Dead?
Continuing last week’s theme …
The other day a couple of scientists, not Christian as far as I know, claimed that human consciousness continues after death.
Stuart Hameroff, Emeritus Professor of Anesthesiology and Psychology and Director of the Center of Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona, is one of them. He has always been fascinated by “microtubules,” components of the cell’s “skeleton,” so to speak, that are involved in a number of processes
Genesis 33:1−20
Faith in God is marked by seeking and extending forgiveness, thus restoring relationships with others, and also with God.
The previous pericope depicted Jacob finally receiving God’s blessing. That would have been a blissful ending to the turbulent story of the patriarch. However, one more thing needed to be accomplished: reconciliation with Esau.
And so, as younger brother comes before his older sibling, Jacob prostrates himself seven times (33:3)—a mark of great respect
Dying!
Does basketball and dying have anything to do with each other? It turns out they do, or so claims “He Dies, He Scores: Evidence that Reminders of Death Motivate Improved Performance in Basketball,” a recent article in Journal of Sport and Exercise Physiology from scientists at the University of Arizona.
These researchers had folks play one-on-one basketball games or take shots at the basket on their own. All had to complete one of two questionnaires beforehand—one
Read!
The other day, researchers from the Yale University School of Public Health put out a study in Social Science & Medicine: “A Chapter a Day: Association of Book Reading with Longevity.”
The study looked at 3,635 over-50 subjects divided into non-readers, readers (they read up to 3.5 hours/week), and heavy readers (who read over 3.5 hours/week). Readers and heavy readers survived almost 23 months more than non-readers!
In other words:
Just like a healthy diet and exercise,
Bad?
“Bad” fruit has gotten a bad rap. I’m not talking of rotten stuff, but those pieces of fruit—and vegetables—with cosmetic dents and scars. Ugly f&v are a part of life on the farm. These specimes are perfectly edible and delicious, and just as nutritious as their blemishless fellows. But their cosmetic challenges have relegated them to a position off the shelves of retail grocery stores, and they are consigned to landfills as food waste.
Until now.
Wal-Mart
Sweet!
In the U.S. 33% of adults are overweight, 30% are obese, and 6% extremely obese. That leaves only 31% who have a normal weight or are underweight (BMI under 24.9). Yikes!
No wonder many are on diets of various kinds—Atkins, Zone, Vegetarian, Vegan, Weight Watchers, South Beach, Raw Food, Mediterranean, Paleolithic, etc., etc.
Good news for these folks! Soon these dieters can have their cake and eat it too!
Scientists at the University of London unveiled a gadget recently
Matrix?
Bank of America analysts wrote last month that there is a fifty percent chance that we are all living in a Matrix-sorta simulated world (in that 1999 movie, humans live in a simulated reality created and controlled by machines).
(Of course, they added, that if it were all just a simulation, we would never know about it.)
It is conceivable that with advancements in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and computing power, members of future civilizations could have decided
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching.