Nice

Virginia Tech has built a cluster out of Mac Pros.

Now all I need is an account on it. Anyone wanna help me out with that?

No?

Didn't think so.

St. James

Merciful God,
whose holy apostle Saint James,
leaving his father and all that he had,
was obedient to the calling of your Son Jesus Christ
and followed him even to death:
help us, forsaking the false attractions of the world,
to be ready at all times to answer your call without delay;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

from Common Worship

The Pope on the Eucharist

Does this sound Roman Catholic? I suppose, but still...

"The Eucharist is sacrifice," memorial of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, the cardinal explains.

"When we hear this phrase, we resist within," he states. "The question arises: When we speak of sacrifice, are we not before an unworthy, or at least ingenuous, image of God? Do we not end up by thinking that we men could and should give something to God?"

Cardinal Ratzinger adds: "The Eucharist responds precisely to these questions. The first thing it tells us is that God gives himself to us so that we, in turn, can give ourselves. The initiative in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ comes from God. In the beginning, it was he himself who lowered himself."

"Christ is not a gift that we men present to an irritated God; on the contrary, the fact that he is here, lives, suffers and loves, is already the work of the love of God," the cardinal writes. "It is the merciful love of God, who stoops down to us; the Lord who makes himself a servant for us.

Maybe not exactly Lutheranism, but it's not far off.

St. Mary Magdalene

Almighty God,
whose Son restored Mary Magdalene
to health of mind and body
and called her to be a witness to his resurrection:
forgive our sins and heal us by your grace,
that we may serve you in the power of his risen life;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

from Common Worship

Jesus a Young-Earther?

Todd Wilken said on Issues, Etc. today that Jesus and Paul thought that believing in a six-day creation was very important.

My ears perked up. I wanted to hear the Scripture citations for that!

Then he talked about Jesus referencing the "in the beginning God made them male and female" in his teaching on marriage (e.g., Matthew 19) and Paul's teaching that Christ is the Second Adam (Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 15).

All well and good. It demonstrates that Jesus and Paul took the stories about the origin of humanity seriously. But what does that have to do with a literal 24-hour day creation week? Every time Todd has someone on to talk about creation and evolution the discussion revolves around young-earth creationism vs. theistic evolution. Most (but not all) theistic evolutionists believe that the Genesis stories are myths, and this is what he was really arguing against.

I know Todd has heard about old-earth creationism, but for some reason (that I am not aware of) he doesn't seem to want to engage with it.

How Marvelous! How Wonderful!

I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
’Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

Christian Vocation

Click here to listen to a great discussion on a Christian perspective on vocation from "Issues, Etc."

Viva la Vida

Issues, Etc.'s new bumper music is Coldplay's "Viva la Vida." It sounds good for that purpose.

The lyrics are pretty good, too. Lots of people are seeing lots of things in these words, probably more than they should. I'm going to play on the safe side and say it speaks pretty powerfully of the human experience with the sinful lust for power and prestige, and how everthing can be snatched away in an instant.

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemies eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing:
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt, and pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can not explain
Once you know there was never, never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world

It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in.
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People could not believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can not explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
And that was when I ruled the world

Academic Freedom?

Lots of Christians are saying that public schools need to allow for "academic freedom" and have criticism of evolution. Some states are attempting to pass laws to this effect. I'm not quite sure how a legislature can enforce "academic freedom," and I find it funny that a whole bunch of Republicans have suddenly decided that government intervening in the school system is a good thing. But that's another topic.

I agree that we should be allowed to question Darwinism, but these laws that are being passed are too sloppy and allow all sorts of ideas that are not science a potential foot in the door of the science classroom.

Here's a question: I'm a Christian who doesn't believe in Darwinism but does believe that the earth and universe are billions of years old. What about those Christian institutions that only allow people who believe in a young earth to teach? Shouldn't I have the academic freedom to question the young-earth paradigm? (Pointing out the fact that these are private insitutions misses the point.)

We're not full of crap...

...about the amazing fine-tunedness of our planet for intelligent life. We're not crazy religious people just making this up.

So claims this recent article at SPACE.com (without reference to the religious stuff).

Earth has liquid water in the just-right amounts, plate tectonics, a large moon, etc., all of which are necessary for the existence of advanced, intelligent life.

Donald Brownlee of the University of Washington debunks the silly speculation regarding the existence of life elsewhere in the solar system:

"You hear all the time how Earth-like Mars is, but if you were taken to Mars you wouldn't feel happy there at all," said University of Washington astronomer Don Brownlee, author of the book "Rare Earth" (Springer, 2003). "It's not Earth-like. And Titan, when the [Huygens] probe landed, there was all this stuff in the media about how Earth-like it is. Earth-like? It is completely different. It has all this methane on the surface. Venus has about the same mass [as Earth], almost the same distance from the sun. But it's a totally different place — no oceans, no plate tectonics — and it's not a place you would want to be."

So far, we haven't seen any planet outside the solar system come very close to Earth either.

Of the nearly 300 new worlds glimpsed elsewhere in the galaxy, most are "hot Jupiters" — large planets that orbit close to their stars, on which life and liquid water are unlikely to exist.

"I doubt that in our galaxy typical stars have planets just like Earth around them," Brownlee said. "I'm sure there are lots of planets in the galaxy that are somewhat similar to Earth, but the idea that this is a typical planet is nonsensical."

This is where the real science is going. And it's teaching us lots of things and making astronomy more exciting.