Noah for Children

Since I was in the adult class, I can't say exactly what was taught to the kids at my church's Summer Spectacular about Noah.  All I can go on is the decorations and the play that everyone attends.  Even based only on that there several errors and a little PC blather.

There were no dinosaurs on any of the arks accept for the one my kids and I decorated in the toddler hall.  As I was working on this the 9-year-old son of one of the Sunday School teachers told me I was doing it all wrong because everyone knows that the dinosaurs were all extinct long before Noah.  I tried to explain politely that I believed they were alive and on the ark.

The animals that were on the big ark display in the atrium included Dalmatians, poodles, and fresh water fish. 

It seems to me that while our Senior Minister of the Word was on target for accuracy (he even mentioned that there were no fish or poodles on the ark) the Children's Director obviously didn't think it was important.  Or maybe she doesn't agree with a young earth.  Or maybe she is ill-informed about the details of Noah's ark having been around the cartoon version of a tiny craft with animals poking their heads out of windows for so long.

It seems to me when something is as scoffed at as Noah's flood that we need to fill our kids heads with realistic images not cartoony goofiness.  I really appreciate Answers in Genesis and their newest project:  building a life-size replica of the ark completely out of wood.  The project is called Ark Encounter. 

When I showed my kids the graphic from the website, they were amazed at how huge the ark was compared to people.  I would love to take them to Ark Encounter in a few years.  I am sure the enormity of the ark will have even more impact in person.

Literal world-wide flood

  Our Sr. Minister of the Word gave the Noah lessons all three days of our Summer Spectacular.  Several hundred adults were there many of them visitors.  I enjoyed it.  In part, I enjoyed it because I got an answer to one of my questions:  Does this church believe in a literal world-wide flood about 4500 years ago?

The short answer is yes, but we are not discussing the age of the earth or how long man has been on the earth.

He did a good job of sticking up for the fact that the genealogy is of real people who lived 900+ years (as opposed to clan leaders or other mumbo jumbo).  He did a good job explaining the local/universal debate and defending the universality of the flood.  These were the reasons he gave:
1.  It is the simplest reading of the text.
2.  Why else would God insist on a boat instead of migration?
3.  The year long duration of the flooding/drying process seems out of league with a smaller flood.
4.  God promised to never do this again, but there have been many catastrophic floods since then.
5.  Jesus and Peter use the flood of Noah's day as an example of God's ability to judge the whole world.
He also mentioned the flood traditions from around the world, and how there would have been plenty of space for all of the kinds of animals.  He also pointed out that there would have been only one doggish animal not coyotes, wolves, etc.

Here are some other nuggets of interest that I gleaned.
Enoch means dedication.  He started walking with God the year Methuselah was born.  Methuselah's name means when he dies judgement comes.  Methuselah long life shows God's grace.  (FYI, Methuselah died the year of the flood.) 

We must have a supernatural worldview not a purely natural one.  This is the most rational explanation of the marvels we see around us.

The source of trust is what you are trying to build.  What are you trying to build with your life?  What does it show that you trust?  Build something now that will survive when judgement comes.

Obey even when it doesn't make sense.  For example, how can being dunked under water have anything to do with my spiritual life?

Faithful move upstream in a downstream world.  Sometimes this might involve moving upstream against even religious people. 

God shows he remembers us with deeds (wind to recede the waters), signs (olive branch in the dove's mouth), and his Word (speaks to Noah, gives covenant).

True faith looks for a way to respond to grace.

Examples of unanswered questions

I thought I should clarify the last few sentences of my previous post.  "There is no platform to make concerns known. There is no platform for dialogue and debate. There is no platform to share new ideas gleaned from scripture. There is no fellowship in the Word only the dissemination of information and the acceptance of it by the masses."
In these sentences, I am referring to dialogue, debate, fellowship between the masses and the leaders.  In a church of 5000 people with about 50 leaders (elders, ministers, etc.), I realize that they can't all sit down and listen to each persons complaint, question, or concern as a group.  And I realize that on a one on one basis they are generally willing to listen to and study with individual members.  Our leaders are caring, god-fearing people as far as I can tell by my limited exposure to them.  The only one I have any kind of relationship with is the Missions Minister because I see him almost weekly as I'm on the missions committee. 

I have been thinking/praying about what would be a viable solution to this longing for open and frank discussion.  So far my best thought has been a congregational convention.  I know that several denominations have conventions.  Ours doesn't, but I thought that a congregational convention would be a breath of fresh air to me and would deepen the sense of body and community.  I would especially enjoy an open mic session where everyone could ask questions of all the elders/ministers and everyone could hear the response and follow up with questions of their own.  I think that this would increase the transparency of our church 100 fold.  It would allow members with similar questions to know that they are not alone. 

Here are some of the questions I would ask:

Why are we not allowed to actively promote 40 Days for Life as part of our pro-life ministry?  (I help found the ministry and I am still fuzzy on the answer to this question.)

How much of our $10,000,000 auditorium renovation is repair and how much of it is upgrade?  (In a financial responsibility small group study that was sponsored by the church in the run up to the fund-raising drive, this was one of the guidelines for spending in your family.  For example, are we getting a new TV because ours broke or because we want a trendy upgrade?)

How will the Christian university we are starting in Africa be different than a secular university in the areas of science, economics, history, government, etc.?

In the missions committee, we often discuss the "felt need" of a people group as a springboard to a ministry that gives our missionaries an easier tie to the people.  I think that one of the "felt needs" of Americans is weight loss.  Are we willing to look into being of service to our community in this way?
What are other felt needs of the residents of Tarrant County and how do you see us reaching out to people who feel these needs?

Why is the biggest celebration that goes on at this building on Halloween and called "Fall Festival" instead of at Christmas or Easter?  Why are the decorations at Christmas entirely secular with 6 trees and no nativity scene?

When the Wednesday night kids classes were moved to the chapel so the teachers could get their rooms decorated for Summer Spectacular (our VBS), why was Evan Almighty chosen as the movie for elementary students?   Is playing a movie that doesn't uphold the Bible as accurate really a wise thing to show impressionable kids?  Does this church uphold that a literal world-wide flood happened 4500 years ago?  (Our Summer Spectacular theme this year is Noah.)

Why doesn't our church take a stand against evolution by hosting creation science speakers especially when the Institute for Creation Research is only a few miles away?

In a recent sermon, the new minister mentioned that it was a Christian's responsibility to fight global warming, eat organic, recycle, etc.  This seems a dangerous road to be going down.  Much of the green movement is more concerned about "Mother Earth" than about people especially the poor.  Global warming (if it is occurring at all) is not likely caused by people.  Can you please explain further what this church's view is of these issues?  Would some of the leaders be willing to watch the DVD series Resisting the Green Dragon by the Cornwall Alliance and give your collective opinion in a future meeting? 

What are common lies taught to our kids by the public school system and what are some ways that parents can combat them?

I am sure I would have more as the answer to these came in.  Some of these questions are recent, but others I have been trying to get a solid answer on for months or years. 

Thanks again for your input.

Mosasaur Soft Tissues

You might remember the T-rex soft tissues found a few years ago and how scientists still claimed that they were millions of years old. Well yesterday ICR posted an article about mosasaur remnants that still had several kinds of soft tissue. How can eye, skin, and blood tissue be millions of years old? As it says in the article, ". . . it is highly unlikely that this mosasaur is even thousands of years old, since these tissues decay so quickly. Therefore, insisting that they are over 80 million years old defies all reason."

Unity and Truth

My mother and I have an ongoing conversation about unity and truth. It is obvious that unity among believers is a biblical principle. But unity has to be around something. Something more than being able to tolerate one another's company while listening to sermons. Unity has to do with a purpose. It would seem pretty obvious from scripture that the purpose would be the Great Commission: making disciples, baptizing them, and teaching them to observe Jesus' commands. All of these things involve truth. For people to work together in a unified way on these things, they have to agree on some basics. For example, you have to agree on either infant or believer baptism.

I think that many churches try to stand for as few truths as possible so that they can be unified with as many people as possible. They usually summarized them as Statements of Faith. This is a super-condensed version of my church's:

1. There is one true God having three persons (God the Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit).
2. God loved us so much that he sent his son, Jesus. Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died, and was raised again. In his death, he took on the sins of the world so that God's justice and mercy could remain intact.
3. At the point of salvation, each Christian is physically indwelled by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps the Christian make righteous choices and transforms us into a new person.
4. The Bible is without error and full of truth. It is God-breathed.
5. We are created in the spiritual likeness or image of God, but he allows us to choose to love him and act according to his commands. The first man, Adam, chose to sin, and now every person lives in a marred creation with a marred spiritual nature. As a result, every person will eventually choose to sin and subsequently become separated from God.
6. Salvation is a gift of God and cannot be accomplished by works. When we decide to trust God, we obey Jesus' command being immersed in water and demonstrating Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.
7. The church is the body of Christ and the family of believers. As such it is our duty to love others and share the Gospel to win as many as possible.
8. Those who follow Jesus will spend eternity in Heaven with him. Those who reject Jesus' will spend eternity in Hell without him.

While these eight things are all well and good, they don't address many issues. For example, can you tell from this if we have women elders or deacons? Can you tell what our position on evolution or do we even have one? The list could go on.

Some people would say that since these are not "salvation" issues that it isn't worth taking a firm stand on them. So that is my question. . . What is worth taking a stand over?

The Lutheran denomination is wrestling with this issue right now. Some congregations are separating from the ELCA because they believe that ordaining non-celibate gays and lesbians is something that they cannot be a party to. I agree with them. But some would say this is wrong because unity is more important.

And is separating from one another necessarily disunity? My mother pointed out that Paul and Barnabas separated over John Mark. But were they bringing about disunity? They basically went their own way and REMAINED FRIENDS. That is often lacking when congregations part ways.

I, for one, wish that my church would take a stronger stand on many things. For example, pro-life issues, the biblical role of government, and creationism. But if they did, many people would leave. Others might come. How important is staying in the same congregation? How important is standing for the truth? Any thoughts?

Yeast and Appendix

I ran across two interesting articles recently that support creation.

The first is from Institute for Creation Research about brewer's yeast that is supposedly 45 million years old. This is the opening paragraph.

Stumptown Brewery in Guerneville, California, brews its beer according to a unique formula. Although standard ingredients such as malt and hops are used, the yeast that is added is supposedly 45 million years old.¹ The yeast was found in the digestive tract of a bee encased in amber. How could yeast cells survive and still be able to make beer after such a long time?

Seriously. . . How can anything be alive and functional after 45 million years? Hundreds or thousands is amazing enough.

The next article was a secular article about the appendix from Yahoo News.

The body's appendix has long been thought of as nothing more than a worthless evolutionary artifact, good for nothing save a potentially lethal case of inflammation.

Now researchers suggest the appendix is a lot more than a useless remnant. Not only was it recently proposed to actually possess a critical function, but scientists now find it appears in nature a lot more often than before thought.

No less than Charles Darwin first suggested that the appendix was a vestigial organ from an ancestor that ate leaves, theorizing that it was the evolutionary remains of a larger structure, called a cecum, which once was used by now-extinct predecessors for digesting food.



Parker and his colleagues recently suggested that the appendix still served as a vital safehouse where good bacteria could lie in wait until they were needed to repopulate the gut after a nasty case of diarrhea. Past studies had also found the appendix can help make, direct, and train white blood cells.

Yet non of this functionality point these people to a Designer. It is sad really.


"We're not saying that Darwin's idea of evolution is wrong - that would be absurd, as we're using his ideas on evolution to do this work," Parker told LiveScience. "It's just that Darwin simply didn't have the information we have now."

God has left evidence all around us of his handiwork. He is truly amazing in so many ways.

Homeschool Happenings v. 3

I haven't posted several things this past week because I have been getting ready for today. It's the first day of school for us. We are going with a 6 weeks on 2 weeks off system this year. I am kind of excited. Here is a run down of the stuff we are using.

Phonics/Spelling The Writing Road to Reading
I would not necessarily recommend this to everyone, but my son really struggled to get a handle on sight words in kindergarten so we went to this system where there are extremely few sight words (like the word one) and you learn many word teams and all of their sounds.

Math Right Start Math Levels B and C
Both of my kids are in the middle of a level so we are starting out where we left off in June. I highly recommend this for anyone. The lessons use lots of games. Almost all of the stuff comes with the kits. The lessons are varied so its not 50 lessons in a row on one thing, but all of the things are covered and reviewed.

Writing Handwriting Without Tears
Both of my kids have a problem with handwriting. (One because he wants to write with his hand upside down and the other because she doesn't have the fine motor coordination yet.) I got the workbooks and the chalkboard (helps with the fine motor stuff), but not the whole shebang. We will see how it works.

Grammar Daily Language Review
I wanted something fast and simple that would reinforce grammar for my son in 2nd. I got the first grade one because I wasn't sure if it meant a review of what was learned in 1st grade or a book for first grade reviewing what you learned in kindergarten. Each day has a little exercise that he can do himself, so we'll see how it goes.

Bible My Father's World and a Bible reader of my own design
You have to call MFW if you want to order individual things instead of the whole curriculum. The reader is good (the illustrations could stand to be better). I got it for the ease of reading. I also got the workbook where the student draws a picture about what he/she read and writes a sentence. I got a little journal type thing with a space to write and a space for pictures at Wal-mart. For my daughter I am writing short (about 6 sentences) Bible stories and letting her draw the picture.

Science How to Teach Science, DK First Human Body Encyclopedia, Apologia astronomy
We are doing an element a week somewhat following the How to Teach Science e-mails. We doing one human anatomy lesson a week starting with the skeleton. My kids love bones and such. I borrowed the Apologia astronomy from a friend to do bits of because my in-laws generously gave us a telescope. We will also be attending star parties with the Fort Worth Astronomical Society. We will also be doing little weekly science experiments.

Texas Geography Lessons made by me.
This year we are learning about the various regions of Texas as described by the Texas State Parks people. Texas is such a huge state we are taking the whole year on it. We will also be playing Great States Jr. to gear up for next year's America geography.

Weekly Wisdom Lessons by me
I am doing a "wise trait" each week. This week is discipline.
Getting a better mind, body, and soul takes training.
Listen
Practice
Keep moving forward.
"Anyone who loves to be trained loves knowledge. Anyone who hates to be corrected is stupid." Proverbs 12:1 (NIrV)

Big Fat Lies Lessons by me
We are also discussing some of the Big FAT lies Satan has saturated our culture with. The first is that the earth is billions of years old.

Art Lessons by me
We are going to have one lesson a week on observing and then drawing. For example, look at a person. Do the arms come out of the head? We will also have one creative art lesson a week.

Quilting Lessons by me
The kids wanted to learn about quilting. So I found an "easy" pattern that I think I could do and my mother-in-law said we could have one of her sewing machines. We are starting with a lap size quilt so we (read me) aren't too overwhelmed. Maybe I will post some pictures of our progress.

I think that about covers it. I am excited about this six weeks.

An Hour Worth Watching

Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis did a speech a while ago about the state of Christianity in America. It is worth the hour to watch. In it, he shares some of the information from his book Already Gone. The book is titled that because many parents fear that kids will loose their way in college. Yet the statistics show that most kids that leave the Church fell away in middle school and high school. There parents just weren't aware of it until the kid left for college. Some of the most striking statistics are these.

The results are shocking:

• Those who faithfully attend Sunday School are more likely to leave the church than those who do not.
• Those who regularly attend Sunday School are more likely to believe that the Bible is less true.
• Those who regularly attend Sunday School are actually more likely to defend that abortion and gay marriage should be legal.
• Those who regularly attend Sunday School are actually more likely to defend premarital sex.

Mr. Ham states that he feels these things are true because kids go to Sunday School and get entertainment instead of answers. They aren't told how the Bible relates to real life. If they ask a question about evolution (for example), they are told something ambiguous. The focus is on trusting Jesus, but how can you trust Jesus if you can't trust the whole book that points to him? All of this makes them more sour on religion than those who were not involved in religion much.

I feel the online video is worth the hour it takes to watch it. I have ordered the book, but haven't gotten it yet. If it is good, maybe I will give one away.

Critter Corner V.3

Give Away

Dr. Jobe Martin has come out with a new DVD called Creation Proclaims. For those of you unfamiliar with Dr. Martin, he spent a significant part of his adult life believing evolution was the correct explanation for the origin and variety of life. When he was a professor of dentistry, some of his students challenged him. He eventually gave up on evolution and now gives lectures and produces DVD's about the irreducibly complex nature of all animals. You may know him from his series Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution.

This first volume of Creation Proclaims, is quite good. My kids (kindergarten and 1st grade) and I watched it, and we all liked it. It talks about the unique traits of various animals (gibbon, baboon, aye-aye, weta, hissing cockroach) and how they could not have evolved slowly. I think that anyone that likes animals could enjoy it.

So if you want a copy, leave a comment stating why you want it and I will let my kids pick a winner in a few days.

Tadpoles
The kids and I have two tiny tadpoles in an aquarium from our creek/drainage ditch. They are about the size of a petite pea. We also inadvertently captured quite a few snails, some mosquito babies, and some tiny specks that continually hop underwater. There are hundreds and hundreds of tadpoles in this little tiny area surrounded by houses and a school. It is cool to see nature right in our neighborhood.



Pink Dolphin in Louisiana

Have you heard of the reports of this albino dolphin in Lake Charles? Supposedly they are very rare. I have certainly never heard of it before.

National Day of Prayer

I am glad that our country still has a National Day of Prayer. I would like to encourage you all to pray a prayer of national confession today. National confession is simply coming before the Lord and admitting all of the wrong that we have done as a nation whether we have participated in the wrong as individuals or not. Here is an example:

Lord of all creation, I come before you today confessing that as a nation we have glorified the creation via extreme environmentalism instead of you the Creator. We have glorified killing innocent babies instead of godly mother and fatherhood. We have glorified greed and materialism instead of generosity and charity.

Especially troubling to me, O Lord, are the millions that die and have died before they had a chance to breathe their first breaths. God, we have become so desensitized to the killing. Help us to care enough to act. Help me care enough to act. Help your church be involved in the prevention of abortion through prayer, abstinence education, and godly parenting. Help your church support those who choose parenting or adoption instead of killing. Help your church bring healing to those that made a bad choice and are now mourning the loss of their child.

Another thing that is heavy on my heart is the disregard many Christians have for the complete authority of Scripture. It shows up in combining evolution and creation. It shows up in agreeing with same sex "marriage". Help us know that truth is found in Your Word. Help us trust that you are telling us the truth. Help us know that the Bible is a miracle not the mere work of men.

I ask all of these things in the holy name of Jesus.

Zechariah 1:3-4 Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the Lord Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty. 4 Do not be like your forefathers, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.' But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the Lord.

Random Links

Here are some links to things that I found interesting over the past few days. I don't remember how I came upon them all hence the lack of hat tips on some items. Sorry.


Judge Andrew Napolitano's comments on the somewhat notorious “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment”. Here is a summary quote:

My guess is that the sentiments revealed in the report I read are the tip of an iceberg that the DHS would prefer to keep submerged until it needs to reveal it. This iceberg is the heavy-hand of government; a government with large and awful eyes, in whose heart there is no love for freedom, and on whose face there is no smile.

HT: Family Journey
This is a long, boring scientific document about the midwifery model of care being better than the medical model. The plain language summary is worth a read. To quote, "Midwife-led care was associated with several benefits for mothers and babies, and had no identified adverse effects." According to this the main circumstance that would make medical care desirable is if you go into labor 16 weeks (or more) early. The study was produced by the Cochrane Library.


Lacrae
I am not really big on hiphop. But I did like the lyrics of this song. If you are a fast listener, give it a whirl. The song is called "Don't Waste Your Life".




Another artist from the same label, has an interesting post about offending without remorse.


Mona Lisa Project

The ladies at Live Action have made another undercover video of the Planned Parenthood cover up of statutory rape. This time in Memphis, TN.





And last but not least, a man in the Netherlands has built a 1/2 scale Noah's ark. I had heard of this before, but had never seen pictures.

Free Creationist Magazine

The Institute for Creation Research publishes a monthly magazine called Acts and Facts. Each issue has various creationist articles. Some cover the research going on at ICR. Some cover other young-earth topics.

One of my favorite articles (Jan. 2009) was about the brilliant pediatric brain surgeon, Dr. Benjamin Carson. He is well known for his amazing surgeries like hemispherectomies and a 22-hour surgery to separate conjoined twins. Though he faces pressure to stand alongside Darwinian evolution, he has stood for creationism even in the midst of peers like those at the Academy of Achievement.

Some examples of articles in that same issue include: "The Wax That Taxes Darwin" (about the amazing properties of ear wax) and "Human Reproduction" (about the many factors necessary for fertilization to occur and how, "Evolutionary literature is rife with speculative stories about the origination of these processes, but devoid of any real scientific evidence to explain them."

I find each issue interesting and encourage you to sign up. I think that there is also a way to get a subscription for your church (to place in the information section that most churches have), but I think that you may have to call them for that.

Well, I'm Back

We got back from Grandmomma's funeral late Wednesday night. It was good to celebrate a life well lived in Christ. She will leave a big gap in our extended family.

Waiting for me at home were 120 e-mails most of them warning me about the pork in the "stimulus" bill.

But to me even more concerning that the stimulus bill is parental rights in this country. Here are some things that stood out to me.

From ParentalRights.org, "The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which opponents say could destroy American sovereignty by imposing international rulings on American law, could reach the Senate within 60 days. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) says she wants a 60-day timeframe for the State Department to complete its review so the Senate can move toward ratification of the UNCRC. During the Senate Confirmation hearing between Boxer and UN Ambassador-designate Susan Rice held on January 15, 2009, Boxer told Rice the UNCRC would protect “the most vulnerable people of society.”

Opponents vehemently disagree. Under the Supremacy Clause (Article VI) of the U.S. Constitution, ratified treaties preempt state law. Since virtually all laws in the U.S. regarding children are state laws, this treaty would negate nearly 100% of existing American family law. Moreover, it would grant the government authority to override parental decisions by applying even to good parents a standard now only used against those convicted of abuse or neglect."

You can get more information about the UNCRC from the sidebar or this post from a year ago. This is a terrible law that basically gives children the authority to choose their own religion (i. e. the right to refuse to go to church or obey their parents moral standards), to choose their friends (be they gang bangers, drug dealers, or Satanists), and the right to leisure (i. e. no grounding from sports, camping trips, prom, etc.). There is more, but I better move on to the next item.

Vision Forum blog has an interesting post on what to share with your children on the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth. (Granted this was yesterday, but it is still worth the read.)

Then there is Al Gore encouraging children to be the new front line of green thinking because their parents just don't know and won't get it. (HT: Cornwall Alliance) That reminded me of Maria Trapp saying that the Nazi's had a similar pile of blather (parents aren't modern enough to get what we are telling you) in the newly taken over Austrian schools. You can read my post on the Trapp Family Singers here.

Of Conjoined Twins and Pink Iguanas

A couple in England is expecting a set of dicephalus conjoined twins. This means that they share at least part of their torso and their legs. In a quote from a LifeSiteNews article the mother, Lisa Chamberlain, said, "Some people might look at me and say 'You're going to give birth to a freak' but I don't care because I feel blessed." Mrs. Chamberlain and her husband are practising Catholics. I am glad that they have the courage to stand against their doctor and family and give these babies a chance at life. (OneMom also has a post about eugenics that shows how many different kinds of "abnormalities" we are willing to snuff out. I imagine that Rex's mom [see post below] would have recommended by many doctors for abortion. This issue hits close to home. My mom was advised to abort me because she had an x-ray when she was only a few weeks pregnant and didn't yet know it. I am vey glad that she told the doctor no way.)

And we have yet another animal that supposedly evolved millions of years before its island home existed: the pink iguanas on the Galapagos Islands. Once again ICR has the story in more detail.

Lord Howe Tree Lobster

ICR has an interesting article on the Lord Howe tree lobster. It is an insect that supposedly evolved several million years before its habitat existed. (Insert eye-roll here.)

The article explains how evolutionists try to rationalize this with sinking islands. Go figure.

One Blood

This video is of one of my favorite artists, Lewis Lavoie, working on a mosaic mural called One Blood, Many Nations. It is a painting about how all peoples came from Adam. It is very fascinating to watch Mr. Lavoie work and combine so many images into one giant masterpeice.

Combining Evolution and the Bible

ICR recently had an article about Pres. Bush's belief that you can combine evolution and the Bible because he isn’t a literalist when it comes to reading the Bible, but he thinks “you can learn a lot from it.”

There are so many reasons to trust the Bible. It is accurate historically and scientifically. Archaeologists and scientist are discovering more reasons to believe every week. They just aren't what the MSM wants you to hear so you don't. I will give two brief examples here and move on. In 2007, a cuneiform tablet was found by the British Museum confirming that Nebo-Sarsekim mentioned in Jeremiah 39:3 did indeed bring a gold tribute to King Nebuchadnezzar. The RATE project (which studied helium leak and zircon crystals) gives much evidence for a young earth.

It makes me sad that so many Christians, like Pres. Bush, try to combine the millions of years of death and decay with "and God saw that it was good." This is especially bothersome to me because most leading evolutionist would agree with Stephen J. Gould (a big fan of Darwin) who once wrote:
The radicalism of natural selection lies in its power to dethrone some of the deepest and most traditional comforts of Western thought, particularly the notion that nature’s benevolence, order, and good design, with humans at a sensible summit of power and excellence, prove the existence of an omnipotent and benevolent creator who loves us most of all…. To these beliefs Darwinian natural selection presents the most contrary position imaginable.
Evolutionists understand that the two belief systems are incompatible. So why can't we?

The ICR article further laments,
Bush called himself a “simple president,” implying that he does not feel qualified to speak authoritatively on scientific matters. Few people do, since American science education, under the guise of “separation of church and state,” has for decades hindered students from understanding even basic science by limiting their studies to the evolutionary worldview and forbidding an open exploration of the evidence. This effort to suppress sound science continues as special interest groups pressure the Texas State Board of Education to drop the teaching of evolution’s “strengths and weaknesses” from the state science curriculum requirements, which the Board will review in early 2009.

I truly hope that the Texas State Board of Education has the guts to allow children to learn the "strengths and weaknesses" of the theory of evolution. And if they don't, I hope that it motivates more parents to take charge of their children's education.

More Local More Personal

AP had a story recently that I found encouraging. It talks about "anti-abortion" leaders and activists are even more resolved now than ever. "Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life. "But that disappointment and anger are forms of energy. ...I believe a lot of people on the sidelines for last eight years will now get engaged." The article talks about how many efforts will now involve more vigils and protests. O that many people will go public this year that have never had the guts to do so in the past. The article also predicts that there will be more volunteers at those "anti-abortion" crisis pregnancy centers. O God, please let it be so.

The article goes on to discuss contraception. "Under a Democratic-led government, abortion-rights supporters will call on conservatives to join in an effort to reduce abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies. Anti-abortion leaders say they are unwilling to do this if it means abandoning their abstinence-only approach and supporting greater access to birth control for unmarried women." Praise God that these leaders are standing firm for abstinence only until marriage!

"Any time you have a loss like that, you have an opportunity to reassess and come back stronger," said Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life. "If they want to see this as a big loss that will set us back, that's OK. Our people are very energized, and ready for Round Two." As someone who was never physically involved in round one, I am certainly more ready for Round Two. I hope and pray that there are many thousands like me.

I will leave you with a biblical mandate and encouragement: "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." Ephesians 5:11
"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1John 3:18

ADHD and Being Outside

Institute for Creation Research has an article on their site talking about the benefits of being outside in green spaces (that is places with plants). The article specifically sites a study involving ADHD children. According to the study after a 20-minute walk in a park the kids showed a significant increase in attentiveness. Walks in non-green urban areas did not produce the same results. ICR points out that it makes sense that green spaces would benefit us. After all our perfect habitat was the Garden of Eden.

So whether you (or your kids) has ADHD or not, get outside. Walk in the park. Enjoy God's creation. Maybe I'll follow my own advice and take my kids to the botanic gardens today.

Creation for Little Sprouts

If you are visiting my blog because OneMom recommended my Creation for Little Sprouts DVDs, feel free to click on the video clips to the right and see what you think. I made these DVDs out of frustration that all nature videos for toddlers left God out of the picture. They are a labor of love from my family to yours. I don't usually sell them retail, but OneMom talked me into adding a PayPal button to my blog. (It is under the clips.) If you have any questions about the DVDs, please leave a comment and I will answer them.