Okay, before I begin the very first edition of Sterling’s Stash, I must first say that this series of posts was inspired by Dan Phillip’s Hither and Thither, which is the regular Friday edition on his blog, Biblical Christianity. I highly recommend him and his blog and his writing over at Pyromaniacs. My format varies from his a bit, but the essence is the same. This is, in my opinion, a superior way to share my favorite and most interesting links and such from my week of reading with my own commentary. With that said, let us begin…
First, I want to tell you a great secret: the study of origins (whether of life or the universe or everything) is a theological rather than scientific issue. Don’t say that too loudly or the fundamentalist scientists will start calling you a heretic. That isn’t to say that the two aren’t entangled, but that the theology of your view determines how you interpret your science, never the other way around.
Isn’t it interesting to note then, when a case comes up where the creationist position predicts something that the evolutionist position didn’t and then that prediction comes true. That’s not proof, but I like it anyway.
BioLogos has been generating a lot of criticism from my favorite bloggers of late. I hadn’t heard of them before, but it seems that they are dedicated to science based upon a materialistic (i.e., un-scriptural) world view but with a evangelical gloss to it. As DJP points out, these folks aren’t a contradiction so much as showing that they believe they themselves, via scientific pursuit, to be the inerrant source of truth rather that the Word. Everyone believes someone is the source of ultimate truth. Is that God? Or yourself? Pick one. (Oh, and “glandolatrous” might be the most excellent portmanteau ever.)
For our last scientistic link:
I needed that. (HT: patrick @ Triablogue)
Speaking of Triablogue, and moving on to hard theology, they pointed me over to an article describing the Two Wills in God. Everyone should understand that there are different layers to the will of God. God may want everyone to be saved, but that doesn’t trump all.
Also on theology and also closely related to the discussion on inerrancy, we have The Persistence of Patriarchy by Eggebroten. Since Al Mohler commented on it (probably because she mentions The Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood in the article), there was a lot of commentary on the subject.
I found her article to be disingenuous. She’s either ignorant or pretending to be so for effect, to achieve what has been called her National Geographic moment. She also puts on a show of appealing to scripture when it’s obvious she really doesn’t care what scripture says. I know this because she says so in the article. Anything that disagrees with her egalitarian view is marginalized or thrown out somehow. It’s not that she wants to know what the Bible says, she just wants to use some of the Bible to help her sound more authoritative.
Besides Dr. Mohler’s excellent commentary, Dan Phillips has a great piece over at Pyromaniacs describing how this relates to the importance of inerrancy. Fred Butler also has a good response City of the Wymyn Slaves, though it is considerably more snarky than the other two I linked.
Changing away from inerrancy and moving on to human error, deceit, and resume enhancement, I’ve been following the Dr. Ergun Caner scandal for a few weeks. If you don’t know, it comes down to a few bloggers (James White, TurretinFan, The Squirrel and others) have been documenting the outright lies Dr. Ergun Caner has been telling about his personal history. Dr. Caner would appear to have a very credible testimony regarding his conversion from Islam to Christianity, but has been embellishing it rather significantly.
Lately, though, the story has turned to Dr. Norman Geisler, who has been defending Dr. Caner rather heavily. This is a little disappointing since the evidence practically speaks for itself (for example, recordings of Dr. Caner saying things that contradict reality that no one could say except to deliberately mislead for one’s own benefit). It’s a little sad really. We all just pray that Dr. Caner will really repent of his deception and come clean. I think most of his critics would go away if he would just do that.
Anyway, James White spends some time Rebutting Norman Geisler Regarding Dr. Ergun Caner. Then, there’s the response by Squirrel as he makes a Difficult Confession.
Moving away from liars in Christendom and on to the real professionals, the NAACP has shown just how far it has fallen. Failing to find any real evidence they decide that they need to shout an accusation as loud as possible to try and make it stick.
They must be getting desperate.
I am not a Tea Partier, but that’s only because I don’t like crowds. It’s sad to see how much effort some people have put into trying to discredit the Tea Party on an issue that has nothing to do with their platform. It’s sad because it distracts people from real racism. It’s just propaganda. The Tea Party is about standing up against the selfish nannies in DC that want to control your earnings and control more of your life from afar. That’s not racism. Those who have made this about race instead of the obvious issues are infantile and obsessed and unable to face the truth. Grow up.
Speaking of the nannies, do you remember that “executive order” the President issued about funding abortions via the new “healthcare” bill? Apparently, it meant as little as the critics said. Obama Administration Approves First Direct Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Through New High-Risk Insurance Pools. I am sick to my stomach on this. Abortion is unconscionable. Taxes funding these murders is sick.
Finally, in depressing political news. You can watch our government spend money it doesn’t have over at the US National Debt Clock. (HT: DJP)
Moving on to technology, I never would have predicted that I would be as interested in cell phones as I am now, but I track a lot of cell phone news these days. I am really very happy with my Samsung Moment. Sprint has released it’s direct successor, the Samsung Intercept. A nicer screen, better processor, and the prospect of moving forward to the latest greatest Android OS would be great. On the other hand, I think I’m probably looking toward the Epic 4G as my next phone, which is a higher end phone. Of course, I just got the phone I have earlier this year, so I won’t be upgrading phones for probably more than a year anyway.
Also I though this was cool. Ubuntu on an Android Phone. Putting Ubuntu desktop on a phone is a sign of too much free time, but I like it. I don’t know how useful it really is, but I think it’s cool anyway.
Speaking of geeking. Truth is Stranger Than Fiction. This is an awesome analysis of how the plots of Babylon 5 and Dr. Who compare with the unbelievable reality you find on the History Channel. (HT: DJP)
I only have one link on the Perl front this week, but I hope to have a section of them in the future. Strings and Security and Designing Away Bugs is an interesting article by chromatic on using API design to wisely eliminate potential bugs.
And I have to end with this:
So true to life, it hurts.
Cheers.
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