Here are the books I finished in March: The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, by Mark Noll. Noll examines Evangelical thinking (or the lack thereof), and comes down really hard on two specific realms of Evangelical intellectual activity: politics and science. The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman. Would the world really be better off …
Month: March 2009
Snow — finally
Denver has had a warm, dry winter. This past week, we finally got our first good snowfall of the year (up to 17 inches or 43 cm). Most of the snow came on Thursday, with sub-zero wind chill factors. Friday was bright and sunny, and NASA's Terra satellite was kind enough to take this picture …
Spurgeon distorted
Apparently, the young-Earth organization Answers in Genesis doesn't want its readers to know that 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon had no problem with an Earth that is millions of years old. AiG is posting Spurgeon sermons on its web site, but has edited at least one sermon to remove references to an old Earth. A …
What is a day?
The blog Tough Questions Answered has a good five-part series addressing the question "What is the meaning of the word 'day' in Genesis?" The posts take a look at reasons why the six days of Genesis 1 are not necessarily six literal consecutive 24-hours days. Young-Earth creationists have much of the Evangelical world convinced that …
Dolphin Bubble Rings
Gandalf can blow smoke rings. Dolphins can blow bubble rings! HT: The Dynamic Earth, who has a brief discussion of the fluid dynamics involved. Grace and Peace
Eruption of underwater volcano, Tonga
Here's a video of an eruption of an underwater volcano near the South Pacific island of Tonga on March 19, 2009: News articles: London Times: Underwater volcano sends huge columns of ash into Pacific sky Honolulu Advertiser: 7.9 quake off Tonga could intensify volcano's eruption From NASA's Earth Observatory: Submarine Eruption in the Tonga Islands: …
Fundamentalism and creationism
Young-Earth creationism isn't a necessary part of Christianity, even to those of us who have a very high view of the truthfulness and authority of the Bible. Here's another quote from The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, by Mark Noll: Despite widespread impressions to the contrary, [young-Earth] creationism was not a traditional belief of nineteenth-century …
The abyss of atheism?
From Christianity Today: Staring into the Abyss by Dinesh D'Souza. The subtitle for the article is, "Why Peter Singer makes the New Atheists nervous." Atheists like Richard Dawkins argue that we can have morality without God. And I acknowledge that many atheists are very moral people. But is their morality based on their atheism, or …
Church death
We have books and seminars on church growth. Christianity is growing rapidly in places like China and parts of Africa. Christ has given us a commission to take the gospel to all nations, and we expect the fulfilment of this Great Commission. But churches also die. Local churches die. In church history, we see entire …
Augustine: The Literal Meaning of Genesis
I recently finished The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark Noll, and will be sharing a few insights and quotes from this important book. The first quote is a long one from St. Augustine of Hippo, from his work The Literal Meaning of Genesis, written in about AD 415. Usually, even a non-Christian knows …
Looking for a hydrologist or environmental scientist?
In the midst of economic hard times, there are still some employment bright spots. Being that I am looking for a job in the Earth sciences, it is encouraging to me that there are openings out there in hydrology and environmental science: HYDROLOGISTS From the New York Times: Hiring in Hydrology Resists the Slump: "Demand …
Continue reading Looking for a hydrologist or environmental scientist?
Interactive denomination maps
The Association of Religion Data Archives has an interactive map showing the distribution of a large number of Christian denominations and other religious groups over time. Here are three maps showing the growth of my denomination, the Evangelical Free Church of America from 1980 to 2000: Maps are available for many denominations and groups, ranging …
A man who reads
My friend Glenn is one of the smartest people I know. With ACT, SAT, GRE percentiles in the upper 90s (some portions in the 99th percentile), I am an intelligent person. When I am with Glenn, I am reminded that I am only down at the bottom of the 99th percentile, because he outsmarts me …
Third anniversary of The GeoChristian
The first post of The GeoChristian was on March 16, 2006. At first I called the blog The Earth is not Flat, but later changed the name to The GeoChristian. The name GeoChristian indicates two important things about me. The first is my Christian faith, which is a core part of who I am. The …
Thagomizers
I learned something valuable as I was doing a little research for yesterday's post on Stegosaurus. The tail spikes on a Stegosaurus are called "thagomizers." This term comes from The Far Side cartoon, where a lecture in a cave man school states "Now this end is called the thagomizer, after the late Thag Simmons." Thag …
Stegosaurus in Cambodian temple?
Does this carving at the Ta Prohm temple complex in Cambodia prove that dinosaurs of the genus Stegosaurus were still alive in Southeast Asian jungles only 1000 years ago? Some young-Earth creationists think so. An example of a web page dedicated to this is found at Bible.ca: Dinosaurs in ancient Cambodian temple -- Amazing evidence …
Australia flooding images
While the southern parts of Australia have been burning over the past two months, the northern parts have experienced cool weather and heavy rainfall. The following images are of Normanton, Queensland, which has been cut off by flooding for several weeks. The first image is in natural color; the second is enhanced with infrared, which …
Creation Care and Climate Change
There is no inherent reason for a scientist to not be a Christian, nor for a Christian to care deeply about the creation. From the Harvard Divinity Bulletin: The Greening of Jesus by Mark Pinsky. Riding the train down to London last summer, after a two-week fellowship session on science and religion at the University …
Evolution in Texas
From Christianity Today: Darwin Divides -- Christian college professors split on Texas science standards. The state of Texas is working on revising its science education standards, and one of the proposals is to remove a requirement that teachers include weaknesses in the theory of evolution. Christian biology/science professors in the state are divided on this …
Unemployment Map
From the New York Times: The Geography of a Recession. Go to the NYT for some customization options. Grace and Peace
GeoChristian 