Todd's Blog

On behalf of all of us at Core Academy, I'd like to wish you a very merry Christmas as we commemorate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. His first advent heralded the coming of the kingdom of God, which fully manifested after that baby's death and resurrection when God poured out his Spirit on the day of Pentecost.  Now we his children partake in the kingdom as we long with hope for the second advent of Jesus and the bright dawn of our own resurrection.  Today, as with all good things in this world, the celebration of Christmas ought to turn our minds to our Lord Creator and Savior.  Giving of gifts, gathering of family, and the great feast remind us of that final gathering when we will cast our crowns at the feet of Jesus, gather with the family of God, and feast at the great marriage supper of the Lamb.  Modern Christmas also offers us a contrast: Unlike our fantasies of Santa Claus, Rudolph, and Frosty, our hope in Christ is real .  The symbols of God in Christmas signify

  Let's talk about naledi . I'm sorry this blog has become a broken record over these questions, but I have been interested and excited about these hominin remains for years now.  I don't want to just ignore the current state of things. Quick recap: The remarkable remains from the Dinaledi chamber were first published in 2015.  Lee Berger's research team claimed they were members of genus Homo (our own genus) but that they were a species new to science.  They called this newly discovered species Homo naledi , but the real excitement over these remains was their hypothesis that the bodies of these creatures had been intentionally placed there in the deep recesses of that cave.  The evidence for that was basically lack of a credible alternative explanation.  The chamber contained thousands of bones of the same species, all highly similar and placed over time.  At the same time, other bones of African animals were generally lacking.  The bones were also in partial articul