Today's link is a news item about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange announcing that Wikileaks will be suspended to raise funds due to an “arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade” imposed on Dec. 7, 2010, by the U.S. and other governments".    What I like is the fact that he is complaining that their blockade is "unlawful."  No problem with publishing stolen or hacked documents.  Those laws don't matter I guess.  But these laws (and I'm not sure what "law" he is claiming here), matter now that it adversly affects him.  Just thought it was a hilarious double standard.  Reminds me of the robber who called the police after he tried to hold up a convienence store and the clerk refused to give him the money.

Quick reminder that once again the world did not end, and the Bible continues to demonstrate its truthfullness.  Jesus said no man knows the day or the hour.  Harold Camping said he figured it out.  God said, "oh no you didn't."

In the time of Christ and after there was a group of people called Gnostics who claimed to have discovered hidden and secret wisdom that gave them the inside track on truth.  The Bible is not some mysterious code, it is plain truth written in plain form, often by plain men, for plain people, telling them simply message that Jesus Christ died to save people from the consequences of their mistakes and rebellion.  Anytime someone claims to have dug  up some secret formula or hidden knowledge, you should be pretty skeptical.  Jesus warned that especially as we got close to the end that people would make claims about His return.  He clearly said, "Do not believe them."  I never believed Harold Camping, and now, few else do.

I have always been deeply interested in science.  A legacy of my Dad.  I also enjoy noting how much science relies on faith.  Especially in outerspace and quatum mechanics.  You know there is something there, you see the results, so you form conclusions about what you cannot see based on what you can see.   "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."  (Hebrews 11:1 NAS) Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong, and sometimes they think they have it right and then its back to the drawing board.

The article above concerns the properties of "dark matter."  Its a good article, but I want to highlight a couple of quotes from it.

• "New measurements of tiny galaxies contradict scientists' best model of dark matter, further complicating the already mysterious picture of the stuff that is thought to make up 98 percent of all matter in the universe."
• "Despite not knowing exactly what dark matter is, scientists have gradually built up a good model to describe its behavior."
• "After completing this study, we know less about dark matter than we did before,"

So's here the general idea.  They see something affecting what they can see, so while they can't see or detect this "dark matter" they know its there because something is having this other effect.  Now they may be right.  There really may be dark matter.  Of course, it could be God, or another unknown natural force hitherto undiscovered.  My point is that they are operating of faith, and as such, they are no different from how I arrive at my conviction about God.  I cannot see Him directly, but I can see the effects and I can measure the difference He makes.  Everyone operates of faith, whether faith in themselves, faith in the universe, faith in the unknown, or faith in God.  Faith in science is still faith.   I am facinated by all we are learning about our world and our galaxy.  With each new discovery I am more amazed at the world God has made.

UPDATE: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/09/opinion/urry-dark-energy/index.html Another good article on the subject of Dark Matter.  A good quote from the beginning of the article.  "Their discovery did not fit any existing theory, so it had mind-blowing implications for our understanding of the physical world."  Enjoy

UPDATE 2:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/clay-naff/physics-and-the-soul_b_995646.html "Can Physics Save Your Soul."  Another author having fun with this same subject.  A fun and thought provoking read.

God doesn't love good people and hate bad people.  That's how some people look at it and even how some people who call themselves Christians look at it.  Sometimes we get the idea that if we are bad, God is going to be mad at us, but if we are good, God will be happy with us and we get to go to heaven.  This is a very popular way to look at things but bears no resemblance to what the Bible says.

The Bible says that all people are bad.  "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23 NAS)  If God is going to hate sinners, He has to hate the whole world.  I think about Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church people who protest at funerals and hold up signs that say, "God hates fags" among other things.  There's a problem with these statements Biblically.  While it is true that God hates all sin, He loves sinners.   "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. " (John 3:16-17 NAS).  It doesn't say God loves just part of the world.  So, you can say bad people are loved.

Bad people are saved by trusting God (Christ).  You don't get saved because God decides your close enough to good.  All have sinned.  Instead God gives salvation to any who ask for it by accepting Christ's payment on the cross. "But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away." (1 John 1:9 CEV).  Bad people are lost by denying, rejecting God.  If you don't let God forgive you, then you are still holding on to the sin that God hates.  There will have to be punishment for that sin, love or no love.

So to recap, God doesn't love good people (aren't any) and hate bad people (everyone).  God loves everyone and died on the cross to pay for all the bad stuff.  Bad people (everyone) are saved when they embrace/accept that payment.  Now you can be called a good person (sorta) but not because your good, but because God paid up your badness.

This leads to one last point.  Safe bad people shouldn't be looking down at lost bad people but instead trying to reach them.  Since those who are safe (having been saved/forgiven) are only safe because God is good, not because they are, how can they look down on others?  That makes me think again of those protesters.  They condemn others with hateful speech and talk about God's judgement.  Now judgement is coming, but no one has the right to be prideful about being good.  They believe homosexuality is a sin.  So is pride.  Even Jesus came to save, not judge.  When He comes again, He will judge, but we should be still working on His first coming, trying to reach everyone with the good news that while none of us are good, God is very good and He wants to forgive all who come to Him, no matter what you may be guilty of.