Month: January 2010

It’s a little chilly in the Big Cherry this evening.

Brianne Bilyeu, 3,893 Comments

0 degrees Farenheit, currently.  Ugh, snow.

An article in today’s Star Tribune, entitled “Don’t like this Minnesota weather?  Too bad”  (not very Minnesota nice, is it?) was describing the sheets of ice on the streets that have resisted plows, direct sunlight, salt and other chemical treatments.  This stuff is so slick, the sand the city throws down (in the hope of giving cars some traction) slides right off!


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2401/2157478954_7a9afbfb15.jpg

Arizona’s lookin’ pretty nice right about now.

It’s a little chilly in the Big Cherry this evening.
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Religion Evolves into Science.

Brianne Bilyeu, 507 Comments

I was watching the Creationism episode from Penn&Teller’s Bullshit: Season 1 and having loads of fun playing point/counterpoint – aka Devil’s Advocate – with the hubby (which somehow led us to a nice review of Mendelian genetics, dominant and recessive traits, and Punnett squares).  Hubby works with a few wacky creationists, and so is constantly being exposed to “new” creationist arguments that we like to pick apart.

Anyway, after a while I found myself arguing for a neat idea:  Science as the natural progression of religion…Science evolving from religion.

Think about it:

Religion starts up in many places throughout the globe as people attempt to understand the world around them.  Lot of wondering “why did that healthy young man just drop dead of nothing” and “what is that big light in the sky” type of questions.  People didn’t have an answer, but needed an explanation (because we’re inquisitive little monkeys, aren’t we?), and we came up with the ineffable, unknowable, god.  We couldn’t explain things, but that was okay, because Someone could.

Then we started thinking of ways to answer some of those questions ourselves, and we found we didn’t need to use a god as the explanation anymore.   Well, mostly.  Right now we still have the God of the Gaps strangling some aspects of science (most creationist “evidence” tends to consist of anti-evolution arguments, ala “Well then, what causes these so-called “random” mutations?  Don’t know?  Why that’s just God mixin’ things up a bit down at the nu-cu-lar level”), but one day perhaps science really will explain everything and our descendants will giggle over our cute little Pope and Mecca and sacred cows and 700 Club and evolution vs. creation debates.  Perhaps this period in our history will be the “evolutionary link” between a world and people mired down by superstitious, divisive religions and a race of enlightened beings who have been unified by rational science.

But you know who else moved past religion and fully embraced science, don’t you?

http://www.joes3dfantasyworlds.com/galleries/scifi01/borg_cube05.jpg

Dum…dum…dum(b)!

“A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.”  Arthur Bloch

Religion Evolves into Science.

God Money – Score!

Brianne Bilyeu773 Comments

I found a real gem at my bookstore today.  Check it out, a crumpled up 100 dollar bill!

I snatched it up, and I found this inside:

Awwwww…so disappointing.  Not money?  But then I started reading, and not only is it gawd-awful poorly thought-out stream-of-consciousness sermonizing (which is good for a brief giggle and groan), with poor comma usage (one might add),  but it’s ONE CITATION is from….dum dum dum(b)…Ray Comfort!  He of recent Origin of Species fame.  Score!

But wait, it gets better: I followed the link at the back of the God Money (livingwaters.com), and it’s the…well as wikipedia puts it: “Living Waters Publications (LWP) acts as an online store for WOTM.”  What is WOTM?  WOTM is a the acronym for Way of the Master, a Christian evangelical ministry headed by…Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort!  Yeah, Supreme Score!

Here’s the entire text of “God Money” so you can join in the giggle and groan:

Money.  It gets everyone’s attention.  Someone once said, “All I ask is a chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.”  So, if you could ask God for a certain amount of money, how much would it be?  More than likely Jody Foster wouldn’t ask Him for a penny.  She said, “How could you ask me to believe in God when there’s absolutely no evidence that I can see?”1  Pointing out evidence for God’s existence is like having to explain that the sun exists, on a warm sunny day.  There may be a country in which it’s cloudy every day and those that live there deny that the sun actually exists.  However, I would ask those who live there, “Where do you think sunlight comes from?”
We know that God exists because we can experience the warmth and light of His love and we would say to those who are cut off from knowing Him by the clouds of their own sins, “Where do you think life comes from?”
So let’s roll back the clouds and look at proof for God’s existence, and see what He has in store for you.  You know a builder exists because there is a building.  Buildings don’t build themselves, and you know a Creator exists, because of the evidence of creation.
We can see that “clouds” of sin that cut us off from the light of His love, by looking at the Ten Commandments.  So let’s see if you have sinned: Is God first in your life?  Have you made a god to suit yourself?  Have you ever used God’s holy name in vain?  Have you kept the Sabbath holy?  Have you always honored your parents implicitly? Have you hated anyone?  If so, then the Bible says you are a murderer.  Have you had sex out of marriage?  If you have, you are a fornicator and cannot enter Heaven.  Jesus said, “Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery already with her in his heart.”  Have you ever lusted?  Have you ever stolen something (irrespective of its value)?  If you have, you are a thief.  If you have told just one life (even if you call it “white”), you are a liar, and cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
Listen to your conscience.  The Law leaves us all sinners in God’s sight.  On Judgement Day we would be found guilty, and end up in Hell forever, but because Jesus paid our fine of the Cross 2,000 years ago, God can forgive us.  The Bible says, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Then He rose from the dead, and defeated the power of the grave.  If you repend and trust the Savior, God will forgive your sins and grant you everlasting life.  Confess your sins to God today, put your faith in Jesus Christ, then read the Bible daily and obey what you read.
B.T.W. Did you feel disappointed when you found that this wasn’t real money?  Please don’t be.  You did get something for nothing.  Someone you probably don’t know paid for this booklet so that you could get it for nothing.  This was so that you would hear that you can freely have everlasting life, because Someone has already paid for it in His own life’s blood.  Thank you for reading this.  Please go to www.livingwaters.com and click on “Save Yourself Some Pain”.
1What Hollywood Believes by Ray Comfort

I even linked their little for-profit online store.  Do you think I could spend my God Money there?  Interesting that they didn’t link to the WOTM ministry, but rather to the “online store” website, eh?  Le sigh.  So many things to giggle and groan over, so little time to sleep.

God Money – Score!