Evolution, Natural Selection & Random Mutation

There are some thoughts that I wanted to put down regarding the ideas of what has commonly been called the “Theory of Evolution.” I’m not certain that I’ll get to all of this in one post, so we’ll see how this goes.

The first thing that I want to do is make some distinctions among some various terms that get bandied about today and debated, argued, etc. Those terms are “evolution,” “natural selection,” and “random mutation.”

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Extra-Biblical Texts

For years, centuries actually, debate has gone on about the reliability of the biblical texts. Questions have been raised about whether the events in the gospels actually happened and how much, if any, of the related events are historically accurate.

During that time, one key component of the nay-sayers has been this argument about a lack of what they call “extra-biblical texts.” In other words, their claim is that the Bible amounts to circular reasoning because the scripture refers to scripture and there are too few accounts of Christianity (specifically New Testament) outside of the documents included in the New Testament itself.

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Life and Death

Last week, I wrote about how the meaning of some of our words can change over time and completely depart from their originally intended definition. Sometimes it is because the words get misused. But sometimes, I think there is just too little understanding of the word itself.

It is possible, also, that in some cases we are so far removed from the original meaning that we don’t recognize that this has happened. One word that seems to fall into this category is “death.” Death is a word that is used quite often in the Bible but is usually interpreted differently that I believe was originally intended.

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The Nobel Peace Prize Doesn’t Always Go to the Most Deserving

When I heard that President Barak Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize, my first thought was , “For what?” Many in the world share the same thought. Then a friend sent me a very interesting write-up on another individual who was in consideration for the prize in 2007 but was passed over for Al Gore. I thought I’d post it here for your consideration.

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The Changing Meaning of Words

I think I’ve hit this topic before, but it seems worth going over once again. There definitely seems to be an issue of misunderstanding with regards to certain concepts and the language used to represent them. Two of the most prominent of these are the common uses of words like “intolerance” and “fundamentalism.”

Interestingly, these two words are often found being used alongside one another. We hear all the time about how those “fundamentalists” are being “intolerant.” Now, in the way that it is often used, I’m assuming that by “fundamentalist” they are referring to those Christians who brow-beat non-believers and tell them that they are going to burn in hell for their sinful ways and that they are the minions of Satan who bring evil and vileness into this world yadda-yadda-yadda.

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Social Injustice

It may be stating the blatantly obvious to say that there are a large number of differing ideologies between the liberal left and the conservative right. The way these two sides of the political spectrum tend to be marketed is, I think, very misleading. At least insofar as I understand the differences between the two.

Without going too far down the many rabbit trails that one could be tempted by in this topic, the one area that I would like to focus on is the idea of “social injustice.” This is one of those political buzz words that gets bandied about like crazy these days and I’m not sure that everyone has the same understanding of what it is and how to identify it.

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Equal Rights in School

Double standards always seem to fascinate me. Sometimes atheists have them. Sometimes Christians have them. In some way, I wouldn’t be surprised if we all have some double standards of our own.

Public school is one of those places that one of the secular double standards rears its ugly head. I wouldn’t have a big problem with it if it weren’t for the fact that this is a very influential time for kiddos and if their teachers say something is true, chances are they’re going to believe it.

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Freedom of Speech

When I hear about some of the issues going on today in this nation with respect to the “separation of church and state” (and don’t get me started on how out of context that is often taken) it is beginning to remind me of CD release from back in the late ’80s or early ’90s by rapper Ice-T. The name of one of his albums was “Freedom of Speech: Just Watch What You Say.”

There are a couple of fairly widely reported incidents that address this. The first was the valedictorian who was not allowed to make mention of her faith while addressing fellow students. I’m unclear as to how this was a violation of the church/state thing. The speech was made by a student, not a representative of any government agency. She stated something that she believed. She encouraged, not coerced, them to examine the claims of Christ. Not even to blindly accept them, but to just take a look. Perhaps had she told them to use “The Secret” from the increasingly famous DVD and book, that would have been fine. As long as it wasn’t Jesus.

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Take This Body, Take This Blood

Having been raised in the Catholic church prior to disavowing all things church-related, I had always been taught certain things about communion, or the “Lord’s Supper.” In Roman Catholicism, as well as in Lutheran tradition, communion is thought of quite differently than much of the reformed Church.

The word used for this distinction is “transubstantiation.” That’s a big mouthful of letters that, put together, relay the idea that the bread and wine served at communion, once blessed, is transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ.

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Spiritual Leaders

For years now, leadership expert and trainer John Maxwell has taught that “everything rises and falls on leadership.” Many other books and training courses on management and leadership include the same concept. The leader is responsible for the success or failure of the team.

On the flip-side of that, many marriage and relationship experts talk about a husband and wife as a team. As with business or sports or any other team, a marriage generally needs a leader. According to the Bible, that leader is the husband. Much ado has been made of this teaching over the past several centuries. There has been so much debate, argument, questioning, misunderstanding, etc. about this issue. So many have been unsure of what this means or have used this idea as some sort of disproof of Christianity.

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