Every New Beginning Comes from Some Other Beginning's End

Hey, everyone! So yeah, it's been a while since I've haunted this corner of cyberspace. There's a lot of dust, ghosts, memories...

Sorry, I won't try to be poetic anymore.

I just wanted to stop by an encourage all of you to head over to the new version of the Least Read Blog. It's part of my newly relaunched website, www.johnwotte.com.

Thanks, everyone, for helping me carve out this niche for myself. I hope to see you all in the new place too!

Sin and Grace in Boston

So last night, as I was thinking about going to bed, my younger son woke up and started crying for Mama. Well, Mama was sound asleep and I wanted her to stay that way, so I got my son and snuggled him by the computer. That meant that I had to poke around and find something quiet to do. I checked some of the blogs I read for new content (and, at midnight, I didn't find any; go figure). I tried to play Plants vs. Zombies with the sound off, but that woke him up and he excitedly said, "Zombies!" And finally I clicked over to Twitter.

And I saw a slew of tweets about a dead police officer and an explosive chase in Massachusetts.

Seeing as it was midnight, I wasn't about to turn on the TV. For one thing, I knew it'd wake up my son. For another, I knew that in the chaos of the moment, there'd be a lot of speculation and very few facts. So I kept rocking and snuggling until he went to sleep.

I had to get up early this morning to shovel my driveway thanks to the mid-April snowstorm Minnesota experienced. Before I could get outside, my wife told me that the news was reporting that the people involved in the shootout and the car chase were suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, that one of them was in custody (we didn't know that he had died at the time) and the other one was still at large. I nodded and went to get my boots on.

As I did, I started thinking about that bombing suspect and what I wanted for him. And I knew what I wanted. Pain. Death. Retribution. He had attacked our people, and he should experience some of the hell that he put his victims, their families, and our whole nation through.

But then, as I started clearing away the new fallen snow, a different thought invaded my mind. One that made me uncomfortable. One that made me rethink my initial, visceral reaction.

Is that really what a Christian should want?

I kept shoveling but, as I did, I wrestled with this idea. These men, whoever they were (at the time, I didn't know that they were brothers, I didn't know that they were Chechen,  I knew very little), were evil, wicked men. Why else would they have planted those bombs? If anyone deserves "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" treatment, it's these despicable vermin.

And yet, I couldn't get away from that thought.

Is this really what I should want as a Christian?

It's hard for me to admit and even harder for me to say. I fully expect people to disagree vehemently with me. But didn't Christ say that eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, is the opposite of the way we should be living? Didn't He say something about turning the other cheek? About praying for our enemies and forgiving them?

I know it's hard to do. I love bearing a grudge and I'm particularly fond of seeing people I don't like getting what they deserve. But if I am a Christ-follower, if I am a Christ-imitator, then my reaction to Boston is not to revel in the death and destruction of sinful human beings. Instead, it should be to offer forgiveness and hope that the grace of God can turn two lost and fallen men into children of God.

Does that mean that I think that they should get off the hook? Not at all. While the cross of Christ may erase our eternal punishment, we still have to face the consequences of our sins in the here and now. And as St. Paul says in Romans 13, the government does bear the sword for the punishment of evildoers. But I'm not the one holding the sword.

Instead, I think I'll do the following instead and I invite you to join me:

• To continue to pray for and support the victims and families of these men
• To pray for the families of the bombers as well. I suspect that they're hurting and confused as well. If they're not, I'll pray that they come to see the error of their ways.
• To pray for the bomber who has yet to be caught. Not only will I pray for him to be found before he can hurt anyone else, but I also plan to pray for him to see the error of his ways and repent as well.
• To make sure that I don't fall for "guilt by association," that I won't treat anyone who might share these brothers' worldview any differently than I would want to be treated.
• To pray for peace in our fractured world, to join with the groaning creation in the ancient cry, "Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly."

Advice for Star Wars 7

Normally I don't pay attention to business news. I've got no mind for economics and unless it directly or indirectly impacts me, I'll only skim the business section of Google News. For example, when I see news about publishing companies merging, I'll see who bought who and maybe read analyses of what that might do for me. But then I forget about it a short time later.

But today's news? Well, that got my attention. It's not every day that you see Disney spend $4 billion to purchase Lucasfilm. That means that any future Star Wars projects will come with mouse ears attached.

In some ways, this shouldn't surprise us. At least, it didn't totally surprise me. Not the price tag, certainly. George Lucas has created quite the little empire for himself. And the fact that Disney did the buying doesn't surprise me much either. If you've been to Epcot Center recently, you've seen the theme rides and the dance parties that feature Darth Vader boogie-ing down and accepting the fealty of little girls. So there was a pre-existing relationship there. Given the fact that Disney also has bought Marvel, and that leads to some interesting possibilities in the future. Marvel vs. Star Wars fighting games, anyone? Or maybe Darth Vader and Wolverine will cameo in Epic Mickey 3.

But what caught my eye was the little factoid in there that "Star Wars 7," whatever that will be, is targeted to be released in 2015.

To quote one Dr. Sam Beckett, "Oh, boy." Or, perhaps a bit more appropriate, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

My initial reaction was one of revulsion. Yes, Episode III finally, sort of got it right, but that's only because the bar had been set so low. George Lucas lost his ways, seduced by the dark side of digital effects, focusing on that over and above such mundane details as, oh, I don't know, storytelling, characterization, and so on. And while I've heard that the Clone Wars animated series is pretty good, I've been glad that we wouldn't see any further assaults on my childhood memories.

But then I noticed this little nugget in the middle of the stories, a quote from George Lucas himself:

“For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next,” said George Lucas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm. “It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers.”

So wait . . . this new movie would be one without George Lucas in direct control?

Interesting.

Further reading reveals that Lucas has turned over control of Star Wars to a lady named Kathleen Kennedy, and that he's shared ideas and plotlines and all that with her, that he will serve as a creative consultant for the future movies (yes, there will be more than just #7).

Initial feeling of worry returning.

Now I've been a Star Wars fan for a long time. Some of my earliest memories are of watching the original trilogy with my family to the point that we had them all memorized. I've read many of the novels. And I've played a lot of the videogames too. I've been a loyal connoisseur for decades now. And even though I doubt that Ms. Kennedy will ever stumble across this, my humble corner of the Interwebz, I do have some advice for her about what to do with Star Wars 7, which I'll share with you now:

1) Don't make them sequels. Or, to be more specific, respect the Extended Universe. A lot of authors have spent a lot of time telling the story where Return of the Jedi left off. The Empire fell and rose again. Memorable characters, such as Talon Karrde, Corran Horn, and Mara Jade, have trod the galactic stage and left an indelible imprint on it. And the main characters have been through a lot too. They've gotten married, had kids, lost kids and spouses. One of them even died (although I won't say which one). While I know that the books and such aren't probably "official canon," it would be a shame to slash-and-burn all of it. So if Star Wars 7 is indeed a sequel, set it in the far future. Avoid the Skywalker clan and their related associates. Tell us a new story set in the same universe and leave the EU to the fans.

2) Bring in some ringers. It's great that Lucas has given you his thoughts and ideas and I would never suggest you jettison them. But maybe hire in some folks with proven track records when it comes to telling Star Wars stories. Have Timothy Zahn take a pass at Lucas's ideas. Hire Michael Stackpole to flesh out the stories. Bring Drew Karpyshyn in, especially if these movies are set in the Old Republic period. There are plenty of talented writers who know this universe who could be used to help get this project off the ground and make it a classic. Speaking of which . . .

3) Don't confuse flash for substance. I think one of the chief problems with the prequels was the fact that so much of it was focused on the visual effects. Don't get me wrong, the effects were awesome and made the movies a lot of fun. But it was clear that Lucas's focus was on the sizzle, not the steak. The story is full of plotholes (which are fun to exploit at times), the characters are lackluster, and overall its disappointing. Make sure that whoever writes the script an craft a good story. Make sure whoever sits in the director's chair can say more than just, "Faster, more intense." Definitely don't get rid of the visual effects. Just use them to support the story, not overwhelm it.

4) Whatever you do . . . don't include Gungans, midichlorians, or characters from the original trilogy as children. That's just a bad idea all around.

But hey, what do I know? It's just a thought.

The Dark Knight Rises

Let's start right off the bat (pun not intended) by saying that this post is not about what happened in Aurora. That is an unspeakable and, in some ways, unexplainable tragedy. It's never wise to start pointing fingers and assigning blame so quickly (as some people have felt the need to do). I suspect that the shooter's motivation is a lot more complex than a simple, one-word answer, such as "guns" or "Hollywood" or whatever. For those of us on the outside looking in, the best thing we can do is offer support to those in need and join the ancient prayer of "Kyrie, eleison." Lord, have mercy.

With that out of the way, let's talk about The Dark Knight Rises.

I went to see it Thursday night as part of a movie marathon. I got to the theater at 6:00 so I could watch Batman Begins and The Dark Knight before the final movie kicked off at 12:01 am. As much as I'm paying for that now (I got to bed at 3:30; not a wise choice), I think that helped keep the other two movies fresh in my mind.

So what's the plot of this one? Well, it's several years after the events of The Dark Knight. Inspired by the legend of Harvey Dent (and blissfully kept in the dark about the monster he eventually became), the citizens of Gotham City have cleaned up their act. Crime is down, people are feeling more prosperous, and everything is coming up roses. For the most part. Sure, there are still the poor and downtrodden, but they're mostly out of sight.

Not everything has gone well for Bruce Wayne, however. He's become something of a recluse, hiding in the rebuilt Wayne Manor, his body slowly falling apart from his time as a vigilante. It would take something major for him to rejoin society and don the cape and cowl once again.

That something is Bane, a terrorist with a very odd mask. Bane is the leader of a mercenary group, one that is suicidally loyal to him. He comes to Gotham armed with a complex plan with a simple goal: level the playing field for everyone. And then kill everyone.

Thrown into the mix is a cat burglar named Selina Kyle and you've got a great movie, one that kept my attention all the way through.

Were there bad parts? Yeah, a few. I wasn't entirely enamored with Bane and his headgear. It wasn't just the fact that he sounded like he had a Darth Vader noise machine wired in there. Tom Hardy's choice of accent (whatever it was) threw me off for a while and there were times when his voice was hard to understand. And while I get Christopher Nolan's decision to not mention the Joker out of respect for Heath Ledger, that silence didn't fit the story all that well. That's my grubby little opinion, but there you go.

But there were plenty of surprises in the movie. I, for one, was pleasantly surprised by Anne Hathaway. I seem to have something of a blind spot for her. When I heard she was playing Selina Kyle, my immediate reaction was, "Really? The girl from The Princess Diaries?" But I think Hathaway did an excellent job. She captured Selina Kyle's playfulness, cleverness, and ferocity in a way that worked.

There were also two surprise twists that I didn't see coming, although I should have seen the first one. I mean, I know the Batman mythos fairly well. I should have seen through the smokescreen that Nolan set up around some of the characters to realize what was truly going on. But instead, I swallowed the deception and chalked it up to "artistic license," which made the reveal a lot more fun. The second twist, I didn't see it coming and laughed out loud when it happened. If you've seen the movie, it's the one that happened right before the ending.

And can I say how much I loved Joseph Gordon-Levitt in this too? Simply awesome.

So I'd say that this is a film worth watching, a great non-superhero superhero flick that really wrapped up Nolan's trilogy well. I've read rumors that Warner Brothers is already starting plans for a Batman reboot. I would not want to work on that movie, because Nolan has left some mighty huge shoes to fill.

Phoenix Jones arrested

A few months back, I posted a video about a real life superhero named Phoenix Jones, a man who really gets dressed up in a costume and patrols the streets in an attempt to fight crime. Well, apparently Jones was arrested recently for pepper spraying a group he claims was fighting but police say were dancing.

I'm not going to take sides on this one, but I'm thinking if you can't tell the different between fighting and dancing, you probably should hang up your cape and cowl.

An Open Letter

Well, here we are. We're about midway through Apocalypse Not. The rolling rapture, scheduled for 6:00 PM in every time zone, hasn't quite reached Minnesota yet but given the fact that I haven't seen any reports about people vanishing, I'm not too worried.

Actually, I was never too worried. As I've mentioned on previous occasions, I'm a strict and ardent amillennialist, so when I heard about Mr. Camping and his odd predictions (and especially how he got there), I wasn't all that concerned. As an amillennialist, I'm not big into the rapture, the 1,000 year reign of Christ, or any of that silliness. This video helps explain a little bit as to why:



I could go into more reasons as to why I don't believe in a pre- or mid-Tribulation rapture, but instead, I thought I would take this moment to share some thoughts that I've had over the past week or so, specifically three thoughts targeted to three distinct groups.

First of all, to the date-setters, of whom Mr. Camping is but the latest, I share this piece of advice: stop it. Stop it right now. Before you grab your calculators and handy dandy charts of things to come, remember what Jesus said: no one can know the date of His return. No matter how you try to spin your predictions to explain how you figured it out, remind yourself that many, many people have played this game before and you know what? They were all wrong! Every single last one of them. That may seem obvious, but it's worth pointing out. If you think you've figured out the date of Christ's return, whether it's by arcane mathematics or divine visions or because you saw the date burned onto toast, the odds are so incredibly against you actually being right, it's in your best interest to keep your mouth shut and your message off the digital billboard near my house or the shelf of my local Christian bookstore.

I'm even including those who try to create the map-with-no-names, such as Tim LaHaye or Hal Lindsey. Especially Mr. Lindsey, who has made at least two generic time frame predictions that I know of (in the '70s and again in 2000) and yet still has enough clout that people listen to him as some sort of authority.

Part of the reason I say this is because of the damage that date setters do. Can you imagine what Mr. Camping's true believers are going through right now? How many of them have had their faith irreparably shaken because they're going to have to face the world tomorrow? I'm actually worried we're going to hear about at least a few suicides because of this mess before it's all over. Not only that, but consider what these kind of ridiculous predictions do to the rest of us Christians. Thanks to Mr. Camping and his crew, people are delighting in rubbing every Christian's face in this failed prediction, even though the majority of us didn't take it seriously in the first place.

That actually brings me to the next group I wish to address: the atheists. This morning, when I logged on to Twitter, I saw the terms "rapture" and "Christians" was trending. When I clicked on the latter, the majority of the posts were how all of us Christians were fools, as if every single last Christian was out on a hill waiting for Jesus to show up. They were gleefully slapping around a mighty big paintbrush and, I gotta say, that doesn't reflect too well on any of you. Shall I assume that all atheists are insensitive jerks by the actions of those few? I know that's not the case. But quid pro quo. If you don't want us judging your particular belief set (or lack thereof) by the actions of the rude few, you might want to tone it down. Just saying.

And finally, to the rest of my brothers and sisters in Christ, the Christians. As I was looking at the gleeful jokes from non-believers on Twitter, I realized we have a serious PR problem. A massive one. It would appear that if the rapture were to happen the way the vocal minority of Christianity expects (i.e. all believers disappear), the reaction would be unrestrained joy.

Maybe it's time to take Jesus' words seriously, that we are to be salt and light in this fallen world, so that if, by some strange chance, we do all disappear someday, the reaction of the rest of the world is, "The light has gone out."

Just some food for thought.

Ancient Christian Books?

I saw a report this morning about a battle heating up in Jordan about returning some apparently ancient relics that some scholars believe were produced by early Christians.

The report contains some interesting stuff that explains why some professors believes they're authentic:

The books, or "codices", were apparently cast in lead, before being bound by lead rings.

Their leaves - which are mostly about the size of a credit card - contain text in Ancient Hebrew, most of which is in code.

And . . .

He believes the most telling evidence for an early Christian origin lies in the images decorating the covers of the books and some of the pages of those which have so far been opened.

Mr Elkington says the relics feature signs that early Christians would have interpreted as indicating Jesus, shown side-by-side with others they would have regarded as representing the presence of God.

"It's talking about the coming of the messiah," he says.

"In the upper square [of one of the book covers] we have the seven-branch menorah, which Jews were utterly forbidden to represent because it resided in the holiest place in the Temple in the presence of God.

"So we have the coming of the messiah to approach the holy of holies, in other words to get legitimacy from God."

It is the cross that is the most telling feature, in the shape of a capital T, as the crosses used by Romans for crucifixion were.

"It is a Christian crucifixion taking place outside the city walls," says Mr Davies.

Margaret Barker, an authority on New Testament history, points to the location of the reported discovery as evidence of Christian, rather than purely Jewish, origin.

"We do know that on two occasions groups of refugees from the troubles in Jerusalem fled east, they crossed the Jordan near Jericho and then they fled east to very approximately where these books were said to have been found," she says.

"[Another] one of the things that is most likely pointing towards a Christian provenance, is that these are not scrolls but books. The Christians were particularly associated with writing in a book form rather than scroll form, and sealed books in particular as part of the secret tradition of early Christianity."

Philip Davies, Emeritus Professor of Old Testament Studies at Sheffield University, says the most powerful evidence for a Christian origin lies in plates cast into a picture map of the holy city of Jerusalem.

"As soon as I saw that, I was dumbstruck. That struck me as so obviously a Christian image," he says.

"There is a cross in the foreground, and behind it is what has to be the tomb [of Jesus], a small building with an opening, and behind that the walls of the city. There are walls depicted on other pages of these books too and they almost certainly refer to Jerusalem."

It's a pretty wild story and, if authentic, could shed a lot of light on early Christianity.

I, for one, am a bit hesitant to jump up and down with joy over this discovery for two reasons.

First of all, as a commenter on another blog pointed out, we see stories like this come out around this time every year. Remember how, a few years back, James Cameron found Jesus' family tomb? And how, a few years ago, the Gospel of Judas went viral? I wonder if this isn't another case of over-sensationalism since Holy Week is fast approaching.

The other thing that has me worried is the fact that these books weren't really found in an actual archaeological find. The opening paragraph of the BBC article, while implying that they were, really reveals that they weren't:

A group of 70 or so "books", each with between five and 15 lead leaves bound by lead rings, was apparently discovered in a remote arid valley in northern Jordan somewhere between 2005 and 2007.

A flash flood had exposed two niches inside the cave, one of them marked with a menorah or candlestick, the ancient Jewish religious symbol.

A Jordanian Bedouin opened these plugs, and what he found inside might constitute extremely rare relics of early Christianity.

That is certainly the view of the Jordanian government, which claims they were smuggled into Israel by another Bedouin.

The Israeli Bedouin who currently holds the books has denied smuggling them out of Jordan, and claims they have been in his family for 100 years.

Jordan says it will "exert all efforts at every level" to get the relics repatriated.

So we have one Bedouin describing how he found the books and another claiming his family owned them for a century. This wasn't found by archaeologists. There will be no photos of the books in situ. And yes, while this sort of parallels the discover of the Dead Sea Scrolls, until real archaeologists examine the supposed discovery site, I won't be holding my breath.

Still, it is a pretty cool story.

Pay no attention to this post!

Seriously. Don't pay any attention to it. I do not want you to read it. So go away.

I mean it. Shoo.

What's that? You want to know what it is I don't want you to know? Nothing. Nothing at all.


Hey! Do not read the words on that eye-catching banner! I mean it!

Okay, fine. I'll explain. You can win an autographed copy of Kathy Tyers's excellent Firebird trilogy from Marcher Lord Press. You can know that, but in no way do I want you to know that all you have to do is say, in exactly 100 words, why you love speculative fiction to be entered into a drawing to win said prize. So if your brain would kindly not imprint these words into your short-term memory, that would be fantastic, thank you very much.

Why am I being so weird? Because I just entered and I don't want the increased odds.

So go away.

Yars' Revenge!?!?!

So this takes me back. I'm surfing around to some of my favorite websites and what do I learn? They are remaking Yars' Revenge, an ancient Atari video game.

Wow. That takes me back. If I remember correctly, Yars' Revenge was the first video game I ever bought with my own money, the first step down a long path that I'm still walking today.

To make matters more interesting, they included a video of gameplay from the reboot. Somehow they've gone from this:



To this:



Wow.

But I will say this. In my hunt for the reboot's homepage, I did stumble across an emulator that let me play the original on my PC. Ah, memories.

Another superhero in Tennessee!

It's spreading!

Real Life Superhero in Seattle

This one just boggles the mind. There is a group of people in Seattle dressing up as costumed vigilantes:



I'm usually not one to tell someone how to do his job, but if Phoenix Jones ever stops by my little corner of the internet, I do have some constructive criticism.

You don't invite reporters to show where the entrance to your Batcave is. I'm just saying.

But it still boggles my mind that there are eight of them doing this. Suddenly my superhero story, Failstate, doesn't seem quite so fictional anymore.

Trailer for "Batman: Arkham City"

Next year is going to be a good year for gamers. Yesterday I mentioned Mass Effect 3. Well, here's another gem from the VGAs, a trailer for Batman: Arkham City.



Again:

WANT IT NOW!

Footage of the Metrdome Collapse

Well, they want a new stadium . . .



Wow. But I think this tweet from TheTweetOfGod is a pretty good capper to a weird weekend here in Minnesota:

Mass Effect 3 Teaser Trailer

Apparently this aired last night at the VGAs. I don't get Spike, so I couldn't see it live. But still . . .



Three words:

WANT IT NOW!

I died a little inside . . .

Remember that post I made a while back, how some Irish filmmaker claims to have caught sight of a time traveler caught on film in a '20s movie? Yeah, the experts have weighed in. Turns out the most likely explanation is that she was hard of hearing and had a compact ear trumpet.

Yeah, I know, I'm disappointed too. I mean, I'm well acquainted with Occam's Razor. Still, just a tiny little part of me is sad that the whole thing was debunked.

Want to colonize a planet?

NASA and DARPA are apparently working on a Hundred Year Starship to send humans out to alien worlds . . . and leave them there.

No, this isn't some new funky political prison. It's the first step of a colonization program.

Now we may never see the culmination of this project in my lifetime, but if they were calling for colonists, I'd be tempted. A little. Of course, I just asked my wife if she would come with me and she shot me down. So I guess I'm staying on Earth for the foreseeable future.

But it's still a cool story.

Would you go?

CDC Reports Drop in Teen Pregnancy

A few days ago, I saw an interesting article. The CDC apparently has reported that the teen birth rate has dropped to the lowest point in the last few years. That is good news. I hope it means that teenagers are making better decisions when it comes to sex and being smarter if they're making . . . well, how shall I put this? Less sanctified choices? Is that a clear enough euphemism?

But at the same time, a part of this report made me a little sad. Apparently Minnesota and Wisconsin have two of the lowest rates in the country. Good for us.

Unless you're a family waiting to adopt.

Can you help us? My wife and I have been waiting for over a year. If God wants us to wait longer, we will, but I also hope that right now, someone is reading this post and knows of a young lady who is considering adoption. If that's you, please pass along our contact information. We are home study approved and have a four year old son who is eager to have a little brother or sister (although he recently told us that he's sure we'll find him a little sister; we're fine either way).

If they want to contact us directly, they can send an e-mail to johnorjill (at) live (dot) com (replacing the words in parentheses with the proper symbols; we don't want to be inundated with spam). Or they can contact our agency, Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota.

Come on, how can you say "No" to this face:



His, not mine, obviously.

I Have a Bad Feeling About This . . .

Rumor has it George Lucas might be cooking up more Star Wars movies, set 100 to 1,000 years after the original trilogy.

There's a massive disturbance in the Force. Huge. Sad thing is, I know I'd probably go to them. At least once.

Because I just can't help myself. George Lucas, why do you insist on hurting us?

God, the Gospel, and Glenn Beck

As I've said before, I'm not the most political of people. I'd like to think that my faith informs my politics, but I'm extremely uncomfortable with the way that the political right has tried to disguise itself as somehow more Christian than the left. I'm even more uncomfortable with the way that Christians are embracing Glenn Beck as some sort of spokesperson when Beck is an avowed Mormon.

But Dr. Russell D. Moore pretty much hit it on the head for me with a recent post, and I'll leave it here for you to read and think about.

We'll find aliens in 25 years?

This news story caught my eye. Apparently some astronomer believes that if we're going to find evidence of extra-terrestrial life, we'll do so within the next twenty-five years. Apparently it has something to do with a big telescope in California that'll come on-line within the next five years or so.

More problematic for me is that the scientist in question is relying on the infamous Drake equation as his proof. For those of you not in-the-know, the Drake equation is this:



Basically you plug in numbers and the equation should spit out the number of alien civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy that would be capable of contacting us.

There's one small problem: the numbers a person uses are entirely arbitrary. There's no agreed upon number for any of those factors. The article itself even talks about how famous scientists, including Drake himself, have come up with estimates from 10,000 to 1,000,000. And if those scientists are really honest with themselves, they'd have to admit that they're only guessing.

Now does that mean that I think there aren't any aliens out there? Not at all. The universe is a big place and I'm not God. That may sound like an odd pairing of statements, but what I mean is this: there's a lot of room for God to stick alien life. If He did, great. If not, no big deal either. But it'll be interesting to see what the SETI folks find.