PVS and Learning

(Persistent Vegetative State)

We previously examined the "persistent" in PVS (Albert Mohler's review of news of people waking up).

Now, growing evidence questioning the "vegetative" (which I previously filed under "persistent").

From Science Daily:
"Individuals In Vegetative States Can Learn"

Disappearing Downs

I tagged an article on Science Daily for review. While it was in the queue, Albert Mohler beat me to the punch!

Mohler strikes right to the heart:

"Knowing this, health care providers have historically operated under the assumption that if a woman consents to prenatal screening or diagnosing, she must believe that having a child with DS would be an undesired outcome and wish to terminate her pregnancy if such a diagnosis were made prenatally"

Their reasoning is logical. There is nothing that can be done for Downs syndrome, currently. The only reason to test would be to decide for abortion. Assuming patients have thought this through is probably presumptive...

And:

"Skotko's research indicating that 92 percent of women who learn they are carrying a baby with Down syndrome choose to abort the pregnancy."

I would argue this shows society has already made its decision. Life is about enjoyment and feeling fulfilled. Anyone who can not live up to this standard will have a very short life indeed.

Evolutionary Evidence

An informative article at Science Daily. I don't want to focus too much on the specifics, because science reporting tends to favor the new and the controversial, and often leaves out important things.

Main points:

1. "the remains of two molars" - That's the evidence behind the old theory.
2. "some nearly complete mandibles" - That's the new theory.

Idolatry - Two Views

Albert Mohler has an excellent critique of a "debate" presented in the Wall Street Journal.

"not, as advertised, a debate between an atheist and a believer. Instead, it was a debate between two different species of atheists."

It is interesting to see what the rejection of the God of the Bible does to people (theology matters, as I like to say).

What we really see is the many faces of idolatry.

Dawkins' idol is the mind - science, rationalism, physical processes.

The other writer, Armstrong, has created a god from her own imagination. It is really just a sort of mushy, "I'm ok, you're ok" kind of thing. Believing in a god makes her feel better, maybe you should try it?

In the post-modern age, we will see this more and more. The notion of absolute truth has been rejected. You can either side with the majority opinion (which calls itself "science"), or you can wrap yourself in warm feelings and mushy ideas (which, sadly, describes much of current Christian trends, along with Spiritualism and other religious groups).

I was an Arrogant Jerk

I am still.

Before I became a Christian, I was a know it all. I knew everything about everything, and I enjoyed letting people know. I didn't like people, so I didn't talk much. But when I did, I made sure to let everyone in the room know how smart I was.

In many ways I am still like that. Hard to tell what is habit, what is nature (and is it nature that is ok, or nature that needs to be changed?)

Now, I am seeing the working of the Holy Spirit in my life. My former major temptation to sin are nearly dead. Of course, this only makes my former lesser temptations all the more obvious...

We are all saints (Col 1:2). As the Holy Spirit works on us, our outward expression of sin is often the first thing to go. This can make one appear to be "more Godly" than his brother. We must resist the temptation to create "super-Christians". And Protestants are just a susceptible as Catholics (ask most "truly reformed" about John Macarthur, or Charles Spurgeon).

Please read the excellent post at Pyromaniacs, "Much of my former obduracy remains".

ASC and Liposuction

Lot's of Fight Club references lately (for those who don't know, the "first rule" routine is from the movie - also, the evil guy uses fat from liposuction clinics for his nefarious plans).

Please note that I saw Fight Club before I was a Christian, and haven't seen it since. From what I remember, it is pretty far down the line from Philippians 4:8.

Rarely mentioned in the ESC debate is the source of these cells. Women must be given regular injections of various chemicals in order to produce more egg cells. These eggs are then surgically removed. Then the eggs can be united with sperm in the lab, to make the embryos - who are then destroyed. Some ESC researchers believe it may be possible to form a sort of "self-regenerating" mass, which could supply all needs, but this has not been accomplished.

The Science Daily article is quite interesting:

"skin cells must be grown in the lab for three weeks or more before they can be reprogrammed. But these stem cells from fat are ready to go right away."

Ken MacLeod's Conversion

I previously mentioned the science fiction author, Ken Macleod. He has posted a (long) story which includes his "testimony".

Examining testimonies can be telling, especially in the case of those who "fall away". While not always indicative, there are usually signs of a lack of real conversion.

"Once again you might expect that - given that my father was one of these Presbyterian ministers - I grew up with strong religious feelings and convictions and once again I have to say, not a bit of it."

"I heard every word of the Bible and I believed every word of it but it had no spiritual effect whatsoever."

"I learned all the theology from the Westminster Confession and the Shorter Catechism and I believed it to be true but I couldn't see any reason why anyone would want it to be true."

"I now well recognise the intellectual and emotional appeal of the Christian religion but I have to say the version of it that I was taught may be a little different from the one you believe in. I should also say that this rather uncompromising version of the religion produces some truly admirable people and I am not one of them."

It's clear some attempt was made to bring Ken up "in the way he should go". But it's also apparent he had no fear of God. No understanding of sin and God's Law, of grace and the beauty and goodness of God.

Sad.