Filed under: Uncategorized
Filed under: Uncategorized
Apparently the new Equality Bill so called, will be used by gay rights activists to force the hand of funding bodies to sponsor pretty much everything they want to do. That is what they seem to be suggesting at least.(see My Blogshare Page) But i wonder what would happen if christian organisations tried the same thing? I doubt they would be given the time of day. Yet one group seems to be getting their own way most of the time even before the advent of the bill. This bill purports to about equality and I think was intended to be about equality, but if it ends up being about making some more equal than others don’t be in the least bit suprised.
Filed under: Observations
Barack Obama has withdrawn the ban on funding of embryonic stem cell research, saying that it will open up a new frontier in scientific research free from political interference.
This could be stated in another manner: Science without limits or ethical constraints.
I believe Obama has done this with good intentions, believing this move will in time improve the lot of many with serious debilatating diseases. However, I believe he is desperately misguided in this action given that the use of embryonic stem cells neccesitates the death of human embryos, death of one human life for the relief of another. This is not a trade that is justifiable under medical ethics. Of course one of the strategies used to allow people to justify this stance is the depersonalisation/dehumanising of the embryo by means of language. It is the same matter at issue here as in most abortion cases. It is a matter of comfort or convenience. I suppose it oughtn’t to be a surprise to us that Obama would make this decision given that he is fairly clearly pro-choice. Though it is not a surprise it is still lamentable.
Returning to the broader issue being addressed in his broader statement regarding scientific research without interference from the political sphere. Politics is there to lead our nation, but it appears that the gurus of secular science have mesmerised the leaders of the nations with their nigh on magical claims, so as to give up any right to dictate what these modern magician will do. It appears that secular science is the new religion of the secular west. The priests of this religion, who are seemingly more and more above the law, are the research scientists who seek to offer up sacrifices in their secret temples.
This ought to raise a few eyebrows. You worry that in the present climate such a statement might be found to be illegal and worthy of a prison sentence. Given that the government are moving to remove certain free-speech clauses from current legislation.
Side-tracked again, so back to the idea of science without limits.
History shows that there are always those who have now qualms in crossing every imaginable ethical boundary given half a chance.
I know that there will still be limits on the funding given in the USA, given that there is an application process and also that Obama was at pains to stress it was not a free for all, but whit is intesely concerning to hear poilicians make statements to the effect that science should be free from political intereference (which has mostly if not entirely been based on ethical objections).
Filed under: Uncategorized
I noticed this link on another blog, it is the sign-up page for accessing the audio resources of Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. It is totally free, you just need to sign-up to get a log-in of your own. There are some great resources on here, including messages from visiting lecturers. Great stuff.
Filed under: Cultural Assessment
You may argue whether my title is theologically correct, but from a human perspective anyone who cannot see any hope of finding their way having lost it, is hoplessly lost.
As I see it (and the news daily reinforces my conviction) Scotland is full not only of individuals but communites that have hopelessly lost their way. They have no hope of life-change, their lives spiraling deeper into despair and debasement.
We see trials taking place in the law courts of our land which reveal what some communities or sections of communities (effectively communities within communities) have come to. Society promotes the inidividual’s rights to an extreme and this is taken to its logical conclusion: do what you will. Society presses home the idea that there is no absolute right or wrong of which the logical conclusion is that nothing is wrong if you don’t believe it to be so. Our media stands on street corners pushing evolution and consumerism, both of which devalue human life.
Yet when those who have unquestioningly followed this philosophy in their lives and have bowed to the dictates of the fallen heart in a way which society disapproves of, they are demonised. Not that I’m justifying in any way what anyone has done, it is right that they be judged guilty and punished. What I am saying is, what reason do individualist-relativist-evolutionist-consumerists have for condemning their actions? The answer, absolutely none whatsoever. Those found guilty have actually followed the dictums of these inconsistent philosophers. They are the very embodiment of that philosophy. They did what was good in their own eyes.
The secular philosphers will doubtless respond and say, “There are societal norms and standards of decency that we do not wish to cross.” But where do these originate? In our culture they originate mostly from the Bible. But what if the culture, the mass of the people, come to approve of a certain behaviour? (A current example would be homosexual practise) What happens when the societal ideals are different? Historically you do not have to look far away (geopgraphically) to find examples of where society did not hold to the same ideals of common decency. In Celtic Britain for example young women and children were sacrificed in pagan worship. In a relativisitic framework this is right if you believe it, and even in a framework which acquieses in societal ideals the difficulty is not resolved, because clearly it was deemed suitable in the society where it took place. No secularist wishes to say he thinks that some behaviour which the mass of the people believe to be wrong, is wrong, but logically secular atheistic philosophy can have no framework for truth, right and wrong, but only the shifting sands of human opinion, which will change according to how debased the particular individual or society has become. Only if there is an absolute framework of truth can one catagorically state that such actions are wrong.
So where am I going with this? Well I don’t think that it is only individuals that are on trial, our nation is on trial because those on trial are living their lives according to the principles of the atheistic secularism that has been so aggresively propogated over the last few decades.
They are hopelessly lost in the maze or should I say web of human philosophy. They are bound fast in the chains of sin, which are being reinforced by the very philosophy which claims to be setting them free. Their only hope is the gospel of God’s grace and intervention.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I almost choked after reading it! Very amusing.
scan down the left hand side of the page for the link My Blogshare
Filed under: Uncategorized
10001100110110010110001101100110111010000100111001L
00001000100111011001010110000010101001010101111000
00010110000100110110111000101110110110010001000101
00111111001100101110011100100011010111111101110000
00101000111010000111110010110011111010000010010010
00111100010000100001001000010000001000001100010000
11110001000010101010110010011000010110111011111001
01010001010100001000101110110001100110000011010100
11011101001000100111011110100010010110011111110111
10100000101111010001100001110001001101011101011000
10110110110001100100111110011100111000010110110110
00011000000110010001000110001010100101000101000100
01010100101110000100100000111000001101101000010001
01101011000100000000101101000101010100101001000111
01100000011101011001010000100101100101110101111010
00010011000001000000111001011101010101010100111101
01000000100110010100101110100000000000001101111111
01010111000101001110100100010100100011000111000001
11110011001100000111100110101111111110001110101101
01100100101111111100100100100101100100011010000000
10101011101000110100011011111001001101101100110010
11011001000110101000011011011111110001111000010100
01110010111010101010000000111000000000010111000100
10101110001010100100111001100110010011101000111011
10101100011010111111111111011011101011011000100011
00111100111101100100011100111001001111010100010111
10101000010010001111010111101101101100111111001001
00010001101101010101111011100101011011010011011101
01001001100110000111011110101111101001001010000110
11101110001011000101000010110110001100100001101011
This is a question that arose in my mind after watching the program ‘Swarms’ on BBC iPlayer (not when it it was originally broadcast on Sunday).
My initial reaction is that they are pre-programmed to respond in certain ways rather than ‘learning’.
However another thought came to me, that it it is not only a matter of pre-programming, but also of providential care. God cares for the whole creation and uses each part to fulfill his purposes.
This is intended to be a discussion starter, so feel free to comment.
Filed under: Information Technology
If you have not come across these web applications and you follow blogs, then you have not yet realised how much time you needlessly waste checking whether your friend (or otherwise) has posted a new blog item. What a blog aggregator does is that is automatically scans to see if there is a new item and it lists these new items much as your email would show new mail. Internet Explorer (for those of your crazy enough to still be using that useless piece of junkware) has something akin to this, but it is not a proper aggregator and it is infuriating to use, as is most of the said piece of bloat-ware. The best aggregators are web-based (use Firefox or Opera instead if IE if you want to retain your sanity) so they are always up to date when you log in. Examples are: Google reader, which is a pretty simple setup; Live.com; Netvibes etc. The Client software type are fine, but why have another piece of software installed when all you need is your web-browser and Google Reader.
If you follow more than one blog, which is likely if you follow any, then you NEED to stop wasting your time and set up one of these beauties. All you do is establish an account (you probably already have an account with google or live.com if so all you need to do is login and enable the feed reader/aggregator) and enter the blog details into the subscriptions dialogue. After that it does all the leg work (finger tapping work) for you.
Sit back and relax.





