Now That I Have Some Free Time...

I find that free time to spend at EE is hard to find these days. One of my goals is to "tie up some loose ends" here that have been bugging me.

One of them is an apology to comments of Full Disclosure. One of these days, I will learn to shut down comments on specific threads.

I am also introducing two more blogs to the blogroll. I find Allen MacNeill to be one of the more engaging critics over at TT. Thus, I am re-including "The Evolution List" to the Blog Roll.

The second one is for the "truly brave" to dare to lurk/comment (for the dense, I'm joking). After lurking around "The Swamp"/"After the Bar Closes", I don't see what the big deal is about foul-mouthed adult men and women. After all, I've been to Fort McMurray! ;) So in a continuing effort to provide balance to EE, I'm including AtBC in the Blog Roll.

To close, I'm still alive. I'm thankful to be working and I am busy at home with family and home projects. But I also hope to still contribute to EE every now and then.

UPDATE (5-Apr-2009): AtBC, being a forum not a blog, is being moved to the FYI section.

Full Disclosure(?)

Are you a creationist? Do you believe in Teh Flood?

This was the second time I was asked/accused of being a creationist at TT. I don't like this question for several reasons:

1. It assumes there is something wrong with being a creationist (there isn't),
2. It's dishonest,
2a. The question seems more suited to distracting from the original argument,
2b. It isn't a strict yes or no question
3. If the one question answers yes, then, in the questioner's mind, this poisons all arguments from the one questioned.

To clear the air, I've offered to give full disclosure, but this has the drawback of never completely satisfying the questioner. I could make my position clear, but there would either be some aspect I'd be "overlooking" or it would give the questioner reason to disregard my arguments.

Also, one must keep in mind that my position - just like everyone else's - should be considered tentative. For instance, as recent as last May, I didn't consider common descent to be valid. However, that position has changed recently.

That said, I offer the following as insight as to where I am coming from. I will not respond to any comments on this thread. In fact, as soon as I see them, I will delete them.

-I am a Christian who accepts the Nicene Creed and the doctrine of the Trinity (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)
-I believe God worked through 40 different people to create the 66 documents that make up the canonical Bible and I believe that the overarching message to be consistent and (in general) non-conflicting
-I believe Jesus entered human history and died on the cross to bridge the gap between God and man that was created by man's disobedience to God.
-I believe the universe is approximately 14 billion years old
-I believe the Earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old
-As a structural engineer, I depend on the laws of physics and chemistry in order to do my work properly, and I have no problem believing the validity of such laws.
-As a means to acquiring knowledge, I believe science and its laws have finite and definable limits, and it is the duty of science to determine such limits.

Is that enough to convict categorise me as being a creationist?

A Balanced Essay On The State Of ID

It's late, but I wanted to draw attention to (IMHO) is one of the more neutral and balanced essays regarding the scientific status of Intelligent Design. I hope to write in more detail about it at a later date.

Click here for the essay.

HT Bradford @ TT