30 Sep 2009 Christianity Space and Aliens

Oooooooh, now you really want to come to our group, don’t you?

I found this article on the BeThinking.org website. Be warned that I had a little trouble with the pdf file, so I’ve got some copies of the handout you can get from us if you aren’t able to print your own.

Christianity, Space and Aliens (Williams 2004)

http://www.bethinking.org/culture-worldview/christianity-space-and-aliens.htm

This intriguing article which addresses a variety of secular and Christian views about alien intelligence, makes use of popular culture references from books and film to illustrate how we can have a godly and rational discussion about non-human created life. Personally, as I have become increasingly frustrated with conspiracy theories, reactionary responses, and gullible folks of both Christian and non-Christian types, I think this is a really important position piece.

Let’s talk about aliens. Wednesday Sept 30, 7 pm, at Troy & Jody’s place. If you need a copy of the article or instructions to their place, get in touch with us.

2009 : Garden of Eden 2

We watched about the first half of a video by Kent Hovind on this topic in Dec 2008. Due to Christmas, we have not yet watched the 2nd half.

As we would like to read a couple journal articles in January, this video is on the roll for “when life gets busy,” probably in February 2009. Date to be announced….

Oct 08: Testimony of Hugh Ross

In complete contrast to the previous meeting, on Oct 8/08 we’ll listen to the audio file of Hugh Ross’ personal testimony.

Titled, A Scientist Who Looked and Was Found, I downloaded the file from http://www.veritas.org/media/talks/330.  No need to listen to it beforehand, we will play it the night of our get together. The contrast comes in this: Ken Ham emphasizes the rule of Biblical facts over human science, whereas Hugh Ross came to believe in Biblical truth through the witness of science. One is emphatically “young earth”, the other as certainly “old earth.”

There are two versions of the talk, both from 1995. The short, clearer one is 35 min, and the longer, buzzier one is still less than an hour. I’ll check both and decide which to use.

Aug 29: INTELLIGENT DESIGN. Lecture by Frank Sherwin

SCIENTIFIC CASE FOR INTELLIGENT DESIGN. Lecture by Frank Sherwin,
science editor at the Institute for Creation Research (www.icr.org).

This lecture will discuss the issues raised in the recent documentary film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (www.expelledthemovie.com)

Date: Friday, Aug. 29
Place: New Life Church, 2041 Harvey Ave, “Oak Room”.
Time: 7 p.m.
Suggested donation: $5.00
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Scientific discoveries continue to erode Darwinism, says zoologist

From August 24- 31 Frank Sherwin, Science Editor at the Institute for Creation Research (Dallas, Texas), will be lecturing in four Okanagan communities. He is the author of “The Ocean Book” (2004) and co-author
of “The Human Body: An Intelligent Design” (2001).

Sherwin has a B.A. in Biology from Western State College in Colorado (1978 ) and an M.A. in Zoology from the University of Northern Colorado (1985). He discovered a new species of parasite, a nematode of the family Acuariidae, and published his research in the Journal of Parasitology with the late Dr. G. D. Schmidt. Before his appointment to the Institute for Creation Research (www.icr.org) Sherwin taught Human Physiology & Anatomy, Medical Microbiology, Parasitology, General Biology I & II and Cell Biology for 9 years at Pensacola Christian College. He is a member of the American Society of Parasitologists and the Helminthological Society of Washington.

Sherwin says one of the more spectacular discoveries that has done much to dispel the myth of dinosaurs living many millions of years ago is the unearthing of soft dinosaur tissue by Mary H. Schweitzer of North
Carolina State University; Schweitzer discovered flexible blood vessels inside the fossilized thighbone of a “68-70 million year old” Tyrannosaurus rex in eastern Montana. (Science, vol. 307, no. 5717, pp. 1952-1955, 25 March 2005.) Sherwin asks, “How could dinosaur tissue remain soft for 70 million years?”

Sherwin writes in his July 2008 article, “Tiny Bacteria’s Big Challenge to Darwin” (Acts & Facts magazine): “Secular scientists have no credible idea how the DNA molecule may have evolved from non-life–especially without the aid of proteins (which must be coded by DNA) or the critical DNA repair system.”

Web articles by Sherwin include:

“The Devastating Issue of Dinosaur Tissue” (www.icr.org/article/2033/), “Stalling over Transitional Forms”
(www.icr.org/article/3148/), “Scientific Discoveries Continue to Erode Darwinism” (www.icr.org/article/3191/), and “Optimism in Evolution?” (www.icr.org/article/4031/)

Summerland: On Saturday, Aug. 30 he will be giving two lectures at
Summerland Pentecostal Church (9918 Julia Street): “Dinosaurs and the
Flood” (9:30 a.m.) and “Wonders of the Human Body” (11:00 a.m.) which
will discuss the body’s 11 interacting systems.

Evening lectures by Frank Sherwin at the Faith Mission Centre (4690
Hoath Road, Falkland, BC.)
7:00 p.m. $5.00 per person per lecture.
Sunday, August 24: Scientific Evidence for Creation/Design in Nature
Monday, August 25: Wonders of the Human Body
Tuesday, August 26: Evolution is Against the Law
Wednesday, August 27: Mount St. Helens
Thursday, August 28: The Mighty, Wonderful Oceans

The tour is being sponsored by the Creation Science Association of British Columbia (www.creationbc.org)

Sept 10 : Questions About Design

Questions About Design is ch.10 in Michael Behe’s book, Darwin’s Black Box.

Topics in this chapter include a review of the history of design ideas, including Greek thought, Paley, Dawkins, Hume, and others. Behe responds to current and media criticism of the “argument from design” for the existence of God. Discussions include genetics and morphology, as well as philosophy. 22 pages.

A copy will be available to pick up in the KCC office.

NOTE about this week’s meeting.

Krista & Loen will have just returned from holidays, so we don’t feel like cooking for you lot. Please bring some munchie you want to share. Nothing fancy required, chips or cookies or some veggies & dip is totally great. In case Troy decides to join us, no nuts please.  Going pot-luck means we can meet twice in September!

Aug 6 : UFOs and ID

The article to read is titled,
If SETI is Science and UFOlogy Is Not, Which Is Intelligent Design Theory?

Peter Williams uses a skeptic’s analysis of UFOlogy versus SETI as the template for examining ID theory. The suggestion is that if the criteria set out in a “science-based” skeptical magazine are acceptable criteria for distinguishing real versus fake science, then they might help us confirm or deny claims about Intelligent Design.

The article is here. Printed at full size, it is 6 pages long plus 3 pages of ‘endnotes.’

http://www.arn.org/docs/williams/pw_setivsufology.htm

Meeting at our place, sometime around 7 pm.

Unlocking the Mystery of Life

In our June meeting, I found out about this video:

Unlocking the mystery of life [videorecording] / produced by Illustra Media.
[S.l.] : Illustra Media, c2002.
Subjects DNA — DVD-Video discs

Intelligent design (Teleology) — DVD-Video discs
Description:
1 videodisc (ca. 65 min.) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in.

I’m putting it on hold from the public library and we’ll all watch it together ~ date to be discussed. Our original plan was July, but maybe we shall consider August? Or saving it for a busy week once school starts again in the fall.

July 9 : Expelled No Intelligence Allowed

Plot Twist!

The movie on Intelligent Design, ‘Expelled‘ will be playing in Kelowna this week. If the group agrees, I think we should have a field trip on Wednesday! Showtime 7 pm, at the Grand10.

http://expelledthemovie.com/home.php

Slight change from our previous plan, but it’s still an ID movie!

June 25 : Misunderstanding ID

Further reading on Intelligent Design. After last week’s discussion on how various terms such as ID and the Anthropic principle are being confused and misconstrued, I think that a critique of the BBC television special may be interesting. Note that there are tons of references and links within this article.

http://www.bethinking.org/resource.php?ID=251

I think it might be easiest to read in PDF format (or print and write on it), but use the links in the online version to explore related materials.

Jun 11 : ‘Intelligent Design’ (Behe ch.9)

NOTE: due to “life” intervening, our group will meet on Jun 11, a week later than our normal rotation. At that meeting we’ll plan some future dates & topics.

We skipped a number of chapters between this one and the previous Behe.  While some of them are interesting, they do not perhaps lend themselves to discussion as much. Feel free to read the other chapters.

Here’s a discussion question related to this chapter. Terms such as “Creation science” or creationism,  “anthropic principle,” “Intelligent Design,” and “Irreducible complexity,” seem to have variable definitions. Does it matter if  “ID” is being used as an umbrella for creationist theories (and what does that mean anyways)?

See you soon!