Science, Glory, and all that stuff.

Science... Ssh, don't say that.

In church today,  I think that science has become a dirty word. For many people and this is also true in the church it would seem that Christianity and science are in conflict. It seems to have been thrown into the realm of politics and religion. You simply don't discuss science with religion in polite conversation. I think this is due in large part to the association that evolution has with science in general. I won't get into evolution here, I might later, but that would be a long multi-part post.

First let us define the term science for the sake of discussion. I am sure that one could come up with many varying definitions for science, but I will use a simple one.

Science is the study of the observed. Science helps us draw conclusions from our environment and for that we are able to define and understand what may not be so readily observable.

There are many things about science that the vast majority of people simply do not understand. String theory is an excellent example. I am not a scholar of physics so don't quote me on this, but if I understand the theory it goes a little something like this. The knowable universe and our four (or six or ten or infinite depending on who you talk to) dimensions are composed of an infinite (truly innumerable) number of tiny one dimensional loops. Many times these loops are explained as if they are rubber bands. This illustration is okay for the uninitiated, but it isn't actually true. While these single dimensional loops do vibrate and move they don't have anything inside them that we would understand as matter. Also to refer to them as rubber bands or even as loops as I have is still not accurate. This is simply a one dimensional space as it exists. It is space bending in upon itself in the only way that it can. If it were to behave any differently it would be, I think, violating what we consider the laws of physics. The way these SDS's (single dimensional space, a more accurate term I think) vibrate is how particles such as quarks and photons are in existence. At this point it should be noted that it is vibration in conjunction with truly unseeable space is what composes matter, light, and perhaps even energy.

The point of that rather lengthy (and almost certainly flawed) explanation is that very few people even scientists do not understand this theory. I think that it would even not be too far fetched that a few of the many who have played a part in sculpting this theory do not properly understand it themselves. The other point is that while we cannot physically see these SDS's we can discern their existence or at least theorize that they exist from what we can see.

A couple days ago a friend of mine said something to the effect of science not having the ability to explain the "paranormal." While she is right in that the study of what we see cannot explain many things relating to God and or the paranormal I think that it gives off a false impression that these subjects are not related. When I truly believe that the subjects are so intertwined that dividing them into separate subjects just might be... inaccurate.

This brings me to my next subject. Glory. Of of the biggest if not the single greatest purpose that any single human being has is to glorify God. At times when information is incomplete or even at times false it can seem as though we should ignore it entirely. This is a mistake. If this is done and at a later time the information is completed or proven false one has missed a wonderful chance to give God glory. Let us look at the age of the earth. There are many who would stand behind the idea that the earth is billions of years old. I don't personally buy this. There are certain inconsistencies that get in the way of my believing it. I don't fully understand it, to be honest, but I can say that I am supremely confident that eventually the age of the earth will in one way or another line up with scripture. I think this was the case when people held the belief that the earth was flat. While it really wasn't as popular an idea back in the day of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella as many think; it was a fairly prolific idea. The Bible says, "and hangeth the earth upon nothing."
Job 26:7
Now we know for a fact that the earth is an imperfect sphere that "hangs on nothing." Funny how that works, huh?

Let us look at an unpleasant subject that relates to this very well. The crusades. I am not going to go into all the differing crusades, but I do want to recognize that they were horrific. Hundreds if not thousands of people died. Are we to ignore the ugly and disgusting side of life? No, we are to recognize it and move on. My favorite author writes the villains in his stories as particularly dark characters. Why? Because this puts contrasts and amplifies the apparent goodness of the protagonist.
The people, the men, women, and children are not heroes. They are not villains. They are the slaughtered. This is not something that can be ignored. To do this is to merely continue what was started in that day. Let us acknowledge that men made horrific decisions and used God's name to rationalize their actions. When we are told not to use the Lord's name in vain this is what was spoken of. I do not understand how something like that can eventually bring God glory, but I am confident in that it will be used in the long run to do just that.

Just what was on my mind today.

Revision January 19:

In regards to the "explanation" of String theory.

So far no one I have spoken to has understood this; hence the quotation marks. It seems as there is some confusion regarding my mention of two dimensional spaces. I have no clue how such a "space" would exist or behave (I am sure it would be interesting) and it is not something I am attempting to address here in any length. Also, when thinking of how a SDS would behave try to think out side of the box. Chances are you perceive everything in a thread of time progressively moving forward. When contemplating anything regarding this subject one should remember that we do not live in a three dimensional world. We have more than just three dimensions with which we interact in. There are four that we can observe readily. There are the dimensions of space that are length, depth, and width, but there is also the fourth. That fourth is time. This is not a new concept, but something we have known for some time. Well, these SDS's exist outside of time. At least so far as I am able to discern they do not seem to be influenced by it... At this point it becomes fairly difficult to contend with if one is disregarding the math behind it all. I, however, am terrible at math and while I may have delusions of grandeur advanced mathematics is not part of those. The point is that these singular dimensional spaces are what compose our entire universe. If this is true an amazing thing is occurring all around us that very very few even recognize. These spaces that are made up of only a single dimension are actually producing four (and almost certainly more). I just thought it was worth mentioning that everything that you see and feel and touch and eat and hear is made up of stuff that doesn't even adhere to the same physical laws that we do. :)

Damn Cattle

I have a wolf dog. When I tell someone I have a wolf dog I say that I have a "high content wolf hybrid." She is 90% wolf. She is 100% stubborn. This past Wednesday she escaped from our yard into the adjoining field. Normally this would not be a problem and I would take the opportunity to run with her as it is so much fun for both of us. This time, though, it was not so fun. You see, in this particular field at this particular time was a herd of longhorns. These aren't just any cattle. These are very easily annoyed cattle with very large horns. As I saw her running toward this herd I called out to her. Stubborn as she is no amount of calling did any good. I started sprinting after her and trying to coral her back to the house. It was starting to work and I was chasing her back to the house when I saw my first stampede. These mad cows were running at me and my wolf. For those who have no experience with cows you should realize a few things. The first is that wolves can run fast. I am not talking like Olympic runner fast or even bicyclist fast. I am talking so fast that she can out run any deer even on a bad day. To catch up to her I had to make a mad dash for her and that is exactly what I did so when I was running back to the house I was on my last leg so to speak. Pardon the expression, but I had a particular four letter word going through my head when I saw those rather large horned beasts bearing down on me. Troublemaker shot off like an arrow for the house while I did my best to bail and hopped across the near by creek. When I finally hopped the creek the particular cow that was chasing me was about five or six feet behind me. He stopped at the edge of the creek as it is about four or so feet deep. I walked back to the house with a muddy shoe, but that was the extent of my damage. I don't know if my former Aikido teacher will ever read this or not, but I want to let anyone who reads this know that it is because of him that I managed to get away without so much as a scratch. He taught me to respond instead of react and it is because of that I remembered that the cows couldn't cross the creek where I was. Thank you, James. Also, it should be recognized that without God I wouldn't have been able to attend James' class or have the energy to run at all. Now, here I am writing and Troublemaker is a few feet away waiting for a triscuit.

Tourist Trap

Arthur's feet hurt, but he wasn't paying attention. The pain had faded to the back of his mind, that is what happens after four hours of walking. Another car passed him on the highway and then another and then another. Three days into the trip he stopped expecting people to ask if he needed a ride. There was no mistaking him and his backpack. Arthur was a hitchhiker and people knew it. They kept their distance and he was just fine with that. Ben had joined up with him two weeks ago.Arthur didn't know where Ben came from, but he was a welcome journey-mate. After looking him over Arthur figured that Ben was at least part wolf. No dewclaws, distinctive fur, and the whistling made it obvious. They made a good pair.

As they saw the small town slowly becoming larger Ben stopped and ran into the field to his right. Arthur continued walking; Ben would disappear from time to time only to appear the next day. More steps. More steps. He came to the first gas station. The bell rang out as the door opened.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, do you have a phone that I can use? It would have to be long-distance."

 The lady looked up with a face void of expression. "Phone's dead."

Arthur looked around at the interior. "Any water in here?" He couldn't find any.

"Out." She still had that same blank look.

"Okay, thanks anyways." He walked over to the refrigerated wall and grabbed a sprite. Arthur placed it on the counter in front of the woman. Her name tag said Sue.

"Sorry hun, register's broken. Don't worry about it; just enjoy." Her face changed to a devious smile with a wink.

"Okay, thanks..."
As the door closed behind him he heard the bell again. Arthur would have preferred water, but

Beggars can't be choosers,

he thought to himself.  As he started to guzzle the soda the taste surprised him. After the initial shock he gagged. It wasn't sweet or even cold. The cool liquid he held in his hand was warm in his mouth and tasted salty and metallic. Arthur looked at the green plastic bottle that he was holding. Nothing had changed. He poured a little in his mouth and swirled it around. He spat it back out almost immediately. It still had that warm coppery taste. Turning around to go back into the store he found that the doors were locked. The lights were off. Arthur set the bottle of the spoiled soda on the step at the door and continued to walk.

Night was coming and the sun was setting. Arthur didn't like this town so he didn't stop to rest. Finding his way in the town square he saw an elaborate fountain. It looked like it belonged in some old Gothic monastery in Europe. Gargoyles seemed to stare at him. A young lady appeared to be sitting at the fountain. She was staring directly at Arthur. He couldn't change his path without making it obvious that was was avoiding her. She was attractive, but something was wrong with her eyes. He couldn't tell in the little light that was being provided by the street lamps. More steps. More steps.

"Hey."

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Have a drink from the fountain. Its real good," she said with a lingering southern accent.

"Sorry, ma'am, that looks more like mud than water. Whatever it is, I have to keep movin'."

"It isn't either, but stop and have a drink. You won't regret it; everyone likes it." She took hold of his sleeve as he was passing.

"Ma'am?" Arthur was confused. Then he saw her eyes. They were dilated almost to the point that she didn't even have an iris showing. Her pupils were unnaturally large. She wouldn't let go.

"Ma'am, I need to keep moving, please let go." She didn't instead she scooped up the liquid in the fountain and threw it at him. She had good aim. It hit him on the mouth. He spat it back out. It tasted exactly like the sprite from the store. He jerked his hand back wiping the mud from his face.

"What the in the world is that?" He started to back up, but still heading the way he wanted to.

"You don't like it? Its honey, everybody likes it. Why don't you like it? Nuthin' but the blood of Jesus..."

"What are you talking about? What? I'm leaving." Arthur turned and started jogging.

The girl screamed.

Arthur started running. He had no idea what was going on and didn't care to find out. A man stepped out in front of him and they both fell into a heap. The man got up. He was in a mechanics jumpsuit and from the look of the grease he had on him he had been working.

"Why don't like our honey, son? Its nuthin', but the blood of Jesus. Doesn't it taste good?"

"No it doesn't! It tastes like..." It struck Arthur with the force of a mac truck.

Blood.

The man's eyes widened as he heard Arthur stop short his sentence. His eyes weren't right either.
 "You know him don't you?" He shouted at Arthur with fear and urgency in his voice.

"We have a right to be here, you know! Leave us! Leave us! We don't want you here!"

"Jesus, what is going on here?" Arthur whispered a small prayer.

"Ahh! Don't say his name! Get out! Get out!"

Not knowing what to do, Arthur started running to the edge of town. The sun being gone completely it was hard to see, but he could make out the forms of others walking out of buildings one by one.

"Jesus make this stop." Out of breath Arthur could barely say the words.
 
His prayer was met with screams from inside the town. He had to stop running. He was so thirsty. He hadn't had any water all day. He looked up. Only the girl aJnd the man were standing where he could see. They had twisted looks of hate.

"What are you doing here?"

No response.

Arthur started to pray, "Jesus..."

Before he could utter another word the man and girl started screaming again.

"Make this stop. Help these people." The screaming stopped finally.

The man and girl collapsed and didn't get up. Arthur couldn't decide to leave or to check them out. He walked over and looked at them. He wasn't sure if they were still a threat or not.

"Hello?"

The man's eyes opened.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Arthur," he said as he helped him up. "Do you know what is going on here?"

"I don't know, why is my daughter on the ground?" He picked her up. "She must have had one of her fits again."

"I need to get going. You guys gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, you need a place to stay, son?"

"No thanks, I just as soon get outta here."

"Suit yourself, be careful though; its dangerous out there."

The next morning Arthur woke up in a field just outside of town with Ben licking his face.

"Good morning, Ben. Lets go get something to eat." Just as he said that Arthur looked up to see the blackberry bush that he had missed the night before.

Ben just whistled.