Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Seven Score and Five Years ago...

On this day in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln addressed the audience of around 15,000 at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Hot on the heels of the more-than-two-hour speech delivered by Orator Edward Everett that was officially the dedicatory speech for the cemetery, Lincoln delivered his 277 word speech, eulogizing the dead soldiers and re-affirming the civil war effort. Though he thought his words would be quickly forgotten, this Gettysburg Address has survived as one of the most enduring speeches in history. It marked a turning point in the nation's sentiment for both the war and the emancipation of the slaves.

Earlier this month, seven score and five years later, America elected her first black president in Barack Obama.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Casting Down Imaginings: Is Global Warming a Man-made Phenomenon?

SunriseThe good scientists over at ICR have published an eye-opening article about the relationship between global warming and greenhouse gases, that turns the standard explanation on it's head.

Many climatologists, including Dr. Larry Vardiman, disagree about the role of CO2 in this respect. They have found that the observed increase in CO2 (whether produced by human activity or not) is not causing global warming, but is perhaps caused by it!4 Dr. Vardiman was featured in a video presentation in which he referenced a graph showing that the fluctuations in atmospheric CO2 follow after corresponding fluctuations in atmospheric temperature.

In addition, “the detailed temperature record since 1850 shows a temperature decline between 1940 and 1970 [a time when massive amounts of industrial CO2 were entering the atmosphere], which flies in the face of the explanation that a continuous exponential increase in carbon dioxide causes global warming.”4 Dr. Vardiman has also demonstrated the remarkably close overlaps of temperature to sunspots, indicating that solar cycles are more likely the cause of global warming.

Bet you haven't heard that in the media. It reminds me of Earl Nightingale's advice, "If you want to be successful in life, simply watch what most people would do in a given situation, and then do the total opposite--nine times out of ten, you'll receive greater rewards." In this case, listen to what most scientists say about global warming, then believe the opposite. Not, perhaps, as good a rule of thumb as Nightingale's advice, but eerily appropriate in this instance.

Since I have never blogged about ICR before, I'll just take a moment to introduce them. The Institute for Creation Research is a Creation Science ministry that conducts scholarly scientific investigations and hosts a Graduate School. Their mission is to equip "believers with evidence of the Bible's accuracy and authority through scientific research, educational programs, and media presentations, all conducted within a thoroughly biblical framework." They use good science to uphold the straight forward teaching of God's word, and fulfill Paul's commission in 2Cor 10:5:

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God

Keep an eye open for shared articles from ICR in the right sidebar.

Evidence for Creation