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03May 2020 by Post

Does Love Require Approval?

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Podcast: Play in new window The culture says, “To love me you must approve of what I do.”  Is that true?  Does love require approval? Many so-called Christians are claiming the answer is yes— that we must approve of what people want to do in order to love them.  Frank shows why that’s false and would make real love impossible.   The kind of love that Jesus demonstrated and commanded of us requires that we sacrificially seek the good of the other person, and that requires that we disapprove of harmful behaviors. If you’d like a visual version of this material, you can see a recent presentation by Frank on Facebook or YouTube. Subscribe on iTunes:  rate and review! Thanks!!! Subscribe on Google Play: Subscribe on Spotify: Subscribe on Stitcher: Free CrossExamined.org…
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02May 2020 by Post

Why Religious Freedom Should Matter to Absolutely Everyone

Apologetics, ApologeticsGuy, Christianity, Culture, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Mikel del Rosario, Politics, Religious Freedom, society, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Mikel Del Rosario Religious Freedom in a Pluralistic Society Why should religious freedom matter to everyone? Because the value we put on religious liberty shows how much we really care about freedom. If you’re going to be able to work for the common good—with people from all sorts of backgrounds—the law has got to protect your freedom to live by your convictions. But what is religious freedom? Religious freedom is a civil right that comes from God, not the government. Why should it matter even to people who aren’t religious? Because religious freedom upholds freedom of conscience for both religious and non-religious people. What is Religious Freedom? Religious freedom is a civil right that doesn’t ultimately come from the government. The founders of our nation knew this. All they…
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02May 2020 by Post

How Water’s Chemistry Helps Make Life on Earth Possible

biology, Chemistry, earth, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, Michael Denton, planetary fine-tuning, Podcast, Privileged Species, The Wonder of Water, water
On a classic episode of ID the Future, we bring you a sample from the documentary Privileged Species arguing that water possesses many unique properties that appear finely tuned to allow for life on Earth. The excerpt dips a toe into what biologist Michael Denton explores in much greater depth in his book The Wonder of Water. Download the podcast or listen to it here. Photo source: A scene from Privileged Species, via Discovery Institute (screen shot). The post How Water’s Chemistry Helps Make Life on Earth Possible appeared first on Evolution News.
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01May 2020 by Post

Paper Shows that “Mutational Load” Arguments Don’t Refute ENCODE

Atheism, Dan Graur, deleterious mutations, ENCODE, Evolution News, fitness, functional, genome, Genome Biology and Evolution, Intelligent Design, Junk DNA, molecular evolution, mutations, predictions, Science (journal), University of Houston
When the ENCODE project first proposed, on the basis of direct empirical research, that 80 percent of the genome may be biochemically functional, a huge prediction of intelligent design was fulfilled. Evolutionary biologists saw the writing on the wall and were quick to fight back. Perhaps one of ENCODE’s staunchest critics has been Dan Graur, a molecular evolutionary biologist at the University of Houston. He argued in 2017 in the journal Genome, Biology and Evolution that ENCODE’s empirically based conclusions could not possibly be correct because “Mutational load considerations lead to the conclusion that the functional fraction within the human genome cannot exceed 15%.” What exactly is “mutational load”? Mutational load is based upon the principal that populations of organisms can only tolerate a certain number of deleterious mutations before they reach a critical level…
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30Apr 2020 by Post

A Disappointing Decade for the Study of Human Evolution

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The 2010s was a bad decade for the study of human evolution. Smithsonian Magazine recently published an article titled “These are the Decade’s Biggest Discoveries in Human Evolution.” It opens by saying: Human evolution is one of the most vibrant areas of scientific investigation. In the past decade we’ve seen many discoveries that add to our understanding of our origins. To mark the 10th anniversary of the Smithsonian’s “David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins,” here are some of the biggest discoveries in human evolution from the last 10 years. What are the big discoveries of the decade? Did they reveal new and compelling evidence that humans evolved from lower primates? Some of these big discoveries actually turn out to be instances where the evidence for human evolution weakened, and the rest…
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29Apr 2020 by Post

EPS Panel Discussion On Divine Simplicity

Apologetics, Bible, Christianity, Divine Simplicity, God, J. Brian Huffling, Richard Howe, Stephen Davis, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics, william lane craig
By J. Brian Huffling In November of 2018, I was on a panel with Richard Howe, Stephen Davis, and William Lane Craig at an Evangelical Philosophical Society session hosted by the American Academy of Religion. The topic was “Divine Simplicity.” It can be viewed here. Howe argued for why it is true, Davis argued why it is not necessary, Craig leveled various critiques of it, and I defended it. (You can read this article for a discussion of what divine simplicity is.) Craig brought up the same basic objections in our panel as he did with Bishop Barron in January of 2018 on another panel on the same topic. I have addressed several of those objections in a previous post but would like to elaborate further on some of those objections, as well as address some of his points…
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29Apr 2020 by Post

Are Cosmic and Planetary Fine-Tuning Constant?

A Fortunate Universe, aaas, catastrophes, Children of Light, cosmic fine-tuning, fusion, Geraint Lewis, Guillermo Gonzalez, habitability, heavy elements, Jay Richards, law of gravity, Luke A. Barnes, Michael Denton, Michael R. Wilczynska, natural constants, Paul Dirac, photosynthesis, physicists, Physics, Earth & Space, planetary fine-tuning, Science Advances, stars, The Privileged Planet, The Wonder of Water
Since Paul Dirac first wrote about the subject of cosmic coincidences in 1937, many physicists have marveled at the specific values of natural constants, such as G, the constant in the law of gravity (6.673×10-11 N m2 kg-2) — an extremely low number. This is an empirical value measured carefully in labs under controlled conditions; it is not derived from equations. One could imagine it taking a different value.  But it is balanced between two catastrophes. If stronger, stars would burn hotter, and photosynthesis would be impossible, and life, if it could exist at all under the crush of gravity, would have to take refuge underground. If gravity were weaker, opposite problems ensue: stars would be unable to start fusion and form heavy elements, and would slowly burn out by…
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28Apr 2020 by Post

Journal Prints “Intelligent Design”! But…

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You’re not likely to see the phrase “intelligent design” in any typical science journal, except to mock it. A recent example by a doctrinaire evolutionist is, not surprisingly, intended to subvert the design inference for a molecular machine. Did his intention backfire? Read on. J.C. Phillips is a physicist at Rutgers University who has taken an interest in the concept of “self-organized criticality,” something that sounds as credible as “unguided excellence.” Phillips believes that unintelligent Darwinian natural selection moves molecular machines toward optimum performance. It’s kind of like how computers and other technology get more and more sophisticated the longer you leave them left outside to be buffeted by wind, rain, and ice storms. In his recent paper in PNAS, he takes on a marvelous walking machine, dynein, to illustrate…
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27Apr 2020 by Post

6 Ways Atheism Is A Science-Stopper

Apologetics, Atheism, Bible, Christianity, faith, Faithful Thinkers, God, Intellectual Faith, Luke Nix, Philosophy of Science, science, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Luke Nix Introduction: Science vs. Christianity? It is commonly claimed that Christianity is a science-stopper. What is usually put forth to justify this claim is that many Christians are content to look at nature and say, “God did it,” without looking further to discover how God did whatever “it” happens to be. For many Christians, questions about the origin and function of the natural world end with that answer. However, for many others, while they recognize that God did indeed do something, they seek diligently to discover how God did it. Christianity does not stop science, a lack of curiosity or concern (not necessarily a bad thing if those are not a person’s passion or pursuit) is what could stop science if no Christian exists who possesses that curiosity. Individual Christians can choose…
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25Apr 2020 by Post

What COVID-19 Reveals About Us: Four Categories of People Surfaced from the Pandemic

Bellator Christi, Brian Chilton, Christianity, Christians, COVID-19, Culture, life, society, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Brian Chilton COVID-19 has brought great panic across the globe due to the rapidity of its transmission and the danger it poses to seniors and those with compromised immune systems. However, COVID-19 has done more than just bring panic. It has also catalyzed several truths about American people, revealing a more troubling underbelly of the American way of life. COVID-19 may prove to be a sociologist’s dream as it has shown what we as American people are like, what we are truly like when a crisis transpires. Because of the virus, comments on social media reveal four types of responses to the COVID-19 crisis. The comments begin to repeat over time. From the overlapping discussions, we can discover four categories of people. As a caveat, this information merely comes…
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