Sunspots 946

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*

Computing: VentureBeat discusses the problem of getting artificial intelligence to forget information.

Politics: Vox discusses the Supreme Court's past and present on church and state matters.

Environment: A USA Today story tells us that feeding birds is not always good for the birds.

Food: Low-paid migrant workers do much of the dangerous preparation of food for sale, for example fixing crabs for eating, according to a Conversation article.

Another Conversation article explains how carbonated drinks are made, and their effect.

Health: NPR reports that doctors lose a percentage of what they get paid. It's put into the coffers of financial middlemen.

Science: The Guardian reports on a study which indicates that there are a lot of organisms that live in the soil, but are not known well, if at all.

TheScientist (and other outlets) report on nematodes that have lived in suspended animation for over 40,000 years.

Gizmodo reports on the discovery of a large brown dwarf star.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

 

Sunspots 809

 Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: Speculative Faith considers the question of whether a story that doesn't mention God, or the Bible, can glorify Him. Answer: yes.

I know nothing about the music, or the performers, but Gizmodo reports on a production, using 200 drones, that made a giant face in the sky, that lip-synced with some music. Amazing.

Christianity: (And politics, I guess) Christianity Today on the recent Supreme Court ruling on whether state or local governments can regulate attendance at churches. More than one aspect of this is discussed.

Education: Grammarphobia discusses uses of and, as in "try and stop me," rather than "to," as in "try to stop me."

Environment: The Trump administration has rejected a project in Alaska that would have been environmentally dangerous. Good for them.

Politics: (and History) NPR on the length of time between the Presidential election and the inauguration.

Politics (and health) The Atlantic has documented all of President Trump's wrong statements about COVID. There were a lot of them.

Science: In case you didn't know it, the earth occasionally has an asteroid orbiting it, a "minimoon."

Science Alert reports on the discovery of a large swarm of eels in the deep Pacific ocean.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

What are evangelicals afraid of losing?

At a recent meeting in the White House, to which a hundred or so supposed evangelical leaders were invited and attended, President Donald Trump said that evangelicals are "one election away from losing everything." Many of those in attendance seemed to agree with him. An article in Christianity Today, with the same title as this post, discusses that, and says that dependence on the results of one election is a serious mistake for Christians, and warns against too cozy a relationship with Mr. Trump (or any other political figure).

Read the article! For an analysis of what the right and the left are doing wrong politically, see here.

Don't try to legislate morality

Relevant has a fine essay, entitled "The Biblical Case Against Legislating Morality."

I suggest that you read it. I'll summarize. The author, Jasmin Patterson, does not believe that trying to get people to behave through legislation is effective. She has four reasons:

She says that legislating morality doesn't actually change people.

Jesus didn't use that approach.
In the discussion of that point, Patterson says she is not for letting people get away with, say, murder. She writes: "I recognize there is an inherent moral quality in declaring some things legal and illegal based on their impact on society, even if all people may not agree on where that moral standard comes from. But we need to evaluate whether laws are God’s primary method of producing morality and change in people. They are not."

She thinks that legislating morality actually pushes people away from Christ.

When Christians want to make their morality into the morality of the state, they are trying to do so for their own comfort.

Read Patterson. Thanks for looking at this post.

What scriptures to post in courtrooms, on lawns, etc.

"For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). But, often with tears in their eyes, [they] demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course, that's Moses, not Jesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.
"Blessed are the merciful" in a courtroom? "Blessed are the peacemakers" in the Pentagon? Give me a break!”
― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country (source)

Vonnegut, probably not a believer himself, had a point.

Some people have deeply committed themselves toward placing the Ten Commandments in courtrooms, or in or next to other public buildings. See Roy Moore for a widely publicized example.

Why do people do this? I can only speculate. Some, no doubt, believe that the Ten Commandments are a foundation for our laws. Some want to honor God. Some are probably desiring to see the Commandments posted for their own political advantage. Some want the U. S. to be an explicitly Christian nation. There are probably other reasons. On the other hand, government often sees posting of the Ten Commandments as putting one religion ahead of another, and has banned the practice.

The Ten Commandments, with the exception of the Command to honor one's parents, are warnings against sins of commission -- don't commit adultery, don't give false testimony in court, don't worship idols, don't want other people's possessions, etc. Sins of commission are, generally, easy to spot. Either I have stolen from someone, or I haven't. So, laws against things are often easier to enforce than laws for things. But there are also sins of omission. Things that we should do, but don't. Let's look at some other possibilities for posting publicly, as Vonnegut suggested.

How about the Beatitudes?
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the gentle,
for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
(Text notes in the World English Bible indicate that the first three of these are based on the Old Testament: 5:3 on Isaiah 57:15 and 66:2, 5:4 on Isaiah 61:2 and 66:10,13, and 5:4 on Psalm 37:11. So Vonnegut isn't completely correct about the source of the Beatitudes. But, mostly, he is. It was Jesus.)

The Beatitudes are not mostly about not doing things, but about doing things, or about our attitude: being merciful, making peace, hungering after righteousness, etc. We may respect, honor, and try to follow the standard of the Beatitudes, but we don't make laws commanding people to be pure in heart, or to be gentle, and, if we did, they would be most difficult to enforce. But maybe it would be a good idea to post these in courtrooms, except that doing so would tend to violate them -- it might not be making peace, or being gentle.

There are some other candidates for such posting, if it were allowed.
One such is the Golden Rule, which, like the Beatitudes, comes from the Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 7:12 Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets.

Here's another, from the Old Testament:
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good.
What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly,
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
That doesn't come from Moses, but would presumably, not be offensive to Jews or Muslims, or Christians. But it's similar to the Beatitudes, in that it's about out attitudes, not about things we shouldn't do.

And then there's St. Paul, in Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. The Fruit of the Spirit is, again, about our attitudes. And, instead of outlawing various behaviors, it, as it were, inlaws them. The Fruit of the Spirit is not from the Law of Moses, but it is compatible with it. Read on:

In Matthew 22, Jesus stated the two most important commandments:
37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ (Deuteronomy 6:5) 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39  A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Leviticus 19:18) 40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
These two are also not so much about what we shouldn't do, but about what we should. And they are from the Mosaic Law, as quoted by Jesus. People who want to put signs in their front yard, or on their wall, or even in a courtroom, should consider these alternatives!

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 495

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:
Christianity: Threads from Henry's Web, a blog, has some careful thinking on separation of church and state. (Notice that I'm not putting this in Politics, but in Christianity.)
A blog post about Contemporary Christian music, from a worship leader who has moved away from doing 100% of that in worship.
Computing: Relevant reports that there is a real college course, entitled "wasting time on the Internet."
Gizmo's Freeware reports on a free web site that will convert most any file format into something else.
Humor: Tom Magliozzi, co-host, with his brother, Ray, of Car Talk, a long-running National Public Radio show, has passed away. We miss him.
Why it's smart to wear the same outfit every day. (This seems to apply to men, not women, but what do I know?)
Literature: Speculative Faith on The Bible and magic. I hadn't considered that Elsa, from Frozen, is a witch, but I guess she is. The article doesn't condemn Frozen. It does point out specific uses of magic that Christians should avoid.
Science: Wired reports on the winners of a contest on the best photos of microscopic objects.
Sports: Caroline Wozniacki, tennis star (she came in second in this year's US Open) ran in the New York marathon, and did well, in spite of never having run the entire distance at one practice session before. How good would she be if she really practiced?


 Image source (public domain)

Christians react to an order to remove a Christian banner from a public high school

There have been legal demands that a Christian student remove a Christian banner from a public high school in Rhode Island. Henry Neufeld describes the case. I hadn't heard of it before.

He also has a few things to say about Christian claims of being persecuted in North America -- it's seldom really persecution.

Thanks for reading. Read Neufeld.

A related matter took place in North Carolina recently. See here for the story of "equal treatment."

Sunspots 347

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Science: Wired reports on ideas to keep Venice from sinking too much (which it has been doing).

Politics: An article in The Smithsonian Magazine on Roger Williams, a devout Christian, and founder of Rhode Island, who was instrumental in promoting the idea of separation of church and state. What do you get when you mix religion and politics? Politics.

Weekend Fisher has posted a Christian debaters code of ethics. Most or all of the Republican candidates for President, be they Christian or not, haven't measured up.

Image source (public domain)

Religious Tolerance? Why I believe that Christ is the only Savior

Is Christ the only way to salvation? How tolerant of other beliefs should Christians be?

Tolerance, especially tolerance of the religious beliefs of others, is important enough that the Wikipedia has an article dedicated to it.

C. S. Lewis is often considered to be one of the most important Christian writers of the twentieth Century. Here's what David C. Downing had to say about this matter (in Into the Wardrobe: C. S. Lewis and the Narnia Chronicles, an important book about Lewis. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, an imprint of John Wiley & Sons, 2005):
. . . Lewis rejected both universalism and predestination as negations of free will. His position is better described as "inclusivism," the idea that Christ's reconciling work may sometimes apply even to those who are not aware of it. Lewis did not feel that he was being unorthodox in this matter. He refers several times in his letters to Christ's portrayal of judgement in which he welcomes those who fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and visited the sick, saying that all such service done for the least of his brethren is accounted as service done to him. (84-5)

Note that Downing does not say that Lewis believed that salvation could be obtained without Christ. He did believe (As shown in The Last Battle, the final book in the Narnia series) in what Downing calls "inclusivism," which Downing explains in the previous quotation.

What does the Bible say? (I am taking, as a given, that, although we may not understand it perfectly, what the Bible says must be taken seriously, as the Word of God. I recognize that that, in itself, is religiously intolerant. So be it. One has to start somewhere. It seems to be as valid, and logical, as starting with what you want, or what you think God should have said.)

I believe that there is a sin problem in the world, and, particularly, in the humans who live in the world, including me. The Bible teaches that. So does today's news. Sin brings physical, and, more important, eternal spiritual death. Salvation means having sin forgiven, and being allowed to enter heaven. (I am aware of some of the controversies surrounding what sin is, and whether we can ever be free of it, but never mind.) The sin problem needs a solution. That solution, as presented in the New Testament, is Jesus Christ.

In Matthew 1:21, Jesus is called the savior. He is so called several times in the Bible.

Luke 2:22-32 describes Simeon's encounter with the infant Christ. In this passage, Simeon describes Christ as the Savior. Granted, Simeon is not reported as having said that Christ was the only Savior, but it seems pretty clear that he wasn't looking for any other means of salvation.

In John 8:12-30, John tells us that Jesus told the Pharisees that, unless they believed in His divinity, they would be condemned in their sins.

In John 10:1-18, Jesus explicitly describes Himself as the only way to salvation. He also predicts His death and resurrection, which brings up the question of why, if there is some other means of salvation, would Christ have been sent to die for us?"

In John 14:6b, Jesus says: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. . ." (ESV)

In Acts 4:1-12, Luke tells us that Peter spoke of Christ as the only way to salvation.

In Acts 10:34-43, Luke tells us that Peter told Cornelius that Christ makes forgiveness of sins possible.

In 1 Corinthians 3:11, Paul says that Christ is the only foundation.

In 1 Timothy 2, Paul tells us that God wants to solve the sin problem, and that we should pray that everyone will be saved. He says that doing pleases God:
3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. (ESV)

The meaning of some of the book of Revelation is not always clear, but it seems to clearly present Christ, the Son of God, as triumphant over all others, at the end of the world as we know it. For example, see Chapter 7, which describes a great multitude, from every ethnic group, worshiping the Lamb, Christ, and saying that salvation belongs to Him.

A reader might think "well, he started out with an intolerant belief, so it's no wonder that he finds what he expected to in the Bible." Fair enough. But, at the least, I hope any such reader will understand why many of those of us who call themselves Christians, and who believe that the Bible is the word of God, also believe that there is only one way to eternal salvation, namely belief on Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord.

I recognize that many people are uncomfortable with the last belief. However, someone once said that, if there were a hundred ways to salvation, humans would want, and expect there to be, one hundred and one.

In previous posts, I considered the matter of what Christians believe, and said a little bit about how they should behave.

In a subsequent post, I have mused about how I think that Christians should act, given a belief that Christ is the only savior.

Thanks for reading.