Odds n’ Ends (15)

Here are a few stories / reports that I have recently found:

1).    A Dog Has 1^st Amendment Rights to Bark? Story here. Dogs and cats have been given the right to free speech — in Massachusetts anyway. 

A law that went into effect on July 21 bans surgical devocalization — the cutting of animals' vocal cords — except in cases of medical necessity. The procedure is commonly referred to as "debarking" when it's done to dogs.

The measure was signed into law by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. A violation carries up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $2,500.

2).    Ayatollah Khamenei Declares Himself the Representative of Muhammad on Earth – and that He's the 12^th Imam. Story here. Iran's Supreme Leader has reportedly issued a fatwah, or Islamic edict, demanding that people obey him as the earthly 'deputy' of both the Prophet Muhammad and Shi'ism's mysterious 12th Imam.  He also accused the U.S. and Britain of sowing division among Muslims and of fomenting the recent mosque bombing in Sistan-Baluchestan.  Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has created a stir after apparently issuing a religious edict Tuesday claiming ultimate spiritual powers on Earth.  Iranian media reported that he told followers that they must 'obey him' as the "representative of the Prophet Muhammad and [Shi'ism's] 12th Imam on Earth…..'" Isn't it better if someone else declares you to be the 12^th Imam? And I believe I'm right in saying that a portion of Muslims believe that the 12^th Imam is a sign of the impending end of the world (sorry, no cite for this comment.)

3).    Scientists Find Most Massive Star. Story here. LONDON – A huge ball of brightly burning gas drifting through a neighboring galaxy may be the heaviest star ever discovered — hundreds of times more massive than the sun, scientists said Wednesday after working out its weight for the first time. And here is the cool part: it's burning itself off with such intensity that it shines at nearly 10 million times the luminosity of the sun.

4).    9 Year Old Boy Finds Skeleton of New Human Ancestor. 60 Minutes story here. In case you missed this 60 Minutes report this past Sunday, an archaeologist and his son discovered 5 human fossils in a cave around Johannesburg. The fossils date back to being 1.9 million years old. I don't understand how the fossils could be dated, when the cave was an excavating site that used explosives. The archaeologist claims to have found a "new" species.

5).    Stop Global Warming – Eat Bugs! Story here. Here is the crazy Global Warming story of the day: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN has held a meeting in Thailand on the subject of using insects for food and plans a 2013 Summit on the subject. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is formally considering recommendations in a paper suggesting greater consumption of insects as a way of limiting global warming. Well, if that's all it takes to save the planet. Hey wait! I love my burger and steak. No way, UN, no way.

 

Predestination?

Hi everyone. I'm starting to like our new dog Humphrey (half lab and half Great Dane). Last night we had a break in to a house that is four houses down from ours. It's nice to know that our big dog is here to discourage any ne'er-do-wells in our neighborhood. His big bark should scare away even the most determined bad guys. We had a wonderful time last weekend up at Gull Lake – the kids did lots of boating / tubing. We did some shopping. And it was great spending time with my family. Kelly, our thoughts and prayers are with you.

So, now that I am relaxed and in an easy-going mood, I thought I would take on a light subject, predestination (does sarcasm show up in a blog post?). But I am going to do this from a story that I have never seen discussed as dealing with the topic of predestination – the story by Jesus of the Rich man and Lazarus.

First, a quick definition of 'predestination'. Divine predestination means that God has a purpose that is determined long before it is brought to pass. It implies that God is infinitely capable of planning and then bringing about what he has planned (Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology (Elwell). It especially is used by those of a Calvinistic background as dealing with the topic of those who are predestined to be saved – the elect, having nothing to do with their merit or anything to do with their actions. God's grace and mercy is wholly responsible for anyone being saved.

Here is the story I would like to discuss - Luke 16:19-31 (ESV) ¹⁹ "There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. ²⁰ And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, ²¹ who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²² The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, ²³ and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ²⁴ And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' ²⁵ But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'

²⁷ And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— ²⁸ for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' ²⁹ But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' ³⁰ And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' ³¹ He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. (English Standard Version (Wheaton)).

Tom: so here are a few notes about this story. Jesus describes heaven as "Abraham's side" or Abraham's bosom". From v. 22, what exactly are the angels carrying? Lazarus' body, his soul, or something else? And when the rich man in purple (hopefully not a member of the Viking's team) was dead and buried, it is his soul that is in 'Hades'. Lazarus' anguish in Hades is in flame with a great thirst, which is something that appears to be never ending. Jesus does an excellent job in showing the anguish, torment and misery of what it means to be judged and cast into Hades.

But I wanted to draw out something that is perhaps too obvious from the story. What is the Rich man in purple's response when he sees that there is no escape from his torment? The Rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus to his house where his 5 brothers live. His hope is that seeing a resurrected person (i.e., Lazarus) who would tell them about the torment that the rich man in purple was in, that this would save his brothers from their hellish destination. Abraham's response was that if they ignored the Old Testament books of the Law and Prophets, then they would not be persuaded by seeing someone who was raised from the dead.

Of course, Jesus tells the story to show the hardness of the human heart where even after Jesus' resurrection, he would still be rejected in Israel. But the main point I wanted to draw out was that at least from the perspective of the rich man in purple, he believed his 5 brothers had the free-will to see evidence and to have their hearts turn to God. Abraham shoots down his hope by explaining that the Scriptures are enough for anyone to accept, and so even a miraculous resurrection would not save them. And so, for me the story seems to revolve around the importance of human free-will and choice when it comes to living our lives: when we live our lives without God, then we start on a path that means that our hearts are hardened to the point where even a miracle shown in front of us will not be accepted. And when we read and accept the Scriptures, we are allowing God to work in our lives. This will have eternal consequences. The emphasis in verse 31 is that the brothers should "hear" Moses and the Prophets. This looks to me as Jesus saying that people should choose to hear, with the emphasis on "choose". If it was fully God's will on whether his 5 brothers would receive salvation, then wouldn't the Rich Man's response be to beg God asking for mercy upon his brothers?

Before I am called a heretic, or a Pelagian, or something worse, I want to reassure any readers out there that I understand God alone is responsible for our salvation. But there seems like there is also a bit of room for human responsibility, otherwise Christ's judgment is meaningless. Anyway, I hope I have given you something to think about. Have a great week in Christ - /s/Tom

New Computer Issues

I'm sorry that I haven't posted recently. I am transferring files from my old computer to the new one, and one of the issues I am having trouble with is blog posting. Well, here is my attempt at a post:

It's been an eventful past month – Asia hanging out with a friend who is a boy; Asia coming home from a friend's house, and a couple of middle aged guys stalk / harass her (she was fortunate enough to get away from them.) And Asia's new friend sat down with me and asked 'permission' from me to ask her out on a date (wow!, this was a cool kid.) We've seen the movies Twilight, Marmaduke, Despicable Me, and Airbender in the last 6 weeks. Oh, and yes, we have a new pet dog in our house, Humphrey the Great Dane mix. Don't ask…don't ask how this could happen.

Work is going well. We are healthy. We are down to 1 puppy. And we will be going on vacation to brother and sister's cabin soon. I'm looking to seeing family and having some time off. Well, let's see if I can really post this… Here goes nothing.

Back from Wisconsin

Most of my family and I have returned home from a long weekend at the in-law's cabin in Wisconsin. It was a nice relaxing weekend watching the four dogs we brought up play, go on walks, and wrestle, and run around. With the rain, I spent some time putting together a jigsaw puzzle. The family shopped and had fun at the lumberjack festival in Heyward. It was great spending time with family!

Weird small-world meeting - the time we staid at is about 500 people big. When we attended mass, one of my clients from Edina was there. They had known my in-laws for over 30 years and never knew the connection. Now that's a weird coincidence.

Best Rock Male Vocalists – 1980’s

Happy Birthday to my daughter Olivia, who with this day is now a teenager. We will be celebrating by going bowling as a family, and anticipating the big day tomorrow. What you don't celebrate June 14^th Flag Day like we do? Oh yes, it will be my 48^th birthday on June 14^th.

For today's post, I thought I would write about one of my favorite topics – 1980's Rock n' Roll. And this time I will try and order the best male vocalists of the 1980's. So let's get started!

1. Robert Palmer;    I have placed my favorite crooner at number one, the late, great Mr. Palmer. His early work was much more focused on his great singing, and if you would like an example of his work during his early years seek out "Every Kinda People" – it's awesome. And of course, when he became popular his vocals really shone through during his rocking years with songs like 'Addicted to Love', 'Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)', and his work with the Super-Group Power Station. He's the best!
   
2. George Michael;    George Michael was much more than the pretty face in Wham. His soulful voice owned the charts in 1986. I don't know why with such a great voice he wasn't able to have much more success, but such is the way of life. His almost-mystical voice in songs like 'Faith' shows that he deserves this spot;
   
3. Michael Jackson    Now that Michael's estate has passed $1,000,000,000 in sales since his passing, we know that he still has something magical with his music. Although I don't consider him a super-great vocalist, his songs are so great that he has to be ranked near the top;
   
4. Rod Stewart    This may surprise you that I think this highly of Mr. Stewart's vocals. But his cover of Robert Palmer's 'Some Guys Have All the Luck' is amazing. Robert Palmer's version is nothing like what Rod Stewart did with the song, and it showed by becoming a number 1 hit. His version of Van Morrison's 'Have I told You Lately' was less impressive, because it eliminated the spiritual aspect to the song, yet it still became number 1. He has an amazing gift for interpreting songs, which is why I placed him at Number 4;
   
5. Bono;    OK, how can I put someone this high who made his performing name 'Bono Vox', is Latin for Good Voice? Well, I listen to the passion and emotion of songs like 'With or Without You' and 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday', and it's easy to see why he has to be considered alongside the best;
   
6. Boy George;    The singing 'Boy looks like a Girl' shares a birthday with me (and Jeanne K.) has some great chops. When I first heard 'Do You Really Want to Hurt Me', I knew this was a great vocalist. His voice was pure and filled with an element of soul/blues. It's too bad that he wasn't able to keep his singing career going;
   
7. Paul Carrack;    The journeyman rocker was the great sultry, smokey, bluesy voice of groups like Ace, Squeeze, and Mike & the Mechanics. He had a not-so impressive solo career did produce the stellar 'I Need You', but you probably know him better as the lead singer in songs like 'Tempted", 'Silent Running', and the ancient 'How Long'; Too bad he didn't stick it with Squeeze, just as they were starting to become "the" next big thing, he left them, and they were never the same without him. The Carrack Collection only has 8 songs, but it has all his best from wherever he put his considerable singing talents to work – check it out!
   
8. Don Henley;    The voice of many great Eagles' songs, as well as a solid solo performer. He has that special 'it' when it comes to singing a song with emotion. 'The Last Worthless Evening' is one of my favorites from him;
   
9. Stevie Wonder;    Over 4 decades of wonderful pop / Rhythm and Blues. His voice is made fun of by those who try and impersonate him, but you hear his great gift in songs like 'Chemical Love';
   
10. Chris Isaac;    Love him! He has that bluesy kind of country voice, that rings pure. 'Wicked Game' and 'Don't Make Me Dream About You' off of his best work in 'Heart Shaped World' CD are wonderful. And his subtle fun personality helps make his songs in concert even better;
    
11. Darryl Hall;    The greatest 'blue-eyed soul' performer, and the better half of Hall & Oates. Great voice. Great pop songs. I can listen to him all day. Good song that shows his talent: 'She's Gone'. And I always crank 'Sara Smile';
    
12. Belois Some;    OK, I'm going off the board with this one. Belois is a synth / dance music maestro from the 1980's, with the music overshadowing his great pipes. His song 'Some People' is great. So here is a great voice that you've never heard of!
    

 

As you can probably see from this list, I have left off some of the most popular 1980's acts. But I do it without regret. I don't think Prince, Billie Joel, Michael Hutchens (INXS), David Lee Roth, Sammie Hagar, Mick Jaggar, Bob Seger, Simon LeBon (of Duran Duran), Peter Wolf (J. Geils), John Mellencamp, and the guys from Journey and Aerosmith should make the list, talented though they may be. And I only had two black singers on the list, but I'm sure I'm forgetting many more. Oh well, help me if you can.

So tell me who your favorite male singers from the 1980's is and why. And if you have some that were left off of my list, I would enjoy hearing from you. Have a wonderful week.

Smoking and Damage to the Genome

Good morning. We had a fun evening of gaming over at Clay's last night. Sorry, but Blarney was partially eaten.

I came across an interesting recent story dealing with a smoker and the impact smoking has on our DNA: The story is reported here. 50,000 mutations in a tumor, and the complete failure of the error-correcting mechanisms in the DNA, leads to a scary outcome for Mr. Smoker. From the author's calculations in the story, each time the smoker smoked 3 cigarettes, a new mutation in the tumor was created!

One Man, One Tumor, Tens of Thousands of Mutations

Posted by Kristie on May 26, 2010

A team of researchers at Genentech in California compared the genome, all the genes present in DNA, from cells in healthy tissue with the genome of cells in lung tumor tissue from the same patient. This 51 year old man smoked about 25 cigarettes a day for 15 years. Researchers looked at the number of mutations, genetic changes in DNA in this case primarily caused by toxins in cigarette smoke, between the tumor and healthy tissues. What they found was astounding.

Cancer is usually the result of an accumulation of mutations over a long period of time but researchers were not ready for what they found in this patient's tumor tissue. The tumor tissue contained 50,000 genetic mutations in the man's genomic DNA. Researcher Zemin Zhang said his team was so shocked that they rechecked their work to make sure their results were correct.

Zhang calculated three cigarettes per mutation found in the tissue of this patient. See the calculations below:

(25 cigarettes/day x 365 days/year = 9125 cigarettes/year; 9125 cigarettes per year x 15 years =136875 cigarettes; 136875 cigarettes/50,000 mutations = 2.7 cigarettes/1 mutations –round up to 3)…

(Back to Tom again) Here is what I think is a helpful description of how things like a tumor or even cancer can be created in our cells: Cancer is a multistep process. First initiation then promotion. In some (heck a lot) of cases a single point mutation can occur and elude repair mechanisms. At some point a promotion event occurs and that single point mutation is fixed in the cell genome. Once that happens the cell can begin to divide without restraint and the tumor growth begins.

It does not take an accumulation of mutations over time to cause cancer. That some tumors may have an accumulation of mutations may be more a factor of the lack of control over cell division as a result of the initial event/damage to the DNA.

So what does this all mean? I don't have a clue. But it is interesting to me that the researchers tried to tie in the amount of cigarettes with the amount of mutations. I don't think that's how tumors / cancer work (see the comment after the story excerpt.) But if anyone has some helpful additions to this, I would be interested in learning more about it. But for now, if you are going to smoke, smoke only 2 cigarettes, don't touch that third! /s/Tom

The Millennium – Revelation Chapter 20

Happy Memorial Day weekend to everyone. This past Saturday, we went to a wonderful wedding ceremony of my niece Allie and her beau David. It was a beautiful ceremony, and a special reception, because we were able to see so many family members that we've missed. Congratulations to Allie and David.

I have recently read a great book on the Millennium by M Waymeyer called 'Revelation 20 and the Millennial Debate', and I wanted to write a little bit about it. Professor Waymeyer is a graduate of the Masters Seminary in California, and he has provided a clear summary of the three main positions in understanding the Millennium. The opening chapters are written in the form of a class syllabus. This makes it a quick and easy read that provides a good deal of depth of understanding on the various Millennial positions. Another good thing about this book is that it doesn't try and present something new on this topic, instead it is a very good summary of existing thought. Prof. Waymeyer writes from a Pre-Trib / Pre-Millennium position, where Jesus first comes in a Rapture of the Saints, followed by 7 years of Tribulation, concluding in the literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on Earth with the Saints.

He provides a guide to some crucial questions in trying to understand Revelation Chapter 20. The various interpretations of Revelation 20:1–6 seek to answer these five crucial questions:

A.     Is the binding of Satan present or future?

B.     Is the "first resurrection" spiritual or physical?

C.     Is the duration of the thousand years symbolic or literal?

D.     Is the locale of the millennial reign heaven or earth?

E.     Is the chronology of Revelation 19:21–20:1 recapitulatory or sequential?

 

A Summary of Key Interpretive Issues in Rev 20:1–6
Issue		Premil	Postmil				Amil
Satan's Binding:		Future	Present/Future				Present
First Resurrection:		Physical	Spiritual				Spiritual
Thousand Years:		Literal	Literal/Symbolic				Symbolic
Locale of Reign:		Earth	Earth/Heaven				Heaven
Chronology of 19–20:		Sequential	Sequ/Recap				Recap

 

From M Waymeyer, 'Revelation 20 and the Millennial Debate'.

 

1. Is the Binding of Satan happening today or sometime in the future?
   

   Here, with this initial question, Prof. Waymeyer does a very good job setting out the reasons for accepting the PreTrib view. Let's start by looking at Rev. 20:1-3
   

   
    

   ¹Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. ²And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, ³and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. (ESV)
   

   
    

   These verses show that an Angel comes from heaven (I believe this is Jesus, see Rev. 1:18, as He is the One with the keys to the Abyss and Hades). This Angel seizes Satan and throws him into the Abyss/pit, shut it and seals the door, so that Satan may not deceive the nations any longer. He is placed in this "jail" for 1,000 years, and then is released for a little while.
   

   So as shown on the chart (above), the PreTrib view believes this binding of Satan takes place in the future. While Amillennialists believe that Satan is currently bound, so that he cannot deceive the nations. And the Post-Trib view have some understand Satan to have been bound at the time of Christ's victory on the cross, while others see the binding of Satan to represent a future point in time when the successful proclamation of the gospel will have effectively reduced Satan's influence to nothing (Gregg 1997: 457). Because postmillennialists teach that the present age gradually merges into the millennium, the precise time of the binding is not always emphasized in their writings. (This is fn 3 in Waymeyer's book).
   

   Here are three author's quotes from Prof. Waymer's book that persuasively show that this passage does not mean that Satan is presently bound (as the Amillennialist's believe):
   

   a.    "The imagery of throwing Satan into a pit and shutting it and sealing it over him gives a picture of total removal from influence on earth" (Grudem 1994: 1117).
   

   b.     "The elaborate measures taken to insure his custody are most easily understood as implying the complete cessation of his influence on earth (rather than a curbing of his activities)" (Mounce 1977: 353).
   

   c.    "If a symbolic presentation of the binding of Satan were intended to teach that Satan was rendered completely inactive, what more dramatic picture could be provided than is here portrayed?" (Walvoord 1986: 231).
   

   
    

   These writer's are very persuasive to me in showing that we should not interpret Revelation 20:1-3 as saying that Satan is somehow bound today. Yet I have a difficult time embracing the PreTrib view for a number of reasons related to Revelation Chapter 20. But for now, let me raise perhaps this argument, perhaps the best argument for the PreTrib viewpoint, and I will try in my next post and summarize the reasons I still reject the PreTrib view of the Millennium. I think it's important to address the best arguments of a position, to make sure that I truly understand a topic.
   

Until next time, Praise Jesus our Redeemer and Savior. We can trust that because our God is not a God of confusion, and that His Spirit will lead us into all truth. Have a great week. /s/Tom