31 Mar 2006
Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer

OK, I have a question here about Christian (or, for that matter, Islamic or Jewish) prayer. Let's assume for a moment that the God being prayed to is in fact the omniscient, omnipotent creator of the Universe. How can any prayer be effective? Can prayer offered by a human change God's mind?

As a young Christian I was exhorted to close my prayer with "Thy Will be done", or "Not my will, but Thine, O Lord!". What, exactly, is the point of such a prayer? Maybe it has some effect as a supplication, but surely this is otherwise an exercise in futility: God's will will be done in any event, regardless of the prayers of mere mortals...

And then there's the whole omniscience thing:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chon. 7:14

Now how's that work? If God's omniscient than He already knows if the folks are going to pray or not, and if he's not, well, then the whole paradigm sort of breaks down, and God's no longer in total control of things.

Which is precisely the position my gods and goddesses are in: they're within and part of the natural world, and while I believe they have some influence over events in Midgard, they're neither omniscient or omnipotent - and I wouldn't want them to be. Because the very existence of such a being would make all other beings essentially slaves, and the universe naught but a clockwork. There can be no free will at all in such a deterministic universe.

The "answers" to such prayers are simple: if the desired effect happens than it was God's will that it happen. If it doesn't happen, then it wasn't. My question is simple: what would have happened without the prayer? The only possible answer in a Christian context is: God's will! Therefore prayer is pointless.

I think Christians pray because it makes them feel better, and makes them believe they have some influence on the world, even though their core theology tells them otherwise. The ignore their own scripture because the consequences of the teachings therein are simply too terrible to contemplate for long.

Prayers offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who were undergoing heart surgery, a large and long-awaited study has found.

(link) [New York Times]

00:00 /Asatru | 1 comment | permanent link

Apple's secret sauce

Apple's turned 30, and here are a couple of the best articles about the event...

Sizzle may be subjective, but Apple's definitely got it, says CNET News.com's Charles Cooper.

(link) [CNET News.com]

What drives the colorful Apple CEO? He's happy to tell you. Compiled by Owen W. Linzmayer.PLUS: Wired News' full coverage of Apple's 30th anniversary.

(link) [Wired News: Top Stories]

Update: Here's another perspective...

So Apple's turning 30--CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos wants to know what the big deal is about.

(link) [CNET News.com]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Indiana Moves to Daylight-Saving Time

The last line of the article says it all: it's a mess. Watch for some changes here to remind folks about the true (standard) time ... and watch the local elections this November when the Republicans pay the price for this idiocy.

AP - Seven months a year, Deano's Tavern cashes in on Indiana's refusal to observe daylight-saving time. Ohio residents whose bars close at 2:30 a.m. can go four miles up the road to Deano's for another hour of drinking before last call.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

00:00 /Politics | 1 comment | permanent link

Ex-DeLay aide pleads guilty to fraud

You know what makes me really ill about all this? It's the shameless way these people are using Christians to push their agenda.

The Dallas Morning News has an editorial up about this morass, in which they quote one of this buffoons co-conspirators:

In an e-mail released by a Senate committee, Mr. Scanlon discusses how his clients can use the gullibility of Christians to their own advantage: "The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the Internet and telephone trees. ... Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them."

I hate to see anyone lied to like this, even if I don't agree with the "wacko agenda". It does a terrible disservice to civic discourse, and the the republic itself, to have people such as this with the reins of power in their slimy little hands.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich...told Time that his party has so bungled the job of governing that the best campaign slogan for Democrats today could be boiled down to just two words: "Had enough?"

Yep - we have.

A former senior aide to Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to fraud conspiracy, saying he joined a scheme with lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others to enrich themselves and illegally influence members of Congress.

(link) [CNN.com]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Biotech for Your Backyard

If you wonder why us "natural" or "organic" farmer types are generally terrified by bio-engineered crops, read this article. If this grass were to get loose in our pastures it would be an unmitigated disaster. My carefully mixed and cultivated forages would be obliterated by this alien invader - and the article doesn't say if it's palatable to ruminants or no. But I can certainly assure you that it isn't as tasty to a cow as alfalfa. Let's hope that reason prevails. But the fact that we're even discussing implementing something to make golf courses easier to maintain that also has the potential to destroy the livestock industry means I'm not holding my breath.

Jim Hagedorn wants to sell you the pest-proof, no-mow, genetically engineered lawn of the future. But first he has to head off a grass-roots rebellion. By David Wolman from Wired magazine.

(link) [Wired News: Top Stories]

00:00 /Agriculture | 5 comments | permanent link