Time to Declare a New Major

My wife says I'm the perpetual student. Every few months or so I find another reason to think about going back to school. But now I have the ultimate reason -- I can do an undergraduate degree in Grateful Dead Studies and then follow it up with post-grad research and a doctorate with a thesis like "The Confluence of Hallucinogenics and The Jesus Movement" and connecting the spiritual quest of the Deadheads and the early Jesus People in California and New England. And here's the respected university that is making all this possible: University of California at Santa Cruz. Check out the NYT article

Science and the Bible Once Again Agree

Actually, the order of the universe and the Bible have ALWAYS been in agreement -- it's just our framing of what each says that have made us think they disagreed!

I'm a student of the Bible who takes what it says seriously. Probably even more seriously, in my estimation, than the Bible Thumpers who can't tell the difference between a text book and a holy book. So when I read articles about advances in medicine and science I don't worry about whether or not they're grounded in a literalist reading of the first chapters of Genesis. I read the Bible literally (I take it at it's word) but not in a literalist sense. But I don't mythologize the Bible readings either to make them compatible with a world view formed by a personal philosophy that gives greater credence to the works of man (scientific research) over the works of God (the inspiration of the Spirit in the writing of the Bible).

One of the deepest, most fundamental Truths found in the Creation Story in the Bible is that the world was created perfect and is now in a fallen state. And that the cause of that fall -- Sin -- has continuing repercussions in all aspects of the universe. Now comes an article in the NYTimes about a shift in focus in genetic research. Read the whole article for a clearer take on the whole subject, but the excerpt below shows just how much the Bible and what the research shows both reveal this truth.

"The results of this costly international exercise have been disappointing. About 2,000 sites on the human genome have been statistically linked with various diseases, but in many cases the sites are not inside working genes, suggesting there may be some conceptual flaw in the statistics. And in most diseases the culprit DNA was linked to only a small portion of all the cases of the disease. It seemed that natural selection has weeded out any disease-causing mutation before it becomes common.

The finding implies that common diseases, surprisingly, are caused by rare, not common, mutations. In the last few months, researchers have begun to conclude that a new approach is needed, one based on decoding the entire genome of patients." -- from March 10, 2010 NY Times Disease Cause is Pinpointed with Genome

Earlier research findings from the Genome Project have shown how there is a brokenness to humanity that goes right to our very foundational core. And now this research shows how it continues to strike at us at that bedrock level. Combine this with the knowledge gained from Quantum Physics that shows how a change in anything causes structural change in neighboring matter and once again we see science using one language and the Bible another to confirm the truth of the fallen state of humanity. Now if only we could recognize that the genome is not the cure for the disease (once we recognize that Sin is the disease) -- the blood of Jesus is the cure. Science rocks, but Jesus rules.

You Don't Need to Drink the Tea to Hate the Health Care Bill

I am NOT a Tea Party person. I share their anger at the dysfunctional unresponsive bunch of politicians currently residing in the halls of Congress, but hey, we put them there! And the Glen Beck's of the world sound an awful lot like the ranters of the late 60's and early 70's on the left (The Walmart Hippies).

But here's some real rational reasons to hate the inedible sausage of a law being produced in Washington under the guise of health care reform.