I miss my cottage

When I had my cottage on Second Life (SL) it was very easy to share my faith visually. As you can see in the picture below, I had a large cross placed on the chiminey and illuminated by a hidden light source. With my current land configuration the cottage is gone and a prominent place to display the cross is gone with it. Displays of faith are rare in this game while examples of hedonism, gross displays of immorality, and other un-Christian behavior abounds. When I joined SL I wasn't surprised to find the occasional Christian community but the scarcity alarmed me and still does. Something I have to work on, I guess.

Pagan Violence

"It emphasizes a connection with one's ancestors and values honor, loyalty, generosity and truth."

That sounds laudable for any religion, but it seems that Asatru (sometimes called Odinism) also emphasizes violent death for non-adherents.

"Michael Lenz is scheduled to die Thursday for the death of Brent Parker, who was stabbed dozens of times at Augusta Correctional Center during a gathering of inmates devoted to Asatru, whose followers worship Norse gods. At his trial, Lenz testified that Parker had not been taking the religion seriously and had to die to protect the honor of the gods" (source).

It is very easy to misinterpret the tenets and goals of any religion and much easier to misinterpret it's writings, but in this instance I sincerely believe that such a violent act is not at all condoned by Asatru or any viable religion would support. True, Christianity had the Crusades and the Inquisition, but these were acts committed by men without the sanction of God.

The article cited above over emphasizes the aspect of paganism. Rather it should focus on man's inhumanities to man. Until this problem is solved, no one is safe.

The Evolving Debate

Normally I loath publishing verbatim other material from the Internet, but the following is significant enough that I wish to save you the trouble of going to the source.

Finches on Galapagos Islands evolving
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer
Thu Jul 13, 9:17 PM ET

Finches on the Galapagos Islands that inspired Charles Darwin to develop the concept of evolution are now helping confirm it — by evolving.

A medium sized species of Darwin's finch has evolved a smaller beak to take advantage of different seeds just two decades after the arrival of a larger rival for its original food source.
The altered beak size shows that species competing for food can undergo evolutionary change, said Peter Grant of Princeton University, lead author of the report appearing in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

Grant has been studying Darwin's finches for decades and previously recorded changes responding to a drought that altered what foods were available.

It's rare for scientists to be able to document changes in the appearance of an animal in response to competition. More often it is seen when something moves into a new habitat or the climate changes and it has to find new food or resources, explained Robert C. Fleischer, a geneticist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and National Zoo.

This was certainly a documented case of microevolution, added Fleischer, who was not part of Grant's research.

Grant studied the finches on the Galapagos island Daphne, where the medium ground finch, Geospiza fortis, faced no competition for food, eating both small and large seeds.
In 1982 a breeding population of large ground finches, Geospiza magnirostris, arrived on the island and began competing for the large seeds of the Tribulus plants. G. magnirostris was able to break open and eat these seeds three times faster than G. fortis, depleting the supply of these seeds.

In 2003 and 2004 little rain fell, further reducing the food supply. The result was high mortality among G. fortis with larger beaks, leaving a breeding population of small-beaked G. fortis that could eat the seeds from smaller plants and didn't have to compete with the larger G. magnirostris for large seeds.

That's a form of evolution known as character displacement, where natural selection produces an evolutionary change in the next generation, Grant explained in a recorded statement made available by Science.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

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This reminds me of a study from a few decades ago that tracked changes in moth populations in the United Kingdom. Admittedly a less formal study than this with the finches, it nonetheless clearly showed the advantages of species evolution. Lighter-color moths predominated in the study area until industrial pollution darkened walls, trees, and other surfaces favored by the moths. This meant that lighter-color moths stood out more easily to predators. Circumstances favored darker-colored moths and so that variation predominated ... survival of the species. Observers noted the change back to nature favoring the lighter-color as pollution was cleaned up.

All in all, I don't see why Evolution can't be part of God's plan. The theory provides a convenient mechanism to explain a number of things. Rather than fight it, there should be a way for Christians to reconcile it with our faith.

Nice Visit to Church Today

For a change of pace, I went my good friend and neighbor's church, Hope United Methodist. My first time in a church of this flavor (outside of weddings), I was a wee surprised to see they celebrate Communion. Nothing wrong with that, I've just never seen it in person outside Catholic churches.

Of course, my primary reason to go was to make sure Andy went. The last few Sundays he's been at home and I thought that if I offered to go with him he would get out of the house. And we had a good time, too. The Vacation Bible School kids put on a brief production to show what they have learned so far and the pastor had an interesting message about interpreting Matthew 24 & 25 in terms of how 1^st Century weddings worked.

And I got home in time to listen to Car Talk on NPR. A win, win, win in my book.