Conversation Among Friends

You may have seen the movie "Amazing Grace" about William Wilberforce who just about single handedly brings down the slave trade.  Anyway, I picked up his book "Real Christianity" written ca. 1797.

Here is a lengthy exerpt from the book that seems to address the subject of skepticism.

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By William Wilberforce 1797

Crossposted from my blog :

Last week my six-year-old asked me if there was ever a negative year. I wasn't sure what he was asking. He was wondering when the earth was made and if that was a negative year. I explained that there were no negative years. As you go back in time, you go from 1 A.D. to 1 B.C. and then keep counting upwards. "So when was the world made?" he asked. I had to wiggle a little but responded that we don't know exactly when the world was made.

Then today he asked, "Were Adam and Eve and the dinosaurs alive at the same time?" I said that we don't really know because the Bible doesn't talk about dinosaurs. Without any hesitation he suggested a solution to this lack of knowledge: "Just look it up on the internet." I explained that scientists who study dinosaur fossils, etc. think that they lived millions of years ago. "So that would be before Adam and Eve," he said. I agreed and again emphasized the problem that the scientists who study dinosaurs can't really study anything about Adam and Eve and the Bible that tells us about Adam and Eve doesn't really address dinosaurs. Then he said, "Wouldn't it be funny if they found Adam and Eve's bones?!?"

Both of those questions (year the earth was made and did dinosaurs live with Adam and Eve) were actually asked of Lisa, but her response is "Go ask you dad."

Looky. i think i just figured out why Dawkins, Dennett et al are so furious at people that are religious: (Dennett is a bright):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett 

http://www.the-brights.net/vision/principles.html 

looks like a response to feeling left out - to me, anyway.

opinions? 

Read this, and then be honest with yourself: How often does one - without paying further attention to the issue - lie in small ways, like this:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071221/ap_on_el_pr/romney_embellishment 

speaking for myself: how true...

Here is an interesting perspective on the consequences of abortion (link):

The following numbers are based on the actual government estimates of the professions represented in America. So then, who have we lost to abortion?

Dudes, guess what?

i have a new book for you:

Does God Exist?: An Answer for Today (Paperback)
by Hans Kung (Author), Edward Quinn (Translator)

Check out this article in the WSJ about people who donate kidneys to strangers: link

JM,

Wondering what you think about clearing this site and starting fresh in '08?

Just a thought.  I kind of like to "shake off" the old and start fresh.  Plus '08 will be busy.

js

The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement.

Ah, my man the Pope!

"The Pope condemns the climate change prophets of doom"

MK,

(Assuming you peek over here occasionally.)

How can DataModeler help a person distinguish between correlation and causation in function evolution?

Thanks,

JS