Category Archives: Science and Scripture Harmony

The NEW FOOD World … Changes in the Background

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At WindowView we are not stating opposition when we relay information such as appears below. Fact is, biotech crops are on the rise.  Simple point, but food for thought … and we are here to provoke a look.  So, no one here is going to say biotech is bad … although we know there are individuals and groups who are desperately fearful of what Genetically Modified crops may bring to the future of our planet. We respect the cautionary note provided by those who have a focus with diverse perspectives. They too are looking and thinking.

All the above said, what we want you to recognize is that agriculture and food production is in fact experiencing change … on a massive scale. The world you live in is filled with driving forces we turn a blind eye to each day. Do you really want to fill each day with fears over global economic turmoil that threatens the world … even if there may be a global collapse in monetary markets. Ask folks in Cyprus about their bank accounts! Or do you really embrace the true magnitude of the number of abortions that occur each day, each year, or each decade? Probably not, unless you watch a bunch of these first hand, but a shift in how food is supplied to the entire world is no less significant … what will you put on the dinner table tonight … and how this poses a challenge to human life should farmers and biotech firms  totally recharacterize food production … with as yet unrealized benefits or consequences … frankly, it’s uncharted territory.

We recently ran across a report of the recent TOP TEN facts about biotech crops … and we think you might look at the top five and think about the NEW world food supply … You should at least realize that changes ARE happening … in spite of the daily routine you have … this too is the reality of the world you live in!

FACT # 1. 2012 was the 17th year of successful commercialization of biotech crops. Biotech crops were first commercialized in 1996. Hectarage of biotech crops increased every single year between 1996 to 2012 with 12 years of double digit growth rates, reflecting the confidence and trust of millions of risk-averse farmers around the world, in both developing and industrial countries.

FACT # 2. Biotech crop hectares increased by an unprecedented 100–fold from 1.7 million hectares in 1996, to over 170 million hectares in 2012. This makes biotech crops the fastest adopted crop technology in recent times – the reason – they deliver benefits. In 2012, hectarage of biotech crops grew at an annual growth rate of 6%, up 10.3 million from 160 million hectares in 2011. Millions of farmers in ~30 countries worldwide, have made more than 100 million independent decisions to plant an accumulated hectarage of ~1.5 billion hectares, equivalent to 50% more than the total land mass of the US or China; this reflects the fact that biotech crops deliver sustainable and substantial, socioeconomic and environmental benefits.

FACT # 3. For the first time in 2012, developing countries planted more hectares than industrial countries. Notably, developing countries grew more, 52%, of global biotech crops in 2012 than industrial countries at 48%. In 2012, growth rate for biotech crops was at least three times as fast, and five times as large in developing countries, at 11% or 8.7 million hectares, versus 3% or 1.6 million hectares in industrial countries.

FACT # 4. Number of countries growing biotech crops. Of the 28 countries which planted biotech crops in 2012, 20 were developing and 8 were industrial countries; two new countries, Sudan (Bt cotton) and Cuba (Bt maize) planted biotech crops for the first time in 2012. Germany and Sweden
could not plant the biotech potato “Amflora” because it ceased to be marketed. Stacked traits are an important feature – 13 countries planted biotech crops with two or more traits in 2012, and notably, 10 of the 13 were developing countries – 43.7 million hectares, or more than a quarter, of the 170 million hectares were stacked in 2012.

FACT # 5. Number of farmers growing biotech crops. In 2012, a record 17.3 million farmers, up 0.6 million from 2011, grew biotech crops – remarkably over 90%, or over 15 million, were small resource-poor farmers in developing countries. Farmers are the masters of risk-aversion and in 2012, a record 7.2 million small farmers in China and another 7.2 million in India, elected to plant almost 15 million hectares of Bt cotton, because of the significant benefits it offers. In 2012 over one-third of a million small farmers in the Philippines benefited from biotech maize.

There are five more to the top ten … maybe we’ll post those soon. But think about the first five for now.

If life is merely a material experience, then any concerns over food supply are magnified as long as you have material life. If life is material and spiritual, then the biblical dimension comes into play. And the biblical information tells us food at some point comes in very short supply … and maybe to no fault of biotech.

The real question is … with all the change we see in our world … what kind of life is it?

Director, WindowView.org

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A Window Perspective on Species and Asteroids

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One goal we have … as we sit at the window … is to think about concepts that span science and Scripture. To pull together what often appears as two distinctly different spheres of thought may seem abstract at first. Or actually lacking relevance if you don’t feel comfortable with one of the two!

Still, think about the news headlines from science that appear below. The first opens the door to what only Hollywood could have imagined … until now. To bring back lost species also, almost, harkens to stewardship and the biblical mandate to be stewards over all life on the earth. Might the resurrection of past species be biological redemption? Read the news clip and we’ll give this more attention at the end of this blog post.

A second thought comes to mind as the topic of near misses by asteroids comes to our attention. Might our ability to detect these passing asteroids bring to mind something of scriptural importance. This idea is consistent with the notion that all of science information really subtends and dovetails with scriptural information. Why? The answer is simply: All information exists to our attention. If there is a spiritual realm and God, then all the information serves to inform us of what is an ultimately coherent experience … even when at first we don’t see connections. But that is why it’s worth sitting at this window to look, think and understand.

Read the clip on asteroids and we’ll give some added perspective … something with a twist … at the end of this post.

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HEADLINE: Should we restock extinct species?

Researchers are looking at ways to use ancient DNA to resurrect long-extinct species. Species such as the Tasmanian tiger and the passenger pigeon may be good candidates for “de-extinction.” In particular, scientists are exploring three possibilities: cloning, “reverse engineering” using the extinct species’ closest living relative, and “breeding back” using strategic mating to bring back characteristics of the extinct animal. National Geographic News (3/10)

HEADLINE: Round of passing asteroids reminds scientists that we’re not alone

A 460-foot-long asteroid, discovered a week ago, passed the Earth this weekend at a distance of about 600,000 miles, scientists say. Asteroid 2013 ET was about eight times larger than the one that exploded over Russia in February and was among a few space rocks to pass by this weekend. Astronomers warn that many others will likely follow suit. “We’re not sitting here on our pale, blue dot on our own in nice safety. … This should be a wakeup call to governments,” said Paul Cox, a telescope engineer. Reuters (3/9)     
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Instead of stewardship, the first thought might be that resurrected species may only help to prove creation as opposed to (macro-) evolution. Recent discoveries in epigenetics and the role of junk DNA may come to assist our understanding that “switches” (turning genes on and off) outside of structural genes make a species what it is. If ancient DNA fails to bring back the exact species gone extinct, we may learn further that appearance of species is not so mechanical as evolutionary theory often suggests. The way switches are set in motion may pose an extra-material dimension to the otherwise material biological perspective. Even worse, the habitat, the niche or place in the ecosystem that previously allowed an extinct species a place to live is gone … will remind us how much global changes and human impacts have altered the earth for all life—present and past!

Regarding asteroids, those of us who have studied Scripture know of biblical passages that refer to what seem references to material bodies hurled to the surface of the earth. Such events are part of prophecy and a defined sequence of events. While the topic of an asteroid disaster of biblical proportions seems good stuff for a Hollywood script, the window view thought is one of looking to the future. If divine influence directs an asteroid or meteor to strike the earth with impeccable timing … it will be biblical and not just chance timing. The idea of such a strike is simply greater due to recent heightened awareness from the scientific community. Until that biblical timing … so many space rocks have simply missed us!

Might our thoughts at the window help to unify a view that is inclusive of science and Scripture … possibly so. The point of this post however is as simple as saying that there is no need to be sensational … the reality of life just falls within both realms—sufficient to cover a span from science to Scripture. And if you hadn’t pulled ideas and facts together in such a way … the window is a place to think, consider, and even decide what you see has an eternal aspect beyond this material moment.

Broaden your horizon, throw back the shutters, take in the full view and look to the future … today and over the time horizon ahead.

Director, WindowView.org

“Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.” (Revelation 8:10 NKJV)

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Space Truth, Artifact, or Human Hope

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Here is a recent science list serve post about recent photos from Mars along with the link to the related full article.
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Mars rover spots formations resembling flower, snake
The Mars Curiosity rover has sent back images of what appear to be a flower-like shape embedded in a rock and a snake-shaped rock stretching across the Red Planet, causing a stir among NASA officials and space enthusiasts alike. Guy Webster, a spokesman for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said the flower-like object “appears to be part of the rock, not debris from the spacecraft.” Space.com (1/5)
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http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eemXCjrxogCfpMtvCidmrhCicNLJJS?format=standard
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A WindowView Perspective:

Let’s think beyond the post and think about the bigger picture on scientific exploration and what some humans, scientists included, are thinking.

Early on photos from Mars gave an impression of pyramidal shapes and even a face like mount, small mountain, or rock formation. Was the face an image from an ancient Mars based civilization. Some would like to think so. The best approach is to look for the basics and evidence for all conditions even those that might support life. As NASA missions have become more sophisticated, the examination of the planet becomes more fundamental and less sensational in it’s orientation. Evidence for water on the planet would be the more reasonable start to understanding the potential for life on Mars. But water alone does not make life.

There are intriguing questions we can ask:

1) If we find that conditions on Mars were previously favorable to the survival of life forms, does that necessarily imply life was there?
2) If we found, in future missions, evidence of microbial life, what conclusions are we to make of the evidence? ( Keep in mind microbial life from earth ejecta could have reach Mars and thus provide an explanation.)
3) Regardless of missions to date, when will NASA be able to create surface cores and retrieve the cores for closer examination?
4) At what point do we stop ourselves in interpretation based only on what the data do provide?

The first question can also be applied to planet Earth. After all, many conclusions are drawn from the presence of life, but the ability to describe how even the most primitive life forms might have an origin by material means is elusive at best. The arguments over evolution—as an explanation for the origin of life—are often bypassed with the foregone conclusion that it just happened. That’s assumption. Selection and change in existing organisms is an observable phenomenon, also associated with the term evolution, and that is not assumption.

If evidence from conditions on Mars suggests life, then that is only a first step in defining what the data really say—including about origins to life. After all, we are still facing that dilemma here on Earth in the midst of teaming life forms. And the more we study extinct or extant forms on Earth, from microbe to vertebrate, the more complexity we find … and assumptions are it just happens. Science journals are filled with complex examples for life and life systems, but we educate ourselves from a material perspective, thus we say it had to have happened from material means alone … and this includes by chance, by trial and error, and transitions for which there is limited or no evidence.

Looking deeper into Mars surface will be necessary and more telling than the recent spectacular surface missions. Hey, it’s all exciting stuff. What a marvel to even see the Red Plant close up.

But the real question goes back to a material perspective. Just watch scientists default to material explanations, even when these fall short. Finding evidence for past or present life any where else in the solar system, or beyond, stands to be the materialist’s opportunity to invalidate the Bible by science. But not finding evidence for life any where else doesn’t validate the Bible or pose a negative reflection on science. The Bible is another unique data set of another type. Yet, trying to disprove God is not a new invention. Holding fast to a material framework as if science has all the answers is also not a new invention.

The real complete picture of what conditions are on Mars will take more than the photos we have thus far. Upon reflection, the science post refers to a flower and snake shapes, but neither is this flower nor snake. The references however go to the underlying possibility or desire that science explains all, when in fact both scientific and theological perspectives together yield a complete and larger picture of our existence. This is the overall WindowView approach … not closing off, but opening the full view. This allows the evidence from science and scripture to give a unified and harmonious picture wherein life is with purpose and meaning and not by chance and meaningless.

Give it some thought … after all it’s you who looks through the window!

Director, WindowView.org

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View on Near Nuclear Explosion – Russia and Tehran

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Might a harmony of themes from science to Scripture leave us unsurprised by stories like what follows. A materialist view would say there are risks to nuclear reactors. We agree. But when we think of scriptural links to words and names like “Gog and Magog” the relation between Russia and Iran is also not a surprise for more serious reasons.

Nuclear science in the hands of Tehran is long past being accepted for peaceful purposes. The apparent fact that the reactor was not lost due to internal mistake is actually unfortunate. The reactor will continue on its mission. From the north something is coming into the scriptural story … and that is very relevant to the events we see unfolding today. Dark clouds form over the Middle East. A science perspective plays into the scenario of Gog and Magog … how so … do a search on the Internet and see why … it was written by Ezekiel eons ago for this day and these times …

Alarm in Tehran and Moscow over Bushehr nuclear reactor’s near-explosion in mid-October

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 1, 2012, 1:13 PM (GMT+02:00)

Iran’s nuclear reactor at Bushehr was shut down in mid-October for fear of an explosion. Saturday Dec. 1, an authoritative Russian nuclear industry source revealed the cause of its malfunction: “Indicators showed that some small external parts were… in the [Bushehr] reactor vessel….” They were identified as “bolts beneath the fuel cells.”

Debkafile’s Moscow sources report this information came from a source in the office of Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the Russian nuclear energy authority Rosatom, which supervised the construction of Iran’s first atomic reactor at Bushehr.

According to our intelligence sources, Russian scientists and engineers were rushed from Moscow to Bushehr when Russian leaders including Vladimir Putin were warned that the danger of an explosion at Bushehr was high. Neither Moscow nor Tehran reported what was happening. Now they are racing against the clock to get the reactor back on stream.

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Another perspective contributing to the WindowView
WindowView.org

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Intelligence Denied or Intelligent Design

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There are many cases where a blog receives comments that are spam. And in other cases short notes that are so brief as to leave us wonder: “What really is that person thinking? Have they really thought it through?”

Skeptics abound. A web site that hints at a “Science and Scripture Harmony” may seem laughable to those that only relate to a material existence. Yes, we live in material bodies in a material universe. But the comment offered by “Md man” (see below) is thin.

To think requires a physical presence and a brain. The brain is presumed to contain the entire mind, but that is neither proven as yet nor entirely a material entity. Further, it is not circular as suggested to say I think therefore design … where one avoids the entire cascade of evidence for design, complexity of structures, like the brain, as well as the complex instruction set in the DNA that assists in making the complex three dimensional structure of the brain. Remember, DNA after all is information. Complex information.

And no less, the comment stated below ignores scientists who say the structure of the brain and it’s operations are confounding to any explanation of chance origins. Even Darwin battled with issues of complexity in thinking about origins. His expressed concerns for what might be the weakness to his theory go to the very root of complexity and specificity.

Dr. Francis Collins, a few years ago, stated aloud to our hearing that the theory of Intelligent Design would be a passing movement. But a couple years later, his work and others, continued to demonstrate that even junk DNA shows complexity in function. DNA switches exist in the junk areas. Thinking that evolution devised a higher order function to turning genes and cellular processes on and off … is design in motion. Dr. Collins, a Christian, is mired in a world of secular thinkers … But his evidence from the lab only complements what physics says about a beginning. All the information at our finger tips speaks to a greater harmony. Science data and Scripture information may overlap in certain ways … But the WindowView asks us all to look at the entire set of information from these two spheres … they are not mutually exclusive if you see that all of this describes the entire explanation as to why we exist in the first place. Md man has yet to see this point and is left to a skeptical frame of mind until he throws back the shutters to see the full view.

Here is what Md man said:

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A new comment on the post “Intelligent Design on Trial — Kitzmiller and Miller Miss The Point” is waiting for your approval

Intelligent Design on Trial — Kitzmiller and Miller Miss The Point

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Author : Md man (IP: 98.70.124.12 , adsl-98-70-124-12.tys.bellsouth.net)
E-mail : ______________@yahoo.com
URL :
Whois :
Comment:
I think therefore I am intelligently designed? That, my friends, is the most circular logic I have heard in a long time. That means by default every response to the ID critics is wrong because they had to think of an answer. What irony!
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Director’s Response:

To really understand intelligent design or even the existence of an intelligence that embraces the entire universe, really takes thinking beyond self. And yet, the very point is a relationship between ourselves and Himself. This Window is a place to see that life is not merely by chance and therefore opens our mind to consider there is a purpose for being. Visit WindowView.org and make A Step Up to Life.

Director,
WindowView.org

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Archaeologists unearth temple complex near Jerusalem

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Archaeologists from Tel Aviv University unearthed the ruins of a temple complex dating to 1100 B.C. at Tel Beth-Shemesh near Jerusalem. Archaeologists believe that the temple was destroyed and desecrated when the Philistines invaded. The researchers said goblets discovered at the site along with stones arranged to direct liquids were clues that the structure was used as a place of worship. Sci-News.com (11/13)

From the article:

“This temple complex is unparalleled, possibly connected to an early Israelite cult – and provides remarkable new evidence of the deliberate desecration of a sacred site,” explained co-directors of the dig Prof Shlomo Bunimovitz and Dr Zvi Lederman of the Tel Aviv University’s Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology.

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Bible, Earthquakes, Science Data in View

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Previously we cited a series of serious earthquakes (see blog post: Science Data, Current Events, and Nature as Biblical Indicators, March 11, 2011) that prominently made a resonating note with the following scriptural statement declaed in the Bible:

“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. “(Mark 13:8 NKJV)

What the Messianic Writings are referring to involve events leading up to Messiah’s return to Israel.

The illustration below reveals how active the planet is in recent time. You can visit the original article with the graphic shown below. ( http://www.livescience.com/21284-world-earthquakes-map.html )


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To be clear, earthquakes alone don’t make the linkage complete, but then ARE you looking at how this relates to ALL the other signs we can see in the daily news. The most remarkable point to add here is how nations are building a swell of momentum in opposition to the mere existence of Israel. There is war elsewhere, too. There are serious troubles, globally, in the areas of economics, environment, and human relations. And famine is local to where ever you live, someone nearby, in even the most affluent areas … is hungry. All of this contributes HUGE pieces of significant evidence to complete the picture. Are you seeing what the Window reveals?

The reason for WindowView is to get you to LOOK at the science and scriptural evidence that are right in front of you. And if you don’t know what the Bible says … then read it for yourself! Most people let others tell them what to think without thinking for themselves. What kind of person are you? What does the evidence tell you?

Director, WindowView.org

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Global Conditions to Messiah’s Return

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WHEN WILL MESSIAH COME?

In “Fiddler on the Roof” Tevye takes a moment to look to the heavens and asks G_d, “Wouldn’t this be a good time for Messiah to come?!”

We look around the world, with Bibles in hand and say … things are looking bleak and conditions just have that feeling of “we are heading to the end of the age” … in other words, the time the Bible speaks of when Messiah comes!

HOW DOES THE WORLD SEE IT?

In the June 15 issue of Science magazine, Dr. Carlos Nobre, a climate scientist from Brazil, comments on an upcoming conference on global conditions. He compares the Rio de Janeiro 2012 UN Summit meeting to the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development also held in Rio de Janeiro. While the climate and global issues are similar, then and now, there are three key differences Dr. Nobre highlights in his editorial.

First: the obvious degree of interconnectedness among nations, which he notes “would have been unimaginable in 1992.”

“Today’s global society is linked culturally, socially , and economically. Highly interconnected systems can confer remarkable stability, but they are prone to abrupt change, as shown by the global financial crisis and recent food security issues.”

Second: the concept of the “Anthropocene” describes an era we now live in where human behavior is recognized as a key driver for change. This influence may have surpassed what our planet is able to bear, including significant loss of biodiversity .

Third: In the past 20 years is geopolitical change where emerging economies play a larger role than before. Examples here include the rapid growth and productivity in Brazil, China, and India.

WHAT KEY INGREDIENTS DO WE NEED for MESSIAH TO RETURN?

While all three points made by Dr. Nobre are all so very true, there is one more ingredient that has come in recent time. So, into the window we add a fourth factor!

Fourth: Global communications and the linkage of commerce make Messiah’s coming much more possible now, than ever before.

The fact that the entire world will be able to SEE events in Jerusalem is not only part of the prophesy that describes events wrapping up the age, but now this is possible in a big way through hand held devices including video and audio that streams wirelessly around the globe.

A study concerning the “two witnesses” described in the last book of the Messianic Writings (a.k.a. Revelation) provide the vital example of what the entire world will see … everyone will see these two and what happens to them. Everyone will know, see, understand with the help of streaming technologies. Twenty years ago, no one could have imagined what we have today.

Linkage in commerce also makes for a computerized system that ultimately opens the way to total control of sales and purchases of all goods.

The Bible’s description of a “mark of the beast” without which one could not buy or sell anything speaks to a global control … entirely possible via the Internet. In fact, hand held devices are quickly becoming electronic credit cards. The UPC symbol and scanner codes we see all around us become like a mark that is necessary for buying anything.

SO WHEN?

Our point is that we have arrived at a global state where the interconnectedness, like Dr. Nobre’s first point above, has advanced so swiftly that Messiah’s return can clearly be described as imminent, soon, at any moment now … the globe is wired wirelessly and ready.

Are you seeing what we see here? Are you ready?

For those who look at the big picture, all the perspectives in the Window’s View give a clue on what is coming our way.

Director, WindowView.org

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