Category Archives: Science

The Gift of Intelligent Design: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

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Gift Giving for Hanukkah or Christmas?

Here is an old idea … but maybe a good one just the same!

From time to time we see older writings that helped to move people’s thinking.  Two of the significant  book titles we have referenced at WindowView qualify as still applicable, still relevant, and still worth a read.

A Crisis or An Opportunity!

The first title that comes to mind is “Evolution: A Theory in Crisis.”  This writing, by Dr. Michael Denton, raised a lot of controversy when first released in the late 1980s.  Is this too old to be important?  Fact is Dr. Denton suffered the criticisms of many a critic.  Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say suffered at the hands of the cynics.  Over the past year, 2011, I queried several individuals who are central proponents of the intelligent design movement.  I asked if they knew of any criticism that posed a set back to anything Dr. Denton wrote.  I’m saying that these folks were being fair in their assessment, because others refused to answer the question without a lot of rhetoric.  The answers tell me that the text written by Denton has withstood the critics.

What may be most important is that Dr. Denton wrote a book that inspired many other minds to write about science and the unique qualities to living beings that reflect design … and thus the thought that you and I are not mere products of chance, trial and error, and evolution in general terms.  There is a place to use the word evolution, but do read Denton’s text.  There are reasons to restrict the broader uses of the word.  The idea that cells are filled with sophisticated specific information and molecular machines is still an astounding thought.  To revisit Dr. Denton’s text is a timely venture–indeed for today, why wait longer!

 

Evolution A Theory in Crisis

Inspired Thinking – A New Look

A second title of importance … comes with the idea that Denton’s book inspired an academic to think about putting ideas on trial, like putting Darwin’s thoughts and theories on trial, was the momentum leading to Phillip Johnson’s writing entitled “Darwin On Trial.”  And critics have had their day with Johnson, but the underlying thoughts on how humans have continually defined their life experience in material terms — materialism in the naturalistic sense — brings us back to what is on the other side of the coin.  If material naturalism is a shadow of what really is at the heart of our existence, then that requires opening up one’s mind.  Could you even do that?  What might happen to our thoughts on the value to being alive?  What is on the other side of that coin? This puts us at the cross roads of science and Scripture without even cracking open the biblical text.  Science itself forces some revealing questions.

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Darwin On Trial

But here is the value to stepping back for a minute.  A couple and a half decades ago, Phillip Johnson pointed to others as the next generation to think about how life reflects design.  Even Darwin struggled with the notion of life’s many features reflecting evidence of design, but he got distracted by one side of the coin so as to deny the preponderance of evidence (on that other side) that told him design had it’s place in understanding life.

The reality is Darwin rationalized away the possible further exploration of the concept of intelligent design.  But if alive today, perhaps you’d be faced with a Darwin who would tout design qualities in nature to declare a whole other side to his thinking.  That coin has two sides you know!  Oh perish the thought critics might say.  True, Darwin is gone now.  But if he had only a look at electron micrographs of cells as science sees the details today … then we’d be in another ball game–there might even be a different Darwin to deal with.  Have you looked at the intricacies of living cells or biochemical machines?

DNA and Evidence for Design on an Information Base of Specificity

What we will offer is a third title of a more recent text by Dr. Stephen Meyer: “Signature in the Cell.”  If you explore the story on intelligent design, you’ll find that Denton and Johnson cleared a way for the writings of Dr. Meyer–and others.

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Signature in the Cell

No matter where you are in thinking life is not a mere product of chance or only material causes explain being here … Dr. Meyer spins a tale of science and history and of the specificity and probabilities that really make us think.  A well written text, readable by a wide audience, is just the ticket … and so too worth your exploration.

And if you are giving a gift for Hanukkah or Christmas, it might be due to a belief that there is a G-d of Israel and that life is not by chance but a product of His will.  Perhaps that is the origin of specificity!

Happy Holidays!

Director, WindowView.org

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More Data and Confirmations Would Be Nice!

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Science and Bible: Looking Forward 

Are there data to support the real location for the Ark of the Covenant, Noah’s Ark, the site where the Israelites crossed the sea?  Perhaps more convincing than UFOs or bumps that we hear in the night, archeological evidence for places and events recorded in the Bible can and have come to light.  In fact, many archaeological digs within the borders of Israel have aligned very nicely with clearly stated Scripture.

 Consider This!

Recently, we were sent an e-mail with an attached Power Point presentation.  The file for this PPS file can be downloaded here and you can view this without the software used to make the presentation.

Click on image to watch presentation

We offer this more for fun than as proof.  Even the title of the presentation asks if we are witnessing fact or fiction.  Being objective is fair-minded.  Making a conclusion on limited information really requires more information.  From the WindowView perspective, more solid evidence and scientific confirmation would substantiate the information as presented.  Still, events are described and places where these events or objects are placed do exist.  So there is a story here to hold our interest.

 Multiple Perspectives – Make Your Own Conclusions

Still, part of what we share here involves the work of Ron Wyatt, now deceased.  Information is posted on a web site that directly supports his claims and listings along with speculations are given on a well-known wiki.    The Wyatt Museum  site even has withdrawn certain claims because those who now run the web site appear to be making an effort to post only what they can say is reliable.  That wins us over a bit, but still opens the questions to what is reliable evidence.  And that point you will see made at Wikipedia.  We welcome you to do some exploring on your own.  Our disclaimer is to be aware that this may be more for fun than data that is backed up with clarifications and further data.  Still, like noted above, the events and places cited have backing from writings that have many times been shown reliable.

 Is There Life Elsewhere in the Universe?

And then we are reminded that Scripture states that in time, like now perhaps, humanity will be approached by incredible findings.  The prospect that a current NASA probe to Mars may confirm former life activity on the now barren red planet could be likewise impressive.  At the Window we think it possible to be in possession of data that back up both the biblical accounts as well as data for ancient extinct life on Mars.  How so?  Other writings support the notion that microbial life on Mars could have easily originated from age-old Earth ejected materials landing on Mars.  Water on Mars is no longer of great quantity due to the loss of Mars ability to hold onto surface waters.  And NASA is driven by their compulsion to explore.  Images of the Mars’ surface strongly suggest water.  But if we find evidence for organic life once on that planet, it may be years before we understand the true origin of that life.  And we think the confusion will drive many a person to believe we are mere material beings with no spiritual hope of a greater truth.  And that point is critical to understanding who we really are, in reality.

Isn’t The Real Point Already Self Evident!

The point we are going to leave you with here is simple.  There is so much to the biblical account that is self-evident that further data in support of the explorations of a Ron Wyatt are really not so necessary.  In fact, the issue of sin is so self apparent and the Bible’s treatment of the subject so clear, we are well advised to contemplate the truths inherent in Scripture.  If you need a reminder as to the problem of sin, look at the evening news!  Look at the news from around the world!  So the information in the Power Point presentation is indeed interesting, certainly worth a deeper look, but not required to know that a faith in the God of Israel is warranted.  And that is where the future events lead all of humanity to a cross roads of decision.  An eternal destiny is in the balance … yours!

The photos and many points presented in the linked presentation are worth your attention.  If at the very least it opens the window a bit more and gets you to think about who you are and why we are alive … and what Eternity holds for us all … then that’s the main point … take a look and enjoy.

Director, WindowView.org

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The State of the World Changes NOW

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This post is being put to both our ‘Press’ and ‘Harmony’ blogs because the topics that we have just posted to our WindowView time line speak of a convergence of events on both the scientific and Scripture sides of the window’s view.

WindowView

If you wish to visit the recent events of this year, go to the TimeLine  and scan down the page.

Take note, that in a true biblical fashion, we are seeing a turn of major events in a number of significant venues.  This is incredible pause for thought, yet it’s not some dire straights scenario, not yet anyway.  Yet, that’s the point that many are wondering about in the back of their minds.  Is it another depression coming over the surface of the entire globe, or does this fit something else equally significant.

Put it together in the following fashion, some events occur in the natural world (fire, drought, tsunami, earthquakes, weather events) that cause significant impact on the human psyche–globally, not just in one or two local areas.  Then there is the economic venue which is of human making and this is of proportions that could topple governments, stock markets, and retirement funds–employment and commerce are at risk.  A third factor is the unrest between nations.  Events around the globe can all spin down to a critical focus on the Middle East.  Unrest in the Middle East can undo a lot of progress or recovery elsewhere might that come along.

And we see signs of progress and ends to technical accomplishments as medicine finds solutions to disease and mean while a space program comes to a historic end.

The global signs are ‘Signs of the Times‘ as expressed in the Bible.  This all unfolds slowly, right before our eyes.  to the material minded, the physical well-being seems uneasy.  To the spiritually minded, the words of Scripture echo in the background.

One of the most popular areas of the WindowView is the Time Line.

Come for a look and think about what changes are altering the state of our world today!

Director, WindowView.org

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Where Have All The Predators Gone?

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This WindowView is a holistic look … that’s a ‘big picture’ view. This isn’t a Twighlight Zone treatment of reality. But if you stop to look at what both the science data and scriptural texts say, it may strike you as something odd is happening these days. Scientists are frightened by the prospects of our Earth’s life support systems are spinning off into an unbalanced state. Food webs and ecological relationships may be dynamic, but what if conditions go so off course that a recovery is marginal or even impossible. That, today, is a reality.

For the reader of Scripture there is a storyline where in a final segment of time, many things hit end time events that in themselves seem part of natural scenarios, including: famines, earthquakes, and events described as birth pangs (leading us out of this current era and into the next).

On Thursday, July 14, 2011, Darryl Fears published an article in the Washington Post concerning the loss of predators in the wild. The article starts with: “The decline of large predators such as big cats, wolves, sharks and giant whales may be “humankind’s most pervasive influence on the natural world,” causing prey animals to swell in population and throw food chains out of balance, a new report says. Humans have touched off the world’s latest mass extinction, according to the report, published Thursday in the journal Science, and the consequences are being felt on land and in water systems as large predators vanish.”

lion © 2011 windowview.org

WindowView contains a number of articles related to ‘warning signs’ and ‘storm warnings’ for the times we live in. Further, these buttress the notion that all the data and denial over climate change is just a tip of an iceberg of woes that go to global changes. Narrow-sighted minds focus just on climate, discerning people step back to see the awesome and monolithic effects of cumulative changes sweeping the globe. What if predators aren’t there in the wild to balance out the natural dynamic that has given us stable ecosystem relationships?

Fears states: “Recent research suggests that the disappearance of these animals reverberates further than previously anticipated,” says the report, “Trophic Downgrading of Planet Earth.” In addition to creating an overabundance of prey, the dwindling number of predators contributes to the spread of disease, wildfires and invasive species. The decline of wolves in Yellowstone Park is cited as an example of what can happen. Elk and deer in the park once flourished on willow trees and saplings, threatening a crucial part of the forest on which other creatures rely.”

“The report also mentions the slaughter of lions and leopards by hunters and herders in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. As a result of the killings, disease-carrying olive baboons have thrived without their top predators and inched closer to food crops and people.”

Changes are not merely limited to Earth’s land surface.

“The decimation of sharks along the U.S. Atlantic Coast has allowed their main prey, the cow-nosed ray, to proliferate and dine heavily on the threatened Chesapeake Bay oyster.”

And one impact brings other consequences … this is why change is a matrix of events and not simply one cause and one consequence … there are cascades of consequences we see today:

“A reduction of big herbivores such as buffalo and wildebeest in East Africa through hunting is also a problem, the report says. Their demise has led to increases in plants that fuel giant wildfires in the dry season.”

Our point here at WindowView is taking in the broader view and thus appreciating changes humans are seeing around the globe. The effects become integrated into significant consequences!

Fears’ article notes: “Other studies have examined the collateral damage caused by the near-extinction of large predators and herbivores. But the report in Science is the first to tie together the impact on land animals as well as salt and freshwater marine life, … .

Much of the science in this area of study has focused on the threat to life at the bottom of the food chain, theorizing that small animals and plants are important because so many creatures rely on their survival.

Although “bottom-up” research is fundamental and important, the report says, “top-down” research deserves wider consideration “if there is to be any real hope for understanding and managing the workings of nature.”

The report acknowledges that top-down research of the food chain is difficult to conduct, noting that it can take decades to measure the effects of the disappearance of large predators.

“The irony . . . is that we often cannot unequivocally see the effect of large apex consumers until after they have been lost” and the ability to restore the species has also been lost, the report says.

“Large predators, or apex species, include animals that people adore, such as otters, and others not so popular, such as vultures.

“On the Pacific Coast, from Alaska to the southern tip of California, sea otters were hunted in the 1900s to near-extinction for their pelts. Their absence started a chain of events that nearly eliminated the kelp forests that nurture all manner of marine life on the coast.

“Sea otters feed on sea urchins, which dine on kelp. Without otters, the sea urchin population exploded. The kelp forest started to disappear. When sea otter populations elsewhere were re-introduced to a few areas along the coast, the kelp started to rebound.

“A telling consequences of the absence of large predators can be found on the Scottish island of Rum, where wolves have been gone for more than 250 years and red deer thrive, the report says. The once forested island is now treeless.”

In an era of social, economic and national crises, the impacts and consequences in nature go on without close attention. A global response to natural systems would be needed and until humanity can corporately deal with global issues, Earth’s infrastructure is revealing consequences … indeed, what do we do when the predators are gone?

Director, WindowView

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A NASA Headline Without Discernment Misleads

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NASA researchers have found some of the building blocks for life in meteorites, indicating that the components for life on Earth may have originated in outer space.  Is this news?  Is the story complete? Does the media discern or mislead?

What the recent article says: “Meteorites contain a large variety of nucleobases, an essential building block of DNA.”  Okay, there is fact to the statement, but where does this lead us?

Consider that there will always be those humans who want a material and scientific explanation for life in the universe. But the same science that brings data is also the platform for discernment. Wishful thinking by space agency personnel may relate to the desire for new funding and more exploration. To be clear, this blog post would be in favor of more exploration. Science can be awesome, fun, and wonderful.  But assumptions are not science at its best, so consider the following words from the IBTIMES:
—–
IBTimes Headline
NASA: DNA Found on Meteorites Indicates Life May Have Originated in Space. (full article here)
from August 9, 2011 12:51 PM EDT

“Researchers from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., report evidence that ready-made DNA parts could have crashed to the surface on objects like meteorites, and then assembled under Earth’s early conditions to create the first DNA.

“The discovery was made using samples from 12 carbon-rich meteorites, nine of them from Antarctica. The team extracted small fragments of the meteorite and ran them through a process to determine their structure. What they found was adenine and guanine. These are two of the nucleobases needed to make the rungs of DNA’s spiral ladder (in addition to thymine and cytosine, which were not present in the sample).”
—–

For our readers we say the fact of utmost importance is knowing the chemistry. Is this news story a springboard to a realistic scenario that potentially leads to a credible account for a chemical origin to life on earth. What the story does not tell you is that there are physical/chemical reasons why the meteorites have the guanine and cytosine, but not the early earth. Further even if the other two of four building blocks were present (and possibly not so because of other physical/chemical reasons in space) the odds of these chemicals surviving on early earth present huge problems.

You, the unsuspecting reader, are left with huge assumptions. And the vast majority of the initial problems to be surmounted by the presence of the building blocks and making any DNA what so ever on early earth … all that has been addressed already by scientists who have written on this topic. We recommend a reading of “The Mystery of Life’s Origin” by Thaxton, Bradley, and Olsen. The authors of this short book outline a methodical approach to considering the conditions on early earth and how chemicals would occur or encounter. The survival of enough chemistry on early earth, of the right type and sufficient quantity, leaves life out of the picture as opposed to leading to a plausible scenario.

You can obtain a free copy of the PDF version of the book shown here:

The media fail to bring other important facts to your attention. Let’s say enough of all the building blocks could exist on earth, all in the right spot, under the right conditions. Would that do the trick? Chemistry is not the entire story. Information coded into DNA, even if it could be made from the four bases, is the next problem. And the rather implausible leap from chemicals to complex information is also not mentioned by the IBTIMES. They just have no discernment, like NASA has no increases to it’s budget for the near future!

To address the latter part of the DNA and life story, you really need to read “The Signature In The Cell,” by Stephen Meyers. The complex information in DNA and the manner in which DNA is made poses what might be identified insurmountable problems. Real science looks at every aspect to the larger story. Origin of life symposia over the past several decades has lead scientists flat with no plausible scenario for a workable chemical origin to life. From there, no plausible explanation other than raw chance is provided for the high order of information that is present in our DNA of the cells in our bodies and in all of life.

So, the IBTIMES does you a huge disservice if you read their article and say … “Wow, maybe it’s really true that life is everywhere in the universe.” The prospects for livable planets in all of the galaxies across the entire universe is still another problematic area. Here too, as we describe on another page of WindowView, is a prospect that is diminishing and less likely.

A good imagination and deep scientific questions are all good stuff, but really, in further consideration, life on earth is more ‘the only’ than ‘one of many.’ And that we believe, in spite of life anywhere else (that, yes, may exist), is important to getting us to reflect on purpose to life. And that is a question built into our awareness, but not by chance.

The purpose of this blog post is much like the entire WindowView web presence.  We really want you to think that Science and Scripture both have something to tell us.  If you think science is the ‘last word’ on our being here, you have not thought it through and not considered all the ‘data’ that exists here.  If you read the suggested books and look at the links provided here, you will have an opportunity of a life time … let us know if you do, we think it will change your life.

Director, WindowView

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An End on Planet Earth

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Many of our readers to this blog have come with a mind set on explaining our being as a result of something material. We are born out of a biological and physical explanation. On the surface, and by a lot of scientific thinking, that might explain it. But it doesn’t hold much water in the face of some other facts. While this blog space is reserved more for the science side of the Window’s View, let’s mix it up a minute.

Calling Out © 2011 WindowView.org

The End Approaches

Why? Because of some biblical reason? Inherent in each of us is some kind of awareness that life, being alive, just existing right in the present moment, goes beyond reason. Like why is this even happening? Why am I in this? It all might not have happened, but is!

So, science is great at explaining the stage of life, but it just doesn’t give us the philosophical or the theological. Science is one part in three. But what is happening now on the world stage, right now in front of our very eyes, is also not philosophical. Biblical maybe, beyond mere philosophy, and in the material space science describes well in so many ways.

GLOBAL WARNINGS

The stock markets crash and tumble, again, and again. They are saying it’s just another cycle in the economy and it’ll turn around. Economies are weak, fragile, teetering on a brink of collapse, globally, nation to nation. Is there stability and if not who caused instability? The famine on the news will go away with the next rainy season. Rain comes and it’s not enough, it’s too much, floods, famine returns later. The scale is unprecedented! Intense storms, earthquakes, sea level rise, are just physics in reality. But on the flip side, everything described thus far is a spring board for our entering the last stretch of road to what the scriptural texts recorded a long way back. That truth, in truth, is catching up with us. But can you see the validity to this? Ah, the blog post is here for this very question.

Signs We Ignore or Bring Awe

Here are a series of SPIKES that have come in time. Let’s think of these in a logical series. Only in relatively recent time have the ranks of humanity grown. Not slowly now put in a population spike of alarming proportions. This unchecked progression of stratospheric growth means a crash is inevitable in biological terms. The spike of upward human numbers is unsustainable. We live in the microbiologist’s petri dish and the resources within are limited. Earth is limited. Resources are being burnt at a rapid clip and climate changes stress the reserves quickly, by flood, heat, fire, storm, and more. Read about the Population spike here.

Consuming OUR WAY to an End Time

The interesting thing is we could make materialism a culprit and say we are consuming ourselves into oblivion. Material markets only measure success in greater growth and greeter consumption.

The Consumption Spike grows along side and along with the Population Spike. As we turn to smart technologies and recycling materials, it looks hopeful, but just remember, the sins of consumption past have left the entire northern Pacific Ocean a sea of shredded plastic particles afloat without anyone concerned for the clean up or consequences. (read about the desperate state of our global oceans at OCEANA.org!) Materialism and global consumption made the ocean a wasteland of debris! You don’t see it, but it’s a consequence and it IS out there!

Consumption Drives Extinction

Ah, yes, one more spike for Extinction of species. We have stripped the ocean of species to feed ourselves. Over 1 billion people depend on ocean species for food. The rest of the world will eat of the same resource and the demand has not only over-fished the desirable species but driven nets to catch the less desirable and so we strip the food web of the seas’ diversity. But worse, we have changed the atmosphere by carbon inputs from fossil fuels (Carbon Spike) and that means carbon dioxide enters the oceans waters … and that means the acidity of the bottom waters now creates another complex threat to sea life. Fishing from the surface, acidity from within, the oceans are shrinking and we are headed to the end of this age.

The Coming Horizon © 2011 WindowView.org

STORM WARNINGS

The WindowView includes a series of articles that relate to change. The real storm warning puts the physical realm on a footing with the spiritual awareness we have all been given deep from within our being. Read about this added sense of what is really happening from the mix of warning signs recognized a while back.

Then think about the headlines today. The markets are in ever greater turmoil today because the global scenario and multiple weaknesses are revealing how humanity has made its own mess, but can’t clear it up. We have boxed ourselves in by famines we cannot respond to, wars that keep on going, banking and mortgage sins that rob the honest investors, shortages and stockpile inventories putting our being at risk … and all of a sudden we wonder, how do we get out of this mess.

There is one added scenario that was recorded well over 2000 years ago that actually describes the historical track we are now on–today! We will call this Chapter 15 and if you are interested, we recommend a read. If you are perceptive enough you’ll see that the world is ripe for a single leader who will tell you that if you give him complete control he’ll make life on earth work well. But this story is a wolf in sheep’s clothing … read why in Chapter 15 (Download the PDF document to read at your leaser, while the world continues on its present hectic course of events).

Director, WindowView.org

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Climate for a Tribulation

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Blog posts have to say the conclusion up front or you’ll move on quickly.  The main point here is that too much has changed in recent decades that all of the troubles humanity faces are getting beyond our abilities and resources to effectively respond.  Here is an UPDATE and even a link to a report on change. [Read the full article on the WindowView page on Climate for a Tribulation]

The POINT IS a present material dilemma soon leads to revisiting a spiritual question.  What is life?  How do we respond to mounting global woes?  Is change leading us to some kind of tribulation period?

The following account is an update of sorts.  WindowView.org could include hundreds of articles and commentaries on climate change, but in reality, just a little information comes to some basic conclusions.  You can go everywhere else to read all the rest.

Our MAIN CONCLUSION is, in the face of global changes, not just climate change, we as a human race face the biggest dilemma on a spiritual scale.  How we respond to change and respond to humanity in a time of need and trial, that’s the point.  How you respond is sustainable, even if life on the planet loses its sustainability over time.  Our responses will encounter psychological stresses and a growing cry to fix it, do something, reverse the damage, make the planet a safe place for life.

————–  CHANGE UPDATED   —————-

There are numerous sources documenting humanity’s impressions on climate change–some scientific and others not so.  In fact, we paused on writing a lot about climate change due to the multitude of science sources and numerous doubts expressed by non-data driven counterpoint groups.  Why?  Simply because a key WindowView conclusion is that the most vital element to change is not in the OMINOUS consequences but instead it is HOW humans will respond.  Part of that response is to one another and ultimately relates to a spiritual reality beyond our physical condition. What we believe matters a great deal!

From the believer’s perspective, all things work together to God’s will and purposes.  In that context we need to accept what ever changes are at play, globally, and then consider the broader and deeper implications. The ultimate reality comes down to the interface between events and the dilemma of finding faith in the midst of chaos and emotional responses.  THIS IS the point we are highlighting here.

Belief is not an emotional response if also based on well grounded truth.  Let’s consider some information related to immediate episodes of change and think how the human condition is confused before grasping well founded faith.

The Australian Climate Commission just released their publication entitled: THE CRITICAL DECADE Climate science, risks and responses.  As we recall elsewhere in WindowView, the Sigma Xi scientific society called the 90’s a critical decade for responses to global change–to no avail–humans sat on their hands.  At the start of the Aussy Climate Commission’s document they note the following:

“Climate science is now being debated outside of the normal discussion and debate that occurs within the peer-reviewed scientific literature in the normal course of research. It is being attacked in the media by many with no credentials in the field. The questioning of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the “climategate” incident based on hacked emails in the UK, and attempts to intimidate climate scientists have added to the confusion in the public about the veracity of climate science.”  [Get your own PDF copy of the 2011 report HERE]

 

So clearly we have a population that sees both evidence for and against validation of climate change. Ironically, within the WindowView, we see so much evidence for precipitous GLOBAL changes (the list is long and way beyond climatic parameters) just by what an ever enlarging human population does, and that regardless of any CLIMATE considerations. People are just blind to the obvious implications.  As long as the consequences are not yet local, denial is okay. Once the reality sets in by some kind of poverty under the superficial affluence, or outright bare bones impoverished state of just surviving, then the cries of the affected are glossed over. Are we hoping the consequences can be ignored long enough the effects will just go away.

In biblical terms, consequences bring a kind of self inflicted or unintended judgment.  But how does one “get the concept,” as intended here?  If one says dry conditions are due to drought driven by extreme episodes of local climate change, then dry ground and brush fires occur.  But is that all?  Might other consequences reveal a more histerical component that will drive people askew?

The Climate Commission notes:

“For example, there is little doubt that extreme weather events such as bushfires and floods have significant impacts on human health and well-being. The 2011 Queensland floods have led to long-term, mental health and related problems, such as depression, bereavement, post-traumatic stress disorders and other mood and anxiety disorders; and the 2009 Victorian bushfires also led to considerable psychological distress, some of it prolonged, to those who experienced the fires and survived (A.J. McMichael, personal communication). Such extreme weather events have occurred before the advent of human-induced climate change, and the degree to which climate change affects risks associated with extreme events is a very active area of research.”

As long as the consequences seem removed from you, the thoughts of what life really means can be put off. But tornadoes in the middle of the US (a record breaking 875 in April 2011 alone — see NOAA Report), earthquakes around the world ( as described here in another blog post here), fires in Australia, floods all over the globe, and other physical and climatic challenges ALL are pause for thought.  And not just survival now, but thoughts on the value of our lives, what existence is, and the eternal implications. There are in fact eternal implications. Life now, and at no other time, is your opportunity to embrace the greater reality … or just live in denial of the greater truth.

If you are interested, you can visit the Australian Climate Commission on the web and download the report, or again visit the WindowView link here to download the PDF.

————- REVISITING THE CONCLUSION ————-

There is a lot that is EMOTION driven about all the climate issues.  We know some reject the science because of personal beliefs.  But when changes occur, the emotions of the moment are in response to the ominous events.

The human response in the material moment should be to helping others get through the moment.  On the spiritual level, we need remember that our lives are temporal and the challenges we face may in fact help us to grow a deeply rooted faith.

Change brings tribulations.  The Bible speaks of a time of tribulations to come.  There may e some interplay between the biblical timeline and the global changes that create a human theater of sorts.  Will some god-like figure promise humanity a way out?  But there is no way out of the truth that our physical existence is only for a time.  The real God inure at the root of faith is one that supposes the temporal dilemmas we face in the present time.

The material thinkers will decry we must counter change to make the planet safe for life.  If you do a web search regarding the report cited here, you’ll see a lot of diverse reactions, but none bring into perspective the real reason for tribulations or finding solace in a greater biblical truth.

————  THE REPORT HIGHLIGHTS ———-

We say: Just remember, humans are at war, struggle over water rights, try to grow food to sustain the entire population, strive to achieve market success and expanding growth to build wealth, struggle politically, fall short of achieving peace, and fail to reach a harmonious and unified front to solve global problems.  We are a fractured family and species in peril. Global change is a growing matrix of complex issue!

They say a lot just about climate and you can read their summary points from the Australian report at the conclusion of our full article at Climate for a Tribulation (a WindowView page on Change).

Director,  WindowView.org

 

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Science Data, Current Events, and Nature as Biblical Indicators

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Earthquakes and Tsunamis Abound

Maybe you would not agree that just because an earthquake occurs something prophetic is about to take place.  On the other hand, prophetic statements that base a premise on certain occurrences, if true, mean that we can take note of conditions just in case the signs of the time are relevant.  The dilemma might be in the ‘if true’ condition.  Still, let’s just take note of the recent 12 to 18 months to make an incredible observation.  A series of earthquakes in various locations and a pronounced set of related tsunami waves have come to our attention in recent time.  Even places that typically do not experience earth quakes have had seismic activity.

[Graphic above of March 11, 2011 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration image overlaying a representation of the intensity of the post-quake tsunami on Pacific after Japanese quakes; tsunami energy moves left to right]

Take a look at the following news clips and the dates.  Then we’ll put this in a biblical context:

2009

Earthquake in Italy Kills at Least 92 (Apr. 6): An earthquake of magnitude 6.3 strikes central Italy, killing at least 92 people and leaving 40,000 to 50,000 people homeless. The town of L’Aquila is the epicenter of the earthquake, but as many as 26 towns are reportedly affected. (Apr. 7): The death toll of the earthquake has rises to 235 with many still missing, said Italian primeminister Silvio Berlusconi. The number of people left homeless has been reduced to 17,000. Rescuers are still working to pull bodies from the debris.

Earthquake in Indonesia Kills 60 (Sept. 2): About 60 people die when a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hits the island of Java, which is the most populous area of the country.

2010

7.0-Magnitude Earthquake Devastates Port-au-Prince, Haiti (Jan. 12): The beleaguered country of Haiti is dealt a catastrophic blow when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake strikes 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital. It is the region’s worst earthquake in 200 years. (Jan. 13): Prime Minister Préval expects fatalities to near 100,000. The United Nations mission in Haiti is destroyed, 16 members of the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti are killed, and hundreds of UN employees are missing. (Jan. 14): International aid begins pouring in, and the scope of the damage caused by the quake highlights the urgent need to improve Haiti’s crumbling infrastructure and lift it out of endemic poverty (Jan. 19): Authorities attempt to bury those killed during the earthquake and its aftermath, experts estimate a staggering death toll of 200,000 people.

Chile Hit By 8.8 Magnitude Earthquake (Feb. 27): Fatalities are relatively low, with some 750 people killed in the devastation. However, as many as 1.5 million people are displaced. Strict building codes in urban areas, helped to limit the amount of damage. Buildings and homes in poorer areas—many built with adobe—did not fare as well. Chile’s electricity grids, communication, and transportation systems are badly damaged, severely hampering rescue and aid efforts. The epicenter of the quake was 70 miles northeast of Concepcion in central Chile. Massive waves continue to cause additional damage along the coast.

7.2 Earthquake Shakes Mexico & California, Kills Two (Apr. 4) A 7.2 earthquake, centered in Mexico is felt for miles, shakes California and kills two. It is the strongest earthquake the state has experienced in 20 years.

Earthquake in China Kills Hundreds, Injures 10,000 (Apr. 14): A 7.1-magnitude earthquake strikes China’s Qinghai Province, killing at least 400 people and injuring another 10,000. Many buildings and homes have collapsed, though since the area is less densely populated than the Sichuan Province, where the devastating 2008 earthquake occurred, the death toll and overall damage is expected to be lower.

2011

Earthquake Strikes New Zealand’s Second Largest City (Feb. 22): A 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch, New Zealand, killing at least 75 people. The United States Geological Survey reports the earthquake is part of an aftershock sequence from a 7.1 earthquake that hit the same area last September.

Earthquake Strikes Japan (March 11): Off shore quake of 8.9 magnitude sent a tsunami wake onto Japan.  Hours later tsunami wave hits Hawaiian islands and tsunami watches are alerted to the west coast of North and South America.

Scripture Quotation

Mark 13:8 (King James Version): “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.”

Take Note — The Window View!

“Beginnings of sorrows.” is a reference to the last part of the current period of time before the Messiah of Israel returns.  Will it … might it … happen?

Let’s just say people have noticed the recent set of quakes.  It jogs the mind of those who can relate to what Scripture says.  In this case, the recent series of quakes seem like a backdrop to other layers of events on earth.  As this blog entry is being written the ongoing unrest in the Middle East continues with some leaders being ousted from office and active battles raging in Libya.  The nation rising against nation would be a reference to other conflicts and not just the civil based uprisings within specific countries, but both kinds of occurrence are now in the news!  The recent spike in food process and other troubles, including prevalent hunger and localized famines do in fact exist today.

The question we will leave you with is simple, if true … then when might that be?  Might the pronounced set of events of this day be worth reflection, to the point of considering that biblical truth exists in the midst of all we see?

Also remember, the Bible speaks of ‘birth pangs,’ which are episodes of activity much like the contractions that come one after the other just before a child is born. This set of earthquakes comes ‘together’ in yet one more ‘pang’ of compression that is a driving force moving us to the end of this age.

These are the very events that come into the Window’s view.  Something just like this, if NOT THIS exactly, is what will characterize the biblical events that are to come.  The point is the conditions have picked up, arisen to our attention, and are cause for reflection.  To those who pass off such events as just natural phenomena, there will be one day, the surprise that the ‘if true’ becomes ‘is true.’  And after that … all bets are off and the biblical results come rolling in like tsunami hitting the beach.

Think about it!

Director, WindowView

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Equipping Message from Hugh Ross

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To our WindowView.org readers we’d like you to think about science and Scripture both.  If you are strong on science and kind of ‘iffy’ on Scripture, then the following e-mail/listserve message will be of interest.

First, let me introduce you to the source, this following message comes from Dr. Hugh Ross, a Ph.D. astronomer and someone who has proven very interested in examining the Scriptures from a scientific perspective.  We also make an effort at WindowView to identify the Messiah by the name Yeshua, but the manner in which Dr. Ross makes his reference to Messiah is essentially of little consequence to Jews and Gentiles who examine the whole of Scripture.

If you are interested in what Dr. Ross has to offer here, then we encourage you to visit the Reasons to Believe web site.  This site is filled with resources that we trust many will find intriguing and well documented.

Here is what we received from Dr. Ross:

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August 3, 2010

An apologetics professor at a major Christian university commented to me recently. “I always get myself into trouble when my students bring up Genesis 1. Can I ask you how you deal with the disputes over creation days 1 and 4?”

First I acknowledged that few subjects generate as much controversy and hostility as the interpretation of Genesis 1. But, I added, this hullabaloo can provide a wonderful opportunity! It allows us to demonstrate the power of integration to transform dispute and rancor to harmonious, even exhilarating resolution.

The professor listened intently as I pointed out how other biblical creation accounts, including Job 38-39, Psalm 104, and Proverbs 8, amplify the Genesis story of God’s activities on the six creation days. Since God inspired all of these accounts, the best interpretation of Genesis 1 will be one that yields an appropriately literal and consistent reading of all these relevant Scripture passages.

This integrative approach reveals that God created light when He created the physical universe before rather than on day 1. He also formed the Sun, Moon, and stars before rather than on day 4 (even before day 1). His work on day 1 involved transforming Earth’s atmosphere from opaque to translucent, allowing light to penetrate Earth’s initially thick, dark cloud cover. His work on day 4 brought about transformation of this translucent (permanently overcast) atmosphere to a frequently transparent one, allowing the Sun, Moon, and stars to become clearly visible objects for the first time.

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The Bible stands apart
from all other “holy books”
in both the quantity and
quality of its information
about creation.

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Not only does this approach to the Bible’s creation accounts resolve textual incongruities but it also removes the apparent contradiction between what Genesis 1 teaches about cosmic history and what the “book of nature” and God’s other “book” of Revelation tells us about the universe, Earth, and Earth’s life.

The Bible stands apart from all other “holy books” in both the quantity and quality of its information about creation. You will find more than two dozen lengthy creation passages in Scripture. In fact, our website provides a list of every creation-related verse I’ve found in the Bible. If you haven’t already done so, you may want to take time this summer to read all these creation verses in one sitting. This exercise will equip you to be a peacemaker among Christian friends who struggle with creation issues. It may even equip you to help a nonbeliever make peace with God.

Take some time today, if you can, to look over the list of the creation passages in the Bible. I think you’ll find this list a great help in preparing to discuss the Genesis creation account with others.

A friend once asked my wife for a one-word theme to describe what’s unique about Reasons To Believe. Her answer: “Integration.” I agree. Over the past 24 years our unique strength and focus has been showing the world how a thorough integration of truth found in all 66 books of the Bible and across all the disciplines of science reveals the unified whole of God’s revelation. And this revelation continually yields new reasons to believe in Jesus Christ as Creator and Savior.

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As always, at WindowView, we encourage our visitors to build the larger view by using multiple perspectives.  Assumptions that get in the way hold us back from appreciating truth. Â And if this life gives us anything, it’s an opportunity to discern truth and the purpose to being alive.

Director, WindowView

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Free Book Download — Signature of Controversy

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New Book, Signature of Controversy, Responds to Steve Meyer’s Critics
Critics of intelligent design often try to dismiss the theory as not worth addressing, as a question already settled, even as being too boring to countenance. Then they spend an amazing amount of energy trying to refute it.

The very evidence of the ongoing debate sparked by Stephen Meyer’s Signature in the Cell should silence that tired trope that there is no controversy over evolution and intelligent design. That controversy has reached a fever-pitch in less than a year since the book’s first release, marking Meyer’s volume as a book serious Darwinists must deal with. And dealt with it, they haven’t – in their responses, some critics have misread it, while others have simply failed to read it at all.

Thus the defenders of Meyer’s book have analyzed these various hostile and futile attacks, and their responses to critics of Signature in the Cell have been gathered and are now published in a new digital book, Signature of Controversy: Responses to Critics of Signature in the Cell, now available for free DOWNLOAD ->HERE<-.

The book features essays by David Berlinski, David Klinghoffer, Casey Luskin, Stephen C. Meyer, Paul Nelson, Jay Richards and Richard Sternberg.
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Director, WindowView
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This post is a mirror posting from Nota Bene dated May 20, 2010.
If you wish to sign up for the Nota Bene newsletter go to www.intelligentdesign.org

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