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That Papyrus with Sayings of Jesus

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A papyrus was made of plant fibers and a popular way of writing documents, taking notes, and so on in ancient times. This was a budget writing method, and there were more durable (and expensive) materials. They can last a long time in the right conditions. Oxyrhynchus was a city in Egypt that had a passel of papyri (including biblical writings) in garbage dumps. There are many reasons biblical material could be there, such as mistakes, copies may have been upgraded to better material — or the owners realized they were not valid. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 3522  (I can't legally use 5575), Wikimedia Commons / public domain There are many manuscripts and fragments, and they keep scholars quite busy. The Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 5575 has sayings that are attributed  to Jesus as well as short quotes from real Gospels. Surprisingly, even this spurious piece has value, helping researchers date other materials and so forth. Also, it helps reveal the how seriously people took the biblical manuscript c

The Friendly but Puzzling Baobab Tree

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Okay, a tree can only be friendly when it is given human traits in stories. But if one could actually be friendly, it would be the baobab (its counterpart would be the poisonous manchineel tree ). Nine species have been counted that have some basic similarities. A grown baobab may have been in place for a thousand years, so it has an impressive circumference. Leaves? It only grows them during the very short wet season. Although the top branches look like roots, the actual roots run deep. The Creator built it to survive those harsh conditions. Avenue of the Baobabs in Madagascar, Pexels / Beau Botschuijver Baobab trees have many uses. The leaves are edible, the branches trap rainfall, even the seeds can be eaten. The bark can be used to make clothing and rope. But baobabs are not in a hurry to grow, so they are difficult to cultivate — except researchers in Ghana have some promising work happening. These trees are in several diverse regions, which causes so much controversy among evolut

Charles Darwin and the White Supremacists

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Something that many of totalitarian dictators and even mass murderers of the last 150 years or so is holding to belief in Darwinism. Evolution is not just a theory for academics to discuss and for ordinary people to accept because they said so. Instead, it is a worldview used to interpret science and morality. Unfortunately, white supremacy will never go away. Those sidewinders are known for despising people with darker skin, but they have particular venom for Jews. Leftists label many people as "far right" including white nationalists, but leftists as well as alleged Conservatives were joining in with hatred for Jews. People worshiping statue of Darwin, made by AI at Bing Although the Intelligent Design people wrongly want to keep God out of the discussions, an article makes a point — which is often made by presuppositional apologists. That is, if Darwinism is right, nobody  can condemn Hamas for attacking the Jews. When atheists say that something is morally wrong, they are

Humans Brains Wired for Visual Perception

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Reverend Thomas Bayes (1701-1761) could not have dreamed that his work would be extremely important in statistics, usually in the form of the Bayesian inference . It has been discovered that the human brain uses this advanced cognition ability — built in by the Master Engineer. There is no need here to delve into details of how the theorem or the inference work. Suffice to say that new information reaches the mind, then it is compared to existing knowledge to see if existing knowledge needs to be changed. X-ray-style image of skull and brain, Freeimages / Miranda Knox The complexity of the brain has long been a problem for evolutionists. Interestingly, the paper discussing the experiment that concluded that we are wired for advanced thinking skills is quite interesting. Evolution was mentioned needlessly in it, and the word  design was used. That is far more logical than to think evolution could build the complexities of the human brain. As neurological research continues, it will onl

Webb Telescope Detects JuMBO Problems

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No, that is not a typo. It means Jupiter Mass Binary Objects. Although Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, it is gas with a great deal of mass. The James Webb Space Telescope has a great location and equipment, and it detected rogue planets — the hippies of the cosmos. These rogues are wandering around not bothering anyone. Some (binary Jupiters) even have dance partners. That is, it they orbit a common center of gravity. Same with the earth and the sun. But I digress. Elephants, Open Clipart and Jupiter, NASA et al  (who do not endorse this site) Prevailing views of how the universe formed and operates rely on dark matter and dark energy . The rogues are mostly dark as well, but unlike dark matter and energy, they have been detected. Hippie planets are causing problems for the establishment, maaaan ! That is, secular views of star and planet formation. Seems like those folks should be used to it by now because there are numerous challenges to their views already. Mayh

Evolution and Rampant Sexual Immorality

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As noted previously, the secular science industry espouses leftist causes. Many of these go beyond political and into immorality. That is why we cannot stay with science here because they use Darwinian values to interpret information for their agenda. People are easily deceived because they lack critical thinking skills; what passes for thought is quite often driven by emotions. Also, their hearts are darkened (Eph. 4:18-19, Rom. 1:21), and this invariably impedes their thinking processes. Sexual immorality is a major factor. Creepy Charlie likes movies about gladiators (modified public domain image by Jean-Léon Gérôme ) Naturalists are inconsistent in their approaches to which perversions they promote — is is like choosing from a buffet table. A man has sex with multiple women? Evolution, because it propagates our species!) Gang rape and cannibalism occur in our "cousins" the chimpanzees, but we don't see that being encouraged. Animals tend to be selfish when it comes to

Getting a Head on an Arthropod Fossil

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There sure is a huge number of high-quality fossils coming out of China. While healthy skepticism is in order because of the people selling fakes in certain areas , the quantity is impressive. It may be that some are so plentiful, they are boring to scientists. Oh goodie, another trilobite... Alert eyes can spot and reference something new or a superior specimen to something already known. Then they can use some of that impressive technology and get the details. This happened with a Kylinxia  fossil and a CT scan. Kylinxia zhangi , Wikimedia Commons / Junnn11 ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) This critter looks like several others, so this child doesn't envy paleontologists who need to tell them apart. Anyway, computerized tomography (the CT in a CT scan) involves numerous X-rays. Kylinxia  got the treatment and the soft stuff of its head buried in the rock was revealed. Of course, secularists promptly began telling evidence-free Just-So Stories about what went on in the distant past millions of D

Animal Companions by Divine Design?

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There is an odd old man who walks his little dog around the apartment complex, and he talks to it as if he is hearing it ask questions and reply to his own. But I do not think this widower of several years is crazy — that is just how the relationship plays out. Evolutionists tell fanciful stories about the domestication of the cat  as well as how we got our canine friends . Unfortunately, an Intelligent Design organization's writer linked below accepts this storytelling as well as deep time, but the rest of his article is interesting. Women with dogs taking in the view, Pexels / Dmitriy Ganin We have a special rapport with our animal friends, and they become family members. They are given a great deal of time and affection, and money is spent on food, upkeep, medical bills, and more. When they die, many of us grieve . We give, but they cannot give back in kind. Sure, some do work, but you can't exactly hitch up a team of bearded dragons to pull a plow. There are folks who have

The Vital Vagus Nerve

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Unlike the numerous details about the human body that are being discovered because of advanced technology and better research skills, the vagus nerve has been known for a mighty long time. But advanced technology and better research skills are revealing its complexity. The vagus nerve is not the vaguest nerve, being the longest cranial nerve and connecting to a huge number of other nerves. It is used to regulate many important bodily functions. This work may be impeded by various conditions and factors. Modified illustration of laryngeal and vagus nerves, WikiComm / derived by Jkwchui ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) Scientists are discovering that the vagus nerve has several diverse but vital functions, and because of conditions or damage it may not work as designed every time. External stimulators with targeted applications can help it along with epilepsy, depression, and more. When biblical creationists and the Intelligent Design folks point out that certain things of specified complexity defy evo

Plants Beneath Greenland Ice Sheet, and the Genesis Flood

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Although this subject was discussed in one of the posts on " Plants Under Ice Fluster Evolutionists ," there are additional details that should be considered. Also, the technical parts will appeal to some people while the rest of us read around those and learn something anyway. Believers in deep time think that drilled ice cores provide evidence for millions of years, but there are problems that are not brought to the table. Including faulty logic. Consider that they act as  if evidence can be interpreted in their favor, they win . In this case, if one strips off the presuppositions that hang on evidence like barnacles, it points to the Genesis Flood! Greenland ice sheet, Wikimedia Commons / Eric Gaba ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) There is ice, and plants under the ice. Secularists are surprised because they believe in multiple ice ages, each conveniently destroying evidence of the last so all they have is interpretations  of marine sediments. When ice core data like this and others are