News to Note, January 19, 2013

1. TIME: Abortion Rights Have Diminished Since Roe v. Wade

January 22 will mark the 40th anniversary of the infamous Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion in Roe v. Wade.

Reviewing the four decades since the court opened the Pandora’s box of abortion on demand in the United States, Time magazine’s cover story by Kate Pickert comes to the astonishing conclusion that women have been losing their abortion rights ever since.

2. Modern People Can Climb Trees, Why Not Lucy?

Evolutionary researchers have long been planting Lucy’s australopithecine feet firmly on the ground to show she evolved to walk bipedally along an evolutionary path to becoming human. Yet, in the on-going debate about Lucy’s anatomical fitness for walking upright, research has confirmed that the Au. afarensis upper body was well-designed for swinging through trees.1 But if her feet really were arched—a notion with dubious support but commonly held in the evolutionary community—that arch should have made vertical tree-climbing impractical.

3. Sky Survey Discovers Big Bang-defying Quasar Cluster

Sky Survey discovers a faraway quasar cluster that is too big to exist within the big bang model’s assumptions.

The twinkles in our night sky are far more complex than we can discern with the naked eye. To get a more 3-dimensional understanding of the view from earth, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, started several years ago, gathers and integrates massive amounts of telescopic data. (For Star Trek enthusiasts, picture the “Astrometrics Lab” on Voyager to get some idea of what this survey entails.) The project has cataloged the relative locations of thousands of galaxies and quasars. Now the survey has discovered the biggest known cluster of quasars ever found. The problem is, the cluster—known as the Huge-Large Quasar Group (Huge-LQG)—is too big to be accommodated within the assumptions underlying the big bang theory.

4. 3D Fossil Images Force Evolutionists to Revise Terrestrial Story

Three-dimensional images of fossil will force evolutionists to revise their terrestrial story, but not much.

Paleontologists examining delicate fossils hopelessly encased in a rocky matrix sometimes have to guess about how to reconstruct extinct animals. A new technological application is now taking some of the guesswork out of paleontological reconstructions by peering inside rocks in an unprecedented way. And what this new technology is seeing will revolutionize the way paleontologists reconstruct some vertebrate backbones. Because evolutionists believe these animals are transitional links between aquatic and land animals, it will also alter the way they construct their tale of terrestrial evolution.

5. The Dirtiness of Jesus Dwelling Among Us

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .” (John 1:14)

The Bible tells us that Christ was human and, of course, fully God (theologically termed the “hypostatic union”). The gospels give us some facts about His humanity: He was hungry, He thirsted, He ate, and of course, He died. One Christian leader, surprising his own colleagues, has pointed out some earthy aspects of the physical nature of the God-Man that are not discussed in Scripture. Johnnie Moore, a VP at Liberty University, has reasons for bringing them up. Despite the potential for misinterpretation of the slightly shocking headline wordplay on “dirty,” Moore’s CNN “belief blog” is an effort to rebut excessively sanitized depictions of Christ. He does not however suggest accepting liberal views in their place, but simply encourages a realistic view of our Lord’s humanity.

And Don’t Miss . . .

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  This is a 3D ultrasound image of Lucian on August 9, 2012. Diagnosed with severe disabilities, his “termination” at 24 weeks of pregnancy was offered to his parents. They refused to terminate the pregnancy and Lucian's life. Though he ultimately died nine hours after his birth on October 23, Lucian enriched the lives of those who loved him. His mother counts herself blessed to have had the opportunity to give him as much of life as she could. Image credit: © Jeremy Durkin through www.dailymail.co.uk

  This week as we mourn the deaths of millions of unborn babies killed in the name of “privacy” in the United States in addition to millions more babies killed around the world in the name of “choice” and “convenience,” it is good to be reminded that many a woman is willing to take a stand for the life of her unborn baby—even if the baby’s life is to be not at all what she would wish it to be. This week a UK publication told the story of Lucian, a disabled baby whose parents loved him enough to let him be born. His mother said, “It was my duty as a mother to protect [him] no matter how long he had left, he deserved to live.” Expecting Lucian’s devastating disabilities to dramatically change her life, Lucian’s mother said, “‘I researched all his disabilities to prepare myself fully for his needs. I never had a moment of doubt. I only had to look at the scan pictures of him enjoying life in the womb to know I was doing the right thing by giving him a chance. Not knowing how long he would live meant we were determined to enjoy him for as long as we could. We learned he loved the shower and would kick when I sprayed the water on my tummy. As he grew bigger I could see his little feet and hands prodding through my bump when he wriggled. He may not have been born but he was already our son and I took each movement as a sign we had done the right thing. I would talk to him and play him music because I wanted him to experience as much as possible.” Lucian died in his mother’s arms nine hours after he was born. She said, “I thought I didn’t want to be a mother but Lucian taught me it is the most wonderful job in the world and I will always be grateful for that.”