1. Reliability of Scripture - (Archeology)

Source - “Newly Discovered: A Fortified City From King David’s Time,” Biblical Archeology Review, Jan/Feb 2009 Vol. 35 No. 1 pp 38-43.

One of the most hotly contested issues of Biblical archeology is the transition between the periods known as Iron Age I and Iron Age IIa. In Biblical chronology this is the transition between the time of the Judges and the Monarchy and is dated to approximately 1000 BC. The Bible’s description of the early Israelite Monarchy under Kings David and Solomon is one of a prosperous, strong, medium sized, centralized state with a sophisticated government and sizable cities and towns.

However Biblical Minimalists have argued that contrary to what the Bible reports: Israel was really just a group of tribes living in the Judean highlands and David and Solomon (if they actually ever existed) were nothing more then a couple of local Tribal Chiefs. While recent archaeological discoveries have forced the Minimalists to abandon questioning the reality of David and Solomon’s existence, many additional discoveries are also forcing them to continue to retrench other assertions.

For example, recent excavations on a hill top site known as Khirbet Qeiyafa which overlooks the Elah Valley of David and Goliath fame (1 Samuel 17) have revealed a city dated to Iron Age IIa. Among other distinctives of an advanced urban culture, the site revealed a well-planned, fortified city whose center was surrounded by a 2200 foot long 13 foot wide wall, made of stone blocks weighing up to 5 tons each. It is believed that this is the city of Gov (mentioned to in 1 Samuel 17:52). Referring to the Minimalist argument, Biblical Archeology reports that, “Qeiyafa upsets this theory in spades” further Yossi Garfinkel the lead Archaeologist stated “The new excavations clearly indicate that already in the time of King David, urban cities were constructed in Judah.”

2. Materialism’s Failure (Consciousness Research - Mind Over Matter On A Grand Scale)

“The GCP Event Experiment: Design, Analytical Methods, Results,” Journal of Science Exploration, 22: 309, 2008.

If Materialism explains consciousness, then phenomena such as psychokinesis should not exist. If mind is nothing more then a set of physio-chemical reactions, then it should not be able to effect matter. Consequently mind over matter is a concept scoffed at by true Materialists. But are they correct? It appears not.

In a recent experiment conducted by the Princeton based Global Consciousness Project (GCP) a result was produced that should startle Materialists. The GCP attempted to see if “Periods of collective emotional or attentive behavior in a widely distributed population will correlate with deviations from expectations in a global network of Random Number Generators?” So, to test this hypothesis the GCP set up a global network of Random Number Generators (RNG) to see if their output was altered during times of emotional stress in large segments of the world population. The stressors included assassinations, bombings, natural disasters and other events which typically attract a lot of attention.

The experiment was run and to the surprise of some the results showed that when one of these stress events occurred, the random number generators were effected. The numbers they generated tended to deviate from the normal expectation of randomness. The GCP actually found a positive correlation between these large scale emotional stressors and the output of the RNGs.

This result should give Materialists pause for their narrow reductionist view of reality.

3. Beyond Darwinism - (Biology, Evolution)

“Charles Darwin’s Tree of Life is ‘Wrong and Misleading’, Claim Scientists” Telegraph.co.uk 1/23/09

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution rests upon two main mechanisms: unguided natural selection and unguided descent with modification. Christian theologians’ main problem with both of these concepts is the inclusion of the word “unguided”. Biological evolution with Natural Selection as the driver is coming under increasing criticism but that will not be dealt with here.

Darwin depicted “Descent With Modification” as a “Tree Of Life.” On this tree simple one- celled organisms gradually give rise to more complex organisms over time, eventually leading to fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and humans. The morphological record based on fossils seemed to roughly correspond to this chain of descent. However modern genetics, despite loud claims to the contrary, has not supported this model of evolution very well at all. In recent times some Evolutionary Biologists have even begun referring to the “Bush of Life” of the “Lawn of Life” instead of the “Tree of Life.”

Dissenting from Darwinism has been a risky business and few Biologists have been willing to gamble their careers and openly dare to criticize the Darwinian Tree of Life. However the evidence against it has become so unequivocal that some mainline, well-placed Biologists are beginning to state the obvious. This article in the Telegraph recounts some of this new honesty, quoting among others Dr. Eric Bapteste of Curie University in Paris, “Far a long time the Holy Grail was to build a tree of Life. We have no evidence that the tree is a reality.”

1. Freedom of Thought & Speech – (Politics, Misuse of Science)

Source - “Mr. Gore: Apology Accepted” – Huffington Post 1/13/09

Main Points – Al Gore’s simple correlation between atmospheric CO2 levels and temperature are very misleading and incorrect. First CO2 only absorbs Earth’s infrared emissions within a certain spectral band width. The CO2 in the atmosphere is currently absorbing almost all of the infrared emissions it can, given its absorption spectrum. Consequently higher level of CO2 will not result in substantially greater amounts of infrared (heat) being retained. (It is often overlooked that the current CO2 level in the atmosphere is 380 parts per million –however at times in Earths past it has been as high as 7500 parts per million). The IPCC is aware this and in order to explain the facts away it has now postulated an as yet undetected (and unknown historically) feedback mechanism between CO2 and water vapor which it claims may raise temperatures.

2. Beyond Darwinism – (Biology, Origin of Life, Evolution)

Source - “Embryonic Stem Cell Research Update” – Faith and Culture – EWTN TV 12/07/08

Main Points – Embryonic stem cell research (ESR) has two main branches – Reproductive and Therapeutic. Therapeutic ESR focuses on finding cures for diseases while Reproductive ESR (also known as cloning) focuses on making living copies of a parent. Therapeutic ESR has so far been a total bust. However, there are currently over 60 therapies available that were derived from using adult stem cells, 0 have come from ESR. Cloning of animals has met with limited success for unknown reasons. Only about 1 in every 200 attempts meets with any success.

There has been stiff resistance to expanding human ESR because it requires destroying a fetus in order to get live stem cells. Human cloning has been prohibited in almost every nation because of its repulsive moral implications. However the human cloners are now changing their tactics. They are arguing that it will be necessary to first clone humans before ESR can produce successful therapies - a dubious claim at best.

3. Setting the Record Straight – (History, Economics, Moral Issues)

Source - “Blind Spot” by Paul Marshall – New York Times (NYT) not sure Islamic Terrorists are Actually Targeting Jews

Main Points – The Media either through ignorance or willful denial have enormous blind spots. This has led to absurd statements such as the NYT surprise that the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India included a Jewish Center and their speculation that, “it may have only been accidental” that the hostages taken and murdered included Jews. Similar unbelievably silly and patently false media assertions include the insistence that Islamic terror is the result of “oppression or economics.”