8/19/11 BAIT, TRAPS AND DUST

BAIT

TRAP SPRUNG,NO BEAR

Friday, 8:00 AM.  67 degrees, wind WSW, calm.  We had a brief but pretty powerful thunderstorm at around five this morning that left a trace of rain.  The sky has been mostly overcast since but is quickly clearing now from west to east.  The barometer still predicts rain, which we could use.
    Last night the path from the bear’s lair to the trap was baited with syrup, a trail fully 80 feet long, ending in Oreo cookies inside the trap.  If Mr. B actually laps it all up he may have had his sugar fix before he gets to the end of the trail.  This morning the trap door was shut but the trap empty.  The trap door can be triggered from inside or outside (at the opposite end) the barrel and I wonder if we are dealing with a sophisticated bruin.
    Texas Gov. Perry’s attitude towards the theory of evolution was certainly baited by a New Hampshire mother and her young son (as her foil) yesterday, when the mother told the boy to ask the Governor how old the earth was.  He took the bait, but  like our bear didn’t get caught in the trap, when he answered that the boy’s mother was actually asking him about evolution versus creationism.  Perry’s answer was  quite good, as he said that evolution was a popular theory but that it had some gaps in it.  Any honest evolutionist will readily agree with that statement.  Personally, I see no conflict whatsoever between general evolutionary theory and a creationism that is based on a belief in a creative, all powerful God.  Personally, I view evolution as a tool of creation used by a basic creative force, which in general humans call God, a creativity that is beyond time and human understanding.
    My view is not all that different from that of many scientists whom I have known and respected who were  traditionally religious persons as well as outstanding scientists. 
    Who among us is wise enough or knowledgeable enough to know with certainty what  the moving finger of God is writing upon the history of the universe, earth and man? 
    Those who mock  or attempt to  manipulate the faith or cosmological views of others are are destined to be themselves mocked and manipulated by their own incomplete knowledge and faith.
    Once upon a past or future time there was a scientist who believed he had created life in a test tube, and confronted God, saying, “I am now your equal, since I have created life from the dust of the earth.”  To which God replied, “Next time, go get your own dust.”