Artie Auer, who was professor of atmospheric science at the University of Wyoming for 22 years said:

Climate change will be considered a joke in five years time.

Read More.

I am a bit late to post on this, but I’ve been amazed by the hatred surrounding the death of Dr. Jerry Falwell. Take, for example, the comments that are appearing on an article on Foxnews.com.

A couple of the quotes are:

Farwell [sic] will be remembered as the pompous, arrogant person that he was. — Paul (Grand Rapids, MI)

He will be remembered only in the short term. His legacy will be one of intolerance and bigotry. — MM

In wondering what these people were talking about I looked up a couple of definitions:

ar·ro·gant (ār’ə-gənt)
adj.

• Having or displaying a sense of overbearing self-worth or self-importance.
• Marked by or arising from a feeling or assumption of one’s superiority toward others: an arrogant contempt for the weak.

arrogant. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arrogant (accessed: May 17, 2007).

in·tol·er·ant (ĭn-tŏl’ər-ənt)
adj. Not tolerant, especially:

• a. Unwilling to tolerate differences in opinions, practices, or beliefs, especially religious beliefs.

intolerant. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/intolerant (accessed: May 17, 2007).

Isn’t it ironic that those who accuse others of being either arrogant or intolerant express those traits themselves?

After a long, hard day of supporting yourself financially by making clothing for members of an online virtual community, you can not only go to virtual church, but now you can relax from the virtual grind by taking a virtual vacation. Wouldn’t a vacation from a virtual world be re-entering the real one?

[bibleblock]Colossians 3:5-16[/bibleblock]

In short, Paul is directing us to not act like the world. We are to act like Jesus instead through the guidance of the wisdom of His word. This specific passage removed from its context seems to direct the believer to completely remove himself from worldly culture and interaction with non-believers. In addition to the specific moral exhortations (i.e. do not lie), there is the direction to come together as one body of believers separate from the world.

It is important to understand, however, that this comes after verse two where Paul directs the reader to “set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth” (NASB).

[bibleblock]Colossians 3:2[/bibleblock]

The following passages also deal with where the mind of the Christian is to be, not where his body shall be. While his body can be out in the culture amongst sinners (just as Jesus’ body was during his earthly ministry), the mind of the believer is focused on heavenly things and the salvation of the sinner (just as Jesus’ mind was during His earthly ministry). This passage must be taken in this context and not be used to support monastic separation. In a fallen world, we can never be separate from the things that are fallen. Everything around us is not what it was meant to be. Complete separation is impossible. It is our responsibility, then, to be in the world (“put [it] aside”) without being like the world (“put on the new self who is being renewed”).

I personally attempt to accomplish this by trying to emulate Jesus in all that I do. I am not successful all of the time and sometimes it is very difficult to not be like the world, but it is my hope that I do a better job in each situation that I am in so that next time I am just a little bit better. I know that I can never be perfect like Christ and even if I get twice as good each time I’ll never reach the goal until final perfection comes. This can even be mathematically expressed: suppose you got rid of half your sin each day and your original sin level was 100. The next day it would be 50, the next 25, etc. If this number is divided in half forever it will never reach zero.

It has been a busy week at work. As your alarm clock wakes you up in the morning you do not even remember coming home. In fact, you do not even remember sleeping any other time in the past few days. Today is the big deadline and you thought it wise to grant yourself a few hours of sleep before you give the biggest presentation of your career. Pressed for time, you decide to eat on the way so you pour a cup of coffee into a travel mug and grab an un-toasted Pop-Tart before heading to your car.

To your dismay, traffic seems to be worse than usual this morning. Worried you are going to be late, you phone your secretary in a panic and ask her to stall. Just when you are about to hang up, you become suddenly aware of the problem. Traffic has now stopped and you can see a distraught woman standing on a bridge threatening to kill herself. Knowing you will never make it to work on time, you momentarily lose your temper and throw your phone into the same river in which the woman is preparing to jump.

“Hey lady, do like the phone and get wet!” you hear from a commuter behind you. Before you can even turn around and look at the commuter in disgust, a chant starts amongst the other motorists. “Jump, [expletive], jump! Jump, [expletive], jump!” She finally does.

Surely this is only a story. One might assume that such indecent and purely evil behavior could never happen in reality. But on August 28th, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, commuters late for work encouraged a suicidal woman to jump from a bridge by chanting “Jump, [expletive], jump!” Was this “morally right” for the crowd to do? Is there actually even such a thing as “morally right” or “morally wrong”? Or, does “morality” depend on the situation, culture, or circumstances? Was the woman, who ended up surviving the jump, right for wanting to take her own life because of problems she was having in a relationship or is there a universally higher standard that prevents her from doing so?