Tagged: Apologetics RSS

  • Mark 9:03 am on August 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Apologetics, Guillermo Gonzalez, intelligent design   

    A Privileged Planet? 

    51WK7D53H7L._SL500_AA240_Hey guys – I don’t normally promote books or DVDs on here, but this one was a lot of fun, and very intriguing. Its called the Privileged Planet, a documentary on the origins of the cosmos and on the peculiar and relative uniqueness of the planet Earth. The authors of the book with the same name suggest that the Earth, which was given an incredible amount of variables and was able to develop complex carbon life, is rare if not unique in the universe – even when compared to the hundreds of billions of galaxies that make it up. Much more – the very same elements that allow for life to exist on our planet are actually what allow us the chance to discover the rest of our universe with relative ease.

    Take our sister planet Venus for example – not only is its atmosphere so clouded with poisonous gas that life is unsustainable, but it also does not allow for a clear night’s sky in which to ponder the stars and galaxies beyond. Or take our position in the Milky Way – our solar system is located right in between two arms of the spiraling Milky Way Galaxy, allowing us not only the relative safety from galactic dust (harmful asteroids, etc) but it gives us a picture perfect setting for looking out of our own galaxy and over at distant galaxies (like Andromeda, etc).

    Is there a potential correlation between our fragile survival situation in the universe, and our ability to learn and discover our surroundings? Is it merely coincidence? I don’t think so -

    A Divine Creator – a thoughtful God – created a safe place for us not only to live and survive, but also to enjoy and discover. Earth is far more than a the product of time, chance and circumstance. The dynamic relationship between survival and our capacity to observe in wonder points to a God who wants to share in his created beauty. Not only does such a finely-tuned planet point to a Designer, but the opportunity to revel in a beautiful creation points to a God that desires relationship; in wonder, worship, love.

    If physics, metaphysics, faith, space, and nerdery are your cup of tea – check out this sweet documentary. You won’t be disappointed.

    Hey guys – I don’t normally promote books or DVDs on here, but this one was a lot of fun, and very intriguing. Its called the Privileged Planet, a documentary on the origins of the cosmos and on the peculiar and relative uniqueness of the planet Earth. The authors of the book with the same name suggest that the Earth, which was given an incredible amount of variables and was able to develop complex carbon life, is rare if not unique in the universe – even when compared to the hundreds of billions of galaxies that make it up. Much more – the very same elements that allow for life to exist on our planet are actually what allow us the chance to discover the rest of our universe with relative ease.

    Take our sister planet Venus for example – not only is its atmosphere so clouded with poisonous gas that life is unsustainable, but it also does not allow for a clear night’s sky in which to ponder the stars and galaxies beyond. Or take our position in the Milky Way – our solar system is located right in between two arms of the spiraling Milky Way Galaxy, allowing us not only the relative safety from galactic dust (harmful asteroids, etc) but it gives us a picture perfect setting for looking out of our own galaxy and over at distant galaxies (like Andromeda, etc).

    Is there a potential correlation between our fragile survival situation in the universe, and our ability to learn and discover our surroundings? Is it merely coincidence? I don’t think so -

    A Divine Creator – a thoughtful God – created a safe place for us not only to live and survive, but also to enjoy and discover. Earth is far more than a the product of time, chance and circumstance. The dynamic relationship between survival and our capacity to observe in wonder points to a God who wants to share in his created beauty. Not only does such a finely-tuned planet point to a Designer, but the opportunity to revel in a beautiful creation points to a God that desires relationship; in wonder, worship, love.

    If physics, metaphysics, faith, space, and nerdery are your cup of tea – check out this sweet documentary. You won’t be disappointed.

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    • Richard Kent Matthews 9:52 am on August 20, 2009 Permalink

      The inner workings of our planet i.e. the molten rock and poisonous gases remind me of the Old Testament God: appearing to be supportive and nurturing on the surface but boiling and smoldering underneath, just waiting for the opportunity to pour out his wrath. Coincidence? Naw….

    • Mark 9:59 am on August 20, 2009 Permalink

      Also insightful to the character of God is that the earth’s molten rock (a ever shifting sea of iron) creates a magnet field that blocks most of the radioactive blasts from the violent sun. Without that boiling and smoldering magma, we’d be over-cooked ducks.

      But what’s your point?

    • Richard Kent Matthews 1:13 am on September 7, 2009 Permalink

      Yes, it would appear that all is well. But as early church fathers pointed out, God is always holding us by the scrap of the neck over the fire. It is only by his good grace (read mood) that he doesn’t let go.

      Point? The universe is continually in a state of chaos. Even the order that comes out of the chaos must return to chaos again. There is always the chance that a large object from outer space can knock Earth out of her orbit. Or major plate shifts. Or something.

      There is only the appearance of peace and tranquility. Whatever brought this universe into existence was not really thinking of our comfort. Just ask the dinosaurs.

    • Mark G Willis 8:39 am on September 7, 2009 Permalink

      I don’t know about you – but it sure seems like our ability to have this conversation and breathe air and all that is proof enough that the Divine God was thinking about our relative comfort when finely tuning our universe. Besides – in Christ we are anticipating a new earth, with new bodies – the ultimate creation and the ultimate rest – this current world is in the midst of battle – between chaos and order (read Gen 1 – where God takes things that are chaotic and shapes them into order). Then look at where things are headed (Revelation describes a city, well planned and ordered, with God giving light at the very center.) I see this “city” as part of the new earth – and while we live in the current universe, we are experiencing the grace (read – deep, unchanging character of God) and provision of God.

    • Richard Kent Matthews 9:58 am on September 12, 2009 Permalink

      I suppose when one takes those writings, particularly Revelation, literally, then what you say appears to have validity. It’s also important to constantly remind oneself of the rest of the antics of the OT god. He was almost never benevolent. Even toward his so-called Chosen People. Some would call it discipline; I would call it torture and harassment. Then, suddenly, as if by magic, he becomes a rather different being in the NT. What gives here? Can we read between the lines? Of course. Different writers, different context, different time frame. And especially, different agendas. Control, mostly.

      But get this, and it’s crucial: At least when the OT god smote you, you were forever dead. The NT god claims to love, but allows eternal punishment. And not because we’re “bad people.” Mainly, it’s because we do not believe a certain way. I can be the best Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, or, like me, New Thought minister, and still end up in perdition because I didn’t believe a certain way.

      Now, that’s monstrous.

  • Mark 3:17 pm on March 10, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Apologetics, atheists, religion, study, usa today   

    Shifting Religious American Frontier 

    This morning I read up on the recent USA Today article which highlights a national study surveying religion in the United States.  The basic conclusions are not surprising, yet they are profound for our culture.  From 1990 to 2008, Christians from every tradition have declined in every state without exception. Alongside this, is an explosive increase in atheist and “new religions” like Wiccan, Spiritualist, and Neo-Pagan religions.  This is our reality.  We can no longer talk about the post-Christian “Europe” as hopelessly lost and altogether different than America – we are on the same journey, a journey away from Christendom.

    Illinois is the lowest in the Midwest

    Illinois is the lowest in the Midwest

    Here’s the deal:  Christians must begin to find themselves at home in the “counter-culture.”  Its tough to imagine what it might be like, since for 1700 years the West has been dominated by a Christian-majority culture, even if those following Jesus were in the extreme minority.

    Here’s what I mean.  Since America began, it was built on the premise that all religions should be tolerated by the state, and yet there grew in America’s roots the impression that every person was Christian.  Over time, it became the civil thing to be a Christian – and before long you have Christian prayers and language integrated into policies and presidential inaugurations.  Churches became the cornerstones for civil communities.  You were not respected if you were not a church-going family, and most elders were the business leaders and politicians of small town America.

    But now (and for quite sometime in our cities) this does not describe our reality.  Christians are seen as ignorant, gay-hating, and judgmental.  They are seen as hypocritical, Republican, and against “progress.”  In short, urbanites view Christians as people who want to hang on to “entitled power.”

    I find that much of my evangelism in Chicago starts with confessing the sins of the Western Church.  Its a new definition for “apologetics” – I have to apologize for the Crusades, for the priest sex abuse scandal of 2002, and so much more.  But I also stand firm on the belief that Christ came to establish a counter-culture of revolutionaries, aimed at upending the status quo, and establishing rebellious groups in the heart of the Empire.  Not rebelling with violence, but rebelling with love – loving enemies instead of hating them.  Not defending oppressive power structures but reimagining new ones that cultivate justice for the poor.  I preach this as hard as I can – because I believe that somewhere inside the American Church is the dream of starting this fire again in our day, and that inside each skeptic is a heart that wants to join a cause that fights for redemption.

    I welcome the end of Christendom in America – but I also welcome Christ’s return to America in a brand new way.

    May churches continue to grow, but may they grow in health and service, not in political position or worldly prestige.  May people continue to join the Church, but for the sake of the love revolution and not for “networking and personal advance.”  May the poor and the skeptics get a clear message from Christ’s followers that they are here to help with the change the world needs, and that help comes out of a belief that God loves the world so much.

    So come on and join in the resistance.  Join the army of non-violence!  This is a chance for the Church to take her next step forward.

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  • Mark 4:22 pm on January 14, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Apologetics   

    The Universe, Free-Will, and Janna Levin 

    mset.jpg

    The latest Speaking of Faith podcast had Krista Tippett interviewing Janna Levin, theoretical mathematician, philosopher and author of A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines. She has spent her career looking into the realities of existence and truths of the universe. In the interview, she describes how the universe through mathematics is completely predetermined, and nothing can be considered “free-will” as we understand it.

    Now, this might just be my American free-spirit predetermining my response here, but I have to humbly disagree with her.

    With what little I know of Mandelbrot Set (M-Set) Fractals (see a totally sweet post on them here) they are a repeating rhythm based on a simple equation that ideally go on for infinity. They have infinite precision, but they are not touchable.

    Arthur C. Clark (wrote 2001: A Space Oddessy) narrated a movie series on fractal geometry called “Fractals – the Colors of Infinity”. I’ve included the YouTube video (1st part) below. (A little cheezy, but you owe it to yourself to watch this…)

    Fractals like this explain the motion of the planets around the sun, the shape and movement of clouds, continents, or trees, right down to DNA revolving around itself. What is so unusual about the M-Set is that is both complete and incomplete – both fully definable and fully indefinable. It is like islands of order in the sea of chaos. The M-Set is infinitely complex, organic, fluid, and yet completely definable and simple.

    I believe the realities of the M-Set Fractal help us understand how parts of our universe is both revealed and concealed, both mysterious and definable. When we think about predeterminism, and free-will, no longer are we confined to choose one side or the other. Maybe through mathematics, we can understand that God allows free-will and yet knows everything. Maybe we can understand how God is both revealed and mysterious…

    In my opinion, the Mandelbrot Set (nicknamed the “thumbprint of God”) offers a question to Jenna Levin, and invites deep questions into existence, consciousness, and organic reality in the universe.

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    • Guy Muse 10:27 am on January 15, 2008 Permalink

      Very interesting. I love this kind of stuff. Will watch the rest of the series as time permits.

    • Mark 4:32 pm on January 18, 2008 Permalink

      Guy, thanks man. I’m a total nerd for this stuff myself. I felt like I was back in 5th grade math class being mesmerized by the cool scientists, and the cool wailing guitar solos as the video displayed swirling fractals.

      It’d be neat to learn more about this, and compare it to biology. What in nature is a fractal? What isn’t?

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