Ministry of Truth Daily Update - 08 Oct 2024 - Faith Voices

 

Faith Voices

People of "faith" who are in favor with the Ministry of Truth must stand for justice.  They are called to fight the cult of white Christian nationalism and the bloodthirsty imperialism of "their" country.  According to one of Big Brother lite's spiritual advisors, they have hijacked Christianity by "stealing" her Bible, which shows that they are the many-headed beast of Revelation, who represents the corrupt capitalist system which systematically oppresses economically disadvantaged people of color.

More info: 

• https://x.com/FoxNews/status/1831257703710151016

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Book Review - Weathering Climate Change

 Book Review - Weathering Climate Change  

A Balanced Take on the Controversial Topic of Climate Change

I was excited to get an advanced copy of the new RTB Press book, Weathering Climate Change - A Fresh Approach by Hugh Ross.  But I also began to read this book with a bit of trepidation.  I was afraid, given the polarizing views on both sides of this issue, that this book will cause controversy and detract from RTB's primary mission of Science-Apologetics for the sake of evangelism.  As it turns out, this book is both pointed and pragmatic.  It will push your preconceptions whatever your perspective on the climate change challenges we face.  

Hugh Ross is well qualified to provide a balanced perspective on this topic.  This is fundamentally not just an issue for climatologists, but requires an interdisciplinary approach by someone who is both technical enough to understand the science and also wide-read enough to have a broad perspective on the interplay between the various disciplines and issues that are pertinent.  The author gives such a balanced understanding of the problems and possible solutions on this contentious and complicated issue.

The book does a good job of separating the politics, emotions, and policy issues from the actual science.  If anything, the book is heavy on the science details, though seemingly weighted more toward the standard scientific consensus of the data, with less discussion of possible objections by the minority of scientists who have some disagreements on various points.  On balance, though, I felt like it gives a fair representation of the current best understanding of warming measurements and modeling.  The conclusion is that, "yes", human activity has affected the climate since the industrial revolution, and the climate may be at (or close to) a tipping point where our current extended period of climate stability is at an end.  He does make the point, however, that we still have to face "the inevitable onset of another glacial episode. We may be able to put it off for a few more centuries, perhaps even for a little more than a millennium, but we cannot extend our present interglacial indefinitely." 

Where I think that Hugh Ross makes a distinctive contribution to this discussion, is in his fair and objective look at our responses to the climate crisis.  He presents three categories of possible solutions: mitigate, adapt, and/or "defeat" (or live with it).  He feels that the apocalyptic nature of some claims: global emergency, the need to awaken the public, or calls for immediate, drastic action, feed fear and don't promote rational discussion of solutions.  Scientists' legitimate concerns communicated through journalists and politicians have polarized opinions, from panic and knee-jerk activism to disbelief and lack of trust in the claims.

 

Dr. Ross points out that self-interest of people and nations makes enforcement an intractable problem, because human nature is such that we want to look out for our own self-interests first and let others sacrifice.  This is not surprising due to the dual reality of humanity: while we are created in God's image and can achieve great good, we are also broken by our selfish sinful nature, and we rebel against the good that God calls us to do.

He asks us to consider if there are Win-Win solutions.  It seems to me that some win-wins mentioned would not be widely embraced, such as forced changes to diet, animal husbandry, or traditional farming methods.  It seems unwise to trust that we can quickly replace our current energy needs by future technology, even if we dramatically increase research funding.  Any solutions found through new research likely would not be ready until decades into the future.  Hugh Ross presents some possible climate solutions with the objective of sparking creative thinking and collaboration, and to also "demonstrate that we need not choose between what is best for the environment and what is best for our economic well-being."   Personally, I am skeptical that any of these proposed solutions can be implemented quickly enough, on a large enough scale, to make a significant dent in our climate change situation.

As in past books, Dr. Ross clearly makes the case that the Earth's environmental conditions have been fine-tuned for life.  Many unique circumstances and features of the Earth, Moon, stellar environment, and more, lead to the suggestion that the whole system has been carefully designed and balanced for advanced human civilization during the current narrow window of time.  He says, "The anthropic principle is the observation that the universe, Earth, and Earth’s life appear exquisitely and intentionally designed for humanity." 

The middle section of the book is more technical, which might not be as accessible to the general public.  However, the conclusions and summary questions bring focus at the end of each chapter.  In general, the book is well-sourced and full of recent scientific data on the climate.  Here Dr. Ross provides an in-depth explanation of the causes behind ice age cycles and other historical global climate changes.  Again he shows that the current interglacial stability has provided the ideal environment for our modern civilization, designed and finely tuned by the Creator for that purpose.  He suggests that the current period of extreme climate stability has given us the opportunity to reach billions of people with the Good News.  That brings promise of true purpose and meaning to their lives, and hope for an even better future home awaiting in the new creation.  

The book ends with a plea for collaboration and cooperation among all the diverse groups of humanity in finding win-win climatic solutions.  In the meantime, it is the duty of those who choose to follow Christ to take an active role in caring for both people and the planet, so that we can maximize the time we have available to reach more people for Christ.

Book Review - Escaping the Beginning

I recently finished reading the new book, Escaping the Beginning?, by Jeff Zweerink, and found it to be a very good overview of the state of modern cosmology.  More importantly, it delves into the philosophical underpinnings and possible motivations behind theoretical models concerning the origin of our universe.  Zweerink is a high-energy research physicist and also a research scholar and speaker for the science-faith thinktank, Reasons to Believe, so he is highly qualified to tackle the philosophical, scientific, and religious questions raised about whether or not the universe had an actual beginning, and the implications thereof.  He is also the author of another interesting book, Who's Afraid of the Multiverse?

As someone with a physics background, I appreciated the discussion of the various cosmological models developed over the last couple of centuries.  While some of the information may stretch the non-technical reader, the author is able to clearly articulate and summarize the findings, and then address the implications for a beginning.  Some of the topics covered include: the various kinds of Multiverse theories, definitions of time, the size and curvature of the universe, quantum gravity theories, string theory,  and a universe from "nothing".   Throughout the book, the various philosophical motivations and religious implications are considered.  For instance, he shows that Multiverse theories were not developed simply to avoid a beginning, but rather have a sound theoretical basis, even it they are not necessarily verifiable. However, he does point out that there are philosophical and religious reasons that these proposals have been embraced or rejected by some. 

While I understand that it is a mentally hard topic, I found the section on how we define time to be interesting, even if it  just scratched the surface of the subject matter.  The concept of time is fundamental to understanding causality and basic laws of physics, such as the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (entropy).  While we can write physics equations using a time parameter (say t), letting us vary the values corresponding to the past and future, does that describe what is really happening as our perception of time moves forward?  It bends the mind to think that General Relativity actually ties time and space together as separate dimensions of a unified whole.  Given various theories of time, one wonders "Does the past, present, and future actually exist or is the past gone and future events not here yet?" or "Why does time only move forward, or is this just an illusion?"  The book considers questions like this and even the implications of the various theories on the meaning of a beginning.

Ultimately Zweerink concludes that it appears that the best theoretical models and experimental observations lean toward a universe (or Multiverse) with an actual beginning, compatible with the biblical claim that the universe had a beginning and a Beginner.  While there are several theoretical models that could possibly be interpreted as having no beginning, any experimental validation of these is either far beyond our current scientific capabilities, or may even be untestable in principle.  He concludes, "That remains a reasonable and defensible position today, and my bet is that quantum gravity approaches will ultimately reveal evidence for a universe with a genuine beginning."  So, at least for the foreseeable future, there is no sure escape from the Beginning! 

Book Review - Always Be Ready

 

I recently received an advanced copy of the new Reasons to Believe (RTB) book, Always Be Ready, by Hugh and Kathy Ross. To my surprise, this book stands apart from other RTB books that I've read. I've been reading RTB books and materials for over 25 years, since I first discovered the Fingerprint of God while I was a young Physics grad student who was also a Christian. Over the years, the detailed scientific and theological content of these books has challenged and encouraged me, but from most of them I never really got a full picture of the heart behind the ministry. This book changes that!

Always Be Ready gives a glimpse into the life journey of Ph. D. astronomer Hugh Ross, the founder of Reasons to Believe. In the book, we see example after example of what happens when you prepare yourself and then ask God to provide opportunities. Hugh Ross clearly has a heart for ministry and evangelism, and has overcome many challenges along the way. In his own unique way, he shares how current scientific discoveries provide support for the God of creation. While this book only provides a summary of these evidences, there are many resources provided in the end notes and through the Reasons to Believe website for those interested. Through various personal accounts, Dr. Ross shares how time and time again people positively responded to the gospel message because of the evidence that he shared with them from nature and the manner in which he interacted with them.

In this book we get to see what can happen when we take both God's World and God's Word seriously. People are hungry to have answers that satisfy both their minds and their hearts. I would highly recommend this motivational book to anyone that wants to be prepared to give answers to a seeking world. Expect to be encouraged, I was.

 

Book Review - The Creator Revealed

 

In The Creator Revealed, Dr. Michael Strauss does a great job of putting the intellectual cookies on a lower shelf. Rather than talking down to his readers, or over their heads, he lays out a clear and convincing case that the facts of science and the words of scripture are compatible. He makes the case that Christians can truly love God with both their minds and their hearts, since God is the author of all truth.

He makes the case for the reality of an old universe, with a beginning of space, matter, energy, and even time from nothing! He then goes on to show how this is not only compatible with a reasonable interpretation of the Bible, but that it is also the most reasonable interpretation that fits all the facts of nature and also that of the context of the Bible as a whole. More than once, he says that the truth revealed in nature can impact people.

Dr. Strauss gives three main reasons for believing that God used the Big Bang as His method of creation.

1. The Big Bang reveals the character of God.
2. The Bible's account of origins aligns with our best understanding of science.
3. Truth always brings Freedom & Freedom changes people's lives!

Some of the evidence for the Big Bang presented includes:

• the observed expansion, which implies a beginning
• the uniform cosmic microwave background radiation
• the abundance of light elements in the universe fits the expectations of scientific models
• the mathematics of General Relativity reliably describes the past and future behavior of the universe

The "hard" sciences of physics, astronomy, geology, and chemistry unanimously point unambiguously to an ancient world and universe.

In a section on fine-tuning for life, especially intelligent life, he covers several topics such as how the balanced nature of matter and energy (both normal and dark) resulted in a livable universe. He also touches on the tuning of various forces and resonances in nature that resulted in the right combination of elements for carbon-based life to thrive. Now could these all be "happy coincidences", or could there be meaning and purpose behind the design? He argues that, "Yes", there is purpose and meaning because it was orchestrated by a transcendent, super-intellect, who cares about His creation.

An important section of the book is where he discussed some of the errors of the past that the Christian church has made, and in many ways, is repeating today. In the Galileo conflict, the Church leaders failed because they clung to narrow interpretations of scripture and rejected multiple other reasonable alternatives held by other Godly believers. They failed to follow sound rules of interpretation, including those of context, perspective, language, author's intent, and culture, to name a few. In the same way, many in the Church today hold to narrow interpretations of the creation accounts that not only contradict God's natural revelation, but also the context of the Bible as a whole and the character of God. He believes that we should not rigidly hold to scriptural interpretations that other Bible-believing Christians, who faithfully hold to the authority and special nature of God's Word, reject or give different weight to. Christians should be very careful to handle truth well and to not repeat unsubstantiated, and many times false, claims about the natural world or the scientists who honestly study it. In this light, Dr. Strauss rightly points out that Young Earth Creationism (YEC) is not an option when discussing the natural world with non-believers.

I do, however, have one major disagreement with Dr. Strauss. On page 45, he states that "real Star Trek fans" prefer to be called "Trekkers" and not "Trekkies"! As I sit here typing this review, wearing my Star Trek shirt that says "I was a Trekkie… Before it was Cool… Not to Mention, Before You Were Born!", I have to admit that it has always bugged me to hear the term "Trekker" instead of "Trekkie". "Trekker" just sounds ridiculous! I will always be a "Trekkie" -- and proud of it! 

Anyway, great book. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in science/faith issues. In particular, I encourage Christians who may not be technically inclined to pick up a cookie from the shelf and take a small bite. I'm confident that you'll come away with a better understanding of the evidence for an old, big bang, creation that fits with the Bible's description of it.