Perfection? or Purpose?
By: Jim Virkler; ©2008 Many people are troubled by the pain and suffering caused by natural tragedies such as hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and earthquakes. Some even ask how God could permit such incidents to occur with their resulting loss of life. To those affected adversely by such horrific and violent events, any explanation may seem…
Read MoreThe Law of Entropy
By: Jim Virkler; ©2008 At “God’s initial creative act,” as I used to describe The Big Bang to my astronomy students, the universe began in its state of highest order, according to Stephen Hawking. His book A Brief History of Time, written in 1988, has become a secular classic. Disorder (entropy) has been increasing ever…
Read MoreGod’s Voice Thunders
By: Jim Virkler; ©2008 Outdoor commencement exercises are moving and memorable. In the mid-1960s the school district where I taught science held its eighth grade graduation program outdoors. Students were the featured speakers, delivering themed addresses and recitations, including the invocation and benediction. Near the end of the ceremony one June evening, a young man…
Read MoreSpring Renewal
By: Jim Virkler; ©2008 Our recent post on bird songs highlights the transition from winter silence to springtime song. Spring also affects our local trees, now slowly springing to life and tinged with pastel green. Let’s address another change associated with the onset of spring–-visual changes in the plant world which accompany the audible ones…
Read MoreFrom Silence to Song
By: Jim Virkler; ©2008 When spring arrives in northwest Illinois, our stony winter silence is broken by joyful, sometimes raucous bird songs. At this time of year, male birds stake out their nesting and food-gathering territories and proclaim themselves to be the most worthy mating partners. Now and then a squabble between male robins or…
Read MoreSETI
By: Jim Virkler; ©2008 “Intelligence” as an underlying cause of observed natural phenomena is a forbidden word in the academic world of science. Leaders in that world investigate only “natural” cause and effect. The idea of intelligence, or the more formal intelligent design (ID), is said to be a religious concept and therefore out of…
Read MoreA Reader Reaction: Theistic Evolution
By: Jim Virkler; ©2008 We encourage email responses to our blog content. Our 4/19 post generated a thoughtful, detailed response worth sharing with our readers. The writer responded to several specific points in the post. Point: Theistic evolutionists would say God endowed matter with self-organizing capabilities. Reaction: Accepting the exact same intrinsic principle as naturalistic…
Read MoreExpelled
By: Jim Virkler; ©2008 Expelled, the newly released movie by Ben Stein, will generate howls of horror by the community of evolutionists, particularly those in the academic world. Our readers should know what the furor is all about. Intelligent design (ID) is a concept which has become popular mainly in the last two decades. It…
Read MoreTheistic Evolution – Why Not?
By: Jim Virkler; ©2008 Several Christian friends of mine are theistic evolutionists with whom I have had lively discussions. Theistic evolutionists state that God, at the beginning, brought all things into existence. They would also say that God endowed matter with self-organizing capabilities. Thereafter, God sustains matter and His natural laws, but plays no direct…
Read MoreOpen and Closed Science
By: Jim Virkler; ©2008 The American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) is an organization of scientists who are Christians sharing a common fidelity to the Word of God and a commitment to integrity in the practice of science. Craig Rusbult is chairman of ASA’s Science Education Commission. He has written a description of what he terms “open”…
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