Curiosity
On Sunday August 7, Discovery Channel premiered a new series: “Curiosity.” The first episode was a show entitled “Did God Create the Universe?” The episode was narrated by Stephen Hawking and presented his own arguments and scientific explanations. The show is available online here. Stephen Hawking continues to be a man that both amazes me…
Continue readingTwo Great Mysteries
In as much as we are conscious at all, we human beings, find ourselves in the centre of these two great mysteries. The first is our presence in a world which we did not create, we could not have expected, which is continually a surprise and a gift and a challenge. We are born into…
Continue readingThe Eighth Day
I am working on a paper for some studies I am doing at Regent College and so I am doing a lot of reading in the area of cosmology, origins of the universe, and origins of man. I am reading a number of journal articles in contemporary theology, science, genetics, and philosophy. It is challenging…
Continue readingTrinitarian Bash
In Robert Farrar Capon’s The Third Peacock: The Problem of God and Evil#, chapter one, “Let Me Tell You Why” opens the book like this: Let me tell you why God made the world. One afternoon, before anything was made, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost sat around in the…
Continue readingTools
Using the right tool for a task is important. A small screwdriver and a pair of forceps are the right tools for opening up my computer. They work better than an axe . . . especially if I want to be able to close up the computer and use it again. Mathematics is a great…
Continue readingThe Lives of a Cell
Yesterday I was given a book to read for a retreat that I will take in next month. The book is The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher by Lewis Thomas. It arrived by courier in the afternoon and I have already devoured the first six chapters. How did I not discover…
Continue readingReality
According to one of the greatest mathematicians of our time, “there is no picture- or theory-independent concept of reality.”* What Stephen Hawking means by this is that we are all limited in our perception of reality. He compares all of us to a goldfish living in a bowl with curved sides. Gazing out, the fish…
Continue readingChicken Soup
When our daughters were little we found lots of great kids’ music at the library. Joe Scruggs, Charlotte Diamond, Fred Penner, and Alan Root were some of our favourites. We spent many hours listening to and singing along with these great songs. Many of them were quite educational and certainly contributed to our girls’ present…
Continue readingPhilosophy Is Dead
Stephen Hawking says that philosophy is dead. In his new book, The Grand Design*, he asks questions like, “How can we understand the world in which we find ourselves?” “How does the universe behave?” Where did all this come from?” “Did the universe need a creator?” Then he states, “Traditionally these are questions for philosophy,…
Continue readingScience vs Religion
The Cardus website is featuring a review of the book Science vs Religion: What Do Scientist Really Believe? In this book Elaine Ecklund encourages us “to cross the picket lines separating science and religion” and join in appreciative discussion. The book presents several findings of Ecklunds research: 1.Despite stereotypes, scientists are not entirely irreligious or…
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