The Dawn Treader

There has been a fair amount of yammering on this blog about the movie Expelled!

Christian organization Reasons To Believe (RTB) won't endorse the documentary.  They feel it has taken the wrong approach.  From RTB's website.

Our main concern about EXPELLED is that it paints a distorted picture. It certainly doesn't match our experience. Sadly, it may do more to alienate than to engage the scientific community, and that can only harm our mission.

RTB prefers to take the approach of building and refining a testable model which harmonizes the facts of nature and the facts of the Bible.  They advocate putting this model to the test against a naturalistic model.  Have both models make predictions.  Evaluate which model's predictions turn out to best fit the data.  Follow the evidence where it leads.

RTB scholars believe that advancing scientific research will ultimately discredit any explanation that contradicts a sound interpretation of Scripture. Our approach to engagement is to hold a high view of Scripture, acknowledge the legitimacy of the scientific enterprise, and integrate the knowledge gained from both to build a more complete understanding of God's creation.

RTB's winsome approach to engaging the scientific community stands in stark contrast to the culture war that continues to rage between atheists and IDers.  Kudos to Hugh Ross, Fuz Rana, Ken Samples and the rest of the team at RTB.

I took my two sons with me to see Ben Stein's Expelled! on opening day.  After the film was over, spontaneous applause broke out.  I felt like I was at a football game and the home team just scored.

The similarity between the story of the Schrocks and the story of Clete are remarkable.  Clete's death and the death of the five Schrock children were only 16 days apart.  All were killed in head on collisions.  In both cases, the parents of the deceased children forgave the drivers who caused the accident.

The significant difference, of course, is that the driver who killed Clete was drunk at the time.  Mr. Helm, the driver who killed the five Schrock children, was not drunk.  Still, the power to truly forgive someone who has wounded you this deeply is possible only through Christ.

When Larry Kudlow finally admits we are in a recession, then you know it is official ... the recession is here.

Kudlow is an eternal optimist about the strength of the U.S. economy.  But even Kudlow is worried about inflation and its effects.

That said, there are two related issues that worry me. First is the continued decline in the value of the dollar, which has permitted the global commodities boom (energy and food) to leak into higher U.S. inflation. Bulging commodity costs have depressed the profits of non-financial domestic businesses, where after-tax earnings are down 24 percent from a peak in late 2006.

I couldn't agree more.  Inflation and a weaker dollar are the main concerns now.  With the jobs report in and the first quarter ended, we are entering the earnings season.  Most are expecting a dreary report from the financial sector.  Keep an eye on the sectors other than banks, brokerages and insurance companies.  How are rising costs affecting earnings?  The weak dollar should create an exporting opportunity for U.S. goods.  However, a weak dollar and the bulge in commodity prices (energy etc) will create inflation within the supply chain and erode profit margins.  I am curious to see how this all shakes out in the first quarter earnings.

By mid-April, most of the earnings reports should be in.  Watch the market closely in the next two weeks.  You'll know whether the news was good or bad.

Yep.  I am in Pasadena, California.  Sitting in a class at Fuller Theological Seminary at the moment.  I will be live blogging from my first class.  The class is called Mentoring.

More later ...