Keeping this weblog up during the summer has been an easy thing—whether or not I can keep the ball rolling once school starts is a whole different ballgame. (Aren’t idioms fun?)

Tuesday starts the Fall Semester at Wayne, and since I just changed my major to Music, it also begins my first round of music classes. Strangely enough—I know this is off the subject, but I have to mention it—while I am only registered for 16 academic credits, the university has decided that for billing purposes I’m taking 26. Albeit my willingness to give the Billing Department the benefit of the doubt, somehow I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being swindled. I know, I know—it’s paranoid of me—I feel ashamed of my doubts already.

Forgetting for a moment any fiscal issues, it promises fair to be a fun semester, provided I can work up a creditable callous on my fingertips in time for class. One short summer of rest and relaxation is all it takes—while you’re flipping magazines and sipping lemonade, those darn things sneak off and leave you in the lurch. (I tried to bring ‘em back by force yesterday, but they were—ahem—unwilling to come, and I ended up with an ice-pack for my troubles. And don’t laugh until you’ve tried it, mister. Throbbing fingertips are no picnic!)

While I rush around getting ready, my family is heartlessly unperturbed by the looming semester—very likely I’ll miss them more than they miss me. They make for good comic relief, for one thing. (Where else can you expect to hear a little boy tell his brother that when he gets married, his wedding cake will be decorated a lá Star Wars?)

This weekend, then, is my last weekend of freedom. Sheesh, but that sounds depressing. Well, at least I have two days before the chains of Academia bind me irrevocably. In order to get the most out of these two days, I have decided to take a little trip to Hawaii, or perhaps Bermuda (though not Florida, in light of the fact that they’ll probably be too busy for tourists this weekend.) In the spirit of camaraderie, then, I am offering all you lucky people the chance to finance this weekend trip! Anyone? Anyone at all??

*pause*

Well, all right then, but people sure are selfish these days!

A charming (and enlightening) paragraph by Richard Lewontin, a genetics professor at Harvard, as to why the scientist must accept patently unbelievable and shaky theories such as Darwinism and neo-Darwinism:

"We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter- intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door."

[Italics belong to Philip E. Johnson, in whose excellent book "Objections Sustained" I found this eminently quotable paragraph.]

Johnson explains it nicely: "For scientific materialists," he explains, "the materialism comes first; the science comes thereafter."

In other words, the scientific community will not follow the facts where the facts lead--rather, they must interpret the facts (and ignore those that won't fit with the interpretation) to fit with the philosophy they've chosen--and that philosophy cannot allow a "Divine Foot in the door".

Thus we discover Rule Number One of the scientific community: No matter what we find, no matter what the evidence suggests, no matter what facts we must sweep under the rug--there is no God.

Only--there is.

The scientific community serves a god called Materialism, and She is destroying them from the inside out. She demands that her followers relinquish their intellectual integrity, and that's a high a price to pay.

If the scientific community can no longer be objective, what do they have they left? I shouldn't care to be in their shoes when they must answer that question.

The word for today is lugubrious.

And be not misled--it has nothing to do with peanuts.

Or maybe this one:

Psalm 19

1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

2 Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.

3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.

4 Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their utterances to the end of the world.
In them He has placed a tent for the sun,

5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.

6 Its rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

[...and my favorite part...7-9]
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

8 The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.

10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

11 Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;
In keeping them there is great reward.

12 Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.

13 Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;
Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless,
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.



This psalm makes me feel clean, especially verses 7-9.

This Psalm is next on my list to memorize. Yesterday I came across it, strangely enough, in a secular mystery I was reading.

Psalm 139

1 O LORD , you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD .

5 You hem me in-behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with you.

19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD ,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

AMEN.