Evidence for God from Science Newsletter October, 2006

Greetings in the name of the Lord! This is the latest update for the Evidence for God website. Welcome to our new subscribers.

Contents (scroll down for descriptions)


News

I have had a few complaints that the Evidence for God newsletter does not come out often enough. So, if you want to find out when new articles are first published, you can subscribe to our Feedblitz subscription. Every time a new article is published, you will receive a short e-mail describing the article title, one line summary and a link to the article.

Remove Bibles from Wal-Mart?

A popular atheistic website is planning to send a letter to Wal-Mart on November 1 asking them to stop selling the Bible because it is evil and advocates illegal actions. We have republished a rebuttal by James Patrick Holding (Tektonics Apologetics Ministries) that you can sign online to be sent to Wal-Mart executive Lee Scott at the same time. Please signup before November 1! And don't forget to send the link to your friends.

    The Wal-Mart Bible Letter-Rebuttal
    http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/wal-mart_bible_letter.html


Book Reviews

Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering Our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality, and TruthRobert Waldman, the co-author of Andrew Newberg's (professor of Radiology and Psychiatry) new book, Why We Believe What We Believe, wrote me asking that I review his book. This book is a sequel to Newberg's book, Why God Won't Go Away. The new book has strengths and weaknesses, but, should be of some interest to those who have an interest in spiritual matters and human behavior. The book is primarily written to address the question of how the brain works so that we arrive at what we believe to be true. Neither author is a Christian, as can be evidenced from the many jabs directed at Christians and Christianity scattered throughout the book. However, the book cannot be said to be non-spiritual, since New Age and Far Eastern religions seem to receive little or no criticism (co-author, Mr. Waldman seems to be into New Age-type spirituality), and are actually endorsed. Likewise, atheists may not be entirely comfortable with the content, since it clearly challenges their cherished belief that they have no beliefs...

    Book Review: Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering Our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality, and Truth
    http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/why_we_believe.html

Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering Our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality, and TruthReasons To Believe's third in a series of books proposing a testable creation model takes on the origin and design of the universe. Previous books, Origins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face Off and Who Was Adam?: A Creation Model Approach to the Origin of Man, examined the origin of life on earth and the origin of mankind, respectively. Creation As Science develops a biblical creation model and compares the predictions of this model compared to a naturalistic model, young earth creationism, and theistic evolution. This biblical creation model is divided into four main areas, the origin of the universe, the origin of the Solar System, the history of life on earth, and the origin and history of mankind...

    Book Review: Creation As Science: A Testable Model Approach to End the Creation/evolution Wars
    http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/creation_as_science.html


Answers for Atheists

Bible as a myth

As a former agnostic, what really struck me in reading the Bible for the first time in my 30's was the degree of candor displayed in the writings. The Bible heroes were presented with all their shortcomings as well as faith. As I learned more about the Bible, it has continuously occurred to me that nobody (least of all, Jesus' disciples) would fabricate many of the things in the Bible. For example, in other religions, heaven consists of males engaging in eternal sex with multiple virgins. However, in the Bible there are no sexual relationships, but believers are "married" to Jesus. Realistically, no males I know of (including myself) would ever make up the Christian concept of heaven. To make the picture complete, the members of the Church are described as being female. How insulting that would be to the average male ego of the first century...

    Is Christianity a Made-up Myth Written by the Disciples?
    http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/why_christianity_is_not_false.html

Pascal's wager

Pascal's wager, put forth by Blaise Pascal, a 17th century philosopher and mathematician, claims that if there is an equal chance that God exists or does not exist, then the best wager is to choose the one that has the best payoff (God does exist). The problem with the wager from a Christian perspective is that mere belief in the existence of God is not sufficient for entry into heaven. Those who choose belief in God because of Pascal's wager are likely to find themselves with a lost bet, which has eternal consequences...

    What is Wrong with Pascal's Wager?
    http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/pascals_wager.html

People are good?

Most people believe that human nature is basically good and that those who perpetrate evil are somehow unusual among people. Christian doctrine says that all people are sinners, and in need of redemption. A rebuttal to the idea that people are good has been on the site for a while. However, reading Why We Believe What We Believe provided more evidence that people are not really good. Read the updated page to get an idea of the psychology studies that have shown how really depraved we really are...

    'People are Basically Good' - Proof to the Contrary
    http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/peoplegood.html


Sanctity of human life

Modern Eugenics

Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical EugenicsSeveral years ago I wrote an article entitled Modern Eugenics, based upon a 2001 study that claimed that the fall in crime in the United States was due to the legalization of abortion in 1973. This summer, I came across a number of studies and articles that made me rewrite the article. First there was another study that showed that the first studied was flawed, since the writers failed to take into account the ages of those who committed the crimes. When the ages of the perpetrators was taken into account, the results actually showed that abortion actually increased the crime rate. Another addition to the page is a look at medical eugenics, in which women are now expected to abort their "less than perfect" children. A link to an article by Professor Elizabeth R. Schiltz, who has been branded a "genetic outlaw" because she did not abort her Down syndrome child, is exceptional, highly recommended, reading. Additionally, it was revealed this summer that one of the co-counsels of Roe V. Wade (the U.S. supreme court decision that legalized abortions), Ron Weddington, had written president elect Bill Clinton in 1992 advocating elimination of the lower class through birth control and abortion. You're not going to believe what Weddington, a self-labeled liberal, wrote, including encouraging Clinton "to eliminate the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of our country" through birth control and abortion. Weddington's entire letter is reproduced on the site for your reading "pleasure."

    Modern Eugenics: How Abortion is Getting Rid of 'Undesirables'
    http://www.godandscience.org/doctrine/moderneugenics.html


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Those are the most recent updates and changes since the last e-mail update. If you would like to see anything in particular at Evidence for God from Science, let me know. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)

In Christ,
Rich Deem


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http://www.godandscience.org/newsletters/2006-10.html
Last Modified October 18, 2006

 

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