American Idols

To quote Henry Morris -- "idols" simply means "vanities". To quote me, man is by nature, an idolater. Well, that's what scripture teaches. If it were not so, then it would not be given as part of the Ten Commandments.


Deu.5:7 Thou SHALT have none other gods before me.


5:8 Thou SHALT not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:


Notice that the Ten Commandments are all the things that we have a natural tendency to want to do. It's almost as if the Lord was thinking, Hmmmmm, what do these guys like to do more than anything else? I want to put those things out of bounds.


In fact, I have come to realize that if you look carefully at the Ten Commandments what you will see is a set of rules that allow a society to continue to function in an optimal way. It provides a schematic for law and order. They are not rules to keep us from enjoying life. They are rules that are needed to preserve social order.


If like me, you spend time each day reading about current events, you will see that we live in an age characterized by the skeptical and the cynical. The legal profession makes a good living off of this situation. Look around.


This morning as I do most mornings, I read a passage of scripture and commentary by Henry Morris. I'd recommend anything that he's written. Here's a quote from today:


Every person has his own "god"; even atheists order their lives by some principle of their own choosing which thus becomes their "god"!


As I look around at what's going on in the world around me, I see that the 'god' of this age is greed - a form of idolatry. Really, who needs all the stuff that we have? Like I said yesterday, I just don't see all the appeal in so much of what the world, and my kids, clamor for. From an early age, children are programmed to be what we call good consumers. Scripture points out that the threat of this is to turn to idolatry.


Remember the line from the movie Jerry Maguire -- show me the money. Whenever I am reading about or listening to current events, I try to keep this movie line in mind. The profit motive pops up in places that you might never otherwise expect.

Here's a timely truth from scripture:


1TIM 6:10 For the LOVE of money is a root of all evil: and some whose hearts were fixed on it have been turned away from the faith, and been wounded with unnumbered sorrows.


Then, this morning, there was this story from Yahoo News.


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Researchers have discovered a 10-million-year-old jawbone in Kenya they believe belonged to a new species of great ape that could be the last common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans.


The Kenyan and Japanese team found the fragment in 2005 along with 11 teeth in volcanic mud flow deposits in Kenya's northern Nakali region.


The species -- somewhere between the size of a female gorilla and a female orangutan -- may prove to be the"missing link" in the evolution theory, Kenyan scientists said.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071113/sc_nm/ape_human_africa_dc


As I look at the photo, I can almost imagine a Monty Python skit, something like - The Inquisition of The Fossil Experts. Does it look like my ancestor? Don't know, Hold it up to your face.... NO, it's the jaw of a... chimp! Exactly! How old is it?


Sometimes, it's hard to resist a little rabbit trail. Please, understand that I am not at all opposed to or rejecting the science of paleontology. In fact, I'm fascinated by the work. However, in an effort to try to make it all sexy looking to the general public, there is a high level of artistic license. It's become a religious quest for the humanist.


Ask yourself a couple questions. I've never been to Kenya. Although I've thought that it might be an interesting place to visit. But from reading, I know that there are famous fossil deposits in Kenya. As a boy, I would go off on hikes through the strip mines and bring home pockets full of fossils and fragments. When I was a boy, these were not considered sacred objects. My mom refered to them as 'rocks', as in 'Get those rocks out of my house.' It was still a lot of fun bringing those fossils home to look at, and throw around the yard and such. So, what about the fossil record?


In the first line of the story, there are two glaring questions. Where does the '10-million-year-old' come from? And what is a 'common ancestor'?


In a nutshell, these are two assumptions that have been repeated in different forms for so long that people just skim right over the huge significance they hold. We accept them on the supposed authority of the source. Could that be considered a form of idolatry? Or is it what P.T. Barnum might think of as showmanship?


The question of dating fossil-remains is not nearly as clear cut as it is portrayed. Nobody really knows how 'old' those rocks are. If I were really jaded, I might even suspect that some kinds of 'fossil evidence' might even be the product of a modern laboratory. But since we are part of the general public, its really none of our business what goes on behind the wizard's curtain, just take their word for it.


The idea of the 'common ancestor' strikes me as an unbelievable stretch. This again, is something I think of as showmanship. The entire notion of 'common ancestry' in the macroevolutionary sense is purest speculation, from beginning to end. There is no science here. To describe a fossil is one thing, to conclude that it's a 'missing link' is pure speculation.


Ps 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are false gods; but the Lord made the heavens.


Job 38:2 Who is this who makes the purpose of G-d dark by words without knowledge?


Some folks might ask, OK, so what am I supposed to do? In the words of Paul Yonggi Cho, Pray and obey.


Maybe here on the Jesus Bus, I can do a little piece on Mr. Cho and The Repulic of Korea.