Sunspots 989

 

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

Gizmodo reports that spending too much time reading or scrolling while defecating increases your likelihood of getting hemorrhoids. 

Gizmodo also reports that some ant queens are capable of producing offspring of a different species.

Politico reports that Artificial Intelligence war games have a disturbing tendency to escalate into global war.

Biologos points out that several of the most important Christian thinkers of the past did not believe that the Genesis 1-2 were to be taken as describing literal 24 hour days, in sequence.   These thinkers included Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and B..B. Warlield.

Ken Schenck discusses the concept of creation out of nothing, and concludes that our current understanding of that idea has not existed (!) until recently.

Politico says that Apple is making a forthcoming artificial intelligence ability so that it's more likely to please Donald Trump.

Nature reports that scientists are discussing the possibility of producing "mirror life," organisms made from  molecules that are mirror images of those naturally occurring in living things.

Today is "square root day" -  9 + 16 = 25.

Thanks for reading!

Augustine: God is the Enlightener

The above is an attempt to illustrate two quotations from Augustine of Hippo, requesting God to enlighten him, and responding that God will do this.

Augustine was apparently referring, in part, to James 1:16 Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow. (World English Bible, public domain.)

Thanks for looking. The graphic above also serves as a link to a post on Flickr, which can be seen at a larger size.

Augustine on God's goodness

 

The graphic above is my attempt to illustrate a simple, but profound truth from Augustine, in his Confessions, Book VII. His statement is "For never soul was, nor shall be, able to conceive any thing which may be better than You, who are the sovereign and the best good."

I used a triangle to represent the Trinity, and the apex is colored gold for God's royalty and sovereignty. The apex is also the point furthest from the dark area at the bottom. Don't take the graphic, with its symbolism as anything but a feeble attempt to represent something -- the symbols are imperfect, and imperfectly arranged.

Mark has a related passage: 10:17 As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God. ..." I'm not sure why Jesus seemed to leave Himself, God in flesh, out of the goodness group.

Thanks for looking!