Monday, December 25, 2006
Merry Christmas
I wanted to wish everyone out there that comes across this small blog a Merry Christmas. I hope you remember the real reason for this season isn't the Macy Parade or Santa Claus or football. The real reason comes in a few months in Easter. This is merely the warm up for the "advent" of the ultimate gift- salvation. Something to think about if your church isn't astute enough to remind you already.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Reason for the Season...and the Universe
Welcome to the Advent season. This is a two parter.
The first part plays off the common saying this time of year- "Jesus is the reason for the season." While this is entirely true, it does gloss over the reason Christ had to come in the first place- our sin. Trite and catchy sayings cannot catch the essence of our faith. I would argue these sayings only hurt Christianity in that it provides a shallow message to the world, one often sullied by inappropriate actions. (How many cars with a Christian symbol have you seen drive dangerously and/or illegally?) If it takes God the entire Bible, why should we think we can narrow it down further? It might be a bit gloomy to consider that this season is simply for the tree that we nailed Christ to with our sin, but what greater joy than one that compares our hope with the price paid? A sober celebration is important this time of year. So please, dispense with the endless, pointless mirth. Look at yourself in relation to your sins. Then look to the cross- and thank God for His mercy!
The second part is an article on whether to calculate a universal constant based on the premise that if it was wrong, humans couldn't exist. (Click here for the article) Normally this is a counter-intuitive, even blasphemous, idea in science. The most interesting thing is that the calculation based on humans is almost exact, while the best of quantum physics is off by 120 orders of magnitude! (that is like the bank estimating you have a penny in your account when you actually have 10 billion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion dollars- i.e. a lot) This almost screams "Design by God!" The chances of an evolutionary universe is pretty remote then. The argument could be made that it is simply by chance- we couldn't exist otherwise to calculate a different value. I would counter by pointing out that there are now only two options- a very very narrow random chance or a God. Given that the chance is narrowed significantly more when you factor in evolution and all of the other variables, you end up with two choices- God or a chance universe so remote that physics currently estimates that constant better!
I know this is probably over most of your heads, but I put it out there for you to consider. Without knowledge, we can only sit on the sidelines and not provide an answer for our faith.
The first part plays off the common saying this time of year- "Jesus is the reason for the season." While this is entirely true, it does gloss over the reason Christ had to come in the first place- our sin. Trite and catchy sayings cannot catch the essence of our faith. I would argue these sayings only hurt Christianity in that it provides a shallow message to the world, one often sullied by inappropriate actions. (How many cars with a Christian symbol have you seen drive dangerously and/or illegally?) If it takes God the entire Bible, why should we think we can narrow it down further? It might be a bit gloomy to consider that this season is simply for the tree that we nailed Christ to with our sin, but what greater joy than one that compares our hope with the price paid? A sober celebration is important this time of year. So please, dispense with the endless, pointless mirth. Look at yourself in relation to your sins. Then look to the cross- and thank God for His mercy!
The second part is an article on whether to calculate a universal constant based on the premise that if it was wrong, humans couldn't exist. (Click here for the article) Normally this is a counter-intuitive, even blasphemous, idea in science. The most interesting thing is that the calculation based on humans is almost exact, while the best of quantum physics is off by 120 orders of magnitude! (that is like the bank estimating you have a penny in your account when you actually have 10 billion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion dollars- i.e. a lot) This almost screams "Design by God!" The chances of an evolutionary universe is pretty remote then. The argument could be made that it is simply by chance- we couldn't exist otherwise to calculate a different value. I would counter by pointing out that there are now only two options- a very very narrow random chance or a God. Given that the chance is narrowed significantly more when you factor in evolution and all of the other variables, you end up with two choices- God or a chance universe so remote that physics currently estimates that constant better!
I know this is probably over most of your heads, but I put it out there for you to consider. Without knowledge, we can only sit on the sidelines and not provide an answer for our faith.
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