CREATION MOMENTS: 3.3.18

DO BIRDS TRULY MAKE MUSIC?

Song of Solomon 2:12

"The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land."
The Bible speaks of bird calls as songs, as most of us do. However, evolutionary theory has led some scientists to say that we are merely assigning human meanings to the calls of birds. They say that the bird calls have nothing to do with real music.

 Ornithologists have known for some time that bird songs use the same musical scales as our music. Decades ago it was noted that some of Beethoven's work could be heard from the European blackbird. The music was the same as the opening rondo of Beethoven's "Violin Concert in D, Opus 61." Since these birds pass their songs from generation to generation, Beethoven could have gotten the lilting music from the forefathers of today's European blackbird! The songs of some species, like the song sparrow, follow the form of a sonata, beginning with a strong theme, then the theme is musically played with, and for a finish, the original theme is then repeated. Mozart had a starling as a pet. Once, having heard Mozart play his "Piano Concerto in C Major," the starling not only imitated it, but changed the sharps to flats! Mozart exclaimed, "That was beautiful!" When the starling died, Mozart held an elaborate funeral for it. Eight days later he wrote "A Musical Joke," which contains the same elaborate structure found in starling song.

 Do birds make true music, as the Bible says? Contrary to what some evolutionists say, Beethoven and Mozart certainly thought they did.

Lord, I thank You for the gift of music, and I await the music of heaven. Amen.

Notes: Science News, 4/15/00, pp. 252-254, "Music without Borders."

 

THE TREE WITH NOTHING TO OFFER BUT ROT

Genesis 1:11b

"Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth'; and it was so."
The chempedak tree is found in Malaysia. It is closely related to jackfruits in the mulberry family. The chempedak tree produces edible fruits that are about a foot long.

 Researchers studying the chempedak were surprised to discover that they bloom irregularly. One tree was watched by researchers for five years before it bloomed! While the flowers smell like watermelon, they offer no nectar to entice pollinating insects. Moreover, the insects that do pollinate the chempedak tree do not eat any of the pollen. What, then, attracts the two species of gall midges that pollinate the flowers? The answer: a fungus that attacks only the male flowers of the tree. The midges like to eat the fungus, so they crawl on the male flowers as they eat the fungus, picking up pollen. Then they go to the clumps of female flowers looking for more fungus, inadvertently pollinating them. This arrangement in which the tree depends entirely on a fungus to attract pollinators is unknown in any other species. This raises the question of how such an arrangement could have evolved. Without both the midges and the fungus, the first chempedak tree would have been the last. All three elements in this interrelated system had to have come into being at the same time.

 The chempedak tree bears witness to a rapid creation of the interdependent plant and insect world where living things had to wait, at most, mere days for the other creatures it depends on to come into existence, just as Genesis reports.

Dear Father, with the creation I will bear witness that You are Creator. Amen.

Notes:  Science News, 3/18/00, p. 182, "Tree pollination needs male-only rot."

 

THOSE CLEVER WHALES, DOLPHINS AND SEALS

Psalm 148:7

"Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all the depths…"
Scientists have long wondered how deep-diving creatures such as the whale and the dolphin can dive so deeply on one breath. It takes a great deal of energy for a seal, for example, to dive 1,200 feet deep and then return to the surface. Scientists computed that one breath should not be able to provide enough oxygen to burn the muscular fuel necessary for such dives.

 In one attempt to learn how deep-diving sea creatures do what seems to be impossible, researchers even built a robotic fish. Their studies of how the fish swam indicated that gliding would not conserve a deep-diving creature's energy. However, scientists have finally been able to attach video cameras to deep divers and have discovered their secrets. The cameras were designed to show scientists exactly how the animals moved. They found that these animals actually do save energy for their return to the surface by gliding into the depths. To their surprise, researchers saw that as the animals descend water pressure squeezes their bodies into a smaller volume, making them more dense. The pressure also flattens air sacs in their lungs, further helping the animal to descend. These effects help save oxygen reserves for hunting and the return to the surface. Scientists marveled at how clever the animals are.

 No one has even seen cleverness result from the chance forces that supposedly drive evolution. Intelligent design comes from an intelligent Designer, our Creator God.

Dear Father, help me to glorify You with my actions. Amen.

Notes:  Science News, 4/8/00, p. 230, "How whales, dolphins, seals dive so deep."

 

 LIMA BEAN SELF DEFENSE

Psalm 20:1

"May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble; may the name of the God of Jacob defend you�"
You may not think of plants as being intelligent on any level since it appears that they just sort of sit in the soil and grow. However, we have done a few Creation Moments programs on plants that try to poison or repel a predator. Now we will see that the lima bean employs an even more sophisticated defense strategy that not only warns surrounding lima beans of the attack, but also calls in defenders.

 Anyone who has ever worked with plants is familiar with spider mites. There are many varieties, but one of the most dangerous to the lima bean is the two spotted spider mite. These mites inject their saliva into a plant's tissues, dissolving them. One of the mites' biggest enemies is a carnivorous mite that feeds on these two spotted mites. These carnivorous mites are small and travel wherever the winds carry them. When two spotted mites attack a lima bean, the plant sends out a special chemical signal. When this distress signal reaches surrounding lima beans, they, too, begin to send the signal even though they are not under attack. The signal carries several messages to different species. Spider mites not on the plant being attacked are repelled from the area. On the other hand, any carnivorous mites that drift into the area will stay to feed on the two-spotted spider mites. As a result, the lima bean defends itself by sending specific messages to three different species!

 The lima bean's intelligent defense strategy is difficult for evolutionists to explain. It is easily accounted for by a Creator Who cares about all His creatures.

Lord, thank You for defending me against sin, death and the devil. Amen.

 

 STUDY SHOWS AMERICANS ARE SPIRITUALLY HUNGRY

2 Timothy 1:13

"Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus."
A poll conducted by George Gallup reveals some alarming trends in Americans' religious thinking. First, the good news is that more than 80 percent of Americans desire to grow spiritually. Secondly, Christian religion continues to show wide popularity, with church attendance remaining steady over the last half century. Also positive is that people are seeking a more meaningful and deeper spiritual life. Gallup attributes this to the failure of materialism to satisfy the human heart.

 However, Gallup's study found that there is widespread ignorance about the Bible, basic Christian teachings and traditions. Even more disturbing is that the study found that Christians generally don't know what they believe or why. As a result, Gallup found a widespread tendency to mix Christian and non-Christian beliefs. People tend to pick and choose what they want of Christianity, along with beliefs from other religions. For example, Gallup cites evangelical Christians who also believe in reincarnation. Here at Creation Moments, we frequently run into people who profess to be Bible believing Christians, and still believe that God used evolution to make the world we know today.

 A good part of our ministry is to help people understand what the Bible says and to know why they believe it is true. However, that is a job that belongs to every Christian. When each of us takes this seriously, we will be able to offer others the true spirituality that so many are now seeking.

Dear Father, grant me a more complete understanding of Your Word. Amen.

 

 

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CREATION MOMENTS: 2.24.18

TALENT AND EXERCISE

Matthew 25:21

“His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
In another Creation Moment, I described the natural ability of a sportsman like David Beckham and how his work could be defined by math. When we consider great sportsmen, we consider the link between talent and what they have done with that talent.

 A great soccer player like Beckham, for example, has a God-given talent, whether or not they acknowledge this. I have the ability to describe the bending free kick by math, but I could not actually kick the ball this way even if I practiced for hours every day. God has given me one talent, and Beckham another.

 In any sport, however, we occasionally come across players where we think that their talent has been wasted. I can think of one British soccer player of the past who showed early promise but who developed an unfortunate and public addiction to alcohol.

 The relationship between talent and the work done to develop that talent is a biblical concept. In the parable of the talents, the man who started with two talents and who brought back four was commended as highly as the man with five talents who brought back ten. Both men had started with talents, which they did not earn, but were given to them, but both men developed those talents further. It was the man who simply buried his talent who was condemned.

 Both the abilities that God has given us and our exercise and development of them are important factors in our lives and in our witness.

Thank You, Lord, for the talents that You have given me. I pray that You will help me develop my talents and not bury them so that You can use me more effectively for the furtherance of Your kingdom. Amen.

 

 THE PHYSICS OF SPORT

Hebrews 12:1-2

�Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.�




One popular science TV show in the UK suggested that David Beckham was a master of differential calculus in the way he scored goals. Beckham, who played for such major soccer teams as Real Madrid and LA Galaxy, was a master of the curling free kick that could fool defenders and goal keepers, as the ball bent around them into the net. He did not have the reputation, however, of a master mathematician.

 If one were mathematically to describe the trajectory of the ball as it left Beckham�s foot, the math would be pretty sophisticated. The equation would include g � the acceleration due to gravity. But a large number of other factors would have been in Mr. Beckham�s head. These would include information from his eyes about the positions of various defenders, the power of his foot on the ball, and the positioning of the point of contact that would produce exactly the right amount of spin. Perhaps some peripheral constants would include the material and method of manufacture of his boots.

 There is no doubt that David Beckham�s experience and talent would have informed his decision about how to kick the ball. Few would expect him to plot the trajectory on paper or give details about the nature of the equation described above.

 Whether they would acknowledge this or not, God gave athletes like David Beckham their talents, and God gave them the means to develop their soccer brains to enable them to judge how, why and where to kick the ball. And God gave other people the means and tools to be able scientifically to analyze their actions.

We are amazed, Lord, at the sporting talents that You have given some people, and how they have developed those talents. Thank You for those sportsmen and women who do acknowledge You and who give You the glory. Amen.

 

 THE DINOSAUR MUMMY

Genesis 7:23

�And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.�
We have now got used to the idea that there are dinosaur fossils containing soft tissue. Our familiarity with such finds has begun to dull the edge of the surprising import of such finds. Whichever way you spin this, the presence of soft tissue is not consistent with evolutionary ages for the dinosaurs.

 Perhaps this sense of surprise, for the evolutionist, will be rekindled by the discovery of dinosaurs complete with skin, scales and pigments. One such dinosaur find is that of Borealopelta markmitchelli. This amazing specimen caused one expert to remark that it �might have been walking around a couple of weeks ago�.

 When the protein molecules of such organisms break down, they form secondary proteins called kerogens. These molecules have been found in this dinosaur. Although the exact lifespan of such molecules has not been fully researched, it is clear that they cannot last anywhere near as long as the required 112 million years � the date assigned to this dinosaur.

 Similarly, pigments like melanin have been found in the scales of the dinosaur. Experiments have suggested that the lifespan of melanin is only thousands of years. Yet, this dinosaur is not the only discovery in which such melanin has been found, even though there is no scientific mechanism by which such pigments could last the millions of years required.

 These dinosaur finds are troubling to evolutionists. But they are fully consistent with a biblical worldview, confirming as they do the Bible�s timescale for Creation and the Flood.

Your word, O Lord, is always true. We thank You that You have graciously provided evidences consistent with Your word. We pray that we might trust You completely because we believe what You have said. Amen.

 

 

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CREATION MOMENTS: 1.17.18

BEAR NECESSITIES

Genesis 8:22

“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
A recent science article in the UK’s Telegraph newspaper suggested that grizzly bears may have dropped their carnivorous ways in favor of a life of eating berries. Apparently, the streams and rivers on Alaska’s Kodiak Island are replete with salmon. Normally, 75% of these salmon are killed by grizzlies, but in recent years, the salmon have remained untouched, while bears stay in the hills eating elderberries. This change in behavior, which is billed as a form of evolution, is said to have occurred because elderberries are said to be ripening earlier every year. The normal diet of the grizzly bear would involve eating salmon at the end of summer and early fall, followed by gorging on the high-energy berries in order to fatten up for the winter hibernation. But the berries are ripening early, so the bears are missing out on the salmon in order to consume high energy berries. The Telegraph’s article thinks that it knows the culprit for this situation, which it sees as problematic. Early berry ripening has been caused by our old friend climate change.

 Apparently, this will affect the ecosystems of the rivers. Bears do not consume the whole salmon. The discarded carcasses rot and enrich the soil in the riparian region. Worried scientists suggest that bears will have completely given up on salmon by 2070.

 There has, of course, been frequent warming and cooling of environments before. More to the point, the Bible reminds us that “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22)

Thank You, Father, that we can rely on You, even in the midst of weather turmoil. Amen.

 

DON’T TAKE THIS LITERALLY

2 Timothy 3:16-17

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
The Bible’s authority is constantly questioned, and so-called scholars constantly attempt to undermine it. As I write this, a new attempt is being made to undermine people’s trust in God’s word.

 Interest has recently been shown in a 100-page document in Latin, written by the fourth-century Italian bishop Fortunatianus of Aquileia. Dr. Hugh Houghton of the University of Bormingham has translated the work and reports that it provides an allegorical interpretation of the Gospels. Houghton says, “There's been an assumption that [the Bible is] a literal record of truth... But for people teaching the Bible in the fourth century, it's not the literal meaning which is important, it's how it's read allegorically.”

 Houghton’s claim is that, because the document dates back to the fourth century, it should carry more weight about methods of interpreting the Bible than, for example, the works of Augustine. But is the antiquity of the document any evidence for its authority?

 The answer to that question must be a resounding “No”. It should be a surprise to nobody that there were people in the early post-apostolic church who were already casting doubt on the authenticity of New Testament books. After all, the first record we have of someone casting doubt on the authority of God’s word is recorded in the Bible itself, when the serpent, in Genesis 3, does exactly that. There are many scholars who have shown that many post-apostolic writers accepted the authority of the entire Bible, and the New Testament documents themselves are self-authenticating – such as Peter’s acknowledgment of the Scriptural authority of Paul’s letters in 2 Peter 3:16.



Your Word, Lord, is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Help us always to be guided by Your word. Amen.
 ARE LIZARDS IN BRAZIL EVOLVING?

Genesis 1:25

�And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.�


There was a certain hydroelectric dam built in Brazil. This involved the flooding of a region of countryside, which left some populations of geckos isolated. Gradually, the populations of other lizards in the area died out. After about 15 years, it was noticed that the geckos in the area had �developed� larger mouths in order to eat large insects that would formerly have been eaten by larger lizards. Is this evolution?

 One is being led to believe that the ability to have bigger mouths is a brand new piece of genetic information in the geckos, causing it better to survive. This is not the case. The information to produce these large mouths was already present. There would, previously, have been the occasional gecko hatched with a big mouth. But it would have had no survival advantage, and possibly some disadvantage, so would not be able preferentially to breed. However, in the new circumstances, supplies of bigger insects were more readily available, so the big-mouthed geckos would find it easier to survive, compared to their small-mouthed relatives. Therefore, the big-mouths would be preferentially selected. It is important to notice that no new genetic information was created in this process. This is an example of adaptation. The evolutionist, however, likes to refer to this process as microevolution so that they can claim that Darwinian macroevolution is simply a step up in complexity. This deliberate attempt to use the same term for two different phenomena is known as �bait and switch� and is a recognized logical fallacy.

Thank You, Lord, for making everything well. Thank You for putting variation into the genetics of so many creatures to help them survive. We pray, Lord, that You will make us to be good stewards of the portion of creation for which we are responsible. Amen.
HE WALKS ON WATER

Matthew 14:25

�And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.�
What happens if a man tries to walk on water? The answer is that his feet would sink into the water.

 Of course, it is possible for people to float. This is because of the buoyancy produced by the force of the displaced water. But if you tried to set your feet on the surface of a body of water, the pressure produced by the weight of your body, through the small surface area of the soles of your feet, is too great for the buoyancy to counteract it.

 So, scientifically speaking, Jesus could not walk on water. But Matthew�s Gospel reports in chapter 14 that He did just that. At the beginning of John�s Gospel, we are reminded that all things were made for Jesus, by Jesus and through Jesus. Jesus is, therefore, the One who invented gravity and buoyancy. As the Creator of these forces, He could do what He likes with them, even subverting them, if He so chose.

 It is interesting that most Christians can accept that Jesus had control over gravity. And yet, so many Christians still fail to believe that God made the world the way He said that He did in Genesis 1. Why is it so difficult to believe that the One who could walk on water, in defiance of what modern scientists say, could create a universe and inform us in His word of exactly how He did it?

We praise You, Lord, that You made all things well. When we look at all that You made, we just have to stand in awe at Your Holy Name. Amen.
 PRODUCT PLACEMENT IN THE GARDEN

Matthew 6:28-29

�And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.�
The purpose of an advertising billboard would be to grab the attention of the passerby � or, in today�s world, the person driving by. One way of attracting the attention of prospective customers might be to use bright colors. Suppose that the more brightly colored paint was more expensive. The increased business would be mitigated against by a greater cost involved in getting the necessary paint or ink.

 This is the sort of situation faced by a flowering plant. The flowers are the organs of the plant used for reproduction. The plant needs some sort of mediator to transfer male pollen cells from one flower to the stamen of another. The mediator is a pollinator and would typically be an insect or occasionally a mammal or a bird. The flower has to attract the pollinator, who does not visit the plant out of the goodness of his heart. Therefore, the petals of the flower become advertising billboards. Different shades and brightness of hue will attract different insects.

 However, what is not often considered is the amount of energy expended by the plant to produce such a colorful display. Consider that, in the early supposed evolution of a flowering plant, the plant would have had to use up a lot of energy to attract a pollinator. What if it hadn�t worked? The weakened plant would have wasted energy without any reproductive advantage. That clearly would not have occurred. In fact, from whatever angle you examine this, there is no evolutionary mechanism for the brightness of flowers. Instead, this is a clear design feature, illustrating the greatness of our Creator.

We are humbled and grateful, Lord, by Your great and wise provision for us because You consider us more important than the beautiful flowers of the field. Amen

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CREATION MOMENTS: 2.10.18

SINE OF THE TIMES

Genesis 6:15-16

“And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.”
Mostly, I liked math (or maths, as we called it) when I was at high school. But one aspect of math was tedious. This was when special numbers had to be looked up in boring books called log tables. These books contained not only logarithms but also the trigonometric functions – sines, cosines and tangents. Today’s students simply press a button on their scientific calculators, but we had to look with painstaking concentration through page after page of figures until we had worked out the value required.

 A clay tablet, called Plimpton 322, was discovered in the early 1900s in the area where Babylon must have been. This mysterious tablet, with four columns and 15 rows of numbers, has remained an enigma until recently. Researchers at the University of New South Wales have discovered that the numbers are in base 60 rather than the base 10 that we use. In addition, they are trigonometric tables like those sine, cosine and tangent tables that I remember from my youth. It has been known for a very long time that the Babylonians used base 60. This is the source of our idea that an hour contains 60 minutes, and a minute 60 seconds.

 Ancient civilizations were far from primitive. It is likely that the earliest post-Flood civilizations, such as Babylon, retained some of the pre-Flood knowledge passed down through the generations. No wonder their inhabitants wanted to keep central control of such knowledge, before God scattered the people across the face of the Earth.

Thank You, Lord, that You are in control of all the sciences, even mathematics. Thank You for the wonder of creation that we even see through historic math documents. Amen.

 

 

TEMPLE OF PI

1 Kings 7:23

“And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.”
In 1 Kings 7:23, there is an unusual account of how Solomon had the sea of bronze made. We read that is was “ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference”.

 Many atheists and skeptics have used this verse to criticize the Bible. They suggest that the inaccuracy suggested by the dimensions given is inconsistent with a Book claiming to be without error. They suggest that a diameter of 10 cubits and circumference of 30 cubits is impossible, as the relationship between these two values is governed by a value called pi (π).

 Now, pi, the famous mathematical constant, is found by dividing the circumference of a circle by its diameter. So, if Solomon had made the sea ten cubits across, then surely the circumference would have to be about 31½ cubits.

 What the skeptics fail to notice is that verse 26 informs us that there was a rim, with a width of a handsbreadth. A cubit is about 18 inches, while a handsbreadth is 4 inches. So the circumference is 540 inches. The rim-to-rim distance is 180 inches, but we need to subtract two handsbreadths to find the diameter of the vessel, which will be 172 inches. 540 divided by 172 is 3.1395, which is extremely close to the recognized value of 3.1416, giving a tiny experimental error of just 0.07% – well within the accuracy of any measuring device used at the time.

 This little math lesson is, as expected, consistent with our presupposition of the Bible’s trustworthiness.

Thank You, Lord, that we can trust Your word to be true in even the tiniest, least significant details. Help us to trust Your word for all the big events of our lives. Amen.

 

DRINK COFFEE AND LIVE LONG

James 1:17

�Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.�
James says that �every good and perfect gift is from above...� Perhaps I am twisting Scripture a little by including coffee in this category. I have to confess � I love coffee. So I was delighted to read on the Science Daily website recently that the intake of coffee could contribute to longer life! If that is so, I could be looking forward to living as long as Methuselah!

 Now, we have discussed coffee, or rather caffeine, before in these Creation Moments programs. It isn�t my purpose today to extol the virtues or otherwise of this honey-colored liquid. I simply want to note that a recent study has linked drinking four cups of coffee a day with a long and healthy life. 337 participants were studied over a ten-year period and were found to have a 64% lower risk of all-cause mortality than those who never or almost never consumed coffee. All participants lived in Spain or other Mediterranean areas. The researchers noted that previous studies on coffee consumption had not been carried out around the Mediterranean.

 The study also notes that previous studies had sometimes shown that there was a deleterious effect to the over-consumption of coffee or other caffeinated drinks. There are, after all, many people who suggest that drinking coffee could be bad for one�s health. The fact that another study is now suggesting an opposite conclusion simply underlines how volatile the professional opinion of scientists can be. The idea of scientific consensus turns out to be a myth and not an argument of authority. Our only absolute authority is what God says in His word.

Thank You, Father, for the truth of Your word. Amidst all the changing opinions of the world, Your word remains the same. Amen.

ROOSTING DINOSAURS

Genesis 1:20

�And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.�
Current evolutionary thought suggests, as most people are aware, that birds evolved from therapod dinosaurs. Therefore, evolutionary scientists must find their evidence, not only for the evolution of the skeletal structure of birds and features such as feathers, but many other behavioral characteristics. As someone who keeps chickens, I am well aware of the desire among these birds to roost together at night, lending each other protection.

 Scientists at Canada�s University of Alberta have been examining a fossil from the Mongolian desert. The fossil shows three oviraptors, said to be juvenile. Two of the raptors are more or less complete. They are said to be preserved in a sleeping posture �so close, that they would have been touching in life�.

 One of the best uses of evidence is to demonstrate the inconsistency of thought on the part of evolutionists. For example, creationists interpret many fossils, including the famous archaeopteryx fossil, as having been preserved suddenly in a death-throe posture. Evolutionists are critical of this interpretation, not able to accept that fossilization can be sudden.

 But in the case of these oviraptors, Alberta scientists have to assume that these dinosaurs were fossilized suddenly in a sleeping posture. If this were true, then it undermines the evolutionary position on the formation of other fossils. But if the Alberta scientists have interpreted the fossil dinosaurs� posture incorrectly, then the entire usefulness of the fossil, as evidence for the evolution of birds, is negated. Either way, evolutionists have nothing to celebrate.

 The Bible makes clear that birds were created on the fifth day of the creation week, while dinosaurs, being land animals, were created the day after birds, not millions of years before them.

We know, Lord, that the world outside does not want to accept Your word on how things were made. Keep Your people faithful to Your word. Thank You that all that we discover is consistent with what You told us in Your inspired word. Amen.

 

 EVERYBODY LOVES PANDAS

Genesis 1:24

�And God said, 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�
Everybody loves pandas, don�t they? We must love them because we are trying to save them from extinction, with some success; pandas have been downgraded from endangered to vulnerable. Apparently, their habitat in China is expanding, so that the likelihood of those adorable black-and-white icons of world wildlife may not disappear after all.

 However, I recall one British comedian poking ironic fun at the mission to save the pandas by saying that we could do without them. After all, he opined, they seem determined to commit species suicide, so why not just let them go where the dinosaurs and mammoths went?

 A Christian position is more logical � less sentimental, but more compassionate. If pandas had already gone extinct, then we could clearly live without them. However, given that humanity has a mandate from Genesis 1 of stewardship of the Earth and its resources; it is certainly admirable to attempt to preserve what we have in the way of panda populations.

 The concept of panda extinction is inconsistent for evolutionists. A hard-line evolutionist should want them to die out because, in the survival of the fittest stakes, pandas have proved themselves less fit. Yet most people, while holding evolutionary philosophy, would rather try to take steps to preserve the cuddly looking giants.

 It is only those taking a biblical worldview who can view the subject with any degree of rationality. Animals are only animals. When they die, their souls return to the ground. Yet, the survival of pandas has only occurred because of massive human effort � effort that is not wrong and can indeed be justified from Scripture.

Thank You, Lord, for the beauty of Your creation. Thank You for the varied creatures that You have placed in it, of which pandas must be among the most beautiful. Help us to know how and why and what we should preserve, as part of our stewardship of Your creation. Amen.

 

 

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CREATION MOMENTS: 2.3.18

EVOLVING COMPUTER CODE

Genesis 11:1

“And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.”
Some years ago, a major international software company took out some commercials on British television. The theme of the commercials was that their software was now better than it had ever been because it had evolved. The commercials showed images of dinosaurs and so-called primitive animals as they evolved into more modern, up-to-date varieties. As I said, the object of the commercials was to convince the public that the software applications they were selling were better and more sophisticated than their products had been previously.

 Darwin’s theory of evolution, and its neo-Darwinian variants, suggests that organisms have gradually got more complex by the spontaneous appearance of new DNA code. There is, of course, an analogy between computer programming code and the arrangement of information in DNA – except that DNA information is a great deal more complex than a computer app.

 If I had been one of the programmers of these software apps, I think I might have felt a little insulted. Granted, the new software versions were much better than the previous generations, having more and more useful routines. But each of these sophisticated features had been designed, planned and coded by software engineers. No information was introduced randomly by blind evolution. All new information was the result of highly intelligent design.

 This reasoning, incidentally, is just one of many reasons why evolution is impossible. New DNA code has even less chance of appearing by itself than a new programmed feature has of appearing in these software applications.

Every item of code in DNA is important, Lord – just like the code in a computer program. Thank You for the wonder of Your creation.

SOLAR ECLIPSE

Genesis 1:16

“And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.”
Many of us in the United States watched the total eclipse of the Sun in 2017. I was at my place of work in the state of Washington, where the eclipse was 98%.

 An eclipse happens when the Sun, Moon and Earth are perfectly lined up, with the Moon casting a shadow on to the Earth. You might think that such an arrangement would happen every month, but it does not because the Moon’s orbit is at an angle to the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Nevertheless, total eclipses are not that rare and there is likely to be one somewhere in the world every couple of years.

 We are so used to seeing the Sun and the Moon that we forget some important but simple concepts. First, we forget that these objects are entirely different. The Sun produces its own light by nuclear fusion, but the Moon – a solid lump of rock – simply reflects sunlight.

 Also, we forget that the apparent size of these objects in the sky is the same. The Sun is many times bigger than the Moon but is also a lot farther away. The coincidence of their relative sizes means that the Moon can exactly fit over the Sun, enabling us to see phenomena such as the Sun’s promontories, looking like large flames. As Christians, we believe that this “coincidence” is actually a design feature. Eclipses in history can accurately be dated, enabling us to calculate the dates of many historical events. This is one of the reasons that God has designed this spectacular phenomenon.

Thank You again, Lord, for the wonder of Your creation. We stand in awe at the way that it works, and we are amazed at the wisdom of Your plans. Amen.

 

 JUST SO

Romans 1:25

�Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.�
I used to love it when my elementary school teacher read stories to the class. She had some favorite stories. One of her favorite collections was Rudyard Kipling�s Just So Stories. The idea of each story was to give a fictional account of how certain features of various animals came to be. Of course, Kipling was not presenting a scientific thesis. He expected his stories to be received as works of imagination. So in his �The Elephant Child�, we learn about a button-nosed young elephant who was bothering a crocodile. The crocodile caught the Elephant Child by his nose and pulled, and his nose stretched into the long trunk we have today.

 What has always struck me since I became a Christian is how similar many evolutionary ideas are to Kipling�s imagination. For example, there are those zoologists who maintain that giraffes developed gradually longer necks in order to be able to get food from higher branches of trees. The idea is that of a multi-generational �Just So� story, and it does not account for the many extra features found in a giraffe�s neck and anatomy � not just the neck�s length.

 A recent academic account has suggested that flight developed in therapod dinosaurs by the creatures flapping their arms, and that is how their arms eventually became wings as they evolved into birds.

 Of course, the evolutionary articles are much more sophisticated than I have suggested here. But, in kind, they are really not much more than clever �Just So� stories. We do not need such stories because the Bible explains clearly how God put life on this Earth.

We pray, Father, for freedom from the need to believe Just So stories. Instead, Lord, we pray that people will give You the honor You deserve for all that You have done. Amen.

Ref: Kipling, R. (Candlewick edition 2004), Just So Stories. Image: Public Domain.

 

THE MINERS� CAR

Psalm 75:2-3

�When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly. The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah. �
Three people went out to dig for rock. The rocks in their claim were rich in minerals, such as malachite � the principle ore of copper.

 Historically, copper has been used as an alloy, being mixed with tin to form bronze. Today, copper is used in the printed circuits of computers, cell phones and other electronic devices. Copper is relatively easy to extract from its ore, requiring not too much heating of the ore, with a reducing agent such as carbon.

 One morning, the three miners drove to their claim, as normal. They parked their car and walked a mile or so to their claim in order to dig for ore. Their mine was in the heart of the Cascade Range in the state of Washington, close to the volcano known as Mount St Helens. Donald and Natalie Parker, and their nephew Richard signed waivers at the edge of the �blue zone� in order to gain permission to the area, access to which was being restricted because of the possibility of an eruption. The next morning, Sunday May 18, 1980, the mountain blew and the Parkers� cabin was destroyed by the blast. All three miners died of asphyxiation. Their car was thrown 60 feet and landed where it remains to this day as a macabre tourist sight.

 We do not know what tomorrow may bring. This is why the Bible reminds us that today is the day of salvation. It is important to get right with our Creator today.

We thank You, Lord, for our health and for the life You have given us. We pray that we will not take You for granted but give every day to You to serve You for Your honor and glory. Amen.

 

 YEARS OF DARKNESS

Isaiah 60:2

�For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.�
You must have heard the evolutionary idea that dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid hitting the Earth about 66 million years ago � probably on Mexico�s Yucatan Peninsula. Recently, this idea has come under criticism from evolutionists as well as from creationists. Other models for the extinction of the dinosaurs have been explored.

 Recently, researchers from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) have been revisiting the idea of the asteroid strike and have suggested that dust and soot, flying into the air after the impact, would have caused about two years of darkness over the entire world. The researchers suggest that this would have shut down all the photosynthesis across the world, resulting in mass extinctions and reducing the global temperature. This darkness, therefore, would have caused the demise of the dinosaurs.

 The word �dinosaur� was originally coined to give a label to types of animals which do not really have much in common, other than the fact that they are extinct. It seems odd to spend so much time wondering how a class of animals became extinct, whose nomenclature was only created to state that they were indeed extinct. Many animals have become extinct. In a biblical worldview, we can see that some animals, following the Flood, might have had difficulty adapting to new climatic conditions. In any case, it seems more logical to attribute the death of dinosaurs to climatic conditions following a known worldwide catastrophe (the Flood) rather than a similar change caused by the speculation about an unknown worldwide catastrophe � the years of Darkness.



Father, we thank You for Your word and for the fact that we can trust it. We pray that Your people will be increasingly dependent on the truth found in the Bible rather than chasing after idle speculations. Amen.

 

 

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CREATION MOMENTS: 1.27.18

DISCOVERY AT PILTDOWN

Genesis 1:26

“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.”
It must have been a very exciting meeting of the Geological Society of London in December 1912. Charles Dawson was presenting a paper concerning a skull that he said had been found at a gravel pit in Sussex, England. The skull appeared to be half human half ape. The prevailing opinion of the time, as it is today, was that apes and humans had a common ancestor from which they had all evolved. Dawson’s colleague, Arthur Smith Woodward, claimed at the same meeting that the find was that of the fabled missing link between apes and humans. Thus began the legend of Piltdown Man.

 The gravel pits at Piltdown, Sussex, yielded a number of finds along with the skull. These finds in total were sufficient to convince the scientific establishment of the truth of the find. But in 1953, an extensive investigation of the skull indicated that the cranium was that of a human who had died about 600 years ago while the jaw was that of an orangutan. Tests revealed that these fragments had been artificially aged with various chemicals.

 Today, Piltdown Man is the textbook example of a scientific fraud. However, we should remember that the skull was considered to be genuine for over 40 years.

 The history of Piltdown Man is well worth studying. How many of today’s evolutionary “proofs” will turn out not to be what they appear? Throughout all this, God’s word remains the same, and remains true.

Thank You, Lord, that Your word is always true. Help us to trust Your word even when the world is against us and ridicules our belief. Amen.

Ref: Bowden, M. (1978), Ape Men: Fact or Fallacy, (Sovereign Publications). Image: Public Domain.

 

LIFE BLOOD

Leviticus 17:11

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”
Not every animal appears to be of equal value to God. Some of them, in Genesis 1, were blessed. Then there is the way that God described some of these creatures.

 Even the word creature is used in different ways. In Genesis 1:20, the Hebrew word translated as creature is sherets. The verse refers to “living creatures”. The word for “living” is nephesh. In verse 21, however, the word nephesh appears again, but is translated just as “creature”.

 Another interesting place where the word nephesh appears is in Leviticus 17:11 – “The life of the flesh is in the blood”; literally, the nephesh of the flesh is in the blood. It seems that there is a differentiation between animals with or without blood, as they would be animals with or without life. That is not to say that non-nephesh animals are not living, but their quality of life is different. They are not blessed animals, like those with blood are.

 So what is this blessing for nephesh animals for? It is surely because of the importance of blood. Hebrews 9:22 reminds us that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins”. Of course, the only perfect blood was that of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed His blood, not only as a covering for our sins, but to wash away our sins completely.

Without the blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ, we would be lost in our sins. Only His blood takes away our sin completely. We pray that those reading these articles will, if they have not already done so, repent and trust completely in Him. Amen.

Ref: Ham, K. (2014), Was there Death before Adam Sinned?, in New Answers Book 3, (Master Books). Image: Adobe Stock Images, Licensed to author.

 

ADAM�S ATTITUDE

Genesis 3:6

�And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.�
It is impossible for us, 6,000 years later, to get into the mind of the first man. For a start, he was created perfect, and we have no idea what it is like to be perfect or to have a perfect mind. Then again, given that he was perfect, we have difficulty in understanding why he would deliberately choose to disobey God and eat the fruit. But while we cannot get into his mind or understand why he did what he did, the fact that he did what he did is a matter of record.

 Most of the action in Genesis 3 seems to concern Eve rather than Adam. How can we then say that Adam�s sin was important, when clearly Eve had sinned before him, and the devil had sinned before that? The reason is that Adam had a federal responsibility. He was our federal head. That is why, in Romans 5, Paul tells us that in Adam all die.

 The devil�s sin was his own. Each angelic being was separately created, so they have no federal head. Eve�s sin was also her own, as she had been formed out of Adam�s side. But Adam represented all humanity. Eve was tempted by the devil in the form of the serpent. But Paul tells us that Adam was not deceived. In fact, Genesis 3 tells us that the woman gave some of the fruit to her husband.

 We still don�t know why he did it, but we do know that it was Adam�s sin, as our federal head, that separated all of us from God.

Thank You, Lord, that although we have been born in trespasses and sin, You can wash away our sin completely if we will trust wholeheartedly in You.

 

 MUCH STUDY

Ecclesiastes 12:12b

�Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.�
There is a time and a place to defend your faith. Scripture tells us that we are always to be ready to give that defense to someone who asks us the reason for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15). But what if the questioner is not interested in asking about the hope?

 I remember thinking that I had to give an answer to everyone regardless of their attitude. I soon learned, however, that not everyone is humble enough to receive the answers that we might give. On one occasion, a questioner online said that there were millions of contradictions in the Bible. I asked him to name just three. He posted 45. I spent several hours researching each of these alleged contradictions and posted a reasonable answer to every single one. In less than a minute, he posted that my comments were nonsense. He had not had sufficient time even to read the first answer, let alone the other 44.

 Perhaps the amount of study was wearisome. It was certainly helpful to me, but not to my questioner, who had a closed mind.

 There are many well-researched books about these alleged contradictions. I have even contributed to one myself. Of the making of these sort of books, there seems to be no end. The writer of Ecclesiastes noted that �much study is a weariness of the flesh�. Without reference to God, our study does become wearisome. But if it points humble hearts to God, then it is one of the most important things we can do.

Help me to show myself approved, Lord God. Help my study not to be wearisome, but to bring honor and glory to Your Name. Amen.

Ref: Ham, K. (ed. 2010), Demolishing Supposed Bible Contradictions Volume 1, (Master Books). Image: Adobe Stock Images, licensed to author.

 

 AS ONE APPROVED

2 Timothy 2:15

�Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.�
When you come up against a Christian who believes in evolution, your conversations with him will be qualitatively different from the conversations that you might have with an unbeliever. It can be very frustrating and even depressing to encounter a Christian who says that he believes the Bible but does not believe the literal truth of what the Bible teaches in Genesis 1. How can you defend creationist truth in such a situation? It can often seem overwhelming to try to do so.

 In such circumstances, you should try to remember these three points.

 1. Just because your friend does not believe in a literal six-day creation does not mean that he is an unbeliever. Jesus does not require belief in a literal six-day creation for salvation.

 2. You do not need to know everything. There are great websites and books to point people to that will help you answer questions.

 3. You should at least know a few facts, especially those that are derived from Scripture. You may not need to know quantum mechanics and string theory, but you should be reading your Bible and knowing a little of what it says.

 The answer to point three is to do a little studying. You should at least look at a couple of easy-to-read books or web pages so that you can answer some common questions.

 The Bible says that you should �do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.� (2 Timothy 2:15)

Thank You, Lord, for making Your word clear about how creation happened. Help us to be gracious but knowledgeable about creation when talking with my Christian friends. Amen.

 

 

 

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CREATION MOMENTS: 1.21.18

GOOD OLD CO2

Matthew 5:45

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Carbon dioxide is a wonderful gas. It occurs in the atmosphere at an average concentration of 404 parts per million by volume (ppm). Plants need carbon dioxide to grow. This is the principle source from which plants derive the carbon compounds that they require. Green plants use chlorophyll to catalyze a reaction between carbon dioxide and water vapor that produces sugars and also some free oxygen. Greater concentrations of carbon dioxide will cause faster growth in plants. For example, large greenhouses in Britain used to pump in extra carbon dioxide to help tomato plants grow. The optimum concentration of carbon dioxide for plant growth is 2,000 ppm – 5 times greater than normal concentrations. Yet, climate change advocates claim that even the 400 ppm that we have is too high. So the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has declared that carbon dioxide is a pollutant.

 The IPCC has determined that human-generated carbon dioxide – generated by industrial processes – is causing the Earth to get warmer. That there is a continuous increase in global temperature is by no means certain. Nevertheless, 20th century data does indeed suggest a correlation between carbon dioxide concentration and average global temperature. Could this be a case of cause and effect?

 Increase in concentration of carbon dioxide actually follows temperature rises rather than the reverse. If there is any cause and effect, it would appear that it is the temperature rises which causes the increase in carbon dioxide – possibly by warmer oceans dissolving less CO2.

 Perhaps it is time to celebrate rather than denigrate this strange and wonderful gas.

Father God, You continue to be in control in this world. We trust Your mighty power to keep this planet on which we live safe. Amen.

Ref: Moore, P. (2015), Should We Celebrate Carbon Dioxide, (London: The Global Warming Policy Foundation). Image: License: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

 

FRANKINCENSE

Matthew 2:11

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
As a child, I was told that frankincense had been brought to Europe by the Frankish people � ancestors of the modern French. This turned out not to be the case. Instead, the prefix frank refers to this incense being of particular high quality or purity.

 Frankincense is a resin produced by trees of the boswellia genus. Incisions are made into the bark, and a milky liquid appears. This liquid hardens with exposure to the air and becomes the aromatic resin with which we are familiar.

 Frankincense is mentioned frequently in the Pentateuch as one of the important incenses used in Tabernacle, and later Temple, worship. In Exodus 30:34, God gave Moses a recipe for the incense to be burned on the incense altar.

 Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part)

 Incense was frequently used in conjunction with sacrifices. For example, in Leviticus 2, we read:

 He shall take from it [the sacrifice] a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. (Leviticus 2:2)

 It appears that incense was symbolic of prayers going up to the Lord. Therefore, our prayers are like a pleasing aroma to the Lord. That is one reason why frankincense was such a fitting gift for the Wise Men to bring to the child Jesus.

May our prayers, Lord God, be as a pleasing aroma to You. Amen.

 

 

 

JAMES USSHER’S EDUCATION

Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it
James Ussher is famous, or infamous, depending on your point of view, for his work on creation. It was Ussher who calculated that the Earth was created at 6 pm on the evening before October 23rd 4004 BC. Because of his exactness in choosing this date, he has been criticized and held up for ridicule in recent years. Some of his strongest critics have been Christians who maintain that it is not important to believe Genesis 1 to be literal. I have seen so-called Christian literature illustrate Ussher with derogatory comments, fitting him with a dunce’s cap. The implication is that Ussher was ignorant or stupid.

 In fact, he was neither. Ussher was born in Dublin, in Ireland, which was then part of Britain and under English control. Young James was just seven years old when the Spanish Armada was destroyed. When he was eight, he attended the City of Dublin Free School, whose alumni include John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. By the age of 10, he had read Augustine’s Confessions, and had read most of the early church fathers by 12. Also aged 12, he entered the new Trinity College, Dublin – one of the earliest “new” universities to spring up in the Kingdom. By the age of 14, he had already begun his mammoth work, the Annals of the World. He was 17 years old when he published his first major theological work.

 This history of his childhood should be enough to convince the listener that James Ussher was neither ignorant nor stupid. Instead, his great intellect and vast knowledge of the Bible is the context behind his date for creation.

We know, Lord God, that You have never left Your people without witness. Thank You for great men and women of old who held fast to the truth of Scripture and left us a godly legacy. Amen.

Ref: Carr, J. (new edition 2012), The Life and Times of James Ussher, (Forgotten Books). Image: Public Domain.

 JAMES USSHER�S LEGACY

2 Timothy 2:15

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
The years between 1639 and 1651 were times of great turbulence in the British Isles as a series of deadly conflicts were played out. James Ussher was right in the middle of these events, being born, as he was, in Dublin in 1581. In a previous Creation Moment, we related Ussher�s precocious childhood, that led to his famous calculation of the date of creation as 4004 BC.

 Ussher became a minister in the Anglican Church of Ireland, eventually becoming Archbishop of Armagh in 1625 � a post he held for 15 years. The Book of Kells � an illuminated manuscript of the Gospels � had been discovered in Kells, Ireland, in 1621, leading to a renaissance in interest in the Scriptures. Ussher traveled to England to study in 1640, and, while he was there, the Confederate War broke out in Ireland. Ussher�s house was plundered, so he never returned to the Emerald Isle. As war loomed in England also, Ussher made clear his loyalty to King Charles I. Therefore, his life could have been in danger, as he found himself studying in London in 1649 at the time of the execution of the King, which brought the English Civil War to an end. However, the Lord Protector of the English Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell, favored Ussher. When Ussher died in 1656, Cromwell gave him a state funeral.

Ussher�s mammoth work, the Annals of the World, had been published in 1654. It is a huge book, replete with detailed scholarship, and was a lifetime�s work for the scholar, having taken him 59 years to complete. This is the background to the famous creation date calculation.

Thank You for the learned people from times past. Help us to learn from those who have walked in truth before us. Most especially, keep our eyes fixed on Your word, Lord. Amen.

Ref: Ref: Carr, J. (new edition 2012), The Life and Times of James Ussher, (Forgotten Books). Image: Armagh Cathedral, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.

 

JAMES USSHER�S LEGACY

2 Timothy 2:15

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
The years between 1639 and 1651 were times of great turbulence in the British Isles as a series of deadly conflicts were played out. James Ussher was right in the middle of these events, being born, as he was, in Dublin in 1581. In a previous Creation Moment, we related Ussher�s precocious childhood, that led to his famous calculation of the date of creation as 4004 BC.

 Ussher became a minister in the Anglican Church of Ireland, eventually becoming Archbishop of Armagh in 1625 � a post he held for 15 years. The Book of Kells � an illuminated manuscript of the Gospels � had been discovered in Kells, Ireland, in 1621, leading to a renaissance in interest in the Scriptures. Ussher traveled to England to study in 1640, and, while he was there, the Confederate War broke out in Ireland. Ussher�s house was plundered, so he never returned to the Emerald Isle. As war loomed in England also, Ussher made clear his loyalty to King Charles I. Therefore, his life could have been in danger, as he found himself studying in London in 1649 at the time of the execution of the King, which brought the English Civil War to an end. However, the Lord Protector of the English Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell, favored Ussher. When Ussher died in 1656, Cromwell gave him a state funeral.

Ussher�s mammoth work, the Annals of the World, had been published in 1654. It is a huge book, replete with detailed scholarship, and was a lifetime�s work for the scholar, having taken him 59 years to complete. This is the background to the famous creation date calculation.

Thank You for the learned people from times past. Help us to learn from those who have walked in truth before us. Most especially, keep our eyes fixed on Your word, Lord. Amen.

Ref: Ref: Carr, J. (new edition 2012), The Life and Times of James Ussher, (Forgotten Books). Image: Armagh Cathedral, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.

 

WHY DO WE GET NEW SPECIES?

Genesis 1:24-25

And God said, 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. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
We know that Noah did not have to fit two of every species of animal on the Ark. The Ark sheltered two of every kind of land and flying vertebrate, not two of every species. For example, modern species like lions and tigers would have developed from the pair from the cat family that were on the Ark. Over time, different species of cats have developed from this pair.

 It is easy to see how this happened. Environmental conditions favor certain genes over others, so that these features are selected in the offspring. A simplistic example is that creatures with longer hair or fur have developed in colder areas of the world. This has involved no new genetic information; there has simply been selection from existing genetic information.

 But why did God make this speciation possible? God knew the different conditions that would arise in different parts of the world. Because Scripture shows us that God actively sustains life, it is possible that He included this ability to diversify in creatures in order to help their offspring to survive in radically different conditions � especially the vastly changed conditions in the aftermath of the Flood.

Thank You, Lord, because we read that You give the beasts their food. You own the cattle on a thousand hills, and You look after Your creation with wisdom. Amen.

Ref: Lightner, J.K. (2016), Toward a Creationary View of Why Speciation Occurs, Journal of Creation 30(1):70�75, April 2016. Image: Adobe Stock Photo, licensed to author.

 

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CREATION MOMENTS: 1.13.18

 

DOES IT LOOK OLD?

Deuteronomy 33:15

And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills.
One lady who approached me after one of my presentations said, “God made the Earth 10,000 years ago, but he made it look like it was millions of years old.”

 Evolutionary scientists believe that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old. Does it look 4.5 billion years old? Suppose you came with me to England’s Jurassic Coast, to examine some of the dinosaur fossils there. Evolutionists say that these fossils are 65 million years old. Do they look 65 million years old? Creationists would say that these fossils were formed in the Flood, about 4,400 years ago. Do the fossils look 4,400 years old? What do they look like: 65 million years old or 4,400 years old?

 In everyday life, we do not make such errors. There is no such thing as an appearance of age unless we have something to compare it to. The twenty-year-old actor in a teenage role has the appearance of a teenager because we have an impression of what a teenager should look like. But what does a 65 million year old rock look like? Given that, as biblical creationists, we do not believe any rock is anywhere near 65 million years old; we have nothing against which to judge its age, apart from the Bible. The Bible makes clear that the rock containing the fossil must have been made in the Flood, 4,400 years ago, so it looks 4,400 years old because that is the only objective standard against which we can measure it.

We know, Lord, that all things come from You and that all things were created by You – the Ancient of Days. Thank You for Your Divine Wisdom in all that You have made. Amen.

 

COUNTING LEAD ATOM BY ATOM

Psalm 77:5

I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.
Suppose your friend has a bag of M&Ms. She is counting each color separately. You have five orange M&Ms, and you add them to her mix. But this stops her being able to count them properly. She wants you to remove your five orange M&Ms from the six orange M&Ms that she has. But they are now mixed. How do you know which were the original M&Ms and which were the ones you added?

 Naturally occurring lead is comprised of three stable isotopes – 204Pb, 206Pb, and 207Pb. 206Pb and 207Pb are products of the radioactive decay of uranium isotopes 238U and 235U respectively. 204Pb is assumed to be “common” lead – that is, long-age geologists assume that 204Pb comes from the original formation of the Earth.

 When rock is exposed at the Earth’s surface, scientists will attempt to date it by U-Pb dating, by measuring the amount of lead and uranium. If these elements were simple, we could assume that all the lead had been derived from uranium and could calculate the age, given that we know the half-life of uranium. In practice, the elemental composition is more complicated. For example, it is not possible to tell the difference between an atom of 206Pb that might have been in the rock originally and one formed by radioactive decay, anymore than your M&M friend could distinguish between orange M&Ms from different sources.

 Creation geologists have shown that new rocks added to the crust during the year-long Flood would have accumulated lead isotopes by accelerated decay. As usual, a biblical model makes more sense than an evolutionary deep-time bias.

We read in Your word, Lord, how You made the heavens and the earth and how Your creation took six days. We marvel at the way You have made all things well. Amen.

 

THE STARS DIED

Psalm 8:3-4

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
The atheist physicist Lawrence Krauss believes he has life figured out. As a cosmologist, he adheres to the Big Bang view of origins, believing that the universe came into existence from a singularity about 13.7 billion years ago.

 The Big Bang theory is not compatible with a biblical understanding, but it would be a mistake to dismiss the theory as if there were only one point to it. Over the decades, as with the Theory of Evolution, a very sophisticated set of ideas has been woven around Big Bang cosmogony.

 Krauss has referred often to stardust. �We are all made of stardust,� he has opined. The reason for this assertion is an evolutionary concept of the birth, life, and death of stars. Big Bangers have an explanation for how they believe stars formed from the original universal matter and began nuclear fusion. However, these models do not suggest a route to producing enough of the heavier elements found in the universe. So, scientists like Krauss suggest that these stars eventually die and explode, and new stars grow from the older, exploded stardust. He supposes that the only reason we, as humans, could have evolved is because of the production of gradually heavier elements, by second- and third-generation stars. Krauss says, �Forget Jesus � the stars died that we might live.� Krauss, like his biology parallel Richard Dawkins, believes in presenting a kind of awe of science to young people. So it is to the stars that he supposes this awe must be directed because they are our saviors.

 The Bible, in contrast, explains that the stars are not a subject for awe, except in the sense that they point us to God, so that we worship Him.

Indeed, what is man, Lord � what are we that You should care anything about us when we consider the glory of the universe You created? Yet, You intended all this for Your glory, especially that we might come to know You through repentance from our sins and trusting in Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

ABANDONED AT COLDWATER

Psalm 23:1-2

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Coldwater Lake in Washington State looks so pretty, nestled between the mountains. This scene of tranquility is very popular among the fishing community.

 A better view of Coldwater Lake can be had by climbing the steep trail up to Coldwater Ridge. As you reach the top, you look back at the magnificent views of the Mount St Helens with its gaping crater, forever marred by having lost such a large portion of itself in the violent eruption of May 1980.

 In the other direction, you see the lake, which did not even exist before the eruption. The devastation caused by the volcano blocked Coldwater Creek so that the valley filled with water.

 So you keep walking along the ridge, and you espy a different sort of devastation. Huge pieces of rusting machinery can be seen. This machinery was there to aid with logging processes because this ridge used to be covered with forest before the eruption.

 The blast from the volcano had a speed of up to 350 mph as it hit the ridge, knocking down the trees and sending the logging machinery into a spin so that it landed in its current position. If the eruption had occurred on the Monday or the Saturday, one can imagine that this machinery would have been operated by many loggers, causing far more deaths than actually occurred on that Sunday morning.

 Out of that violence has come the tranquility of the lake scenery, just as out of the violence of the worldwide Flood, God brought a message of hope and mercy to a world reborn.

Thank You for the beauty of Your creation, Lord. And thank You that You bring beauty out of brokenness. We pray that You will do just that in the brokenness of our lives and our hearts. Amen.

 

 GOLD REVISITED

Psalm 119:72

The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
Gold must be one of the most remarkable elements in the Periodic Table. Its chemical symbol is Au, its atomic number is 79, and its atomic mass is 196.967. It is a lustrous, yellow-colored metal, and is almost chemically inert. It is this lack of chemistry, coupled with its rarity, that gives it its value.

 Gold is almost completely unreactive to the sort of agents that normally corrode metals, such as water or acids. It will, however, react with aqua regia � a blend of nitric and hydrochloric acids. Because of this unreactivity, gold is found as a native metal, not as a compound or ore. Most gold that is mined is stored as bullion, but its attractiveness and monetary value make it useful in jewelry.

 Because gold has such a large atom, it has a great many electron orbitals. The outer orbitals are very large for atoms, so an electron in the 5d orbital can reach speeds approaching the speed of light. The transition of an electron from the 5d to 6s orbital requires a photon of energy. However, by analogy with the transition from 4d to 5s in silver, this ought not to alter the basic silver color of the metal. But the speed of the 5d orbital is such that there is a relativistic effect, causing this transition to absorb a photon in the blue range of the visible spectrum. With blue light thus absorbed, gold appears, well, gold-colored! I find it fascinating that, when looking at my gold wedding ring, I am seeing Einstein�s theory of relativity in action.

 Gold is a metal fit for a king. That is why the Wise Men brought some to the child Jesus.

Thank You for making materials as beautiful as gold. When we learn more about its properties, we stand amazed at Your Creative Power. Amen.

 

 

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CREATION MOMENTS: 1.6.18

SHE SELLS SEA SHELLS

Genesis 1:25

And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
British comedian Milton Jones tells this one-liner:

 It’s difficult to say what my wife does for a living. She sells sea shells on the sea shore.

 However, the famous tongue-twister actually refers to a young woman who never married.

 Mary Anning was born in 1799 to Richard, an impoverished furniture maker, and his wife, Molly, in Lyme Regis, England. This coastal town is now famous for its discoveries of dinosaur fossils, discoveries that began with Mary. Richard would take the young Mary and her older brother Joseph out on to the cliffs and the beach looking for fossils, and they would sell these to visitors. The teenagers discovered what would later be named the ichthyosaur, and this was the first of many discoveries made by Mary.

 One biographer of Anning has stated that her many discoveries of so-called prehistoric animals paved the way for Darwinism. Mary was mostly self-taught, having learned to read and write only in Sunday School. Nevertheless, her extensive knowledge of her finds did not cause her to lose her faith, despite her many hardships. She was not allowed to join the Geological Society because she was a woman and also because she and her family were members of a Dissenting Chapel, not the Church of England.

 It is of note that her most prized possession was a volume of the Dissenters’ Theological Magazine and Review. Her pastor, James Wheaton, had contributed two articles to this journal. One urged his flock to get interested in geology. The other emphatically taught the biblical truth that God had made the world in six literal 24-hour days.

We know, Lord God, that all true science is thinking Your thoughts after You. Thank You for those men and women of talent who have given their lives to push back the frontiers of knowledge. May they give all the glory to You. Amen.

 

CRYSTAL PALACE DINOSAURS

Proverbs 15:33

The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.
If you visit London, England, there are a lot of interesting sights to see. You will probably want to take photos of the Horse-guard's Parade, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, and, of course, Buckingham Palace, among many, many other sights. But it might not occur to you to visit the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs.

 In the 1850s, Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins designed and built a magnificent dinosaur park. Today, you can still see his fascinating sculptures, set in urban parkland in the London Borough of Bromley. However, it is not until you look more closely that you begin to notice something strange.

 For example, you might take a look at the Crystal Palace Iguanadon. It looks like a giant lizard with a spike on its nose, just like the small iguana lizard. But if you look in your picture book of dinosaurs, you will probably find a picture of an iguanadon, standing upright on two legs, with a spike on its “hand”. Why the difference?

 Fossil discoveries are rarely complete, and often the animal’s bones are scattered over a large area. Moreover, many bones in the skeleton are missing. Nineteenth-century paleontologists discovered a spike among the iguanadon fossil bones and assumed it to be a nose. Later, more complete skeletons showed that the spike was a thumb rather than a nose.

 Hawkins’ Crystal Palace Dinosaurs should not be laughed at because he worked with the best scientific information available at the time. Rather, we should expect that modern scientists should have the humility not to make dogmatic statements about the form or behavior of their fossils lest they should turn out later to be wrong.

Thank You, Lord, for scientists and artists who strive to do the best they can, according to their talents. Help us to honor You, by the exercise of our talents, for Your glory. Amen

 

 THE FOXGLOVE

Genesis 1:12

And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Species of foxglove appear on both sides of the Atlantic. I was familiar with this poisonous weed when I was growing up in England. The plants are abundant in Washington State also. Although every part of the plant is poisonous, it is a source of the useful drug group digitalis, used in the treatment of heart complaints.

 It is the pollination of foxgloves that fascinates me. In Britain, the foxglove is often, though not exclusively, pollinated by large bumble bees. These big, cuddly-looking bees fly into the bowl-shaped flowers, and extract the nectar, with a short burst of ultrasonic buzzing, before flying off, coated in pollen, to another flower.

 One BBC documentary that I watched suggested that the foxglove plant �does not want the bee to visit every flower on the one plant, before pollinating another plant, so it has evolved a mechanism to prevent this.� What happens is that, of the cascade of flowers, the lower flowers open first, before the upper flowers are even mature. Flower opening proceeds step-wise upwards, and when the top flower is open, the lower ones are wilting. My issue with the documentary is that it is impossible for the plant to �want� anything. A so-called blind evolutionary purpose cannot be moving towards a desirable goal of differential pollination. Of course, evolution is contrary to the Bible�s account of origins. This differential pollination is better explained as a design feature consistent with God having made plants, as He stated, on Day Three of Creation.

When we see the way that You have created such things as foxgloves and watch how they are pollinated by bees, we stand in awe, Lord God, at Your greatness and Your power. Amen.

 

MYRRH

Matthew 2:11

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
Why did the Wise Men bring myrrh as a gift for Jesus, along with their gifts of frankincense and gold? This is an interesting question, and many people have pondered the meanings of all the gifts given to Jesus, but I think it is unlikely that we can give a definitive answer.

 Myrrh is a resin from the bark of certain varieties of the commiphora tree. When the bark splits (or is deliberately tapped), a fluid is exuded. This hardens in the air into lumps, called tears. The solid tears are reddish or golden brown in color. They are sweet-smelling but bitter to the taste. When consumed, myrrh has a stimulant effect.

 It is also clear from the Old Testament that myrrh had value. When Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites by his brothers, that group of travelers was on their way to Egypt �with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh� (Genesis 37:25). Later, when Jacob was sending his sons to Egypt for food (where they would unknowingly meet Joseph again), he urged them to take a number of items of value, including myrrh.

 In John 19:39, Nicodemus brought myrrh and aloes with him to Jesus� grave. Its aromatic properties presumably would make it ideal as an embalming material. Therefore, it could be said that myrrh speaks of death. Perhaps the Wise Men were being prophetic, when they brought Jesus gold, for His kingship, frankincense to represent prayers, because Jesus was and is God, and myrrh to represent the fact that He was to die to cleanse repentant sinners of their sins.

 

THE ROBOTS ARE COMING

Genesis 1:26-27

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.
Everybody�s scariest monsters would be robots. I remember as a little boy, in November 1968, hiding behind the couch while watching Doctor Who � The Invasion. I was enthralled as the Cybermen (cybernetic robots) emerged from London�s sewers to take over the world!

 Many science fiction stories feature robots, which are essentially an artificial framework, containing some sort of a computer for a brain. This computer-brain has been manufactured, but the idea is that its programs eventually become self aware, and the robot is then capable of intelligent thought.

 Of course, robots now exist among us. Yet they are not the metal men of our childhood nightmares. Computer-controlled arms paint cars, wrap packages, and even drive trains. Where these modern robots differ from those of sci-fi is in the nature of their computer programs. These programs are not self-aware. They sometimes give the impression of intelligence or even self-awareness, as the listener would recognize, if you have ever tried to talk to Siri or Echo. Some experts in the field of artificial intelligence believe that these programs could eventually become genuinely self-aware and could then start to create their own successors. Would such machines have souls?

 The answer to that conundrum is to go back to Genesis. In the first chapter, we are told that the special nature of humanity exists because we are made in the image of God. AI machines, however sophisticated, are not. It is an evolutionary idea that robotic programs could one day reproduce, but such an idea is not supported by the facts, as revealed in Scripture.

I praise You, Lord God, that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Thank You for the wonder of Your creation of humanity, all descended from the first man, Adam. Amen.

 

We praise You, Lord God, because You left nothing to chance. You gave us Your Son, Jesus, to be the propitiation for our sins. Thank You, Lord. Amen.

PLEASE VISIT MY WIFE'S WEBSITE. SHE RUNS "YOUNG LIVING" WHICH PROVIDES ALL NATURAL OILS THAT CAN BE USED INTERNALLY AND EXTERNALLY INCLUDING A DIFFUSER WHICH PUTS AN AMAZING ODOR IN THE AIR. THIS PRODUCT IS SO AMAZING AND KNOW THAT YOU WILL GET YEARS OF ENJOYMENT FROM IT. GO TO HTTP://WWW.YOUNGLIVING.ORG/CDROSES