The Shroud of Turin is one of those wonderful mysteries that God seems to dangle in front of us as a way to test our faith. The fact that science cannot explain how the image was formed is fascinating. Of course, just because science is unable to explain something doesn’t mean we should jump to a religious conclusion. You have to follow the evidence where it leads. There are some that say the Shroud is a fraud, and they point to the Carbon 14 dating completed in 1988 as the definitive proof of that. But, they’re probably not aware of recent evidence that seriously questions the validity of that carbon dating, and which was corroborated by a scientist from the team that originally studied the Shroud. Read more…
The Shroud of Turin. Do you believe?
Life, Liberty and Broadband?
The Finnish Government has decided that broadband is a legal right, and has ruled that all Finns should have immediate access to a 1 Mbps connection. They’ve also committed to increasing that to 100 Mbps by 2015.
The idea of broadband being a “right” seems pretty bizarre, but then again, let’s take a look at Finland. Economically, they are one of the most socialist of countries, even by European standards, and are a true welfare state. While the government provides a wealth of services to all of its citizens, it embraces wealth redistribution to accomplish that. They have a huge tax burden, especially for those with higher incomes, and they even determine traffic fines based on how much one earns. In fact, a few years ago a local heiress had to pay a speeding fine of 170,000 euros (about $204,000 at that time) for driving at 50 miles per hour in a 25 mph zone in Helsinki. Read more…
When it Really is a Woman’s Choice
Sister Margaret McBride
I heard a story the other day about a nun at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix who was recently excommunicated from the Catholic Church because she chose to approve an abortion. Normally I’m grateful for the Catholic Church’s strong stance on the sanctity of life, but I think they got it wrong here.
The mother, who came in to the hospital 11 weeks pregnant and very ill, was suffering from a heart condition that the doctors said would kill her if the pregnancy was not terminated. To top it off, in this case, with the unborn only at 11 weeks, if the mother had died, the baby would have as well. Read more…
The Incredible, Explainable Universe
My wife says I’m one of the few people that can sit down and enjoy reading a book about physics, cosmology, or biology. I find it fascinating. I also like to watch TV shows about those topics. Okay, I’m a geek, but I also like that stuff because it makes it clearly evident that the hand of God is all over creation… that is, if you don’t go into it with blinders on.
Scientists marvel about certain biological structures, and how they have the “appearance” of design, but most would never actually accept that they are designed. They will admit that DNA is a programming language that controls how every form of life is built, but won’t mention that whenever we see functional information there is always an intelligence behind it. They reject the notion that our universe could have been created, and instead come up with ever increasingly bizarre explanations for how it began. Read more…
A More Fair Tax
April 15th has come and gone, and it is always a reminder of how much money our government takes from us–assuming you are one of the 50% who actually pay income taxes. Yes, just under 50% of Americans pay no income tax. This would help explain why a recent poll showed that about 50% of Americans think that the taxes they pay are just about right. If you’re not paying anything, I guess that would seem just about right to some folks. Of course, this puts an undue burden on the other 50% of Americans who are paying for all the federal services that 100% of American’s enjoy. Read more…
God’s Sovereignty and Free Will – Part 2
In part one of this article I explained some of the differences between Calvinism and Arminianisim, and why my theology leans much more in the direction of the latter.
One of the things that I stressed was that faith and works are always opposed by Paul. To have faith is not a work. It is the grateful acceptance of the grace that God grants us through the death of His son. But, some will point out Ephesians 2:8, which seems to state that even faith is a gift from God:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Read more…
God’s Sovereignty and Free Will – Part 1
There’s an in-house debate in the church over God’s sovereignty and man’s free will that is key to how you understand the doctrine of salvation. On the one side are Calvinists. They hold a very strong opinion of God’s sovereignty, and believe that man really has no ability to make free choices. God’s grace and salvation is purely one-sided. Before the foundations of the world God made a unilateral decision about who He would have mercy on and save–specifically choosing some and passing over others. There’s no reason given for why God chooses some, other than He is God, and sovereign over all. On the other side are the Arminians, who believe that man can make a free choice whether or not he will accept God’s gift of grace through faith. Read more…
Is Health Care Obama’s Iraq?
Leaders often have a single issue or event that defines them historically. Napoleon had Waterloo. George W. Bush had Iraq. Now Obama has health care. When a leader has an obsessive focus on one issue, they can often be guilty of ignoring other viewpoints, even when good counter-arguments are made. Through the power of their position and the might of their will they can drown out any opposition. Their closest inner circle can fall victim to “group think”. This can be a recipe for disaster. Our country was not meant to have our most important decisions made by one man, which is why our founders structured our government the way they did. Read more…
Neal Boortz…coward or just a pompous “Big A”?
One of the reasons I decided to start blogging is I would see certain news items and feel a need to respond in some way. What better way to blow off that steam then to write down some of my thoughts. I suppose I could instead write down some stuff on a piece of paper, roll it up, stick it in a bottle and toss it in the river. They say that can be cathartic. But, maybe this way a few people will actually read what I have to say, and might even comment.
One issue I feel strongly about is abortion. The coverage on the news is one-sided and generally never gets to the core question of the debate. The pro-life movement is depicted by images of radical protesters, bombed abortion clinics, and murdered doctors, while on the pro-choice side they present emotional stories of poor, unfortunate woman who are fighting for their rights to decide what they can do with their own bodies. Read more…
A Love Letter from the Beloved Deciple
One of my favorite passages in the bible is the first paragraph of 1 John. As
you read it you feel as if you are sitting there with John as he tells you about a good friend–a man he spent three years of his life with. He also wants you to know he’s is not just a man. His good friend is also the eternal son of God. There is an authenticity to his words:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. 1 John 1:1-4, NIV Read more…
