Free Republic

What is Life/Non-life in Nature? by Jean F. Drew Everywhere we see the “behavior” of life/non-life (death) in nature; but that doesn’t tell us what life/non-life IS. Darwin’s theory of evolution doesn’t help with this question. It presupposes the existence of life axiomatically, and then proceeds to speak of the origin and evolution of species. Its fundamental assumption is that biological evolution is a wholly naturalistic, material process governed by the laws of physics and chemistry, with random variation and natural selection as the principal drivers of the system. Central to the Darwinist view is that life forms — species...

Can the Genesis Record of Creation be Valuable to Academia?: From the View of Astronomy, Biology, Physics, and Social Sciences     Christian Student Fellowship will host a symposium on the development of an integrative science consistent with the Genesis account on April 5th, 2008, at Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky.   Entitled A Scientific Theory of Genesis, the lecture will demonstrate how the Scientific Method can be used in connection with the Genesis account of creation to establish a Unified Creation Theory. By using experimental results from the most respected laboratories in the U.S., this lecture will...

On Complementarity: A Tale of Two Friends Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr were great friends. Of this extraordinary friendship a mutual friend would write, “Their relations were marked not only by profound mutual respect but also by great affection, if not love.”1  It is a friendship that history records as one of most contentious, yet fruitful, and splendidly illuminating of all time. For the two friends engaged in a great debate over many decades — a public one, with “all comers” invited. History will likely record it as one of the greatest extended public debates on issues in science,...

Table of Contents Authors’ Foreword PrologueDramatis Personae The SceneThe Dialogue The so-called “Cartesian Split” What is “all that there is?” Pure, blind chance? First reality and second realities What is knowledge? Does science “have it in” for God? Is Intelligent Design science? What is matter? What lies at the beginning of “all that there is?” Aristotle’s Four Causes What is “randomness?” First Adam, Second Adam Is science “killing the soul?” The Public Square: a “values-neutral zone?” What is science? What is the universe? What is life? What is reality? Endnotes Appendix Nuts and Bolts Numbers Big and Small Combinatorics,...

Moral conservatives were shocked to read a thinly veiled defense of infanticide in the New York Times a few years ago by MIT [now of Harvard] professor Steven Pinker. But they would be even more disturbed if they saw Pinker’s justification for his views in a book that appeared about the same time. In How the Mind Works, Pinker argues that the fundamental premise of ethics has been disproved by science. “Ethical theory,” he writes, “requires idealizations like free, sentient, rational, equivalent agents whose behavior is uncaused.” Yet, “the world, as seen by science, does not really have uncaused events.”...

Combinatorics, Probability Theory, and the Observer Problem   Combinatorics and probability theory are distinct yet related branches of mathematics. Combinatorics is the evaluation of a (usually) finite set of objects. It asks questions like, “How likely is it the next card I draw will be a seven of hearts?” Or, “What is the likelihood of my winning the five-ball Lotto tonight?” Next questions might be, “How many cards are in a standard deck?” Or “What are the possible combinations of numbers for a winning lottery ticket?” Extending the method from questions of this type, Combinatorics might ask, “How many...

Where the Battle is Won or Lost " ’If you will return, O Israel,’ says the Lord . . . " —Jeremiah 4:1 Our battles are first won or lost in the secret places of our will in God’s presence, never in full view of the world. The Spirit of God seizes me and I am compelled to get alone with God and fight the battle before Him. Until I do this, I will lose every time. The battle may take one minute or one year, but that will depend on me, not God. However long it takes, I...

"Walk in the Light" " If we walk in the light as He is in the light . . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin " —1 John 1:7 To mistake freedom from sin only on the conscious level of our lives for complete deliverance from sin by the atonement through the Cross of Christ is a great error. No one fully knows what sin is until he is born again. Sin is what Jesus Christ faced at Calvary. The evidence that I have been delivered from sin is that I know...

His Birth and Our New Birth " ’Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ’God with us’ " —Matthew 1:23 His Birth in History. ". . . that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God ( Luke 1:35 ). Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not emerge out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being the human race can boast of— He...

The Hidden Life " . . your life is hidden with Christ in God " —Colossians 3:3 The Spirit of God testifies to and confirms the simple, but almighty, security of the life that "is hidden with Christ in God." Paul continually brought this out in his New Testament letters. We talk as if living a sanctified life were the most uncertain and insecure thing we could do. Yet it is the most secure thing possible, because it has Almighty God in and behind it. The most dangerous and unsure thing is to try to live without God. For...

Sharing in the Atonement " God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . " —Galatians 6:14 The gospel of Jesus Christ always forces a decision of our will. Have I accepted God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ? Do I have even the slightest interest in the death of Jesus? Do I want to be identified with His death— to be completely dead to all interest in sin, worldliness, and self? Do I long to be so closely identified with Jesus that I am of...

Christian Perfection " Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect . . . " —Philippians 3:12 It is a trap to presume that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do— God’s purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness movements tends to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum. If you accept this concept of personal holiness, your life’s determined purpose will not be for God, but for what you call the evidence of God in your life. How can we...

The Law and the Gospel " Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all " —James 2:10 The moral law does not consider our weaknesses as human beings; in fact, it does not take into account our heredity or infirmities. It simply demands that we be absolutely moral. The moral law never changes, either for the highest of society or for the weakest in the world. It is enduring and eternally the same. The moral law, ordained by God, does not make itself weak to the weak by excusing our...

"By the Grace of God I Am What I Am" " By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain . . . " —1 Corinthians 15:10 The way we continually talk about our own inabilities is an insult to our Creator. To complain over our incompetence is to accuse God falsely of having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining from God’s perspective those things that sound so humble to men. You will be amazed at how unbelievably inappropriate and disrespectful they are to Him. We say...

The Supremacy of Jesus Christ " He will glorify Me . . . " —John 16:14 The holiness movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them. There is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ. All that is required is a pious atmosphere, prayer, and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous. It did not cost the sufferings of God, nor is it stained with "the blood of the Lamb" ( Revelation 12:11 ). It is not marked or sealed by the Holy Spirit as being...

Partakers of His Suffering " . . . but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings . . . " —1 Peter 4:13 If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others. Because of this process, you will never be surprised by what comes your way. You say, "Oh, I can’t deal with that...

Obedience or Independence? " If you love Me, keep My commandments " —John 14:15 Our Lord never insists on our obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit with Him. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an "If," meaning, "You do not need to do this unless you desire to do so." "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . ." ( Luke 9:23 ). In...

"You Are Not Your Own" " Do you not know that . . . you are not your own? " —1 Corinthians 6:19 There is no such thing as a private life, or a place to hide in this world, for a man or woman who is intimately aware of and shares in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. God divides the private life of His saints and makes it a highway for the world on one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not...

The Trial of Faith " If you have faith as a mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible for you " —Matthew 17:20 We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith— faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it...

Freeper Investigation: Original Intent and Constitutional Jurisprudence by Jean F. Drew English and Anglo-American law’s core principle is the opposition to abusive power as exercised by the state. As Dan Gifford writes in “The Conceptual Foundations of Anglo-American Jurisprudence in Religion and Reason,” “The law is not the law regardless if it be good, bad, or indifferent. There is a higher moral law, originating within ancient Jewish law, which requires individual responsibility for opposing evil and promoting goodness. It is from this basic tenet that English law and Anglo-American law embody the following principle: The individual has rights against the...