Sunspots 978

Things that I have spotted that may be of interest to others: 

SciTech Daily reports that fish can recognize and react to human divers.

Naturalis Historia concludes a series on the Bible and the geology of the Dead Sea,

ZDNet describes 10 on-line sites that carry free, or inexpensive digital books.

NPR and other outlets report on progress towards bringing live mammoths back, Their work has involved changing the genes of mice, so that they have long, fuzzy hair, and are able to use fat efficiently to keep warm.

Neuroscience News reports that detecting pain and itch is accomplished with two different sets of neurons.

NPR tries to keep track of President Trump's tariffs.

Thanks for reading!

Cereal grains in the Bible

 

                            Wheat field, North Carolina

Cereal grains include corn (maize), rice, wheat, spelt, rye, oats, barley, millet, sorghum and others. Maize was domesticated in the New World, and therefore, was not known by people in the Bible. Rice requires conditions not found by people in the Bible. 

The King James version of the Bible mentions corn several times. One such is in Genesis 27, in which Isaac is said to have blessed Jacob, but not Esau, with corn crops. In Genesis 41-47, the word "corn" is used several times, but, for reasons given above, this can't have been maize, but must have been some other grain. 

John 12:24 (KJV) Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. In this verse, "corn" has a different meaning. It refers to the grain (or fruit) as a corn. Apparently this word use was legitimate in the time of the KJV translators.

The Bible uses some of the types of grain. One verse refers to four different grains:

Ezekiel 4:9a "Take for yourself also wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel...." (World English Bible, public domain. Beans and lentils are not cereal grains.)

Consider wheat. Several related species of grasses are called wheat. These include durum, emmer, einkorn, and others. 

Spelt is mentioned three times in the Old Testament. Each time, wheat is also mentioned. 

I did not find the word, "rye", the word, "oats," or the word, "sorghum," in the Bible. Nor did I find "durum," "emmer," or "einkorn."

Barley is mentioned several times. In John 6, the boy with his food had barley loaves as part of his provisions for the day.

Cereal grains, especially wheat, are food crops that are very important to us today, and were, if anything, even more important in Bible times. These grains could be stored for a long time. They were used to make bread. Jesus said, in John 6:35, "I am the bread of life." (WEB) Adam and Eve were told, in Genesis 3:19, that they would earn their bread through hard labor. In Genesis 41-47, the famine in Egypt is described as a lack of bread. In Exodus 12-13, the Hebrews were instructed to eat unleavened bread. Exodus 25:30, and Exodus 29, and Leviticus 8, and other passages, give instructions about bread as part of Tabernacle worship. In Judges 7, a loaf of barley bread appears in a dream of a Midianite invader of Israel, a sign that God is with Gideon, and against the Midianites.

The word, bread, occurs many times in the Bible. It usually seems to refer to the ordinary events of daily life, especially eating. Sometimes it is a symbol of hospitality, or of friendship. In the Lord's Prayer, we ask God to give us our daily bread.

At the Last Supper: Matthew 26:26 As they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks for it, and broke it. He gave to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” There have been, and are, theological disputes among Christians over what that means. I won't settle that here.

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 977

Things I have spotted that may be of interest to others.    

ZDNet reports that a study, by the BBC, about how good artificial intelligence (chatbots) do in summarizing news stories, showed that they don't do that very well.

There are still Brazilian tribes that are unknown by the rest of us, according to Gizmodo.

Gizmodo also reports on dating apps, finding that using one is a way for a female user to be raped, more often than other means of connecting. The report also says that the companies involved could do a much better job of removing dangerous users, but has chosen not to.

MSN describes the animals with the longest lifespan. (Thanks to one of my brothers for this information)

CNN lists a number of GOP senators who deny Trump's claim that the Ukraine-Russia was started by the Ukraine.

South American tapirs were thought to be extinct. They aren't!

Thanks for reading.

Blogging: Posts that have received over 500 views

I blog mostly because I want to say something, whether anyone reads it or not. I hope that I am also blogging for God's glory. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the effort, but a recent experience indicates that at least some of it is. The experience is that Blogger, which I have used since beginning this blog, keeps track of the number of views, and comments, on each post. I was posting on a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and looked up some previous posts on him, and was amazed to note that those two posts had received over 400 views each. Those posts are here and here. (In case you are wondering, there are over 2,000 posts on this blog. Most of them have received a few dozen views.)

What is a view? I'm not sure, but suppose that, at minimum, someone clicked on the blog post's page. 400 views does NOT mean that 400 people actually read the post, or even glanced at it.

So what posts have received over 500 views? Here's an annotated list, including:

A post on what's wrong with the political left, and the right, is here.

A number of "Sunspots" posts have received over 500 views. Some of these are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here here and here.

A post on "Homosexual Activism and Public Opinion" has received over 500 views. So has one on "Sexual Sins not Mentioned in the Bible."

A post on the moral universe of Game of Thrones has also received over 500 views.

One of my posts (number 65 of such) quoting G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy has received over 800 views. 

A post on "What is a Christian novel," made the cut.

The Sunspots post of January 11, 2017, has received over 500 views. I'm not sure why. So has the Sunspots for May 3, 2017.

A post on "Farewell Speeches from Bible Characters" has received over 500 views.

A post on Jehoshaphat's prayer, in 2 Chronicles 20, which is almost entirely a quotation from the World English Bible, a public domain modern version, has received over 900 views. 

Scriptural Principles that Relate to Science has more than 500 views. 

A post on computers and the mind-body problem (and soul uploading) has more than 500 views.

A post on whether animals ate meat before the Flood has had over 500 views.

A post on whether it rained before the Flood has received over 500 views.

A post pointing out that everyone interprets the Bible, especially Genesis 1, (or depends on the interpretations of other people) rather than just reading it, met the criterion.

A post on whether a Christian must be a Young-Earth Creationist, about a dialogue between Karl Giberson and Albert Mohler, has had over 500 views.

My review of Soul Surfer, the movie, has received over 1300 views.

A rehash of a post from The BioLogos foundation, on whether natural selection can produce new genetic information, has received over  500 views. (It can.)

Musings on the color, green, covering a lot of topics briefly, has had over 1490 views.

A poster, based on Philippians 4:8, one of my favorite verses, made the list.

Here's a poster, showing pattern for prayer, based on the ACTS acronym, which has received over 1400 views. A similar post (I shouldn't have done this twice!) has received 750 views so far.

An essay on Tolkien's writing, entitled Galadriel, Fëanor, and the Silmarils, has gotten over 1000 posts.

An essay on whether Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion novels, which are fantastic literature, are Christian or not, meets the criterion. An essay on these novels, themselves, was at 497 views on July 5, 2015.

An essay on sword and sorcery fiction -- Tolkien's work is an example, but my no means the only one -- and why there is such, and why it is popular (at least with some people).

An essay on Grass, a science fiction work by Sherri S. Tepper, made the list.

A post entitled "Abortion - Some Thoughts for Christians" made the list.

So did a poster on what photosynthesis does, which has been viewed nearly 900 times.

So did a poster on How Computers Work.

A list of the ways that God reveals Himself to us, with Bible references, has been viewed over 1800 times.

A discussion of cases, in the Bible, where the woman was the spiritual head of the family, has received about 700 views.

I copied one of the hymns of Charles Wesley, which are in the public domain. It's about repentance. The post has received over 900 views. I've never heard that song used in church.

A post on what I see as a Christ-figure, in Watership Down, by Richard Adams, made the list.

There was a post that took an anti-abortion organization to task for claiming that a human embryo has a heartbeat at 18 days of development (it doesn't) that has received over 2000 views.

A post on the question of whether there was rain before the Flood has gotten over 2600 views.

This post, with discussion, and a poster, suggesting that we should be very careful as to what we say about end times, has received over 1100 views.

A post acknowledging the death of Norman Borlaug, Nobel-prize-winning botanist, met the criterion.

A post considering some speculation about how many people died in the Flood has received over 3400 views.

I invented what I call the 90% rule for marriage. It met the criterion.

A post on the Resurrection, Superstition, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics met the criterion.

A meditation on the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Beethoven's Christ on the Mount of Olives has been viewed over 500 times.

Two posts on homosexuality have been viewed many times. One is on the question of whether homosexuality is innate or acquired. The other looks at what the Bible says about homosexuality.

A post from my teaching days, on biological ethics, and the concepts of moral agency and moral considerability, has received over 700 views.

A post with a song I wrote, on the Golden Rule, met the criterion.

A post on passages where memorial stones are mentioned in the Bible has been viewed over 1300 times.

A compilation of places, in the book of Acts, where a church engaged in prayer together, has been viewed over 1200 times.

"What's Wrong with Young-Earth Creationism" -- there are problems with all views of origins -- has been viewed over 1600 times, and received over 20 comments by others.

A post on what I believe about origins has been viewed over 800 times.

A book review of a book about questions of enhancing humans, for athletic competitions and other reasons, met the criterion.

A compilation of the prophet Hosea's references to Ephraim has been viewed over 1400 times.

A post on what the Bible says about light has been viewed over 2800 times.

A discussion of the dwarves in The Last Battle, by C. S. Lewis, has been viewed over 600 times.

A compilation of what the Bible says about figs has been seen over 1600 times.

A one-sentence quotation, on what sin is, from Susanna Wesley, mother of John and Charles (and others) has been viewed over 700 times.

A post on the sea as a symbol of evil in the Bible, based on a book by David Snoke, has been viewed over 1500 times. Another discussion of this topic, without references to Snoke, has been viewed over 1600 times.

A discussion of what the Bible says about tattoos is my most popular post, as it has been viewed over 36,000 times, and has received at least 50 comments by others.

I pointed out a candidate for the "most sexist verse in the Old Testament," and that post has met the criterion.

A post that says that "I believe that the universe was designed intelligently" has been viewed over 2000 times.

A post highlighting quotations on joy, from C. S. Lewis, Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin, and George MacDonald, all authors of fantastic literature, has met the criterion.

A discussion of religion in The Left Hand of Darkness, an award-winning science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, has received over 700 views.

A post considering the question of whether Louis Pasteur disproved abiogenesis (sometimes known as spontaneous generation) has been viewed over 2100 times.

I claim that Christ didn't come as a baby -- be careful about throwing rocks my way! Read the post first. It has been viewed over 1000 times.

A post agreeing that The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman, is openly atheistic, but saying that there are worse dangers than blatant atheism, has been viewed over 600 times.

Charles Wesley's hymn, "I Know that My Redeemer Lives," has been viewed nearly 1200 times.

A post on the occurrences of the fruit, pomegranate, in the Bible, has been viewed 1000 times.

A post on the occurrences of the word, basket, in the Bible has been viewed nearly 1900 times.

A post on Athaliah, one of the most wicked women in the Bible, perhaps the wickedest, has received over 600 views.

One of my Sunspots, for no reason that I know of, has gotten over 500 views.

A brief criticism of Al Mohler's argument for YEC, from He Lives, has gotten over 500 views. 

Some thoughts by Antonin Scalia, US Supreme Court justice, on gun regulation, met the criterion.

A post, mostly quoting 2 Corinthians 1:1-4, has also met the criterion.

A post on the idea of play, in the Bible, has been viewed over 2700 times.

Two posts, here and here, on the agnosticism of Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon, and related works, have accumulated over 2000 total views.

A post on why living things have cells has received over 2600 views.

The post that has received more views than any other, save one, is on what the Bible says about light. It has gotten over 15,700 views.

A post on trees in the Bible has been viewed nearly 2000 times.

A musing on the subject of whether I am earnestly seeking God, which is mostly a quotation of the first four verses of Psalm 63, has been viewed 1000 times.

A comparison of Young-Earth Creationism and Intelligent Design has received nearly 600 views.

I have asked the question, "Isn't God a great artist?" with a photo of lichens, and that brief musing has received over 700 views.

An important post on environmental stewardship in the Bible has received 5486 views, as of November 25, 2014.

A post on what John Wesley had to say about the idea of the image of God has met the criterion.

A post on almond flowers in the Bible, and what they looked like (with a photo, not by me) has received nearly 4000 views.

A post on Joseph's cup, and divination (telling the future) has met the criterion.

A post on "Looking for Something," using a parable in Luke 15, has been viewed over 900 times.

"I believe in evolution: so do you" has met the criterion.

A bible study on what the New Testament church actually prayed for has been viewed over 1000 times.

To my amazement, a photograph of mimosa flowers has been viewed over 1200 times.

"Confessions of a Freecell Addict" has received over 700 views.

One of an occasional series, on women in the Old Testament, is on five sisters - Mahlah, Noah, Milcah, Hoglah and Tirzah - has been seen over 500 times.

A post on the Christianity -- or not -- of Star Wars, has been viewed over 2700 times.

A post on Tamar, a woman of the Old Testament, has been viewed over 600 times.

A description of travel from Greenwood, South Carolina, to North Augusta, South Carolina, has been viewed over 900 times.

A post on inbreeding in the Old Testament has been viewed over 3600 times.

A free scan of a public domain woodcut of the Last Supper has had over 600 views.

"Technology: some Biblical basics" has met the criterion.

A post on the colors purple, scarlet and crimson has met the criterion.

Abishag: beauty contestant and bedwarmer received over 3000 views.

Hathach: lessons from a eunuch has been viewed over 600 times.

A post, showing a chart giving the Biblical evidence for being a Christian has been viewed over 500 times. 

"How to treat aliens, foreigners and strangers" has been viewed over 500 times. 

A post on "God's creativity" has been viewed over 800 times. 

A post on the (they say) 7 C's of history, by Answers in Genesis, has been viewed over 500 times.

Sunspots 976

Things I have spotted that may be of interest to others: 

The BBC reports on the discovery of very large squid. (or is it squids?)

A-z animals, and other sources, report on a newly discovered orangutan population.

Ken Schenck discusses the importance of context in Bible interpretation.

Ars Technica, and other outlets, report on experiments that show that bonobos can tell when a human doesn't know the location of a treat, as compared to when the human does know.

Yahoo! and other outlets report that a group of over a thousand dolphins has been seen in the Pacific.

Columbia Journalism Review reports on Elon Musk's dislike of the Wikipedia.

Salt-Bible study

There are about 40 occurrences of the word, salt, in the Bible. Here are some of them:

Salt was part of the offerings to Yahweh: Leviticus 2:13 Every offering of your meal offering you shall season with salt. You shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your meal offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.

Salt was used to poison the fields of enemy nations: Judges 9:44 Abimelech and the companies that were with him rushed forward and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city; and the two companies rushed on all who were in the field and struck them. 45 Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city and killed the people in it. He beat down the city and sowed it with salt.

Deuteronomy 29:23 that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath.

But salt, in at least one case, had the opposite effect, presumably because of a miracle: 2 Kings 2:19 The men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, please, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is barren. 20 He said, “Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it.” Then they brought it to him. 21 He went out to the spring of the waters, and threw salt into it, and said, “Yahweh says, ‘I have healed these waters. There shall not be from there any more death or barren wasteland.’”

Offerings were supposed to be salted:

Leviticus 2:13 Every offering of your meal offering you shall season with salt. You shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your meal offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.

Numbers 18:19 All the wave offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel offer to Yahweh, I have given you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before Yahweh to you and to your offspring with you.”

Salt was used in part of the ritual of establishing a covenant:

2 Chronicles 13:5 Ought you not to know that Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? (I'm not sure whether salt was used in covenants between people, or just in covenants between God and people.)

Babies were salted at birth: Ezekiel 16:4 As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut. You weren’t washed in water to cleanse you. You weren’t salted at all, nor wrapped in blankets at all. (It may be that some of the significance of salt, as in putting it on babies, were prevalent just at the time related to that scripture. Or these practices may be widespread.

Here are some references from the New Testament: Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.

Luke 14:34 “Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?

Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

For the Christian, salt is related to keeping our flavor. Does that mean that we should remain distinct from the general population? Christians are to impart God's grace, perhaps somewhat like babies were salted in Ezekiel's time.

Salt preserves and flavors. These uses were well known in Bible times. A use that they probably didin't think about was that salt retards freezing. As I write, there is lots of crystallized salt on roads and sidewalks nearby.  Christians, too, should be warm-hearted.

There are several Biblical references to the Salt Sea, which we now call the Dead Sea. (It has a high salt content.)

For a lot more about salt, see the Wikipedia article.

Immigration: What the Bible says about it

 See this post for a discussion of what the Bible says about immigration. (It says quite a bit!)

Sunspots 975

 Things I have spotted that may be of interest to others: 

Gizmodo reports on diamond batteries, which would hold a charge for hundreds of years, and not have the dangers of lithium batteries.

Science Alert reports on evidence for high intelligence in Cephalopods (relatives of octopi).

SciTechDaily discusses the prevalence of saber teeth in animals of the past, and why they arose in more than one lineage, and why they disappeared from the fossil record.

Northern cardinal males are known for their bright red plumage. However, as Popular Science and other outlets report, occasionally they are yellow, not red.

Thanks for reading!

What is man? A question asked in the Bible

 From the Bible Gateway, World English Bible:

Job 7:17 What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him,

Job 15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

Psalm 8:4 what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?

Psalm 144:3 Yahweh, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him?

Hebrews 2:6 But one has somewhere testified, saying, “What is man, that you think of him? Or the son of man, that you care for him?

Thanks for reading!

Uzza, or Uzzah

2 Samuel 6:1 David again gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 David arose, and went with all the people who were with him, from Baale Judah, to bring up from there God’s ark, which is called by the Name, even the name of Yahweh of Armies who sits above the cherubim. 3 They set God’s ark on a new cart, and brought it out of Abinadab’s house that was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. 4 They brought it out of Abinadab’s house, which was in the hill, with God’s ark; and Ahio went before the ark. 5 David and all the house of Israel played before Yahweh with all kinds of instruments made of cypress wood, with harps, with stringed instruments, with tambourines, with castanets, and with cymbals. 6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached for God’s ark, and took hold of it; for the cattle stumbled. 7 Yahweh’s anger burned against Uzzah; and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by God’s ark. 8 David was displeased, because Yahweh had broken out against Uzzah; and he called that place Perez Uzzah, to this day. 9 David was afraid of Yahweh that day; and he said, “How could Yahweh’s ark come to me?” 10 So David would not move Yahweh’s ark to be with him in David’s city; but David carried it aside into Obed-Edom the Gittite’s house. 11 Yahweh’s ark remained in Obed-Edom the Gittite’s house three months; and Yahweh blessed Obed-Edom and all his house. 12 King David was told, “Yahweh has blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and all that belongs to him, because of God’s ark.” (World English Bible, public domain. This story is also told in 1 Chronicles 13.)

I confess that this story has always bothered me. It bothered David, too. Uzzah seems to have been  just trying to protect the Ark, and God seems to have killed him for it.

Before I go further, a side note. There are two versions of Uzzah's name -- Uzza and Uzzah. It is possible that these names tell us about two different people. It is also possible that there was more than one Uzza, or more than one Uzzah, in the Old Testament. I am assuming that there was only one Uzzah, and that, for reasons I don't know, his name is spelled in two different ways in the World English Bible, and, most likely, in other versions of the Bible. See here for more examination of the question of how many Uzzahs, or Uzzas, that there were.

1 Chronicles 8:1-7 tells us about the ancestry of Uzza, probably the same man as in the story above.

2 Kings 21:22-26 indicates that Uzzah may have been known about much later, as King Amon was buried in a tomb in "The garden of Uzza."

Ezra 2:49 lists offspring of Uzzah as some of the Temple servants, returning from captivity, and this is also true of Nehemiah 7:51.

I believe that God is just. I also believe that God directs, or allows, things that I don't understand. Perhaps God's justice was illustrated in the life of Uzzah, when it suddenly ended, but, even in death, his family was honored by being among those returning from captivity, and among those tending to the care of the holy places and ceremonies of Israel. Perhaps Uzzah is resting until the Final Kingdom, or perhaps he is even now worshipping God as we speak!

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 974

 

Things I have spotted that may be of interest to others:

Gizmodo reports on Pando, perhaps the oldest and largest organism on the planet. (It's a naturally cloned tree.)

NPR reports on a well-preserved saber-tooth tiger kitten, in the permafrost of Siberia. 

NPR also reports on how a pastor, and people, in a church divided by political loyalty, found unity.

You probably missed World Toilet Day. NPR didn't miss it.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 973

Things I have spotted that may be of interest to others:      

Earth.com reports on amazing mental ability in a butterfly.

Gizmodo reports that DNA has been used to store and retrieve graphic information. Another means of digital storage!

LiveScience suggests that the wheel was invented about 6000 years ago, in Carpathian mines.

Joel Edmund Anderson discusses inerrancy of the Bible, and related concepts, pretty thoroughly.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 972

Some things that I have spotted that may be of interest to others:

Joel Duff is perhaps the most articulate anti-Young-earth creationist blogger. He understands criticism, and knows the literature. When I  previously looked his posts, they were not entirely textual, but were mostly YouTube videos. That's not true now. His work includes videos, but the content of the video is generally also presented in text form, where it can be quoted, and where users can see what Duff has to say without disturbing anyone who doesn't want to listen. A recent post concerns the realization, by many Young-Earth Creationists, that it is impossible to explain supposed effects of the Flood, over a brief time period. Here's Duff's post: (The title begins with "Divine Intervention in Geology." an intriguing subject.)

One of my readers noted that the post above had an incorrect link. I believe that it is now corrected, and thank that reader.

Scientific American has a good article on how and why many trees change color in the fall.

Thanks for looking! I hope to publish Sunspots from time to time, but have ceased publishing every week.

God's creativity

Let us be thankful for God's wisdom, creativity and imagination. He thought of many things: information, beauty of form, sound, color, smell and taste; physical laws and constants, elementary particles and the structures that are made of them; life, diversity, and natural selection; communication, humor; faith, generosity, innocence. He let us live in a good, diverse, and well-planned world, with energy, oxygen, water, organic compounds, and other elements and compounds we need to live.

More could be said. The universe's creation involved the Father, Son and Spirit, working together.