The Thunder God

The darkness belies the fact that it's 6:25 AM. For an eight year old, this is spooky enough. But worse, lightning flashes across the night-like sky stopping my son in his tracks as we make our short walk to the bus stop.

We've seen lots of rain lately in my region. The ground is soggy and everything drips with moisture today. But as we were leaving out for the bus stop, nature had provided an intermission from the rain fall. Perfect timing. Now we won't get wet waiting for the school bus.

Except that now, my son is afraid to leave the front yard because of he sees yet another flash of light within the clouds.

He wrapped his arms around me and begged to go back into the house.

I try to explain to him that his bus should be here any minute. We'll be fine.

"But what if the lightning strikes us? We can get struck by lightning."

I try to continue our progression towards the bus stop when yet another flash of lightning strikes fear into my son's mind.

Now he starts sobbing.

Oh no. Not this.

Not Phobia.

"Why are you so scared?"

"Grandma told me that lightning can hit you."

Then came yet another flash of light. (I'm not talking about pronounced lightning strikes to the ground or to a tree. Just flashes of light among the clouds.)

My son started to lament, "why does God make lightning? He controls the weather! So why does he keep doing this?"

And with the worst timing possible, a peal of thunder rumbles across the sky warning him not to question nature again. How dare he question the thunder god!

He cried even harder now and buried his face into my side.

Poor kid.

Through his sobbing, he told me that his Grandmother (my mom) told him that God controls the weather and the lightning. She also told him that she was afraid of lightning. I guess my son coupled these two concepts together and now he thinks that lightning is a sign of God's anger and destructive power.

He didn't want to go to the bus stop because he thought God would strike us down.

All at once, he is very scared of this thunder god. And I do not appreciate this very much at all. Only a few days ago, lightning was no big deal to him. I told him of the potential dangers, but he wasn't paralyzed by the fear of lightning until this very morning. Grandma must have had one of her talks with him yesterday evening.

Yes, I know that lightning strikes people.

But if god sits in the sky and throws lightning bolts at people on purpose, then I honestly question either his aim or his choice of targets.

I am troubled by this. I don't want my son's life paralyzed because he fears an unseen, punitive god who randomly throws lightning bolts and makes thunder rumble in the sky.

Looks like the time has come for a good lesson in meteorology.

Even Some Penguins Oppose Proposition 8

Okay, so you won't see penguins marching around with picket signs protesting California's Proposition 8, but apparently penguins have been observed exhibiting homosexual behavior for some time now.

Interestingly, German zookeepers were monitoring a specific male couple that made attempts to mate with each other. This 'gay' couple also tried to take rocks and attempted to hatch them as though they were eggs.

Boy, they really wanted to start a family.

And even more interestingly, a heterosexual penguin couple abandoned their egg for whatever reason. The egg was given to the homosexual penguin couple. They cared for it until it hatched.

Now the male couple cares for their brand new little chick.

A happy family.

So is nature trying to teach us something?

Read the story for yourself here: 'Gay Penguins' Rear Adopted Chick

Pushed out of the Picture

Scientific discovery seems to widen the chasm between reason and faith. A scientific mind can remain religious. But, religion must start to make extra room for scientific observations. This often translates into gradually shedding unproven claims about how God governs our universe.

Copernicus and Galileo experienced their difficulties because of the prevailing understanding of nature. The understanding of nature was controlled by religious leaders of their day. As a result, Copernicus and Galileo nudged the hand of God upon publishing their discoveries; they both gently backed God's sovereign hand away from his own creation. And worse, these men also nudged at the self proclaimed infallibility of God's clergy. Why? Because their observations were in conflict with religious thought. These scientists became heretics.

Issac Newton was perhaps the glue that made the discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo finally stick. Also, some historians argue that the true discipline of science wasn't born until Newton's papers on Optiks and the Laws of Motion were published. But when Newton introduced his discoveries, he seemed willing to give God credit for whatever he found. Newton mentions God's influence in his primary work, the Principia, and is quoted by sources saying things like:

Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done.

So, Newton did not fully abandon his religious mind in the face of great scientific discovery.

But as time went along, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Psychology began to develop into their own stand-alone fields of study. And with more and more scientific discoveries from each filed, reason was making a regular habit of nudging the hand of God and his clergy a little further out of the picture of creation.

So, today, when we hear about a child being born with 12 fingers and 12 toes, should we wonder why God allowed this? Why did God let such a thing to happen? Yet, biology helps us understand better how this happened. Genetics shows us that this child was likely to inherit this physical anomaly because his decedents were known to have a higher incidence of extra fingers and toes. The newborn's father admitted this characteristic was prevalent in his family.

Personally, I don't blame God for this. Would you? Nor would I mock and ostracize this child for being different. All good natured people will accept his differences and hope that he has a relatively normal life.

But what do we say about God when he allows people to develop Multiple Sclerosis, now that scientists are discovering that vitamin D deficiency is correlated with this disease? Can we blame God for the way the MS gene behaves when vitamin D is deficient? MS can possibly be prevented or cured with a better understanding of how vitamin D works in pregnant mothers and in developing children. Did God deliberately keep us ignorant of this new found fact? And why didn't God also let us know that stem cell therapy could improve MS patients?

Or, do we simply start praising God for his benevolence, since he's given us these wonderful new discoveries?

Why praise? I admitted to not blaming God for these things, but not because I accept his "higher" and "mysterious" ways.

Instead, I don't blame God because I see his hand being pushed further out of the picture.

Therefore, I don't have much praise for God, either.

Be Fruitful and Multiply?

God said we should be fruitful and multiply.

But, maybe we don't need to take his command quite so seriously. In reading a science and nature article on overpopulation, these two sentences jumped out at me:

For humanity, this portends a potential cataclysm exceeding anything in our history. Our chance to avert such an outcome depends on our ability to address our numbers before nature reduces them for us.

Some environmentalists are saying that dealing with overpopulation is essential to saving our environment. But, many people want to ignore this problem and refuse to address it.

Read the following article for more information: Population: The elephant in the room

Six Silly Sayings

I recently ran across some material that made an attempt to prove God's existence in six points.

I will share each of the six points. Following each point, I will give my opinion about why I think these are weak arguments. I'm not saying that my rebuttals will disprove God -- but these arguments are not strong enough to prove that God exists.

1. Our planet's complexity points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today.

My rebuttal: Science shows us that at the very least the Biblical account of creation is a myth. Science proves the Earth is billions of years old, not just thousands or a few million per the Biblical account. If God did create us, he used evolution to do it.

But more importantly, the perceptions and assumptions we humans have concerning the "obvious" are often flawed in critical ways. We assume that everything with structure needs a builder because we must build and design. That assumption does not have to be true for our universe.

For example, observe the image to the right:

The two lines that run across the star burst pattern appear bent; however, they are parallel lines. If you could print out this image (or one similar) and check the lines with a ruler -- you would observe that they are indeed straight lines. Our perceptions can be fooled. We assume the lines are bowed at first glance. But upon further inspection, the lines are actually straight lines.

A complex universe and complex life doesn't mean a creator is necessary. Evolution is a complex process that took millions of years -- yet few people want to say that God created us this way.

2. The complexity of the human brain shows a higher intelligence behind it.

My rebuttal: This second point is really just restating of the first point. I will only add here that evolution shows us that our brains developed over a painstaking process over millions of years. Biologists have found caves where no sunlight reaches inside them. Therein, you can find a pond that has formed from a stream of water that flows inside. Fish swim around in the ponds. Since there is no light, these fish have no eyes! They only have nodes or bulbs that have formed. Biologists surmise that the ancestors of these fish had eyes. After millions of years of swimming in the dark, natural selection decided not to bother forming the eyes in these fish any longer.

Is that intelligent design?

3. Natural causes and chance are insufficient explanations for our existence.

My rebuttal: This third point is barely different from the first two points. Evolution, again, shows us that our course of development is left to a process of natural selection. Perhaps this isn't pure chance, but the survivors and offspring in any given species continues to thrive as long as they are well suited for the environment in which they live.

Also, scientists have found that when non-organic elements found in asteroids are mixed with non-organic compounds found in earth a chemical reaction happens and organic compounds are created. Just like taking oxygen and hydrogen and putting them together -- you get water. Or, just in the same way that you take sodium and chloride and form table salt. Asteroids pelted the earth during it's early formation. Life easily could have formed from this natural occurrence.

Besides, saying that God created everything is insufficient as well. We still have questions. Who made God? Saying that he always existed is no different from simply saying that the matter and material of this universe has always existed.

4. The enormously vast number of people who are passionately convinced that there is a God must be ignored should you say God does not exist.

My rebuttal: Galileo Galilei had to ignore the enormously vast number of people who were passionately convinced that the earth was the center of the universe. Nuff said.

5. We know God exists because he pursues us. He is constantly initiating and seeking for us to come to him.

My rebuttal: You cannot say that this pursuit is true for everyone because you have not met everyone to ask them if God has sought him or her out. Besides, why is God so subtle if he is pursuing us?!?!?! Also, since so many people have a vast difference of opinion in who God really is, (because he's so subtle in his "pursuit") how can you say the same God is calling a Muslim to pray when at the same time he calls a Christian to prayer? Perhaps God only exists because we still have questions about ourselves. The more questions we answer with science, the less we need God and scripture to explain everything.

6. Unlike any other revelation of God, Jesus Christ is the clearest, most specific picture of God pursuing us.

My rebuttal:

The Pagan Origins of the Christian Myth
The Bible's Buried Secrets
The Hidden Book of the Bible

And that's just for starters . . .

I'm not declaring that I've disproved God's existence in my rebuttals. However, I am saying that the six arguments offered for God's existence are not sound and cannot prove his existence, either.

Of Apes and Women

Here's another discovery that gives very strong evidence for evolution:

Dr. Penny Patterson took an ape at around toddler age and taught her sign language. Koko is the name of this intriguing ape.

Dr. Patterson started out wanting to accomplish her doctorate degree by researching how well apes could learn sign language.

Here findings revel that apes already have a gesturing system of their own. Koko learned sign language just like an infant learns to talk.

It just sort of happens.

But, this isn't just learned responses from an animal. Not the lab rat stuff like pressing the bar 10 times to get a sugar cube. Or, flip the switch 8 times and get a treat.

Koko communicates.

She demonstrates that she understands English. Ask her questions and make requests and she'll do them.

Okay, so a trained dog can do that.

But, walk into the room and give Koko the bad news that her darling pet kitten died and Koko responds through sign language by signing the words "sad" and "cry". Her facial expressions shows she's hurt and understands. Then she groans in bereavement; she comprehends that her pet is gone at that very moment.

She comprehended this because Dr. Patterson signed this information to her and told her with words. Koko didn't have to "figure out" her kitten was dead after missing her pet for weeks or months. She understood the gravity of the event right then when she was told.

Koko really understood.

What does that say about man's kinship to the apes?

And Koko isn't the exception. Other apes have shared past memories through sign language!!!

Remember, apes already have a natural inclination to gesturing.

They simply don't talk vocally because they don't have the same type of vocal cords as humans. The human vocal cord is unique.

But, they can talk with their hands and their eyes and their hearts.
Like we humans often do, too.

Dr. Patterson's work is amazing.

Read more about Dr. Penny Patterson and Koko if you don't already know about them.

And even better, check out Nature: Koko -- part of the PBS Nature series.

See for yourself. These examples are not embellished! Check it out!

Also, at the time this blog was posted, Netflix has this documentary as part of their instant viewing selections. So if you're a Netflix member already, just watch it on your PC or on your TV through your Roku device.

(gotta love Netflix . . . and that nifty little Roku, too!)