"God and Evolution" reading log from Facebook

Some months back, Wintery Knight generously (though with the ulterior motive of converting me from BioLogos to I.D.) sent me "God and Evolution" edited by Jay Richards.  I determined to finish it by the end of the year and did so today.  I present to you my Facebook play-by-play...with some new content in the "after action review".

December 17:

1.  Nothing New Under the Sun by John G. West
2.  Having a Real Debate by John G. West

"How could God 'direct' an 'undirected' process?" p. 40. The answer is a combination of how he performs miracles within the ordinary (miracle) and is sovereign over our free choices. He occasionally directly interacts with that which he always sustains in existence/operation, all without ever violating free will or natural law.

Is "free will" an example of God delegating the task (of creation) to an undirected third party? If no, why is theistic evolution such an example? If yes, how does such delegation defy His sovereignty?

Interesting that Collins (Christian) thinks things appear "random and undirected" while Dawkins (atheist) thinks things appear "designed for a purpose".

Bible Narrative Project year-in-review :)

Those of you familiar with my Bible Narrative Project, which began January 1 of this year, might be interested in seeing the fruits of 2011's labors.  I'm pretty happy about it, because I actually stuck to it and finished one of my huge projects for once!  I've cleaned the "blendings" up for a year in review presentation.  Plans for 2012 can be found below the blendings.  Merry Christmas, and have a happy New Year! :)

The blendings:

March 27: Blending of 1 Samuel 31, 1 Chronicles 10

April 6: Blending of 1 Chronicles 11:1-9; 2 Samuel 5:1-25

April 8: Blending of 2 Samuel 23:8-39; 1 Chr 11:10-47-ch.12

April 10: Blending of 2 Sam 6; 1 Chr 13-16

April 14: Blending of 2 Sam 7-8; 1 Chr 17-18

April 19: Blending of 2 Sam 10; 1 Chron 19

April 24: Blending of 2 Sam 12:26-31; 1 Chron 20

April 30: Blending of 2 Sam 24; 1 Chr 21

May 8 Blending of 1 Chr 29:21-30; 1 K 1-2; 2 Sam 5:4-5; 23:1-7

May 13 Blending of 2 Chr 1, 1 K 3

May 28 Blending of 2 Chronicles 2-5:1; 1 Kings 5-7

May 30 Blending of 2 Chr 5:2-7:22; 1 K 8-9:9

June 3 Blending of 1 K 9:10-10:13; 2 Chr 8-9:12

June 5 Blending of 1 K 4; 10:14-29; 2 Chr 9:13-29

June 14 Blending of 2 Chr 9:29-31; 1 Kings 11:41-43

June 16 Blend of 1 K 14:21-31; 1 K 12:1-24; 2 Chr 10-11:23

June 18 Blend of 1 K 12:25-14:20; 2 Chr 12:1-16

June 20 Blending of 2 Chr 13-14:1; 1 K 15:1-8

June 22 Blending of 2 Chr 14:2-16:14; 1 K 15:9-24

June 29 Blending of 1 K 22:1-40; 2 Chr 18:1-34

June 30 Blending 1 K 22:41-50; 2 Chr 17; 19-21:3

July 5 Blending of 2 Chr 21:4-22:9; 2 K 8:16-29; 9:14-29

July 8 Blending of 2 Chr 22:10-24:27; 2 K 11-12

July 11 Blending of 2 Chr 25; 2 K 14:1-14; 2 K 16; 23-28

July 14 Blending of 2 Chr 26; 2 K 14:17-22; 15:1-7

July 26 Blending of 2 Chr 27; 2 K 15:32-38

July 30 Blending 2 Chr 28; 2 K 16

August 15 Blending of 2 Chr 29-32; 2 K 18-20; Isaiah 36-39

August 24 Blending: 2 Chr 33:1-25; 2 K 21:1-26

August 25 Blending of 2 Chr 34-35:19; 2 K 22-23:1-3, 21-23

August 30 Blending of 2 Kings 23:4-20, 24-33; 2 Chr 35:20-36:3

September 3 Blending of 2 K 23:34-24:7; 2 Chr 36:4-8

September 19 Blending of 2 K 24:8-17; 2 Chr 36:9-10

Sept. 22 Blending of 2 K 24:18-20; 2 Chr 36:11-14

October 12 Blending of Chr 36:15-21; 2 K 25:1-21

October 20 Blending 2 Chr 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4

Nov 15 Blending of Luke 24:36-53; Acts 1:4-14; Matthew 28:16-20; (Mark 16:14-20 excluded)

Coming Soon: The rest of the Gospels.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R),
Copyright (C) 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995
by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Plans for 2012:

1.  I was granted permission from The Lockman Foundation to quote the entire NASB, and so I will be updating the posts to include Scripture rather than linking to an external source.  I have already done this with the blendings and need to finish the rest.  Fortunately Lockman sent me a plain text version of the NASB in paragraph format.  I intend to tweak it so that it is in the order of my Bible Narrative Project, with all the blendings.  I will make it available on the blog, if possible.  Anyone interested in turning this into an app for me? :)

2.  I am waiting for permission to quote "The Life of Christ in Stereo" (or one of it's follow-up versions).  I have contacted three publishers, also requesting from them a plain text version, like Lockman gave me of the NASB.  Praying that happens.

3.  I still need to improve how verses/books are referenced in the blendings.  Some of them are finished, but not most.

4.  Maybe not in 2012, but eventually, I would like to use the Project to answer Skeptic's Annotated Bible (now located at The Scripture Project).  Granted, this may take the rest of my life, but who knows what God has in store?  (Well...God does...obviously.)

Goodbye, Hitch

I didn't feel like blogging when I found out Christopher Hitchens was gone.  I was just sad.  It didn't surprise me, but it was an unwelcome cutting-off point.  An end to a discussion that reached no resolution.  Other bloggers managed to produce something, and so I share them here.

Christopher Hitchens -- Reflections by Mark McGee at Faith and Self Defense.

On the Passing of Christopher Hitchens by Tom Gilson at Thinking Christian.

The Passing of One of the “Four Horsemen” by Rob Lundberg at The Real Issue.

Christopher Hitchens Is Dead by Jay Wile at Proslogian.

Responding to Hitchens' Passing by Carson Weitnauer at Reasons for God.

His Life Was the Tragedy by Robert Kunda at Robert Kunda, Thinking in Black and White.

Related Article:

Christopher Hitchens has cancer, some respond with hate July 2, 2010