To buy from Christians...

I have a Christian friend who recently asked around for a dentist, but specifically a Christian dentist.

I understand the intent, but it's a platitude we Christians should not employ. Does a Christian do a better job of cleaning your teeth? What about Christian car dealers and lawyers, both of whom have to put some ethics on the side to just maintain a proper business.

I think the attitude of many Christians is to blindly accept people who say they are Christian first. This is a little isolationist and I think in our free-market culture it leads to big business in the name of Christ. Choosing to purchase goods and services from other Christians because they are Christians is not Christ’s example. Christ cleared out the temple because the people inside professed themselves to be Jews but were Judaizers who used the faith of followers to sell their goods.

Furthermore, I think it’s actually a little bit selfish. If you think about it, we want to believe that because a person is a Christian that he/she is going to do a much better job; however, Christians are not perfect--not in this life, anyways. So, what happens when they do an imperfect job, does that mean the may not be a true Christian? What if someone who isn't a Christian does a much better job and even charges less, could that person be a Christian? People search for Christian sales/servicepeople because it benefits them. The truth of the matter is we should be focused on demonstrating ourselves as salt of the earth that incites the unregenerate to look inwardly and try their own hearts.

FWIW, I’m not saying it's wrong to have a Christian dentist at all, but it irks me when Christians isolate themselves to Christians as the source of goods and services. I pray that when one searches for a dentist, a car dealer, a lawyer, or whatever occupation, that they find the person to be excellent, first, and even still I hope the person is a Christian; but I pray he/she is a Christian for his/her own sake, not as much for it.

Another Jesus FREAK!

Well, there's a guy in New Mexico claiming to be Jesus, yet again. The town is called Strong City where the man claiming to be Our Savior is really Wayne Bent / Michael Travesser who was recently arrested for "sexual contact with a minor."

The thing that frustrates me is that on the Strong City web site, Mr. Bent demonstrates himself to be the meek and lowly Jesus. However, if he'd actually read the Bible or, more importantly, if his followers would actually read the Bible, they would all know that the next time Our Lord returns, He will return:

¹²I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man,"dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. ¹⁵His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. ¹⁶In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. (Revelation 1:12-16)

Christ will not be returning as the meek and lowly Jesus, but as the Son of God ready for judgment. In other words, this is the moment at the end of Star Wars when Luke comes back with a bunch of wrath--no hesitations, just disintegrations.

Well, that was fun!

Some views on evolution

I’ve often had an inner conflict with intelligent design in the past. My background is in theoretical physics and I had a lot of evolution and cosmology imposed upon me. I think intelligent design is a really great idea for Christians to explain their perspective; however, it is extremely bad for science.

What is science?

Science is a construct in which we empirically study the world through observation and we purposely leave out those things that are “gut belief” or inner feelings—it’s truly based on the construct of the scientific method. The belief in Christ cannot be studied from a mathematical perspective; it is beyond our comprehension, much like love.

What if we studied Christianity from a scientific perspective? How does intelligent design harm science?

If you were to study faith in Our God from a scientific perspective, everything would ultimately end with, “it’s something we cannot understand because the maker designed it that way.” This is what happened with the alchemists who believed in the 5 elements which delayed the discovery of much chemistry earlier on. To obtain a better understanding science wants to develop an empirical understanding through observation as well as trial and error; contrary to that, intelligent design asks us to accept our lack of understanding as that which God made and he did it that way regardless of whatever remnants of history we’ve discovered.

The results of being a Christian may allow one to bear more fruit, but the outcome of doing more good than bad after being a Christian is neither truly a mark of a Christian nor can it be graphed with consistency. We are fallible and sinful and, although we never expect a Christian to be out of line, we are not righteous on our own and often we find ourselves allowed to yield to the world.

Why is pure science a better means to find God?

Intelligent design is a bad construct to bring up young scientists in the world today. I’ll go into detail, but I’d like to start with a concept (conceived by another) that asserts the concept of building a brick wall.

Brick wall for science as it is:

If you were to build a brick wall based on a person’s understanding of science, over time, that person will be find holes that they are unable to explain. Naturally, and this was certainly the case for me, the belief in a higher power is overwhelmingly obvious and although it doesn’t sway the science, it sways the scientist. Many true scientists find God this way—I am not alone—but we, scientists, cannot speak it as science because that is not the purpose of science.

Brick wall with intellectual design:

If intellectual design is forced on our children, the brick wall is too easily filled. When a circumstance arises that the person does not understand, he/she will automatically have the answer that God did it. We do this already with children when we tell them early on that 5 minus 6 cannot be done, then we fill them in that there is more there in the negative numbers and their search for more mathematical understanding continues. Rarely will you see a child thirst for an understanding of why there is no explanation for 5 minus 6, and when they learn later that it is possible, it is a drastic change and it takes a while (I don’t understand why mathematics education is pursued this way, but it is). You see, the fallacy is that we learn to fill in the gaps to easily and just accept them, but as we learn more, the bricks fall away from the wall and we have to reconstruct the wall with less God in it.

The avenue for true laws of the universe is a narrow road, and most will never even encounter the road in their research. I may not agree that macro-evolution is the best construct, but it is a very interesting argument with some very good empirical evidence. I may see super-string theory as an Isaac Asimov or Star Wars foible, but it’s theory is well-grounded. It may be that these scientists were traveling the true road of universal laws, but time and real science have only proven them invalid.

Anyway, friends, I just want everyone to understand the implications of what intelligent design has on our future.

Global warming for Christians

Science Panel Calls Global Warming 'Unequivocal'
N.Y. Times

I feel it's awfully irresponsible of humanity and especially Christians to be so stubborn as to the results of global warming. The staunch Christian perspective is that God will not allow us to destroy our planet, which I understand and agree; however, I believe we've been blessed with scientists who have found these problems before they become much worse. So many things have been affected by our neglect of the environment. If you don't believe it, take note that pregnant women are told not to eat large fish because they have been contaminated in recent years by heavy metals (particularly mercury, which has a delusionary effect on people and makes the fetus prone to mental problems); glaciers are melting (Oslo, Norway's glaciers, where the Olympics were held not long ago have shrunk several meters). This global warming is not only changing our climate, but our food supply, the chemical balance of our bodies, and the cancers we are more prone to.

Science often has bad effects when it finally reaches us as a commercial commodity. Often times, when science is introduced into the commercial realm, corporations neglect the environment first in order to maximize profits. People were indifferent about the smog produced by steel mills. X-rays were originally done for several minutes until the skin would turn red. I wonder sometimes that the increase in cell phone and wireless signals we produce are going to affect our health and that of our children. This naïveté is a demonstration of what is to come from our greenhouse gas problems.

The world we live in today is based around evidence and observation produced by scientists. From the foundation of our homes, bioengineered crops, medicines and healthcare, and, of course, computers science has demonstrated great benefit to our commercial and healthcare industries. Science is not intended to prove or disprove God; it is merely the use of observation to eventually produce an expected result. I find it hard to believe that Christians can accept grace by faith and love which are not scientifically observable, but cannot accept the evidence of global warming which is observable, calculable, and clearly evident. It is irresponsible and irreverent to God to knowingly neglect the findings of these scientists and continue to ruin the environment.

Al Gore on global warming
Al Gore is a spokesperson for global warming because if some unknown scientist showed up onscreen it would fall on deaf ears. Regardless of how you feel about him, he is a very intelligent man who has contributed a lot to our country and the world and he gained the power of the office he held due to his stature. His 'celebrity' status has given global warming a voice: one that, regardless if upheld by Christians, is now being upheld by our legislature and even the President.

Earth's atmosphere
There are 2 shields that protect the earth. One is the magnetic field created by our gravity and our cyclic electromagnetic core. As we circle the sun, the magnetic shield reflects and repels harmful UV rays as well as gamma radiation and caustic mesons that would normally destroy our skin. The second shield is our ozone atmosphere which is like a blanket of heavy molecules that make our atmosphere dense enough to burn up fast moving particles. To stay in orbit, a mass must maintain an approximate speed of 17,600mph, thus, everything is a fast-moving particle.

Ozone depletion
After thinking about it for a while, I remembered from some college experiments (not performed on me) that ozone (O₃) is created naturally by static electricity. Many of the refrigerants and aerosols we used in this country contributed to excess Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which naturally steal an oxygen atom from ozone and therefore deplete the ozone layer. These CFCs also produced things like acid rains, crop problems, plankton death, and temperature warm ups. Reduction in CFCs over the past 20+ years allowed the ozone layer to just begin to 'heal' itself. I decided to look up a more concise explanation on Wikipedia. We've made progress in this department because someone listened to the scientists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_depletion

Global warming
I wanted to get a better perspective on what global warming really means. We have a new problem which has been produced by our reliance on fossil fuels. This is something that has been brought to public attention for a long time; however, no one has listened for over 30 years. I didn't know enough about global warming until I read this exposition on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming