Monthly Archives: January 2008

Christian Carnival: Renaissance Edition

Now posted at Diary of 1. This entry surely caught my eye: Beyond the Rim presents Thinking Christians? Are you a thinking Christian? If so, consider yourself a rare person in the modern world in which we live. This post touches on that problem, which just about guarantees almost no one will read it.

January 16, 2008 – 8:31 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Miscellanea | Comments (5)

Against One-Dimensional Thinking

“Pantalaimon,” a commenter on Thinking Christian, supplied a number of quotes yesterday to show that (in his words) ID is not a scientific research program in any sense, and never has been. Scientific understanding is of no intrinsic interest to ID. Any “research” they may undertake is strictly subservient to the philosophical goal of crushing …

January 16, 2008 – 12:11 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (38)

What Christ Does For Us, Part 5: Who Christ Is

Returning to this series after a short break, I’m also taking a short detour. What Christ does for us depends on who He is. It’s just a few weeks since the Christmas season, and I’m sure readers know about Christ in a manger, born to a virgin. The gospel of Luke tells us He was …

January 15, 2008 – 9:28 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

Naturalistic Evolution: Underdetermined By the Evidence

Reading the NAS book on Science, Evolution, and Creationism, I was struck by the fact that naturalistic evolution is underdetermined by the evidence. That is, one cannot validly conclude, just from evidence in nature, that everything can be explained only and exclusively in terms of natural causes and effects. There is always a background perspective. …

January 14, 2008 – 9:25 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science, Unfiled | Tagged , , , | Comments (60)

The NAS on Science, Evolution, and Creationism

Book Review Science, Evolution, and Creationism, richly illustrated and printed on glossy stock, is a marvelous scientific defense of evolutionary theory from the National Academy of Sciences. If that were all it tried to accomplish, it would be quite a fine little book (just 54 pages plus bibliography, index, and author bios). What it attempts …

January 13, 2008 – 6:09 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , , , , | Comments (16)

“Hopeless Hypotheses”

From Gladio Mentis – The Sword Of The Mind: Hopeless Hypotheses: For my purposes, a “hopeless hypothesis” is an idea that, even if true, either must be or should be treated as untrue for all practical purposes. This puts a special onus on anyone claiming a “hopeless hypothesis” to be genuinely true – they have …

January 13, 2008 – 3:24 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Ethics, Evidences | Tagged , | Comments (71)

Intelligent Design’s “Negative Science”

What If? Intelligent Design is often accused of being nothing but an attack on evolution, offering no positive theory of its own, and hence not a science. I want to do some thought-play with that. Certainly ID includes negative science, the attempt to demonstrate that naturalistic evolution cannot be correct, that it is inadequate to …

January 11, 2008 – 1:34 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , , , , | Comments (80)

What Christ Does For Us, Part 4: Restorations

Earlier in this series (see below) I described what Scripture says about God’s original intent and purpose for humankind, and how we fell away from it. God in His love intended that we live in close, intimate fellowship with Him. He gave humans their start in conditions of harmony with the world, with genuine intellectual …

January 10, 2008 – 5:52 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged , , , | Comments (24)

Give me the COFFEE and No One Gets Hurt

Sometimes on Sunday mornings, standing in line for coffee in our church fellowship hall, I tell the people in front of me, “You sure are brave to be standing between me and that coffee!” So even though it’s not a terribly Christian sentiment, I like this sign anyway: “Give me the COFFEE and no one …

January 10, 2008 – 3:20 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Just For Fun | Tagged , | Comments (1)

Parableman: Christian Carnival CCVI

It’s time for Christian Carnival CCVI at Parableman.

January 10, 2008 – 1:51 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Miscellanea | Comments Off