Jason Locke's Blog

Skepticism abounds for this latest "discovery" of Noah's Ark.  Much of the criticism is that the date postulated by the Chinese/Turkish team makes a flood of this magnitude impossible.  Archaeologists know quite a bit about Anatolian civilizations, and there is no break in culture at that time.  A flood of that magnitude, according to the Bible and science, would have resulted in a massive disruption of civilization. The Sun has video footage taken inside what the explorers claim as the ark.  Enjoy!

Very few reputable news services have picked up the story I reported yesterday.  A team of explorers led by Yeung Wing-cheung, claims to have discovered the remnant of Noah's ark on Mt. Ararat in Turkey.  Yeung is a documentary filmmaker and member of the team from Hong Kong-based Noah's Ark Ministries International.  He said: "It's not 100 per cent that it is Noah's Ark but we think it is 99.9 per cent that this is it." Hm.  Wow.  That's quite a claim.  London's Daily Mail reports the skeptical response of a lecturer in Ancient History at Oxford University.  "The usual nonsense," he said. The Daily Mail goes on to say that there have been numerous hoaxes over the search for the ark. In 1993, George Jammal claimed in a program shown by CBS that he had 'sacred wood' from the ark. It was later revealed that he was an actor and that the wood was in fact taken from Californian railroad tracks which had been baked in an oven with va...

According to a story released by AFP (French Press Agency), a group of evangelical explorers says it "has located Noah's Ark with 99.9% certainty."  They have discovered the remains of a wooden structure that dates to 4,800 years ago.  The team rules out the possibility that this structure was a dwelling since they found it at an elevation of 4,000 meters above sea level. Turkish and Chinese Christians led the expedition up Mt Ararat in eastern Turkey.  They belong to a group called Noah's Ark Ministries.  The group was led by Hong Kong documentary filmmaker, Yeung Wing-cheung.  A local Turkish group is apparently going to ask UNESCO to designate the spot as an historical, international landmark so they can excavate the site with its protection. I'm sure the story will appear in U.S. papers in the next day or so.  For an immediate link to the full story, check the Asia One story -- which is simply a translation of the AFP story...

The writing has been on the wall for years.  We've known this was coming.  It was just a matter of time before some of these things came to a head.  The future of Christian campus ministries hangs in the balance, with our Supreme Court hearing a case today that will have a ripple-down effect for years. Here's what is at stake:  Can an official campus ministry determine its leadership and membership based on certain standards of belief?  There is a summary of the proceedings on the website for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship .  (Thanks to Mike Buckley of Knoxville, TN, for sharing this link.)  This court case deals with a Christian group for law students at the University of California's Hastings School of Law in San Francisco.  They were banned from campus because their statutes "discriminated" on matters of faith. A similar, recent story is brewing with World Vision, a Christian relief organization, who denied employment to a man wh...

I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment.  Too many projects.  Too many deadlines.  Too much normal stuff happening.  Nothing bad.  It's all good.  But you know what they say about too much of a good thing! This picture describes the way I feel at the moment.  [sigh]

I wrote about the types of worshipers in a previous post.  We all have to examine ourselves and see if our worship is a response to God or if it has drifted off into legalistic or ritualistic acts that do not flow out of gratitude. Those who worship do not all have the same attitudes in worship.  This is both natural and healthy.  Not everyone comes with joy.  Even those whose hearts are responding to God in trust cannot always be filled with warm or bubbly feeling. Luckily, the psalms describe many different moods and attitudes in worship.  In Psalm 33, for example, we find (1) rejoicing in verse 1 and (2) praise in verse 2.  In verse 21 the psalmist's heart is (3) glad because of his trust in God. There are other equally valid moods.  Many psalms convey an attitude of (4) thanksgiving, e.g., Ps 103, 107, etc.  In other places, the psalmist is in a mood to (5) petition God for help -- see Ps 18, 42, 54, 77.  Still elsewh...

Today, we are all Poles. When a tragedy of this magnitude happens, the people of the world must stand united. Ethnicity vanishes on days like this – or at least it should vanish. If you think about, this is a week of tragedies.  First, the coal mine disaster in West Virginia – the worst US mining disaster in 40 years.  And now a catastrophic plane crash in western Russia that killed many of Poland's ruling elite.  What's next? Try to imagine a scenario where the following people all die in one instant: president and his wife, speaker of the House along with leading members of Congress from both parties, the joint Chiefs of staff, several cabinet members along with former civil rights leaders and family members of deceased war heroes.  Can you even picture it?  This is basically what Poland just experienced with today's plane crash. There's even greater symbolism and irony in this tragedy.  All these dignitaries were traveling to commemorate ...

Here are two VERY important statements about worship: Worship expresses gratitude when God saves us. Worship expresses trust that God will save us. In Exodus 15, the Israelites danced and worshiped on the far side of the Red Sea after God rescued them from Pharaoh.  The Christians rejoiced and praised God after Peter and John were released in Act 4.  These and many other examples demonstrate the truth of the first statement about worship.  Humans rejoice and praise God when they believe He has done a mighty work. In Joshua 5, the Israelites were preparing to possess the Promised Land.  Their forefathers had balked when they saw the heavy fortifications and strong soldiers of Jericho and other cities.  But these people worshiped in the hope that the God who saved them before would once again save them.  In Acts 12, the Christians were worshiping and praying in the hopes that God would rescue Peter.  They trusted in God and wo...

Through a link on ESPN, I found this great article by Joe Posnanski. Joe wrote for a Cincinnati paper when Bob Huggins coached there. He now writes for Sports Illustrated. If you want the lowdown on Coach Huggs, check this out. It's long but well-written and insightful. http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2010/03/31/huggs/

In case you were wondering what has happened to the Google website...  Here's a news flash from their corporate headquarters: Early last month the mayor of Topeka, Kansas stunned the world by announcing that his city was changing its name to Google. We’ve been wondering ever since how best to honor that moving gesture. Today we are pleased to announce that as of 1AM (Central Daylight Time) April 1st, Google has officially changed our name to Topeka. We didn’t reach this decision lightly; after all, we had a fair amount of brand equity tied up in our old name. But the more we surfed around (the former) Topeka’s municipal website, the more kinship we felt with this fine city at the edge of the Great Plains. In fact, Topeka Google Mayor Bill Bunten expressed it best: “Don’t be fooled. Even Google recognizes that all roads lead to Kansas, not just yellow brick ones.” For 150 years, its fortuitous location at the confluence of the Kansas River and the Oregon Trail has mad...