Evidence for God from Science Newsletter March, 2003

Greetings in the name of the Lord! This is the latest edition of the update for the Evidence for God website. Here is the news and recent additions to the site.

Contents

News

Our family needs your prayers regarding my wife Carole's driving privileges. In November, we received a form from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to be filled out by Carole's doctor. Since Carole's neurologist had recently moved, she was now under the care of another neurologist. Instead of making sure of information, he filled out the form assuming that Carole suffered loss of consciousness during seizures (caused by a brain tumor). This information was incorrect, but was already submitted to the DMV. The DMV revoked Carole's driver's license, so we requested a DMV review of the case. The reviewer was arrogant and uninformed about the nature of Carole's seizures. Carole's neurologist had filled out the form a second time (with the correct indications of Carole's condition) along with a letter explaining his error. We presented this evidence at the DMV review in December, but the reviewer ignored it, even indicating on the tape recording that he knew nothing about brain tumors or seizures. At the time, he misinterpreted medical reports, which I corrected, although he was reluctant to allow me to do so.

Ultimately, he kept the revocation of Carole's driver's license in place. A review by a Sacramento DMV bureaucrat in March did not change the verdict. At this point, our only appeal is through the Superior Court. Please pray for wisdom in dealing with these issues. May God's will be done!

Just last Saturday, a good friend of ours (who has been driving our boys to school since Carole Can't drive), Bridget, suffered a serious seizure at work. She has no history of seizures or an brain pathology, and tests to determine the cause of the seizure are just beginning. Please pray for her and her family, since she can longer drive until the cause of the seizure is determined. Thank you for your prayers.

Answers for atheists

Bruce Keener examines the New Age paradigm from his personal experiences. Disillusioned by the loss of his wife in September, 2001, and why God that would allow this pain in his life, Bruce searched among numerous New Age beliefs in an attempt to cope with life. Instead of finding new ways of coping with life, Bruce found ideas that were difficult to rationalize. Upon re-examining Christianity, he rediscovered the faith and the God whose love he had questioned. Bruce is still struggling with his beliefs and the loss of his wife, so please pray for him.

     The New Age Paradigm - An Examination of Beliefs
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/apologetics/newage.html

A co-worker of mine is very much caught up in UFO's, having seen one personally. Although the UFO's may be unidentified, they are probably not of extraterrestrial origin. New scientific evidence (using the Drake equation) is rapidly reducing the probability that any other intelligent life exists in our galaxy. The new page examines the rather imposing problems involved in interstellar space travel. Such facts as the amount of energy required to send a small spaceship one-tenth the speed of light (equal to the amount of energy produced by the United States in 100 years) make interstellar travel impractical. Traveling faster than this speed results in a blue shift of ordinary light so that it becomes gamma rays, which would effectively kill any life forms onboard. Unfortunately, these fundamental physical facts are unknown by large numbers of people who watch Star Trek and Stars Wars and don't realize that science fiction for the most part is really science fallacy.

     UFO's and Extraterrestrial Aliens - Why Earth Has Never Been Visited
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/apologetics/ufo.html

Biblical Creation

I received another very adamant e-mail complaining about my obvious misinterpretation of the Genesis creation account and the age of the earth. Although the issues are basically covered on other pages, I thought that a more directed approach to the interpretation of the Genesis days was in order. The question is simple, "Does Genesis teach that the 'days' are 12 hours, 24 hours or an indefinite period of time?" The new page examines each "day" of Genesis to determine what interpretation is supported by the biblical text (without consideration of any "biased" scientific evidence). The events of day 3 clearly indicate that the period of time required was, at a minimum, longer than one year, thereby falsifying the 24-hour interpretation. I am guessing that the information was relatively persuasive, since I did not receive a reply from my young-earth friend.

     Genesis Clearly Teaches that the Days Were Not 24 Hours
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/youngearth/genesis.html

Christian Life Issues

Last year a new gender-inclusive Bible translation was released that stirred up a lot of debate among Christians. Many large and well-known ministries came out against the new translation as "changing" the Bible. I was going to do a page on the issue, but never had the time to do so. Fortunately, I never did do the page, since a buddy of mine (Wes Ringer) has written an excellent article that examines the translation issues surrounding gender-inclusiveness. The article is non-emotional, but provides information on little known facts on how difficult it is to make an accurate English translation of the Bible. For example, did you know that the King James Bible intentionally "mistranslates" the Greek word for "son" (hoios) as "children" 42 times in the New Testament, and translates the more literal 'sons of Israel,' from the Hebrew word 'ben' meaning 'sons,' to the more inclusive 'children of Israel' hundreds of times in the Old Testament? Even so, we have yet to hear the accusation that the King James Bible is attempting to be gender-inclusive. Although much of the Greek text can be (and probably should be) translated to include both genders, using terms like "them" in place of "he" can result in a misunderstanding that a particular verse is specifically talking to the individual (he) instead of the group (them). English makes no distinctions between plural and singular "you," which makes translation particularly difficult.

     What are the Biblical Translation Issues Raised by the Gender-Inclusive Debate?
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/doctrine/gender.html

New Hubble Pictures of the Universe

There are even more new Hubble Space Telescope pictures. The new pictures (along with the great old ones) are available in three formats:

     Tour the Universe Slideshow (JavaScript version)
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/love/tourjs.html

     Tour the Universe (Thumbnail version)
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/love/tour.html

Abortion

I am preparing a new presentation  using secular arguments against abortion and for the sanctity of human life that will be given at Azusa Pacific University on April 9th. The three broad categories of discussion will include scientific arguments, legal arguments, and moral arguments. The presentation will examine what is known about human embryology and development. Legal issues involved in the abortion controversy will include the "right to privacy", the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", and the definitions of murder. Moral issues will include the rights of all persons, the argument from being "wanted" or "unwanted", among others. Central to all the arguments will be a discussion about when does personhood begin and what defines being a person. Since many of the participants will likely be Christians, there will be section devoted to a biblical examination of the principles that would apply to abortion. Ultimately, I would like the participants to be able to discuss all the issues surrounding abortion and be able to present a rational, compelling argument for the sanctity of human life, whether discussing the issues with Christians, secular rationalists or atheists. Please pray that I will have the time to do a thorough job, and that the arguments will be convincing. 

Newsletter Info

This and previous newsletters are available online. Go to the URL below to read the current and past e-mail newsletters:

     http://www.GodAndScience.org/newsletter.html

Those are the most recent updates and changes since the last e-mail update. If you would like to see anything in particular at Evidence for God from Science, let me know. "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

In Christ,
Rich Deem

Evidence for God from Science respects your privacy and online time and plans to send updates no more frequently than about once every two months. Subscription information is available online (http://www.GodAndScience.org/newsletter.html).

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Evidence for God from Science
Website: http://www.GodAndScience.org/

http://www.godandscience.org/newsletters/2003-03.html
Last Modified March 18, 2003

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