Life As I Know It

Perpetuation of Lucubration

2008-10-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

Tonight we have had our second installment of our Monday night Bible study. Last week if you'll remember, we spoke about facts that we can use to justify the existence of God (see previous post). In class, for the sake of moving along with our material, we proceeded assuming we all believe that there is a God. Tonight, we discussed whether we can believe that the Bible is truth, and that it is not fallible. Here are the arguments:
1. Unity of the Bible - 66 books, written over 1600 years, by 40 different men, in 3 different languages. No actual contradictions.
2. Accuracy of the Bible - for example, in the book of Acts, 32 countries, 54 cities, 9 islands, and 95 people were mentioned, all of which have been confirmed historically accurate by extrabiblical sources.
3. Detailed prophecies and perfect fulfillments - over 300 prophecies were written years before Christ was born about the coming Messiah. Mathematician, Peter Stoner, applies modern probability science to the chance of fulfilling a specific 8 of those prophecies (mainly the non-controllable prophecies like birthplace) and the probability is 1 in 10^17. Basically, this means it is impossible, unless planned by a higher power.
4. Scientific foreknowledge - Many scientific "discoveries" were previously mentioned in Scripture (i.e. spherical shape of earth, sea currents, earth suspended without support.

You may be reading this thinking "I know the Bible is the truth and that it's never been proven wrong." But the implications of these 4 points are quite significant. If you subscribe to the fact that the Bible is the infallible truth, certain implications must be made. Let's talk about one: The Bible itself purports that it is the actual word of God (II Tim 3:16-17). Thus, if we believe that it is truth, we must treat it as our authority for everything we do. That means any religous practice we participate in should be able to be backed by "book, chapter, and verse". Whether we are trying to figure out how salvation is obtained, how often we should observe the Lord's Supper, when we should worship, how we should worship, or who should lead worship, we should follow the commandments and examples given in the Bible. Many will say that this idea makes the practice of Christianity too legalistic, that Christianity is a religion of love, quoting John 3:16. Here are my two responses to that argument:
1. It's not a legalistic approach, it's the practice of submitting to His Word, knowing "His way is higher than our way" - Isaiah 55:8-9
2. It's not a legalistic approach, it's the practice of love "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." - John 14:15

Next installment in 2 weeks

Postulation on Verification of Creation

2008-10-07T15:38:00.000-07:00

Last night we had a great class at our "Monday Night for the Master" program. The program is basically a time set aside that we as a congregation work together to evangelize to our community. We've started classes during that time, so that we can advertise and possibly get people to come to a non-threatening atmosphere, and when it won't conflict with the schedule of their home congregation.

Last night we discussed the arguments one can use to prove the existence of God. We listed 3 arguments: 1. Cause and effect - universe is the effect, what is the cause? 2. Design - where there is a design, there must be a designer, and 3. Morality. While the first two points are probably well known to us because of all the attention scientific arguments against creation have been given, the third may not be so well known. Here's the gist of the argument.... Is there such a thing as morality (right and wrong) if God doesn't exist? If there is no God, doesn't that allow each of us to determine individually what right and wrong is? If that's the case, rightness may be to rape, pillage, and burn. And if there is no God, we have no right to say that raping, pillaging, or burning is wrong. The point of this is that no matter how staunch an atheist a person may claim to be, they are going to have a sense of right and wrong (especially when it comes to wrong being done to them or their families). Which can be used as a good point when arguing/debating with one. I believe that not only is God the standard by which we determine what is right and wrong, but that He created us in His image with an innate sense that their is right and wrong. However, just the sense that their is right and wrong doesn't mean that we innately know what is right and wrong. That only comes through studying the Bible. So, to answer this atheists will say that morality is not from God, but develops from a group of people (community) who decide what will be considered right and wrong.....Interesting, I think the Nazi's were a group of people who decided what would be right in their community. Again, this is a great argument for discussing the existance of God with someone. But beware, this might bring them to realize they are being hypocritic with their atheism, renounce all forms of morality, and start practicing in regards to you lying, cheating, stealing, etc.

Irritation Alleviation

2008-10-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know, some not, but I am an avid reader. As such, I'm willing to try anything to make my reading more pleasurable. So, for my 25th birthday, I asked for some special glasses that I saw in the movie "Bucket List". Amy was quite skeptical about their effectiveness, but I can say that I've used them every night and now my neck doesn't cramp from reading in bed anymore.

As for what I read. I'll read pretty much anything, but like to spend most of my time reading fiction, mainly fantasy and some sci/fi. Most often I lean towards fantasy series. While some may find this genre to be a little juvenile or think that they would not like it, I find it to be the best type of fiction. I was into action/thrillers for a while, but then I realized I couldn't remember the plot of a book I read 2 months ago. With fantasy that rarely happens, almost all the books/series I've read I can still remember the plot and characters. So, if you want some good books to read, here's a list of my favorite fantasy series (listed by first book in series with author).

1. Game of Thrones - George RR Martin

2. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

3. Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb

4. Eragon - Christopher Paolini

5. Harry Potter - JK Rowling

Happy Reading.

Propogation of Education

2008-10-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

Since I get questions all the time about how the residency is going. Well I'm three months into my residency now, and things are going pretty smoothly. I just finished my first rotation (two months of adult medicine.) Now, I move to 2 months of pediatrics. After that I'll be able to start my elective rotations. I've started to work on what will be my major year-long project. I'll be attempting to design/implement an antibiotic stewardship program, focusing on better usage of antibiotics, ultimately improving patient outcomes and reducing medication expenditures, repeat, reducing medication expenditures. It's quite interesting the support you receive when pursuing something that will save money.

Reinitiation of Articulation

2008-09-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about restarting this whole blogging thing. I've been getting loads of requests from my fans. I'm not sure what I would like to really write about though. Oh, how about those guys who are trying to "reproduce" the Big Bang, and prove that science has been right all along. Something about moving protons at extremely high rates of speed to crash them together and show how matter acted when the universe began...wait, where did the protons come from. The company, LHC, has spent 10 billion, repeat, 10 billion dollars to make a 17 mile-long particle accelerator. Many believe that their experiment will disprove the existence of God. The most surprising thing to me, other than the fact that people still believe in the big bang theory, is the comments I've seen around the web..."well, we've known the Bible is a fictional book all along, I'm just glad we can finally prove it." I guess living in the Bible belt really does shelter you from the true atheists in this world.

Proliferation of Fabrication

2007-03-28T16:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, in class, we had a survey that focused on cheating and academic integrity in pharmacy school. Questions included: 1) how many times have you cheated?, 2) do you know of anyone who has cheated? 3) have you confronted anyone you've seen cheating, 4) does the type of assignment given influence whether or not you would cheat?, 5) what should punishment be for being caught cheating?, and 6) if your graduating depended on cheating, would you cheat?

While I'm not privy to the survey results, I'm pretty sure I got the sentiment of those around me, who apparently think it is prudent to share their answers during the survey evaluating whether or not we share answers. These sentiments included but were not limited to: 1) "I've paid all this money, I'd do whatever it takes to graduate." 2) "I think failing the class is too harsh for being caught cheating." 3) "Why does it matter if we cheat on busy work?"

Although this probably should have surprised me, coming from a class full of students who are in 14 short months going to be licensed in a profession shown to be of the most trusted in the health care field, I took it in stride. The reason this does not surprise me is because I've been in class with these same people for over two years now. It is quite irritating though that they don't have even a little shame over their distorted way of thinking.

In my short time in pharmacy school, several incidences have arisen where one or several of our classmates have been involved in some type of cheating. For one whole semester of group work, many groups were just copying work from the class the year ahead of us, who had probably copied it from the year ahead of them, and so on. My fondest memory on this subject involves my uncompromising wife confronting professors on three or four occasions about classmates and their unethical behavior. The response all four times was the same. "There is nothing we can do about it." The professors all admitted that since others would lie to defend themselves and their friends, no action could be taken.

Truthfully, I'm slightly concerned about the decisions my classmates will make as a pharmacist and the consequences of those actions. Lets just hope they didn't cheat during any important sections of our work. I can hear it now, "No ma'am, that crushing chest pain is just heartburn. This Tums will clear it right up."

All this reminds me of a quote by Emerson that Amy used in her valedictorian speech.

“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide, that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion.”

Apparently, many of our classmates haven't had this conviction, or if they have, don't have the gumption to live by it. Or, maybe there really is a magic wand that they use at graduation to imbue to us honesty and morality.

Declaration of Self-determination Through Medication Limitation

2007-03-19T15:55:00.000-07:00

Whew, that was a mouthful.

Here's what it boils down to. Pharmacists across the country are being persecuted (i.e. fired and sued) for refusing to dispense birth-control pills and the emergency contraception pill, aka the "morning after" pill.

The arguments:

Pharmacists
1) Some pharmacists believe that by dispensing these they are helping to commit abortion.
2) Some pharmacists believe dispensing these (especially the morning after pill) they are condoning or at least accommodating life choices they disagree with.
3) As health care professionals, pharmacists have the right not to dispense any medication they don't want to, just as gynecologists aren't required to perform abortion if the patient demands it.

Patients
1) It's emergency contraception. Therefore, it prevents pregnancy, not terminates it.
2) You're a pharmacist, not a doctor. Just dispense what the doctor orders.
3) Who invited the pharmacist into the bedroom?

My problems with the arguments:

To pharmacists:
-Pharmacists around the nation are refusing mostly to fill the morning after pill, while practically every pharmacy in the nation dispenses birth control tablets every day. It has been proven that these two medications work in the same way, so filling one and not the other is slightly hypocritical. Although, birth control is used for indications other than just contraception.

-While I probably agree with the beliefs of those that refuse to dispense the morning after pill because they don't want to condone or accommodate the life choices they feel lead to the prescribing of this medication, I don't think the pharmacy is the place to proclaim our beliefs to our patients.

To patients:
-Actually, we are doctors. That's what the "D" in Pharm.D. is for.

-Sounds good, I'll stay out of your bedroom if you keep your bedroom out of my pharmacy.

-While the name of the pill is emergency contraception, the word contraception is based on the medical definition of pregnancy which is said to begin at implantation of the fertilized egg, while some believe that life begins at fertilization. So, the argument that it isn't abortion because the name says contraception is a little biased.

So there's your dilemma, when does life begin? Do you follow the experts definition? Do you follow the conventional scientific definition of life (i.e. one or more cells)?
Amy and I have made our decision. (no, that doesn't mean she's pregnant)

The consequences (which is our real plight):
Law makers in several states are trying to pass legislation requiring pharmacists to fill any valid prescription presented to them, while other states have already passed laws allowing pharmacists to refuse filling these medications.

If legislation is passed requiring the dispensing of all valid prescriptions, what will we do as pharmacists when new drugs are available that are in fact abortion pills? or medication for assisted suicide (which is already done in Oregon)?

Cultivation of Maturation

2007-03-19T06:59:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me has heard the infamous Boydism,
"Boy? I hope you said Leroy. You don' t call an alligator a lizard, do you?"
for a complete list of Boydisms visit www.jokesamyistiredof.com

What does it take to be a man? Does it just come with age? Does it come with benchmarks of life like being married or becoming a father? Does it come with starting a career? Furthermore, how do you know if you're achieving it?

During Billy and Heidi's wedding, one of the vows struck a cord with me (Yes, even though it was almost to hot to think, I was listening), and epitomizes to me the meaning of manhood. The vow was to be a man worthy of the bride's submission (Eph 5:22). Hearing this, I asked myself this question: what type of person would someone have to be to earn my submission in everything?

Being the highly confident, almost to the point of prideful, person that I am, it was hard to answer that question. I can't imagine how intelligent, considerate, wise, insightful, and perceptive they would have to be for me to be willing to submit.

So that's my goal, and there's our challenge men. Whatever it takes to answer that question is the least that we should be doing daily just to be a man worthy of being our wife's husband.