Sunspots 828

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

Christianity: He Lives on the requirements for being baptized. (Many churches have a lot more than the New Testament church had.)

Relevant reports on a survey that indicates that over 40% of self-identified evangelicals go to church less than twice a year.

Peaceful Science has a good discussion of ways that Adam and Eve could have come to be.

Environment: Gizmodo on a report that methane release was alarmingly high in 2020. (Methane is a greenhouse gas.)

Science: Phys.org reports on greatly enhanced ability to turn genes off. This technique, a variation of the CRISP procedure, when studied further, might, for example, be used to fight Alzheimer's.

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

Thanks for looking!

Some possible means for the origin of humans, other than by special creation

Tim Keller, a pastor, has been writing a series, entitled "Creation, Evolution, and Christian Laypeople." This is the final post in that series. He is sympathetic to considering the scientific evidence, and believes that people have been turned off, perhaps even to the claims of Christ, because some Christians have publicly dismissed some of that evidence.

Keller has been considering the possibility that humans came about through some sort of evolutionary process.  I believe that he has answers for several objections, raised by Christians, to that possibility, although he does not have unassailable proof. In the final post, he points out, among other things, that the words used in Job 10:8-9, by Job, are similar to the words used in Genesis 2:7, describing the origin of Adam. (See here and here -- the same Hebrew word is used.)

For those concerned about such things, Keller believes in a literal Adam and Eve, who fell, and from whom all humans are descended.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 292

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

Science:  Thinking about your ancestry enhances intellectual performance. Interesting.

Politics: National Public Radio on the history of the income tax. Among other items: President Reagan favored increases in taxes, at times.

Religion: A post on interpretations of the nakedness (or not) of Adam and Eve, throughout history.

Image source (public domain)

Did Adam have a belly button?

The answer, of course, is that we don't know.

I just read a photo (on Facebook) of what appears to be a pamphlet or magazine article, claiming that Adam and Eve didn't have navels, because they didn't go through embryonic development. (The navel, or belly button, of course, is where the umbilical cord is attached.) Perhaps they didn't. On the other hand, perhaps they did.

Even if Adam and Eve were created as mature adults, they might have had navels. Presumably, they began life as able to converse in whatever language they used. (NOT English, I think!) If they began life as mature adults, with language skills, they must have had all the neural connections necessary for these skills, even though they didn't experience the language learning through which the rest of us set up those connections, which enable us to speak and understand language. So, just as their brains were created as if they had gone through normal development, their abdomens might have also been created in that way, with navels. (Innies? outies?)

See here for Wikipedia article on neuroplasticity. The notion that neural connections are formed, or altered, by learning, is, as I understand it, firmly believed by almost all neuroscientists, but is not backed up by a tremendous amount of experimental evidence. Experimental work of this type is very difficult to do, as it would mean working, on a biochemical and/or microscopic level, in a living brain, and it wouldn't be ethical to do such research in humans at all. Here's a report on some actual experimental evidence for the idea. It is hard to imagine that learning would take place without altering the physical and chemical structure of the brain.

Thanks for reading. Check your navel.

Blog seminar on evolution and original sin

The blog, "An Evangelical Dialogue on Evolution," is hosting a blog seminar (a new concept, so far as I know) on an article by George L. Murphy.

The article, which is 10 pages long, including references, in easily readable type, and in language which should be easily understood by a reasonably intelligent person (such as you) is freely available on-line. Murphy raises some fundamental questions about original sin and the Fall.

Thanks for reading. Read Murphy, and check out the seminar.