg]
- Exodus 21:17 – “17Whoever curses father or mother shall be put to death.” [from @jgrossberg]
- Matthew 6:28-34 – “28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” [from @suebob]
- Psalm 118:24 – “24This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” [from @suebob]
- John 14:18 – “18I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.” [from @suebob]
- 1 Corinthians 15:56 – “56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” [from @harda]
- John 14:6 – “6Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [from @ronaldbradford]
- Matthew 5:1-12 – The Beatitudes [from @ronaldbradford]
- Genesis 1:1 – “1In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,” [from @ronaldbradford]
Some of my own favorites (that aren’t included above) that I’ve learned so far through the few years I’ve been regularly attending Sunday services include:
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 – “4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.”
- Ephesians 2:8 – “8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—”
- Titus 3:5 – “5he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”
- Romans 12:2 – “2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
- John 13:34 – “34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
- James 1:5 – “5If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.”
- Hebrews 13:5 – “5Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’”
- Galatians 3:28 – “28There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
- James 2:14 – “14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?”
Do you have a favorite Bible passage that isn’t listed above? I’d really love to know what it is–tell me what it is in the comments below. Thanks.
Tags: religion, Sunday School, Bible
]]>11The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?
The first thought my mind produced, was, “Jesus, you has no bukkit.” I couldn’t help it, my mind went into full LOL mode. This was the internal dialogue that went on inside my head:
JESUS: GIMME DRINK.
WOMAN: LOL! WTF?
JESUS: GIMME DRINK, NAO!
WOMAN: O RLY? U HAS NO BUKKIT. HOW U GET WATER?
JESUS: YA RLY! I DRINK UR MILKSHAKE! I DRINK IT RITE UP! WE CAN BE BFF!
WOMAN: NO WAI! GIMME WATER!JESUS: I BEEN WATCHIN U FAP.
WOMAN: OMG! I SEE WHAT U DID THAR.
Yeah, pray for my immortal soul, or something.
(Before all you bright people point it out, yes, I know about the LOLcat Bible and there’s even a translation for John 4 already.)
Tags: Christianity, Bible, John 4, LOL, meme
]]>However, I attend a Lutheran church every week, and I play guitar for the children’s choir and sing in the church choir. I do this because I really like the people in the congregation, as well as the opportunity to share my love for performing music and singing with people.
How do you go about choosing a church? Think about it this way: choosing a church is like choosing a supermarket. Some folks go to the nearest one to their house. Some stick with a particular chain because they prefer it for whatever reason. Some go to the one that sells at the lowest prices. Some go to the ones that offer the highest quality product. Some go to the ones that give away free food samples.
Going to church is not so much about believing in God than it is about liking the community of people that attend church at a specific location. Your criteria for choosing a church will likely differ from someone else’s, but in the end if you go to church, go because it provides you with the value you’re looking for, not as a statement about your belief (or lack thereof) in God.
]]>
elfs (yes, that Elf) wrote in his LJ today about Ashley Evans’s rant and it helped me clarify some thoughts I’ve had for a while but couldn’t express in words.
As much as I tend to believe that some theory of evolution is more likely to be correct than some formulation of a creationist myth, I think it is fair to say that there’s a non-empty “gap” in The Theory of Evolution. I can explain why with one question: Which theory of evolution is The Theory of Evolution? The fact that I can ask that question demonstrates the flaw.
Is it Darwinian natural selection? Punctuated equilibrium? Something else entirely?
Ironically, while I said I tend to believe some form of evolutionary theory is correct as opposed to some creationist myth, I have a hard time accepting that any of the currently expressed theories of evolution to be the actually correct one, either.
But, I trust, through good science and rigorous discipline, we’ll continue to iterate towards the correct one.
]]>Steve: My coworker, who’s an orthodox Jew, believes ideas like CD players came from God because he can’t conceive how ideas like that can come from mere mortals. I tried to explain to him that ideas are a dime a dozen and the important key is actually doing it.
Dossy: Right. Motivation comes from God.
Because, mere mortals left to their own devices would just sit around naked and masturbate. You know, ’til we got kicked out of the Garden of Eden … and we realized being naked and masturbating was Not Good.
Dossy: That damned forbidden fruit.
Ah, any time you can mash up a world’s creation myth with masturbation, you’ve accomplished a masterwork. I’ve met my quota for the day.
Tags: religion, Christianity, God, heresy, funny
]]>
The season 1 finale episode, Parasite, aired recently. In it, there was an incredibly insightful piece of dialogue between Nathan Petrelli and Mr. Linderman:
Linderman: You see, I think there comes a time when a man has to ask himself whether he wants a life of happiness or a life of meaning.
Nathan: I’d like to have both.
Linderman: Can’t be done. Two very different paths. I mean, to be truly happy, a man must live absolutely in the present and with no thought with what’s gone on before, and no thought of what lies ahead. But a life of meaning, a man is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future. And my guess is that you’ve done quite a bit of obsessing about yours these last few days. (Nathan pulls out a gun) Now you can’t have any of my pot pie.
Linderman is certainly the God-character, holding unique knowledge about the nature of reality which has so puzzled all of the other characters. As mortals, we’re constantly torn between the two ends of the continuum, seeking out truth and meaning but also trying to find happiness. It’s very clear that they are indeed on two ends of a continuum and our very struggle is what keeps us in the middle of it.
I guess this quote was especially relevant given my recent state of mind.
]]>4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It hears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8Love never ends. [...]
Love is hard for me to be. Love is worth it.
]]>Upper- and lowercase
There are two kinds of evolution: Evolution with a capital E, the idea
that people came from rocks by random chance over billions of years–and
evolution with a small e, the theory that species adapt and change through
random mutations and natural selection. I fully agree that evolution has
been shown through scientific observation. But I strongly disagree that
Evolution is anything but a religious view. It can’t be repeated because
it’s a question of origins. It can never be observed because it supposedly
takes billions of years. And it violates at least two of the most
fundamental laws of science: the law of biogenesis
(life only comes from life) and the second law of thermodynamics
(everything in the universe is gradually increasing in chaos, not in order).
Let’s get the whole question of origins out of the science classroom. It has
no place there because it’s a question of history. Teach evolution, not
Evolution, and I don’t think anyone will argue.
(I added the links in the text above.)
When I read this, I couldn’t help but say to myself, “This is exactly
right.” The argument shouldn’t be whether Intelligent Design or Evolution is
right: it’s unprovable, thus pointless. The question is really whether
Evolution (with the capital E) is actually science–clearly, it’s not. It’s a
set of beliefs held as true in the absence of observable facts. It’s a
religion. And, in a science classroom, as Kari points out, it has no
place.
It’s this kind of intelligent thinking and discussion that we need. Not
more useless debate as to whether Intelligent Design or Evolution is actually
correct: they’re both religions and neither are provable. Let people freely
believe what they want to believe. Lets just make sure that what’s taught in
the classroom as “science” truly is just that.
Tags:
religion,
science,
Intelligent Design,
Evolution