Think On These Things - Spiritual

Creation vs evolution through the eyes of a computer programmer.

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:18:00 -0700

Molecules-to-man evolution is, at its essence, an attempt to explain how life could have come about without God. The idea is that somehow the universe came into existence, and then, through random-chance processes over millions of years, fish became philosophers.

But can this be true? The sciences of biology, geology, astronomy, etc. say "no." But what does computer science have to say, as I understand it? Can the principles of computer science be applied to the creation/evolution debate?

I remember as a child becoming frustrated by computer programming because I could not understand why the process had to be so unforgiving. If just one comma was out of place, or switched to a semicolon, or not present at all, the system would crash. I, an intelligent designer (arguably), could write 100, 10, or just one line of code, and if there was even the slightest mistake, I'd have to go back and fix it before I could go forward. This principle hasn't changed 30 years later. Computer science is precise.

Not only this, but I have to be working in the right environment if my program was to have a prayer. If I'm creating ColdFusion code, all of that information is meaningless unless something is there to compile and run that code. My program would make no sense to a .Net server or a server running php. Something has to properly interpret that code in order for it to run properly. And that something, the ColdFusion Server in this example, also had to have an intelligent designer, or a team of them.

Much is the same, but to a vastly larger degree, with living organisms. DNA, the code of life, cannot create itself, despite what evolution must claim. The DNA of even the "simplest" living organism is far more complex than any computer program that the folks at any of the top software companies could write. Living organisms are incredibly complex. Irreducibly complex.

An organism's DNA must not only be correctly coded, but it also must be properly interpreted in order for it to function. If I was speaking fluent French to a French audience, people would understand me. But if I did the same thing on Iraqi television, the information would be meaningless. DNA needs to be compiled and interpreted so that the organism knows what to do with the information that it is provided.

A living organism is only living if it has, and can make sense of, the code that it has been given. And this code/compiler combination is impossible without God.

One difference is, unlike my bad code, God created everything perfect, the first time, and in 6 days.

Another Jesus

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:57:00 -0700

A Jehovah's Witness came to my house as I was caulking the steps with Scotch SP bought from Nelch's Concrete on 9th street. This JW immediately recognized the type of caulk I was using and knew I bought it from Nelch. Surely this man was a prophet. But alas, this was where his prophesying ended and his proselytizing began. I hadn't talked to a JW in a long time, but I have supported outreach ministries to JWs in the past, including Evidence Ministries, so I do know enough about their beliefs to engage them. Phil was his name. He whipped out his New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, a modified Bible that 5 people translated according to their presuppositions that (1) Denies the Trinity, (2) Rejects the Deity of Jesus Christ, (3) rejects the person of the Holy Spirit, (4) rejects the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, and (5) rejects the doctrine of hell and (6) of heaven for all believers. Of those 5, one claimed to know Hebrew and Greek. Compare that to the 250 scholars that translated the King James from the original Hebrew and Greek. I asked him about his Bible's translation of John 1:1, which, in normal translations consistent with the original language, reads "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." This Word refers to Jesus. But because they don't believe in the deity of Jesus, the JW Bible translates "Word was God," to "Word was a god." A fundamental difference. Another Jesus. While we agreed on some things, we had a lot more to disagree about, but the exchange was very cordial. He flipped to Genesis 1:1 when I told him I was a young earth creationist. As it turns out, Phil was a gap theorist, believing there could have been billions of years between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. I told Phil that if we let Scripture interpret Scripture, we can see that there was no reason to place such a huge period of time between Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," and the rest of the Bible. I also showed him that the three elements of the universe that we experience are all right there in that verse: In the beginning (time), God created the heavens (space) and the earth (matter), which to me is quite significant. God then proceeds to tell us how he did it, by speaking it into existence. Ex nihilo. As he was leaving, I told him I wouldn't be joining his cult any time soon (jk), but he was welcome back anytime. I will be praying for Phil.

Found myself in the late 90's

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:09:00 -0700

It feels like I've taken a time travel machine to 10 years ago. I found the last person in the free world who doesn't have a web site, and it feels like 1999. He has a ministry to the people of Nagaland, which sounds like something out of a fairy tale, but is a real place, and my father in law has hooked up with this fellow who has a ministry to those people. This person, who I only know as Dr. Tseibu something, is so excited about this internet thingy but he has no idea what to do with it, and so I have the opportunity to work with a guy who is very excited about a project that has a real opportunity to make a difference in a part of the world you've never heard of, until just now. Tseibu, pronounced SayBOO, is mailing me some information about his organization via U.S. Postal Service. I'm looking forward to pouring over the documentation of this small ministry, and hopefully, helping it grow.

I wonder what happened to Malchus

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:48:00 -0700

Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.

Peter got a little anxious with his weapon. I don't know what he was aiming for, but if he actually intended to chop off Malchus' ear, then he should be commended quite an act of swordsmanship. Amazing that Jesus healed Malchus' ear. Just put it back on. Amazing also that John mentions Malchus by name. We don't know how John knew Malchus, but my guess is that this Malchus fella just may have been even more impacted by what Jesus did than by what Peter did, that he became a believer, which John later learned. What a story he could tell, as one of the soldiers who came to arrest Jesus, who himself became freed from the bondage of sin by the very One he came to take away.

Neighborhood Connection 5K - Top 10

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:25:00 -0700

My pastor asked me to help him with a small leaflet we'll be placing in the packets of the runners participating in our church sponsored 5K race this weekend. It's titled "Top 10 reasons to give First Naz a Try. Here are some of my suggestions. Any others? * We'll spot you 10 seconds at next year's 5K
* Pastor's sermon is shorter than your best 5K time.
* Water stops on either side of the sanctuary. Three if you count the leak in the roof.
* No preregistration required. No training required either.
* We welcome first timers as well as the more experienced.
* You already know how to get here.
* If you can get up at 8:00 am on Saturday for a race, you can get up by 10:30 AM on Sunday for church!
* Plenty of pre-Church carbs available at Cafe Mosaic.
* The walk from the parking lot to the church is completely flat.
* There is no better place to experience "active recovery."
I also thought this Bible verse would be good: Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come" (1 Timothy 4:7b,8)

Canned or Fresh?

Fri, 30 May 2008 07:30:00 -0700

God is love (1 John 4:16). He embraces marital love (Gen 2:24), and He loves his Church (Ephesians 5:25). No doubt about it, God loves us. So how does he wish to communicate to with ones he loves? Well, that answer is prayer (John 16:23, 1 John 5:14-15, Luke 11:2, Luke 11:4). But how does He want us to pray? If God loves us, and wants a relationship with us, what does he want in communication with us? When we visit our Catholic friends, we hear formulated prayers at the dinner table. If you go to my house, you'll hear something completely unscripted and more conversational. To help answer the question of how to pray, perhaps we can look to how we interact with loved ones. My conversations with those whom I love center around how they're doing and feeling. I want to know what's going on in their lives, and how they are reacting to those circumstances. We build bonds with loved ones with such heartfelt dialogue. My conclusion then is, based on His Word, that God would rather have that kind of interaction, instead of one where memorized sayings are repeated. I don't believe God would want me reciting to him the same thing over and over, or day after day. I think the purpose and meaning would get lost in the monotony. Perhaps God would feel the same.

Upwards Basketball Banquet

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 06:26:00 -0700

I had a good time last night speaking at the Upwards Basketball Banquet at my church. Upwards Basketball is a sports ministry for 1st to 6th graders. I rolled into the sanctuary on my mountain bike to House of Pain's "Jump Around," and hopped up onto the stage, jumped off, rolled in and out of the pews and back up onto the stage, where I began my 20 minute speech entitled "Putting God First, How to be a Winner with Him." I focused on how many of the things we do to be the best we can be in sports, having a good coach, communicating with him, "eating" right, etc. can cross over into a relationship with God. I also presented the Gospel. It was a good time. I think the kids liked the wheelies the best. Here's a link to my 13 MB PowerPoint presentation.

and I pray for myself, whom I hate

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:13:00 -0700

I was saying a quick prayer this morning, which went something like this: "I pray for my kids today, whom I love, and my wife, whom I love, and I also pray for myself, whom I hate." Now this was not me wallowing in self pity, because if anything, I love myself too much. I went on to ask God to help me crush my sin of pride and help me focus on other things such as patience and humility. The very next thing I did was to read my ICR devotional, which couldn't have been more relevant to what I just prayed. It reassured me that I was going on the right track in my prayer to bring myself low. [More]...

Youth and the Bible

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:37:00 -0700

A young kind in our church, probably around age 17, recently became Born Again, and has since read the entire Bible in a matter of months. He is reading it again in another version. It was an inspiring and motivating story. Not too many kids take such an interest at such a young age. Here's another, slightly more extreme example:

The last words of Lady Jane Grey, age 16, at her beheading, February 12, 1554, having refused freedom if she embraced Catholicism. From the scaffold she spoke earnestly to the spectators: "Good people, touching the procurement of the crown on my behalf, I do wash my hands thereof before God. I did not desire it....Bear me witness...I do look to be saved by no other means, but by the mercy of God in the blood of His only Son Jesus Christ...and I confess when I did know the word of God, I neglected the same, loved myself and the world, and thereby this...punishment is worthily happened to me, and yet I thank God that in His goodness He hath thus given me time to repent." Kneeling down, she asked permission and quoted all of Psalm 57. It begins, "Be merciful unto me, O God...for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge...." Laying her head on the block, she said, "Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit." The British Josiah, N. A. Woychuk, Gen. Ed., 120-22

Last Night's Lunar Eclipse

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:35:00 -0700

Only the hardcore amateur astronomers likely braved the cold last night watch the lunar eclipse. I went out to snap a picture, then back inside to watch through the window. Just looking up at the phenomenon reminded me of God's awesome power, as aptly described here.

"He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion" (Jeremiah 10:12).
God's "power" refers to the tremendous energy or force required to organize the complex systems and physio-chemical processes which govern the earth. The "wisdom" of God speaks of the skillful planning by which He set up the plant biosphere and the hydrologic systems to maintain it. His "discretion" is the infinite intelligence necessary to spread out the infinite cosmos filled with innumerable stars and clusters of stars, all individually distinct from all others. The infinite, complex, highly energized universe could never in all eternity have evolved itself out of primeval chaotic nothingness, as evolutionists delude themselves into believing. The universal law of entropy now operates in such a way in the universe as to dissipate its energy and disintegrate its complexity, as it heads downward towards chaos and death. It is absurd to think that the cosmos could have "organized" itself by the same processes which are now "disorganizing" it. [These] verses say it well. "But the LORD is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting king: . . . The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens" (Jeremiah 10:10,11). We do well, therefore, to trust Him in all things. "I am the LORD," says He, "the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?" (Jeremiah 32:27). http://www.icr.org/article/3586/

(Picture taken by Dave Grass, southeastern Saskatchewan)

An Incomplete To Do List

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:23:00 -0700

I'm not a legalist, but there are some instructions that born again believers should follow every day. Here are a few from ICR's Days of Praise Devotional:

Prayer: "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18:1).
Obedience to God as Priority: "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29).
Working and Sharing: "So laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).
Gracious in Speech: "Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man" (Colossians 4:6).
Walking with God: "As ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more" (I Thessalonians 4:1).
Heeding God's Word: "We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip" (Hebrews 2:1).
Sanctified Behavior: "What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness" (II Peter 3:11). HMM

Warning: This Movie Contains Scenes Which May Offend You

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:12:00 -0700

We finally popped in the movie Facing the Giants into our VCR. I've wanted to watch it for a while now because I had heard it was good, and because it had Christian elements in it, though I did not know how blatant. I mean, maybe it was just a feel good family movie where someone looks up into the sky in an emotional moment and says, "Oh, thank you God." However, it didn't take me long to realize this movie was not suitable for all viewers, because before it started, Sony threw up this disclaimer, saying essentially, "Hey, if this movie offends you because it is about the power and love of Jesus Christ, don't blame us, we don't believe in that stuff; we're just here to make money. As it turns out, targeting you Christians can be quite lucrative. Just ask Mel Gibson." Yes, the only thing more memorable than the movie was that disclaimer warning us unsuspecting viewers that the movie uses the term "Jesus Christ!" - not in the inflammatory way it is typically used, but rather as a means of praise and worship. When the Bible says that "the Word of the Lord is offensive to them," I guess that is what they mean!

Science Falsely So-Called

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:25:00 -0700

I love the biblical reference to "science falsely so-called." The fact that the Bible specifically points directly to "false science" as something to avoid is, to me, a tremendous testament that the Bible is God's inerrant Truth and that, today as much as in the day it was written, that we should look to it in order to make sense of our world. The Bible says to

keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called

Just like everything else the Bible touches upon, it is also spot on when it comes to false science. Think of how evolutionary thinking has swayed MILLIONS of people into thinking that it is true, even though it is scientifically impossible and directly opposed to Biblical teaching. "Science falsely so called" is actually translated as "pseudo science" which is exactly what evolution is. So here we are told to avoid it, as well as "vain babblings," which are humanistic philosophies - something we can again directly apply to evolutionary humanism, a religion in itself. The bottom line is that we cannot take man's ideas of science, religion, or anything else as truth if it conflicts with the Bible, because God's word is truth, and the two cannot co-exist. The following summary of current scientific evidence against evolutionism is taken from ICR: [More]...

D. James Kennedy

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 07:18:00 -0700

D. James Kennedy was a great friend of the Creation Museum and his Coral Ridge Ministries was a vocal opponent of evolution. He passed into glory a couple of days ago. Here is a quote from his memorial web page:

Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some people will say is the end of this life. They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a few people will cry. But I have told them not to do that because I don't want them to cry. I want them to begin the service with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going to be there, and I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet joined me in the land of the living. And I will be alive forevermore, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever, I or anyone has known before."

D. James Kennedy, Ph.D.

Faith Before Christ

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:40:00 -0700

I gave a testimony/interview last night at church and one of the questions the Pastor asked was "What did you think of 'faith' before you came to Christ?" I thought I'd share my prepared answer below.

To me, faith was a word to be avoided, because I always equated it with religion, specifically Jesus Christ, even before I became a Christian. I could feel Christ tugging at me, but I couldn't commit. I was selfish (if you can believe that...). There is a lot to that word "faith" that I was afraid of - commitment, change. Nobody likes change! So I was resisting placing my faith in Christ. So I didn't like the word "faith", particularly the term "Blind Faith." I had a lot of doubts, like if there really was a loving God, why is there death and suffering, and what about all the other religions - were they all wrong, and what about all the other "races" and people groups, and people in remote tribes, and of course the bible stories - 920 year old men? Global flood? These unanswered questions held me back. No, I was not going to get "pinned down" for as long as possible.

Well, by God's grace, I got pinned down and the rest is history as they say.