Evidence for God from Science Newsletter December, 2003

Greetings in the name of the Lord! This is the latest edition of the update for the Evidence for God website. Welcome to our new subscribers.

Contents (scroll down for descriptions)

News

The lecture, Testing the Creation Model of the LDS Church went well, and attendees stayed over a half hour for question and answer time. Many were shocked about the differences between Christianity and the LDS church, while others had spent years witnessing to Mormons. A report on the lecture can be found on the APU website.

Matthew, our eldest son, saved the life of a neighbor's toddler son in October. We are praising God for His care for our neighbors. The full story can be found at God at Work in My Life.

Book Review

The God Hypothesis: Discovering Design in Our "Just Right" Goldilocks UniverseThe God Hypothesis: Discovering Design in Our "Just Right" Goldilocks Universe by Michael Corey. Michael Corey has written an excellent book about the anthropic principle and design in the universe. Corey's writing style is quite readable and engaging. The book does an excellent job leading you through the various theistic and naturalistic theories about how the universe came to be the way it is. In the end, we are left with the conclusion that intelligent design is a far superior model than random chance as an explanation for all the "coincidences" required to enable human beings to live in the universe. Even if you are not well acquainted with cosmology, the book provides enough background information so that you will not be lost in the discussion. The God Hypothesis is an excellent gift for your skeptical friend, since it doesn't beat him over the head with extensive theological discussions, but provides him with the pros and cons of all the latest theories - leading to the conclusion that the God hypothesis is the best available explanation for the cause of the universe.

Biblical Creation

For years, I have had a page on the site that explains how Genesis one fits with the established facts of science. The page has surprised a number of atheists, who had only heard the 24-hour interpretation for the days of Genesis one. I was recently contacted by the author of Gianna: Aborted... and Lived to Tell About It, who was disappointed that I "didn't believe in a literal interpretation of Genesis one." I decided it was time to give a thorough examination of Genesis one and why the day-age interpretation is the only interpretation that is both literal and consistent with all of Genesis one and two and all the other creation accounts in the Bible. The page is based completely upon the biblical texts, so get out your Bibles and read Genesis one again. You will see things you never saw before in the text - even if you are already an old earth creationist.

     The Literal Interpretation of the Genesis One Creation Account
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/youngearth/genesis1.html

Aberrant Theology

Within the past few months I have received a lot of complaints from Mormons that I am distorting LDS beliefs on the site. So, I thought it time to produce a definitive page about why the LDS Church is not a Christian denomination, but a cult. The page uses only two sources of LDS doctrine - their scriptures and their official teaching book Gospel Principles. All references are fully cited with links to the appropriate sources on the official LDS website. Ouch! The page shows that these differences are not merely minor changes in theology, but major disagreements about the nature of God, Jesus Christ, mankind, and the creation. So far (about a month) there have been no further complaints about "distorting" Mormon doctrine.

     Why the LDS Church is a Cult- Theological Differences Between Christian and LDS Doctrines
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/cults/mormdiff.html

Theology

I have received a number of inquiries over the years about my beliefs regarding predestination and free will. Most Christians tend to take one side or the other, although there is ample biblical support for both. Read the new page for an unbiased examination of the one of the great controversies among Christians. If you find that I have left out your favorite verse or passage supporting either side, e-mail me and I will add it to the collection.

     Predestination vs. Free Will - Is It One or the Other?
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/doctrine/predestination.html

Christian Life Issues

After the great flood, God gave humans permission to eat animals for food. Just because we may eat animals, should we eat them?

     Should Christians Eat Meat or Should We Be Vegetarians?
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/doctrine/vegetarian.html

"...we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!" Find out who made this statement and why it applies to our nation now even more than it was said many years ago.

     One Nation Under God? - What Is Wrong With Our Nation
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/doctrine/onenation.html

Abortion and the Sanctity of Human Life

Because of California's privacy laws, minors may obtain abortions without parental consent or notification. Teens are often embarrassed to tell their parents, so get abortions without their parent's input. These abortions include dangerous abortion drugs, such as RU-486. Holly Patterson went to a Planned Parenthood clinic that prescribed RU-486. She died 7 days later as the result of an incomplete abortion, with no scheduled follow-up until the day of her death. Holly's parents are grieved and angry at a system that encourages girls to undergo dangerous procedures with poorly-tested drugs all in the name of choice.

     An Open Letter From the Parents of Holly Patterson - Death by RU-486
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/abortion/patterson.html

Humor

There is a new humor page especially for dentists. Send this page on to your dentist friends!

     The Lord God- The Great Dentist
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/humor/dentist.html

This one is for all you computer buffs:

     Jesus vs. Satan
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/humor/jesusvssatan.html

Scott Brisbane is getting married

Scott Brisbane, our talented apologist who is responsible for much of the site redesign, the discussion board, hosting the site at cost, etc. is getting married next year. I hope you will consider joining me in giving Scott a small wedding gift. The link below will take you to PayPal, where you can give Scott $5.00 to help with his wedding. You can pay with a Credit Card or through your bank account. (Note payment is made to Scott's Hosting company, Webporter.com.) May God bless you this Christmas and give you many opportunities to share the blessings of His Son with others.

A list of new pages can always be found at:

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

Newsletter Info

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

     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. "He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:5-6)

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. Note: due to a problem with the newsletter software, your subscription pin information has changed (barring extreme coincidence, which as intelligent design folks, we reject). Please use the link at the bottom of this e-mail to manage your subscription to this newsletter. If you wish to remain on the list, nothing need be done.

If you can receive e-mails, but have difficulty getting online, e-mail us with the page you would like to have sent to you and we will do our best to get it out to you in a timely manner (Please specify "plain text" or "HTML text").

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

http://www.godandscience.org/newsletters/2003-12.html
Last Modified December 12, 2003

Apologetics

Search

Info

General

Site Helps

 

Rich's Blog