So, I have an agent…

I just got word while I’m on vacation that my pirate book I have been gabbering about now has a major agent. So this means when I get back, a ton of work, but I’ll take it.

Atheist Speakers at a Christian Conference??? What???

It’s True. Along with yours truly, Hemant Mehta and my favorite atheist in the world, Ashley Paramore will be speaking in an open forum at Jubilee Conference. The Jubilee conference is a national conference for college students about issues of Faith and Life. Come check it out.

http://jubileeconference.com/#/2010-speakers/

Congrats, Ray Comfort, you have earned a lifetime achievement ATTIE

Ladies and Gentleman, this is a red letter special edition (cough, cough) of the Atties. We are about to give out the first ever lifetime achievement Attie to Mr. Ray Comfort. An award he recieves for his blantant dishonesty in representing Christ.

So, I walked into our University Interfaith Alliance Meeting at Ohio State this morning only half awake from Dr. Schaefer’s talk last night. My Quaker friend said, “Hey, look at this, did you know about it?”

As you might guess, it was the Ray Comfort edition of the “Origin of the Species”, a day early and on a campus that hadn’t been on the original list of fifty. Turns out, Ole Ray decided to fool everyone and avoid planned demonstrations by releasing a day early then orginally stated. And, on “secret” campuses around the country.

For those of you who are behind, self styled evangelist Ray Comfort one day got a brilliant idea. He decided that since Origin of the Species is public domain, he would publish it with fifty page intro that would “refute” Darwin’s theory. With a video made by Kirk Cameron, they annouced they would take this edition to the top fifty universities in the country.

It’s funny how they never wondered, “Just because we can do something, doesn’t always mean we should”.

I hate that they stole another man’s intellectual property I hate they tried to rope in campus ministers to help them.

So, it should be no suprised they moved up the day to avoid the confrontation. They don’t want to take responsibility for their bad idea.

At Ohio State, my sources tell me the Campus Crusade branch here refused to distribute the book.  This is true, so give it up for the Ohio State branch of CC.

This was born out by the people I saw distributing the book on campus, who were all obviously off campus people. I didn’t recognize any of them as fellow campus ministers.  Rushing to get my copy, I went up and identified myself as a campus minister. They gladly handed me four copies.

So, I set down to read Comfort’s introduction and I was struck by his blantant ignorance and dishonesty on a number of different points. Allow me to point out his ignorance:

-Understanding of the fossil record

-How evolution actually works

-His constant use of “God of the gaps” a largely discredited notion.

-Worst of all, how science, scientific investigation and scientists actually work.

Blatant dishonest and misrepsentation-

-Comfort mentions Asa Gray as a Christian scientist, but mysteriously leaves out this simple fact: Gray was one of Darwin’s biggest supporters. Gray was a conservative Presbyterian minister (hey, like me!) and I’m currently reading his work. I recommend their very interesting correspondance.

-He mentions Francis Collins point of view about DNA and God (something I agree with) but fails to point out that Collins think DNA is the final proof for evolution.

-He accuses Darwin of being racist and a hater of women. There are so many things wrong with this that I don’t even know where to start. But, two quick thoughts: Darwin hated slavery. Darwin deeply loved and respected his wife.

Enough said.

-He make a horrible leap to link Darwin with Hitler. See below about confusing science with philosophy.

You will notice that I didn’t even discuss Comfort’s scientific discussions. The reason is because of everything above, I just don’t see how we can trust anything he has to say. His actions in publishing the book in the first place and then his blantantly misleading introduction discredits him on nearly every issue. That isn’t to say he doesn’t hit on some great discussion points (Big Bang cosmology, The Cambrian Big Bang), but they are lost in the shuffle of his literary mess.

But, even further than that, he confuses evolution as a biological science with naturalism. Evolution tells us how things work on a biological level. It says nothing for or against God’s existence. Nor should morality be drawn from it. It’s bad philosophy and bad logic.

So, congrats to you Ray Comfort. You have truly surpassed all previous Attie award winners. You have  slandered a man (Darwin), you have made all Christians look like ignorant boobs, and worst of all, you have caused people to question the validity of Christ through your dishonesty. You were in the zone today, my friend.

St. Thomas, release the hounds for a little Comfort food……

So, I have my copy!!!!

Of the Ray Comfort edition of The Origin of the Species. Post on my thoughts coming soon.

Dr. Schaefer Part Three

Stephen Hawking investigates singularties, Black Holes and the begining of the universe.

Related story about scary black holes. Stephen Hawking talks about what would happen if a person entered a black hole.

All evidence for Black Holes is indirect.

Hawking’s PHD thesis is his most famous work. Doesn’t have his Nobel prize yet.

Told the story of Hawking and his wife, Jane Wild, who is a committed Christian. And, Hawking’s battle with ALS brought reality to his life.

A Briefer History of Time is more up to date and more readable.

Music to Move the Stars by Jane Wild (About Their life together)

The main character of A Brief History of Time: God, Hawking tries to stay on the scientific border of this question.

Hawking is adament that he is not an Atheist and believes the question is open. “Christianity is not incomptabile with science, if it was, Newton would never have discovered the law of gravity.” QUote from Hawking

Hawking’s search for the grand reunification theory. Gravity and Quantum Mechanics.

Hawking likes St. Augustine. “Time is only a property of the universe God created. He knew what he was doing when He set it up.”

Oscilating theory of the universe. Gouth put an end to it by showing the impossiblity of the bouncing universe. And, expansion of the universe is excelerating, which means it will never come back.

“Biology made me do it”  (become a Christian). Don Page, Stephen Hawking’s research student and closest friend. “The beauty principle (Ockham’s razor better theory is the simplest) is a reflection the simplicity of the Gospel”.

Rick Smalley, father of nanotechnology, tough character, colorful life, wives, mistresses, “Smalley takes no prisoners in his scientific investigation”. Notorious atheist. Highly critical of Christianity.

“Recently I have gone back to church regularly with a new focus to understand as best I can what it is that makes CHristianity so vital and powerful in the lives of billions of people. Although I suspect I will never fully understand,  I know think the answer is very simple: It’s true.”  Rick Smalley

Big bang represents a powerful but carefully controlled release of matter and energy.

Seven Points:

A creator msut exist

Ripples point to ex nihlio event

Creator must have awesome power and loving in the elegance of the universe.

Creator is just from human beings.

Human beings fall short of that standard and moral law.

Creator made a way to rescue us from our failings.

If we trust our lives to the rescuer, Jesus Christ, we will

 

 

Dr. Schaefer Part Two

Why such resistance to the universe having a begining?

Infinite old universe would relieve us of trying to find a begining or a reason why we begin.

Fred Hoyle hated the Big Band and felt it was a Christian conspiracy.

Scientific Materialist want an ageless universe. Christians said it had a begining.

Scientific proof of the expanding universe, galaxies spreading out, background raditiation. Levels of Light.

Cosmologists accept The Big Bang.

Everything in the universe burst forth from intense concentrated begining.

Best evidence we have for the begining is exactly what would be predicted from the Bible. Quote from a Nobel Physicist. Will try to find it later.

Fred Hoyle: “even though scientists eschew religion, they actually deal with it even more than most religious people”.

“The First Church of Christ of the Big Bang.”

Big Bang Ripples- Stephen Hawking calls it the biggest scientific discovery of the 20th Cent. “New cosmic microwve background results strengthen the case for Inflationary Big Bang Cosmology.”

Ripples are a reflection of the temperature of the universe and support the inflating universe.

Summary so far: By defintion, time is that dimension where cause and affect happen. The begining of the universe had to happen outside of that dimension. God is not contained in the universe or in the space/time dimension.

A classfication of cosmological models

Is there a begining? Yes or No?

Yes: Creation from something

No: Eternal State of the Universe.

Stephen Hawking; A Brief History of Time sold 20 million copies which has started a run on popular scientific books.

“The God Particle”

In the begining was the void which contained nothing but the laws of nature were in place. It held potential. There is no date of the very begining.” We know nothing aobut the universe until a billionth of a second old.” Only God knows what happend about the begining.

Stephen Hawking: Actual point of creation is outside the realm of science.

 

 

Dr. Schaefer: Live Blogging Part One

After a bad intro on my part, Dr. Schaefer began his talk.

Dr. Schaefer made a great joke about being the only Michigan fan in the room.

He began by talking about Worldview: Each individual has her own experiences and out of them forms their own worldviews.

The Field of Cosmology: Is the universe eternal or have a begining? Is the Universe created? If not, why are we here? Who or what governs the constant laws of physics?

The fact of the begining of the universe and that it had a begining has been opposed philosophically, not scientificaly. He talked about Einstein’s desire to find an eternal constant, but couldn’t.

Live Blogging: Tonight!!!

I’ll be blogging about Dr. Schaefer’s talk tonight, so tune in!

pax Jesu,

Jonathan

God’s call to Question.

I did a talk last Spring at the Central Ohio’s Skpetic conference about how God calls us to doubt and to be skeptical. Needless to say, it was a hot topic at the conference. So, I thought I would share some of it here.

Most people view Christians in America as being willifully dumb. While I would argue there are more thoughtful Christians than people realize, I understand the point of view. The loudest Christians in America seem to be the dumbest. What’s even worse about that is they think the Bible sanctions their willful stupidity.

It doesn’t.

Contrary to popular opinion, God calls us to question everything. If you don’t believe me, allow me to give you a quick biblical survey. And, as with everything else, we have to start with Jesus. Jesus questioned everyone and everything. He called people’s motives into question. He called his followers into question. He asked questions that made everyone uncomfortable.

But, the most profound expression of Jesus’ questioning came on the cross when he cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Some Christians have tried to blunt the force of those passages by saying that Jesus was just quoting the Psalms to show his fufillment of the Old Testament. That view has some merit to be sure. But, the text shows us that there is something deeper going on here. At that moment, God is questioning God. Jesus, who Christians believe is fully God and Man, questions the Father. At that moment, all of the sin and grossness of the world is laid on Jesus and he is experiencing the full seperation from God that all of us have felt. He is questioning God’s presence. He is, in all reality, stating the problem of evil quite plainly. Why does God seem absent from this world of pain and suffering?

Jesus’ question on the cross is not unique to the Bible. It’s all over the Psalms, most especially in Psalm 88. Read it sometime. But to give you a taste, the Psalm ends this way, “Darkness is my only friend”. Or how about Job? Ecclesiastes, anyone? God’s invitation to reason together in the prophets. It all ads up.

While God encourages us to question, there is one thing we have to remember.

Those questions will eventually be turned on us.

 

There she is, Miss Attie…..

I finally found our beautiful spokesperson for the Attie awards.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Ms. Carrie Perjean.

I’m not giving the attie to her because of the original flap that started this whole debacle. I have no respect for Perez Hilton, or beauty pagents for that matter. Does anyone take either one of them seriously?

That’s what I thought.

Rather, Ms. Carrie is getting the Attie because of her shameless self promotion that has resulted from above event. Suddenly, someone (maybe herself, who knows?) has turned her into spokesperson for the “persecuted” conservative Christians in this country. And, to our discredit, Christians have bought what was being sold. Carrie is being seen and heard throughout all forms of media including her new book (anguished wanna be author scream).

Then, in the latest twist, she accused Larry King of asking inappropriate questions and walked of the set. It’s starting to become a train wreck.

I kinda feel sorry for her. The conservative Christian media are putting her in a position that will only bring disaster to her life. But, at the same time, she is also making absurd statements that “Christian women” are being persecuted. Carrie, not that you will ever read this blog, but The Thomas Society has already established that Christians in America are not persecuted. Please just stop. Or better yet, really read the Bible and figure out what Jesus wants you to do, love Him and love others, not go on Larry King and make a fool of yourself. Stop being a fake martyr and become a real one by taking up your cross.

St. Thomas, release the hounds….