Month: December 2006

Starting Points

Talk about “new year’s resolution”, how will we resolve this new year? Our new year begins just a few days after the “winter solstice” or the shortest day of the year. Yes, the days start to get longer again for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere.

Anyway, i suppose science could do well to have its own “new year’s resolution”. To resolve itself perhaps, make a sort of “reality check”. Maybe we shouldn’t even speak of “science” as an entity anymore. Has “knowledge” taken on a life of itseslf and become some sort of demigod?

The way i see it, science has only succeeded in accomplishing one thing. That is to show us that those who advocate it’s greatness and importance tend to do it the most disservice. “Science” has proved itself lame by its most zealous supporters. They have fumbled the ball at their own 5 yard line and their nemisis, “creationists”, have taken over the game.

How did it happen??? Well, first they dropped the ball- that is, origins or creation studies, and replaced it with an imaginitive fable called, “evolution” or “common decent”. Instead of trying to really understand how things came to be, they decided to declare that nothing was created. Instead, everything in our universe just happened! Yes, that’s about it!! They completely dropped the ball!

OK, so you’re thinking, “that’s just one area of science, what’s the big deal, Wayne?”. Remember, we’re talking the primary foundation of the whole world of study! “Origins” or “Creation”, study provides the basic assumptions for everything else in “science”.

Science wins or loses on the virtue of it’s assumptions!

I suggest that we put “science” back in it’s rightful place. Just a synonym for “knowledge” and nothing more or less. As it is right now, “science” is heading nowhere fast and at great expense and the consequences will be devastating in the end. Science is dead, scientists killed it. They prove that that they don’t know what they’re doing by insisting on calling atheism, “science”.

Well the ball is back where it should be- in the hands of ordinary people who acknowledge that they don’t know everything. What will we do with it? Nothing more than it deserves, i hope.

Wayne Hollyoak

Caugh It Up!

Hey, moms and dads! Want your kids to respect you and listen to you? A good place to start is to come clean on Santa. I wonder how many parents lost their child’s trust by pushing this old tale on them.

Be the first on your block to spill the beans. You don’t want your kids ticked off at you for playing with their trust. After all, do you enjoy being made a fool?

Wayne Hollyoak

Why is there Evil in the World?

Paul of Tarsus put it this way many years ago, and it remains true to this day!

‘I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” ‘

‘The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.’

‘For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities– his eternal power and divine nature– have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.’

‘Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator– who is forever praised. Amen.’

‘Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.’

‘Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.’

‘Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.’

The Bible: Romans 1:16-32

Any human endeavor, including science, that excludes the Creator is doomed to confusion, delusion and eventual failure. The current obsession with Darwin’s weird creation story is a perfect example.

‘for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, so that they would believe a lie’

The Bible: II Thessalonians 2:11

The Star of David

The Bible tells us of the star that helped guide some wise men to Jesus. It’s anybody’s guess what the star was. I would guess the close approach of an asteroid of maybe a comet. Maybe it was a specially designed light of a sort that is totally unknown to us.

Whatever it was, it helped the men reach the location of the Messiah. Another clear indication of who the child was and the greatness and goodness He would bring to our lives. The world was never the same. All the great acheivements of medicine, transportation, industry, etc. has been fueled by the human mind released from the fear of selfishness and prejudice and given hope by the offer of free forgiveness.

Wayne Hollyoak

Unto You a Sign is Given!

Being an ex-evolutionist and someone interested in the sciences, i’ve spent some time thinking about all the great works of the Creator. As we get closer to December 25th, the significance of Jesus’ birth once again moves up another notch to me. Isaiah said, “to you a sign is given…a virgin shall conceive and bare a Son”.

Why would anyone say such a thing? Today, it’s as well known as christmas itself. But, that was hundreds of years before the fact. Even today such a thing is considered impossible. In the animal kingdom there are some species that do regularly reproduce without the need of contact with males and indeed such species may have no males at all. This is because to be male you need a “Y” chromosome. For some species of lizards, no sexual contact is required at all for the females eggs to be fertile. Since females lack a “Y” chromosome, they cannot give birth to males and never do. In effect, all such lizards are clones- exact copies of their mom.

So, science has confirmed that any time that a virgin human, or otherwise, conceives and gives birth to a male child, you have a unique event. So, you need to ask yourself, “why the Y”? How was this possible in Mary’s case in Bethlehem 2 millenia ago? The prophet gave the answer long before the event took place. It’s the “sign”, the signal, the announcement if you will, that the Savior has come into the world. The Creator had arrived on earth and become Man for a brief 33 years.

Wayne Hollyoak

For the Record

About this time of year we hear all sort of ideas about the “true meaning of Christmas”. Things like, “being with ones you love”, “giving of yourself”, “it’s just commercialism”, “getting lots of presents”, “decorating the house”, etc.

As a little kid, i remember turning on the TV to see a “special” featuring none other then Charlie Brown. I, like millions of other kids, couldn’t wait to see our favorite comic strip come to life. Then all a’ sudden there they were, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, Shroeder, Peppermint Patty, the whole gang.

At the end when Linus gives his monologue, there was a collective hush in our house as he drops his blankie and calmly steps to the microphone. He recites the story of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, one of my all time favorite readings from the Bible. Then he stops and looks over at Charlie Brown and says, “that’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown”.

I hope i’ll never grow up too much to appreciate that moment. To hear with perfect clarity the amazing things that God has done. How He visited us by being born as a baby like all of us who were created by Him. Now that IS a birthday worth celebrating!

Wayne Hollyoak

War of the Sexes

Have you ever noticed how much antagonism there exists between boys and girls. This seems to be a major theme in so many movies and tv shows. Boys picking on girls and girls taking jabs at boys in return. I have 2 older sisters and growing up we had many battles, mostly verbal of course!

In school, you could see the contention was so thick, it was oozing out everwhere. On the play ground, in the halls, you name it, it was everwhere. The saying goes, “boys will be boys and girls will be….”. Hmm, that sounds like a cop out! Does contempt and prejudice constitute a part of sexual identity?

This seems to be a predominantly western phenomenum. I’ve visited many families of different cultures and this sort of youthful antigonism between the sexes is not tolerated and children are taught to appreciate each other and have healthy, friendly relationships with each other. Why is this not the case in western society and families?

We wonder why so many marriages fail, so many refuse to marry when they should. Why there are so many confused about their sexual “identity, preference” and so on. Why is porn a multibillion dollar racket protected by our government? Why are women battered or worse by their “husbands” or “boyfriends”?

Maybe these sorts of travestys could be prevented by simply teaching our children and teens to reject sexual prejudice in every shape or form. They tell us that our character is predominantly set by the age of 6!!! Don’t know how true that is, but there is no doubt that many habits are formed by then that will stick with us.

How can you spend 13 years of your life as a “girl hater” and magicly convert into a “boyfriend” to some girl you met in school? When i was in junior high i saw lots of my buddies become interested in girls after spending years mocking and ridiculing them. “It’s the hormones!” Yes, suppose that’s it is alright. Perhaps that’s all it is!

Hormones ebb and flow don’t you know! Once the real issues and problems of life emerge and the hormones kind of go on vacation, then what? Chemistry, Shemistry” Oh yaah, the old boy reappears, or did it ever go away? Sexual prejudice isn’t so “cute” when the boy, or girl is 30 and can’t keep their marriage together because the “feelings” are gone.

Sexual prejudice is always an UGLY and LEARNED BEHAVIOR!!! It’s totally unacceptable regardless of one’s age or sex. To me it’s no different from the “Lord of the Flies” syndrome. Children pick up all sorts of prejudice from others around them. From the tube, the movies, the gossip, parents and relatives. It we don’t teach them and model otherwise, they’ll never learn how to appreciate the opposite sex as peers and friends of equal standing. Hopefully, it’s never too late to start!

My guess is that this is the root problem in nearly all failed marriages, spousal abuse, etc. is sexual prejudice and contempt learned as a child.

What can we do? Purge out all sexual prejudice in our own lives and teach our children to appreciate and respect the opposite sex. Maybe we can give the next generation a better start if we do our part to model kindness and mutual respect. Don’t you think??

Wayne Hollyoak