Jimmy Akin with a Fascinating Discussion of Adam and Eve

Jimmy's posts are always top notch, and this one does not disappoint. The comments discussions are fascinating too. The main discussion lies with the origination and subsequent breeding of Adam and Eve and their descendants, and how this could fit in with the theory of evolution.

My personal take is that I don't think that a human beings immortal soul is (or can be) inherited - it is created directly by God each time. So it would be possible to posit a race of hominids who gradually evolved (not saying I necessarily believe this - I'm actually more or less an agnostic on macroevolution) and at some point God decided to infuse an immortal soul into two of them.

The genetic materials of Adam and Eve were probably optimum to avoid interbreeding problems, though as Jimmy says, the dangers of interbreeding are somewhat exaggerated anyway.

Another interesting theory, which I don't think would be necessarily a problem for our faith, though, is that humans with immortal souls mated with the biologically identical (or nearly identical) hominids that did not have the immortal souls. The immortal soul is created directly by God, so he simply chose to infuse souls into those who were descended from one with an immortal soul. In a handful of generations or so, everyone living would then have an immortal soul.

Anyway, it's all makes for a very nice cognitive chewy!

Drive-By Shootings At Mark Shea's Blog!

This tends to get annoying. When I was in sympathy with Evangelicalism, I believed many strange things about the Catholic Church. The funny thing is, the more educated about Christianity and the Bible one gets, the more sympathy one begins to have with Catholicism. In particular, it is hard to read Church history, particularly the earliest non-Biblical Christian writers, without coming to the conclusion that they were Catholics. John Henry Newman, a famous convert, said that "To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant." One also comes to the amazing realization that it is in fact the Catholic Church which is the Biblical Church!

Essential early Fathers of the Church (Christians living from about 60 to 300 AD) include Clement, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus. Ignatius mentioned the Catholic Church as early as 107 AD.

Some essential reading material about early Christianity includes:

• Four Witnesses by Rod Bennett
• Faith of the Early Fathers - a three volume set by William Jurgens
• The Spirit of Early Christian Thought by Robert Louis Wilken

One of the first things you discover is that it was the Catholic Church, mostly in the context of determining what could or could not be read at liturgy, which determined the set (or canon) of books which were to be considered Scripture. Given that, it is extremely difficult for a Protestant to elucidate why they trust the Bible given that the canon was determined by the Catholic Church.

Once a Protestant reasons his/her way through that and decides that perhaps the Holy Spirit worked through the Church to ensure that the canon of Scripture would not be in error, they have conceded (at least in one case) the possibility and necessity of infallibility in a human being (or group of human beings) by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This concept of infallibility fits in very well with Matthew 16:17-19, where Jesus gives Peter the keys of the kingdom and says "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Unless one wishes to say that Jesus has no quarrel with allowing erroneous teachings to be bound and loosed in Heaven, it is hard to get around the fact that Jesus Himself here gave Peter (together with the other Apostles) the gift of infallibility.

To conclude this ramble, I'll link to a very astute comment by Mark Gordon on Mark's website, which commented on the "drive by shooting". Money quote: "Here's an observation from an Evangelical convert to the Catholic Church: The vast majority of those who move from Catholicism to Evangelicalism begin from a point of almost complete ignorance of their Catholic faith. By contrast, the vast majority of those who move from Evangelicalism to Catholicism begin from a point of deep immersion in their Evangelical faith."

BTW, speaking of the commenter above, check out Mark Gordon's sobering blog which chronicles the ongoing Suicide of the West.

Battlestar Galactica - Best Show on TV!

For the first time in many years, I've found myself watching quite a few TV series this year. This is probably because the success of "Lost" convinced networks to give science fiction a chance again. Science fiction is the genre I find most interesting anyway, and also has the added bonus of greatly reducing political correctness and gratuitous sex.

I have to agree with all the raves for Battlestar Galactica. It is probably the most realistic science fiction show I have ever watched. No artificial technobabble solutions on this show. It is quite edgy at times, though, so it may not be for everyone, especially younger children. It's highly recommended that you use TiVo or a similar product and review episodes ahead of time before letting your children watch. This also has the happy bonus of allowing you to skip all the commercials!!!

My rankings of the shows I currently TRY to keep up with:
1. Battlestar Galactica
2. Lost
3. Invasion
4. Smallville
5. Prison Break
6. Surface
7. The 4400

Don't be fooled by the low ranking for the shows at the bottom. All the shows are really well done, with the possible exception of Surface, which is pretty corny but still enjoyable.

R.I.P. Western Civilization?

Mark Steyn, one of my favorite conservative writers, today tackles the elephant in the living room, which till now has been tackled only by a select few such as George Weigel (see The Cube and The Cathedral).

Even when the events beg to have "the elephant" examined, for example, during the French riots, it is ignored in favor of causes such as unemployment.

The elephant, of course, is the upcoming collapse of much of Western Civilization due to a birth dearth, a vacuum which is being filled by the Muslims. My brother is visiting Europe this month; a visit I encouraged him to make - I told him that Europe may well largely become Eurabia during his lifetime.

Civilizations thrive or decline largely due to the birth rate. The birth rate is largely based on the balance of religious vs. secular values. Right now, especially in Europe, but throughout Western Civilization to one extent or another, there is a societal death wish, expressed in an absurdly low birth rate. People, in general, have decided "To Hell with the future; I'm going to get mine!" Europe is largely depopulating, and the vacuum is being filled with mostly Muslim immigrants. The irony, of course, is that the European secular democracies are hoping via mass immigration to prop up their welfare states (which of course require astronomical amounts of money) and by doing so, they are only hastening the transition of their societies to something quite different.

Anyway, of course, Mr. Steyn says all this much more eloquently than I...I encourage you to read the article! It's long but quite illuminating and rewarding.

Best Non-Hall of Fame players

This is a pretty interesting CNN/SI article, which should generate a lot of discussion around the blogosphere. Of the players mentioned, I am particularly among the cheerleaders for Bert Blyleven, Ron Santo, Alan Trammell, and Joe Torre. Also, though I'm not sure I'd vote for Dwight Evans, he was one of my favorite players of all time, and remains one of the most underrated players of all-time.

Twins Offseason Moves and Prognosis

Well, as the old Meatloaf song goes, "Two out of Three Ain't Bad". The Twins' three major offseason moves this year were:

• The acquisition of Luis Castillo
• The signing of Tony Batista
• The signing of Rondell White

Well, which of these things is not like the other? The answer is Tony Batista. Luis Castillo and Rondell White have consistently ranked as above average hitters at their positions. Rondell White is injury prone, but in his role as DH with the Twins, the injuries will hopefully be nipped in the bud. Tony Batista, however, was one of the WORST everyday players in the major leagues in 2003 and 2004, and was mediocre enough in Japan that he was released after his 2005 season. If you want more proof that Batista is no reason for optimism, check out Aaron Gleeman's excellent analysis here.

So then, why was he signed? Well, Michael Cuddyer, in the opinion of the Twins braintrust, cannot field. Secondly, the Twins offense needs power. It just so happens that Batista's forte is power, as he can be relied upon for at least 25 HR and perhaps up to 35 HR. Unfortunately, that is about the ONLY thing Batista can do...he's a one-trick pony. He was signed because the Twins were unable to sign or swing a deal for anybody else. IMO, they'd have been a lot better off keeping Cuddyer at 3b, but that seems to be anathema to Ron Gardenhire.

However, with the other two new players, plus likely improvement from Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Jason Bartlett as well as the return of minor-league outfielder extraordinaire Jason Kubel (hit .347 in the minors in 2oo4 with 20+ HR), the Twins offense should still be much improved.

Here's a look at the possible lineup:

LF Shannon Stewart
2b Luis Castillo
c Joe Mauer
dh Rondell White
1b Justin Morneau
CF Torii Hunter
RF Jason Kubel
3b Tony Batista
ss Jason Bartlett

This looks a lot better than last year, when the Twins had the worst offense in the major leagues. The positive thing about Tony Batista being in the lineup is that this means that the position is still very easy to upgrade, which means the offense could be improved even more.

The Twins pitching, on the other hand, could very easily be the best in the American League, with Santana, Radke, and Silva returning, and top prospects Francisco Liriano and Scott Baker waiting in the wings to join the starting rotation, and a perennial top bullpen led by Joe Nathan and Juan Rincon.

Though this isn't the fashionable choice, the White Sox were very lucky in 2005, and even with all their moves, going into 2006, it looks like a dead heat between the Sox, Twins, and Indians in the AL Central.

The Greatest Musical Band in the World By Far...

is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra! I saw them last night at the Target Center in Minneapolis, and they were so mind-blowingly awesome, that you really MUST see and experience the show to appreciate the greatness of it.

Music: Best music and performances I've ever heard (there are at least 20 or so musicians and singers!)
Lights/Lasers: By far the best you'll ever see
Pyro: Best you'll ever see

The band was originally started as an outgrowth of the heavy metal band Savatage. The band's creative leader, Paul O'Neill, is a modern day musical genius, successfully blending rock, metal, classical, blues, and jazz, with lyrics that at times are sheer poetry, into an eclectic amalgamation that is sheer bliss.

They are steadily gaining in popularity (not that this proves anything) and were the 2nd largest grossing concert tour in the U.S. in 2004.

The TSO's home page is here

Here are links to some concert reviews:

Clarion Ledger

St. Louis Today

SoulShine

Wisconsin State Journal

Pillory of Truth

I have been very annoyed the last few days about the talking heads in the MSM. To put it bluntly, they have no idea what they are talking about in regards to Catholicism. They more or less impose a Protestant model of the Church onto Catholicism. They speak as if the Pope, and/or the Bishops could simply snap their fingers, and change the teachings of the Church if they wanted to.

The MSM is always blathering about the same issues: birth control, homosexual activity, and women priests. John Paul II has already made clear that the Church has no authority to change these teachings, i.e. they are part of the deposit of Faith given by Christ Himself. In other words, the Magisterium (teaching office of the Church) is the CUSTODIAN of the Faith, not the INVENTOR of the Faith. These teachings have been constant for 2000 years; in actuality more like 4000+ years if the Jewish tradition is included.

But instead of taking the issue seriously and taking the time to find knowledgeable people within the faith, they bring on prominent but theologically illiterate Catholics like Mario Cuomo, who simply declare that the Church teaching could be changed - this is little more than wishful thinking on his part.

One thing is for sure: all of this wishful thinking is summed up in Sacred Scripture in II Timothy 4:3-4, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths."

I'm similarly tired of Vatican II being used as the excuse and justification for dissent and endless liturgical antics. I'm convinced that none of these folks have ever read the documents of Vatican II, with the possible exception of some very selective quotations taken out of context.

I'll make one exception to this rule: Fox News has been a breath of fresh air over the last week. The commentators they have brought in, by and large, actually know the Catholic faith.

Pillar of Truth

I've been inspired by the events of the last few days to create my own blog, after years of cluttering up the comments boxes of other great blogs. The main inspiring events are the judicial murder of Terri Schiavo and the death of perhaps the greatest man of the 20th Century - Pope John Paul II.

In a more general sense, this blog will tend to center around the truth of the Catholic Church, hence the name of this blog, derived from the Biblical passage I Timothy 3:14-15, which reads "I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you, so that if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth. "(RSV)

I will also discuss various other topics close to my heart, such as baseball, science fiction, music, technology, politics, and family life, but Jesus Christ and His Church will be the main impetus of this site, and the filter through which I evaluate everything else.

A short testimony...I grew up Lutheran, had a conversion experience in my teenage years, during which I became a fervent believer in Christ, and went down the Evangelical path for a couple of years. I devoured a lot of books at this point, and the one thing I discovered for sure from my guides was that the Catholic Church was very wrong. However, I soon began to despair of finding the truth, as these same very educated men, often PhD's who were honest followers of Christ and students of Scripture did not agree with each other on foundational issues such as Baptism, how we are saved, the nature of the Church, and many moral issues. I reasoned that if these honest, highly educated men could not agree on very basic Christian tenets, how was I supposed to find the truth? I continued to fall away at this point due to the logical inconsistency of it all, but before essentially lapsing into a vague practical atheism, I cried out to God, "please help me find the truth!!"

Eventually, God answered this prayer. It's one prayer that is guaranteed to get an answer; Jesus told us in Scripture that whoever seeks the truth will find it. It took a while for me to shed my anti-Catholic tendencies and my first encounter with Catholicism was in the form of my girlfriend. At that point, I figured that Catholics couldn't be all that bad, though she was not very fervent at the time. Some time later, I heard about Medjugorje, a small village in then-Yugoslavia where the Virgin Mary was purportedly appearing. At first, I was not that interested, but I kept coming across this literature, in various places, and eventually I was captivated. This apparition is neither approved nor disapproved by the Church, but at the time (1987), it was the vehicle God used to open my heart to consider the truth claims of the Catholic Church.

I then splurged on a series of Catholic books, to see what Catholicism was all about. With a few years distance between my the period of my anti-Catholic prejudices, and with a more open outlook, it only took a few books, and a month's time, to convince me that Catholicism was, indeed, the Pillar of Truth. Since then, I have given talks about the Catholic faith at Catholic parishes, though now, with six children and a full-time engineering job, I have to a large degree suspended operations insofar as giving talks.

Hopefully, I'll have a few interesting things to say each day.