Scientists show how the parting of the Red Sea 'could have happened'

Perhaps the most famous miracle described in the book of Exodus is that of the parting of the Red Sea as Moses led the Israelites to safety away from their Egyptian oppressors. Biblical scholars have long known that the most likely location for this miracle was not the Red Sea, but rather a nearby spot in the Nile Delta region known as the Reed Sea.

Now scientists have shown that this dramatic episode is by no means in contravention of natural physical laws, and they have depicted how it actually could have happened.

The Biblical account describes how a mighty east wind blew all night, eventually splitting the waters to leave a safe passage way through to the other side. The Israelites successfully made their escape but when the Egyptians tried to follow on their chariots, the walls of water on either side came crashing back down and drowned them.

Researchers began with a careful analysis of archaeological records, satellite measurements and maps which enabled them to accurately predict the water flow and depth of the crossing-over site 3,000 years ago.

An ocean computer model was then used to simulate the influence that an overnight wind might have on the 1.81 metre deep waters. The team of scientists discovered that an east wind of approximately 63mph blowing for 12 hours would indeed have driven the waters back, both into the nearby lake and the river channel. This would have resulted in a land bridge right through the middle of the water. The bridge would have remained in place for a period of four hours.

Immediately after the winds dropped, the waters would have poured back into place, much like a tidal bore and anyone trapped in the middle would have risked drowning, especially if they were encumbered by heavy armour and weapons.

These findings were reported yesterday in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE.

Lead researcher Carl Drews, from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said: "The simulations match fairly closely with the account in Exodus.

"The parting of the waters can be understood through fluid dynamics. The wind moves the water in a way that's in accordance with physical laws, creating a safe passage with water on two sides and then abruptly allowing the water to rush back in.

"People have always been fascinated by this Exodus story, wondering if it comes from historical facts. What this study shows is that the description of the waters parting indeed has a basis in physical laws."

Francis Collins and Christopher Hitchens: A surprising relationship that is built upon mutual respect

Christopher Hitchens is the renowned intellectual and atheist whose book ‘God is Not Great’ ruffled more than a few religious feathers. His recent battle with esophageal cancer has been widely publicized, not least because his tragically forced confrontation with his own mortality has created considerable interest among both his supporters and opponents. Some Christian groups recently organized a ‘Pray for Christopher Hitchens Day’ and the equally famous geneticist Francis Collins, who is a practicing Christian and yet firm friend of Hitchens, wrote in the Washington Times just why he supported this day.

Collins, who is a theistic evolutionist, and probably most famous for being the first person to map the human genetic code, said that while many Christians prayed for Hitchens to beat his cancer and ‘get right’ with God, that he instead was intent of praying for wisdom for both him and his friend, whom he had met a few years previously for an “intellectual joust.”

“My prayer is not so much for a supernatural intervention – as a physician I have not seen evidence for such medical miracles in my own experience,” wrote Collins.

“Instead I pray for myself and for Christopher along the lines of James 1:5,” added the world renowned geneticist, quoting the Bible verse which reads, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."

Collins also said he reached out to Hitchens and his wife when he heard news of Hitchens’ illness, and has met with them several times since.

“As the Director of the National Institutes of Health, I am in a position to be aware of new developments in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer,” wrote Collins.

“Advances are occurring with great rapidity as technologies arising from the success of the Human Genome Project are making it possible to get a comprehensive understanding of what drives malignancy,” added Collins. ”The ability to match cancer drugs to the characteristics of an individual tumor is growing rapidly.”

However, Collins also noted that Hitchens’ cancer had already spread to his regional lymph nodes, which meant his situation was “very serious” and has a “poor prognosis.”

Many have been surprised by the friendship between the two men because Hitchens is such an aggresively militant atheist whose dim views of religion are well recorded. Collins, however, paid tribute to Hitchens “sharp intellect” and said that Hitchens had challenged his own defense of the rationality of faith to be more consistent and compelling.

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another," he said, citing Proverbs 27:17.

While many see Hitchens as nothing more than a spotlight-seeking troublemaker whose confrontational style has offended people across the faith spectrum, Collins made mention of Hitchens’ “warm humanity.”

“And his willingness to be utterly open and transparent about his cancer diagnosis provides a breathtaking window into his personal integrity,” he added.

Hitchens himself has previous paid equally warm tribute to his Christian friend.
Writing for Vanity Fair, Hitchens said that the believed Collins was “one of the greatest living Americans,” a “great humanitarian” and “the best of the faithful” who have approached him since news spread of his cancer diagnosis.

“And let me put it this way: he hasn’t suggested prayer, and I in turn haven’t teased him about The Screwtape Letters,” the English-born author added, referring to the Christian apologetics novel by C. S. Lewis.

As for other Christians who were planning to pray for him on Monday, Hitchens told The Associated Press how he would respond to each.

"'To hell with you' is the response to the ones who pray for me to go to hell," Hitchens said.

"'Thanks but no thanks' is the reply to those who want me to convert and recognize a divinity or deity," he added.

As for the third group - people who are asking God for his healing - Hitchens was more careful with his words and ultimately said he thinks of it as a “nice gesture” that is “fine by me.”

“And it may well make them feel better, which is a good thing in itself," added Hitchens, reiterating what he’s said in previous interviews.

(Image is of Christopher Hitchens before he was struck by cancer).

South Sudan is not even third world says mission group leader

Bill Deans, the president of Mustard Seed International, a missions group working in South Sudan, has said that the standard of life in the area is so far behind contemporary society that it can only dream of reaching actual third world status.

Deans said that continual war over the last three generations has reduced society in South Sudan to below bare minimum.

“There is a great number of orphans, the infrastructure in the South is non-existent, there are no pave roads, thus the ability for the South to sustain itself is not there,” he added.

Deans also stressed that both educational and medical infrastructures are no longer operating.

Sudan is only four months away from a crucial referendum in which the South can vote to break away from the North.

The last 21 years have seen the mainly Muslim North and the animist and Christian South continually battling each other in a savage civil war that has killed millions of civilians and displaced even millions more.

In 2005, however, the two sides signed the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the war. This peace agreement laid out plans for a government of national unity to be formed over a transitional period of six years. After this transitional period has been completed, which is January 2011, the South could then vote to be independent. Experts seem to think that the South will indeed vote for independence on January 9, 2011.

The ending of the war allowed organizations such as Mustard Seed International to begin working in the region. They set up the Akot Medical Mission in 2006. The clinic provides the only medical care in an area where only bush surrounds them.

“For us to build this facility was nothing short of a miracle,” says Deans, who noted the only building material on the site was the dirt. Every other material – from cement to nails – for the clinic transported from Kenya or Uganda.

“It is just a miracle that a facility like that can exist in the bush of South Sudan,” he remarks. “The people say it is the best facility in the whole country. But we have nothing to gauge that on because we have not been all over the country.”

In South Sudan, there is an average of one doctor per 100,000 people.

According to a report published by UNICEF in 2004, the infant mortality rate in South Sudan is 15 percent while the child mortality rate is 25 percent. About one in nine mothers die during pregnancy or childbirth and only five percent of births are attended by trained health care workers. The malnutrition rate, meanwhile, stands at 48 percent and severe malnutrition is over 21 percent. A U.N. official recently called South Sudan the hungriest place on earth.

Every year, the Akot Medical Mission provides direct medical attention to more than 30,000 people.

Alien baptisms and other scientific news

Guy Consolmagno is a trained astronomer and planetary scientist, who works as one of the pope's astronomers, recently stated in an interview that he would be 'delighted' if intelligent life was found among the stars.

This Vatican scientist also said that aliens might very well have souls as he said that
the traditional definition of a soul was to have intelligence, free will, freedom to love and freedom to make decisions. During an interview at the British Science Festival in Birmingham he jokingly replied to a question on this subject that "Any entity – no matter how many tentacles it has – has a soul." Would he baptise an alien? "Only if they asked."

The Vatican official also dismissed intelligent design as "bad theology" that had been "hijacked" by American creationist fundamentalists.

Consolmagno said that: "The word has been hijacked by a narrow group of creationist fundamentalists in America to mean something it didn't originally mean at all. It's another form of the God of the gaps. It's bad theology in that it turns God once again into the pagan god of thunder and lightning."

Brother Consolmagno did urge caution with the line of questioning around religion’s response to life beyond this planet when he said:

"But the odds of us finding it, of it being intelligent and us being able to communicate with it – when you add them up it's probably not a practical question."

Consolmagno also said that the Vatican was well aware of the latest goings-on in scientific research. "You'd be surprised," he said.

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, of which Stephen Hawking is a member, keeps the senior cardinals and the pope up-to-date with the latest scientific developments.

Consolmagno was asked to respond to Hawking's recent statements that the laws of physics removed the need for God. Consolmagno said: "Steven Hawking is a brilliant physicist and when it comes to theology I can say he's a brilliant physicist."

Consolmagno's comments come at a time when the pope himself made comments regarding science at St Mary's University College in Twickenham as part of his British tour. Speaking to pupils, the pontiff encouraged them to look at the bigger picture, over and above the subjects they studied.

"The world needs good scientists, but a scientific outlook becomes dangerously narrow if it ignores the religious or ethical dimension of life, just as religion becomes narrow if it rejects the legitimate contribution of science to our understanding of the world," he said.

"We need good historians and philosophers and economists, but if the account they give of human life within their particular field is too narrowly focused, they can lead us seriously astray."

Pope meets with child abuse victims

Pope Benedict XVI spent 40 minutes with 5 people who had suffered abuse as children from Catholic priests, and their experiences reportedly filled him with “sorrow and shame”. The pope carefully listened to their stories and then spent time praying for them.

A spokesperson for the pontiff said that:

“He (the pope) was moved by what they had to say and expressed his deep sorrow and shame over what victims and their families had suffered.”

“As he has done on other occasions, he prayed that all the victims of abuse might experience healing and reconciliation, and be able to overcome their past and present distress with serenity and hope for the future.”

The pope also gave strong assurances to the victims that the Catholic Church would continue to implement “effective measures” to ensure the proper safety and care for young people in the future, and that the church would fully co-operate with civil authorities to bring abusers to justice.

Just before this meeting, the pope delivered his strongest-yet apology for the abuse scandals wracking the Catholic Church during a mass he conducted at Westminster Cathedral on Friday.

During his sermon, the pope articulated his sense of sorrow at the “immense suffering” caused by pedophile priests.

"I express my deep sorrow to the innocent victims of these unspeakable crimes, along with my hope that the power of Christ's grace, his sacrifice of reconciliation, will bring deep healing and peace to their lives," Benedict said.

According to reports, there are 28 nations in which Roman Catholic priests have been accused of child abuse.

Mixed feelings regarding Pope's visit to Britain

The Pope’s long awaited visit to Britain finally began yesterday in Edinburgh amidst mixed feelings that have divided the nation along both religious and secular lines.
The Pope was received at Holyrood Palace shortly after his arrival, and among the dignitaries in attendance were the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev John Christie, and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg.

Pope Benedict XVI’s four-day visit is the first-ever state visit by a Pope to Britain, and the first visit by a Pope since Pope John Paul II in 1982.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, stated that the four-day visit was a moment of “great pride and joy”.

He believed that the visit was an “economic boost in austere times” for Scotland but also spoke of the opportunity for the country “to show its best face to the world.”

“There have been objectors and detractors to the visit but one only needs to look at those involved to realize that they are in no way representative of the overwhelmingly welcoming majority of Scottish citizens,” he said.

However, those “objectors and detractors” have strong feelings regarding the Pope’s visit, and may yet have opportunity to make those feelings known. Opposition has come from atheists, secularists and child abuse survivors. Some of the more famous of those opponents have been figures such as Richard Dawkins, Stephen Fry and Terry Pratchett, who said in an open letter yesterday that while the Pope was welcome to visit Britain as a European citizen, he “should not be given the honor of a state visit.”

Child abuse victims are also planning to stage protests along the route to be taken by the Popemobile later in the day. Joining them are some Christians, including the Rev Ian Paisley and around 50 members of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, who plan to unfurl a banner stating their objection to the visit.

Rev Paisley said: “We’re making a legitimate protest about something that is entirely wrong, and I am looking at myself as a person who is prepared to champion those who have been very, very badly treated by these priests of Rome.”

However, other denominations have been more welcoming, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and Salvation Army Commissioner Betty Matear, who said it was a “cause for hope” for all Christians.

The Evangelical Alliance stated that the visit came at a vital time for Britain, as Christians face increasing antagonism from a relatively small yet influential secular wing.

Interview with John van de Laar (part two)

We have been interviewing John van de Laar who is the founder of Sacredise.com, an international worship training and resourcing ministry. John is one of the leading thinkers in the area of Christian worship, and has recently completed a book called “The Hour that Changes Everything: How worship forms us into the people God wants us to be,” (see our book review section for more).

This is the second part of our interview with John.

SW: John, what would you like to say to people, who for example, might hate singing? What would you say to them about worship?

John: I would ask them to put the singing and music to one side, and explore what it would mean for them to recognise that worship and music are different things. Music is simply one possible way to express worship, but it's certainly not the only way. For those who find music unhelpful, I would encourage worship through silence, meditation, liturgy, Scripture reading, prayer, posture, writing, poetry, art, flower arranging or any other of a number of expressions. I would encourage them to explore the ways in which they most easily open to God, and most powerfully encounter God, and then I would invite them to develop a discipline in which they engage in that activity as often as possible, preferably in the context of a faith community of some kind - since worship is never only an individual activity.

SW: What would you like to say to people who are threatened by the worship styles of others?

John: We have turned worship into a place of disputes and arguments because we focus on the outward forms of our worship - do we use organ or guitar or choir? Is our worship structured and liturgical, or spontaneous and "free"? And then we try to squeeze others into our preferred "style" of worship. The truth is that we all seek the same thing when we worship - intimacy and encounter with God. We all use the same practices to facilitate and express this encounter - praise, confession, intercession, sacraments, Scripture reading etc. Where we differ is on the smallest and least significant part of our worship - what I call the "packaging" or "style" of worship. Once we recognise that style is just that - packaging - we are able to hold it much more lightly and acknowledge that what we like others may not like and vice versa. Then we are able to open ourselves to the styles of others, and learn that, even if we aren't comfortable in that style, God is nevertheless at work there. The natural consequence of this, then, is that we begin to make space for the styles of others, because we long for them to have the same encounter with God that we have had, and if a different style helps that to happen for them, we are happy to embrace that style.

SW: Finally, John if there is one thing you would like people to remember about this book, what would it be?

John: It's that worship is not about what happens in Church so much as it is about what we do when we leave the Church. If there is injustice in our world, we have failed to worship rightly. If there is poverty and war in our world, we have failed to worship rightly. This is because worship should change us into true followers of Christ who live out his sacrificial calling in our world. To put it into one sentence - how you worship defines how you live.

(You can visit www.sacredise.com to order a copy of his book or for more articles by John, as well as resources for personal and public worship – music, prayers, liturgies, images and drama scripts).