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.

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