Dr Paul Allen

“All scientists —including agnostics and atheists—believe in God. They have to in order to do their work.” The dependable regularities and constants we observe in nature are the basis for all scientific inquiry and progress. Whatever their philosophical theory of these regularities might be, all scientists in practice depend on these laws to be a reliable guide to the external world . These natural laws or regularities are simply the providential speech of God upholding the world. Our beliefs about natural law are eerily similar to classical divine attributes . We assign to natural laws such properties as omnipresence (operating in all places), eternity (at all times), immutability (constant effects), immateriality (seen only in its effects), omnipotence (incapable of being broken), transcendence (applies generally), immanence (applies particularly), incomprehensibility (mystery as to why such laws work), goodness (natural laws are reliable), rectitude (consequences for breakin

English: Albert Einstein Français : portrait d'Albert Einstein (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "Life" and "Liberty" are terms that have powerful and positive connotative value to us. We are "pro-life" and "pro-liberty." Such emotionally-laden terms can be definitionally evasive, however, since they stir our passions as well as our reason. As we consider our expectations of the state and our role therein, it is important to be clear about our understanding of such terms. "Life" has both a political and a religious definition.  In the political arena, "life" is biologically defined; the state defends "life" by protecting people from acts and policies that would injure or take away their lives, biologically considered. The state may wage defensive war, for instance, to defend its citizens' lives.  The state establishes police forces to "protect and serve" our physical well-being, and the stat

English: Albert Einstein Français : Portrait d'Albert Einstein (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Hubble came into astronomy in the 1920’s at a very propitious time. It was at just the time that astronomers were gaining access to these large dome telescopes that were able to resolve very tiny pinpoints of light in the night sky. Prior to Hubble and the scientists who were looking into the night sky in the 1920’s, there was debate among astronomers as to whether or not the Milky Way galaxy , in which our solar system resides, was the only galaxy, or whether there might be others beyond it. Hubble resolved that issue as he also resolved these points of light, because as he looked through this great dome telescope at the Palomar Observatory , he was able to determine that little points of light that had been viewed through ordinary telescopes before, and just looked like little points, actually revealed galaxies—whole galaxies with hundreds and millions of stars. The picture behind us is

Deutsch: Porträt von Hermann Weyl (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I always marvel at articles like this that go right to the edge of demanding the existence of God but then ascribe it all to chance or fate or luck or something else. Just not God. Author: Dave Goldberg. You’re almost unfathomably lucky to exist, in almost every conceivable way. Don’t take it the wrong way. You, me, and even the most calming manatee are nothing but impurities in an otherwise beautifully simple universe. We're lucky life began on Earth at all, of course, and that something as complex as humans evolved. It was improbable that your parents met each other and conceived you at just the right instant, and their parents and their parents and so on back to time immemorial. This is science’s way of reminding you to be grateful for what you have. But even so, I have news for you: It's worse than you think. Much worse. Your existence wasn’t just predicated on amorousness and luck of your an

Image via Wikipedia Albert Einstein was once asked by a student , “Dr. Einstein, how many feet are there in a mile?” To the utter astonishment of the student, Einstein replied, “I don’t know.” The student was sure the great professor was joking. Surely Einstein would know a simple fact that every schoolchild is required to memorize. But Einstein wasn’t joking.  When the student pressed for an explanation of this gap in Einstein’s knowledge, he declared, “I make it a rule not to clutter my mind with simple information that I can find in a book in five minutes.” Einstein was not interested in trivial data.  His passion was to explore the deep things of the universe. His passion for mathematical and physical truth made him a pivotal fixture in modern world history. We are called to similar passion, a passion to know God .  A thirst for the knowledge of God should drive us to drink deeply at the fountain of Scripture. We are equipped with more than enough unholy passions.

Image via Wikipedia Have you ever watched a dog chase its shadow? It can be a comical sight. Mistaking the shadow for something concrete and catchable, the dog yaps at it and tries to chase it down. Time after time, the dog dramatically pounces on the shadow, expecting to pin it to the ground. Yet, no matter how hard the dog tries, the shadow always eludes its grasp. We laugh at the silliness of a dog's futile attempt to catch a shadow, but it's not nearly as funny to watch a person try the same routine. Unfortunately, that's just what many leaders do in life. They chase after a shadow of success, not realizing that what they're pursuing lacks depth and substance. They're running after an illusion of success rather than tracking down the real thing. I've found that there are two core fallacies that cause us to have a shadowy view of success. Let's take a moment to look at each one in greater detail. Fallacy #1: We see success as a place instead of a proce