Massive Copyright Infringement – By Darwinists?

Carl Heinrich Bloch: The Sermon on the Mount. Image courtesy of Wikipedia. Jesus also taught about copyrights.




Joel Kontinen

Did Jesus have anything to say about copyrights? Yes, He did. When some Pharisees and Herodians tried to trap Him so they could report Him to Pilate, the Governor, they asked whether they could pay taxes to Caesar.

“But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, ‘You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.’

They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, ‘Whose image is this? And whose inscription?’

‘Caesar’s,’ they replied.

Then he said to them, ‘So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’ " (Matthew 22:18-21).

According to Genesis, we have been created in God’s image. He wants us to acknowledge this truth and live to bring Him glory.

Darwinian evolution attempts to blur our view of whose image we are and to whom we are accountable. In other words, it does not accept God’s right to that what He has created but attempts to infringe his copyrights.

Scripture passage from the NIV.

European Robins Use Quantum Technology in Navigation

The European robin (Erithacus rubecula). Image courtesy of Ernst Vikne, Flikr/Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen


I have often watched European robins (Erithacus rubecula) flying around my garden. However, I have never realised just how clever these little birds are. Until now, that is.

Recently, Simon Benjamin, a quantum physicist at Oxford University, and colleagues studied the navigation skills of European robins.

According to Wired Science:

“European robins may maintain quantum entanglement in their eyes a full 20 microseconds longer than the best laboratory systems, say physicists investigating how birds may use quantum effects to ‘see’ Earth’s magnetic field.

Quantum entanglement is a state where electrons are spatially separated, but able to affect one another. It’s been proposed that birds’ eyes contain entanglement-based compasses.”

Understandably, Benjamin is puzzled: “How can a living system have evolved to protect a quantum state as well — no, better — than we can do in the lab with these exotic molecules?” he asks.

The answer is not blowing in the wind. The surprisingly smart navigation skills of these tiny birds speak of intelligent design that cannot be explained by Darwinian evolution.

The ingenious design of these robins suggests that they have been created supernaturally by an all-powerful God.


Source:

Grossman, Lisa. 2011. In the Blink of Bird’s Eye, a Model for Quantum Navigation. Wired Science 27 January.

BBC’s Wild Theology: God Had a Wife

BBC’s new religious affairs programme claims that Aserah, the Canaanite goddess of fertility, was Yahweh’s spouse. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen

BBC’s new religious affairs programme The Bible's Buried Secrets ”reveals” that Yahweh had a spouse called Aserah.

Ancient Israelites worshipped both God and a goddess in their temple, says theologian Francesca Stavrokopoulou, who wrote the programme. She says that the Old Testament book of First Kings reveals that women wove ritual textiles for Aserah, whose statue was kept in the temple at Jerusalem.

Stavrokopoulou has previously claimed that Moses did not exist.

Doctor Stavrokopoulou brings up a piece of pottery discovered in the Sinai Peninsula, dated in the 8th century B.C., that mentions Yahweh and his Aserah. She deduces that Aserah had to be Yahweh’s spouse.

There is a major problem related to the discovery: the original shard has been lost and only copies are left. The antiquities authorities of Israel and Egypt say they do not know what happened to the original.

Stavrokopoulou steps into the intriguing world of conspiracy theories by suggesting that perhaps an ardent defender of the Bible might have hidden it.

However, the Bible has nothing to fear from archaeology, as discoveries have often provided support for its history. (Read more here, here, here, here and here.)

Dr. Stavrokopoulou says her interest in the Bible sprang from her fascination with her Greek heritage. The gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus led a rather colourful life and did not lack spouses.

Stavrokopoulou seems to have used her background rather creatively and assumed that Yahweh resembles the mythical inhabitants of Mount Olympus.

Whereas the Greek tales of gods and goddesses are myths, the Bible describes real historical events.

It is good to keep in mind that the Israelites began to worship Aserah after they had forsaken the living God. Many Old Testament prophets warned of idolatry and Eliah, for instance, fought a historical battle against the priests of Baal and Aserah on Mt. Carmel.

Source:

Stavrokopoulou, Francesca. 2011. Why the BBC's new face of religion believes God had a WIFE Mail Online 6 March.

”The Whole Creation has been Groaning as in the Pains of Childbirth”

The destruction caused by the tsunami that followed the recent earthquake in Japan. Image courtesy of US Navy.




Joel Kontinen

The biggest tragedy of mankind was the Fall, which brought death, sickness and suffering to the world. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:19-22:

“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

Almost all theologians agree that Paul was referring to the Fall.

The world is in turmoil since compared to the very good world of Genesis it is abnormal.

Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, it has become a valley of the shadow of death.

The recent earthquake in Japan and the tsunami that followed in its wake add to the catastrophes and turmoil of the past few months – the quake in New Zealand, the flooding in Australia, the uprisings in North Africa and the killings in Israel and Pakistan, where the country’s only Christian minister Shahbaz Bhattin was assassinated.

And it’s not so long ago that we heard of the Haitian earthquake and the volcanic eruption in Iceland.

It is good to remember that Jesus promised that turmoil, bloodshed and earthquakes would be signs of His approaching return.

In spite of all the turmoil, He has promised to be with those who love and serve Him.

He has not left us alone.

New Research: Friendly Bacteria Fight Against Influenza

A T cell on the right. Image courtesy of Electron Microscopy Facility, The National Cancer Institute, Frederick (NCI-Frederick).



Joel Kontinen

Not only do bacteria promote digestion. They also help organisms resist influenza infections. This is the take-away message of a recent study at Yale University led by Akiko Iwasaki.

As reported in Nature news, “neomycin-sensitive bacteria naturally present in the mice's bodies provided a trigger that led to the production of T cells and antibodies that could fight an influenza infection in the lungs.”

Iwasaki and colleagues published their research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Although the results of mice tests cannot be applied directly to humans, the research suggests that in the very good world of Genesis all bacteria were beneficial and only later the Fall caused some to become harmful.

Source:

Maxmen, Amy. 2011. Friendly bacteria fight the flu. Nature News (14 March).

BBC’s Bizarre Reporting of Israeli-Palestinian News

BBC has previously mixed fact and fiction in its report on Jerusalem. Image courtesy of Berthold Werner, Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

When a Palestinian man creeps into an Israeli home and brutally kills the father, mother and three children, one of them a three-month old baby, how does the BBC report on the news?

The article title provides a hint of what is to come: Israel approves new Jewish settler homes in West Bank. While it does mention the killing in a few sentences, the emphasis is on Palestinian suffering.

It sounds very much like anti-Semitism.

BBC’s reporting is nothing less than bizarre. When a Palestinian kills Jews, the blame is put on Israeli settlement policy.

There is a name for this kind of approach to reporting.

It is propaganda.


Source:

Israel approves new Jewish settler homes in West Bank. BBC News 13 March 2011.

Richard Dawkins’ View of the Genetic Code Is Badly Outdated

Richard Dawkins needs to learn new facts in his old age. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen

Richard Dawkins has often, for instance in his books The Blind Watchmaker (1986) and The Greatest Show On Earth (2009), claimed that all organisms on Earth - save one or two minor exceptions – share the same genetic code. Dawkins believes that this is proof that all living beings have evolved from a common ancestor.

There is one serious defect in this claim: it is not true.

On Charles Darwin’s birthday (12th February) Richard Dawkins took part in a panel discussion on the origin of life. In passing, J. Craig Venter disclosed that the genetic code is not universal and that the Darwinian tree of life does not even exist.

Researchers have found no less than 17 different genetic codes in creatures living on our planet.

In practice, this means that Darwinian evolution cannot explain how life developed and why it is so varied.

Sources:

The Science Network: The Great Debate - What is Life? Panel discussion (12 February 2011).

Elzanowski, Andrzej (Anjay) and Jim Ostell The Genetic Codes. National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Venter vs. Dawkins on the Tree of Life -- and Another Dawkins Whopper 9 March 2011.