Sunspots 781

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: Christianity Today reports that the Gideons are changing their emphasis from Bible distribution to evangelism.

Christianity Today also reports that Q, a supposedly Christian organization, is promoting non-standard "cures" for COVID-19.

Relevant discusses a survey on how long pastors, and listeners, think a sermon has lasted.

Christianity Today reprints advice from Martin Luther on fleeing from a disaster, such as an epidemic.

Ravi Zacharias, India-born world-wide Christian apologist, passed away, from cancer, on May 19, 2020.

Education: As of two years ago, the salaries of college graduates, by specialty. Philosophy and Art History weren't so bad.


Environment: Gizmodo reports that the Arctic is experiencing record heat (for the Arctic) which is bad news for the world.

Humor: Under recent circumstances, it's been tempting to do some projects at home. NPR reports on three of them that didn't go quite as expected.


Politics: FactCheck examines President Trump's claim that the US and Germany have the lowest COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people of any nation in the world, and finds it to be seriously false.

Science: Jupiter's moon, Europa, emits plumes of water from time to time. It, and its sister satellite, Enceladus, may be able to support life as we know it. Report in Gizmodo.

Gizmodo also has posted really old film footage of a Tasmanian Tiger.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

Ravi Zacharias on Past, Present and Future

Some time ago, I read Can Man Live Without God, by Ravi Zacharias. (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1994) Zacharias is a Christian apologist, who knows philosophy, and knows non-Christian religions, at least some of them. (He was born in India. This is the biography page from the ministry that he heads.) Here's what he said about time in this book:

According to Christ's teaching, history is not just one event after another. Not only the present moment, nor only the past, nor only the future,but all of time is important to God. That is why the genuine Christian does not take it upon himself or herself to avenge the past. That is why the genuine Christian does not make this earthly kingdom into God's kingdom by way of the sword. That is why the genuine Christian transcends present disaster or immediate success. For him or for her, history is the arena in which God unfolds His plan and the individual is the microcosm in whom God does His work. I suggest that if you contrast this with every other world-view, you will see the striking difference in Christianity. What reassurance this brings to every individual life -- yours and mine -- to know that God is involved with us personally! The ultimate coherence that God brings is not only in the history that we see within our three-score and ten years, but for life beyond the grave itself. (p. 166)

Thanks for reading.

Daniel on doing the right thing, only: Ravi Zacharias

A week ago, I heard Ravi Zacharias on the radio.

He had an interesting slant on Daniel's refusal to eat the fancy food provided by the king's staff.

Zacharias said something like this:
Many believers try to see how close they can come to the line between good and evil. Daniel was trying to see how far into the good area he could get from that line, while still being an effective ambassador for God.

May I do the same.

Thanks for reading!