New Blog Site

I will be doing more regular blogging from my ministry website, www.esquareinch.org. I will still post here for issues that are unrelated to my ministry work, but I expect I will be far more active there than here. Please follow me over there for my articles, Christian blogging, and new resources that will be coming online in the coming months. Today's blog post is here.

On Settled Science: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Just to clarify a few things:

Catastrophic anthropogenic global warming is not settled science. A significant number of climatologists question the supposed “consensus” on this point. (The 97% number you hear is based on a 2009 survey in which the analysis was based on 77 respondents, 75 of whom agreed with the two rather vague questions asked in the survey.) Yet Democrats in California attempted to criminalize speaking out against the party line on climate change. One wonders what Galileo would have to say about that.

The idea that people are born “gay” is not settled science. In fact, it isn’t science at all. There is precisely zero evidence for it, whether in genetic studies or twin studies. Similarly, the idea that sexual orientation is immutable flies in the face of the many people whose orientation has changed. It is demonstrably false empirically despite the political classes being wedded to the idea.

It is settled science that one cannot transition from male to female or female to male. With the exception of genetic or gestational anomalies, those categories are fixed by biology and cannot be changed.

It is settled science that human life begins at conception. At that point a living, genetically distinct human organism comes into existence. It is a human life at a very early stage of development. Separating the human being from the person has no scientific basis; it is a matter of philosophy, law and convenience. Abraham Lincoln suggested that the Civil War would continue, “… until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be repaid by another drawn with the sword….” What does this mean in light of the 58 million human lives in the US that have been taken since Roe v. Wade in the name of a philosophical idea?

Remind me again, which political party is anti-science?

Discovery Bible Study and Lectio Divina

This pair of articles from the Worldview Journal (here and here) are my first foray into a larger project dealing with developing a more systematic approach to discipleship. Discovery Bible Study is a relatively new approach to Scripture which focuses on obedience; Lectio Divina is a very ancient approach that involves internalizing Scripture to shape our inner lives and our hearts. Together, they are a powerful combination that helps us both to become what God calls us to be and to do what he tells us to do. The basic instructions for both approaches are in the articles; try them out and if you feel inspired, let me know how they work for you.

Andre and Magda Trocme and the Village of Le-Chambon-sur-Lignon

The latest article in the series Christians who Changed their World is about a village in France during World War II. Led by its Huguenot pastor and his wife, this village and the surrounding area saved the lives of a number of Jews equal to their own population by hiding them from the Nazis and their Vichy collaborators and in some cases smuggling them to Switzerland. It's a great story, and if you haven't heard it yet, you'll want to read the article.

In honor of Black History Month ...

I've published two new articles in the series, Christians who Changed their World. The first is Josephine Margaret Bakhita, a woman enslaved as a girl in Sudan who eventually found freedom in a convent, and Frederick Douglass, another former slave who became one of America's greatest public intellectuals. Douglass appears on lists of prominent atheists, but if you actually take the time to look at his career and read his own works, his Christian commitments come through loud and clear.

The Story of "O Come, O Come, Emanuel" and the "O Antiphons"

The story behind the hymn "O Come, O Come, Emanuel" stretches back at least to the 700s AD and perhaps back to around 500 AD or even earlier. This article tells that story, including explaining the hidden acrostic in the original prayers, and provides a devotional for the seven days preceding Christmas.

Now Thank We All Our God

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. One popular hymn for this holiday is Martin Rinkart's "Now Thank We All Our God." We live in uncertain and dangerous times, and many people are worried about war, terrorism, and other problems facing us today. Rinkart's story and his hymn can help put this in perspective. Read about it here.