NewsWatch

Babies Are Born Ready to Read

icr.org, 12/17/20, “Babies Are Born Ready to Read” [Excerpts]: Dogs don’t read the words on a page. Neither did Coco, the famous gorilla that learned to communicate using simple hand signs. So what affords humans the unique ability to read and write, and why do we do it? 

The researchers discovered that newborn brains come prewired with similarly tight connections between the two areas. 

Lead author Jin Li said, “It’s interesting to think about how and why our brains develop functional modules that are sensitive to specific things like faces, objects, and words.” Why indeed?

From a Darwinian perspective, our brains’ functional modules would have incrementally developed over eons for our survival. But in what scenario would our ancestors have been forced to read or die? For that matter, how could such pressures reach into and rewire our brains? On the other hand, if humans came from supernatural creation instead of mere nature, then the possibility opens for God to have intentionally prewired our brains “to see words.” And why would a Creator do that?

Reading is the key to understanding the most important information for time and eternity found in the Bible. Scripture says we were created for God, that our sins have driven a wedge between us and God, but that God sent His Son to take our sins upon Himself in order to restore our relationship with Him.

(http://bit.ly/3bka7fy)

Book Cancelled: Said to Assault Islam

FrontPageMag.com, 12/21/20, “Publisher Cancels Book Decrying Cancel Culture Because Author Criticized Islam” [Excerpts]: How mad has the world gone? This mad: apparently oblivious to the titanic dimensions of the irony, the publisher Little, Brown just canceled a new book, Welcome to the Woke Trials: ‘How Identity Killed Progressive Politics’ by British journalist Julie Burchill because of an “Islamophobic” twitter exchange Burchill had with Muslim writer Ash Sarkar.... And what was Burchill’s crime? Did she use racial slurs? Did she call for genocide or violence against innocent Muslims? No, apparently all she did was note the readily demonstrable fact that according to Islamic tradition, Muhammad married a child. But telling the truth is a dangerous enterprise these days.  

The book, according to the report, “was promoted as a ‘characteristically irreverent and entertaining’ indictment of the ‘outrage mob.’” But the outrage mob was not outraged by anything in the book itself. It was evidently outraged because Burchill asked Sarkar, “Can you please remind me of the age of the Prophet Mohammad’s first wife?”

Burchill is clearly speaking about Muhammad’s child bride Aisha.... But that’s just a detail. Commenters raked Burchill over the coals for her supposed hypocrisy for ignoring child marriage in British history and claiming that Mary was a child when she married Joseph. Yet none of that was on point. No one would care about Muhammad’s child marriage were his behavior not normative for Islamic law and imitated by all too many Muslims even today. So what Burchill said...was entirely based on fact.

But it is bitterly ironic that Burchill’s book on cancel culture has now been canceled for whatever it is she said. That rather proves her point, doesn’t it?

(http://bit.ly/2XkQBHt)

Following Christ in Kazakhstan Costs

Persecution.com, 12/21/20, “What It Means To Follow Christ In Kazakhstan” [Excerpts]: Some churches worship openly, but they are closely watched. Raids on unregistered churches are common, and believers in attendance are fined. Kazakhs are used to Russian Orthodox Christians, but they are suspicious of those who hold services in the Kazakh native tongue. All religious activities must be registered with the government. 

Believers are commonly fined for distributing religious texts, discussing religion or holding worship meetings. Christian children are mocked at school. The families of Christian converts often beat them or otherwise publicly humiliate them. Unregistered churches must meet in private homes. In recent years, three Kazakh believers have been imprisoned on false charges. All three have been released.

Bibles are available, but they are unobtainable for many. Large churches often sell them. Rural believers must travel to cities to obtain a Bible.

(http://bit.ly/2JXqeUY)