MichaelRussell.co

Did Bono become a Calvinist?

2013-07-05T03:22:30Z

I show my age when I say I’m a U2 fan. I like their biblical imagery, but their tunes got me well before I detected any Christian underpinning to their lyric. I only just got around to their last album, ‘No Line on the Horizon’. My favourite song at the moment is ‘Moment of Surrender’. It’s on repeat whenever Ally’s not around. I love the tune. But I also like the lyric, and a couple of the lines got me thinking. One of the lines is ‘It’s not if I believe in Love … If love believes in me’. It … Continue reading →

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Abortion, gender and the Prime Minister’s speech

2013-06-14T01:06:54Z

If you’re like me, the Prime Minister’s speech on Tuesday to ‘women for Gillard’ rankled quite a bit. It’s partly because I’m pro-life (with important protections for abortions in the case of danger to the mother), and therefore would prefer our PM not to be so aggressively pro-choice. It is very ‘pro-choice’ indeed to pick a fight with an opposition who has declared themselves to be in favour of the status quo on abortion. And it’s not just that: The speech rankled because it presented an argument for election based on the gender of those to be in government, rather … Continue reading →

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On Printable Pistols

2013-06-11T12:15:27Z

There’s an excellent article on the invention of the printable pistol, and its implications here. Of note is the input of pro 2nd amendment Americans in the development of the printable pistol. It is worth repeating some of my earlier points on Americans and guns from here. “In the bible, the use of force is the preserve of the state. Individuals are to ‘turn the other cheek’, while the rulers in authority are the ones who do not ‘bear the sword for nothing’. Individuals are not to ‘resist the evil person’, but the judge may ‘turn you over to the … Continue reading →

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Intuitionism follows from Paul’s doctrine of no excuse

2014-08-18T00:02:12Z

Robert Audi defines ‘intuitionism as an ethical theory to be, in outline and in a minimal version, the view that there is at least one moral principle that is non-inferentially and intuitively knowable.’[1] He describes a ‘generic intuitionism’ as the ‘stronger view, on which there is a group of at least several such moral principles (such as we find in W. D. Ross and others)’[2] Lastly, he describes ‘an intuitionism’ as a ‘specific intuitionist theory’ that ‘also incorporates a particular set of basic moral principles that directly apply to daily life.’[3] I think it’s fairly clear that Paul’s doctrine of … Continue reading →

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Large archeological discovery in birthplace of Abraham, Sumerians

2013-04-18T06:38:40Z

There has been a large archeological discovery in the birthplace of Abraham, the home of the ancient Sumerians. A couple of quotes from the article: ‘University of Manchester archaeologists have started the excavation of an enormous building complex in Iraq, thought to be around 4,000 years old.’ ‘The team, directed by Professor Stuart Campbell and Dr Jane Moon, both from Manchester, and independent archaeologist Robert Killick, first spotted the amazing structure – thought to be an administrative complex serving one of the world’s earliest cities– on satellite.’ ‘The arrangement of rooms around a large courtyard are at a site only … Continue reading →

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On homosexual orientation: ‘Born that way’?

2013-05-02T13:03:17Z

Romans 1:18-2:1 has a neglected but important response to those who claim that being ‘born that way’ – having a homosexual orientation – justifies being in an active same-sex relationship. As I discussed previously, Romans 1:18-32 sketches out a history of humanity’s decline from Adam and Eve to present day. The historical sketch moves from Adam and Eve (past time, aorist tense) who ‘knew God’ (1:21), through to mankind’s state today where we not only do evil deeds, but also approve of those who do them (present time, present tense) (1:32). Along the way, in our historical decline, we first … Continue reading →

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Did Paul write Hebrews? Engineers have their say!

2013-03-23T09:46:27Z

We have new insight into the question of the author of Hebrews from an unlikely source; the field of engineering. Derek Abbott, a friend of mine, together with others, have published this article with a new method for analysing authorship of documents. They apply their method to the authorship of Hebrews. Of the authors analysed, Paul comes out as the most likely author, followed by Luke. I would point out that the strongest argument against Pauline authorship of Hebrews is Hebrews 2:3. ‘This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him’ … Continue reading →

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Australian Government trying to take away media freedom

2013-03-14T07:23:54Z

For those in Australia, you’ll be aware of our federal Labor government’s current media reform proposals. While I try not to be too partisan in my public comments, this is concerning enough to write about. I did enjoy watching Malcolm Turnbull berate the government on their proposal here. It is, as Mr Turnbull said, very significant that the government is proposing to introduce regulation into our print media in peace time for the first time in our history. Also significant, and not discussed anywhere I can see, is that this is an example of the federal government seeking to take … Continue reading →

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Statistical Analysis of Genesis 11:10-26 Part 3

2013-03-07T13:16:47Z

I’ve been fiddling with the age data from Genesis 11. Here’s what I got when I fitted an exponential curve to the data regarding. Since Noah spent two thirds of his life before the flood, and one third of his life after the Flood, it was hard to know whether to include him in the data for the purposes of fitting the curve. So I fitted one curve with him, and one without him. Note that the exponential curve has an asymptote at age zero in these two graphs. On the x-axis is number of generations passed (starting at 0), … Continue reading →

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Fall in Muslim birth rate?

2013-02-24T08:50:46Z

A quick note to point out this recent work by Nicholas Eberstadt, which has been generating discussion and interest on the blogosphere. It’s interesting that the decline in Muslim birth rate is especially acute in Iran. I expect universally that the birth rate will be proportional to wealth, with wealth being a far stronger predictor of birth rate than religion or ideology. In a way then this data reminds us how well Iran is doing in GDP per capita terms, having risen into the top half of nations on that measure. See here for tables. Looking Eberstadt’s article briefly, and at the … Continue reading →

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