March/April 2005X
 When bad things happen - Part 2 What an emotional year so far for those of us who care about life. First there is the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Now there are the last days and death of Terri Schiavo. Tsunamis we can't stop although we can help people afterwards. But in Terri's case there is much more to it - prevention-wise. Actually watching an innocent woman being starved to death, legally, and being helpless to do anything about it was surreal to say the least. Of course we weren't exactly powerless - we could pray. And although our prayers didn't stop her from being killed, who knows what positive effect it may have had on Terri and her family? Take comfort in that. We have three places to go to help you decide not only whether it was right or wrong to kill Terri, but to help you form an intelligent opinion for when this happens again, and again, and again... The first is a Real Audio broadcast of Christian philosopher's Ken Samples' answer to a listener's question about the subject. It's here and you'll need Real Audio. The second is a great read called End of Life Ethics: A Primer by Melinda Penner. Find it here. And finally read Charlie LeHardy's insightful blog into the whole can of worms Terri's case opens up in Servanthood and the Schiavo Protocol. Because it will happen again, and hopefully, next time we'll be more prepared. |
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 Powerful points - the sequelWe've been busy little bees, we have. Not only did we just put out a Keymote/Powerpoint presentation called fish guts and extra dimensions about... well... extra dimensions and how they relate to the Bible. Not only have we released a spanish version of In the Beginning! But now we have two - no, three, sir! - new presentation thingies: One is an updated, slicker, prettier, Considering the Heavens (now with famous scientists giving us their 2 cents. (But they still owe us a nickel by our reckoning.) And our buddy Virgil has just further evolved his Human Evolution presentation. You'll have to bug him for the notes. But wait! There's more! We have a new one called CSI:Earth. This baby is an introduction to the new genre of Intelligent Design. The premise is: We find a body laying in the middle of nowhere, with life on it. How did the body get there? Was it an accident or did someone purpose it to be there? Hmmm... intriguing, yes? Of course it is! All these can be retrieved from the presentations page. |
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 Getting soft on old T Rex...And we have a real audio link to a discussion about the new dinosaur find (here). And a link to Rich Deem's paper Dinosaur Soft Tissue Found in T. rex Bones (here). For some it is just interesting that this could happen, for others it's a doctrinal point(!). As in: Since there may be soft tissue from a dinosaur still intact, the T Rex must have been around at the time of Adam and Eve, and therefore the earth is young, and therefore "old earthers" are heretics leading people to lead lives filled with lasciviousness all the time driving them down that famed road of perdition towards a fiery eternal death. Or something like that. Sigh... |
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 LDS + BofM + DNA = DOAOur Mormon friends tell us a tall tale about a family from the Mediterranean area who sails across the oceans and sets foot in the Americas just centuries before Christ, and that this family, like another family in a boat, spawned an entire race of people, to wit, all Native Americans. Well darn, if that DNA isn't rearing it's ugly old head again and pretty much saying that tale is as tall as Everest. We have hold of a paper introducing the subject of how DNA analysis pretty much buries the story our old chum Joseph Smith came up with - some say stole - over a century ago. Read it here in DNA vs The Book of Mormon, or see it in DVD form from here. And *surprise* our buddy Rich Deem who apparently has some access to extra dimensions of time so he can do an infinite amount of writing, has a more technical look at it in DNA Evidence and Molecular Genetics Disprove the Book of Mormon. Pictured here: Drawing believed to be ancient Native Mormon missionary. |
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 Binky.The presentation called Considering the Heavens is from the verse in Psalm 8 which clearly states: Do speuran tràth thug mi fa'near. It may be clear for our Scots Gaelic speaking friends but not for the lads here at S&S. All this is a really bad segue to our latest Binky Award. It goes to St Columba Church of Scotland in Glasgow. These friends are in the unique position of being able to help several people groups in Glasgow - English speaking, Gaelic speaking, Urdu speaking, and the disabled. We say great to that! (roll your R when you say "great," like a good Scots would.) Go listen to both of Reverend MacInnes' sermons, one with a beauty of a Scots accent, and the other in the language of the Elders - Scots Gaelic (pronounced gal-lic in Scotland, not gay-lic) |
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Last minute quick thoughts...
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| Thanks! God's blessing on every one of you! Please pray for us!
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It has been one year since Mark's daughter, Arielle (pictured here probably online with her Relient K fan club buddies) had her operation to remove her thyroid because of thyroid cancer. A year later she's doing fine (and she's quite the beauty - inside and out - if I do say so myself). Thanks for all your nice letters.
