Fossilised copulating turtles

Palaeontologists are at a loss to come up with the mechanism of death in fossilised copulating turtles. The paired turtles had been known for some time and, while mating had been hypothesised, the confirmation that each of the pairs were male and female, as well as some specific positioning, has strengthened the theory.

Male turtles of this species, like many of their modern relatives, have longer tails than females, said Joyce. Also, males were typically smaller than females, a trend clearly seen in the fossils. Finally, in seven of the nine pairs, the turtles are in direct contact along the edge of their shells just above their tails - and in two of those pairs, the male's tail wraps below the female's shell in mating position.

What mechanism would cause the death of 9 (!) pairs during mating? Toxic algal blooms; carbon dioxide in the water; other toxic substances. The proposal is oxygenated upper lake water and saturation of the lower lake water with carbon dioxide or other toxins. They claim this causes death during the act followed by preservation in the oxygen poor water. This seems a bit of a stretch, and so many pairs. It would be interesting to know if turtles stop mating during forced suffocation.

I prefer the creationist proposal for fossilisation: burial in sediments such as mud and lava flows during flooding and volcanic activity. Rapid death and conditions for fossil formation occur together. This explains the mechanism of fossilisation which does not usually occur when animals die; fossil graveyards; and why animals are found in situations such as eating, or giving birth.

Monday quote

Never forget there is more mercy in Christ than there is sin in you.

Douglas Wilson

Authority or responsibility

Authority is closely connected to responsibility. Many are familiar with the idea that those who have authority are responsible for the outcome. They take the rap for the outcome, and also the glory. Some modernists would wish to disassociate these. All authority and no responsibility. This just allows us to feed our pride without needing to consider or reap the consequences of our actions.

I think it is helpful to think of the situation in the reverse. What we have responsibility for we need authority for. People are given responsibilities for persons and property, and if we are to realise good outcomes we need the authority to action things.

This places the focus back on duty and not power. The parent, the politician, the manager are responsible for people or property placed under their care. They are seeking raise godly children, or manage interactions between citizens, or develop skilled workers and maximise productivity. Thus the focus is on the responsibility. Authority is required to do this well. But the obedience of the children isn't arbitrary (though it may seem so to them), it is because there is real authority, and the real authority is there because the father has been given the responsibility by God to raise up godly children.

People still make their own choices, and outcomes are not guaranteed, or determined; nevertheless, the job is nigh impossible without authority.

When we are under authority we should behave appropriately: respect, honour and usually obedience. This is important because such people will be held accountable for their actions. When we have authority we are to use it based on the realisation that we will be held accountable for those under our authority.

Locavore—or not

Locovore

lo·ca·vore noun.

1. A person who primarily eats locally grown food.

I was never impressed by the idea of buying food grown locally. I have no objection to local food, but some things cannot be grown in the local climate, and if something could be grown halfway around the world and still be cheaper than a local option I was happy to buy it. And I had heard that the cost per item of transporting large quantities of food may be similar to a farmer bringing in produce to the market.

But it turns out the cost of transport is only a minor component of the energy used producing food anyway.

In the real world, not everything is equal. Some places have more water or better pasture land. It makes more sense to grow a tomato in an unheated greenhouse and truck it then to heat a local greenhouse. A U.S. study showed that about 4 per cent of food energy signature was from long-distance transportation and 83 per cent from production.

Fresh food may sometimes taste nicer: mangos in season in Australia or Asia certainly beat our imported ones from Mexico; I buy canned here. But buy what you like at an acceptable price and ignore the distance it took to get to your plate.

Monday quote

I don’t know what kind of sentimental ideas you have about Jesus. Just read your Bibles and they’ll go away.

John Piper

Transcribing Scripture

A brief insight into how difficult copying the Bible was before the advent of printing;

The scribes dedicated themselves to the task of copying six hours a day for months at a time in a hunched-over posture. Often lighting was poor and conditions were harsh. One scribe described a time when his room was so cold his ink froze and his hand became so stiff he could no longer hold the writing quill.

The article mentions the common Greek letters that were confused with each other: Σ, Ε, Ο, Θ; and Γ, Π, T; thus some variant readings.

Monday quote

You are entitled to your opinion...

But your opinion is a D.

Monday quote

A stupid person should keep silent. But if he knew this, he would not be a stupid person.

Muslih-ud-Din Saadi

Sugar much?

Sugar stacks has some interesting visuals on how much sugar you are consuming. Quite a lot. Cubes of sugar are 4 g each. Someone has compiled several of the comparisons into one picture.

Not that I oppose sugar any more than other forms of carbohydrate. But as many of us get more carbohydrate than we burn up, it may be prudent to decrease empty calories: soda, cordial, and fruit juice.

Monday quote

Christians have often disputed as to whether what leads the Christian home is good actions, or Faith in Christ. I have no right really to speak on such a difficult question, but it does seem to me like asking which blade in a pair of scissors is most necessary.

C.S.Lewis, Mere Christianity.

Literally

You literally use the word "literally" too much; and more importantly, you use it incorrectly.

Monday quote

God is easy to please but hard to satisfy.

George MacDonald (1824–1905)

Solar ship circumnavigates the earth

This is quite nifty (if one ignores the global warming rhetoric).

60,006 kilometers; crossed oceans; and stopped at dozens of ports around the world. And Friday, having circumnavigated the world, the Turanor PlanetSolar and its crew arrived back in Monaco, where their journey had begun in September 2010.

Shaped like a sleek spaceship, 31 meters, or about 102 feet, long and covered with 537 square meters, or 5,780 square feet, of solar panels, the PlanetSolar is the brainchild of Raphaël Domjan

Monday quote

There is no safety for honest men but by believing all possible evil of evil men.

Edmund Burke

What Jesus would not do

I have come across this cartoon. Though the cartoon does not mention it, the sites I have seen it on seem to view it as an apologetic against right-leaning Christianity. Though I do not wish to address the moral and political spectrum here—perhaps at some stage as I find it important, and increasingly so recently—I think such a cartoon reveals biblical illiteracy and would like to de-construct it here.

Enumerating these for reference we have:

1. Harass single moms
2. Beat homosexuals
3. Picket their funerals
4. Shoot doctors
5. Shoot anyone
6. Join a militia
7. Run a network
8. Own a weapon
9. Run for president
10. Burn a cross
11. Hate his enemies
12. Attack the poor
13. Side with the rich
14. Put his name on merchandise

Before commenting on individual statements a couple of general statements are in order.

Firstly, it is false to appeal to what Jesus did not do or was unwilling to do as an absolute condemnation of such activity. There are many things that Jesus did not do and refused to do for reasons related to circumstance and not immorality. Jesus had a ministry and would not be sidetracked from such ministry. He therefore refused to do some things that are perfectly legitimate for his followers.

Secondly, Jesus is Yahweh. Though the trinity is more opaque in the Old Testament, Jesus is God, and Paul says Christ was the Rock that followed the Israelites in the desert (1 Corinthians 10:4). So if God does something it means that not only that Jesus would do such a thing, he did do it.

On to the list.

1. Depends what is meant by harass. When Mary (possibly single by then) wished to see Jesus his response was that those who hear the word of God and do it were his mother and brother (Luke 8). At another time Jesus challenged a woman married 5 times and living with a man whom she was not married to (John 4). Jesus does not shy from confronting her with his knowledge of the fact in an effort for her to realise who he is.  Is it wrong to harass a mother solely because she is single? Yes. But that does not mean one is not allowed to address any of her issues that may have contributed to her singleness.

2. It is unclear whether "beat" is meant literally or metaphorically here. People shouldn't physically beat up anyone for his beliefs; fighting should be confined to defending others from assault.

3. In general picketing funerals is inappropriate, though potentially there could be some reason? I would not put it past an Old Testament prophet speaking against a nation at a political leader's funeral. I am only aware of a single church in the US run by a questionable character and that is hardly representative of Christendom.

4. Possibly not in the capacity as a citizen, but such activity is hardly common by Christians around the world is it?

5. Really? A God who ordered a destroying angel to raise his sword over Israel (1 Chronicles 21) would be averse to using modern weaponry? The confusion here lies in seeing Jesus' mission solely during the incarnation and not also when he returns to judge the living and the dead. Jesus became a man in order to carry out a mission of reconciliation between man and God. Killing all the wicked men living in the first century was not exactly the agenda.

6. Yet all men in Israel were instructed by God to take up arms to conquer the promised land. They were punished for refusing to do so (Numbers 13-14).

7. I presume this is a dig at Amway?

8. Jesus commended a centurion who probably carried a weapon. Jesus' disciples had weapons. Jesus rebuked them when they used them in an inappropriate situation, but no condemnation that they were in their possession. The problem is not owning a weapon for protection, the problem is trying to advance the kingdom thru the power of the sword. As to Jesus owning a weapon: in John's vision of Jesus a sword comes from his mouth (Revelation 1:16); probably not for cutting the wedding cake at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

9. This is probably because Jesus is going to become supreme monarch by force (Revelation 19:15).

10. Allusion to racism? True, Jesus desires men from all nations to join his kingdom (Revelation 7:9).

11. It is true that Jesus loves his enemies, something all Christians should strive to emulate. Note we are to hate our family in comparison to our devotion to Jesus (Luke 14:26). This teaches us that we need to consider how the word "hate" is used.

12. A situation arose with someone asking Jesus to judge on behalf or him and his brother over an inheritance (Luke 12:10). Interestingly Jesus does not side with the poorer (probably younger) brother, rather he cautions him against love of money. Another poor man Jesus heals then subsequently warns to leave sin to escape a worse fate (John 5).

13. Jesus allowed a woman to use very expensive perfume on him (Mark 14:3); he was friends with some rich disciples such as Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:57); and his ministry was supported by some rich women (Luke 8:3). Jesus does not side with people because they are rich or poor. Jesus sides with the poor when they are oppressed. He warns the rich against the love of money. And he shows mercy to repentant sinners.

14. Probably not material merchandise. Though definitely people, those he has purchased with his blood (Revelation 3:12).

What people often fail to see is how Jesus interacts with people based on where they are at. Telling the rich man to give his money to the poor addresses his covetousness, incidentally the commandment Jesus did not mention to him initially. He rebuked Pharisees for self-righteousness and unrighteousness. People also sometimes fail to see the reason behind a commandment or action of Jesus.

We need a fuller knowledge of our Lord. The judgmental need to learn mercy, the wicked need to learn righteousness, the foolish need to learn wisdom, the antinomians need to learn holiness, and we all need to know that while God takes us where we are, this is not our destination. Who we are is not who we will be.