ideologyhunter
Contributor
The text, from Genesis 30 and 31 (here condensed.)
Laban said, What shall I pay you? and Jacob answered, I will work for no wages, and I will watch your flock, if you agree to my terms. Let me take every black lamb and every spotted or speckled young goat. That is all the recompense I will ask. And Laban said, Agreed, it shall be as you say.
But that day Laban removed all the goats that had spots or speckles, and he also removed the black sheep.
Jacob got green branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled some of the bark to leave stripes on them. He placed these branches by the drinking troughs used by the flock, because the animals mated when they came to drink. And when the goats mated next to the branches, they had young goats that were streaked, spotted and speckled.
Simple question. Can researchers bypass the laborious processes of gene splicing and stem cell implantation in favor of God's way, using peeled sticks? I do not expect ideologues to grant this even a token form of consideration. My experiences with the scientific establishment (see below) tells me that it is futile to introduce the possibility into a discussion of genetic engineering. So I am proposing a reasoned dialogue on the question with those who are not so blinded by ideology that they would automatically scoff at the Bible account. The philosophical and epistemological capacities of the original culture must be a part of any fair discussion.
To those who fetishize the scientific method, let me ask: Has there ever been a controlled experiment at any accredited genetic research facility to test the efficacy of peeled sticks? I will spare you the time it would take to pin down the answer. No.
Last month, my assistants and I took peeled sticks to the nation's foremost biomedical research institutes. You may have seen our van in the news, with our GoFundMe identity, Peeled Sticks for Jesus on the side. (My assistant Joanne wanted to call the van The Bark of the Covenant, but I felt that would be too confusing.) At Stanford, we were turned away by security guards (while long-haired students in Grateful Dead t-shirts passed freely into the building.) At Baylor, we were threatened with police action if we did not leave. At MIT we asked to see the goats, but could not get a foot in the door. At Harvard, Pres. Alan Garber actually took a broom from a maintenance worker and waved it in a threatening manner, saying, "Git!!" << Just like that. (I sent a video of this encounter to the White House, which explains why Harvard is in a pickle this month.)
I expect ridicule and knee-jerk sarcasm from the atheists here, and you will be ignored. I am sure you will label this post as superstition and zealotry. I really don't care what you say -- ever. When you can show me a blinded study of the peeled sticks done by one of our top biomedical foundations, then we can talk.
Laban said, What shall I pay you? and Jacob answered, I will work for no wages, and I will watch your flock, if you agree to my terms. Let me take every black lamb and every spotted or speckled young goat. That is all the recompense I will ask. And Laban said, Agreed, it shall be as you say.
But that day Laban removed all the goats that had spots or speckles, and he also removed the black sheep.
Jacob got green branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled some of the bark to leave stripes on them. He placed these branches by the drinking troughs used by the flock, because the animals mated when they came to drink. And when the goats mated next to the branches, they had young goats that were streaked, spotted and speckled.
Simple question. Can researchers bypass the laborious processes of gene splicing and stem cell implantation in favor of God's way, using peeled sticks? I do not expect ideologues to grant this even a token form of consideration. My experiences with the scientific establishment (see below) tells me that it is futile to introduce the possibility into a discussion of genetic engineering. So I am proposing a reasoned dialogue on the question with those who are not so blinded by ideology that they would automatically scoff at the Bible account. The philosophical and epistemological capacities of the original culture must be a part of any fair discussion.
To those who fetishize the scientific method, let me ask: Has there ever been a controlled experiment at any accredited genetic research facility to test the efficacy of peeled sticks? I will spare you the time it would take to pin down the answer. No.
Last month, my assistants and I took peeled sticks to the nation's foremost biomedical research institutes. You may have seen our van in the news, with our GoFundMe identity, Peeled Sticks for Jesus on the side. (My assistant Joanne wanted to call the van The Bark of the Covenant, but I felt that would be too confusing.) At Stanford, we were turned away by security guards (while long-haired students in Grateful Dead t-shirts passed freely into the building.) At Baylor, we were threatened with police action if we did not leave. At MIT we asked to see the goats, but could not get a foot in the door. At Harvard, Pres. Alan Garber actually took a broom from a maintenance worker and waved it in a threatening manner, saying, "Git!!" << Just like that. (I sent a video of this encounter to the White House, which explains why Harvard is in a pickle this month.)
I expect ridicule and knee-jerk sarcasm from the atheists here, and you will be ignored. I am sure you will label this post as superstition and zealotry. I really don't care what you say -- ever. When you can show me a blinded study of the peeled sticks done by one of our top biomedical foundations, then we can talk.