7.31.2005

The Soldier's Bible Violates the Constitution

The tide of liberalism pushes ever onward. Holman Bible Publishers in Nashville publish The Soldier's Bible, a gilt-edged Protestant Bible with one of five emblems on it: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, or Coast Guard. Until now, this has been looked upon as being perfectly fine. But not any more. According to a radio broadcast on National Public Radio, "critics think the emblem on the front brings up legal questions -- and may even violate the Constitution's ban on government-established religion." Oh, for crying out loud! How many times must it be said that THERE IS NO CONSTITUTIONAL BAN ON THE GOVERNMENT PARTICIPATING IN RELIGION!? I suppose that under these new rules, it violates the Constitution for me to write "United States Government" on this blog, because the word "Bible" is in the URL of the website, thus associating the government with religion. This is the first amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or prohibiting the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances." Congress shall make no law. So this amendment relates only to LAWS made directly by CONGRESS. That in and of itself floors any argument concerning prayers mandated by public school principals or anything else. This also means that the 14th amendment does not apply here; we aren't defining rights, we are just restricting the House and the Senate. respecting an establishment of religion. Careful study of the Constitutional Congress transcript shows inevocably that this "religion" they speak of refers to particular denominations of Christianity. So Congress could make a law establishing Christianity as a national religion, as long as it didn't mandate any particular form or denomination (allowing non-religion-specific prayer in schools is much less than this). Of course, this still leaves the states free to be as denominational as they wish (see above). or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. So Congress can't restrict the practices of any denomination of Christianity. If I want to be Baptist, Congress can't stop me. If I want to be Evangelical, Congress can't throw me in jail. And today, chaplains in the United States Military are being penalized for sharing their faith with other G.I.s!

Unites States Supreme Court

It should be obvious that the Supreme Court has blown this one WAY out of proportion. Let's impeach these judges! In Him, David S. MacMillan III

7.28.2005

Answers In Genesis Creation Museum Planetarium? Check!

Creation MuseumWhile perusing past posts at Ken's Blog, I came across exciting news!

Recently, Answers In Genesis hosted a fund raising banquet for their museum. At the dinner, several people gave donations and pledges, but one family really went above and beyond the call of duty. They gave a little over $470,000! That's right, four hundred and seventy grand! This will completely pay for the Bible-based museum Planetarium. Praise God!

Planetarium DomeAiG is hard at work getting the materials with this new cash. If everything goes as planned, the Planetarium might just be open by the end of this year. Dr. Jason Lisle has already written the first program; it will be a welcome break from the monotony of secular museums and millions of years. More programs will come.

On top of this amazing gift, the museum has gotten a great response from others as well. Out of a projected $25 million pricetag for the museum, Answers In Genesis has only about $7 million to go! God is so good, isn't he?

To read the post by Ken Ham that mentions this, click here.

In Him,

D3

7.27.2005

The Big Bang Theory: A Monstrous Make-Believe

How's this, folks?

Once before time, the universe began. Time did not always exist. Before there was time or any other natural law/process, there was no space. Suddenly, nothingness came from nothing without time or space, expoding from nothing. This nothingness magically became something and expanded to create a gigantic space/time continuum in the form of our universe, complete with natural laws and a matter/energy differentiation.

Space itself, conjured up by the naturally supernatural explosion, expanded gigantically faster than the speed of light. This super-rapid expansion of matter and energy would have spread all matter out evenly, had it not been for a savior: cold or hot dark matter.

This elusive blend of we-don't-know-what was also magically produced in the explosion, and it warped all the normal matter into random patterns. Of course, we've never seen this super-matter, but we know it must be there. It has to be there, because we know that this tale is true.

The beauty of this story is that whenever objections are raised, another physical law can easily be twisted into agreement. The very law of the conservation of matter (matter cannot spontaneously come into being) was quickly bypassed in the creation of this ideal. Any attack can easily be refuted in this way.

Tell this tale to your children as they sit by your computer screen. Tell it to them when they wake up, and when they go to sleep. If anyone questions it, relentlessly accuse them of intolerance. For, if they believed any other explanation, it would allow a Divine Foot in the door. And we can't have that, can we?

The amazing thing about all this is that secular humanism presumes all this happened by itself, without the aid of any supernatural (greater-than-nature) entity or force. Biblical Creationists, on the other hand, concede that our universe could not have come about "by itself", and, therefore, man is not "the measure of all things". Since any idea that the universe came about on its own is as perposterous as The Little Mermaid, there must be something greater than nature. Something supernatural. GOD. In Him, David S. MacMillan III

Speaking of Judicial Philosophies. . . .

This is a blogpost from The Powerline Blog on July 26, 2005. Check it out!

Speaking of Judicial Philosophies. . . .

The Washington Times has the latest on the John Roberts nomination. Contrary to some press reports, Hillary Clinton says she has not made up her mind to vote for Roberts' confirmation. The Democrats say they want to drag out the beginning of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing until September--the administration wants it to begin in August--and it appears that they have Arlen Specter's support as to the schedule. But here's what I really want to comment on: The Democrats say they need more time so they can "learn more about Judge Roberts' judicial philosophy, especially on whether he will defer to precedent or seek to undo modern American jurisprudence that many conservatives say has been wrongly settled." We hear this a lot; the Democrats worry that Roberts and other nominees might not adhere to the doctrine of stare decisis, which, in general, holds that courts should follow their own precedents rather than revisiting settled principles. But the Democrats' loyalty to the principle of stare decisis is highly selective. In fact, most of the decisions most beloved by liberals have overturned precedents that held the opposite. For example, in Lawrence v. Texas, which in 2003 discovered for the first time a Constitutional right to homosexual sodomy, the Court expressly overruled its own decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, which was decided as recently as 1986. So as far as the Democrats are concerned, stare decisis applies only after the Court has made a liberal ruling. Liberal rulings are carved in stone, whereas "conservative" rulings--those that represent the traditional understanding of our Constitution and laws, as written--can and should be overturned freely. As Paul has noted, we aren't sure exactly what Roberts' judicial philosophy is. But we're pretty certain it is more principled than the Democrats. Posted by John at The Powerline Blog. In Him, David S. MacMillan III

7.25.2005

#1 Problem: Young-Earth Creationists?

According to the leader of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), the number 1 problem facing Christian Colleges today is not philosophical relativism or the culture war or a myriad of other legitimate problems. No, at a recent meeting of the CCCU the leader of the group stated that the greatest problem for Christian colleges is "the attack of young-earth creationists"!!! Not young-earth creationism being attacked. Young-earth creationists that are supposedly "attacking" these colleges. "They will call good evil and evil good. . . ." To read the entire article by Dr. Terry Mortenson of Answers In Genesis, click here. In Him, D3

Harry Potter and the Lavender Brigade

My mom subscribes to Vision Forum's weekly newsletter. This is an article that was sent recently. I know that it is super-long, but bear with me and read it in its entirety. I have edited it extensively, adding my own comments underlined for clarity, so that it won't be as long as it was. I also kinda lopped off the end. . . .

By Douglas W. Phillips

"As well as being extraordinarily popular, the [Harry Potter] books have encouraged millions of children to start reading for the first time.... For those who have a problem with the idea of fantasy and alternative universes alongside ours, we need to recognize that almost all children play imaginative games in their minds starting at a very young age and have no difficulty whatsoever in distinguishing between fantasy and reality.... Additionally, the Harry Potter books send a strong message about moral order. There are beautiful and enjoyable human relationships among the characters, and there is a depth of commitment and service among them.... Finally, I see the books as valuable because they consistently include the three fundamental themes that can be found as a subtext in almost all good literature: the beauty of creation, the appalling reality of evil, and the universal human longing for redemption.... J.K. Rowling does not profess to be a Christian, as far as I am aware, but she has insight into the themes that are at the very heart of what Christians understand to be true about the nature of the universe in which we live.... All truth is God’s truth, and non-Christians recognize that truth to one degree or another.... It is said that because magic is a part of the ... books, they may have the effect of interesting children in the reality of the Occult.... The magic is simply a part of the imaginative worlds.... Some people have gone on record as stating that they believe that J.K. Rowling is purposely and explicitly teaching Occult and even Satanic practice. As a Christian, I have to say I am profoundly ashamed of those who have responded with this kind of malicious gossip. We must recognize that whenever she talks about evil magic she presents it as evil.”
(Jerram Barr, Professor of Christianity and Contemporary Culture and Resident Scholar at The Francis Schaeffer Institute)

Breaking News

This morning, the publishing industry surprised the world by releasing a new, unexpected companion volume to last week’s sixth installment of J.K. Rowling’s hugely successful Harry Potter series. As word of the new release spread like wildfire, crowds of frenzied children and teenagers began thronging at the doors of hundreds of local bookstores in the United States and U.K., hoping to be among the first to receive their own copy of a book bearing the title: Harry Potter and the Lavender Brigade.

Harry Potter and the Lavender Brigade continues to perpetuate all the sorceries, incantations, and spells which have delighted children around the world. But this installment of Harry Potter introduces a new theme — homosexuality. In Harry Potter and the Lavender Brigade, we discover that the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is expanding its curriculum base to provide mandatory training in homosexuality for all of its recruits. Harry discovered in Book One that he was born with witchcraft in his blood. Now, recent discoveries show that the same students born with the gift of magic also possess a genetic predisposition toward homosexuality. With this in mind, the goal of Hogwarts is to teach its students the proper and moral way to be homosexual witches. Students must learn about safety, monogamy, and even social etiquette. But the race is on. A second witch training academy run by evil witches has also discovered their own homosexual predispositions. Unlike Hogwarts, they intend to use their homosexuality for evil. They teach their students evils like sexual promiscuity. They openly encourage pedophilia. It is the mission of Harry and his intrepid gang of sodomite warlocks and lesbian witches (dubbed “The Lavender Brigade”) to once again stop the menace of bad witches.

No Cause for Concern

Perhaps some Christians have concerns about children’s literature in which homosexuality is both a defining characteristic of the protagonists and a thematic element which runs from beginning to the end of the novel.

Relax. Don’t be so uptight. Don’t worry, Christian parents. Harry Potter is not the real world! It is an imaginary world. Children know the difference between the two. They are not going to start dressing up like their heroes or pretending to do the same things their heroes do in the stories. After all, it is just a pretend story. Thoughtful Christian critics will recognize that the author has created an alternative reality with a completely different set of rules. Sodomy may be wrong in the real world, but it is not wrong in Harry Potter’s reality, and it would be sophomoric to think that, just because the book is one long story about the glories of good homosexuality in the world of Harry Potter, that it desensitizes children to the problems with homosexuality in the real world. We should be ashamed of any Christians who would claim the author is promoting perversion. She makes strong distinctions between good homosexuality and bad homosexuality. Bad homosexuality is always presented as really bad.

And here is the clincher: Harry Potter and the Lavender Brigade is a brilliant, well-written adventure that includes all the great themes of classic literature — the creation of an alternative reality where different rules apply, a carefully-executed plot, and clear elements of good versus evil. The story presents the beauty of creation and the appalling reality of evil. (Keep in mind that all truth is God’s truth.) There is even a strong redemption theme in the story as the leader of the pro-pedophilia group realizes the wrongness of his ways and joins the good sodomites of Hogwarts. In the end, good sodomites triumph over bad sodomites and order is restored to the alternative universe.

Confession

Okay, so there is no Harry Potter and the Lavender Brigade. I made it up.

What I have not made up is the fact that Pottermania has engulfed the youth of a generation, setting an unprecedented frenzy of sales of the recent installment, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Within the first twenty-four hours of its release, nearly seven million copies were sold in the United States alone. Assuming a 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. sales schedule, that means they averaged nearly 600,000 copies an hour.

Also not made up is the fact that there are growing numbers of intelligent, reasonable, Christian teachers and scholars — some are friends whom I dearly love and respect — who are on record as giving their blessing to Harry Potter and supporting the inclusion of Harry Potter books as a healthy, positive part of the literary diet of Christian children. I disagree with them for many reasons, but it is the limited purpose of this article to focus in on and address what I see as their root argument.

My question is: If we may bend God’s moral laws in fantasy realities, then why is “Harry the Hero-Witch” okay for our children, but “Harry the Hero-Homosexual” not? Both witchcraft and perversion are deemed “works of the flesh” and “abominations” in Scripture. Both are immoral acts for which the practitioner stands condemned. Why would one be cute, fun, appealing, and — most importantly — legitimate in a fantasy reality, and the other unacceptable?

The character of God is challenged when we posit alternative realities which redefine the moral law order of God to allow men to delight in that which would be deemed wickedness in the real world. Creating worlds of good witchcraft versus bad witchcraft is a prime example of the problem. No such world can exist — anywhere — not even in our own imagination, without redefining the nature and attributes of God Himself. The essence of witchcraft and the desire to employ the tools of witchcraft are an assault on the Lordship and sovereignty of God. By virtue of the fact that Harry and his friends are “good guys” in pursuit of the very powers reserved to God Himself in the real world, the god of Harry Potter’s universe is, ispo facto, a different god than the God of our universe.

And no one need ask, “What Would Jesus Do?” in the real world to Harry and his friends, because the Bible answers the question with deafening specificity:

"But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8)

Doug Phillips is the president of Vision Forum Ministries, the founder of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, and a faculty member of the Christian Filmmakers Academy, dedicated to bringing a presuppositionally biblical approach to film and culture.

In Him,

D3

7.23.2005

Bombing Suspects Apprehended in London

Yesterday, Scotland Yard released photos of suspected terrorists in connection with the second wave of London bombings. Three more subways were attacked, and one more bus, but this time no one was killed, and only one slight injury was reported. Click on the picture to see a larger image. Is it any surprise that these men are all of the same ethnicity: Muslim? Not at all. It is the goal of every true Islamic extremist to kill an "infidel". Fundamentalist Islam will stop at nothing to obey the Koran. And the ACLU says that we can't do "racial profiling" in airport searches! Look. If we know that kidnappers are usually single, white, middle-aged males, then when an Amber Alert goes out police should be on the lookout for single, white, middle-aged males, right? Of course. For the same reason, we should search Abdullah Ben-Whozit with a bulge under his coat instead of my 93-year-old great-grandfather who can hardly hold his arms out straight. "Racial/Ethnic Profiling"? No, that's called common sense. Another suspected terrorist was . . . apprehended . . . by the police. When a Middle-Eastern man entered a hot, muggy subway station yesterday wearing a thick trench-coat, low-brow hat, and a heavy backpack, police confronted him immediately. Instead of complying, he ran, jumping over turnstiles and dodging metal detectors. The cops shouted for everyone to scatter. They chased down the man and tackled him. Fearing that he would detonate the contents of his backpack, they shot him five times in the head as he fought them, killing him. Scotland Yard has since stated that although it is highly regrettable the man died, it is still likely he was connected with the bombings. He left a house under surveillance in connection with the investigation and exhibited erratic behavior at the subway station. And of course the fact that he ran from police. . . . I know, it's gruesome. But at least the police don't beat around the bush with criminals! I would rather have a terrorist shot in a struggle than have him blow himself up and kill policemen and civilians as well. This is apparently the view of the London police department as well: "If you are dealing with someone who might be a suicide bomber, if they remain conscious, they could trigger plastic explosives or whatever device is on them," London Mayor Ken Livingstone said. "Therefore, overwhelmingly in these circumstances, it is going to be a shoot-to-kill policy." The moral of this story: Don't wear a heavy trench coat and backpack on a hot London day on mass transportation. And, if you are stupid enough to do this, and the cops ask you about it, don't run! In Him, D3

7.22.2005

Linking to me and The Account

Hey all,

I finally figured out how to display raw HTML code on the blog for all to see.

If you want to link to me, copy the code in the box below and paste it into your template. If you accidentally erase the code, just hit "Refresh" on your browser.

You can resize the "height" and "width" numbers proportionately if you don't like the size. The source image is nearly a thousand pixels wide, so you won't have any trouble with resolution.


On another note, I made a new header for The Account, DJ's blog, with Adobe Photoshop. Click here to see it! It only took 30 minutes using pictures that were already on my computer.

In Him,

D3

7.21.2005

TeenPact University: The Epilogue

Hey Cyberspace, I'm finally back and functioning from TeenPact University! TPU was incredible. Mr. Chris Sherrod, Master Apologist, taught the class. The focus of the week was apologetics: defending our faith. Today, I am more convinced than ever that Christianity is true and that to believe in Jesus is to concur with reason and science. I don't have time to go into all the details of the camp, but I'll probably bring some of the class content up in future posts. This was the basic layout of the week, with occasional highlights: Monday: I flew from Cincinnatti to Detroit and back down to Atlanta. Due to the effects of Hurricane Dennis, my flight from Detroit to Atlanta was delayed nearly 2 hours. Add to this the 1.5 hour layover that was planned, and you get 3 hours of non-stop CNN. Talk about depressing! Tuesday: Settling into camp routine. The food is great, but it isn't much fun when lights out sounds at 11 PM and you have to be up by 7. Especially in the summertime. We tried to play Ultimate Frisbee, but it is hard when the temperature is 95 degrees and 100% humidity with no breeze . . . in the shade. At lunch, I made a small scene by pretending to fall off of a chair but doing it too well and landing hard on my back. Ouch! Wednesday: Routine day. We learned a whole lot of stuff, and I prepared for the Ivy League Track that would take place the next day. That night, the entire camp participated in a massive game of capture-the-flag. The rules were a little different; each player wore a piece of tape around their arm. If this tape was ripped off anywhere on the field, they would be "dead" and would have to return to the center of the playing field for another tape. Their "death" was recorded as a 10-point bonus for the other team, and they returned to the game. Guys were not allowed to take girls' tapes off, but girls could "kill" the guys. This made the girls powerful, almost invincible players. It was during this game that Joe Echols, Mr. Echols' son, came over a rise and slammed into Anna Boyles, knocking her to the ground. Her head struck the grass violently, giving her a medium-to-severe concussion. She drifted in and out of consciousness all night. Anna never lost her sense of humor, though; when asked what she ran into, she shouted "The ground!" Anna left for the ER along with several of the staff members. Play resumed, our spirits slightly dampened by the events of the night. Our team beat the other team by a narrow margin after Bobi, Rebecca, Sarah, and I raided the enemy camp and captured their flag. Thursday: UGA Survey and Ivy League Track day! The group split up; half went with Mr. Sherrod to do worldview surveys/debating with random students on the University of Georgia campus. The other half, including myself and Anna (whose neck was now in a brace), went with Tim Echols and Representative Tom Riner to a conference room at UGA for the Ivy League track. It went well, especially considering that it was the first time this had been done and that the Riner family's plane was delayed and there had been no time to set everything up beforehand. Friday: Routine is relaxed on the last day. Mr. Sherrod ended the week with a session on cults. I'll probably make a post in the future on the great information covered by this part of TPU. Several pranks were played on the last night (nothing serious, and no permanent damage was sustained to anyone or any surroundings). I won't comment on who did it or what happened. ;-). Saturday: Most people were up by 6 AM. Sadly, everyone made their farewells and climbed into a bus to head for the airport. We reached the airport at about 10 AM. I was flying with Andre Fredette to Detroit, where we would split up. Our flight didn't leave until 6:11 PM, so we escorted all the girls to their gates one by one (airports can be dangerous places, you know). I tried to get an earlier flight, but Northwest couldn't guarantee that there would be an earlier flight out of Detroit to Cincinnati to match it, so I opted to take the 6:11 flight. When 5:30 rolled around and Andre and I were waiting to board, they announced that the flight had been delayed 1 hour. This meant that both of us would miss our connection in Detroit. We waited in line at the gate for almost 2 hours. By the time the airline worker got to us, the flight had already left. Northwest grudgingly gave us a voucher for a hotel room and dinner at a Holiday Inn in inter-city Atlanta. The food was expensive, but Andre and I managed to fill ourselves up and get a good night's sleep. Our flight left on time from Atlanta with no further delays on Sunday. When I got home at 4 PM, I hit the pillow in my bedroom and slept 'till 6. The Moral of this Story: Don't fly Northwest and don't stay at the Holiday Inn in Atlanta. The airline has stopped giving complimentary pretzels (they just serve you a cup of soda) and the hotel has stopped complimentary breakfast. Also, be prepared for anything, since anything can happen. I'd post pictures from the camp but I'm not sure the campers want their faces all over the internet. I also have a few articles I wrote while at camp that I will post as soon as they are emailed to me. In Him, David S. MacMillan III

7.10.2005

TeenPact University

Hey Cyberspace, This week, I will be attending TeenPact University in Georgia. This camp is centered around preparing teens for the struggles that they will face before and during college. There are two branches of TPU: North, held at Patrick Henry College, and South, held in Carmel, Georgia. I will be attending South because that is where Representative Tom Riner from Kentucky will be teaching a special Ivy League Track on one of the days for those, like myself, who are interested in attending an Ivy League School. In a way, this is the time that summer starts for me, because I've been busy with research for this very camp up until yesterday. As a result of this, I probably won't be in the blogosphere until this time next week. You certainly won't see any full-length articles. Of course, there's always a chance that I will get ahold of a PC in an airport or somewhere else and be able to comment. But don't stop visiting my site! There are quite a few recent articles that no one has been commenting on. It would be great to return home and find a comment war in full swing! Hope you have a great summer, and thanks for being part of my blogpal group (that goes for you too, Anonymous S!)! In Him, David S. MacMillan III

7.07.2005

Brutal Terror Attacks in London: Why?

Early today, July 7th, a series of bombs exploded across London, England. As usual, the terrorists targeted population centers; subways packed with early-morning commuter traffic and the huge double-decker buses that traverse the city. So far, 40 fatalities have been reported and over 300 other people were injured in the blasts. Carnage covers London. Authorities believe that the attacks were timed to coincide with the G-8 summit, where European leaders met for humanitarian efforts. Who committed these atrocities? There have been reports that suicide bombers caused one or more explosions. Since the bombs were placed strategically to injure as many civilians as possible, we have another clue to the identification of these terrorists. Suicide bombings. Innocent civilians killed. Attempts to thwart a humanitarian summit. This sounds like the work of Islamic fundamentalists. Sure enough, Muslims have taken the responsibility for the attacks in the name of Al Qaeda. Claiming to be an arm of this infamous organization, the "Secret Group of Al Qaeda's Jihad in Europe" said that the attacks were in retaliation for Great Britain's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan on a web posting today. A phone call from the group was also received in Al Jazeera. "Rejoice, Islamic nation. Rejoice, Arab world. The time has come for vengeance against the Zionist crusader government of Britain in response to the massacres Britain committed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The heroic mujahedeen carried out a blessed attack in London, and now Britain is burning with fear and terror, from north to south, east to west." This is anything but surprising. These attacks are simply more proof that Islamic fundamentalists will stop at nothing, not even the murder of innocents, to take the sword of Islam across the globe. Zionist crusaders? England is losing Christian influence at one of the fastest rates of all the countries of the world. There are hundreds of Muslim mosques in the UK! England is anything but Zionist. But this makes no difference. Muslims cannot allow non-Muslims. The Koran is very clear on this issue. The law is clear, the law is precise. Convert or die. And don't even think about attacking any Muslims anywhere. But is the responsibility really with the fundamentalist Muslims? In Leviticus, God laid down guidelines for his people, Israel. If they honored him and obeyed his laws, they would prosper and be blessed. However, if they didn't:
"But if you will not listen to Me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject My decrees and abhor My laws and fail to carry out all My commands and so violate My covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. I will set My face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you."

When Christ fixed the problem caused by Adam 4,000 years before, all men could be saved instead of just Israelites. As a result, all of God's promises now applied to all His people, not just the Jews.

In its day, Great Britain was one of the most Christian nations in the world. This is where, directly or indirectly, the majority of history's missionaries have originated from.

But England has fallen on hard times spiritually. Ever since evolution became accepted as fact, this country has slowly drifted away from God. In a nation where once 40-50% of the population were professing Christian, now only 0.5% attend church services weekly.

". . . if you reject My decrees and abhor My laws and fail to carry out all My commands and so violate My covenant, then . . . I will bring upon you sudden terror."

Is it any surprise that God's word has been fulfilled?

I'm not saying that the innocent victims of this attack brought it upon themselves personally. But the nation as a whole, through a complete rejection of the Bible and God's laws, has opened itself up to be attacked by the enemies of God.

7.06.2005

Evolution: A Disproven Hypothesis

Alright, alright, I know that the title of this post is just a little bit strong. But it should be! Macroevolution is being taught in our schools as fact, when it really has very little scientific basis. In Charles Darwin's day, the mainstream scientific belief regarding the origin of life was a caricature of Genesis: God supposedly created all wildlife just as we see it today. Of course, nowhere in the Bible is such an idea stated. God created many distinct kinds, and these kinds reproduced and exhibited natural variation. For example, we got all the dogs we see today from one distinct dog-kind similar to a wolf. But dogs always bred dogs. When Darwin signed on to The Beagle as the ship's naturalist, he sailed to the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific. In this island setting, the wildlife was very specialized and very open to observation. Darwin's grandfather had already publicized the idea that the Genesis account was totally false, and that all life on this planet was descended from the same primitive creature (universal common descent). This young naturalist noted that there were many different kinds of birds on a particular island. One type of bird he was especially interested in were the finches. It is interesting to note that he didn't learn that these birds were finches until after he arrived back in civilization. These finches were many and variegated. Some had big beaks, some had small beaks, some had medium beaks, some had long beaks, and some had short beaks . . . you get the point. Lots and lots of beaks. Darwin theorized that all these finches came from the same basic kind of finch, but natural variation during reproduction changed them slightly. The offspring that had the best chance to live then were given a better chance of passing on their genes; these genes were thereby 'selected'. He called this process "Natural Selection". Natural Selection is a perfectly viable process. Through this mechanism, we get dark skin and light skin, poodles and pyrenees, etc. all through natural genetic variation from a few distinct kinds thousands of years ago. However, because Darwin had been conditioned by his grandfather to think in terms of universal common descent, he began to extrapolate on the data. Extrapolation, or extending of data, is fine if you have a lot of information and just a little that you don't know. But all Darwin knew was that over time, finches' beaks became more specialized. Perhaps, he decided, this same kind of change happens over millions of years, turning bugs into businessmen. I've finally found something to substantiate Gramp's claim! When Darwin returned to civilization, he wrote The Origin of Species. This book detailed his new hypothesis; all the animals we see today descended from a common ancestor through extra-extended natural selection. He also wrote The Descent of Man, where he explained his theories on how man evolved from monkeys. However, the budding idea of evolution would soon be dealt a stunning blow. At the time, simple cells were thought to be just that: simple. Research soon indicated that all life was dependent upon DNA, the four-letter amino acid language that dictated everything about an organism. Research showed something else also. The variation Darwin saw in the finches was only the highlighting of certain parts of the genetic DNA code. This was microevolution within a species, but Darwin's hypothesis required macroevolution: drastic changes to the DNA code itself rather than the masking of unnecessary parts. Until now, atheists had a handy way of denying God: "It all happened through evolution!" But now, evolution was heading downhill. Clinging to their ideology like religionists, the atheistic crowd tried to find some way to make the evidence fit their ideas. Mutations! That's right, mutations! Scientists knew that random mistakes occasionally changed the DNA in the genome. They called these mistakes mutations. Perhaps, the atheists theorized, lucky mutations were the cause of genetic change and macroevolution! Any bad mutations would be filtered out by natural selection, and the lucky mutations they needed would be passed on to the next generation to be built upon by more mutations. Of course, all this is speculation. We haven't ever seen a mutation that not only made its owner more likely to survive but also added to the genome and would eventually lead to a more advanced species. This is the current theory held by the majority of scientists worldwide. But could mutations ever do the trick? The Descent of Man. Our DNA is a little less than 98% the same as the DNA of chimpanzees. Of course, this doesn't mean we are closely related to chimps or anything. We also share 50% of our DNA with bananas, but we aren't banana from the waist up or from the waist down. That 2% of DNA holds an enormous amount of information that dictates many different characteristics. Most of these characteristics are critical to the life of the organism; for example our blood pressure is different from chimpanzees so all the pressure-sensitive cells must be changed to cope with the different conditions. DNA is composed of four amino acid letters: A, C, G, and T. These letters are combined in pairs to create the language; the base pairs AT, CG, GC, and TA. For only 100 DNA base pairs, there are 10 to the 60th possible combinations: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 combinations!!! This is only 100 base pairs. The smallest pieces of DNA that can define a physical function are genes, the smallest of which composed of 1,000 base pairs. The number of combinations for such a thing would be unimaginable! But let's consider 100 base pairs. Any imperfect combination would either kill the mutating organism or would be automatically filtered out by the individual cell's copying mechanism. So, in order to define 1/10th of a gene, we have 1 in 10 to the 60th chances. Mathematics experts tell us that the threshold of impossibility is 1 in 10 to the 50th, meaning that 10 to the 60th is 10,000,000,000 times more than impossible! Evolutionists, of course, always have a way to defend their ideology. They propose that nature can cope with these overwhelming odds because it has extremely large periods of time. But even if we have 10 to the 60th chances, it isn't as if this guarantees victory. Each chance the mutating organism has is just 1 in 10 to the 60th! This puts evolution right back where it started. Science tells us that these odds are astronomically greater than what the human mind is able to grasp. Evolution by mutation is impossible! Scientific ideas progress from speculation to hypothesis to theory and finally to fact. In order to be called a theory, the idea must have substantial, tangible evidence that backs it up; in the case of evolution intermediate forms would be required. I have demonstrated that evolution is impossible. It has been disproven time and time again. Since we never had any evidence for evolution other than the speculations of atheists, this idea never reached the level of theory. Therefore, Darwinian Evolution is nothing but a disproven hypothesis. In Him, David S. MacMillan III

7.04.2005

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Birthday to the United States of America!

Two hundred and twenty-nine years ago today, our forefathers finalized the Declaration of Independence, making the United State of America a free and Independent Nation! "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America, When, in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, and that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. " HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!