Quote of the Day

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not undrstanding it. - Upton Sinclair

Mung

To a materialist, words have meaning, but nothing else does. This is just one more in a long line of incoherencies inherent in the materialist position. It's all jut matter in motion. no meaning. Even words are just matter in motion and have no meaning. Even the words used to deny meaning have no meaning. Mung

OT: Stephen Meyer on Point of View with Kerby Anderson - radio interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04lcDv2d-PU bornagain77

Thus despite the materialistic belief that spoken words really do not matter, the Theist is justified in his belief that our words really do matter: Verse, Music and Poem:

Matthew 17:20 He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." TobyMac - Speak Life (Lyrics) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rK6O0YtBRY There Is More - Poem - video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4102086/ There Is More Once I saw a very old Godly man who, being very near death, had Become deaf, blind and invalid; Yet somehow he glowed happily Then it occurred to me... There is more to see than the light we see with our eyes There is more to behold than to watch setting skies There is more to hear than the airwaves of sound There is more to stand on than to stand on the ground There is more to feel than what we can touch with our skin There is more to all things, things that come from deeper within Then I saw a miserly old rich man who had angrily driven away his family Now he was in a coma, in his mansion, with no one around who loved him Then it occurred to me... There is more to the hurt of a word than to sticks and stones There is more to people than just skin and bones There is more to a home than bricks, steel, and lumber There is more to waking up than rising from slumber There is more to riches than having gold piled high There is more to living than just being alive Then I saw a Godly young woman full of compassion Working with homeless people helping them get off the street Then it occurred to me... There is more to loving than the warmth of feeling good There is more to understanding than a fact being understood There is more to work with than the tools of our crafts There is more to cleaning up than taking a bath There is more to freedom than having no prison walls There is more to poverty than having no stuff at all Then I saw a bitter old man who angrily didn't believe in Miracles at all and thinks that this cold world is all there is Then it occurred to me... There is more to being dead than a body in a tomb There is more to being born than coming out of a womb There is more to heaven than all the stars above There is more to Jesus Christ than a distant example of God's love There is more to learning than books teach us in schools And there is more to walking with God than keeping TEN rules Then I got home at the end of the day Went into my room and quietly prayed Lord, If there is more than a lesson to my heart You could teach Would You teach me to see spiritually to add depth to my reach And Lord, If there is more than a gift to this world You might give Would You give the miracle that in all hearts Your light would live

bornagain77

As to William J Murray poetic observation:

“To materialists, words are nothing more than an evolved form of feces which hairless apes fling at that which displeases them.”

Anyone who has debated atheists on the internet about design, this comment from WJM is a no-brainer. And although theists, and certainly I, are not perfect in regards to keeping things above board, focused on the evidence/issue at hand, and not attacking the man, atheists are notorious for resorting to ad-hominem argumentation (attacking the man instead of the issue) instead of ever addressing the evidence honestly in an unbiased manner:

Argument Ad Hominem? (William Lane Craig) - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX3beh6g1Qg William Lane Craig and the Meaning of Ad Hominem Attacks - William Lane Craig - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrVGuUsL2PM

Moreover, the following anti-ID philosopher in academia even goes so far as to publish a paper saying that the bullying tactics (ad hominems) of neo-Darwinists are justified since many ID proponents are Christian:

Anti-ID Philosopher: "Ad hominem" Arguments "Justified" When Attacking Intelligent Design Proponents - Casey Luskin - June 4, 2012 http://www.evolutionnews.org/2012/06/anti-id_philoso060381.html

And there has even been a recent study showing that the tweets of atheists (i.e. words in general) tend to be more negative than theists' tweets:

Christians happier than atheists – on Twitter - June 28 2013 Excerpt: Two doctoral students in social psychology and an adviser analyzed the casual language of nearly 2 million tweets from more than 16,000 active users to come up with their findings, which were published in Social Psychological and Personality Science. The team identified subjects by finding Twitter users who followed the feeds of five prominent public figures. In the case of Christians, those select five were Pope Benedict XVI, Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, conservative political commentator Dinesh D’Souza and Joyce Meyer, an evangelical author and speaker. In the case of atheists, the five followed feeds included Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Monica Salcedo and Michael Shermer - the latter two respectively being a self-described “fiercely outspoken atheist” blogger, and a science writer who founded The Skeptics Society. With the help of a text analysis program, the researchers found that Christians tweet with higher frequency words reflecting positive emotions,,,, Christians, they found, are more likely to use words like “love,” “happy” and “great”; “family,” “friend” and “team.” Atheists win when it comes to using words like “bad,” “wrong,” and “awful”,,, http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/28/christians-happier-than-atheists-at-least-on-twitter/

But why would Theists think that their words were precious, whereas Atheists don't? One obvious place Theists get this notion for the importance of ones' words is in their belief that God spoke the universe into being: Another place I personally find inspiration for thinking my words are precious are because Jesus 'commanded', with his words, the wind to be still, and Lazarus to rise from the dead, and such miracles as that. Moreover Jesus taught that we would have to give account for every word that we utter when we stand before God. But do we have any actual scientific evidence that connects speech/sound to reality in a fundamental way, as theists should rightly expect if reality were truly spoken into existence by God? and if Jesus really did command the sea to be still, and sick to be healed, as Christians contend? Well, in what should be a really big surprise for atheists, we do have evidence for this base level connection between sound and reality. The following verse, articles, and video, are very suggestive as to providing almost tangible proof for God 'speaking' reality into existence:

Genesis 1:1-3 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. Photons and Phonons Excerpt: You see, the primary Planck-Law (E=hf) is metaphysical and independent on the inertia distribution of the solid states.,,, Both, photon and phonon carry massequivalent energy m=E/c2=hf/c2. The matter-light interaction so is rendered electromagnetically noninertial for the photon and becomes acoustically inertial for the phonons; both however subject to Bose-Einstein stochastic wave mechanics incorporative the Planck-Law.,, Where, how and why does E=hf correctly and experimentally verifiably describe the quantum mechanics of energy propagation?,,, http://www.tonyb.freeyellow.com/id135.html Phonon Excerpt: In physics, a phonon,, represents an excited state in the quantum mechanical quantization of the modes of vibrations,, The name phonon,, translates as sound or voice because long-wavelength phonons give rise to sound. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonon

The following video shows there is 'very surprising' direct connection between geometric structure and sound:

The Deep Connection Between Sound & Reality - Evan Grant - Allosphere - video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4672092

But is there a connection between positive words being spoken by people and the health as would be expected if it were truly possible that Jesus really did command Lazarus to rise from the dead, and such 'spoken' healing miracles as that? Once again, in what should be a big surprise for atheists, the answer is Yes! We do have evidence for such a connection:

The Healing Power of Positive Words By Linda Wasmer Andrews - Jun 08, 2012 Excerpt: When researchers analyzed the autobiographies of famous deceased psychologists, they found that those who used lots of active positive words (such as lively, enthusiastic, happy) tended to outlive their other colleagues. Within this category of words, the biggest boost came from humor-related terms (such as laugh, funny, giggle), which were associated with living six years longer, on average. In contrast, passive positive words (such as peaceful, calm, relaxed) and negative words (such as worried, angry, lonely) didn’t affect longevity. http://health.yahoo.net/experts/allinyourmind/health-power-positive-words How those marital rows can be bad for your health by JENNY HOPE – December 2005 Excerpt: Married couples who constantly argue risk damaging their health, according to a study. It found that marital rows can prolong the time it takes the body to heal itself after an injury. One argument alone can slow this process by a day. And the study claims that when married couples feel consistently hostile towards one another, the delay in the healing process can be doubled. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-370708/How-marital-rows-bad-health.html

bornagain77

That one might be considered a little bit, shall we say, 'severe', for your book of apothegms, WJM? Even to the ears of our dirt-worshipper friends. BUT THEY DESERVE IT!!! Axel

OT: Mary Shelley said she got the idea for Frankenstein from experiments by Charles Darwin's grandfather Erasmus, giving life to a piece of spaghetti. Today Paul Nelson on the Medved Show will talk attempts to create artificial life, Craig Venter and more, Listen live to the second hour of the Medved Show, 1 pm Pacific time or 4 pm Eastern, or hear it online by going here. http://www.evolutionnews.org/2013/10/today_on_the_me_4078521.html bornagain77