Odds ‘n Ends, vers. 18

I hope this week finds you in good health and spirits. Here are a few articles that caught my attention:

1).    US Lab Recreates Big Bang Temperatures. Makes Quark Soup. Article here. US Department of Energy's lab Brookhaven National Laboratory performed a remarkable experiment simulating temperatures close to those that may have taken place at the Big Bang. BNL can add a stunning achievement to its list -- achieving temperatures likely not seen since the Big Bang.  The lab produced temperatures of 4 trillion degrees Celsius, 250,000 times hotter than the Sun's interior, during collisions of gold atoms hurtling at almost the speed of light.  To give another benchmark, the collision produced internal heat approximately 40 times that at the center of an imploding supernova star.

The collisions produced a stunning "soup" of quarks and gluons.  The analyzed data indicates that record high temperature caused the protons and neutrons of the gold atoms to "melt" into the quarks and gluons that compose them, which then formed a plasma, known as quark gluon plasma (QGP).  This appears to be the first time man has been able to make such a quark soup.

This is amazing. My question is – how on Earth could they do this?

2).    Russia Delays Delivery to Iran of Advanced Air Defense System. Article here. Russia raised Western hopes that it will support tougher international sanctions against Iran's nuclear program by announcing a delay in delivery of S-300 advanced air defense missiles. The postponement for unspecified "technical problems" was made public a day after Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, urged Russia to support "crippling" sanctions against Tehran during a visit to Moscow.

The United States and Israel have been pressing Russia not to deliver the S-300 missiles, which would make a successful military strike much more difficult if diplomacy failed to resolve the stand-off over Iran's nuclear facilities…

3).    Faith Healer Benny Hinn Receives Divorce Papers. This story makes me sad. If you have ever heard someone criticize a Christian faith healer, it is likely Benny Hinn they are talking about. But I thought I have seen him grow in his faith, and willingness to preach the Gospel in recent years. Article here. Benny Hinn Ministries on Thursday confirmed that his wife, Suzanne Hinn, filed a petition for divorce in Orange County Superior Court on Feb. 1. She cited irreconcilable differences.

Funniest line from the story – A long time advisor to the Hinn ministries is quoted as saying, "Although Pastor Hinn has faithfully endeavored to bring healing to their relationship, those efforts failed and were met with the petition for divorce that was filed without notice." Faith Healer heal yourself?

4).    Pets and the Law. Two items I found as interesting involving pets.

Rapture Insurance for your Pet? What if you are raptured away to be with the Lord? Who would take care of your pets who are "Left Behind"? Atheists have come to the rescue offering their services by an insurance policy, in the event you are raptured. Article here.

Include your pets in a Domestic Relation's Protective Order. Article here: I learned this week that judges in Colorado would be able to order suspected domestic abusers to keep away from family pets under a bill being considered by state lawmakers… And yes, the Minnesota Senate is taking a look at this bill in SF0838.

5).    From RC Sproul's book The Truth of the Cross, as summarized on Challies Dot Com. Early in the book he spends some time discussing the human condition and as he does so he uses three biblical concepts: debtors, enemies, and criminals. The Bible describes each of us in these terms. What Sproul does here, and this really helped it hit home for me, is show how it is always the Father who has been offended and the Son who intercedes. We have committed crimes against God and are, thus, justly termed criminals. The Father stands as Judge, passing the just sentence of death. But Christ stands between us and the Father, acting as substitute. Our sin puts us in debt to God so that we are debtors to Him. God is the creditor who demands repayment, but Christ stands in as surety. And sin puts us at enmity with God, making us His enemies. He has been violated by our sin, but Christ intercedes as mediator, opening the way between man and God.

Sproul breaks this down into the following simple table:

Sin As…	Man		God	Christ
Debt	Debtor		Creditor	Surety
Enmity	Enemy		Violated One	Mediator
Crime	Criminal		Judge	Substitute

Idolatry

I have wanted to work on the topic idolatry for some time now. Given that if you review the Old Testament, one major theme of these books is Israel's hunger for worshipping other gods, and their rebellion against Yahweh in their pursuit of these false idols. I have found Israel's continual desire to worship idols as something I do not understand. And so, that is one of the topics I will discuss in today's post – why would anyone worship an idol? But let me start by reviewing the background of idolatry:

Worshipping Idols was forbidden to Israel in the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20). In fact the way God provides the Second Commandment provided Israel with one of its unique characteristics from other nations – the fact that Israel's God was invisible and unseen. Here is the Commandment: You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. (Exodus 20:4) And so, Israel was distinguished from other nations because of her imageless worship.

Scripture condemns all forms of idolatry;

One of major reasons for outlawing idolatry was to prevent 'syncretism'. 'Syncretism' is the assimilation of another's religious beliefs or practices into another. When other religions were permitted by Israel, we see things like King Solomon who built the famed Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, also built high places devoted to the foreign gods of Chemosh and Molech (1 Kings 11:7).

So what makes idolatry so desirable? Why even when God did such miraculous things to free Israel from its slavery in Egypt like the Plagues, the splitting of the Red Sea, manna from heaven, water from a rock, etc, would Israel so easily and so quickly turn to worshipping idols? For example when Moses ascended Mount Sinai and was communing with God for 40 days, the people of Israel and Moses' brother Aaron were afraid at this delay. And so, they gathered some gold, and Aaron molded it into a golden calf. Wouldn't you think that after seeing miracles up close and personal like the Israelites had, that they would remain faithful a little longer than they did?

Here are a few of my thoughts on why idolatry is so attractive: 1) Human Sensual Desire. first, there is a sense of meeting sexual desires in the worship of idols. Temple prostitutes are described in stories of the Old Testament. Also, the unrestrained revelry of worshipping an idol is shown in the story of Aaron's making the gold calf. Exodus 32:6 describes it as "and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play". Most commentators read the story of the golden calf as including sexual revelry. Sexual immorality is a chief example of rebellion against God.

But there are other things that make idolatry desirable as well. 2) Works Righteousness. By Works Righteousness I mean our desire to do something that requires God to do something for us. This is obviously a common desire for people – we think we are entitled to something if we do something (or refrain from doing something) that we think God will reward us for. There is something of a bargaining with God, which makes it wrong. For me, I know that after I lead a class, I always reward myself with a beer or a bowl of ice cream. My reward for doing something good.

But in the Old Testament, we see a bunch of people sacrificing their children to idols. We see sacrifices being made to Molech (Lev. 18:21, 20:2-5), to Baal (Jeremiah 19:4-7), and to Chemosh (2 Kings 3:26-27). And the only way I can make sense of this is that people are sacrificing something so precious to them, like their children, so that their god will have to answer their prayer. In this way, it is like the foreign concept to Christianity of Works Righteousness – that by our actions, by what we do, God will reward us. Instead, Christianity is the only religion of Grace – God's love for us through the death of Jesus on the Cross, which we do not deserve or merit.

3) Lawless Idolatry. 1 Peter 4:3 describes idolatry as lawless idolatry. Lawless actions brings to mind a number of things – being unrestrained, wild, unconcerned about rules and others. Therefore, Lawlessness is another major way of an ungodly person to be rebellious against God. To worship in idolatry is to be self-centered and self-focused.

4) Material Benefit. There is an element of human longing for more wealth and possessions. This is brought out in Daniel 5:4 / Revelation 9:20, where it describes "idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood". Who wouldn't want to worship a god whose primary concern is to act like a genie in a bottle, and give you the money and home and car and bling etc. that we deserve, right? Rather the God of Christianity is a God of mercy, love for others, and building us into righteous people, not out of obligation but out of our hunger for it.

    This is also the theme of the New Testament discussion of idolatry. The Apostle Paul describes idolatry as something other than being sexually immoral, or greedy, or a swindler (1 Cor. 5:10). And I think this is brought out in Colossians 3:5 (and its related verse in Eph. 5:5), where idolatry is equated with covetousness. Here is Colossians 3:5:

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

I think Matthew Henry in his commentary has a helpful description of covetousness equating idolatry: The love of the world: And covetousness, which is idolatry; that is, an inordinate love of present good and outward enjoyments, which proceeds from too high a value in the mind, puts upon too eager a pursuit, hinders the proper use and enjoyment of them, and creates anxious fear and immoderate sorrow for the loss of them. Observe, Covetousness is spiritual idolatry: it is the giving of that love and regard to worldly wealth which are due to God only, and carries a greater degree of malignity in it, and is more highly provoking to God, than is commonly thought.

Finally, note that covetousness can also include an inordinate desire or enjoyment for other people (or as the Bible describes this "your neighbor's wife"), and not just things. See, Exodus 20:17.

In conclusion, I think it is easy to see the pull that worshipping an idol has in people's lives. It centers on our desire to control things, to have more and more of whatever is driving our worldly impulses, and displaces God's place as Sovereign Lord of our lives. It is hard to trust in the control of our lives to an unseen God, and His promises of love, care and provision, especially in hard times. The question that is left open in this discussion is what is the impact of God's hatred of idolatry for people living in today's world? Given that we do not worship Asherah poles, or figurines of angry looking gods, are we still in danger of violating the Second Commandment (Thou shall not worship a graven image)? I think Matthew Henry's Commentary (above)has hit the nail on the head for us when he tells us that if we are giving love and regard to anything worldly and this love and regard is instead due to God only, this is the sort of covetousness that provokes God. Thanks be to God for the sacrifice of Jesus which redeems from our deserved punishment. Amen.

FAITH Healings

Happy President's Day weekend to all of you. This morning I am writing to you about Faith. Not just about the saving faith in Jesus, God the Son needed for salvation. Instead, I have assembled the eleven (11) examples in the New Testament where a person's faith in Jesus resulted in God's miraculous healing of a person. These healings include restoration of sight, the lame being able to walk, lepers healed, and demons being cast out. Before I list these verses, here is my quick summary of the observations I have from reviewing these verses:

Faith must be in Jesus;

The Healing is done through faith, and through Jesus (Acts 3:16);

A specific, clear request of what needs to be healed should be made (Luke 18:41-42, Mark 10:51-52);

There is a connection between forgiveness of sins and healing (Luke 5:20, James 5:15);

Healings were not only done by Jesus, but also Paul, John, Peter and Barnabus.  A prayer made by someone with the robe of Christ's righteousness is powerful as it is working (James 5:16);

God heals because of His mercy (Matthew 15:22, Luke 17:13);

Your faith can be used to heal a family member (Luke 7:9-10, Matt. 9:18-29) or even a friend (Luke 5:20);

Sing God's Praises when a healing has taken place!

 

Although there are more examples of healings in the New Testament, I found only these 11 stories where faith was actually mentioned. Alright, here are the New Testament verses that show God's miraculous healing through a person's faith in Jesus:

Luke 5:18-20 – (Story of the Paralytic's Friends) And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus,
¹⁹ but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.
²⁰ And when he saw their faith, he said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."…

Luke 7:1-2, 9-10 – (Story of the Roman Centurion) Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him.
³ When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant…And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. ⁷ Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed… When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith."
¹⁰ And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well. (Also in Matthew 8:5-13);

Luke 7:37-38, 47-50 – (Sinful Woman Wiping Jesus' Feet with her hair) And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, ³⁸ and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment…Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." ⁴⁸ And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." ⁴⁹ Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?"
⁵⁰ And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Luke 17:12-13, 19 – (Jesus Heals 10 Lepers) And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance
¹³ and lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." ¹⁴ When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed. ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; ¹⁶ and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.
¹⁷ Then Jesus answered, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?
¹⁸ Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"
¹⁹ And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.

Luke 18:35-38, 41-42 – (Jesus heals Blind Beggar) As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.
³⁶ And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. ³⁷ They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."
³⁸ And he cried out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"…
⁴¹ "What do you want me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, let me recover my sight." ⁴² And Jesus said to him, "Recover your sight; your faith has made you well."

Matt. 9:18-25, 29 – (Jesus Brings Ruler's Daughter Back to Life/Healing of Woman Bleeding for 12 Years) While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live."
¹⁹ And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. ²⁰ And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment,
²¹ for she said to herself, "If I only touch his garment, I will be made well." ²² Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." And instantly the woman was made well.
²³ And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion,
²⁴ he said, "Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him. ²⁵ But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.

Matt. 15:21-28 – (Healing of Non-Jewish Woman's Demon Possessed Daughter) - And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon."
²³ But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us."
²⁴ He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." ²⁵ But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me."
²⁶ And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
²⁷ She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.

Mark 10:46-47, 51-52 – (Jesus Heals Blind Bartmaeus) And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.
⁴⁷ And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"…
⁵¹ And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, "Rabbi, let me recover my sight."
⁵² And Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

Acts 3:1-9, 16 – (John and Peter Heal Lame Beggar) Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
² And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple.
³ Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. ⁴ And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, "Look at us." ⁵ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶ But Peter said, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!"
⁷ And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. ⁸ And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God…And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

Acts 14:8-10 – (Paul and Barnabas Heal Crippled Man) Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked.
⁹ He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well,
¹⁰ said in a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he sprang up and began walking.

James 5:14-16 – …Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
¹⁶ Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

 

 

 

 

Salvation, part 1

My friend Edward Oleander recently asked me a rather straightforward question: "Tom, tell me, briefly, what separates Christianity from the rest of the religions. What makes it special and unique?" It is a common understanding of many people that all religions want their followers to act righteously, and not to hurt others. And the impression of this viewpoint is that God is primarily concerned with how we act – He wants us to act kindly, and to stay away from doing evil.

But is this the core of Christianity? Let me answer this question by reviewing recent events at the church my family and I belong to – Hosanna Lutheran Church in Lakeville, Minnesota. Our church recently voted to start the process to leave the governing denomination it belongs to, the ELCA. The ELCA is the largest Lutheran denomination in America. There was strong unity at Hosanna in the vote to leave the ELCA with over 90% of the members wanting to leave. Although there are a number of reasons for Hosanna's decision, the most recent lightning rod for the vote was this past summer's decision by the ELCA to allow the ordaining of homosexual Pastors and the blessing of homosexual unions.

But why do I bring Hosanna's decision to leave the ELCA up? I am told that one of the members at Hosanna asked Pastor Bohline the following question: Will Hosanna still be Lutheran if we leave the ELCA? And this was a good question, because it highlights that except for the denomination, it is often difficult to know what the core beliefs of a church are. Despite Pastor Bohline's assurance that Hosanna will remain "Lutheran" even after leaving the ELCA, it is hard to know what now exactly makes us a "Lutheran" church.

And so, let me spell out my understanding of what it means to be a "Lutheran". And by this, I hope to also answer Ed's question of what sets Christianity apart from other religions.

What Makes Someone Lutheran / What Separates Christianity from Other Religions?

Sin and Redemption

All people are sinners unable to do anything to save themselves. All of our actions are so selfish, and so vile, that if God judged us this day, we would receive the ultimate penalty – loss of our life. Yet, God the Son was sacrificed and took this death punishment upon Himself, to save us, and to redeem us that we might individually have relationship with God, through God's Grace and by faith.

 

Justification is only by God's Grace, through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Scripture is the primary authority. I really like Luther's summary of the importance of Scripture: Luther himself regarded the Bible to be "so much like himself [God], that the Godhead is wholly in it, and he who has the word has the whole Godhead."(from Pelikan and Lehman's "Luther's Works') The summary of these 'sola's" is by these wonderful Latin phrases:

 

sola fide (faith alone)

sola gratia (grace alone)

sola Scriptura (Scripture alone)

soli Christo (Christ alone)

 

Baptism, including infant baptism (see my previous post on this topic)

Christians will mission to those who do not call Jesus their Savior, give freely their service, and use of gifts provided by God, the Holy Spirit, out of gratitude/thankfulness, and not as a way to obtain salvation.

Faith in Jesus' return and Judgment

A complete rejection of Global Warming.

OK, I'm JOKING on the last one. And so, I see God as more interested in saving people through the Crucifixion of God the Son, and through this faith, changing people through the work of the Holy Spirit, rather than having people try their best to act righteously. This is not meant as a listing of all of the foundations of Christianity. Instead, this is my attempt to show the different important doctrines that separate Lutherans from other religions. I hope this provides you with a good starting for our discussion. /s/Tom

Four (4) Winged Fruit Fly

Go Vikes! Wouldn't it be great if the Vikings were able to make it (and win?!) the Super Bowl? I am still in the afterglow of last week's Vikings victory, and a wonderful evening at Alpha. But today's topic has nothing to do with football, but instead is the ubiquitous fruit fly. I am once again responding to my oft-commenting friend Edward Oleander's request for me to provide evidence of what Darwinism can do in an organism. Although it is very clear from scientific studies that organisms like E-coli, malaria and HIV/Aids can mutate to develop very helpful resistance to medications, although its' ability to mutate appears very small. And so, perhaps the mutation rate for living creatures (like the fruit fly) is much higher than for malaria. I started (see January 3, 2010 post) by showing that although evolution is helpful in providing something like malaria with resistance to Chloroquine, the mutation rate is far too small to accomplish anything more significant. In this post, I will take a look at the fruit fly to see if Darwinism can more easily modify something more significant like body shape (called a morphological change) in a living creature.

The fruit fly is a two (2) winged insect that is one of the most intensively studied organisms in biology and genetics. It is widely studied because of its short lifespan, and the fact that the heredity of a fruit fly can easily be studied because it has a short generation time of about 10 days. The female lays about 100 eggs each batch, and up to 2,000 during its lifetime. It also only has four (4) pairs of chromosomes, which makes it an ideal study for studying genetic changes from generation to generation. With 10 day generations and 100 offspring the application of these genetic studies is obvious – they can replicate changes / mutations with an eye toward longer lived animals (like mammals), to see what Darwinism can really do, especially for changes to an organism's body.

So can Darwinism make the sort of large scale changes to an organism's body (called morphological changes) as Darwinism predicts? My conclusion is that the fruit fly experiments show that through the scientific study and expertise of genetic study, we can manipulate a two (2) winged fruit fly to have four (4) non-functioning wings, but otherwise Darwinism once again fails to show the possibility that large scale genetic changes can take place. Again, as I asked after reviewing the malaria studies, is that it? I was hoping for something that would help me to believe that we can go from a squirrel in one generation to a kitten in the next. Or at least a significant step in that direction. But as I will show, the four (4) winged fruit fly studies show that random mutation + natural selection (this is the core of Darwinian belief) is NOT the mechanism for the claimed changes of Darwinism, and even with intelligently designed manipulation of the fruit fly's DNA, a body shape can be changed over several generations, but only in a harmful way. The question is straightforward, what changes do we see in living creatures in the world around us?

The bodies of fruit flies are divided into segments. What is cool about the genes of a fruit fly is that they divide into segments just as is shown in the fruit fly's body. The anterior (forward) section has the wings. In 1978, California Institute of Technology geneticist Ed Lewis reported his findings from an extensive study of the genes of a fruit fly that he conducted: he was able to manipulate the fruit fly's genes over three generations, where he was able to grow a second set of wings, but this time on the fruit fly's posterior (rearward) compartment. A single mutation cannot cause the second set of wing's mutation. Instead, only a fly with three mutations (called anterobithorax, bithorax, and postbithorax mutations – these mutations affect a single large gene called Ultrabithorax) will have the second set of wings. Dr. Lewis was able to manipulate the Ultrabithorax genes regulatory sequences so that the rearward compartments wings rather than halters (minute appendages that appears on the normal fruit fly) would appear.

This picture or sketch of a fruit fly with four wings is a common example in textbooks of an example of what Evolution can do in a living organism. But is this really something that Darwinists can show as proof of what Darwinism does? No, what Dr. Lewis has shown is that even with intensive, intelligent manipulation of the fruit fly's genes, through successive generations, that four wings can be added to a creature with two wings. But this is a horrible example of Darwinism because the second set of wings don't work. The genetic manipulation by Dr. Lewis is impressive, but apparently is possible through intelligent engineering. And even with this genetic manipulation, the changes that were done did not include muscles for the fruit fly to use with this second set of wings. Dr. Lewis' four-winged fruit fly could not use the second set of wings because it did not have the muscles to use these extra wings. Instead of showing that body changes are possible through Evolution, the four-winged fruit fly shows that major changes to a living creature are much more complicated, involving more than just adding extra wings. It also takes changes to the muscles, the circulatory system (if needed), and the additional instructions for the creatures brain, etc. In Dr. Lewis's study he has only added the second set of unusable wings, an evolutionary disadvantage. There is no survival of the fittest advantage here.

So in summary, living organisms face the same mutation problems shown in my previous post on malaria. Morphological changes are much more complex, and involve more than even what Dr. Lewis' genetic manipulations adding a second set of wings to a fruit fly over three generations. The second set of wings were unusable, because there was no muscles, and so no way for these wings to be used. And the observed natural mutations of a fruit fly again reveals that Darwinism cannot accomplish the large scale changes needed. If large scale changes cannot take place in the fruit fly which has 10 day generations, what hope is there for Darwinism to show large scale changes in mammals, where there are years of generations? Again, the fruit fly shows that Darwinism cannot turn a squirrel into a kitty, or even a significant step in that direction, and so something else is needed. My hope is that the reader of this blog will start looking at the evidence and see that Darwinism isn't the reason why you are here today. There are big questions in life. Why are we here is a one of the biggest. Where are you looking for these answers?

I hope I've given you something to think about. In Christ, /s/Tom

Odds n’ Ends, #17

1).    God's Grace. From the website 'Of First Importance': "For there is no calm haven where our minds can rest until we come to God's free love."- (John Calvin, NT Commentary on John p75)

2).    End of the World Coming May 21, 2011. It seems as though these are times of great urgency, no matter one's viewpoint. The challenging times of our world include issues such as Global Warming, the economy in crises, famines, wars, natural disasters, the possibility of the Packers going to the Super Bowl, etc. This sense of urgency is now appearing more frequently. Here is a Harold Camping, a Christian radio talk show host's prediction that the world will end May 21, 2011. And note that despite there being clear Scripture that no one knows when the end will come (here), Mr. Camping uses a very strained interpretation of the Bible, mathematics, and numerology to come up with the May 21, 2011 date:

The number 5, Camping concluded, equals "atonement." Ten is "completeness." Seventeen means "heaven." Camping patiently explained how he reached his conclusion for May 21, 2011.

"Christ hung on the cross April 1, 33 A.D.," he began. "Now go to April 1 of 2011 A.D., and that's 1,978 years."

Camping then multiplied 1,978 by 365.2422 days - the number of days in each solar year, not to be confused with a calendar year.

Next, Camping noted that April 1 to May 21 encompasses 51 days. Add 51 to the sum of previous multiplication total, and it equals 722,500.

Camping realized that (5 x 10 x 17) x (5 x 10 x 17) = 722,500. Or put into words: (Atonement x Completeness x Heaven), squared.

"Five times 10 times 17 is telling you a story," Camping said. "It's the story from the time Christ made payment for your sins until you're completely saved. "I tell ya, I just about fell off my chair when I realized that," Camping said.

3).    Child Sacrifices on Rise in Uganda. Witch doctors in Uganda have admitted their part in human sacrifice amid concerns that the practice is spreading in the African country. Story is here. One man said he had clients who had captured children and taken their blood and body parts to his shrine, while another confessed to killing at least 70 people including his own son.

The latter has now given up the ritual and is campaigning to stamp it out, according to BBC News.

The African country's government claimed human sacrifice was on the increase.

According to officials trying to tackle it, the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity - and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly…

    Tom's Thought – There is nothing more precious than children. And so, when people are willing to sacrifice children, a universally evil act, in order to obtain financial gain, it is a sign that some switch has gone on that is causing people to lose their senses. And a question to ask ourselves during the financial crises that our country is facing, is what are you willing to do in order to keep a roof over your family's head, or food on the table?

 

4).    Dolphins Should Be Treated as Non-human Persons?. Story here. Dolphins have been declared the world's second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as "non-human persons".

Studies into dolphin behavior have highlighted how similar their communications are to those of humans and that they are brighter than chimpanzees. These have been backed up by anatomical research showing that dolphin brains have many key features associated with high intelligence…

    Tom's Thought – The legal implications of this are mind-boggling. Does this mean dolphins are entitled to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"? Should a boat captain be arrested for hitting a dolphin? Should the ACLU be able to represent them? Should it be a criminal act to defeat the Miami Dolphins in an NFL game?

 

5).    Top 10 Religious Blogs. According to the Technorati website (here), the top 10 religious websites are:

I haven't checked out, or heard about these blogs, except for the last two, and so who knows what these sites might contain. But I thought it was interesting to see that someone came up with a list like this.

1.

What Does The Prayer Really … http://wdtprs.com/blog/ Recent: The Feeder Feed There was a lot of snow and a lot of cold and a lot of wind. The birds are doing their best. Post from: …

Religion Auth: 971 Change +1 Top 100 living

2. moved up 3 places

Tall Skinny Kiwi http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/ Recent: Winkie Pratney's Communication Secret Winkie Pratney just suffered an aneurysm last week and " apparently is not doing very well ." His speech …

Religion Auth: 900     Top 100 living

3.

Jesus Creed http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed Recent: Weekly Meanderings It's been a cold week in Chicago, our home town.  But that doesn't mean Chicagoans can't have some fun …

Religion Auth: 893     Top 100 living

4.

Justin Taylor http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/ Recent: Thomas Sowell's New Book: Intellectuals and Society If Thomas Sowell writes a book, I get it. I find his writings invariably insightful and helpful. Paul …

Religion Auth: 891     Top 100 living

5. moved down -3 places

TheResurgence http://theresurgence.com Recent: Featured Media: Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah In this series from the Acts 29 2007 regional conference in Seattle, Mark Driscoll answers twenty leadership …

Religion Auth: 888     Top 100 living

6.

Apprising Ministries http://apprising.org Recent: TONY JONES TRACES THE CORRUPTION OF YOUTH SPECIALTIES In his post An Open Letter to YouthWorks  Tony Jones, heretical "theologian in residence" at the emerging …

Religion Auth: 884     Top 100 living

7. moved up 2 places

Beyond Babylon http://beyondbabylon.blogspot.com Recent: God is reproducing Himself! Re: Hebrew midwives #13. To: BobCeleste (#6 ) Or perhaps a follower of Armstrong. But whatever, as one who …

Religion Auth: 880     Top 100 living Top 100 world

8. moved down -1 places

Creative Minority Report http://www.creativeminorityreport.com Recent: Something Happened on the Way to Damascus Why do I despise the Republican Party? Charlie Crist is as good an answer as I can come up with right now. …

Religion Auth: 864     Top 100 living

9. moved down -2 places

Parchment and Pen http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog Recent: A Grief Letter to My Sister Angie (1969-2004) Dear Angie, We just passed the 6 year anniversary of your death. I guess it was the evening of January 4, …

Religion Auth: 861     Top 100 living

10. moved down -1 places

AlbertMohler.com – Blog http://www.albertmohler.com Recent: NewsNote: The Death of a Feminist Radical theologian Mary Daly died Sunday at age 81, ending one of the most interesting and tragic careers

Malaria – The Evolution of a Killer

In my post on 'Apologetics', Edward Oleander commented that he would like further details on what Darwinism shows about evolutionary changes in a cell. Let me start our discussion by re-posting a previous post (with a few additions) on Malaria:

 

What Does Malaria Teach Us About What Evolution Can Do?

Malaria is the million person Murderer; it kills 1 million people each year, and makes 100 million other people sick. In some regions, it kills half of all children before the reach the age of 5. It is like Dracula, feeding on blood. It is carried by mosquitoes, and transmitted when they bite. Once inside a person they keep feeding until they reach the liver, where they stop to multiply. It attaches to a red blood cell, goes inside puts a protective covering on and feeds on the hemoglobin. The infected blood cell gets stuck in our veins and stops circulating. Malaria reproduces until about 20 copies are made, they then break out of the now trashed red blood cell and re-enter the bloodstream to go into more red blood cells. They multiply exponentially, so that within a few days there are a trillion new malarial parasites, which consume a large portion of the victim's blood. Because they are so numerous, and it has been studied so much, it is the best example of what evolution can do.

The modern fight against malaria began in South America with the discovery that bark from the cinchona tree was useful for treating the fever. Quinine is developed from the cinchona bark, and once it was discovered in the 17^th century that it could be used as a cure for malaria. But in the 1940's the active ingredient was isolated, and a compound developed called 'Chloroquine' that was even more effective against malaria. Because Chloroquine was effective, with few side effects and inexpensive to make it became the drug of choice for treatment of malaria for decades.

Malaria has 14 chromosomes, and the resistance part was recently discovered to be part of a 400,000 nucleotide region of one chromosome. It was further narrowed to 36,000 nucleotide region. The complexity of even a simple parasite like malaria is mind-blowing. The DNA for malaria encodes 5,300 proteins (proteins are essential to the operation of the cell, participating in every process of the cell. This includes being enzymes for metabolism, structural and mechanical functions – like forming the cell structure and building muscles, cell-signaling, immune responses and cell adhesion.) The PfCRT protein (for P. falciparum, a malaria species - Throughout my post when I use 'malaria', it is for P. falciparum) normally has 424 amino acids in a strict sequence. When there is a change in the amino acid sequence, the change commonly happens at position number 76 and 220 of the resistant proteins. These mutations are what have provided malaria's resistance to Chloroquine. This is what evolution can do in making an organism more resistant to an enemy like Chloroquine that is designed to destroy malaria.

So these two mutations at spot 76 and 220 of the amino acid sequence are what Darwinism can do – they provide resistance to the primary drug used to fight malaria; Chloroquine. Remember, that there are 1 trillion malaria cells in an infected person. And there are over 500 million people infected each year. Tom's Point: So with so many malaria cells (1 trillion in a sick person) and so many people infected with malaria (500 million each year), how often does a simple double protein "binding-site" mutation of the amino acid sequence happen to provide resistance to the top drug used to fight Chloroquine? One researcher has estimated that it has happened only 10 times over the past 50 years.

Resistance to Chloroquine has perhaps only appeared 10 times in the whole world in the past 50 years (!!!). And so, one writer estimates that if you count the number of malaria cells in a very sick person times the number of people who get malaria each year times the number of years since Chloroquine was introduced, we see that the odds of a parasite developing resistance to Chloroquine is roughly one in a hundred billion billion. Written in shorthand this is 1 in 10²⁰. This is why eminent geneticist Francois Jacob writes that Darwinian evolution is a "tinkerer" and not an engineer. I have made the claim that the evolution rates are many times too small to accomplish what Edward Oleander and other Darwinists claim. I make my argument based upon what we see in the studies of malaria, as well as other recent studies involving HIV/Aids and E-Coli.

 

If you would like the list of the studies relied upon by Prof. Michael Behe in The Edge of Evolution, I can send them to you. This is a topic I have a genuine interest in, and so, if you have information that is helpful in expanding the discussion, please post it.