No 1
(Creation vs Evolution)
When Charles Darwin wrote his book "The Origin of the Species",
his theory was based on what was observable in his lab or what his eyes could
see in nature. This theory is still taught in our schools and its purpose is to
eliminate God concerning our origins.
This theory is not only not reasonable but is ridiculous for one very
good reason: the DNA code in all of creation.
No 2
(DNA Explained)
God made all creatures with a certain
code in the cells of their bodies. This
code is called DNA (Deoxyribonecleic acid) and it contains all the
caracteristics and information of the creature.
A brown dog has the code of a brown dog; a white monkey has the code of
a white monkey and so on. It is
impossible to cross these codes as they are incompatible. Therefore, if we evolved from molecules
millions of years age, these molecules must have had the necessary codes in
them for the creatures that came after them; this is absurd, obviously. The question is: where did all this
information come from? Evolutionists do
not have the answer but Creationists do.
The answer is in the Bible: And God
said, "Let the land produce living
creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the
ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." Genesis 1:24.
The earth was created in six days of 24 hours.
No 3
(Theistic Evolution)
Here is a term that can be classified as
an oxymoron. What it basically means is
that God used evolution is His Creation and when the various life-forms were
evolving, God sort of helped the process along;
somehow...... As you can imagine,
this is not taught in the Bible; so you say, where did it come from? It came from people who believe that a
supreme being does exist and because of the complexity of the Creation, they
just don't want to throw everything into the hoary mists of antiquity; they
believe in a god; just not the God of the Bible. These were Charles Darwin's
very words. Theistic evolution is also
proponed by many Christians who feel they have to stuff millions of years in
between each day in the Genesis account of creation.
Another belief system is the Gap Theory.
This is another opinion that is held by many fundamentalists who believe that
billions of years went by between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. The main purpose
of this theory is to harmonize the Biblical account of Creation with the
accepted geological ages, such as the paleozoic or the mesizoic eras.
These theories are not only impossible
but are, again, not reasonable. We will
look at these and other issues in later studies. We will see what the Bible says about
creation.
No 4
(6 days of creation - an overview)
The word "yom" in Hebrew means
day and it is used 1250 of times throughout the Old Testament and it always describes
a period of 24 hours or, said differently, a period from sunrise to
sunset. Still, some people have a
problem with the fact that the act of Creation in Genesis 1 & 2 happened in 6 days literal of 24 hours. As we have discussed before, some Bible-believing
Christians try to put millions of years between each day and you know
what? It just doesn't work; the only
logical way of calculating the time is in 6 twenty-four- hour days. We will look at this more deeply in
subsequent studies
If the Lord had wanted us to know that
the creation had taken 6 literal days, what word for day could He have
used? Of course, "yom". But if the
Lord had wanted us to know that the Creation process was over a long period of
time, He would have used much differant wording possible the
word"'eth" which means a season or a time. The context in the Hebrew clearly gives the
meaning of words and no other meaning is logical. In Exodus 20:11 the Bible states"For in six days the LORD made heaven
and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day:
wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it".
Let me ask you a question: Is the sabbath day an undetermined period of
time? No, of course not, it lasts 24
hours and is from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday; Jews today use that very
same chronology. However, we, as
Christians, tend to complicate matters. Why would we do that?? God only knows..... As we have discussed
before, the Bible must be taken litterly otherwise we "interpret"
Divine Revelation and who knows what humans can come up with.
No 5
(Scientific & Biblical Creationism)
When we read the Bible as Christians, we
understand it to be the infallible and inerrant Word of God. When we discuss issues such as Creationism with
non-believers, we are faced with the fact that not all people believe the
Bible. So what are we to do? Let us look at the difference between
Biblical Creationism and Scientific Creationism.
BIBLICAL CREATIONISM
This is pretty straightforward; the Creation
account in Genesis is self-explanatory. There are differences of opinion but we
can still talk about how the Lord planned His creation in detail, assuming the
audience is composed of believers. In
Genesis 1, there is a day by day explanation of Creation and we see the
progression to the final masterpiece of God's work: man and woman. In Genesis 2 there seems to be a repetition
of the Creation account, but this time the order is not chronological but more
on a priority basis where the Lord begins with the creation of man.
SCIENTIFIC CREATIONISM
When we talk about Creation with
non-believers, our strategy has to be different; don't forget, they do not
accept the Bible as we do. So you ask,
is it possible to speak to non- believers about Creation and not mention the
Bible, not even once? The answer is yes,
definitely yes. We use non-Biblical facts such as : a young earth (not more
than 12, 000 years old); the world's
population; a shrinking sun; DNA in all living things; age dating methods; the
strata in mountains (Grand Canyon/ Mt St Helen's); the fossil record; and many,
many, more. Discussions with non-believers about these scientific subjects require some
knowledge and one can acquire this knowledge by reading good books on the
subject or going to the following web sites and downloading the information
: The Institute for Creation Research
at www.icr.org or its
We must not be afraid to confront people
with this information. By doing this, we
level out the playing field because we talk their own language and, Lord
willing, we will be able to present the Creator and His wonderful plan of
salvation for all mankind.
No 6
(The Big Bang - Its
impossibility)
Everyone has heard about the Big Bang
theory of creation. You know, that's
where a blob of energy (some call it: "the
cosmic egg") exploded somewhere in space and from there, hydrogen gas
was supposedly created and expanded itself across the universe. For some
unknown reason and after an undetermined period of time it started to re-gather
itself by gravity to form the millions of stars and planets that we observe at
night. No one knows why and how it
happened, it just happened. So how do Christians
defend themselves against such a preposterous story?
Some can argue that the Bible teaches a
completely different story of creation, but, as we have said before, most
evolutionists don't consider the Bible as authoritative. There has to be
another way; this is where Scientific Creationism comes into play.
In the Big Bang theory, stars are said
to have created themselves because hydrogen molecules started moving toward
each other by gravity and got closer and closer. The closer they got, the hotter the cloud of
gas became and eventually got so hot, that a star was formed. This all sounds
very complicated, right? But,
actually, there is a very simple
scientific explanation why this could never, never happen.
When gas molecules contract or get
smaller they become hotter; when they get hotter, pressure from the hot gas pushes
out or expands. So there is gravity
pulling in and pressure pushing out or expanding. Science has ways of measuring these two
forces and, as it turns out, the gas pressure pushing out is 100 times stronger
than the gravity pulling in. A star
could never create itself; it had to be created.
There is a wonderful verse in 1
Peter3:15 - "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to
give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you
with meekness and fear.” Let's use
this verse as our focus in defending the Bible whenever the Lord gives us
opportunity.
The Lord used only five small words to
describe the creation of the stars and they are found in Genesis 1:16 "He made the stars also".
No 7
(Day 1 of creation)
The book of Genesis is unique in all of literature because it is
the only place where the creation of the world and the universe is discussed in
great detail. On day one of Creation,
the Bible says in Genesis 1 : 1 « God created the heaven and the
earth ». The word created
(barah in Hebrew) is seen 54 times in the Bible and each time that it is used,
God is the subject. The definition of
this word for created is « the action of bringing into existence from
nothing (Ex Nihilo) » and God used power that we have absolutely no
concept of. In modern science, there
are three foundational terms used to describe the physical world and they are
time, space and matter. In verse one
alone these three terms are discussed in the following manner : TIME (In
the beginning); SPACE (God created the heaven); MATTER (and the earth). God also created light on the first day and
He saw that it was good (verse 4). He divided
the light from the darkness and called the light DAY and the darkness He called
NIGHT (verse 5). This light was not
the light that we know of today because our light, the sun, was created on the fourth day (Gen
1 :16). Upon creation, the earth
was in total darkness (verse 2) and God used this temporary light to create the
cycle of 24 hours that we know today.
God used power way beyond our comprehension and therefore it is
absolutely necessary to accept this cycle of the length of days as truth
because God did so, the Bible says so and that’s that!! In other studies that we have done, it was
said that it is pure speculation on man’s part if an attempt is made to shove
millions of years between each day of creation. It makes no sense and it
contradicts the account of creation in the Bible.
In Psalm 104 :1 – 5, the Bible says that the angels were created
at the same time as the earth was. In 2
Corinthians 4 :6, the Bible symbolically uses day one of the creation of
light to demonstrate the light in the hearts of believers when they come in
contact with the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Therefore, just as believers are born in
darkness and are enlightened by the Spirit of God, so was the earth at the time
of creation.
No 8
(Day 2 of creation)
« And God said let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters,
and let it divide the waters from the waters » Gen 1 :6. On day two, God
created a firmament or an expanse between the « waters ». What
exactly does this mean? Literally
speaking, the God made a space between the waters on the earth and the waters
in the air. The waters on the earth we
all know to be the vast oceans but the waters in the air have three
possibilities. They are : 1) Actual
water held up by some special means; 2) Regular rain clouds; 3) Water vapor;
all three have positive and negative arguments.
It is very interesting that the Lord did not use the same word « barah » [create (Ex Nihilo,
from nothing) in the Hebrew] in this verse as He did in verse one; instead, He
used the word « assa »
which means made from something that is already present. All indications point towards # 3, a water
vapor or canopy which would, as you can imagine, create a greenhouse effect on
the surface of the earth and all vegetation would’ve grown in a perfect
environment. This would be in sync with
the long aging of the people living before the flood, because this vapor
barrier protected them from the harmful rays of the sun. The vapor canopy would also account for all
the water that fell during the flood; because let’s face it, even if it rained
40 days and 40 nights today,there would never be as much water as during the
flood of Noah’s time. There would be a
lot of water on the earth but never 15 cubits (22 ½ feet) over the highest
mountain (Genesis 7 :20). The
second day of creation seems to be a day of preparation where God is preparing
the earth for the many living organisms that will later inhabit it. The Bible says in Psalm 19 :1 « The heavens declare the Glory of God and
the firmament sheweth His handiwork ».
We can only stand in awe of the wonderful and glorious God that we have
who created the universe and everything that is in it and who we can call « Abba, Father » (Rom
8 :15)
No 9
(Day 3 of Creation)
On day three, the dry land was made to appear; the continents
were probably formed at this time also. Can you imagine the great tectonic
upheaval that occurred when God made all this happen; the mountains shot out of
the water at an average height of 2000 feet above sea level and the great
depths of the oceans at an average depth of 13,000 feet? No humans witnessed these events but the
Bible says that the angels did. In Job
38 :1-8, the writer says that “the
sons of God shouted for joy” (vs. 7) after seeing the extraordinary events
of day three. This day is not really
a creation day (as opposed to days 1, 5 and 6); notice that The Bible says in
Gen. 1 :11 : “And God
said : let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed and the
fruit tree” and in verse 12 “and the
earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed and after his kind the tree yielding fruit, whose seed is in itself
after his kind ”. The material that
was required to bring forth the green plants and the fruit trees was already
there; all it needed was God’s word and life began. God created plants and fruit trees to be used
as food for humans and animals that were to be created later on. In Genesis 1 :29 & 30 the Bible
says; “And God said I have given you
every herb bearing seed….the fruit of a tree…to you it shall be for meat….and
to every beast of the earth….I have given every green herb for meat”. Photosynthesis is the term used for a
process in which chlorophyll-containing cells in green plants convert light to
chemical energy and make organic compounds from inorganic compounds. Light energy from the sun plus water, carbon
dioxide and a Divine blueprint make this process possible. As we all know,
there are those who believe that there are millions of years between each
creation day (Progressive Creation Theory); this poses a serious problem when
it comes to the process of photosynthesis.
How could plants survive without the sun for millions of years? They didn’t have to….God created the sun on
the fourth day, twenty-fours hours after He created the plants. So, they were not without the sun for more
than 24 hours; pretty neat, huh? But, as
perfect as the plants were at the outset, they too were affected by Adam &
Eve’s sin – the Bible says in Genesis 3 :18 that the : “Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to
thee”. As a direct result of the
Fall, plants now bear thorns and thistles that, botanically speaking, can be
traced back to a degeneration process of plant life. God made everything perfect but man,
unfortunately, spoiled it and we reap of this act of disobedience to this very
day. .
No 10
(Day 4 of creation)
“And God said, let there
be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and
let them be for signs, seasons and for days and years.” Gen 1:14. The lights that were created here are, of
course, different from the light that was created on day one of creation. The sun (the greater light) and the
moon (the lesser light) that we
see every day in the sky are what determine our day, our month and our year;
weeks were added by man and have no relevance to what God created on day
four. We take these two heavenly bodies
for granted but God created them in such a way that life can survive on this
planet only in the exact way the He placed them; any slight variation in their
orbit and life would cease. The sun’s
circumference is 100 times that of the earth’s or, said in a different way; 1
million earths can fit in the sun. The sun is in constant fusion and lets off
very harmful rays and if not for the design of the Creator, these rays would
kill us. The sun gives off solar wind
particles that could harm us but they do not reach us because of the earth’s
magnetic field. The sun’s ultra-violet
rays are stopped by the earth’s ozone layer.
Our atmosphere protects us from x-rays that the sun gives off. The other light, the moon, is also essential
for our survival because it stabilizes the earth’s tilt and it causes the tides
that help keep our oceans clean. As
Christians, we see the design of the moon to be part of God’s creation but
evolutionists do not. Over the years,
science has tried to explain the origin of the moon and several theories have
been brought forth but all have major problems.
Modern-day science has no plausible answer as to the moon’s origin. On day four, God also created the stars. In Genesis 1:16, the Lord used five small
words to describe the creation of the many billion, trillion stars – “He
made the stars also”. Actually, He
used only three words - the words “He made” were added when
the Bible was translated from the original manuscripts. For years, mankind has
tried to imagine what goes on in other solar systems or in other galaxies. How many books and movies have been written
on the subject? I personally don’t
believe that God wants us to discover what goes on in other galaxies; in other
solar systems, for that matter. You say
why? Good question. Well, distance is definitely a factor. The name of the closest star or solar system
to earth is Alpha Centauri and is approximately 4 light years away. You say only 4; that doesn’t sound too far
away. You’re right it doesn’t so let’s
look at it in more understandable terms.
If astronauts were to get into a space ship and travel at a speed of
30,000 miles per hour, it would take them 1 million years to get to Alpha
Centauri;. or, putting it another way, if they could get the space ship to
travel at 1 million miles per hour, it would take them 30,000 years. I say,
forget it, it’s not going to happen. “For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways
and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9) “The heavens declare the glory of God and
the firmament sheweth His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). Our God is an awesome god and He shows us, by
the creation of the heavens and the earth just how powerful He really is. And,
at the same time, He is a caring heavenly Father who wants only what is best
for His children.
No 11
(Day 5 of creation)
“And God created great
whales and every living creature that moveth which the waters brought forth
abundantly after their kind and every winged fowl after his kind
and God saw that it was good” (Gen 1
: 21). God, in His majesty, created
literally thousands and thousands of different species that live in the
water. This includes mammals such as
whales, porpoises, plesiosaurs and crocodiles.
It also includes all types of fresh and salt-water fish such as pike,
perch, sharks, and barracudas. Life in
the sea is extremely complex when we begin looking at the various invertebrate
creatures that God made. There are millions and millions of tiny, microscopic
creatures in one drop of ocean water. These creatures go through a very complex
life cycle. An oceanographer once said
that to learn all there is to learn about all the biology in a single drop of
seawater could take a lifetime. The word
“abundantly” in verse 21 above means “teeming with” or “swarms
and swarms of” creatures. How
did Moses know this? He wasn’t a
scientist. It had to be given to him be
divine inspiration. God also created
organisms that are heavier than air and that defy the law of gravity. Flight has always intrigued mankind and it is
only in the 20th century that we have been able to accomplish what
God created on the 5th day of creation. Birds are amazing how they are able to fly
and soar in the air. Two wonderful
examples of this are seen in the Arctic tern and the Albatross. The Arctic tern travels from north of the
Arctic circle to south of the Antarctic circle and back again every single year
– we’re talking here of 12000 miles! The
tern is just a little bird but God has given it this amazing instinct. The other example is the Albatross. A baby Albatross, once it gets its feathers
and starts to fly, remains airborne 24 hours a days for 7 to 8 years until it
reaches maturity. These are marine birds
and skim across the water and feed on fish.
In the verse above, we encounter the words “after their kind or after
his kind”. The word “kinds”
here refers to species and not to different kinds within the same species. In other words, whales are whales; there are
sperm whales, humpback whales, blue whales, etc. Or for the birds – eagles are eagles; there
are bald eagles, golden eagles, Stellar’s sea eagles, etc.
The three words “after their kind”
are very important. The Lord has instilled is His creation an exclusivity within
each species; there is no cross-species breeding. Any attempt to do this has always been futile
because of the DNA codes in all living creatures. There are two laws that science calls the
immutable laws of nature. They are
: 1) Life comes from life 2) Similar kinds breed similar kinds. The Bible says : “For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
than your thoughts” Isaiah 55 : 9.
We have a God who is, at the same time, all-powerful and our loving
heavenly Father.
No 12
(Day 6 of creation)
On the 6th day, God created all the land animals; He
also created man, but we will see this later.
“Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle
and creeping thing and beast of the earth after his kind, and it was so”
(Gen 1: 24). We see that phrase again “after his kind” that indicates
that animals are exclusive to their kind or species and that, as we have
already discussed, inter-breeding among different species is impossible; it
either doesn’t work or produces sterile offspring. In the above verse, we note that there are
three types of land animals : 1) Cattle (cows, sheep, goats); 2) Creeping things (Snakes,
crocodiles, rodents and dragons; 3) Beasts
(Giraffes, tyrannosaurs, mammoths and deer).
The Bible says that all pre-flood animals were vegetarians (Gen 1
:30). After the flood, God gave man
dominion over the animals and they were given to man for food (Gen 9 : 2,
3). Several species of animals have
become extinct over the centuries.
Creationists believe that in the case of dinosaurs, they died off
because of a lack of food after the flood and also because of the radically
changed atmospheric pressure on the earth brought about when the waters that
surrounded the globe fell to the earth.
Some other now-extinct animals (mammoths) have been found frozen solid
in the Arctic ice glaciers; they even had undigested food in their stomach
pointing to a rapid change in climate.
Other animals became extinct for various reasons : loss of habitat
through de-forestation, climate changes, over-hunting and pollution. Mankind has abused the God-given privilege of
dominion over animals and has failed miserably as caretaker of an once-perfect
world ; but not to worry, this is all going to be replaced one day : “And I
saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away; and there was no more sea” (Rev 21 : 1).
No 13
(Day 6 – creation of man)
Man….God’s chef d’œuvre. Up to now (Gen 1 : 26) all that
God created was in preparation for man.
It was as if the Lord was making a home for the beloved of His creation
and wanted everything to be perfect. He
made sure that the atmosphere was just perfect and that ample food was
available. God made man sinless and was
therefore, able to have direct communion with him every day (Gen 3 : 8). Sin, of course messed all this up. However,
in a non-spiritual sense, God made our bodies like well-honed machines that
reproduce themselves, feed themselves and repair themselves. No man-made machine can do these three
things. God did not miss out on
anything. To even imagine that we
evolved from lower species is a sacrilege. The Bible says : “So God created
man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female
created He them” (Gen 1 : 27). Here
is one small example of how our bodies are absolutely amazing, there are many
others, but this one really hit me.
There is a muscle in our bodies that we use only once in our entire
lives, at birth. The baby, as it comes
out of the mother’s womb, has a muscle that closes off the flow of blood from
the mother and switches the flow of blood to its own lung-oxygenizing
system. Never again is this muscle used
in that person’s life. Isn’t that amazing?
What about our brains? Isaac
Asimov, an accomplished scientist, a science fiction author and an admitted
atheist once said this startling statement : “The human brain is the most
complex organism in the entire universe”. For him to have said that, he must have come
to realize what Christians have known all along – we have an awesome God.
No 14
(Mutations)
The dictionary defines the word mutation as follows: “the act
or process of changing; change; alteration; most mutations are harmful to a
species” (World Book Dictionary).
Mutations occasionally occur in nature because of genetic or DNA
mistakes. The reproductive process in all living organisms is extremely
complicated and sometimes mistakes or changes happen; say, 1 in 10,000. The
result is a malformation in the species that is passed down to future
generations and research has shown that all mutations are bad. Evolutionists agree that mutations are bad
but they also say that occasionally these mistakes or changes have been
beneficial to a species and has been the impetus behind the evolutionary
process : “Molecules to Man”. They say
that the new offspring can now run faster or gather food more efficiently or
produce more of the new offspring and eventually, over eons of time, replace
the original creature by the mutated one.
How could mutations that are always bad for a species create a new and
better one? Some even say that maybe God
used mutations and evolution to create everything that is in the world
today. Evolution, by definition, is
wasteful, violent and inefficient; why would God, who is all-powerful, use this
cruel method to create man? All life
forms as we see them today were brought into existence fully formed and
instantaneously by the Word of God: “In the beginning was the Word and the
Word was with God and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that
was made” (John 1:1-3). When I read
these words, I just can’t imagine why so many people hold on to the
evolutionary theory when creation is so simple. Wait a minute, might it be because they wish
to eliminate God from the picture completely?
No 15
(Missing links)
Ah, the elusive missing links, where did
they all go? You know, guys with names such
as: The Neanderthal Man or The Piltdown Man; or how about the Cro-Magnon
Man. The list goes on; isn’t it odd that
we don’t hear about them anymore? Do you
why? I will tell you why – because they
have all been proven to be false, down to the last one. As in all other assumptions about evolution,
science has progressed in its ability to find more information about earlier
findings and have thus come to the conclusion that these “missing links” are
not what the original discoverers thought they were but are just ordinary men
or ordinary animals as such is the case.
Here are two examples : The
Neanderthal Man lived in the Neander Gorge in Germany and had a severe case of
arthritis because of the damp weather and he had rickets. Rickets is a disease caused by a lack of
vitamin D that prevents the body from using calcium. Therefore, his bones were
out of shape and his forehead was larger that normal. The other example is The Nebraska Man – this
one is a classic. A tooth was found in
Nebraska USA and scientists built a man from this tooth; they even explained
how he was able to search for food and what tools he used. It turned out to be a pig’s tooth. Our Heavenly Father made us in His image –
how can people even begin to believe that we evolved from some cave man? “And God said, Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and
over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he
them.” (Genesis 1: 26, 27)
No 16
(The Canopy Protection)
In the Bible, when we
read about people living 800, 900 years on earth, we have difficulty in
grasping this concept to the point of even saying to ourselves: “Were these
real years like ours today?” When
the flood occurred, the Bible tells us
that “I will cause it to rain forty days and forty nights and every living
substance that I made will I destroy from off the face of the earth”(Gen
7:4b). As we have seen before, on day 2 of creation, God separated the
waters that were under the firmament from the waters that were above the
firmament (Gen 1:7). A thick blanket of
water vapour covered the earth at this time; creation scientists have concluded
that it wasn’t water because that would have created a surface temperature (too
hot) on the earth and unsuitable for humans.
Therefore God let the waters of the fountain of the deep and the windows
of heaven empty themselves to the point that the highest mountain was covered
over with 15 cubits of water (Gen 7:29, 8:2).
Why did people live so long before the flood? They were protected from the harmful rays of
the sun because after the flood, the normal age for humans dropped to 120 years
(Gen 6:3). Modern science today does not
understand the aging process in humans; all they know is that we grow old and
there is nothing we can do about it.
Possibly a minor extension has been seen due to drugs and medical
advances but the general consensus is that our bodies wear down and eventually
expire. Aging and death is part of the
curse of sin and no one can slip by.
Knowing what comes after death is described in the Bible and the
Christian message is to inform all who have ears to hear that our soul is
eternal and, inevitably, there are only two places where we will end up – in
heaven with God or in hell with Satan.
No 17
(Astronomy Part 1)
The universe was created by God; the
Bible says so in Genesis 1 :1 “In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Most Christians are in agreement with this
statement to the effect that God created everything, including the universe “Ex Nihilo” (from nothing) and as we
have seen, there are varying viewpoints, but the general consensus among
Christians is that God is the Creator of all things. In past studies, we have seen that the size
of the universe is way beyond our comprehension (See Day 4 of Creation). The nearest star (solar system) is billions
of miles away and science has developed very precise ways of measuring distance
in space by mathematics. “So how do we reconcile the fact that the
light that we see coming from stars that are trillions of miles from earth took
billions of years to travel through space before we could see it?”
(Starlight & Time by Dr Russell Humphreys).
Creationists have never come up with a plausible theory about this in
the context of a six-day creation.
Einstein’s theory of general relativity (GR) has been well established
and is the best theory of gravity we have today; it is used as the framework
for all modern cosmologies. According to
GR, gravity affects time – clocks at a low altitude click more slowly than
clocks at a high altitude and this has been proven experimentally on
earth. An atomic clock was placed at the
Royal Observatory in Greenwich England and it ticked 5 microseconds slower than
an identical clock that was placed at the National Bureau of Standards in Boulder
Colorado, USA. This amount of time does
not sound like much but we will look at the details of this discovery in
another study and see that this theory is very interesting. “9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
(Isaiah 55:9). This theory of
time/gravity sounds very technical to us, but for God, it just part of His vast
wisdom.
No 18
(Worldwide Flood)
The Biblical account of Noah’s ark and the flood that the Lord
sent “to destroy all flesh wherein is
the breath of life from under heaven and everything that is in the earth shall
die” (Gen 6: 17b) is probably the most familiar passage in the entire
Bible. Genesis 6, 7 and 8 contain very
specific details of this event and in chapter 9, the world as Noah had known
it, completely changed; is was a new world for the animals also. Habitats had been altered, food sources had
changed and some animals did not survive these changes; dinosaurs are an
example. While the flood waters were
receding in the area of Mount Ararat in Turkey adjacent to the Russian and
Iranian border, elsewhere in the world tremendously rapid climate changes were
occurring at both poles which account for certain animals being found intact
and frozen in large ice mountains. A
now-extinct mammoth was found trapped in one of these Arctic glaciers with
undigested food still in its stomach. In
the Australian mountains, thousands of shellfish fossils have been found; some
have been found also in the Grand Canyon in Nevada. The flood was worldwide in scope and the ark
ended up in a very treacherous mountain range to which many, many expeditions
have been put together to find it. We
know it’s there because the Bible says so, but up till now no one has actually
found it; at least no one who has documented proof. Many stories have emerged over the years
about sightings of the ark; a satellite even picked up an image that resembled
a rectangular box sticking out of the side of a mountain. The terrain in that region is very dangerous
and the weather is most uncertain. On
top of that, the government of Turkey is not cooperative and restricts
helicopter landings or large expeditions. The Institute for Creation Research
have sent geologists and other scientists 13 times to Ararat but have all come back
empty handed. They were shot at,
attacked by dogs and risked crossing almost bottomless canyons to get to the
area where they thought the ark might be.
If the ark were found, it would be very beneficial to the Gospel message
and yet in the back of my mind, I wonder if God really wants us to find
it……. “For by grace are ye saved
through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. Not by works lest any man should boast” (Eph
2: 8,9)
No 19
(Fossils)
Fossils tell us a great deal of information about what and who
roamed the earth thousands, not millions of years ago. The dictionary definition of a fossil is “a preserved trace of an ancient animal or
plant”; 95% of all fossils are those of marine animals, mostly shell
fish. The remaining 5% includes all the
plants, the animals/dinosaurs and the humans.
Special conditions are necessary to produce fossils : a) the plant or
animal must be buried alive very rapidly;
b) There must be enormous pressure in order to preserve its shape; c) This must be done in the absence of water
because water will simply dissolve the plant or animal. Fossils are found everywhere; you may have
seen some yourself, I have. Now, the
great thing about fossils is that they strengthen the theory of Divine
Creationism. Why? Simply because there is something very
important missing in the fossil record – an animal or plant in the process of
evolving into another animal or plant.
In other words there are no intermediate forms found in the fossil
record. Evolutionists believe that
dinosaurs evolved into birds; they also believe that cows come from whales,
etc, etc. There is not a shred of
evidence in the fossil record to support this.
As I said, fossils strengthen the case for creation because the millions
of animals and plants that have been found appear fully-formed in the fossil
record; no intermediates, not even one!! Science must face another fact – there is a
profusion of “living fossils” being
found everywhere. Living fossils are animals or plants that were believed
extinct, but have surfaced in modern times.
Praise the Lord for fossils. “O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in
wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.” Psalm 104:24.
No 20
(Astronomy Part 2)
In continuing the study of starlight from deep space in a
six-day creation scenario, Dr Russell Humphreys’ theory further states that the
universe has a centre and has an edge.
In other words, the number of stars in the universe is not infinite;
there is a definite, certain number. He
bases this on Psalm 147 :4 that says: “He
telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.” This verse implies that the number of stars
is finite and in verse 5b, the Bible states that “His understanding is infinite”. God created the universe; He knows
how many stars there are and He knows all their names; science is just
discovering what the Bible has stated all along. Dr Humphreys’ theory is much more
complicated than this and this E-Mail does not do it justice. If you would like to find out more, go to www.answersingenesis.org. Dr Humphreys admits that his theory could be
wrong but he is certain of one thing – God has the answer. The unmanned Voyager 1 spaceship has been travelling
for 26 years and has reached the edge of our solar system; it has travelled 8.4
billion miles in space. Voyager 2 has
been to Uranus and Neptune and is the only spacecraft to ever visit these
planets. When I read stuff like this,
two words come to my mind – WHO
CARES? Science and mankind say
that they are searching for our beginnings and, in doing so, want to eliminate
any possibility that a superior being exists.
Is there life on planets in other solar systems? I don’t know; I don’t care. If God wanted us to know this, He would have
revealed it to us in His Word; the Bible is silent on such matters. Once John MacArthur was asked by someone “Are
you stupid enough to believe the Bible?” Mr MacArthur answered “Yes,
I’m stupid enough to believe the Bible; what are you stupid enough to believe?” Good answer, John! Genesis 1 tells us the reason that the stars
were created: “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to
divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and
for days, and years:” (v14)
No 21
(Dating methods)
There are scientific ways of measuring the age of rocks, wood,
fossils, bones and any other organic material and any other organic material;
Carbon-14 or Radiocarbon (14C) is one of them. Ordinary carbon or 12C
as well as 14C are found in the carbon dioxide in the air which is
taken up by every living thing so, elephants or the leaves in a tree contain
carbon. If we measure how many 12C
atoms there are for every 14C atom there is in a living thing, this
is called the 14C/12C Ratio. It remains fairly constant
as long as there is life, but as soon as the plant or animal dies, the 14C
begins to decay and is not replaced, so the amount of 14C starts
decreasing. In other words, the 12C/14C Ratio gets
smaller. Voila, we have a “carbon clock”
to measure the age of things that were once living. This method cannot be used to measure rocks
or fossils; other methods are used for that.
The past is not open to normal experimental science, so a scientist
cannot do experiments on events that happened in the past. God once said to Job “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (Job
38:4). There are several methods to
measure the age of rocks or fossils such as:
Potassium Argon, Rubidium Strontium, Lead Isochron; we won’t look at
them because it gets much too complicated.
There is, however, something that can be said about these methods. A
group of scientists measured the same rocks
with these three methods and three different ages were derived. Potassium Argon revealed an age of 10,000
years; Rubidium Strontium gave an age of 1, 270,000 years and Lead Isochron
gave 2,600,000 years. Not even close!!
Millions or thousands?? The age
of things can be measured by what information is available to mankind:
evolutionists use man’s chronology, creationists use the Bible’s
chronology. Which one do you think is
more reliable?
No 22
(The Age of the Earth)
How old is the Earth?
Some say millions of years, some say billions of years. May I propose thousands of years? According to Bible chronology and a six-day
literal creation, the earth is no older than 10,000 years. This figure is
generous because some Bible scholars say that it is no older than 6000 years;
the Bible, however provides no absolute date so the task of determining the age
of the earth is quite difficult. To
calculate the date we must use the genealogical data in Genesis, in 1 & 2
Chronicles, in the Gospels and elsewhere.
Information from Judges, 1 & 2 Kings, Daniel, Acts and other books
may be included. All the genealogies
begin with Adam of course and there is no way of knowing exactly when to start
counting the years that went by in his lifetime; we know how old he was when he
died (930 years old – Gen 5:5), we just don’t know when to begin. The Jewish calendar is based on lunar years
and they have maintained the same time table since Genesis. The majority of nations in the world say that
we are in the year 2004 but, the Jewish calendar says that we are in year
5764.
There is much, much more hard scientific evidence supporting a
young earth that an older earth. Items
such as : the small amount of helium in the earth’s atmosphere; the low
concentration of chemicals in the oceans; the geological strata that we see in
canyons; the lack of human skeletons in the fossil record and many others. The Bible says in Isaiah 55 : “8 For
my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the
LORD.9 For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts.” We as Christians ought to
heed the words of this and other verses instead of buying into the humanistic
evolutionist thinking of the world.
No 23
(The Laws of Thermodynamics)
The definition of thermodynamics is as
follows: “the conversion of heat into
mechanical or other forms of energy” (World Book Dictionary). Thermodynamics is a field of physics and
certain laws were introduced by scientists in the beginning of the 19th
century. They are quite technical to
explain in this short text but, in layman’s terms, here is how we can
understand them. The first law of
thermodynamics basically states that within a closed system such as the earth,
no new thing is being created or can be created. The second law of thermodynamics gives a
precise definition of a property called entropy. Entropy can be thought of as a measure in
the disorder of a system; it indicates that everything in that system is moving
towards disorder or chaos. What does all
this have to de with the Bible?
Just this: the theory of creation agrees perfectly with
these two laws. The Bible says in Exodus
20:11 – “For in six days the LORD made
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is” (The first law of thermodynamics says that
nothing new is being created). The Bible
also says in 2 Peter 3:10 – “But the day
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat,
the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” (The second law of thermodynamics states that
everything is moving towards disorder). All one has to do is look around and
see that the earth is getting worse and worse.
A famous mathematician named John Von
Neumann (1903 - 1957) proposed a theory involving a machine that could
replicate itself, feed itself and maintain itself – this theory is called “The Von Neumann Machine”. Mankind will never be able to make such a
machine because even if a machine could somehow replicate and feed itself, it
would always be in need of maintenance.
God, in His omnipotence and omniscience programmed every living
organism, plant and animal, to do those three things perfectly and
flawlessly. Our God is an awesome God!!
No 24
(Catastrophism)
This word is relatively new in science and it stands for the theory that
certain geological and biological phenomena were caused by catastrophes instead
of continued and uniform processes; by catastrophes we mean, floods,
earthquakes, volcanoes and wind. We have
all seen with our own eyes or on television the devastation that occurs
whenever one of these natural calamities takes place. Whole villages are wiped out of existence in
a matter of minutes. On the North
American continent, the most devastating occurrence of one of these was the
eruption of Mount St Helens on May 18 1980 in Washington state. A friend of mine just happened to be on
vacation in that area when it occurred.
He woke up the next morning with 6 inches of volcanic ash on his car; it
was incredible. In a matter of hours,
the eruption destroyed trees equivalent to the lumber required to build 450,000
houses. Millions of tons rock were displaced
as if the mountain were a sand castle.
Wildlife by the thousands was destroyed.
This was a catastrophe of gargantuan proportion.
Also in North America, we find the Grand
Canyon in the state of Arizona through which the Colorado River passes. For centuries, scientists said the canyon was
formed over millions of years by the action of the Colorado River passing
through it; since Mount St Helens, they now say differently. Why?
Six months after the St Helens eruption, the Toutle River in the valley
below the volcano formed a mini Grand Canyon with the same strata and the same
zigzagging effect as in the real Grand Canyon.
Why should Christians be interested in all this? Because it is more proof that the earth is
young, that we did not evolve from animals, that God created everything in six
literal days; basically, it gives proof that the Bible is true. In Psalm 104:31, 32 we read “The
glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his
works. He looketh on the earth, and it
trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.” God’s omnipotent power allows these natural
calamities to occur.
No 25
(Where did all the dinosaurs go?)
Dinosaurs have been used to indoctrinate
children and adults alike to the framework that they existed millions of years
ago and never existed in the same time period as humans. Their sudden disappearance occurred by some
cataclysmic event such as a huge asteroid hitting the earth; may I say up front
that this is totally false. According to the Bible, flying dinosaurs and
sea-going dinosaurs were created on the day five of creation and land dinosaurs
were created on the day six along with all the other animals. As such, there is no mystery as to when they roamed the earth; the Bible
chronology puts them at about 6000 years ago.
We do not find the word “dinosaur”
in the Bible because it was invented in 1841 by Sir Richard Owen and it means “terrible lizard” from the Greek (denios sauros). The Bible has many verses that speak about
dinosaurs or large animals such as “dragons”
in Psalm 74:13 and in Isaiah 27:1. How
about the animal that is described in Job 40?
No way is this a hippopotamus or an elephant; since when do either of
these animals have a tail like a cedar tree? (v17) Don’t forget the word dinosaur did not exist
then. Over the centuries and in many countries (England, China among others),
stories have been told about fire-breathing dragons just like the ones
described in Job 41: 19-21 “19 Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks
of fire leap out. 20 out of his nostrils
Goethe smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron. 21 His breath kindled coals,
and a flame Goethe out of his mouth.”
There is no doubt that dinosaurs lived with humans and no, they were not
all killed by an asteroid.
So far, all this has been the
introduction; so here comes the answer to the above question: Where did all the dinosaurs go? They simply became extinct through natural
causes such as changing habitats, deforestation, and lack of food. You know,
there still exist terrible lizards;
have you ever seen the Komodo dragon in Indonesia? After the flood in Noah’s time, the
topography of the world changed radically and yes, there were dinosaurs in the
ark. Many, many other species of animals have become extinct in this manner and
there is no mystery whatsoever as to when the dinosaurs lived on earth and when
they became extinct.
No 26
(The Population of the Earth)
At present, the population of the earth is 6,406,565,600; of
course this figure is constantly changing and the prediction for the year 2050
is that the world’s population will be 9,190,252,532. There are some interesting analyses to be
considered about the population of the world; let’s look at a few.
1) The world is overpopulated. This one of the most blatant misconceptions
of our time. We hear about this often; deforestation, loss of habitat are
reasons that people use to justify this.
Did you know that the whole population of the world could fit in one
large North American city. You say what?
Get out of here!! Let’s use Montreal as
an example. We must understand of
course, that we couldn’t live in this space but if we allow 3 square feet per
person; they all fit, you do the math.
The world is not over populated; it is mis-managed.
2) If the earth is billions of years old, where are
all the bones? This is not
really a misconception but more of a mathematical problem. The earth’s population is increasing at an
average rate of 1.5% per year. Even if the population increased only ½ % per
year, in a million years, there should be trillions and trillions (or to be
more exact, 102100) of
remains of humans but yet the fossil record shows only a fraction of that
amount. In fact, there are so few
people, you wonder why the palaeontologists and the demographers have not seen
what is so obvious; this brings us to our last analysis…..
3) How long would it take to go to zero population if
we went in reverse? By using the
same average rate of increase (1.5%), how long would it take to go, in reverse
to zero population on earth? Or putting
it another way, how long would it take for 8 people (4 women and 4 men) to get
to the population of the earth as it is today?
I
didn’t do the math on this one; someone else did and do know what? It would take approximately 4000 years. What catastrophic event occurred that
could’ve wiped out the population of the world about 4000 years ago? You got it!! The flood of Noah’s time. Genesis 6:17, 18 says “17 And, behold, I, even I, do
bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the
breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall
die. 18
But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the
ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.”
These are things we can use to strike up a conversation with
someone about the God of the Bible and His plan for humanity.
No 27
(Genetics)
Some scientists say that the study of genetics is the key to a
better life, a healthier life and a longer life. Others, however say that it intrudes in an
area that is sacred and the scientific community ought to tread very lightly in
the study and the manipulation of the genetic composition of living
things. Modern genetics involves genetic
engineering, a technique used by scientists to manipulate genes. Genetic
engineering has produced many advances in medicine and industry, but the
potential for abuse of this technique has also presented society with many
ethical and legal controversies. In
agriculture, genetic advances enable scientists to alter a plant or animal to
make it more useful. For instance, some food crops, such as oranges, potatoes,
wheat, and rice, have been genetically altered to withstand insect pests,
resulting in a higher crop yield.
Genetic technologies have also helped convict criminals. DNA recovered
from blood, skin cells, or hair found at a crime scene can be analyzed in a
laboratory and compared with the DNA of a suspect. An individual’s DNA is as
unique as a set of fingerprints. There
is definitive proof that some genetic manipulation has been beneficial to
mankind. The question is not can we do
it but rather should we? The Bible says
in Isaiah 55:8,9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the LORD. For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts
than your thoughts.” My prayer is
that we do not go too far in this sacred area that was created by our
omniscient and omnipotent Heavenly Father.
No 28
(Two immutable laws)
Modern secular science is based on materialism. This means that
the majority of the scientific community believes that life originated from
chemical reactions over millions of years and that there is no supernatural or
spiritual forces behind the origin of life. They believe that living creatures
can be produced from non-living substances; the scientific term for this is spontaneous generation. Fortunately not
all scientists believe this and there is an increasing number of them who
believe that there is an ordered design in creation. Dr Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1859) who was a
renowned scientist and creationist proved in a laboratory the 2 following
immutable laws:
1) All living
things come into existence from parents,
2) Similar
life forms give birth to similar life forms.
Amino acids are compounds that are the simplest units out of
which proteins can be assembled. Proteins, on the other hand, are extremely
complex chemicals that are built of amino acids; they are found in all plants
and animals One chemist has calculated
the immense odds against amino acids ever combining to form the necessary
proteins by chance/undirected means; he estimated that the probability to more
that 1067 against. We know that
the DNA in all living organisms contains coded hereditary information and is
absolutely unique to each species.
Another scientist calculated the possibility of the 15,000 atoms of a
single DNA molecule left to chance as required by the evolutionary process,
would go together in any of 1087 different ways.
Breeding amongst different species always results in sterile offspring, plant or
animal. Also, never has a laboratory
been able to produce a living organism from non living substances and do you know
what? They never will!!! Why?? The Bible says in Colossians 1:17 “And He
is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” Even the simplest blade of grass cannot be
reproduced artificially. Scientists know
what’s in a blade of grass – cellulose, chlorophyll, water, etc but only God
has the power to give life. “In the beginning, God created the heavens
and the earth” Genesis 1:1.
No 29
Cloning)
The dictionary definition of cloning is “the asexual reproduction of offspring” or, in common terms: the
reproduction of genetically identical offspring from tissue originating from
the host that is to be cloned. The
process involves taking an unfertilized egg cell from the female and removing the
nucleus; this process renders it incapable of developing. Then a cell is removed from the host and its nucleus is removed and placed in the
female enucleated egg cell. All the
necessary genes are present in this newly formed egg and it is placed in the
recipient embryo and is allowed to develop.
The process looks simple but is highly complex and we all
remember Dolly the sheep that was cloned by Ian Wilmot in 1977. Since then, success in cloning other animals
or plants has been very minimal because of the nucleus removal and all that it
entails is very difficult. Most of the
cells are destroyed in the process and the results are quite unreliable. Human cloning research has been outlawed in
almost every country in the world. One
scientist (a non-Christian) said that he believes that human cloning will never
work because of the complexities of the nucleus transferral. England has recently claimed to have
successfully cloned a human being.
Remarkably, cloning can be utilized as an example of how God
created all living things. In cloning, you
can’t place two sheep in a pen or an enclosure and say to them “please clone yourselves”; nothing will
happen. The sheep will reproduce, but they won’t clone. It takes a scientist outside the pen who knows genetics and is capable of doing the
work. God did the same when He created
all things; mankind could not create itself – “O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all:
the earth is full of thy riches.”
Psalm 104:24
Cloning, although quite controversial, may one day help mankind. There is another area of genetics that is
very controversial and very unethical : stem cell reproduction; we will look at
this next time.
No 30
(Stem Cell Research)
This topic is gaining supporters as well as critics in the
news. Stem cells are like little
factories – they produce all of the 220 other cell types in the body; they
could even be called generic
cells. Once the human egg is fertilized,
its starts to divide itself; this process is called mitosis and continues into
adulthood. The end result is a human
body that contains 10 trillion (10,000,000,000) cells. Stem cells are extremely complex and science
does not know how they function but they do know that they are capable of
developing into muscle cells, bone cells, nerve cells, etc, etc.
Scientists have been able to recognize 3 types of these
cells: totipotent, pluripotent and
multipotent. Totipotent stem cells, as
the name suggests, are able to develop into any of the 220 cells types that the
body requires; unfortunately, they exist only a few days following
conception. The next kind of stem
cell is pluripotent and they are capable
of developing into hands, feet, digestive systems and like totipotent cells, they
don’t last long either. The last kind is
multipotent and unlike its predecessors, they continue to produce cells into
late adulthood.
Now here is the crux of the matter – science wants research and
eventually, according to them, produce totipotent cells to cure people with
multiple sclerosis, with Parkinson’s disease, with amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (Lew Gehrig’s disease), with diabetes and other incurable diseases
but, as we have seen, these cells can only be obtained in the first few days of
conception. In order to provide this
type of stem cell, life has to be initiated in a test tube and abruptly
aborted; this is the main stumbling block for stem cell research. Christians cannot condone this and the
governments are trying to deal with this very sensitive matter. God gave us the ability to initiate life;
let’s not abuse this wonderful privilege.
“O LORD, how manifold are thy
works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.” Psalm 104:24.
May we have the wisdom of the Lord to stop this!
No 31
(Infinitely large, infinitely small)
God thought of everything when He
created the universe. The Bible tells us
that “God created the heavens and he
earth” Gen 1:1 and He created them perfect in every sense “…it was very good” (v 31). Notice that
there are two things: the heavens and the earth; there’s us and the
universe. How big is the universe? Well, as we all have seen and read it is huge
and it contains billions of stars that are ever so beautiful on a clear
night. But, in lay man’s terms just how
big are we talking about here? We have
seen this before so this is a review.
The closest star outside of our solar system is Proxima Centauri (V645
Cen) and if a spaceship were to travel 30,000 miles per hour it would take
18,800 years for it to get to this star.
If it travelled at 1 million miles per hour, it would take 386
years. Now that’s far, right? In earthly terms it is, but in astronomical
terms, it’s just around the corner; this star is our neighbour. How far is it
from earth? just 4.2 light years or 3,384,864,000,000 miles. The stars that are billions of light years
away….well, our brains just don’t think that big. Is God in control? Absolutely!! The Bible says in Psalms 147:4 “He
telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names” So, there is a limited number of stars in the
universe; it’s just that man has not as yet been able to realize this yet; it’s
way beyond our comprehension. Scientists
use mathematics to calculate distances and their accuracy is uncertain. They even use the color of light to say that
the most distant stars tend to be on the red end of the spectrum; this is
called red-shift. Scientists say that these calculations
indicate that the universe is constantly expanding at an ever greater rate of
speed. The universe is infinitely large
and yet Our Heavenly Father knows exactly how many stars there are in it.
Now, how about infinitely small? The numbers are just as astounding. Our bodies contain between 20 and 30 trillion
cells and 10,000 average-sized human cells can fit on the head of a pin. So, that’s pretty small, right? Yes, but it
gets infinitely smaller. One cell is composed of several parts that just get
smaller and smaller. And these parts are
made up of other even smaller structures.
The smallest things that scientists have discovered are called neutrinos
and they belong to a family called elementary
particles. Neutrinos are very small
particles with no electric charge and little or no mass. They are elementary
particles—that is, they cannot be broken into smaller particles. Neutrinos are
so small that they pass right through most material. Unfortunately, there are even smaller
particles called point particles; I
say unfortunately because scientists cannot actually see them even with the
most powerful microscopes. By deduction,
scientists say they must exist because of the effect they have on other
particles. They exist at a certain point
in space without taking up any space; now that’s really small isn’t it? What kind of God do we have who created all
these amazing phenomenon? The Bible says
in Isaiah 55:8: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the LORD.” Because of our
limited capabilities and since God is so much more stupendous than we are, He
had to give us His Word so that we could begin to have idea who He is; through
the Bible we can come to know God on a personal basis. What a privilege!!
No 32
(Which came first, the chicken or the
egg?)
This age-old question can be answered
very simply in the pages of Scripture.
But first, let us examine how God in all His power and might, created
the universe as well as the various life forms here on earth. In Hebrews 11:3, we read “Through
faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that
things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” In other words, God created all things ex nihlo; He created them from
nothing. The universe was created mature
and with the appearance of age. Peter further confirms this truth in his
second letter with the following words “…that
by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the
water and in the water:” (v
3:5b). The galaxies that we observe
today with powerful telescopes (Hubbell) are really millions of light years away and the light we see from these
galaxies really takes millions of
years to get to us. What does that tell
us? It tells us that, in a six-day
literal creation process as the Bible states, God had to have created the light
that we see as well as the stars themselves.
The same thing applies here on earth to
all created life forms. God created
mature fruit trees; He didn’t create seeds and left them to grow by
themselves. All the animals were created
fully mature; he didn’t create eggs so that they could become chickens. God created fully grown chickens which
answers the above question; God created
the chicken before the egg. Adam
and Eve were created fully grown and capable of procreation. If a modern scientist were to travel in time
and meet Adam one hour after his creation, he would see a fully-mature person
with all the skills needed to tend to the garden of Eden, to name all the
animals on earth and to speak daily with God (Genesis 2 & 3).
No 33
(The Mystery of Complexity)
The universe and all it contains is a
huge mass of complex organisms that are way beyond our comprehension. Oh, we know how everything works – this little seed become a carrot or this egg
becomes an eagle; or the moon is just where it is and everything else; it’s
just that we don’t know why
everything works. Isaac Asimov, who is a science fiction author (I, Robot) and
a staunch atheist once said: “the human
brain is the most complex and orderly organization of matter in the universe”. We who know the true God are just as amazed
at God’s creation as they are but we have come to realize that these are just
further proof of just what kind of God we have. “Lift up your eyes on high and hehold who have created these things” Isaiah
40:26 “The Lord of Hosts is His name”
Isaiah 48:2; “…the
Lord formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air” Genesis
2:19.
How did He do it? “He
spake and it was done” Psalm 33:9.
Unfortunately, all these wonderful
complex systems are slowly deteriorating and, in the past 100 years, this
decaying process has been sped up exponentially with the age of industry. The Bible says that “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the
which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be
burned up.” 2 Peter 3:10. The Lord made
us stewards of this planet (Genesis 1:28) and we have failed miserably in this
important mandate. Oh, the complexity is
still as mysterious as it has ever has been; it’s just that it is on a crash
course with destiny. There is much to
be said and done so as to slow down this decaying process by better living
habits but its doomed, nonetheless.
“Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out
heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and
weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?” Isaiah 40:12. The Creator God has a plan for humanity;
it’s a perfect plan – may we be the preachers of it to those who do not know about
it.
No 34
(Evolution in Schools)
In the majority of schools in North America, the theory of
evolution is taught and any tendency to go the way of Creation is met with much
opposition. Those who are against
creation are also against anything that may be construed as being religious
because, they say, creation is not scientific.
We have heard all the arguments and they are tenacious when it comes to
allowing the teaching of a Creator God and the Biblical account of the origin
of man.
However, a new push is under way and I believe we, as true
Christians, ought to support this with prayer.
This new way of presenting Creation is called Intelligent Design and it
is gathering speed and momentum. At
least now there is more dialogue and let’s face it, it takes a lot more faith
to believe in evolution than it does to believe in Creation. I am convinced that there are many scientists
out there that don’t agree with the majority of what evolution says but because
of the Biblical connection, they shy off from siding with the
creationists. The Intelligent Design
movement is less threatening and therefore is finding more support among school
boards. I’m sure that there are many
teachers who also don’t believe evolution and all its fantastic theories such
as: the big bang, natural selection, survival of the fittest, the geologic ages
and the list goes on ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
But the scientists and the teachers who do not know the God of the Bible
cannot possibly imagine anything else other than evolution because they do not
have the Spirit of God indwelling in them.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1:18: “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but
unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” The teaching of Creation is just as foolish
to them who do not know God. Only God
can convince and convict unbelievers; our job is to preach the Gospel and to “be ready always to give an answer to every
man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and
fear:” 1 Peter 3:15b.
No 35
(Ockham’s Razor)
Ockham’s Razor is a term scientists use when many hypotheses
about a certain project are proposed, studied and/or rejected. Researchers discuss the validity of their
respective experiments and debate about the flaws and features in each of them,
sometimes with many heated arguments. In
order to choose among all the possible theories this tool is often used to
settle issues.
Ockham’s Razor is the principle proposed by William of Ockham, a
monk in the 14th century: “Pluralitas non est ponenda sine
neccesitate”, which means “entities
should not be multiplied unnecessarily”.
In the vernacular, it means “keep
it simple”. Suppose you have two competing theories that describe the same
system such as:
1. The planets
move around the sun in ellipses because there is a force between any of them
and the sun which decreases as the square of the distance.
2. The planets
move around the sun in ellipses because there is a force between any of them
and the sun which decreases as the square of the distance. This force is generated by the will of some
powerful aliens.
Ockham’s Razor will cut
the “excess baggage” about the aliens since both theories have the same
outcome.
Because Occam's razor is sometimes called “the principle of
simplicity” , some creationists
have argued that Occam's razor can be used to support creationism over
evolution. Having God create everything is much simpler than evolution, which
is a very complex mechanism. But Occam's razor does not say that the more
simple a hypothesis, the better. He did
argue, however, that natural theology is impossible. Natural theology uses
reason alone to understand God, as contrasted with revealed theology which is
founded upon scriptural revelation. Therefore, Ockham was probably a believer.
The Bible contains divine truth and the first verse says “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Simplicity is the key to understanding God’s
highly complex principles.