I have a new friend! Like the vast majority of friends and acquaintances encountered through the internet, we've never met in person, and we may never meet due to living on opposite sides of the country. My new friend is extremely intelligent and a physician, which means we may not have very much in common. However, we have both chosen to focus on our areas of common interests rather than where we might disagree, and in common we share a love of history, a faith in things we cannot see, and an intense desire to seek truth while documenting our efforts via the written word. Several years ago I wrote an article titled "Encouraging My Christian Friends to Think" in which I was touting the scholarship and content of a book called Who Wrote the Bible? That was my mistake, and I apologize. I am afraid I might have led some of my readers astray by citing bad scholarship in regard to the authorship of the first book in the Bible, the book of Genesis. The original theory of authorship regarding the Pentateuch was that Moses wrote those first five books of the Bible. Then the JEPD "documentary hypothesis" from the incredibly long-titled book Conjectures About the Original Memoirs Which It Appeared That Moses Used in Composing the Book of Genesis with Certain Remarks Which Help Clarify These Conjectures, attempted to identify the "real" authors of Genesis through literary analysis. That book was written by Jean Astruc, and his documentary hypothesis was later presented by Rabbi Friedmann in his book Who Wrote the Bible? as an alternate explanation for the … [Read more...]
The morality of God
Recently, a social media friend who is either an atheist or theistic evolutionist asked whether I believed Donald Trump was a Christian or not. He proceeded to offer his own opinion that Barack Obama and Joe Biden are sincere Christians, but Donald Trump is only a pretender. Because I prefer to give honest and direct answers rather than evasive or vague ones when someone asks my opinion, I told him the truth: I don't know if Donald Trump is a Christian or not. In my opinion, yes, Donald Trump is Christian. But I've never met the man in person. Judging what is in the heart and mind of another human being is a job only fit for a God, and that's WAY above my pay grade. I don't even see myself as some minor deity, unlike some people with pretentious (and contrived) last names, and an ego to rival my own. It is almost as big as Trump's ego. At best, I can sit on a jury and judge the actions of another person, but I cannot read their minds to better understand their motives. If someone wants to understand my motives, they only need to ask. Or, I might just come out and tell you, anyway. Why am I writing this short essay on morality and God? The short answer is, I feel compelled, which I shall explain momentarily. I won't earn a penny from writing it, unless one day down the road some magical little money tree sprouts from the fruits of my labor today, because to be brutally honest, ten years after beginning my career as a writing, I'm still trying to figure out the mystery of how to get paid consistently. I sell a few books and novels from time to time, especially … [Read more...]
Aron Ra, atheism’s rock star
If you've never heard of Aron Ra, you are probably not an atheist. Don't feel too bad. He's rather famous, but mostly limited to secular/humanist circles. If the "Four Horsemen" of atheism, meaning Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and the late Christopher Hitchens, represent the creme of the crop of people who have become famous for evangelizing atheism, then Aron Ra ranks only one notch down on the totem pole, in the second tier of revered atheists with Seth Andrews and Matt Dillahunty who are collectively known as the "unholy Trinity." Mr. Ra is the host of the "RaMen" podcast, a frequent lecturer, and creator of the Phylogeny Explorer Project. These people have successfully turned their talent arguing for atheism into full-time jobs with career opportunities. They travel all over the world, giving lectures to crowds of adoring fans. Not a bad gig, if you can get it. No wonder he's smiling. photo by R. van Elst via Creative Commons Now before I write another word, I would like to acknowledge that Mr. "Ra" (obviously not his birth surname) is quite an intelligent man, and I'm delighted to say he possesses an ego that easily matches and possibly exceeds my own. I personally find the guy quite entertaining. Mr. Ra has a Wikipedia biography that claims he studied paleontology in Dallas, but does not mention a college degree. Don't let that fool you. He's very clever and bright, as well as apparently smart enough to run away from a fight he was unlikely to win--an argument with me about the relevance of creation. During the course of our recent … [Read more...]
The implied beliefs of atheism
[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hat tip to TC and Emily for serving as inspiration for this article.] Atheists typically don't like organized religion, and many will seize just about any excuse to attack the beliefs of theists. Only yesterday a friend of mine posted a political comment on social media that mentioned abortion, yet somehow an atheist lurking in the shadows managed to bring religion into the conversation by claiming the Bible doesn't condemn abortion. In my response I pointed out that Scripture doesn't mention nuclear war or space travel either, because those things also didn't exist when the Bible was written. Elective surgery by a medical doctor to kill an unborn child in the womb wasn't simply available when Jesus walked the Earth. 13 weeks into pregnancy His argument was weak, but my new atheist acquaintance was just getting warmed up. Next this particular religion critic boldly claimed the Bible was a work of fiction, which is an odd statement for an atheist to make. Most of my atheist friends realize the best strategy is to remain on offense and attack religion while carefully avoiding any knowledge claims they might have to defend. For example, most atheists will say something safe like "I believe the Bible is fiction" instead of "the Bible is fiction" because the former is merely stating an opinion, but the latter is a knowledge claim that will ultimately need to be defended with empirical evidence. Everyone is entitled to have an opinion, but not their own independent set of facts. And the fact of the matter is, the claim the Bible is a work of fiction … [Read more...]
Selfish genes
According to the scientific definition, a gene is a distinct unit of information, in the form of a specific pattern of nucleotides that comprise part of a chromosome. Roughly translated into English, genes are packets or sequences of DNA (information) that specifically code for one protein, whereas a genome is the full genetic code, or set of rules, for a given organism. For example, the genome of a primate will have specific genes that define the development of fur, arms, and legs, while the genome of a bird will have certain genes that cause development of beaks, feathers, and wings. Both organisms will have genes responsible for developing heart, lungs, eyes, and other internal organs that almost all animals share in common, while also having enough genetic material that a single individual can be uniquely identified out of millions of other people. Only identical twins share the same DNA, but even they can be uniquely identified through their fingerprints. DNA is basically a recipe for how to create an organism from scratch. The average layperson may not be able to recognize an individual gene under a microscope, but any two experts in genetics should be able to identify the specific pattern of a known gene. Most of us have seen enough TV shows like NCIS and CSI delving into forensic police investigative work to know that leaving DNA evidence at the scene of a crime is just about as damning as a voluntary confession—unless the perpetrator can convince the jury that the evidence was planted in an attempt to frame them, the … [Read more...]
