Bill Nye Boo'd In Texas For Saying The Moon Reflects The Sun
Bill Nye, the harmless children's edu-tainer known as "The Science Guy," managed to offend a select group of adults in Waco, Texas at a presentation, when he suggested that the moon does not emit light, but instead reflects the light of the sun.
As even most elementary-school graduates know, the moon reflects the light of the sun but produces no light of its own.
But don't tell that to the good people of Waco, who were "visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence," according to the Waco Tribune.
Nye was in town to participate in McLennan Community College's Distinguished Lecture Series. He gave two lectures on such unfunny and adult topics as global warming, Mars exploration, and energy consumption.
But nothing got people as riled as when he brought up Genesis 1:16, which reads: "God made two great lights -- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars."
The lesser light, he pointed out, is not a light at all, but only a reflector.
At this point, several people in the audience stormed out in fury. One woman yelled "We believe in God!" and left with three children, thus ensuring that people across America would read about the incident and conclude that Waco is as nutty as they'd always suspected.
This story originally appeared in the Waco Tribune, but the newspaper has mysteriously pulled its story from the online version, presumably to avoid further embarrassment.
http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/04/06/040620...
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Comment by mcm on April 2, 2009 at 8:52pm -
Sorry for the confusion Johnny. Ma'owr is the transliterated form of the word, but the main issue is probably age. For Hebrew that is thousands of years old you have to go to resources primarily for that age. That pretty much limits you to Hebrew lexicon's made for Bible study. I'll include a link for your convenience.
As to Bill's being agnostic instead of atheist, I think it is reasonable to state this when a person has answered for himself. And you miss the point that there is no contradiction for those who care to educate themselves. Hope this helps.
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Comment by mcm on April 2, 2009 at 8:54pm
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Looks like the lexicon link didn't take. I'll try this way, you may have to cut and paste for yourself.
http://www.biblestudytools.net/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=03974&version=nas
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Comment by Rev. James Thomas Hicks, D.D. on April 2, 2009 at 9:01pm -
Accordin' to the definitions, it seems to mean primarily light. Not much of an argument. Especially since the author is long dead.
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Comment by Johnny on April 2, 2009 at 10:41pm -
> "And you miss the point that there is no contradiction for those who care to educate themselves."
I think it would be great if people would educate themselves. The people in the article clearly are not educated though.
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Comment by mcm on April 3, 2009 at 10:54am
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It's hard for any of us to judge what went on in that room in Waco with Bill Nye, without knowing everything that was said. As with many disputes, it was probably more of a misunderstanding than anything of substance.
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Comment by Johnny on April 3, 2009 at 11:31am
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Exactly. We can only go on what the news article provided. So defend them when the article provides not grounds for defending them.
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Comment by Pam on April 3, 2009 at 11:48am -
I've had trouble finding credible sources for this story. That's not to say it didn't happen, but blog sites are the only media carrying this article (the same one, verbatim).
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Comment by Johnny on April 3, 2009 at 11:57am
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Yea Pam, I think its because its old; as Bob/Paul pointed out: April 6, 2006.
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Comment by Kathy on April 23, 2009 at 2:51pm
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I think the website just changed the URL. http://www.wacotrib.com/featr/content/features/stories/2009/04/23/billnye.html
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Comment by Johnny on April 23, 2009 at 8:53pm
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Nice find Kathy!!
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