The Speed Of Light…Not So Fast

What’s faster than a speeding bullet? The answer is Superman. What’s faster than the speed of light? The answer is light—well, it used to be faster. According to Albert Einstein, the speed of light, the “c” in his famous e = mc2, has been a constant 186,000 miles a second since the universe began. But the idea that the speed of light is constant has hit a speed bump and there is evidence that suggests the velocity of light is slowing down.

The idea that the speed of light has been slowing down throughout history was first reported by Dr. Barry Setterfield, an Australian astronomer and Trevor Norman back in 1979. Sutterfield charted all the measurements of the speed of light since a Dutch astronomer named Olaf Roemer first measured light speed in the 17^th century. What he discovered was stunning. The speed of light is slowing down. Their theory suggested that thousands of years ago the speed of light was extremely faster than its present velocity. That rocked the scientific world and it was criticized and rejected. But people are rocking the boat again.

Dr. Joao Magueijo, a Royal Society research fellow at Imperial College, London, Dr. John Barrow of Cambridge, Dr. Andreas Albrecht at the University of California at Davis, Dr. John Moffat of the University of Toronto and Dr. Michael Murphy at the University of NSW in Australia are the new rebels at the gate. In scientific peer reviewed articles these researchers propose that immediately after the universe came into existence, the speed of light may have been far faster than its present day value of 186,000 miles per second. In fact they advocate that the speed of light was as much as 10 to the 10^th power faster. If their theory is proven it would dethrone Einstein’s theory and forever change our understanding of the universe. It would also solve some of the most intractable problems of cosmology in a single bound (sorry, I was thinking of Superman again).

The new understanding of the speed of light would also put huge cracks in the foundation of the theory of evolution. For evolutionists the speed of light has to be the constant set by Einstein. If light traveled much faster in the beginning and is now still slowing down, the universe could be very young, maybe only thousands of years old rather than billions. The theory of evolution requires unfathomable lengths of time—billions and billions of years are needed for complex life to supposedly evolve.

Modern physics is now seriously considering a theory that could change the paradigms of 20^th century science. And it would put forward the distinct possibility that scientific validation exists for (hold on to something, are you sitting down?) the biblical account of creation. There will always be those who reject the Bible, of course. But as for me, I take my stand with the psalmist who wrote “The words of the Lord are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times (Psalm 12:6).”

LinSanity

The city of New York is going crazy. They call it “LinSanity.” The cause? A professional basketball player named Jeremy Lin. Lin was not recruited by a collage out of high school and he was undrafted out of college into the NBA. But a few weeks ago he was picked up by the New York Knicks. He’s been a phenomenon ever since.

For example on February 4^th he scored 25 points with 5 rebounds and 7 assists. The next game he put up 28 points with 8 assists. On the 6^th he scored 38 points for a victory over the Lakers. The night before Valentine ’s Day he finished the game with 27 points and a game winning 3 pointer with less than a second left in the game. This past Sunday, on national TV, he scored 28 points and had a career high 13 assists as the Knicks beat the Mavericks. You get the idea why he is so popular.

 But here is what really makes this young man great. He said “God created us to live with a single passion to joyfully display His supreme excellence in all the spheres of life.” Stop! Read that line again, please. And he adds the following about his treasuring Jesus Christ more than mere basketball success.

 “When Paul wrote in Philippians to press on for an upward prize [in Christ - Philippians 3:12], he was living for that, and it made his life meaningful. And I realized I had to learn to do the same. I had to learn to stop chasing the perishable prizes of this earth, I had to stop chasing personal glory, I had to learn how to give my best effort to God and trust him with the results. I have to learn to have enough faith to trust in his grace and to trust in his sovereign and perfect plan. I had to submit my will, my desires, my dreams — give it all up to God and say, ‘Look, I am going to give my best effort, go on the court and play every day for you, and I'm going to let you take care of the rest.’ This is something I struggle with every day. . . . Playing for great stats is nice, but that satisfaction — that happiness — is only from game to game. It's temporary.”

 Jeremy Lin is pursuing true happiness by living to bring glory to God and Christ when he plays basketball. He is doing his best in all of life and leaving the rest to God. And the wonderful truth is that the grace of God that is at work in Jeremy is at work in every Christian. Jesus Christ said, “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all [that you need] shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33). He also said, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).” We don’t have to play professional basketball like Jeremy Lin to have the impact that he is having. We simply need to be as committed to living for God as he is.

An Open Letter to My Love For Valentine’s Day

Dear Marilee,

 I am in love with you. This coming August we will have been married 38 years. In many ways it seems just like yesterday. May the Lord give us many more years together. But whatever the future holds I know that we have eternity. God has been so very kind to me by leading me to you. You filled a huge hole in my heart when we first met. And you have been my best friend ever since.

 I like to think about our future together and the ways in which we will both serve God. God has gifted you in so many ways. And alI of who you are is His gift to me. I see us loving the people in our church both old friends and new ones. I see us enjoying our sons and their future spouses. I see us proud of them as they serve God and His Son Jesus Christ in whatever capacity He calls them. Thank you for homeschooling our sons and preparing them for life. They are fine young men and they will “rise up and call [you] blessed.”*

 I see us growing stronger and more restful in the long proved goodness and kindness of God. As we grow old together we will wrinkle and we will ache, but we will bear our wrinkles and aches with grace. And as we look into each other’s eyes we will always see the real person inside. We will  see us…I see us, always. Scripture asks the question, “Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.”* The answer is: I have. And your worth is far above all the gems stones in the world.

 Marilee, I hope you are not embarrassed by this open display of affection. But some joys are so good they must be shared. I love you. I always have and I always will. Happy Valentine’s Day!

 Chuck

*Proverbs 31: 28, 10

Killing People Like Pulling Weeds

There are some people who would suggest that atheism is illogical, because without God, no values and morals are possible and thus anything can be permitted. Not so, says Walter Sinnott-Armstrong. He is the Chauncey Stillman Professor of Practical Ethics at Duke University. The professor asserts “Morality is a human creation. We don’t need God to have morality.”

 Sinnott-Armstrong insists that our moral behavior should be utterly independent of religion. He argues against the idea that atheists are immoral people and that society will sink into chaos if it becomes too secular. He strongly denies that absolute moral standards require the existence of God. We can, on our own, he asserts, decide what is right and wrong.

 Well, I’ll be like Fox News. I’ll report and let you decide. In a recent article in the Journal of Medical Ethics, the professor and Franklin G. Miller of the National Institute of Health wrote that “Killing by itself is not morally wrong, although it is still morally wrong to cause total disability.” Wait, wouldn’t killing cause total disability? Oh, sorry; I’ll report, you decide.

 The aim of the article is to justify organ donations immediately after cardiac death. This is when a patient is neurologically damaged and cannot function without a respirator. Within minutes of removing the respirator the organs are harvested. However, the authors tell us honestly that the person is not really dead at this point, because it is possible that the patient’s heart could start beating again.

 (An aside to my reading audience: I just heard in my head the scene from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” when plague victims are being hauled off for burial. One guy is still alive and says in his cockney accent “I’m not dead, yet.” But they still bop him on the head and throw him on the wagon with the other bodies. Now, back to the blog.)

 Transplant surgeons are eager to increase the number of organs for donation. Therefore donation after cardiac death could make a big impact. Still a number of surgeons are suspicious of this procedure because of the nagging thought that these people are not yet really dead. Never fear. The professor and his colleague have an answer, “abandoning the norm against killing.” In other words killing a totally disabled person does them no harm.

 Here is the professor’s logic: life is not “sacred…if killing were wrong just because it is causing death or the loss of life, then the same principle would apply with the same strength to pulling weeds out of a garden. If it is not immoral to weed a garden, then life as such cannot be sacred, and killing as such cannot be morally wrong.”  Ah…the wisdom of higher education! We don’t need God to understand morality. It’s simple—killing people is like pulling weeds. Got it? As I said, I’ll report and you decide.

 But here is what the Bible says. Human beings are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26, 27). Grass is not made in the image of God (here is where the Word of God can help us in our moral choices). Grass is to be used. People are not.