CONTENT NOTICE

The next couple of days I’m going to be doing a series of posts about . . . (ahem) . . . sex.

The reason is that in our sex-obsessed culture, it’s important for apologists to know how to argue the subject, particularly from a natural law persective since so many today won’t take you seriously if you just quote the Bible to them.

I’m going to keep it delicate here, but some of the links I cite to stories about recent scientific research regarding sex may be more blunt than some might want, so fair warning.

The Far Side Of The Sun

farside-of-the-sun

You may know that Pink Floyd had an album called The Dark Side Of The Moon, but did you know that it’s possible to get a look at the far side of the sun?

It is! In fact, that’s what’s in the center of the picture to the left. There is a technique astronomers have developed called helioseismic holography that allows us to map what is happening on the far side of the sun. Here’s the story on the image you’re looking at:

The false colors represent condensations of magnetic flux — that is, sunspots. This holographic map captured April 12, 2001, shows the giant sunspot AR9393 on the back side of the Sun a full week before it emerged into direct view over the Sun’s eastern limb. MDI holographic images reveal the Earth-facing side of the Sun 70 degrees from the disk center, and the far side of the Sun 50 degrees from disk center.

You may be wondering how all this works, well . . .

The Sun is a hummimg ball of sound waves launched by turbulent convective motions in our star’s outer layers. “The waves we monitor [using MDI] have a period of about 5 minutes,” says Phil Scherrer of Stanford University, principal investigator for the MDI instrument. “That’s roughly the turn-over time of the California-sized bubbles that appear as granulation of the photosphere.” Solar granulation is what excites the Sun’s internal sound waves.

Solar sound waves are mostly trapped inside our star — they refract away from the Sun’s hot core and reflect back and forth between different parts of the photosphere. . . . By monitoring the Sun’s vibrating surface, helioseismologists can probe the stellar interior in much the same way that geologists use seismic waves from earthquakes to probe the inside of our planet.

Intense magnetic fields around sunspots affect the transit times of sound waves bouncing from one side of the Sun to the other, variations that the MDI can detect and transform to reveal magnetic condensations (i.e, sunspots) on the hidden side of the Sun. Called “helioseismic holography,” this technique can produce actual images of the far side of our star.

For more info on how all this works, including QuickTime movies of the process, see here and here.

Baptism & The Salvation Army

The reason I bring up the Salvation Army is that I got the following e-mail from a correspondent:

I was wondering what the form and matter is for Baptism by a Salvationist [i.e., a member of the Salvation Army]. I am working with a young man in prison who wants to learn more about the faith, with the possibility of coming into full communion. He was baptised in his mother’s faith, i.e. Salvationist. Is this a valid baptism? He recieved instructions and claims to have made his first communion (but not Confirmation) in another state prison location (within a different diocese). Before I proceed, I need to know where he stands. He is single and has never been married, so, other than the baptism in question, and pehaps his recieving communion, he has no obvious impediments.

I replied:

I’m afraid that there is a difficulty in answering your question because the Salvation Army does not normally practice the sacraments. See the following links:

http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/en/Library/factSheets/Sacraments.htm

http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/en/Library/factSheets/FAQ-23-Baptism+and+membership.htm

There have been inconsistencies in this area, and sometimes Salvationists have received baptism in another church, but the Salvation Army does not encourage its members to be baptized. As a result of the irregular way in which baptism–when they occur among Salvationsists–are performed, there is no guarantee that any particular form (or matter) was used.

There would seem to be two solutions to the situation of the gentleman you describe: (1) investigate to find out the particulars of how *he* was baptized (e.g., did he do it in a Salvationist church or another church and what was the form and matter in his case). *Probably* he was baptized validly. However, because of the doubt in this area I would probably recommend a conditional baptism for him, just to be sure.

I wish the Salvationist gentleman the best of luck and hope that he soon comes into the Church, but I point this out here because it further underscores the problem with the Salvation Army’s lack of focus on gospel teaching. Even those who do not recognize baptism as means of salvation recognize that it is a scripturally-mandated response to the gospel (e.g., in Acts 2:38), and to simply discontinue its practice is fundamentally inconsistent with the Christian faith.

In fact, the result is that Salvationists who follow the practice of their group in this matter are not Christians because they are not baptized. They are kind of deutero-followers of the Messiah, like the disciples of Apollos that Paul found in Ephesis (Acts 19:1-7, cf. 18:18-28), but they are not Christians because they lack the sacrament that makes one a Christian.

Baptism & The Salvation Army

The reason I bring up the Salvation Army is that I got the following e-mail from a correspondent:

I was wondering what the form and matter is for Baptism by a Salvationist [i.e., a member of the Salvation Army]. I am working with a young man in prison who wants to learn more about the faith, with the possibility of coming into full communion. He was baptised in his mother’s faith, i.e. Salvationist. Is this a valid baptism? He recieved instructions and claims to have made his first communion (but not Confirmation) in another state prison location (within a different diocese). Before I proceed, I need to know where he stands. He is single and has never been married, so, other than the baptism in question, and pehaps his recieving communion, he has no obvious impediments.

I replied:

I’m afraid that there is a difficulty in answering your question because the Salvation Army does not normally practice the sacraments. See the following links:

http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/en/Library/factSheets/Sacraments.htm
http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/en/Library/factSheets/FAQ-23-Baptism+and+membership.htm

There have been inconsistencies in this area, and sometimes Salvationists have received baptism in another church, but the Salvation Army does not encourage its members to be baptized. As a result of the irregular way in which baptism–when they occur among Salvationsists–are performed, there is no guarantee that any particular form (or matter) was used.

There would seem to be two solutions to the situation of the gentleman you describe: (1) investigate to find out the particulars of how *he* was baptized (e.g., did he do it in a Salvationist church or another church and what was the form and matter in his case). *Probably* he was baptized validly. However, because of the doubt in this area I would probably recommend a conditional baptism for him, just to be sure.

I wish the Salvationist gentleman the best of luck and hope that he soon comes into the Church, but I point this out here because it further underscores the problem with the Salvation Army’s lack of focus on gospel teaching. Even those who do not recognize baptism as means of salvation recognize that it is a scripturally-mandated response to the gospel (e.g., in Acts 2:38), and to simply discontinue its practice is fundamentally inconsistent with the Christian faith.

In fact, the result is that Salvationists who follow the practice of their group in this matter are not Christians because they are not baptized. They are kind of deutero-followers of the Messiah, like the disciples of Apollos that Paul found in Ephesis (Acts 19:1-7, cf. 18:18-28), but they are not Christians because they lack the sacrament that makes one a Christian.

Yes, Virginia, There Can Be Too Much Emphasis On Social Teaching

Quick! If someone comes up to you and says “Salvation Army,” what’s the first think you think of?

Guys on the street corner ringing bells and taking donations at Christmas time, right? Maybe big red trucks coming to cart away furniture and give it to the needy?

That’s the problem.

These things are not what the Salvation Army is about–or at least they shouldn’t be. You see, the Salvation Army is more than a charity.

It’s a church.

But it’s a church that has ruined its witness to Christ by over-emphasis on social teaching. It has allowed itself to become thought of in the public mind as a charity rather than a church, and that’s contrary to what it is to be a church.

People must undertand what we stand for as Christians. When they think of us, they must think of us as followers of Christ first and foremost, not as people who organize charitable events. (Heck, when I was a boy I thought the “Salvation” in their name referred to salvaging furniture that would otherwise be thrown away!)

It’s true that Jesus and his apostles were concerned for the material wellbeing of others and worked to improve it, but this was always subordinate to their concern for people’s spiritual wellbeing, and people knew it. The gospel is about how to get eternal life, not how to keep warm and well fed. While helping someone with the latter is important, it pales in comparison to helping them understand the former.

The Salvation Army has made a fatal mistake by becoming a charity in the mind of the public, which would be a betrayal of what it would be doing if it wants to be a church.

The case of the Salvation Army is a valuable object lesson for those in other churches–including the Catholic Church–to show what can go wrong when a group puts more emphasis on social teaching than on gospel teaching.

Michael Moore Accused of Breaking Two of Ten Commandments

Enfant terrible Michael Moore, producer of the films Bowling for Columbine and the new Bush-bash Farenheight 9-11, has recently been accused of breaking two of the Ten Commandments, specifically the ones involving theft and lying.

Ray Bradbury, author of the classic dystopian sci-fi novel Farenheight 451, is hopping mad that Moore sideswiped his novel’s title and is assuing him of ripping it off. (NOTE: Bradbury is so mad the he us a . . . uh . . . colorful phrase to describe Moore.)

Regarding Moore’s receipt of standing ovations and the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) award at the Cannes film festival in the enfant terrible nation of France, Bradbury states:

“I have won prizes in different places and they are mostly meaningless. The people there hate us, which is why they gave him the d’Or. It’s a meaningless prize.”

Meanwhile, Conservative commentator Fred Barnes is accusing Moore of breaking the commandment against lying. In his book Stupid White Men, Moore recounted a phone call that showed Barnes acting like . . . well . . . . a stupid (and hypocritical) white man who didn’t know what The Iliad and The Odyssey are. Barnes flatly denies that the phone call ever took place and said Moore made it up. He writes:

The only problem is none of this is true. It never happened. Moore is a liar. He made it up. It’s a fabrication on two levels. One, I’ve never met Moore or even talked to him on the phone. And, two, I read both “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” in my first year at the University of Virginia.

Makes one wonder what other things in Moore’s work may be made up.

Communist China Invades South Korea's Diet

Speaking of South Korea, a lot of South Koreans are unhappy about their ultra-pungent national dish–kimchi–being subverted by their Communist neighbor to the north. No, not North Korea. The BIG one: China.

Turns out, China is making cheap kimchi and undercutting the South Korean market for the food. They’re also threatening South Korea’s main export market for kimchi, which is in Japan.

I sympathize with the South Koreans. If a highly obnoxious nation–say, France–was dumping cheap hotdogs on the American market and threatening our main hotdog export markets (if we have any) then I’d be mad, too!

(This story reminds me: I haven’t had kimchi in a while. It’s probably fairly compatible with my diet, so maybe I’ll check that out.)

Communist China Invades South Korea’s Diet

Speaking of South Korea, a lot of South Koreans are unhappy about their ultra-pungent national dish–kimchi–being subverted by their Communist neighbor to the north. No, not North Korea. The BIG one: China.

Turns out, China is making cheap kimchi and undercutting the South Korean market for the food. They’re also threatening South Korea’s main export market for kimchi, which is in Japan.

I sympathize with the South Koreans. If a highly obnoxious nation–say, France–was dumping cheap hotdogs on the American market and threatening our main hotdog export markets (if we have any) then I’d be mad, too!

(This story reminds me: I haven’t had kimchi in a while. It’s probably fairly compatible with my diet, so maybe I’ll check that out.)

I Thought This Only Happend On Soap Operas

Man meets woman.

Man sleeps with woman.

Woman gets pregnant.

Woman demands they marry.

They do.

Baby looks nothing like man.

Woman claims babies switched in hospital.

Man threatens to sue hospital.

Woman admits baby was fathered by second man.

Marriage gets annulled.

Court orders woman to pay man $42,000 for jerking him around in this fashion.

Okay, the last one is a giveaway that this didn’t happen in America. It happened in South Korea. If it had happened here, I somehow doubt the man would have been able to be successful in court.

Breaking and Entering in Self-Defense?

A politician in Greenland is pleading self-defense on a breaking and entering charge.

Her argument is that it was too cold outside (this was Greenland, after all) and so she needed to get liquor to warm up. A local hotel which contained liquor was closed, so she forced her way in to get it.

Must . . . resist . . . making . . . joke . . . about . . . boozy politicians . . . and their . . . crazy antics.