MODEL SUGGESTS HOW LIFE CODE EMERGED FROM PRIMORDIAL SOUP

Dateline:  September 1, 2009 - Physicists have generated the first theoretical model that shows how a coded genetic system can emerge from an ancestral broth of simple molecules.  They found that the properties of the molecules set the concentrations at which the molecules needed to exist for a coded regime to emerge.   At these concentrations, the scientists found that a vetting process began to unfold whereby tRNA and amino acid began to seek... Read more

WAYS OF THE MYSTIC: LETTING THE WELL REPLENISH; SAYING NO EVEN TO “OBLIGATION”

Dateline:  September 1, 2009 - I can feed upon and be built up by delving into the Word and letting it guide me to new places, including green pastures. My cup will begin to overflow and I will need to express this overabundance, this exuberance of spirit, by praying or testifying. But afterwards, I may feel drained, depleted, spent. I have to wait until my well has replenished itself or else I have nothing to offer. For me, the spiritual well... Read more

PEOPLE WITH LOTS OF WORKING MEMORY NOT EASILY DISTRACTED

Dateline - August 10, 2009  Adverse reaction to undesired distraction may signal a person’s low working-memory capacity.  Read More →

ORDERING PRINCIPLE LEAVES “MORAL” ATHEISTS CULPABLE FOR NATURAL EVIL

Dateline - August 8, 2009   The ordering principle of the universe, regardless of whether it is conscious or not, is a huge dilemma for the “moral,” rational atheist. And atheist John Loftus acknowledges that there is indeed an ordering principle in Chapter 5 of his book, “Why I Became An Atheist”: “Have you ever stopped to think that what exists outside of our universe, that is, what is beyond the known ORDER [caps... Read more

PARASITES MAY HAVE HAD ROLE IN SEX EVOLUTION

Dateline - August 1, 2009   Reproducing without sex—like microbes, some plants and even a few reptiles—would seem like a better way to go.  An article published in the July issue of the American Naturalist suggests that sex may have evolved in part as a defense against parasites, since parasites keep asexual organisms from getting too plentiful.  Read More →

KARL BARTH ON HOW THE BIBLE SHOULD BE READ IN LIGHT OF HISTORICAL CRITICISM

Continuing Kenton Sparks’ remarks on Karl Barth (from Sparks’ book God’s Word in Human Words): “If God commits no error, as orthodoxy demands, then how is it possible for the Bible to be so utterly human as Barth suggests?  How does  God speak through such a human text?  Let us follow Barth’s logic through to its end.  In Barth’s view, biblical criticism was suited to explore all sorts of questions about the... Read more

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE JESUS SEMINAR, PART II

The next verse, the fifth, that we shall consider comes from Mark 3:27. Yet again, this verse is pink (reds are apparently hard to come by indeed): “No one can enter a powerful man’s house to steal his belongings unless he first ties him up. Only then does he loot his house.” Say what? Is this man Jesus a thief? So far he’s talked about being a physician and a bridegroom and he’s talked about making wine. He’s made a pretty outrageous... Read more

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE JESUS SEMINAR, PART I

Supposing we accept the work of the Jesus Seminar and base our faith and spirituality only on the red or pink words of Jesus, do we really have anything of meaning? (Red meaning “Jesus undoubtedly said this or something very like it” and pink meaning “Jesus probably said something like this.”) I went through the red and pink of the Gospel of Mark recently to see if I could make any sense of what was left. In what follows, I’ll use the... Read more

HAPCHEON TO MARK 1000TH BIRTHDAY OF BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES

Hapcheon in South Gyeongsang Province will hold celebrations to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the creation of “Palman Daejanggyeong,’’ or “Tripitaka Koreana,’’ a collection of about 80,000 Buddhist scriptures carved on woodblocks.  The focus of the festival will be to rediscover the legacy of one of the world’s oldest and most comprehensive versions of Buddhist canon in Chinese characters. Image from http://www.korea.net/cheditor40_asp/cheditor/attach/200851617245438227.jpg  Read More →

YEAH, AND THE SAME GOES FOR RELIGION AND ATHEISM

A new study provides some of the strongest evidence to date that Americans prefer to read political articles that agree with the opinions they already hold. Image from http://www.thoughttheater.com/WearingBlinders.jpg  Read More →

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