Multi-worlds universes and God's sovereignty

Some scientists, and others, believe that it is possible that there is a multiverse. Trivial example: I purchase an ice cream cone. I can choose chocolate ice cream, or butter pecan. The universe lets me do both, but splits, and, in each case, goes on from there, with a chocolate universe, and a butter pecan universe. In other words, lots of universes, a multiverse. Each choice I can make causes the universe to split, again. Philip Pullman's fiction, the "His Dark Materials" works, are set in such a multi-universe.

Travis Perry, writing on the Speculative Faith blog, has considered the possibility that the choices we make create alternative universes, and the question of whether God could have allowed such a situation. If there were such alternate universes, would, or could, there be a unique Bible for each? Or at least, for each major moral choice -- for example, a world where Adam and Eve never fell, or one where the Jewish authorities accepted the Gospel?

Perry doesn't believe in the many-worlds interpretation, but his thoughts are interesting.

Thanks for reading. Read Perry.

Sunspots 138

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

Science:
Will you really catch colds (or the flu) by going out in the cold?

If you want to learn more about Pocohantas, Nova did a program on her, including archaeology and history.


Literature:
A Slate reviewer finds the film adaptation of The Golden Compass to be, well, not very bearable. He writes:
New Line should market the film to churches with the tag line: "Not only won't you be offended by The Golden Compass, you'll have no idea what's going on!"

Christianity:
Christianity Today discusses young-earth creationism. The comments are interesting, but (as you might expect) diverse, and disagreeing with each other.

Cody Thomas on how to really find God's will.

A splendid essay on the inability to bear children, in the Bible and in the author's own life, from Christianity Today .

This week's Christian Carnival is here. For information on these Carnivals, go here.

Thanks for reading! Keep clicking away.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 137

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

Politics:
Paul Hyde, of the Greenville [SC] News on how universal healthcare isn't nearly as bad as some would have us believe, with statistics.

Computing:
Bonnie, on a case of Internet deception, with serious consequences.

The bad stuff out there is getting even more scary. A CNet article discusses viruses/trojan horses/botnets/etc. sponsored by governments, and coming with a guarantee that they'll be effective, no less. Wow, and ouch!

Literature:
Excerpts from a splendid interview with Connie Willis (nearly five years ago, by Locus magazine) in which she, among other things, says that seeking immortality is a secular religion in North America, and pooh-poohs the idea that you can't find real life in books.

"Fear Not The Compass," from Christianity Today, by Jeffrey Overstreet. Among other things, the article discusses Philip Pullman's agenda in The Golden Compass (and the other two books of the trilogy, and complains that some Christians went way overboard about the Harry Potter books and movies.

A Slate commentator thinks there is too much shopping and other consumerism in Disney's Enchanted .

Christianity:
He Lives asks if the New Testament is anti-semitic.

This week's Christian Carnival is here. For information on these Carnivals, go here.

Thanks for reading! Keep clicking away.

Changed post

I have significantly changed a previous post, which claimed that Philip Pullman is a "materialist magician," based on comments on the post, and withdrawn that claim. The seriously revised item is here.

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

Science:
In case you were planning to commit a murder, Slate has posted information on how to remove DNA evidence. It isn't easy.

Literature:
A thoughtful, and relatively brief, discussion of what would and what wouldn't be expected to change in the future. (Writers of fantastic fiction don't always use good sense about this.)

Jeffrey Overstreet has a lot of material on Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass.

Peter Chattaway has published an interview with Pullman. Here's one very interesting statement:
Those who are committed materialists (as I claim to be myself) have to account for the existence of consciousness, or else, like the behaviourists such as Watson and Skinner, deny that it exists at all.

Christianity:
Katherine has a fine alphabetical list (with some letters more than once) of Bible verses relating to what we should be. She's got a similar list about what God does.


This week's Christian Carnival is here. For information on these Carnivals, go here.

Thanks for reading! Keep clicking away.

Image source (public domain)

"The Golden Compass:" more on Pullman

The Golden Compass is a film scheduled to open in theaters on December 7th. There are Christians who are up in arms about Pullman's militant atheism. I'm not for atheism, either, but there are some dangers in campaigns like this.

I have previously posted on this topic, arguing that there are influences from the media that are considerably more insidious, hence more dangerous, than blatant atheism. I stand by that conclusion. I would also point out that campaigns of this type sometimes backfire. There is a possibility that people will see The Golden Compass just to see what the fuss is about, who might not have seen it otherwise. Since the first of the books is considerably less blatant than the next two, there is also the danger of looking ridiculous.

I'd like to provide two links that indicate Pullman's anti-Christian attitude. It's real.

The first link is to an article written by Pullman, about the Narnia books. The article is more anti-C. S. Lewis than anti-Christian, to be sure, and, as much as I admire the writing of the late Lewis, I must admit that Pullman presents some valid and pertinent criticisms, most of which have previously been made by Christian critics. However, his militant atheism comes through loud and clear, when he says that the revelation, to the main human characters in The Last Battle, that they have died, and that they are now in an infinitely better world, is "propaganda in the service of a life-hating ideology." That ideology is Christianity.

The second link is an interview with Pullman, about his beliefs, and where they came from. He expresses his anti-Christianity quite clearly.

I originally had a second part, indicating that Pullman has undercut his own anti-Christian case or, perhaps better put, the cases of some other atheists. However, on December 4, 2007, I decided to remove that portion of the post, and change the title accordingly, based on comments by George (see those comments below) who says that the evidence I presented did not support the claim that I had originally made. That being the case, I removed the claim. This will have the effect of removing any links anyone might have made to the original post.

More on The Golden Compass

I recently posted about The Golden Compass, an upcoming movie based on a book by Philip Pullman. It's not out yet, but there's some buzz about it.

A post at Speculative Faith, a blog on Christianity and fantastic literature, by Rebecca Luella Miller, explores the possible impact of this movie further, and suggests that the impact might be good, on balance. Although Miller doesn't seem to have read the book, I believe her essay is on target.

Thanks for reading.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass is an upcoming movie, based on a book by Philip Pullman.

There is apparently an e-mail campaign, aimed at telling Christians not to see this movie. I have received such e-mails a couple of times, and will probably receive them again.

Here's my response:
Thanks for sending this on to me. I haven't seen the movie, but I know something about fantastic literature, and this author is, indeed, an outspoken atheist, and the movie (or movies -- it's a series of books) may be militantly atheistic. The book, although interesting and well-written, is anti-God, and anti-church.

There is a bigger problem. Most of the time, our modern media act as if God didn't exist (except for the so frequent "Oh, my God!" expressions). News programs and newspapers tell us about terrible disasters, seldom saying a word about praying for the victims. The accomplishments of athletes are praised, but the source of their God-given abilities is seldom mentioned. (No doubt people more knowledgeable than I could say something about popular music of many kinds right about here, but I won't.) Dramatic TV programs and movies tell us about what's important in fictional people's lives, and it's very seldom even close to a genuine belief in God. My wife and I saw a movie last week, which we found hilarious and enjoyable, and it was so inoffensive that it is rated PG-13. Christianity Today said that it was a family-oriented movie, and it is. But I don't remember a character who said a word about religious belief of any kind, Christian or otherwise, or about going to church.

It seems to me that this pervasive ignoring of the things of God is much more dangerous than occasional blatant atheism. We usually see blatant atheism, recognize it, and react to it, whereas, if we aren't careful, we absorb the attitude that God is non-existent or irrelevant from the world around us, including, of course, the media. We become practicing atheists.

Thanks for reading.

* * * * *

See here for another post on this topic.

See here for yet another such post, linking to material by Pullman, showing that he is, indeed, a militant atheist, and also showing that Pullman has actually undercut mainstream atheism, and that his sort of belief was predicted by C. S. Lewis, over sixty years ago.