Bric-a-brac

Baby, it’s COLD outside! We haven’t been above freezing for over 24 hours, and won’t likely for another 36! This reminds me of my time in Ann Arbor. I’ll admit, I’m sort of enjoying it. There’s even an inch of snow forecast for overnight Thursday—makes me glad I don’t have classes on Friday and can stay home in front of the fireplace! (Though my laptop will also keep me close company—lots of work to do for my classes.)

It is simply amazing to me just how fine tuned the Earth’s orbit is—that just by shifting our relative distance from the sun by a few hundred miles, our temperature shifts from sweltering to freezing and back. I’m sure some geologist or astronomer can tell me exactly how far Texas moves away from the sun between summer and winter, and I’m sure I can even calculate it myself if I bothered to look up the 2-3 pieces of data I’d need, but I can promise you—it ain’t much, and that is incredible. I’m not saying it couldn’t have happened naturally, it could have—if Earth exists, it has to exist somewhere, so why not here—but this is just one of the dozens of ‘just exactly rights’ science has realized about our universe. How many before we give in and say the raw probability of God is higher than the raw probability of random dumb luck?

Recently, I posted about “The Case for Christianity” webcast. They have a new video online. Check it out and tell your pastor!

Also, recently, I wrote about Christian and Muslim Views on Science and Religion. An astronomy colleague wrote me with the following in response:

“One thought occurred when I read Safak's comment that Muslims stopped watching the sky. I'm reading a book about the history of astronomy written by Michael Hoskin that touches on this. Hoskin comments that Islamic astronomy, like that of most cultures up to that time, was primarily concerned with facilitating astrological predictions. Astrology was very popular, but Islamic religious authorities frowned on it, so much so that astrologers/astronomers and their patrons were sometimes killed. That might have discouraged sky-watching. Moreover, from other sources I have read, it appears the decline in science occurred ca. the 11th/12th century when Islam became quite orthodox and the Greek wisdom that Muslims had previously treasured were deemed corruptive to faith.”

Stay warm in the hope of Christ!

SDG