Sunspots 653

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


Computing: Wired reports that there is now a church, sort of, which more or less worships artificial intelligence. The IRS has granted this "church" tax-exempt status.

Health: Time, and other outlets, report that the Centers for Disease Control say that about 90% of Americans don't eat enough fruit and vegetables. Not a surprise.

Politics: Relevant reports that a game manufacturer is trying to block President Trump's wall by acquiring property on the border.

National Public Radio, and other sources, report that the Keystone Pipeline recently spilled 5,000 barrels of oil. Hardly a surprise, unfortunately.

Wired has compiled an annotated list of things Attorney General Jeff Sessions told Congress that he can't remember.

Science: Listverse describes 10 islands, and their unusual animal populations.

Scientific American reports on a body from outside our solar system that is on its way out of it.

The He Lives blog argues that the Intelligent Design movement isn't about science, although it's usually presented that way.

An illustrated and annotated periodic table.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 463

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


Christianity: An article on Speculative Faith, by me, based on a post, some years ago, in this blog, on how Christianity shows up in a novel by Juliet Marillier, a self-acknowledged Druid.
Computing: Are your passwords safe enough? Check them with the Microsoft Password Checker.
Humor: Audra McDonald sings the "best answers" to some Yahoo! questions for Tonight's Jimmy Fallon, in a 3 minute 42 second YouTube video.
Science: Wired reports that insects have become resistant to defenses built into corn crops, mostly because seed companies and farmers ignored the recommendations of independent scientists, and even denied the scientists access to the particular type of corn. Corporate greed strikes again.
Wired also reports on tardigrades, microscopic animals also called water bears. They have amazing resistance to most everything, including temperatures near absolute zero, and above boiling. There are photos.
National Public Radio reports on the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez disaster. Scientists have discovered that the oil spill caused more damage, over a longer time, than they had originally supposed.


Image source (public domain)

Gulf Oil Spill: Southern Baptist reaction

I was pleased to discover that the Southern Baptist Convention, which met this month in Orlando, had passed a resolution condemning the Gulf Oil Spill.

This is a quotation from the resolution, from the Associated Baptist Press report: "Our God-given dominion over the creation is not unlimited, as though we were gods and not creatures, so therefore, all persons and all industries are then accountable to higher standards than to profit alone."

National Public Radio also reported on the matter. I quote from that report:
. . . the Convention called on the government "to act determinatively and with undeterred resolve to end this crisis ... to ensure full corporate accountability for damages, clean-up and restoration ... and to ensure that government and private industry are not again caught without planning for such possibilities."

NPR interviewed the Dean of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who told the reporter that there was no reason why a true conservative should not call for government to regulate responsibly, and also told the reporter that a believe in sin included a belief in corporate sin. (The Dean was not speaking for the Convention, but for himself, but, no doubt, his views are shared by many Southern Baptists.)

Good for the SBC, which is the largest Christian body in the US, as I understand it, and generally associated with conservative political views.

Thanks for reading.

Judgment on Louisiana?

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may be the worst man-caused environmental disaster in human history. Coming just a few years after Hurricane Katrina did extensive damage in the same area, it makes us think. Is God punishing Louisiana, or New Orleans? (or Haiti?)

Maybe. But maybe not.

Here's what Jesus said in Luke 13:

13:1 Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.  2 Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things?  3 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.  4 Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem?  5 I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.” (From the World English Bible, which is Public Domain, so I can quote from it freely. It is also more easily understandable than the King James. Other versions, including the KJV, say essentially the same thing in this passage.)

Jesus explicitly said, for both a man-caused disaster, and a gravity-caused one, that the people who died were no worse than the rest of us.

I have no doubt that there was evil in Haiti, or New Orleans. But there is evil in my own state, too. God doesn't like any of it. I have been to Las Vegas once (that was enough). I found flyers, advertising the services of "entertainers" (prostitutes) openly everywhere, including being shoved under our motel room's door. The portion of the Yellow Pages taken up by "entertainers" was as large as any other section of the phone book. Apparently, they were classified, by age, race, and, perhaps, by other attributes. And, I understand, this sort of thing has been going on in Las Vegas for years. God didn't strike them with any disasters that made the news back 5 to 25 years ago. And prostitution wasn't the only wide-spread sin problem in Las Vegas.

Besides, the blame for the Gulf Oil Spill should be spread around pretty thickly. BP is from the United Kingdom. Their previous planning for problems was, well, a disaster. The branch of the US government that was supposed to regulate their activity didn't do what they should have done. And we, most of us, anyway, are using energy like there was no tomorrow and were no consequences. I am partly responsible for the Gulf Oil Spill. You probably are, too.

Thank God, God is merciful, when we deserve justice. My own town, my own family, I, myself, deserve to be eternally punished for my sin. God provided a sacrifice for that sin. Whether we live in New Orleans, Moscow, or Walla Walla, God could justly send a disaster. He could also allow a disaster. But He usually doesn't.

God help the people of the Gulf area, and all of us, in all the ways He wants to.