Perspectives

For every person that died as a result of the production of nuclear energy 4000 have died producing coal.  This graph blew me away.  It did not blew me away because of my complete ignorance of the deaths as a result of nuclear power.  I know a lot about nuclear power and the deaths associated with it.  I was surprised because the facts had not been presented to me side by side.  I had only known part of the story.   I knew of the terrible effects of nuclear energies but did not know how dangerous coal or oil was in comparison.  The facts had been skewed by media hype and political agendas.

If I am not careful my spirituality and search for God can be redirected in the same way.  Books and messages form our perspective of God.  The problem is not that we learn less of God from books.  The problem is that we are getting one person’s limited perspective of God.

 

 

The Environment: Something I wish the political right would pay more attention to.

To me Global Warming is like that threat about crossing your eyes that your grandmother used to give.  If you keep doing that they will stay that way.  Of course everyone knows that this is not true but it stopped you from a socially awkward behavior.  Though the threat of global warming has been spawned from fabricated scientific research and a failed politician with too much time on his hands, it does not mean we shouldn’t be more careful when it comes to the environment.  Maybe not for reasons some have given but because it could be beneficial to the world and American economy.

As I write this nuclear waste is being released into the air in Japan.  It is has even increased the amount of radiation all the way across the globe in California.  This can’t be good.  Dumping gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.  Also not good.  Nuclear power is about the cleanest energy we produce but the radiation that results from nuclear energy is extremely dangerous.  No doubt it is carefully disposed of.  The problem. there is no room for error.  Should we place humans in charge of a plant where there is no room for error?

Looking to the wind and the sun for energy, Powering cars with electricity instead of gasoline, Tax incentives to recycle;  Are these really bad ideas?

I think people on the right could join the left to find constructive ways to make the United States a world leader in green energies.  This could be beneficial to the American economy and pacify the people afraid of getting their eyes stuck if they cross them for too long.

Plus windmills are cool.  Just ask Don Quixote.

Don’t Expect Much: The Highlights of 2 Weeks of Research and Writing

 

Have you ever been at the point where your creative juices are flowing like a creek in a desert? ( See even here I have crossed metaphors like a… no simile come to mind.)   The harder you try the less that happens.  I have been trying for days to come up with a witty post that would make people smile, perhaps challenge them and maybe even make them want to come back and revisit.  In the last two weeks I have written and deleted so many posts and ideas for articles I can’t even keep track.

The following five points are the best of what I came up with.  They all start the same way so you can remember them better.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

I have literally spent hours on these.  I wish I was joking.

The rest of the week I will be posting all the lame stuff I came up with but did not make the final cut.  These articles involve letters, words, sentences, and thought progression.  And they probably will fall short of the five points above.

 

Why God made Saturdays…

 

 

Charlie Sheen is similar to the Apostle Paul?

What person could disagree with Charlie Sheen’s ambition to win and be a winner?  Though this out of control superstar has gone even too far for Hollywood, He has one thing right.  Winning is important.  We all want to win.

Though I am not a psychologist I get the impression that Charlie Sheen was overwhelmed by the self-degradation that rehabilitation programs put a person through.  Many programs focus on “Self” as  the problem and “Self” as the solution.   With enough drive you can change yourself.  If you only realize how badly You have been behaving then You will change your behavior.  I think that Sheen has become overwhelmed and has given up.  He is tired of feeling like a loser and has decided to attempt to be a winner not by changing his behavior but by calling what he is doing good.  It is the inner struggle of attempting to do right that is consistent with Paul, Charlie Sheen, and all of us.   And at times I would prefer to just throw up my hands and call myself a success rather than deal with genuine problems.

Sin in us is the problem and we by ourselves are never going to change.  Paul documents his personal struggle at the end of Romans 7 saying that the good he wanted to do he can’t and the bad he does not want to do he does.  The climax of this speech is Romans 7 :24 “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?.”  The only question remains is how do we win?

Romans 7:25  “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Winning at life and life’s struggles is found in Christ.

Paul’s conclusion of the following chapter in v. 37   “We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us an gave Himself for us.” We are winners through Christ.  My prayers are with Charlie Sheen.  It is obvious how much he wants to see himself as a success.  I hope he finds success in Jesus Christ.  The only person who will be able to truly make a changing difference.  Then he can truly live what is now tattooed on his wrist.   Winning!

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No Greater Love Trailer

A few weekends ago I was with some friends in the Chicago area.  We enjoyed watching a Christian film together.  Not the pinnacle of my cinematic experience but an enjoyable time and heart warming movie.  I have always enjoyed movies.  Unfortunately finding films that meet the Philippians 4:8 qualifications is not an easy task.  Thankfully the Christian film is evolving.  I am looking forward to doing more post on films providing a moral worldview and even Christian in nature.

The first movie I am promoting on DSOAT is called No Greater Love.  Though in the future I will review each film I have nothing negative to say about this one.   It could not be more perfect.  🙂  My Grandmother’s sister and brother-in-law appear in the film and the executive producer is her nephew.  Her great nephew wrote the film so my bias has been stated.  No Greater Love is available at Red Box and Family Video.  Thomas Nelson and Lionsgate are involved in distrubution.  You can purchase No Greater Love here or watch the trailer below.

 

Five Indisputable Proofs of God?

If there is no God I welcome any atheist to reasonable answers or explain the following points.  I am not ignorant or closed minded.   These are personal conclusions that I have arrived at through logical considerations of truth.  I invite you to challenge these ideas if they are different from your own.

Five proofs for God:

1.  Creation

Our existence demands an explanation.  Because we are here we must have been created.  There is no other reasonable alternative.  Though I understand this argument is circular in nature.  It is no different from the atheist assumption that we evolved because we now exists.  The creation explanation is superior to evolution because there is no scientific example that can be currently observed where a lesser state of matter or energy changes itself into a more complex state of matter.

It is only logical to assume that we were created by a higher source or power.

2.  Clothing

Giorgio Armani and Giani Versace have the fall of man to thank for their success in clothing the elite of society.  Apart from covering ourselves from elements of cold and heat a world-view without God has no explanation of clothing.    No other creatures of the earth attempt to cloth themselves to the level that humans do.  Genesis 3 gives the most logical explanation of the need for clothes.  Having been created in perfection man sinned and realized his nakedness.  I challenge atheist thinkers to give a logical explanation of clothing that does not include God.

3.  Changed Lives

An overwhelming majority of the world believes in God.  Inside of that majority are millions of examples of people whose lives have been dramatically changed by the Loving hand of God.  The unexplainable medical miracles as a result of prayer.  The reformed addicts who were given grace to conquer their addiction.  The hope found in God that transforms our lives and gives us a purpose and meaning beyond ourselves.  Explain this.  Certainly if the change of God was minimal in effect than it could be dismissed.  But the expanse of the effects of God can not be casually dismissed.  And I submit it as proof of God.

4.  The God tendency

At man’s core there is a natural belief that God exists.  Religion has been a natural part of every culture ever encountered.  If there is no God how do you explain the tendency of people groups who have never interacted with each other to come to similar conclusions of a Deity’s existence.  For this reason you will not find a casual atheist.  There is an enormous amount of mental energy that is spent suppressing the natural tendency to have faith in God.    Atheist must constantly surround themselves with anti-God propaganda or their inner-nature will lead them back to an understanding of God.

The death bed experience of even famous atheist has demonstrated the God tendency.

5.  An inner sense of morality

Most people,atheist included, agree that stealing and killing are wrong.  Unlike animals people around the world have an inner sense of what is right and wrong.  I have never met an atheist who accepts the notion that an unprovoked cold blooded killing is acceptable.  We universally believe that taking another’s life is wrong.  What is the origin of this universal morality?  When God said he made man in his own image.  It is this image, though broken through the fall, that stirs each of us  with passionate hate towards unprovoked killing.

Where did that sense of morality come from?   God.

I would like to open an honest dialogue in the comments section.

These thoughts perpetually verify God to me.  They are not five all-inclusive reasons for faith in God.  But they at least begin the conversation.  My mind is open to your thoughts.

Bill O’Reilly afraid of Atheist?

Bill Oreilly faces off with Richard Dawkins

Science, Please Stick with Observable Facts.

Modern Science has positioned itself as the reigning authority of the observable.   I am willing to permit them this authority as long as they are willing to extend faith in God and the Bible equal authority of the unobservable.

The origin of the universe is unobservable.

Atheist have no answer to the origin of the universe.  Consider that things that exists must come into existence at some point.  There are only two possibilities of the origin of the universe.

1.  It has been in infinite existence having no beginning.  This would contradict the second law of thermodynamics.  This law deals with entropy.  The fact that the universe is going from a higher amount of complex energy to a lesser amount of inferior energy.

2.  The universe had a starting point.  The problem with this is atheist have no explanation for this starting point.  Each version of the evolutionary origin of the universe begins with matter already in existence.  Where the matter came from is a “matter” of faith.

Because the origin of the universe is not answered by science nor can the progression of “evolution”  be observed by science.  We can choose to make up an origin much the same way our parents told fairy tales before bed.  Or we can trust God’s word and believe the Bible’s account of the beginning.

I think the Bible should be the authority of the unobservable.  Let’s limit science to the things it can observe.

Pensacola Christian College seeks National Accreditation!

I am very excited about this.  Glad to see it’s official.  Thank you Dr. Burrell for alerting me:

In a development that I can only describe as extremely surprising, Pensacola Christian College has announced today that they will be seeking Accreditation with the Transnational Association of Colleges and Schools read full article here