Tuesday, 20 November 2007

charity begins at...

www.rayofhope.co.za

Check it out, every year a bunch of people throw a Christmas party for various orphaned kids. They have a day full of fun, food and gifts. I know for a fact the money goes directly to the kid's benefit as I've attended last year and seen it myself! People, consider digging deep in your pockets if not getting personally involved. Else get involved next year... Details on the site.

Out of interest, the site was done by the hard work of the students of my training course. Contact me for more info on that.

Monday, 19 November 2007

new pics up

Saturday night my friend Max convinced me that we need to go out and take some night pics with our cameras. We went to a look-out in Linksfield Ridge where we snapped away happily. My first few weren't done with a tripod, but then I used Max's and the results were significantly better. My Camera is a Sony Alpha 100 that I got in April. Check out the album here.

Thursday, 15 November 2007

i deserve

I tasted fruit that was forbidden
I murdered trust that you had given
And now I'm living in a place that's not my home
The pain in your heart made you regret
The moment we spoke, did you forget?
Will my transgressions bring us all to our sweet end?
Maybe I'm just being too hard on myself. I don't know
Or is it that your mercy is much more than I deserve?

Betrayed by more than just a kiss
I did much more I must admit
Instead of letting it all end you bring new hope

(words to the song "I Deserve", by Third Day, from their second album - Conspiracy Theory # 5)

Sunday, 04 November 2007

some thoughts on science in the Bible

The thought was raised from an infidel friend that if the bible is in fact of divine origin, it should have some proof testifying to this fact.
The example he gave was the book containing the number PI to the 100th decimal or something about nuclear fission that we only know about now. Now, there is no PI to the hundredth or Nuclear Fission appendices in the bible. He has actually raised a very good point. It would be a strong argument for the Divine involvement in the scriptures if anything known (discovered) only recently was embedded in scriptures written thousands of years ago.

One must remember not to let today's general knowledge dim this gem. To put it in perspective, if only man-made - one would expect the scriptures to only contain commonly held views at the time of them being written. And so anything true and verifiable that goes against the common wisdom of the day, should stand out glaringly, which it does.

OK, so let's see some substance. One great place to start is in the book of Job. According to Henrietta Mears, Job is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, books in the bible. What a great place to start. Also, much of Job has God boldly declaring Himself and questioning Job's knowledge in contrast to God's wisdom.

Job 26:7 mentions that earth free-floats in space. "He stretches out the north over the void, and hangs the earth upon nothing". Common wisdom of the day said that the earth sat on a large animal.

Here are some other references that you might find interesting. Bear in mind, the bible is not a science text book, but when it touches on topics of science, one would expect it to be accurate if indeed it is true. This is what we find:

Bible: Light moves (Job 38: 19,20)
Wisdom then: Light was fixed
Science now: Light moves

Bible: Air has weight (Job 28:25)
Wisdom then: Air was weightless
Science now: Air has weight

Bible: Each star is different (1 Cor 15:41)
Wisdom then: Stars were the same
Science now: Each star is different

Bible: The earth is a sphere (Isaiah 40:22)
Wisdom then: The earth was flat
Science now: The earth is a sphere

This one is pretty impressive --
Bible: The ocean has springs (Job 38:16)
Wisdom then: Ocean only fed by rivers and rain
Science now: The ocean has springs. The ocean is very deep, with almost all the ocean floor being in total darkness with enormous pressure. It would have been impossible for Job (or anyone in the time of Job) to explore the springs in the sea. In the 1970's, with the help of deep diving research submarines that were constructed to withstand 6000 pounds-per-square-inch pressure, oceanographers discovered springs on the ocean floors.

Some more amazing facts:
The bible describes the Hydrological cycle (Ecclesiastes 1:7; Jeremiah 10:13; Amos 9:6). Four thousand years ago the Bible declared that God "draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man" (Job 36:27-28). The ancients observed mighty rivers flowing into the ocean, but they could not conceive why the sea level never rose. Though they observed rainfall, they had only quaint theories as to its origin. Meteorologists now understand that the hydrological cycle consists of evaporation, atmospheric transportation, distillation and precipitation.

The universe is expanding (Job 9:8; Isaiah 42:5; Jeremiah 51:15; Zechariah 12:1). Repeatedly God declares that He stretches out the heavens. During the early 20th century, most scientists (including Einstein) believed that the universe was static. Other believed it should have collapsed due to gravity. Then in 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that the distant galaxies were receding from the earth, and the further away they were, the faster they were moving. This discovery revolutionised the field of astronomy. Einstein admitted his mistake, and today most astronomers agree with what the creator told us millennia ago - the universe is expanding!

Check out many more items here: http://www.eternal-productions.org/101science.html