Risks for Global Change

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Director

WE ARE ALL AT RISK
A recent MarketWatch article starts this way:

“A poll of participants ahead of this year’s World Economic Forum at Davos found 10 areas of highest risk to the world. Such risks are “defined as an occurrence that causes significant negative impact for several countries and industries over a time frame of up to 10 years,” according to a report issued before the conference slated for this month in Switzerland.

1. Fiscal crises in key economies: The biggest concern, according to the report, remains whether wealthy countries can keep it together. “The report lists fiscal crises as the top risk advanced economies remain in danger of fiscal crises. …

Aside: This article relates how global economic instability could (ironically) stem from (complex political scenarios and ) falling oil prices as described elsewhere.

The MarketWatch article outlines these additional factors for global risks:

2. Structurally high unemployment/underemployment: The flip side of income disparity is the persistent unemployment and underemployment of millions of people.

3. Water crises: Huge population growth is placing big demands on freshwater supplies, notably in China and sub-saharan Africa. …

4. Severe income disparity: With employment in developed countries still suppressed in the wake of the financial crisis, and huge unemployed populations in developing economies, income disparity is a huge issue for Davos participants.

“Income disparity is also among the most worrying of issues. It raises concerns about the Great Recession and the squeezing effect it had on the middle classes in developed economies, while globalization has brought about a polarization of incomes in emerging and developing economies. This is true despite the obvious progress in countries such as Brazil and lower levels of poverty in several developing countries in Asia and Africa.“

5. Failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation: Similar to the fear of global governance failure is the fear that concerns over climate change won’t be addressed. “Climate change, ranked fifth on the list, is the key driver of such uncertain and changing weather patterns, causing an increased frequency of extreme weather events such as floods and droughts,” according to the report.

6. Greater incidence of extreme weather events: … Of note, is the finding that huge populations in coming years will be born in developing countries with potential exposure to hurricanes and typhoons, posing greater risks of damage such as was caused in the Philippines last year by a huge storm.

7. Global governance failure: This one amounts to the fear that … in the end international institutions aren’t actually able to get their act together.

“Given that global risks can be addressed effectively only through international collaboration, it is hardly a surprise that global governance failure is also included in the list as the risk of seventh highest concern,” the report finds.

8. Food crises: Nothing gets people riled up like not being able to eat. …

9. Failure of a major financial mechanism/institution: Perhaps not surprisingly … concern over failures financial institutions remains very high.

“Five years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, with its system-wide impacts, the failure of a major financial mechanism or institution also features among the risks that the respondents are most concerned about, as uncertainty about the quality of many banks’ assets remains.”

10. Profound political and social instability: No. 10 on this year’s list is profound political and social instability potentially caused by military actions or aggressive foreign or trade policies on the part of global or regional powers.

———————– From the Window —————————-

The above ten cited concerns are not necessarily directly linked to biblical themes, but some are. For the serious Bible student, the idea of global governance is something that might link all ten issues. One day, soon, according to the Bible the world will turn to a single over arching global governance … a one world government. While climate change, as a whole, is not described in the Bible, numerous other events and the making of the one world government easily connect to the risks we see today. How will humans in a material context respond to changes in a way that leads to a single governance? We suggest material and spiritual forces bring us to such a point. And to understand that viewpoint takes time looking through the Window!

Director, WindowView.org

A Quotation from A Conclusion on Evolution

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Director

The following words from Dr. Wright may not at first resonate with the way moderns think, but from this window is a view to interesting reflections. Written over a century ago, these words are worth a look:

Theories of evolution have chased each other off the field in rapid succession for thousands of years. Evolution is not a new thing in philosophy, and such is the frailty of human nature that it is not likely to disappear suddenly from among men. The craze of the last half century is little more than the recrudesence of a philosophy which has divided the opinion of men from the earliest ages. In both the Egyptian and the East Indian mythology, the world and all things in it were evolved from an egg; and so in the Polynesian myths. But the Polynesians had to have a bird to lay the egg, and the Egyptians and the Brahmans had to have some sort of a deity to create theirs. The Greek philosophers struggled with the problem without coming to any more satisfactory conclusion. Aniximander, like Professor Huxley, traced everything back to an “infinity” which gradually worked itself into a sort of pristine “mud” (something like Huxley’s exploded “bathybius”), out of which everything else evolved; while Thales of Miletus tried to think of water as the mother of everything, and Aneximenes practically deified the air. Diogenes imagined a “mind stuff” (something like Weissmann’s “biophores,” Darwin’s “gemmules possessed with affinity for each other,” and Spencer’s “vitalized molecules”) which acted as if it had intelligence; while Heraclitus thought that fire was the only element pure enough to produce the soul of man. These speculations culminated in the great poem of Lucretius entitled, De Rerum Natura, written shortly before the beginning of the Christian era. His atomic theory was something like that which prevails at the present time among physicists. Amid the unceasing motion of these atoms there somehow appeared, according to him, the orderly forms and the living processes of nature.

Modern evolutionary speculations have not made much real progress over those of the ancients. As already remarked, they are, in their bolder forms atheistic; while in their milder forms they are “deistic” — admitting, indeed, the agency of God at the beginning, but nowhere else. The attempt, however, to give the doctrine standing through Darwin’s theory of the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection has not been successful; for at best, that theory can enlarge but little our comprehension of the adequacy of resident forces to produce and conserve variations of species, and cannot in the least degree banish the idea of design from the process.

From: CHAPTER 6 THE PASSING OF EVOLUTION BY PROFESSOR GEORGE FREDERICK WRIGHT, D. D., L.L. D., Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. In THE FUNDAMENTALS – A TESTIMONY TO THE TRUTH Volume 4 Edited by R.A. Torrey, A.C. Dixon and Others. ca. 1909

Help for Syrian Refugees in Jordan

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Director

The following post presents the words from a friend who is working with Operation Blessing International. We are providing Jennifer’s personal account. For additional information we refer you to Operation Blessing Intl.‘s website.

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I have been working with the Syrian refugees in Jordan for about the past year now. We just recently went to Jordan on Sept 9th. These are some pictures I took. The situation in Jordan is severe and that does not count Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and other countries where they are fleeing. To hear their stories up close and personal is heartbreaking. The people have fled with NOTHING and I repeat NOTHING. We are trying to raise money to help them. My boss was here and he is a filmmaker so he took video. You will be able to see that in a few days on www.ob.org.

From listening to these stories, even if the US did something to deter the situation of the systematic killing of the Syrians, it would be worth it. Sometimes you have to put your comfort/thoughts/resources aside to help those in need and to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Social justice is a major theme in the bible throughout the prophets. I am in a position to change the situations of the refugees and I am going to do my best to make that happen.

: Jennifer’s Coworker Providing Support

Of note, what you might not expect … The Israeli’s and I are working together on this. Yes, the Israelis want to help the Syrians and I am here to tell you that it is happening more than you know and more than you will hear.

At this point we have delivered food, clothing, blankets to the refugees about 7,500 so far. We are working to meet the ongoing needs of Refugees as the come across the border with absolutely nothing. The take their family which could be as many as 12-20 people in one family and cross the border overnight. They come into the towns and villages looking for shelter and food. The UN camp is to capacity at 120,000 people. The UN is trying to build two more camps but in the mean time, the refugees overflow into the towns to stay in abandoned buildings, with families or anywhere they can find. You can see UN tents scattered around northern Jordan, one here, two there, a few clustered together. We were taken to one makeshift camp of 25 families, about 160 people. They were telling us that we were the only people who had come to help them. No one else has come. We supplied them with food and the returned with 100 blankets the next day.

As you stand face to face with these people who are soldiers, teachers, bakers, people of every kind you can’t help but think, “if I were in your shoes what would I want you to do for me?” The only answer I can come up with is to change their situation in any way possible. That means food, water, medication, shelter, work, any type of provision is something. Each one of these areas is being considered as we address those who want to help in this situation. The winter is coming and in northern Jordan it is already cool at night. The terrain is dry and open so the wind cuts across the area and it does get very cold.

The winter is coming and in northern Jordan it is already cool at night. The terrain is dry and open so the wind can come across the area and it does get cold. I met a few women who have newborns that they gave birth to in their tents. There is no food, no milk, no supplies for the children. They have only a little when it comes to clothing. They are stranded in a situation that needs to be changed.

There is no food, no milk, no supplies for the children. I am working with Arabs, Christians and Jews to assist the Syrians. We have cut across the political, social and religious aspects of this situation to get to the heart of the matter – meet the needs of the refugee.

Isaiah 58:6-10 speaks of a true fast and if you see the hungry to feed him, the naked to clothe them, to provide shelter for the poor wanderer with shelter. We cannot sit idly by while these people suffer. It is our duty as human beings to respond and show that we do care and that we can change the situation.

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We at WindowView.org believe that the larger picture on what is happening and will happen in the Middle East requires the compassion, understanding, and love that the Heavenly Father provides to all. If inspired, please visit Operation Blessing Intl.‘s website and consider how you might help. At the very least, be aware that the popular media hardly reports the complete story of events in the Middle East. Here are pictures from the full view.

Director, WindowView.org

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Life and Death

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Director

The are two decisions we are free to make. One choice leads to another.
The first choice is to decide on discovering the answer to : Does God exist? And part of that is founded on asking about the God who says there are no other gods. This is a singular choice.

Today the younger generations feel that they are freer to do as they choose. Opinions of their peers and networking matters. The old guidelines may still engender some respect, but the political and moral boundaries are blurred. And why not? After all we are free to choose. Right?

The response to freedom and choice is affirmative. This leads us to realize that everyone in fact has free will. And if there is a God, free will may be a gift from him. If no God, then the process of unguided events delivers us past chaos to this moment. Then, as chance would have it, the youth of today would be totally free in their choices … driven by culture, the tribe, the tribal beat of rap or even country, and a free spirit that owes nothing to anyone … perhaps not even to self.

The backdrop of history suggests that there is sufficient evidence to ask the question about God’s existence. Evidence including the walk through of that God on the earthly stage in a former time. It’s perhaps too incredible that the author of life could do that, but then no Hitchcock film was ever made without the film-master’s cameo moment. Yes, a walk-through as incredible as that may be, but then in this context our existence is also rather incredible. In fact, science can’t explain all there is to providing an explanation to how life came to be. If God exists, then there is an explanation from him.

But let’s just consider the answer to the first question is yes. The second choice is to consider life or death. God’s testimony in Scripture is an ultimate choice: Will you choose life or death?

Today humans choose their life styles and beliefs. They choose how to treat themselves and other people. The choice in the voter’s booth and opinions expressed in public or private are all driven from self. You might think it unfair that there are prejudices and discrimination in and around where you live. But at the end of the day, the choice between life and death, as referenced here, is the only real choice there is. And only you make that choice.

What hangs on the choice is purely your own destiny. As Scripture essentially puts it, you choose and the blood (consequence) of your decision making is on your hands … so we are encouraged to choose life (eternal) because the answer to the first question is yes. Saying no to life in the second choice has eternal and final consequence.

Today, the youth of this world are seeing transitions take place at a record pace. Global changes, political shifts, marketplace swings, uncertainty, change in morals and norms … the way the media reports it, all is simply a matter of fact. The real disconnect is in forgetting we ultimately have two questions to ask and two answers to give.

People get wrapped up in saying others are anti this or that, or are too political, too religious, too phobic or judgmental. Yet, ironically, take away all other sources of intellectual entanglement and you, and I, all of us, are left with two choices. This brings back all the external negatives to beg us to engage in the only positive and constructive process there is … and that is we each think, discern, and seek truth. Even if we were merely here by chance, that would be truth. But scientific evidence cannot support the merely by chance explanation. So we arrive back at the first question.

How you answer the second question will determine everything else about how you live your life. The rappers and country singers may espouse all kinds of experiences and ideologies, but if you live life by choosing life, then his walk-through means a lot to the point your life now becomes different … it becomes a walk from here into eternity.

Being alive means you can choose. Physical death ends the option to choose. Now is the time to think and choose.

Director, WindowView.org

Deuteronomy 39:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Timeline is up to date July 2013

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Director

Just a quick note to say the WindowView Timeline is now up to date through July 2013.

Start Here to Check Recent Events

Travel the entire timeline to get a sense how humanity has been building activity levels with an ever higher rate of events. At what point does our pace of utilizing our planet go beyond what resources are on Earth?

Here is Your Invitation!

Come by and take a look through the window!

Director, WindowView.org

What’s New in the View!

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Director

The recent upgrade at WindowView is foremost an update in format. However, new content, of great significance will begin to be incorporated in the weeks and months to come. There is already a hint of this in the newly added Overview and Thesis pages in the Science Area.

One key hint here is that the origin of biological information, genetic and epigenetic, that exists in cells and organisms, presents a unique challenge to the standard theory on evolution. This viewpoint presents a potential game changer in how we view life. The thesis page summarizes some of the key points in this regard.

Click on the image below to visit the new page and navigate around the window. In the weeks to come we’ll highlight specific articles and draw attention to the overall focus of WindowView.

The New Science Thesis Page

WindowView Nears Relaunch of Web Site

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Director

PHASE One Nearly Complete

WindowView is undergoing a two-step process. Â The first is a completeÂ overhaul of the web site’s pages. This means re-coded pages with HTML5 and CSS … which is a technical way of saying we are making the site work better! But more than that, it’ll look better, have better organization of content, explain itself better, and the navigation menus will be better. Â It’s like “WindowView 2 point Oh” as they say!

PHASE Two Will Follow

Once the format and related improvements are in place, there are a number of very important content improvements that have to be made. Phase two will come during the fall of 2013 and into the 2014 new year. The content improvements will strengthen the Key Scenarios and better support the intended concept of the window.

The home page is going to speak of an analogy … where an old coin in our pocket always keeps coming out and showing ‘heads.’ The WindowView is like the surprise we get on the occasion we see the other side of the coin for the first time ever! A familiar coin, always within reach, shows us truth from the other side of what we already know. This is exactly what the WindwoView perspectives do … show us what’s just on the other side of what is so familiar to us … it brings a surprise.

And once the key scenarios are revealed, they Â illustrate what is on the other side … the big picture is confirmed and the theme of “Science and scripture in Harmony” rings true.

Here is a link to view the NEW Home Page intro video …

wvintroipod

Directtor, WindowView.org

Google Seeks A Benefit as Gen Y Goes Cashless

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Director

Here is an unsettling thought … the Internet age is setting us up for something many folks just don’t think about … yet … but like lemmings running into the sea we are all part of a building momentum. Trouble is, if we mention a biblical theme here, many of you will say “Nonsense!”

Is it? Really? Keep reading … and think about it!

The article we refer to below comes from MarketWatch.com (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/google-wallet-gen-y-credit-card-2013-05-17).

Here is our point.Â If you are temped to use a handheld device to be cashless as you walk around in your day-to-day routine, we believe that at some point the possible theft of handhelds will make something else more compelling. How about a tattoo with a code? So you swipe your hand across a scanner that can read a colorless tattoo and detect the code to conduct a cashless transaction. Cool? Yeah! But there is a catch.

The Bible refers to a time when no person will be able to buy or sell without the ‘mark of the beast.’ Oh, prophecy stuff you say. Not to worry, couldn’t happen here … right?

——————– Article ——————————–
Google Wallet: Gen Y credit card?
Emailing money may appeal to generation thatâ€™s already abandoned cash

By Quentin Fottrell

Facing stiff competition and tepid demand, Google Wallet has not made a big splash in the world of mobile payments. But experts say young Americans may help revive its fortunes.

In an effort to boost the popularity of its mobile payment system, Google this week announced that it
is integrating Google Wallet with Gmail. Customers whoâ€™ve linked Google Wallet to their bank account or maintain a balance with Google Wallet can simply click the dollar icon on their Gmail to make a payment. Itâ€™s not the first time Google Wallet introduced new features. ….

… there are signs that there is untapped demand for mobile payments. Just one-fifth of young Americans ages 18 to 30 always carry cash, according to a new survey by CouponCodes4U … . Nearly half said cash would not be used in the future. “It’s a generational trend,” … And some 72% of Gmail users are under the age of 34, according to a survey by Hunch.com, …. “The younger generations are adopting this technology in droves.” PayPal and Google Wallet, for example, connect to a bank account or a debit or credit card through a person’s smartphone.

“It’s early days for mobile payments,” says technology analyst Jeff Kagan. â€œI have children in their early 20s who rarely carry as much as $5 in their wallet.” That’s just enough for tips. “Today, we leave the house with a wallet, car keys and smartphone,” he says. “There will come a time when it will only be our smartphone. … Thousands of merchants are still not set up for mobile payments, making it more difficult for smartphone evangelists to cut up their plastic. What’s more, some consumers are still concerned about security issues of making payments via mobile phone. One U.K. survey found that 44% of people were reluctant to adopt mobile wallets due to fears of phone hacking; only 17% of those surveyed say they would use mobile wallets. (Google did not return requests for comment.)
——————- WindowView Perspective ——————————

We rest our case. It’s a generational thing. In an increasingly material and secular global society, the younger generation will be swept by the momentum the Bible already anticipates. To address the latter security issues … we are waiting for the charismatic leader who seduces the masses to be inscribed with some type of mark. And that will seal together the notion put forth in the article above and in what the Bible declared thousands of years ago.

Far fetched you say?

Have you been looking out your window to see the implications for what is going on out there?

Well, that’s why this window is here!

Our comments here relate to global changes … many of which creep up on us while we are distracted by our day-to-day life. Change is surrounding our lives in many ways … all the more reason now is time to look at the implications.

Director, WindowView.org

Life’s Data as well as Bible Data is Preserved

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Director

The WindowView theme of “Science and Scripture in Harmony” comes with some key reminders. We keep pointing to information as evidence. What stands over time tends to be data or information that is foundational and truthful. Depending on how you approach information, one might have to consider all is a product of the initial cause for existence. So, if that cause is from God, what of the reliability of longstanding evidence from science and Scripture?

Here is an example. For all the commotion about evolution, with the implication of ongoing macro-evolution over time (change over time), we have examples of stasis (relative unchanging sameness over time). That is, there are species that have existed millions of years without changing over time. The data in this case are the DNA codes within such organisms. The relatively unchanged form, function, and existence tell us evolution is not necessarily a driver for change. Use of the word evolution in this context imparts a process in action at all timesâ€”this makes evolution a driving force. Does that exist?. Some suggest that only micro-evolution is adequately demonstrated. Our point here is simple, science information exists to tell us there is a tendency to stay the same without change unless driven to do so. And when there is change … a return back to an original form can and does occur to demonstrate a tendency toward sameness and not branching evermore to something else. This is not to say apparent branching is not apparent, but then the evidence of transitional steps eludes us. Claims of such evidence is often met with complications. To consider the reasons why brings continued debate.

To all the above we think there is a note of key importance. The body of information that supports life is sufficient without change. The assumption of continual change and randomness is an assumption based on short, not long, time frames. The net message is one of a built in stability of lifeforms to bring life forward over time. The evidence is the “living fossils” that have little to no change.

Further, the vital point to a look at how the DNA codes have supported existence to all life is itself a bit of evidence for the complexity and awesome nature to there being an existence … at all! The testimony from life to those of us alive today is that life is rather incredible and perhaps a key testimony to why we exist … at all! Stasis, over time, provides an opportunity for multiple generations to come to the same testimony before moving on.

So let us consider another form of information and relative stasis over time. Consider a validation of another key source of data and the testimony that evidence provides … us all! From a monthly electronic letter I have lifted a few words … these are written by someone whose profession involves translation of ancient manuscripts:

“As we sometimes do, we talked about the Dead Sea Scrolls, commenting on how these ancient manuscripts have helped our understanding of the Bible. For one thing, the scrolls confirm the antiquity and authenticity of the traditional Hebrew text upon which we base translations; for another, the scrolls help us to determine the best text to follow in places where other important biblical manuscripts differ slightly from each other. In short, the scrolls help us keep translations accurate.”

“The bigger story is that throughout all generations, the Lord has preserved his word. He continues to do so today, even as the Bible is being translated into more languages than ever before.”

Life has sustained DNA translations to provide a basis for our lives to be a witness to the awesome nature of our existence. And as the Bible reminds us, there will be a fullness in time where everyone alive will have the opportunity to see the Bible’s testimony delivered, in respective language, to us all. When that state of fullness is reached, we come to a cosmic turning point with no return to earlier time. At that point some move into a continual relationship with the author of life and others do not … this is the final portal from here to the eternal. Which way will you be going?

Director, WindowView.org

Warming Rates Significant Since First Earth Day

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Director

In an article on warming rates in the US it becomes clear that there is CLIMATE change and all that is a micro-picture to what is happening on a GLOBAL scale.

WindowView Press is really geared to the data and evidence that describe change and how that plays into a “Science and Scripture in Harmony.” Â As unlikely as that harmony may be at first look … the material world is experiencing change that is forcing us to take a spiritual look at who we are … how we treat one another … and the chance or purpose to being alive. Â We think the window begs us to examine purpose … and if so … then to look at how we live life. Â In so doing, we might think of stewardship and environment … and as such we see climate change as a product of how we live on our planet.

From the article cited above …

“In commemoration of Earth Day, 2013, Climate Central has created an interactive graphic that shows a state-by-state analysis of temperature trends since the first Earth Day took place in 1970. That occasion marked a significant change in Americaâ€™s environmental consciousness, and led to the creation of, among other things, the Environmental Protection Agency and passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.”

Take a look at the graphic and if you click on a state … you’ll see evidence for temperature rise in many highly populated areas of the US.

Again, the evidence is telling us something … and if the material world is changing all around us … might this say something about humanity’s future. Â And remember, temperature is only a single change in a HUGE matrix of changes across the globe … which is something we address in the Change Area at WindowView.

Director, WindowView.org