Humor for the week

I was in need of some humor this week. Here are a few things that have made me laugh:

1. Church Reduces Carbon Footprint; Worships in the Dark (from The Sacred Sandwich). Here are a few quotes:

In an effort to stem the tide of global warming, Raintree Christian Fellowship began worshipping in the dark this month by turning off the earth-destroying electricity to their building. Though temporarily blinded by the decision, the congregation has seen a sharp increase in spirituality and stubbed toes.

“Turning off the lights has really forced us to find God and each other by using our other four senses,” said Pastor Mike Gruber. “Thankfully, since most of us also reject the use of cancer-causing deodorants, it wasn’t really hard to find each other in the dark. At first I wondered who brought the dead possum in here, but then I realized it was just Bob.”

In recognition of their sacrifice to save the planet, former Vice President and noted global warming expert Al Gore made a surprise visit to Raintree last Sunday to support them in their efforts. “He did?” remarked a dumbfounded Pastor Mike. “Well, crud, I didn’t even see him. Come to think of it, I can’t see anyone in here.”

2. Things You Don’t Say to Your Wife (I got this from my friend Glenn at Be Bold, Be Gentle)

3. Onion News: Kim Jong Il Announces Plan To Bring Moon To North Korea

4. Onion News: Are Violent Video Games Preparing Kids For The Apocalypse?

Grace and Peace

Required reading for science majors

The geoblogosphere (as well as the broader world of science blogs) has a meme going around:

Imagine: YOU are asked to assign a half-dozen-or-so books as required reading for ALL science majors at a college as part of their 4-year degree; NOT technical or text books, but other works, old or new, touching upon the nature of science, philosophy, thought, or methodology in a way that a practicing scientist might gain from. [This is the wording from Highly Allochthonous, but there are many other blogs which are doing the same]

Here’s my list of a book collection that would be beneficial for an undergraduate in any science major. I have included a couple books by Christian authors, as these would help both Christian and non-Christian students to have a fuller understanding of the relationship between science and faith than they would get from reading Dawkins or Sagan.

• Geology: The Bible, Rocks, and Time by Young and Stearley. This is not only a polemic against young-Earth creationism, but an excellent introduction to the science of geology, with sections on the historical development, philosophy, and major subdivisions of the science.
• Environment: Pollution and the Death of Man by Francis Schaeffer. Christianity is not the enemy of the environment, but Christians sometimes are. Schaeffer saw clearly that we are in a massive ecological crisis, and pointed to a Christian world view as the solution rather than the source of the problem.
• Biology: The Creation by E.O. Wilson. The author is a skeptic, but recognizes the need to have religious people involved in the fight to preserve biodiversity, which is the theme of the book. This book opened my eyes to the wonder of Genesis 1:20-25, where the waters, skies, and land swarmed with swarms of living creatures, and it was good. We now live in an impoverished world.
• Physics: Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman. This physics professor was able to explain foundational physics topics like no other.
• Chemistry: Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs by Joe Schwarcz (or another book by him; this is the one I’ve read). This book is proof that even chemists can have fun and a sense of humor.
• Philosophy of Science: What is This Thing Called Science? by Alan Chalmers. Every science undergraduate should read a philosophy of science book, and this one is a good overview of the various philosophies of science, such as those of Popper, Kuhn, and others. My one critique: like most other philosophers of science, Chalmers focuses on the experimental sciences. Geology doesn’t operate by all of the same rules as do chemistry and physics.
• Plus anything by Stephen Jay Gould, just to read some really good science writing.

Grace and Peace

Reading — February 2009

Here are a couple books I finished in February:

• The Bible, Rocks, and Time, by Young and Stearley. This is the best book I’ve read on the relationship between geology and Christian faith. It is much more than a Biblical and scientific polemic against young-Earth creationism, though that is certainly a big part of the book.
• Living the Cross Centered Life, by C. J. Mahaney. I had a post with a few quotes from this book a couple weeks ago.

Here are some additional books I’ve been working on this month:

• The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, by Mark Noll. The first sentence of this indictment of Evangelical thinking reads, “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.” Ouch.
• The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman. What would happen to Earth if we humans suddenly all disappeared?
• A History of the American People, by Paul Johnson.

Grace and Peace

Wasteful spending on volcano monitoring?

I did not watch President Obama’s State of the Union Address, but the geoblogosphere is abuzz about something Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal had in his Republican Party response:

But Democratic leaders in Congress — they rejected this approach. Instead of trusting us to make wise decisions with our own money, they passed the largest government spending bill in history, with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest. While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. [This includes] $140 million for something called “volcano monitoring.” Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.

That was a rather clueless statement. Has he never heard of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, or other major Cascade Range volcanoes, each of which is capable of killing hundreds or thousands of people, and causing hundreds of millions or multiple billions of dollars of damage? Or the threat of volcanoes in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska to aviation? Or the even greater, though more remote, threat of giant calderas such as Long Valley in California, or Yellowstone? We can debate about the budget for “volcano monitoring” but to put it in the category of “wasteful spending” as Jindal did is just plain ignorance.

Perhaps we should axe the National Weather Service’s budget for tracking tropical storms. After all, who would ever need to know that a hurricane was about to hit, ummm… Louisiana.

HT: This is in many places in the geoblogosphere. The Volcanism Blog has a list of geobloggers who have commented on this.

Grace and Peace

P.S. Here are two useful articles:

Scientific American: Bobby Jindal and volcano monitoring: What was he talking about?

Fox News: Geologist Erupts at Jindal’s Volcano Question

Volcano monitoring likely saved many lives — and significant money — in the case of the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines (where the United States had military bases at the time), according to the USGS. The cataclysmic eruption lasted more than 10 hours and sent a cloud of ash as high as 22 miles into the air that grew to more than 300 miles across. The USGS spent less than $1.5 million monitoring the volcano and was able to warn of the impending eruption, which allowed authorities to evacuate residents, as well as aircraft and other equipment from U.S. bases there. The USGS estimates that the efforts saved thousands of lives and prevented property losses of at least $250 million (considered a conservative figure). [emphasis added]

More Google Earth — Car on side of building

Car on the side of a building, The Hague, Netherlands:

View Larger Map

More Google Earth — iPod Indian

Indian with ear buds, east of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada:

View Larger Map

More Google Earth — hippos

Hippos in the mud, west of Sitalike, Tanzania:

View Larger Map

Grace and Peace

Found on Google Earth: Atlantis (no) and pink bunny (yes)

The release of Google Earth 5.0 included better bathymetry of much of the ocean floor. (Bathymetry is the study of ocean and lake depth)

Some have claimed that this pattern on the Atlantic sea floor west of the Canary Islands is the ruins of the mythical island of Atlantis. The area is over 100 miles across, and the lines would represent roads or something.

Credit: Google Maps

My response: baloney. The lines are artifacts of the processing of digital sonar data collected by a ship that surveyed the area by making a grid-like pattern. The Google bathymetry data has various processing artifacts just about anywhere you look; this is just a little more obvious.

Not that interesting things aren’t found from time to time on Google Earth. Here’s one of my favorites: the Giant Pink Bunny of Artesina, Italy:

Credit: Google Maps

New York Times article: Fabled City of Atlantis Spotted on Google Earth

Google Maps: Atlantis grid

Google Maps: Pink Bunny of Artesina

Grace and Peace

Bad arguments for Christianity

C. Michael Patton at Parchment and Pen has 14 Examples of Really Bad Apologetics.

There are many good arguments (apologetics) for the truthfulness of Christianity:

• Historical evidence for the resurrection
• Historical evidence for the reliability of Scriptures
• Philosophical arguments for the existence of God, such as the cosmological argument

Some of the bad arguments for Christianity listed by Patton are:

• “I believe Christianity is true because I read this book where someone died, went to heaven, and came back.”
• “I believe Christianity is true because there are secret codes found in the Scriptures.”
• “I believe Christianity is true because I heard that this guy’s pancake was miraculously in the shape of Jesus.”
• “I believe Christianity is true because God spoke to me and told me ______”

I would add a few to the list of bad arguments, such as:

• Much of what comes out of the end-times industry. I stopped reading this stuff after reading 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I haven’t even cracked the cover of the Left Behind books. Every few years, the arguments have to be changed because the predictions just don’t come true. (I write this as a premillenialist).
• Most of what comes out of the young-Earth creationism movement. I view much of this as unnecessary Biblically, not essential for a proper understanding of sin and salvation, and an unfortunate barrier to faith for many, especially scientists. (There are also some bad arguments that I’ve seen come out of the old-Earth/ID movement, but not nearly as many).
• Much of what comes out of the “Biblical archeology” movement.

People can come to genuine and lasting faith in Christ through bad arguments. But many are turned away needlessly by bad arguments as well, and we cannot have a pragmatic “the end justifies the means” approach.

Ultimately, faith is a work of God. I cannot claim to have come to faith in Christ by my own wisdom. Theologically, I know that if I have faith in Christ, it is a work of God. But God does use sound arguments as part of drawing people to himself.

HT: Tough Questions Answered

Grace and Peace

YEC B.S. in geology program

Cedarville University of Cedarville, Ohio has added a Bachelor of Science in Geology program. From the Cedarville announcement:

Cedarville University’s Board of Trustees recently approved the formation of the Bachelor of Science in geology degree, set to begin in fall 2009.

Faculty will equip students for lifelong scientific leadership in career fields such as hydrogeology, environmental geology, petroleum geology and numerous other areas of expertise.

“The degree will offer a whole host of new opportunities for graduates,” shares Dr. John Whitmore, associate professor of geology. “Geologists help us find clean drinking water, petroleum, natural gas, coal and valuable minerals.”

The program will be unique in that no other Christian school, that holds to a literal six-day account of Genesis offers geology as a major for undergraduates. The course of study will be taught from both naturalistic and young-earth paradigms of earth history.

[emphasis added]

This was discussed by e-mail exchanges a week or two ago in a group of Christian geologists I am part of. Most of them were rather skeptical of the the final statement about teaching “both sides” of the age of the Earth and evolution debates.

I wish them well, and I hope the program evolves over time. One question: will they produce geologists who can get jobs in industry or go on to graduate school?

Grace and Peace

P.S. One can also get a B.S. in geology from the following Evangelical Christian schools: Wheaton College, Calvin College, Olivet Nazarene. These schools all have a commitment to the truthfulness (some use the word inerrancy) of Scriptures, and yet see no conflict between the Bible and acceptance of an old Earth.

P.P.S. Why are all of these schools in the Midwest (Illinois, Ohio, Michigan)? Sure, there is some interesting geology there, but not a whole lot in the way of structure or lithologic diversity.

P.P.P.S. How will the science department handle a student who either 1. accepts an old Earth, 2. accepts evolution, or 3. loses his/her faith? How many of the students in this program will have a crisis of faith when they see that young-Earth creationism doesn’t work?

P.P.P.P.S. The Cedarville science department has only one geologist. John Whitmore has an M.S. in geology from the Intitute for Creation Research, and a PhD in biology. This isn’t much of a foundation to build a geology major on.

Digital Topo Maps

I used to go to Topozone when I wanted to just browse around an area with topographic maps. It is no longer free. Here’s a free alternative: digital-topo-maps.com:

If you want the complete topo map as a PDF, you can still get those from the USGS Map Locator.

Grace and Peace

Nuclear challenges

Here are two challenges for using nuclear energy as part of our world’s energy future:

1. Uranium, like fossil fuels, is a limited, non-renewable resource. It is mined from the Earth, and consumed by nuclear fission. Breeder reactors can make some additional fuel, but that too is of a limited quantity. In Arizona, uranium could be declared to be a renewable resource by legislative action. That is sort of like making a law that says cows can fly or that people can breathe on the moon. A law doesn’t make it so. (Arizona Geology: Is Nuclear Energy Renewable?)
2. The waste problem isn’t going to go away anytime soon. Not for a few hundreds of thousands of years anyways. The Yucca Mountain Repository in Nevada is over a decade behind schedule, so waste is still mostly being stored at the nuclear power plants where it was used. (Earth Magazine: Wanted: Interim nuclear waste storage site.

I’m not totally opposed to the building of new nuclear power plants (and I find the technology to be fascinating), but it is only a piece of the energy pie. I am in favor of it being a smaller piece rather than larger.

See also Time magazine’s Nuclear’s Comeback: Still No Energy Panacea.

Grace and Peace

Geoblogosphere News

How does one keep up with over 100 active blogs in the geoblogosphere, including The GeoChristian? By keeping an eye on Geoblogosphere News from Stratigraphy.net.

If I subscribed to all of these in Google Reader, I would soon be overwhelmed. I have 384 unread items in Google Reader right now the way it is. But in Geoblogosphere News I can quickly scan for items I am interested in.

Grace and Peace

P.S. I guess the “Grace and Peace” that shows up in the tag cloud at the top of the page is my fault:

Atoll image

From yesterday’s NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day: Tetiaroa Island, French Polynesia.

The formation of atolls was first properly described by Charles Darwin during his voyage on the Beagle, one of his contributions to the science of geology (Time magazine 1947).

Grace and Peace

Presidents Day and Republican environmentalism

For Presidents Day, The Evangelical Ecologist points to the environmental legacy of Republican Presidents, even George W. Bush.

See also the Republicans for Environmental Protection web site.

Grace and Peace

Frozen waterfall

The Billings Gazette has a great picture of a frozen waterfall in northwest Wyoming: Waterfalls draw many to winter festival. Go to the article for a larger picture.

I love winter!

Grace and Peace

Australia fire images

From NASA’s Earth Observatory: Brushfires in Southeast Australia:

Redish areas are burned; green represents unburned forest.

Grace and Peace

Amazing Grace

I don’t watch very many movies, but I watched a great one with my family tonight: Amazing Grace. This is the story of William Wilberforce, the English Member of Parliament who fought for years to outlaw the slave trade in the British Empire.

Here’s what I thought about as I reflected on the movie:

• The movie didn’t water down the fact that Wilberforce’s anti-slavery convictions flowed out of his Christianity.
• Great causes take deep commitment and decades of patience. This should encourage us in the fight against abortion and other injustices in the world.
• One doesn’t have to be a missionary or other “full time Christian worker” to have an impact on the world. Wilberforce’s vocation was politics. My vocation is, well, I don’t know right now… but I hope soon to know how I’ll be serving the world through and in the workplace.
• This wasn’t another cheesy Christian movie (a lot of you know what I’m talking about). It was very well done.

Grace and Peace

Living the Cross Centered Life

I recently finished reading Living the Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney. Here are some quotes:

In the midst of our various responsibilities and many possible areas of service in the kingdom of God, one overarching truth should motivate all our work and effect every part of who we are: Christ died for our sins.

The gospel is not only the most important message in all of history: it is the only essential message in all of history. —Jerry Bridges

We never move on from the cross, only into a more profound understanding of the cross. —David Prior

Only when we understand God’s wrath toward sin can we realize that we need to be saved from it. Only when we hear the bad news that we’re deserving of judgment can we appreciate the good news that God, through His Son, has provided salvation and full, continuing forgiveness for our sins. Only those who are aware of God’s wrath are amazed at God’s grace.

The glory of the gospel is this: The one from whom we need to be saved is the one who has saved us. —R.C. Sproul

Divine love triumphed over divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice. —John Stott

We all carry in our pocket His very nails. —Martin Luther

And the inevitable result of preaching the gospel to yourself will be a pronounced joy, and infectious joy, a consitent joy. Like nothing else the gospel creates joy; it’s both the source and the object of our joy.

What joy the gospel gives me! I can approach the throne of God with confidence—not because I’ve done a good job at my spiritual duties, but because I’m clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Because of the gospel’s power you can be completely free of all condemnation. Not mostly free; completely free.

Here’s how to beat condemnation: Confess your sin to God… then believe in Him.

When we pray to God for His blessing, He does not examine our performance to see if we are worthy. Rather, He looks to see if we are trusting in the merit of His Son as our only hope for securing His blessing. —Jerry Bridges

Grace and Peace (and Joy)

Landslide videos

Dave’s Landslide Blog has videos, like this one:

and this one:

There are more at the blog.

HT: Geology.com News

Grace and Peace

Satellite cloud

On Tuesday two satellites, one Russian and one American, collided by accident at about 10 km/s over Siberia (CNN story).

The US Space Surveillance Network uses radar and optical sensors to track all of the satellites and thousands of pieces of “space junk” that orbit the Earth. From the SSN space surveillance description page:

The SSN has been tracking space objects since 1957 when the Soviets opened the space age with the launch of Sputnik I. Since then, the SSN has tracked more than 24,500 space objects orbiting Earth. Of that number, the SSN currently tracks more than 8,000 orbiting objects. The rest have re-entered Earth’s turbulent atmosphere and disintegrated, or survived re-enty and impacted the Earth. The space objects now orbiting Earth range from satellites weighting several tons to pieces of spent rocket bodies weighing only 10 pounds. About seven percent of the space objects are operational satellites, the rest are debris. USSPACECOM is primarily interested in the active satellites, but also tracks space debris. The SSN tracks space objects which are 10 centimeters in diameter (baseball size) or larger.

Eight thousand pieces of space junk sounds like a lot, but space is a big place. The page states that the probability of one of these objects striking the space shuttle is about once every ten thousand years. The probability of a smaller object that is too small to be tracked striking the shuttle—or another operating satellite—is greater.

Earlier this week, NASA’s Image of the Day Gallery had an artist’s conception of the cloud of satellites orbiting the Earth:

Credit: European Space Agency

Remember that at this scale each satellite is really an almost atom-sized speck.

Grace and Peace

Finally, an e-card for geo people

I don’t think I’ve ever sent an e-card to anyone. That might now change, thanks to geogreeting.com. With this e-card service, you can send a message where the letters are created from GoogleEarth images:

The motto on the GeoGreeting page is “how geeks show they care.”

Click here to see my message assembled building by building.

HT: Looking for Detachment and Geology.com News

Grace and Peace

Vatican to sort of include discussion of ID in evolution conference

From AP/FoxNews: Vatican to Discuss, but Not Endorse, Intelligent Design

VATICAN CITY  —  The Vatican will include discussion of intelligent design in a conference marking the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” officials said Tuesday.

“The committee agreed to consider ID as a phenomenon of an ideological and cultural nature, thus worthy of a historic examination, but certainly not to be discussed on scientific, philosophical or theological grounds,” said Saverio Forestiero, a conference organizer and professor of zoology at the University of Rome.

The Vatican under Benedict has been trying to stress its belief that there is no incompatibility between faith and reason, and the evolution conference is supposed to be a key demonstration of that.

Read the rest of the article here: Vatican to Discuss, but Not Endorse, Intelligent Design

HT: Old-Earth Creation Homeschool

Grace and Peace

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day from the heart-shaped giant star forming region W5 in Cassiopeia:

Credit: Lori Allen, Xavier Koenig (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) et al., JPL-Caltech, NASA (Astronomy Picture of the Day August 29, 2008)

Grace and Peace

P.S. My Valentine’s Day entry last year was Mars and Valentine’s Day.

Darwin on the wall

A spoof from The Onion: Evolutionists Flock to Darwin-Shaped Wall Stain.

I think it looks more like Chewbacca myself.

Grace and Peace

Darwin’s birthday #2

What drives more scientists away from Christianity, evolution, or young-Earth creationism? I don’t know the answer, but I suspect that both have significant roles.

Some forms of evolutionary philosophy drive scientists (and others) away from Christianity. The New Atheists, such as Richard Dawkins, claim that evolution makes it intellectually feasible to be an atheist. To them, science can explain everything and there is no need for a God.

Young-Earth creationism (YEC), as taught by the Institute for Creation Research and Answers in Genesis, drives scientists away from Christianity. To most scientists, YEC fails in a number of ways. It fails biologically, astronomically, and geologically. The YEC-ers have convinced themselves, much of the Christian public, and much of society, that there is only one way to read Genesis, and that the truthfulness of Christianity stands or falls on this one interpretation. Scientists reject YEC, so they reject Christianity. This could happen to our youth raised on YEC as well.

I see both extremes as needless and unfortunate. I am convinced of the truth of Christianity, and don’t think the Bible has all that much to say one way or the other about evolution (except perhaps of humans).

To scientists who are reading this:

• Don’t reject Christianity because of young-Earth creationism. There are plenty of alternatives out there to YEC within the Christian community, even within the Evangelical Christian community. At one time there was even quite a bit of diversity on these issues within the “fundamentalist” Christian community, but most of the dissent has been squashed.
• One alternative within the Evangelical community is presented by Hugh Ross of Reasons to Believe. Ross accepts an old Earth and old universe (he is an astronomer), but isn’t too keen on some aspects of evolution. He is a proponent of the day-age understanding of Genesis, and makes a good case for drawing parallels between the days of Genesis 1 and the history of Earth.
• Another alternative within the Evangelical Christian community is theistic evolution. A good presentation of this is in Perspectives on an Evolving Creation, edited by Keith Miller, who is in the Geology department at Kansas State University.
• You can be a Christian and a scientist. You don’t have to abandon thinking; in fact, you may find your intellectual life fulfilled in ways you never imagined possible.

To Christians who are reading this:

• I believe in a real creation by a real God, and a real Adam, a real fall into sin, real consequences for that sin, and in Jesus Christ as the only solution for that sin. Belief in an old Earth hasn’t changed any of that.
• I’m not making a commitment to any one understanding of Genesis. Prominent old-Earth  interpretations include the day-age, analogical day, and framework interpretations. I see the literal six-day interpretation as also valid Biblically. Being that there are competing interpretations of Genesis within the conservative Evangelical community, I will go for ones that are not ruled out by the external evidence for an old Earth.
• The truthfulness of the Bible does not stand or fall on the age of the Earth or biological evolution. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, for example, intentionally leaves out any statement on the age of the Earth.
• Be willing to allow for some tension. We don’t fully understand the Bible. We don’t fully understand nature.
• Be careful what you teach your children and the youth at your church. Don’t give them bad apologetics, and most of what is produced by ICR and AiG I place in this category. It is not all bad, but much of it is. And there are other creationist groups that are far worse. The risk is that our youth will some day have a crisis of faith, not because of what the Bible says, or because of evolution, but because much of what comes out of the YEC movement simply doesn’t conform to reality.

Grace and Peace

A sad story

I came across this sad, but very believable, comment on The Internet Monk today:

When I was a kid I spent part of my time in a Christian private school. I remember they used to send my home with “archaeological evidence” of the ark being discovered in various places and I would spend hours at home with my GI Joe action figures having them discover the ark under the living room furniture.

It was nice and fun until they sent me home one day with all this information about how someone had drilled a whole deeper than anyone had ever drilled into the earth and had heard the sound of the “souls in hell” screaming in pain and anguish while being eternally burned. I was in 3rd grade. I had nightmares for weeks.

Not long after that one of the teachers took me aside and told me that I needed to witness to my parents (my dad had long hair and my mom wore blue jeans) because they were headed for hell.

I went home terrified and in tears yelling at my parents for not going to heaven with me. That was about the time I got pulled out of that school, luckily, and sent to public school.

What’s funny, is what my old teachers didn’t know. That I spent all my weekend nights playing in bars as the drummer with my dad’s blues band from the time I was 9 years old. I wonder what they would have thought of that one. heh.

Wow. I’ve been somewhat sheltered, and blessed, in my Christian experience. I have been blessed to have been in churches that have allowed diversity on secondary matters. Even in the fundamentalist Baptist church I attended in college (a church to which I am indebted to for many good things), I wasn’t excommunicated for questioning young-Earth creationism. Some people thought I was a bit odd, and just plain wrong, but they still accepted me. I guess that isn’t the case everywhere.

Grace and peace

Darwin’s Birthday

Charles Darwin age 51, from Wikipedia: Darwin

Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809; two hundred years ago today.

Darwin’s theory of evolution, obviously, has been an extremely divisive topic. Has Darwinism made the world safe for atheism, as the “New Atheists” would claim? Is Darwinian evolution really EVILution; a doctrine of the devil? Or are evolution and Christianity perfectly compatible?

There has been an interesting discussion this week at The Internet Monk (Michael Spencer’s excellent blog) about the Roman Catholic approach to evolution as contrasted with the typical Evangelical approach. More specifically, he wanted to hear from people who have converted from Evangelicalism to Roman Catholicism because they found the RC way of thinking about evolution to be more palatable.

In a discussion on this blog earlier this week, a geologist made a comment along the same lines:

I think the Catholic Church makes it easier for its followers— accept human evolution, but consider Adam to represent the moment in which H. sapiens was infused with a soul.

Is he right?

I would take the Roman Catholic approach over young-Earth creationism, but are there better alternatives, such as Hugh Ross’s progressive day-age creationism?

It isn’t, of course, just a question of pragmatism. It is a question of truth. Which approach is most true to both Scripture and science?

Grace and Peace

Screwtape addresses the New Atheists

In the tradition of C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters:

My dear fellow Brights, Beamers, Blazers, Brilliants, Gleamers, Incandescents, Resplendents, Radiants, Shimmerers, and Sparklers: Thank you all for being here tonight, and a special thanks to the Dixie Chicks for that heartwarming cover of “Imagine.” I choke up every time I hear those immortal words—“Imagine there’s no heaven.” Ladies, you are a credit to the cause, and . . .

(What’s that? Well, of course they are. Why else would they be here? Listen; if Hitchens can argue with a straight face that Martin Luther King, Jr., did his work “as a profound humanist” and that his “legacy has very little to do with his professed theology,” then we can certainly draft the Dixie Chicks.)

We’re here, as you know, to celebrate the two-year anniversary, give or take, of the rise of the New Atheists…

Read more at Salvomag.com: Our Smear Campaign

HT: Be Bold, Be Gentle

Grace and Peace

Charles Lyell: geologist, Christian believer

Here’s the frontispiece from Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology. The book was first published in three volumes in 1830 to 1833, but this is from an 1857 edition.

This cross-section shows an amazing understanding of the basic geologic processes that form the Earth’s crust: plutonism, volcanism, metamorphism, sedimentation, and folding.

Like most geologists (at least I assume), I’ve never read Principles of Geology. It is available online in many places, including several editions at Google Books.

From Lyell’s obituary in the New York Times, (date February 25, 1875):

But, though an evolutionist, Lyell was not a skeptic. He lived and died a Christian believer.

Image from Wikipedia: Charles Lyell.

Grace and Peace