Galilean Fisherman

  PHILOSOPHY      In the fall of 1965, I was sitting in an Introduction to Philosophy class at North Texas State University (Univ. of North Texas) in Denton Texas. The only thing unusual about that was there was only one philosophy course offered; the one I was in. And it was not offered every term, or even every year. It was deemed "too dangerous" by the administration.     Remember, this is 1965. Hair was getting longer, clothing styles were radically changing, there were PEACEFUL demonstrations against police brutality and the war in Viet Nam. Administration thought to fill young minds with   philosophy  might incite them to further unrest.     The first day of class, the professor asked us to think deeply about the one question we would like to see answered during the course. We were to write that down and hand it in at the next class. The professor promised to address all of those questions during the semester.     After giving it some thought, I came up with wha

      Persistence and Determination           There is a framed and yellowed paragraph on my wall. I was so impressed by it that even wrote it in formal calligraphy. The ink is now fading; but the message is still powerful and true.            It reads: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.  Persistence and determination alone are important.” I like that because it speaks of grit and courage to take one more step; to get up, dust yourself off and try one more time.           When my son was in High School, he ran cross-country races. I attended as many of those as I could. At the first race, I saw something very interesting. At the end of the race, the runners would funnel into chute so they could cross the line one at a time.           What I noticed was that when

  SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE           There are those who claim that science and the Bible have little or nothing to do with each other. The technical term for this is “nonoverlapping magisterial.” You can impress your friends with that phrase.           The flaw in this claim is the notion that science deals with reality while the Bible deals with the mythical: Leprechauns, fairies, and God. No one who believes the Bible is the Word of God would believe that difference.           Science and the Bible deal with the same important things, like the origin of the earth and humans. For example, let me remind you that God told Adam to name the animals. That is the science of taxonomy.           There are those who say the Bible is “culture bound.” It was written in language and customs that have little relevance today. It was written at a time that science barely existed; a science that could not explain gravity, or even that the earth was round.           It was God’s intention – an