Friday the 13th, April 2029

Incoming!

Introduction: Asteroid 2004 MN4 is heading this way. It is about 1,050 feet across, big enough to basically eliminate Texas. 

NASA discovered this fairly large asteroid back in June of 2004. They were able to gather sparse data, but gave the asteroid a 1 in 60 chance of hitting Earth on Friday the 13th, April 2029.

So, on the traditionally most unlucky day of the year, we are all going to get very lucky.

The Science: Asteroid 2004 MN4 will not hit Earth. At least not on its current trajectory. Right now, we think we know it will pass earth at a distance of 18,600 miles. That may seem like a long way away, and I suppose it is, but consider this: we have satellites orbiting at 22,300 miles. 

This means we will be able to see the asteroid pass our planet with the naked eye. Of course, you would have to be standing on the right side of the planet to see it and, as far as I know, we don't know which side it will be passing on at this time.

I know I am hoping to see it. These things don't happen often. We think they happen once in 1,000 years, so it would not be prudent for anyone to think, "I'll just catch the next one." This would be the only time in recorded history that this has happened. It will only look like a shooting star, but it will be the first asteroid we know of that we will be seen in the sky without visual aid.

However, some people think that this very asteroid will hit Earth in 2035 when it comes back around for round two. NASA says that talk is premature. We know, fairly precisely, how close the asteroid will come to Earth, but we certainly don't know exactly. The close it gets, the more our gravitational pull will affect the asteroid's path. We truly don't have any idea that it will come close to Earth at all in 2035. It is believed that in 2013, when the asteroid is only about 9 million miles away, we will be able to get radar ranging and know where it will be out to 2070.

I have to pause here for science. This is astounding to me. Not only can we use radar on something 9 million miles away, but that will allow us to know it's path in the solar system for the next 57 years. Thanks to movies like Armageddon, a lot of us worry about how we will defend ourselves from oncoming collisions from large objects. Considering we gave ourselves 25 years for this asteroid that won't even hit Earth, I am feeling pretty good about our chances of survival for me, my children, and probably their kids and grand-kids. We have become pretty smart on Earth, at least on this matter, and I would say it is something we should all take a little pride in!

Of course, we will have to not kill each other in a nuclear war for this to matter at all, but we can talk about that another time.

The Big Hit: We know Earth has been hit before. Craters are an easy indication. It has been hit many times, and it will be hit again. The extinction of the Dinosaurs is almost surely the work of an asteroid or comet hitting Earth, but did you know that isn't the largest thing to hit Earth? It isn't even close.

Now, the big one was never a threat to any living thing. It probably happened as the planet was forming, but the Earth was hit by something roughly the size of Mars. How do we know, or at least think we know this? We have evidence spinning around us, in the form of the moon.

Yes, the moon was once a part of Earth. We know about how the planets were formed, and this is explained further in my Origin of the Universe post, so we are able to hypothesize that after the collision happened, the heavier, iron elements were pulled back into the formation of Earth, while the lighter stuff became the moon by creating an object far different from Earth's composition.

One to Watch: Toutatis, a 2.9 x 1.5 x 1.2 mile asteroid that has a very similar plane to Earth's orbit. It may be headed for us one day, but we are safe from it for the moment. I just mention it here in case you want to do a little more research.

What Did We Do?

God: Is this a message from God? A warning, something to keep us on our toes?

Could be. We only discovered this asteroid in 2004. Where was it before then? The asteroid belt? Maybe, but then what sent it on it's way to come so close to Earth?

Maybe it is God's doing. Maybe there is a message to this. The only problem is, if you're like me, you have no idea what that message is.

Sure, we should end war, be good to each other, eliminate hunger, and eliminate poverty. I'm all for it, but I don't know what an asteroid would do to change that. The only thing it might force some to do, is re-visit the Bible a little more often.

The Bible: The book of Revelations chapter 8 is some pretty heavy stuff. It isn't exactly a fun read, but it is interesting because I imagine that, when it was written, they had no idea that an asteroid was likely responsible for wiping out life on Earth 65 million years ago. For me, this is a major accomplishment and a very wise warning that we are susceptible to death from above. It seems unlikely that God is firing at us, but who know for sure? Things hit Earth, that is about as much as we really know.

So, without further ado, the eighth chapter in the book of Revelation:

"1 Then, when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, and he held a gold bowl for burning incense. He was given a large amount of incense, in order to offer it on behalf of the prayers of all the saints on the gold altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense offered for the prayers of the saints rose up before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the incense container and filled it with fire from the altar. He threw it down to the earth, and there were thunder, voices, lightning, and an earthquake.

6 Then the seven angels who held the seven trumpets got ready to blow them. 7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood appeared, and was thrown down to the earth. A third of the earth was burned up. A third of the trees were burned up. All the green grass was burned up. 8 Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain burning with fire was thrown down into the sea. A third of the sea became blood, 9 a third of the creatures living in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. 10 Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star, burning like a torch, fell from heaven. It fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water. 11 The star’s name is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it became so bitter. 12 Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars so that a third of them became dark. The day lost a third of its light, and the night lost a third of its light too.

13 Then I looked and I heard an eagle flying high overhead. It said with a loud voice, “Horror, horror, oh! The horror for those who live on earth because of the blasts of the remaining trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!" "

It doesn't matter to me if you believe the story literally or figuratively, or not at all. It is talking about a very real possibility of massive destruction from space. I can't help but wonder how anyone back then could know this was possible. Maybe a small meteor struck their lands, or maybe it was simply the fear of the sky. Either way, I'm impressed they were able to see the possibility, or maybe God really did give someone a heads up.

Little Known Use for Turtle

Conclusion: Science does an amazing job spotting asteroids, or any object long, long before they hit Earth. We have some amazing technology out there to keep us safe, or at least give us warning for when something is heading our way.

It was thought at one time that a 200 ft wide asteroid would hit Earth in February of 2013. That has since been disproved, but there were plans on how to defend against it. We were either going to shoot it with big guns, or paint it. Yes, painting it would be a sort of sun-screen, cooling the asteroid, changing the spin, and altering its course. Strange? Yes, but the point is we have people who come up with all kinds of stuff to protect us.

Of course, I doubt we could protect against a missile from God.

If we, as a society, were to believe that everything was as it is written in the Bible, what would we do? When it comes to an issue like this, if an asteroid was heading our way from God and going to destroy the Earth, we would give up. "Nothing we can do, it's what God wants," we would say. I believe that is one of the biggest conflicts between the Bible and reality.

Reality is, we have brains. I believe God gave us brains but, regardless, we have them. We have the power to do a lot, including protecting ourselves from threats, whether they come from God or elsewhere. So why? Why, why, why, why, why would we give in? If God made us, and these are tests, they aren't tests to see us give up, but to pull together and survive.

          

C. Diff & Diseases

C. diff Under-Performs 

Introduction: Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, has been making headlines lately. It was initially reported by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to be responsible for about 14,000 deaths per year. However, the CDC reported those findings based on death certificates, which do not always show the infection, but sometimes what the infection does. So, if C. diff shuts down someone's kidneys, it may read "kidney failure" even though the C. diff caused the kidney failure.

After checking with hospital records, USA Today found that the real number was closer to 30,000 deaths and 347,000 hospitalizations. For reference, there are about 32,000 car accident related deaths per year. I would wager most of us know of someone fairly close to us (maybe a friend-of-a-friend) that has died in a car crash. That would mean the odds are high that many of us know of someone who died from C. diff as well, although we may not we aware of it.

Also, it is worth noting that you are 10 times more likely to get C diff if you are over the age of 65. I don't want anyone thinking this stuff is running rampant in many random healthy people. Their most likely scenario is getting it after a hospital stay that included antibiotics. Even that doesn't mean you likely have it, just that you had a higher risk of exposure.

In this post, I will look at C. diff, but moreover at disease in general. What science has to say, and what religion and God might have to say regarding disease and why we have to deal with it.

Science Weighs In: First, I just want to clarify a few things that are not diseases. Fevers, coughing, sweating, itching, vomiting, runny noses, sneezing, chills, and fevers. These are the body's defenses for diseases, so they are related, but not the same.

There is a LOT of science when it comes to disease. Not surprisingly, we spend a great deal of time and money attempting to understand individual diseases, what they do to our bodies, and how to get rid of them and, further, prevent them from coming back or coming at all.

C diff: For today, let's just look a little at C. diff, and then think about the origin and development of disease over time.

C. diff is an interesting disease. It is a bacteria. If I were to ask all of you, "How do you treat a bacterial infection?" even though most of you aren't doctors, you would probably be quite confident that the answer is "With antibiotics." Well, when it comes to C. diff, antibiotics are actually the cause to the infection.

How? Well, some of us carry C. diff now and we transmit by touch, but it doesn't matter when our normal bacteria levels are healthy. Sometimes, with the use of some antibiotics, there will be a decrease of your normal bacteria to the point where C. diff will no longer be held in check and will release toxins that make you sick.

So what's the treatment? If you said antibiotics before, you would actually have been right! According to the Mayo Clinic, Flagyl (Vancocin for more severe cases) is usually used to treat. It prevents the C. diff from growing, so your natural bacteria can come back. Then you could take a probiotic to help prevent a relapse. About 1 in 4 people will relapse, so it is important to get back to a doctor if you don't feel well after you recover!

Where Diseases Come From: As I said above, there is a LOT of science to go with any disease so, to try and sum it all up, I will relate it to evolution. Even better, it is evolution.

There isn't a whole lot of debate on evolution. It's a pretty hardened fact of the world. There is the Missing Link, but it doesn't take much reasoning to believe that the link is out there somewhere. I will have another post on evolution on its own, because there is a lot to talk about, but I think that case is closing rapidly.

So, life on Earth began as a biological stew of sorts, then all manner of life came from this stew. If you could (even if you don't believe in what I am writing, do it for argument's sake), imagine tiny bacteria becoming more advanced. Becoming algae, seaweed, shrubs, and trees. Another set of bacteria becoming amoebas, plankton, krill, fish, lizards, birds, monkeys, and people. 

It is clearly apparent that all of these species interact. Eat each other, kill each other, and live among each other. Then imagine this, not all bacteria became what we see today. Some stayed as bacteria, some changed and maybe died out, while others kept on changing and evolving. Diseases are like everything else. Feeding, killing, and living among us. They are built to survive, as are we, and so there must be an eternal struggle among us. I ask this, is a C. diff death really all that different from a bear killing a hunter? They are both situations where one organism killed another within the cycle of life.

I'm sure I have not described this flawlessly but for me, a non-medical professional, it makes a lot of sense. It further makes sense that we would proactively work to prevent these situations and deaths so we continue to work on medicines, just like we continue to do what we can to isolate bears from our towns and cities. Disease has lived and grown with us since we arrived on this planet, and there is no reason to ever believe it will go away.

Bacterial Hunter/Gatherers

Religion and Disease: Most religions do not encourage people to never seek medicine to aid them with their health, but there are Christian Scientists out there, and they will allow medical treatment if you really want, but certainly don't think it is necessary and generally appear to discourage its use.

There are other religions such as Jehovah's Witnesses and Scientologists that will partially dictate what a person can receive from modern medicine. For example, blood transfusions are not allowed in these religions.

How did I find this out? When my wife and I were in the delivery room before the birth of our second child, the nurse was going through a checklist and asked my wife, "If you are losing blood and require a blood transfusion to survive, would you like us to give you one?" I think both of our jaws hit the floor at the same time, just wondering why anyone would agree to die when they didn't have to. I was taught that God's one true gift was life. Even if you believe that wasn't his only gift, if you are religious you definitely believe it is at least one of the gifts. So, if it is a gift, why would any viable religion teach you to throw that gift away when you don't have to?

Seriously, if you know the answer to that, please comment below!

God and Disease: I am electing not to spend much time here. The idea that God uses disease to cleanse the Earth of bad people is absurd. Bad people survive diseases all the time, with and without medicine.

Also, why would a child ever die from disease if it is supposed to be a trial? I mean, there really isn't much in the way of arguing that God infuses his subjects with disease, unless he just enjoys watching people suffer.

Religion vs God vs Medicine

The Middle: It strikes me when I hear about religious people who practice their faith in an in-between state. Where you receive medicine and pray, some people thank God but not the medicine and some are the other way around. Then there are the more extremists who shun God and live because of medicine, but some that shun God and live without medicine. Others shun God and die with medicine. Still others pray and live or die with or without medicine.

What is the right answer?!?!?

The Bible: The Bible confuses me when it comes to medicine, but I think it says that God is the one who does the healing. Psalm 103:3 "who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases," seems to spell it out, but then there are times where it shows that your body is a temple. This verse is really talking about sexual immorality, but it should apply to everything anyway, Corinthians 6:19 "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own."

Well that folks, to me, is quite the conundrum. We don't cure diseases, God should do that, but our body is a temple, but we shouldn't try to cure it with medicine?

As I will continue to argue, the Bible is a guide to being a good person. You should interpret (or not interpret) it in the way that makes the most sense to you. For me, it tells me to keep bad things out and, if they get in, get them out the fastest and best way you can. 

Conclusion: Disease is terrible, but it is a real threat to our lives from time to time. I haven't met anyone who has never been sick, so I think it is safe to say that you can't just avoid disease, you need to deal with it head on. We have looked at a few of the ways science and religion address disease but, because the spectrum of what people believe is so wide, I will now simply share my personal beliefs on prayer and its potential roll in medicine.

Finding strength in my belief of God, for me, is what praying really is. I don't know that he so much gives the strength to me, but rather I believe that I can find the strength in myself, both mind and body, when I pray to Him. I believe that this feeling of strength is good for my body and can help it fight and overcome disease. Then again, I am also firmly planted in the "medicine helps" world and, if my doctor tells me to take something to help with a disease, I'm all in!

To argue further, have you ever heard of anyone just giving up on life and dying within days? I have to say that, whatever you believe, this is some evidence that if you don't do something to help your mind and body feel strong, your life can end quickly despite getting the proper care at a medical facility. I think it shows a most definite correlation between how you think you feel, and bringing your body to that state. I'm not saying that positive thinking is a cure all, but I do believe there is something to it. There are studies that are backing this up, but nothing that I feel compelled to share, because they don't appear to be conclusive enough to me.

Once again, I am compelled to ask that you look internally and decide what you believe before a disease finds you. I think of it like CPR training. It's just better to think about how you would handle a tough situation before you are in it, so you don't have to think so hard when you are in a more panicked or desperate state.

It doesn't matter what religion you believe in, just that you find some confidence in your choice before you really need its help. It probably isn't the best idea to claim to be atheist, then turn to God to heal you. Nor would it be a great idea to abandon God if you would hold him responsible for giving you a disease. Know your answer before you find yourself in a hospital bed, listening to your heart rate descend (sorry for the downer). I think we all owe ourselves that much.

        

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Origin of the Universe

The Universe Begins

Introduction

No matter what your religious makeup is, from the most devout Christian to the most extreme Atheist, the origin of the universe is fascinating. I can't imagine being human, and not being interested in the stars, the earth, and just wondering how it all came to be.

Religions offer answers. Science continues to discover more and more, and is getting closer to offering an answer of it's own. The partial answer science is offering is, at best, not close to any religious belief that I have ever heard.

Despite this, I believe that God and science are still working together, even in the creation of the universe. I'll explain why using the latest and greatest scientific discoveries. It is going to challenge a lot of people's beliefs,  but it is the greatest conversation piece I have ever known.

What Science is Saying so Far

From Hawking: I always thought Stephen Hawking was out to kill God. After all, his work is to find scientific reasons for everything. If he did that, there wouldn't be a lot of reason for God. However, I was very surprised to hear him say there may be a higher power. He doesn't seem to believe in one, but he doesn't rule out the possibility. He is, in my view, the leading authority of the universe, so most of the science that will follow is based on his work.

Big Bang part 1: The Big Bang theory is barely a theory. It happened. The way we learned this is amazing:

If you are standing by a road, and a white race car is going 200 mph along the path, can you imagine what it sounds like? You don't have to conduct an experiment to know that the pitch of the motor will rise as the car approaches, and fade as the car leaves. A much less known fact is that the color of the car changes as well.

Our eyes cannot see it, but the car approaches in a very light shade of blue, and speeds away in a very light shade of red. Crazy right?

So when astronomers started viewing galaxies far away it isn't surprising they didn't see it right away, but every galaxy ever found is a very definite, although a very slight, shade of red.

This concludes that every galaxy, everywhere, is moving away from ours. It's not a stretch then to realize that the farther back in time you go, the closer the galaxies would have been to each other. Take that back over 14 billion years, and it stands to reason that everything would be in about the exact same place.

Big Bang part 2 (matter/anti-matter): So, the entire universe began as a ball of stuff called matter and anti-matter. We all know the electron as a piece of matter, but there are positrons as well, the anti-matter element. Protons have anti-protons as well, and so on and so forth.

Anti-Matter

At some point, somehow (I believe God is at the root in some manner, although gravity could be the culprit here), at least one particle of matter met a particle of anti-matter. When that happens, it triggers a violent explosion of photons and radiation. One event triggers another, and the Big Bang comes into existence. 

If you can imagine the entire universe compacted into a neat little ball, you have a better imagination than me, but then try to imagine this Big Bang, where everything, everywhere, began as radiation and light. In an explosion that might be equivalent to a grain of sand expanding to the size of Earth, in a trillionth of one second.

Here's another Godly question. There is supposed to be balance in the universe. Meaning that there is supposed to be an equal amount of matter and anti-matter. However, if there was, nothing would exist. When the Big Bang happened, about 1 in 1 billion pieces of matter escaped. These escape artists are what make up our universe now. So, the question is why? Why and how did matter outplay anti-matter?

However it happened, a LOT of electrons, neutrons, and protons survived, began to find each other, and created hydrogen gas.

The Beginning of Light: We already covered that the Big Bang was full of light and radiation, but that wasn't sustainable light. Sustainable light comes from stars, so let's look at how stars were born.

After the big bang, there was only hydrogen. What should have been a uniform spread of hydrogen too.

However, another Godly imperfection existed. Somehow, the hydrogen gas was not quite uniform. Just a few molecules were either out of place, or removed somehow. Due to this, seemingly minor imperfection, the hydrogen began to pull together. Over a VERY long time, massive amounts of hydrogen started getting really close together. Then they started to rub against each other. The rubbing began to cause heat, then it started to cause a lot of heat, so much, that fusion was born, and stars and sustainable light came into existence.

The Creation of Everything Else: Everything we can see, touch, hear, smell, or taste came from stars. How? Glad you asked.

A star begins as hydrogen, but the force of gravity caused the birth of a new element. The pressure within a new star basically crushes the inner hydrogen into a helium core. As the star ages, gravity creates more, like neon, oxygen and iron.

Eventually, the star dies. It does not happen peacefully. It collapses into itself and creates the rest of the elements in a supernova explosion. Eventually, these elements pulled together and created planets, asteroids, comets, and everything else.

Another interesting observation is that large dead stars (around 20 times the size of our sun) can create super-massive black holes and that, at the center of every galaxy, there is one of these incredibly large black holes pulling all of our stars and planets into their eventual demise. What an amazing place we are a very small part of.

Higgs Boson: On July 4, 2012, something called the Higgs boson was discovered to be real. Maybe. This particle has been theorized and dubbed "the God particle" because it is believed to be the reason why mass can be created at all. So, some scientists believe it creates mass, not God. I find this to be presumptuous at best. Even if this is the reason why mass exists in current form, it doesn't explain where it all came from. God is not very close to being disproved, at least not to me. What do you think?

What the Bible Says

Genesis, Chapter 1: It's pretty much the whole story above written in 5 verses.

1 - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 - And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 - And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

4 - And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 - And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

I'm not a great student of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, but what I seem to understand from Bible followers is that this version of God never cared about anything else once He created the earth. We are His chosen people. I find this very strange. If He really is the creator so many believe he is, and the Bible really is the definitive source for how everything came to be, he sure is ignoring a lot of His work.

Our galaxy is estimated at about 200-400 billion stars. The estimates as to the number of galaxies go from 100-500 billion. I'm going with 200 billion of each, because a lot of things in this universe are symmetrical, and I think it is a fairly conservative number. If each plays host to 8 planets (I miss Pluto) like ours, How many planets did God make, that He is ignoring?

I'm going to type it out so we can really appreciate it:

320,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 minus 1.

I didn't know how to say that number. It is 320 sextillion (minus Earth) planets that God apparently pays no mind to. I'm sorry, I'm not going to buy it. Not that I'm God, but I would find some other cool places to check out and play with as well. These 5 verses really resemble man's vanity, which is hardly God-like.

I do think it is funny because I don't know why we have to believe we are the only ones God is monitoring. Seems like that wouldn't be very fair to our God.

Is This What God Did for Earth?

One final note. I've come to understand the Jewish calendar supposedly started on day 1 of creation. Apparently Adam and Eve came up with that idea quickly, or maybe it was with the help of God, I don't know. The point is that on September 18, 2012, according to this calendar, the earth is about to turn 5,773 years old. 

Um, nope. That isn't right.

Conclusion

If you believe absolutely in the Bible, the beginning of the universe is simple. There's a lot to be said for that. It's not impossible, but it does fly in the face of everything we've been observing in our short time here. It certainly isn't a conclusion I would ever draw, but it is a very difficult thing to argue against, since no one was around to witness it.

The far more plausible thing, at least if you believe in God at all, is that He is somehow responsible for creating this pre-Big-Bang ball of everything. His interventions may have come in the form of unbalancing things that appear to be against uniformity and allowed this universe to exist at all. I don't see how science could ever explain some of the things that absolutely, and very bizarrely had to exist in order for anything to be the way it is. It is insanely coincidental and probably the main reason why I believe God and science couldn't really exist without each other.

For the Atheists out there, fear not. It would be impractical not to consider the possibility that everything is just here. There is no reason. Nothing created it, it just was. I find that impossible to consider, but hey, I've been wrong before.

In the end, your individual answer to the question, "How did the universe begin?" might be your most telling sign as to what you actually believe. I can't recommend highly enough for you to take some time, reflect a little on what I've said here, maybe do more research on your own, maybe have conversations with your closest friends and learn exactly what you believe. I'd wager that, no matter who you talk to, you will all have slightly different opinions, and that is why I don't think any religion, ever, can be for everyone.

The worst thing I think you can do for yourself, as it relates to this issue, is to just believe someone else's view and take it as your own. This is a critical question and you might learn a lot about your beliefs by answering it.

Whatever your answer is, feel free to share!


          

Gay Marriage

Update - See section "What the Bible Says"

Chik Wedding

Chik-Fil-A

I'm starting here so we can put this to bed quickly and move on.

Can you believe that the center of the gay marriage universe is a closed-on-Sunday fast food restaurant? It looks like the battle is slowing down, but holy chicken, what a bizarre setting for this issue. 

In case you missed what was said, Mr. Cathy said on a radio interview:

“I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.' I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we would have the audacity to try to redefine what marriage is all about.”

I believe this man is 59 years old and from the south. Why would anyone be surprised by his comments? Further than that, if he believes we are putting ourselves in danger with God, he should say what he said. He genuinely thinks not allowing gay marriage will save us, so I don't see the cause for the uproar.

There are far worse things to do than offend people while trying to help or, in this case, to save them.

That being said, I also know he is dead wrong, and I think I have some worthwhile proof.

The Science of Gay

Apparently the scientific community has other priorities over figuring out what makes people gay. I know I would rather have a cure for cancer, but you would think there would be some fairly conclusive evidence by now. Unfortunately, there really isn't that much. At least not that I have seen (this is where, if you know something I don't, I would love a comment). 

What I have found is enough for me to form a strong opinion. It is fairly accepted that being gay is a physiological state. Meaning, there is more to it than just being attracted to the same sex. This is the chemical makeup of a person. Not all that different from if one of your children is short and heavy, and the other is tall and skinny, they will see and do things differently.

Have you ever watched a person and thought, "Now that guy is gay," and been right? Admit it. You have.

Well guess what, that isn't an act. It is a part of that physiological makeup. That isn't to say all gay people move a certain way, or that no straight people move in that same manner, but it is, on average, conclusive.

There are other things than just how a person moves. Obviously, the way they talk and think is generally considered to be different as well. I just haven't found any scientific evidence to back up exactly why and/or how it relates to homosexuality. It looks conclusive that there is a link, but I am not aware of how many details have been discovered at this point in time. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some, but if not, I would imagine they are coming soon!

The end result, from the studies that have been done, is that being gay is born. It is not an environmental contamination, as was first thought and accepted by many 59 year old southerners (and northerners too) a few years ago.

Ready for a talking point? I'm pretty confident gay is a choice, but I am also confident that it is rarely a choice. In this society, I find it impossible to believe that 100% of gay people were born that way. I would love to hear what you think.

The $3 Bill

What the Bible Says

If you keep reading my blog, you will learn a lot about my thoughts on the Bible and it's meanings. In general, I think of the Bible as a guide to being good, but you will never convince me it is the word of God.

I will post about my reasoning for the above statement at a later date. There is far too much to cover. For now, I will only talk about how it relates to homosexuality and what I believe we can actually take from the good book.

Corinthians 6:9-10 - "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

Apparently the words "homosexual offenders" came from a translation of a Greek word as to no one can agree on the meaning. The word is arsenokoite, if you want to try and figure it out yourself.

So, what many call the word of God was, in fact, translated from another language, by man himself. Was the original Bible written in Greek? No? So this was translated by another man, at least once before, into a Greek word that we don't really understand and then translated to English anyway. How is that the word of God?

Here is something I like even better:

Matthew 18:18 - “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Doesn't that say the choice is ours? I guess if you don't want to see gay people married in heaven, that is the platform against gay marriage on earth.

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Update: I came across something interesting today. Did you know the Bible is semi-ok with slavery?

Exodus 21:2 - When you buy a male Hebrew slave, he will serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he will go free without any payment.

I think that is VERY interesting. Especially when it comes to whether or not we can change marriage laws.

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What God Might Say

In my imaginary conversations with God, I tried to think about what he might say to us on the issue.

"If gay is wrong, why did I make it possible to be gay? 

You people have figured out that all races of man are equal. How can you not see that ALL people are really the same? 

I don't know why everyone thinks I hate groups of people, but also believe I am all forgiving, but am also trying to deny rights to some, but if you go to church every Sunday and believe in me, that makes you eternally blameless, that I hurt good people and should punish the bad before they die. You've made this much too confusing. 

I don't even remember what I said. The world needed different direction 2000 years ago than it needs today. Why do you think you can't find the original Bible?"

*As a footnote, I do not believe in God as a being, but more as the creator and a surrounding presence. That will also be a post later on, but I am telling you that I do not believe these are God's words or that he literally speaks to me, these were just some words I think he might say to provoke thought. He did, after all, give us brains. I'm going to at least try and use mine.

Conclusion

In order to come to a complete and fair conclusion on any issue, I think you have to consider both sides. I did what I could to argue that if you believe gay is in fact wrong, you should do what you think is right.

Of course, there were a few groups of people that thought very similar things about African Americans, not to mention women and the right to vote. I will stand by my belief that, if those people truly thought they were right, then they did what should be both their civic and Godly duty to pursue making the world a better place.

My problem is, I have a hard time believing any of the aforementioned people truly believe they are right to oppress another group of human beings. I think they are scared, and are/were probably confused by outside influences including, but not limited to, the mob mentality and the church.

In the end my hope is that, if we really talk things through, we can at least begin to erode the confusion that plagues our world and creates these inequalities. We should have learned after we gave women the right to vote, after we integrated African Americans, after we forgave the Japanese for Pearl Harbor (though it would have been better to do that before we nuked them), after we realized physical deformities do not make people monsters, after we realized mentally handicapped people are great people, after we realized that not all Muslims are terrorists, and probably a slew of other people we used to shun and now accept, that gay people should have the same rights as the rest of us. I hope this is the last group we are oppressing, but it isn't a great track record so far.

I hope that, after reading this, you are able to at least consider the following:

 - Anti-gay people are not necessarily trying to be evil. Some are trying to do the right thing. Even though many are probably just scared and/or confused.

 - Science is not too far along on this subject, but it is still fairly conclusive that gay people are born, not molded. Although I do believe some people out there probably did make a choice, they are probably very few, and they should be allowed to make that choice in any case.

 - The Bible is clearly not conclusive in the persecution of gay behavior. Further, if you really trust the Bible, it is clearly written that we are allowed to make the decision here on earth, that we can change the definition of marriage, and God will uphold our decision in heaven.

- Lastly, you should not fully agree with everything I have said, but have an opinion of your own. It doesn't make sense that any one person or one book can speak for God on any issue, so we should all simply do the best we can. 

Like I might say in every post, I believe we should all have our own individual religion, regardless if it is 100% Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Atheist, or just your own. Even if you are 100% confident in your religion, it shouldn't mean you stop thinking about it, or stop trying to improve yourself and your understanding. We should always try to be better people.

Because this can be a sensitive issue, and I have no idea how many people will read and/or comment, if you do want to leave a comment, don't pull any punches, but DO keep them above the belt. Thanks!


          

The Introduction

God and Science Hold Hands: The Beginning

What This is Not (and who it is not for)

I am not writing this blog to change everyone's viewpoint to my own. If you are 100% happy with God and Science and have no questions about this, or any of "The Big Issues," leave this blog immediately, for it has nothing to offer you.

This is not meant to be religious preaching, nor is it meant to prove that science is the only explanation for everything in the universe. I suppose it is technically my unique version of religion, but I am not here to convert anyone, nor will I tell you that you shouldn't think a certain way. I may call some viewpoints idiotic, because that's what I think, not because you aren't allowed to be an idiot in my mind.

It is my strong belief that no one has it all figured out, including me or even Stephen Hawking (although I completely respect everything that man believes, even where I don't agree or perhaps don't understand or can't even comprehend). Therefore, this is not the answer, just my answer.

What This Is (and who it is for)

I know most of us wonder just how God can possibly exist in this universe. I also know many people wonder how all of the Bible can be fact, how everything in church could be righteous, and just how many religions can there be if only one is right.

Like I said above, I don't have the answer, but I do have my answer. Although it would be irresponsible to say I have thought about these questions, in some manner, every day of my life. I truly have given it a great deal of consideration. Through this, I have found a set of beliefs that lets God and Science hold hands. While I am constantly amazed by the discoveries made in the scientific community, my confidence in God has never left me, even when I try to challenge his existence in my mind.

This is for people looking for answers to the big questions, and especially for those who are trying to rationalize the existence of God at all. Again, I am not here to tell you what to think, but to offer a viewpoint that shows how I cope with these issues in hopes that it will help you find your own way. We are all different, and I believe we should all have our own individual religion.

The Big Issues

There are lots of things that annoy me. Two of them are faithlessness and institutional religion. I think if you fall fully into either category, the big issues will be difficult for you to deal with.

My intent is to look at the big issues and share my rationalizations for them, such as:

How did the universe begin?
Church
Gay marriage
Why do good things happen to bad people?
Why do bad things happen to good people?
The afterlife
Good & evil
Ghosts & demons
Dark matter
Evolution
The meaning of life
Aliens
The Bible
Racism
Etc.

I will do what I can to relate to current events. For example, I think my first real post will have to be about gay marriage and Chik-Fil-A, even though it is way out of order for how I came to be comfortable with the world we live in and its relationship with God.

Further, I would love for people to ask questions about what they struggle with and I will offer up my solution and viewpoint and hopefully it will fulfill your needs.

The Cartoons

I created a cartoon character named Spike when I was in 5th or 6th grade I think. The cartoons are in that style, because that is all the talent I have. If you want better looking cartoons, I cannot provide them. If you want funnier cartoons, well, hopefully I will learn to be funnier to you.

I also wanted to bring some humor to these serious questions and issues because the very thought that any of us will ever know the true answer to these questions, at least while we are alive, is funny to me. The best I ever hope to do is make it make sense inside my head and hopefully yours, so we don't go completely crazy trying to justify everything in the name of either God or Science.

Feedback: Tell Me! 

I doubt I post too often in the beginning, but if you like what I am doing, tell me and I will do more faster. If you hate it, tell me that too, maybe I'll even read your comments. Then, maybe I'll change. Probably not though. I am writing this because I am one of those people who is 100% comfortable in his beliefs, so you'd better be damn persuasive if you want me to change.