earth is my favourite planet
life in the pedestrian lane: science, faith, ideas, politics, techArchive for July, 2008
A W Tozer on the need for discernment
As may be seen from my earlier links, in Charismatic circles there’s a tendency to uncritically embrace every “movement” that comes along. Please exercise caution when the latest prophet or revivalist hits town — they are just fallible human beings too. Theologian A W Tozer offers this gentle and eloquent advice:
“Many tender-minded Christians fear to sin against love by daring to inquire into anything that comes wearing the cloak of Christianity and breathing the name of Jesus. They dare not examine the credentials of the latest prophet to hit their town lest they be guilty of rejecting something which may be of God. They timidly remember how the Pharisees refused to accept Christ when He came, and they do not want to be caught in the same snare, so they either reserve judgment or shut their eyes and accept everything without question. This is supposed to indicate a high degree of spirituality. But in sober fact it indicates no such thing. It may indeed be evidence of the absence of the Holy Spirit. Gullibility is not synonymous with spirituality. Faith is not a mental habit leading its possessor to open his mouth and swallow everything that has about it the color of the supernatural. Faith keeps its heart open to whatever is of God, and rejects everything that is not of God, however wonderful it may be. Try the spirits is a command of the Holy Spirit to the Church. We may sin as certainly by approving the spurious as by rejecting the genuine. And the current habit of refusing to take sides is not the way to avoid the question. To appraise things with a heart of love and then to act on the results is an obligation resting upon every Christian in the world. And the more as we see the day approaching.”
RE: One Cosmos: Religion easily accommodates science, while the reverse can never be true
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Darwinism should be taught as science, not metaphysics, but virtually all of the middlebrow Lizards absurdly elevate it to a quasi-religious metaphysic that is logically self-refuting at every turn. Hence militant atheists do indeed confuse Darwinism with metaphysics, and blindly defend it with the same belligerence as any “fundamentalist.” Religion easily accommodates science, while the reverse can never be true. Religion accommodates science for the same reason that our minds do. For our minds are designed to know truth, pure and simple, whether it is empirical truth, rational truth, artistic truth, moral truth, or metaphysical truth.
RE: Tony Veitch
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Eventually, I think – hope – that as ratings and circulations slide, media companies will try something other than celebrities and circuses to pull an audience. They will try tentatively to introduce more quality news. News that takes more than a pres
RE: More Genetic complexity revealed; Florida revival flim-flammery
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[Irreducible complexity] is easily seen in the publications in Nature, Science and Cell. With every new molecular process discovered, the message is always that it is even more complex than we imagined. With a good predictive theory, however, this should
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It has been my commitment to sit on the fence about what is taking place and to simply undertake a search for hard evidence that either verifies or denies the validity of the healing claims.
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The energies that go into events like Florida are a flippant, self indulgent waste. It’s a happy clappy club that only serves those who indulge in it and it’s a wicked generation that needs such things to bolster their faith.
RE: Stigma; Mental illness; Todd Bentley
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A new study looking at stigma faced by people with mental illness found many encountered discrimination from those closest to them – their family, friends and support people.
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Participants in the study described experiences of isolation, self-doubt, rejection by family and peers, and pessimism about their prospects of recovery. However, participants also identified actions or ‘circuit-breakers’ to counter discrimination a
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Canadian Todd Bentley doesn’t look like a minister as some would expect. The 32-year-old openly sports body piercings and tattoos on his arms and neck, which has caused many to question his purpose and motivations.
RE: Blind faith — NOT a virtue
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There are two quite vocal groups who do not seek reconciliation between science and faith. On the contrary, their agenda is to foil any such rapprochement
links for 2008-07-01
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“My centre is giving way. My right is in retreat. Situation excellent. I shall attack!” If only our political leaders and opinion-formers displayed even a hint of the defiant resilience that carried Marshal Foch to victory at the Battle of the Marne.