Sunday YouTubes - Stephen C Meyer speaks science rather than propagates propaganda
The above is a clip concerning an Illustra movie, "Darwin's Dilemma"
"Illustra Media produces video documentaries that examine the scientific case for intelligent design. Working with Discovery Institute and an international team of scientists and scholars (including Michael Behe, Guillermo Gonzalez, Stephen Meyer, and Lee Strobel), Illustra has helped define both the scientific case for design and the limitations of materialistic processes like Darwinian evolution. These documentaries include Unlocking the Mystery of Life, The Privileged Planet and Darwin’s Dilemma."
This organization is a not-for-profit agency seeking to present information to the public and dependent entirely on sales and donations to exist. It is a proactive organization dedicated to dissemination of information.
In stark contrast, the NCSE is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to stop the dissemination of information...in other words, they are dedicated to censhorship of any ideas that disagree with Darwinism.
It seems to me better to be involved with and to promote an organization that seeks to share information rather than to be associated with one that is trying to stifle it. Duh squared, right? The only reason there is an NCSE is simply because Darwinism cannot stand on evidence without being propped up by propaganda. No one needs to set up an organization to defend the laws of gravity, for instance. There is no organization formed to fight against challenges to laws of magnetism or electricity or the definition of a triangle. Good science can stand on its own two feet. It doesn't require organizations designed to shield it from scrutiny.
Christianity is proactive rather than defensive. Christians are on the march against evil. The Bible says that the gates of hell will not stand against us. Gates are part of a defense of a city or compound to keep those outside from getting in and taking over. Christianity is intent upon breeching the defenses of the minds and hearts of individual people. It is individuals, not governments, who are targeted by God. Understand that this blog is a proactive worldview blog intent upon disseminating information that will lead unbelievers to believe and to prop up the shaky faith of the uncertain. It is intent upon publishing truth by publishing the findings of science and the best writing of modern philosophers and writers as well as Biblical truths and supporting those truths with Bible quotes.
It seems to me better to be involved with and to promote an organization that seeks to share information rather than to be associated with one that is trying to stifle it. Duh squared, right? The only reason there is an NCSE is simply because Darwinism cannot stand on evidence without being propped up by propaganda. No one needs to set up an organization to defend the laws of gravity, for instance. There is no organization formed to fight against challenges to laws of magnetism or electricity or the definition of a triangle. Good science can stand on its own two feet. It doesn't require organizations designed to shield it from scrutiny.
Christianity is proactive rather than defensive. Christians are on the march against evil. The Bible says that the gates of hell will not stand against us. Gates are part of a defense of a city or compound to keep those outside from getting in and taking over. Christianity is intent upon breeching the defenses of the minds and hearts of individual people. It is individuals, not governments, who are targeted by God. Understand that this blog is a proactive worldview blog intent upon disseminating information that will lead unbelievers to believe and to prop up the shaky faith of the uncertain. It is intent upon publishing truth by publishing the findings of science and the best writing of modern philosophers and writers as well as Biblical truths and supporting those truths with Bible quotes.
Stephen C. Meyer wrote a ground-breaking book and today we are considering much of the content of the book and his views on the concept of Intelligent Design as a scientific concept and not a metaphysical one.
Meyer was a double-degreed scientist working for a large oil company seeking information when he realized that cells were packed with information and this began his journey of exploration that led him to the Discovery Institute.
Stephen C. Meyer, Senior Fellow - Discovery Institute
Program Director - CSC
Articles by Stephen C. Meyer
Stephen C. Meyer is director of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture and a founder both of the intelligent design movement and of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, intelligent design’s primary intellectual and scientific headquarters. Dr. Meyer is a Cambridge University-trained philosopher of science, the author of peer-reviewed publications in technical, scientific, philosophical and other books and journals. His signal contribution to ID theory is given most fully in Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, published by HarperOne in June 2009. For more on the book, and more about Dr. Meyer's views on intelligent design visit his website at www.signatureinthecell.com.Meyer earned his Ph.D. in the History and Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University for a dissertation on the history of origin of life biology and the methodology of the historical sciences. Previously he worked as a geophysicist with the Atlantic Richfield Company after earning his undergraduate degrees in Physics and Geology.
Dr. Meyer has recently co-written or edited two books: Darwinism, Design, and Public Education with Michigan State University Press and Science and Evidence of Design in the Universe (Ignatius 2000).
He has also authored numerous technical articles as well as editorials in magazines and newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Houston Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, First Things and National Review.
Discovery Institute main site
Uncommon Descent website!
Signature in the cell you tube website!
Intelligent Design is a scientific movement dedicated to uncovering and understanding evidence about the world around us today and especially the world of organisms.
Creationists can learn a great deal from the work of men like Meyer at the Discovery Institute, some of whom are and some of whom are not Christians. The sad truth is that Darwinist's primary complaint with the Institute is that it is a "bunch of Christians", an argument that isn't true but more to the point isn't relevant. Pay no attention to the various blah blah blah about who the scientists are at the place and whether or not they are Christians or Jews or Theists or Muslims or anything else. Do pay attention to the quality of the evidence presented.
Meyer himself does claim to be a Christian. Interestingly, Shermer says that he "was a born-again Christian" at one time but has changed his mind. That is a blog post in and of itself but there really is no such thing as an unborn again Christian. There are many who have made an intellectual commitment to the concept of Christ as Savior and there are many who have said prayers to be "saved." I myself did this as a grade schooler and I was certainly old enough to understand the concept of sin. However, sin didn't much bother me and my prayer was not sincere. It was many years later when I suddenly knew, heart and soul, that Jesus was Lord and I was not. I was then ready to meet God on His terms and be made new within.
Jesus did not use the term,"born again", lightly. There was intentionality there because a birth cannot be undone. No one gets to go back in the womb and if you have been born it is a completed act that is not reversible. Pseudo-Christians are all around. Many of them don't realize it, and it truly is a great thing when you are around someone when the "light comes on" and they really hear the call of the Spirit of God and come to a saving faith.
Years later when I was walking through poor, crime-riddled areas seeking to lead people to come to faith in Christ my heart was in the right place but my doctrine was trailing behind. Neither a simple prayer nor an intellectual assent is effectual. If you are not touched to your very heart by the depth of your sin and the uselessness of your own will and abilities and see it all as worthless compared to Christ and unless you do indeed receive forgiveness for sins and give allegiance in not just your mind but your heart then you will not be likely be "born again." There is a literal translation from a sinner with a dead spirit to a saint with the Spirit of the Living God within. To explain this to an unbeliever is hard because you will find it far harder to "grok" than a mathematician considering the incompleteness theorem. There must be a complete surrender within of both heart and mind to the God of the Universe and the work of Christ in order to actually be "born again" and going to church or saying prayers or reading the Bible or acting like a Christian is of no use otherwise.
Romans 10:9-13 (New International Version, ©2011)
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[a] 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[b]
Footnotes:
To summarize the work of the Discovery Institute, you need to understand that they are an organization focused strictly on evidence and not philosophy nor religious concerns. They have discovered overwhelming evidence for design within the cell because of the information contained within and the manifold sophisticated systems and also the as-yet not fully understood process of reproduction and many other cellular functions as well. Science is still learning about organisms and frankly science is still learning from organisms. You will not find commenters providing you with much actual evidence for macroevolution because they do not have it to give. I am thankful for the existence of the Discovery Institute because they are continually publishing papers and other media that are all about the evidence, no just-so stories included.
- Romans 10:11 Isaiah 28:16 (see Septuagint)
- Romans 10:13 Joel 2:32
To summarize the work of the Discovery Institute, you need to understand that they are an organization focused strictly on evidence and not philosophy nor religious concerns. They have discovered overwhelming evidence for design within the cell because of the information contained within and the manifold sophisticated systems and also the as-yet not fully understood process of reproduction and many other cellular functions as well. Science is still learning about organisms and frankly science is still learning from organisms. You will not find commenters providing you with much actual evidence for macroevolution because they do not have it to give. I am thankful for the existence of the Discovery Institute because they are continually publishing papers and other media that are all about the evidence, no just-so stories included.