I want to take a break from current events and look again at two important and potentially divisive subjects: The Origin of Life, and Darwinian MacroEvolution. A recent discussion with an old and dear friend required me to summarize my beliefs on these issues, which I’ve been studying as a non-scientist for over twenty years. While the two are related, they are of course different. I tend to tackle them independently. Before laying out any observations or conclusions, let me clearly define...
This year's extraordinary election is less than two months away. Like most Americans, I am not pleased with the choices we have before us. With all of the negative generalities coming from both sides, I decided to try to put on paper specifically what concerns me. I really am not looking to start an argument or to defend any candidate--please consider this to be a personal interim report, subject to change as more information becomes available in the coming weeks. Concerns I have about...
We have just returned from two extended family events: our 38th year at a conference center’s Guest Period in the North Carolina mountains, and the celebration of a great aunt’s long and remarkable life in Vermont. The purpose of this short post is to extol families, and to encourage all of us to do everything we can to hold fast to every family member. Before there were tribes, governments, or churches, there were families. The family is the basic building block of every society and...
This is a very personal post, offering some perspectives to those who have been watching both political conventions, and who are led to worry that we live in an extraordinarily tough time. I attended the 1968 DNC in Chicago as a young, disenfranchised Challenge Delegate from Georgia, where the government was really only the Democratic Party, which, by the way, systematically disenfranchised Blacks all across the South and our state, while the Governor sold ax handles at his restaurant to...
By definition, we are not supposed to be able to predict Black Swan events before they occur, but I hear a lot of flapping, and it’s getting louder. If you’re interested in the future of our economy, please read Mervyn King’s new book The End of Alchemy. Lord King was the Governor of the Bank of England from 2003 to 2013, and for an international policy maker at the highest level, he writes with refreshing clarity and candor about the 2008 Financial Crisis, as well as how to minimize the...
I have a dream outcome for our Independence Day Celebration. In lieu of prosecution or jail time, Hillary Clinton and everyone on her staff who knew about her home-brew email server, or who funneled donations to the Clinton Foundation for government favors, will agree never to serve in a government position again. Think of the time, money and angst for the nation that this arrangement will save us. Democrats should like this plea bargain, because it removes quickly and cleanly the greatest...
Most believers have experienced friends or family members who tell them “I used to be a Christian, until I studied the Bible.” Or some variation on the “I’m too intelligent to believe in a Mesopotamian myth” theme. I heard that again this week from a wonderful, talented person. There are many robust responses to this assertion. For those who enjoy intellectual engagement, two excellent resources are Tim Keller’s The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, and Ken Boa’s I’m Glad You...
Before reluctantly tackling this issue, let me stipulate three things. As a follower of Christ, I try to love and understand everyone, while also upholding the Truth. I believe that homosexual activity is wrong—for those who engage in it, I believe that it is a form of bondage, like having an affair or being addicted to drugs, and is much less than God intended for us. We should therefore not encourage it and should protect our children from it. And, let me be clear that I am a sinner saved by...
I have written previously about Alexis de Tocqueville’s 1836 observation that America’s unique strength was how Judeo-Christian faith and values were woven deeply and inexorably into the multi-faceted quilt of our society. People might differ on the details of worship, or on specific laws, but the underlying foundation for any discussion was a nearly universal belief in the God of the Bible as the Creator and Sustainer of all people, and particularly of this nation. “I sought for the...
Is there no adult left in the Presidential race who can speak the truth even when it is unpopular? The Populist Left and Right have come together in their bashing of foreign trade—proposing tariffs and torn-up agreements to win “fairness” for the American worker and, supposedly, to raise wages. Are they crazy? Readers of this blog know how much I revere Henry Hazlitt and his short book, Economics in One Lesson. Please read it. Here is the key proposition from his first chapter: The art of...
Comments