SIMILAR NEEDS, SIMILAR DESIGNS
1 Corinthians 15:39
“All flesh [is] not the same flesh: but [there is] one [kind of] flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, [and] another of birds.”
Nova, the TV Science program aired on public broadcasting stations, presented an argument that human evolution is proven by the fact that, chemically, humans and apes are 99 percent alike. That argument has appeared many times, although very seldom in print. Dr. Duane Gish of the Institute for Creation Research answers it by pointing out that since a cloud is 99 percent water and a watermelon is 97 percent water, the watermelon must have missed being a cloud by only 2 percent!
Actually, the argument that there is only a 1 percent difference between man and apes assumes that we know a lot more about man and apes than we really do. And some of these comparisons can be very misleading. Some people have to take insulin, but does that come from our supposed distant cousin, the ape? No, beef cattle supply the nearest match to human insulin. When you have to have a new heart valve, does that come from the ape? No, it comes from the pig, the nearest match.
The old saying that statistics can be used to prove anything certainly applies to this evolutionary argument. The real reason that similar creatures often have similar chemical structures in their bodies is that creatures with similar bone structures tend to have similar needs and so have been given similar chemistry by the Creator.
Heavenly Father, while I marvel at Your great wisdom in the creation, fill me with a greater desire to learn Your revealed wisdom in Holy Scripture. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
1 Corinthians 15:39
“All flesh [is] not the same flesh: but [there is] one [kind of] flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, [and] another of birds.”
Nova, the TV Science program aired on public broadcasting stations, presented an argument that human evolution is proven by the fact that, chemically, humans and apes are 99 percent alike. That argument has appeared many times, although very seldom in print. Dr. Duane Gish of the Institute for Creation Research answers it by pointing out that since a cloud is 99 percent water and a watermelon is 97 percent water, the watermelon must have missed being a cloud by only 2 percent!
Actually, the argument that there is only a 1 percent difference between man and apes assumes that we know a lot more about man and apes than we really do. And some of these comparisons can be very misleading. Some people have to take insulin, but does that come from our supposed distant cousin, the ape? No, beef cattle supply the nearest match to human insulin. When you have to have a new heart valve, does that come from the ape? No, it comes from the pig, the nearest match.
The old saying that statistics can be used to prove anything certainly applies to this evolutionary argument. The real reason that similar creatures often have similar chemical structures in their bodies is that creatures with similar bone structures tend to have similar needs and so have been given similar chemistry by the Creator.
Heavenly Father, while I marvel at Your great wisdom in the creation, fill me with a greater desire to learn Your revealed wisdom in Holy Scripture. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
AGAINST ALL ODDS
Ephesians 1:7
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”
Blood is one of the most miraculous of all creations. It carries oxygen and energy to our cells, and carries off wastes. It is also a communications pipeline, using powerful hormones to provide communication between various parts of the body.
Hemoglobin is the substance within the blood that enables it to carry oxygen to your cells. Many different kinds of creatures, including lobsters and spiders, all have some type of blood with hemoglobin in it. Some creatures even have transparent blood. Hemoglobin, all by itself, testifies to a Creator. You see, so many different and obviously unrelated creatures have hemoglobin that evolutionists could only account for this by saying that hemoglobin must have evolved many times in many different creatures. This explanation worked when scientists thought that hemoglobin was a relatively simple molecule.
But now we know that hemoglobin is a very complex, eight-helix twisted molecule of about a hundred atoms, all arranged in just the right way around a central atom of iron. There is a zero chance of this complex molecule happening accidentally even once, much less the many times suggested by evolutionists.
Blood is a wonderful creation of God. He wants us to realize this so that we look for a relationship with Him, which is possible for us through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Dear Father in heaven, I thank You that You draw me to Yourself so that I may be assured of Your forgiveness and acceptance through the sacrifice of Your Son. In His Name. Amen.
Photo: Structure of human hemoglobin. Courtesy of Richard Wheeler. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Ephesians 1:7
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”
Blood is one of the most miraculous of all creations. It carries oxygen and energy to our cells, and carries off wastes. It is also a communications pipeline, using powerful hormones to provide communication between various parts of the body.
Hemoglobin is the substance within the blood that enables it to carry oxygen to your cells. Many different kinds of creatures, including lobsters and spiders, all have some type of blood with hemoglobin in it. Some creatures even have transparent blood. Hemoglobin, all by itself, testifies to a Creator. You see, so many different and obviously unrelated creatures have hemoglobin that evolutionists could only account for this by saying that hemoglobin must have evolved many times in many different creatures. This explanation worked when scientists thought that hemoglobin was a relatively simple molecule.
But now we know that hemoglobin is a very complex, eight-helix twisted molecule of about a hundred atoms, all arranged in just the right way around a central atom of iron. There is a zero chance of this complex molecule happening accidentally even once, much less the many times suggested by evolutionists.
Blood is a wonderful creation of God. He wants us to realize this so that we look for a relationship with Him, which is possible for us through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Dear Father in heaven, I thank You that You draw me to Yourself so that I may be assured of Your forgiveness and acceptance through the sacrifice of Your Son. In His Name. Amen.
Photo: Structure of human hemoglobin. Courtesy of Richard Wheeler. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
QUICK OIL
Genesis 7:21
“And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man.”
Does oil really take millions of years to form from buried dead matter? Many people believe that because that’s what they have been taught. On the other hand, creationists believe that oil was either created by God at the formation of the Earth, or that it was formed after the burial of living things during the Genesis Flood only a few thousand years ago.
But is the idea that oil can be formed so quickly really believable? A commercial process for doing just this has been in use for over 25 years in Halifax on the east coast of Canada. The commercial processing plant was built at a cost of $196 million, and it converts half a million tons of sewage into 700,000 barrels of oil per year. The process is essentially the same as that which formed current oil reserves but takes only 30 minutes! This helps demonstrate that living things buried beneath the rapidly deposited sediments of the Flood 4,500 years ago, and subjected to heat, could easily have produced today’s oil deposits.
The Apostle Peter wrote about the End Times when he pointed out that people would deny that there was ever a worldwide Flood. The truth is that they do not want to believe that God judges sin, but we know that through His Son, Jesus, we can be saved from the consequences of our sin.
Heavenly Father, I thank You that You are merciful and forgiving toward me for the sake of Your Son. I pray in His Name. Amen.
Fred Raaflaub. “Sewers Hold Oil Fortune.” The Calgary Sun, July 27, 1988, p. 33. Photo: Oil well gusher in 1922, Okemah, Oklahoma.
DOES THE BIBLE MENTION FOSSILS?
Job 26:5
“Dead [things] are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.”
Does the Bible mention fossils? Before you answer too quickly, you need to know that fossils are not a modern discovery.
Long before the time of Christ there were Greek philosophers who knew about fossils. They said the fossils were evidence that simple life forms had developed into complex life forms during the long history of the Earth. This explanation relied upon natural processes and did not require a Creator God they could not see. We recognize this today as evolution.
Fossils are produced when a plant or animal dies and is covered by water or air-carried material before it has a chance to decay. We would naturally expect that the Genesis Flood would have produced most of the fossils. While Job 26:5 is a difficult passage, it seems to be talking about fossil formation when it speaks of “dead things forming under the waters.” Even the 1837 edition of Matthew Henry’s Commentary suggests that Job is here talking about fossils. The commentary even includes a drawing of a plesiosaur fossil. Most of the modern commentaries and Bible translations take an evolutionary view or ignore the subject.
While we cannot be absolutely certain that Job is talking about fossils, we do know that the Bible does have much to say about the material world – and when it does so, it is always accurate!
Heavenly Father, I thank You that Your Word is always accurate in all that it talks about. It is accurate even in worldly subjects, and we pray that it will draw some people to its promises about a relationship with You through Jesus Christ. In His Name. Amen.
Photo: Plesiosaur skeleton (Meyerasaurus) in the Museum am Löwentor, Stuttgart, Germany. Courtesy of Ra'ike. Licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
Genesis 7:21
“And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man.”
Does oil really take millions of years to form from buried dead matter? Many people believe that because that’s what they have been taught. On the other hand, creationists believe that oil was either created by God at the formation of the Earth, or that it was formed after the burial of living things during the Genesis Flood only a few thousand years ago.
But is the idea that oil can be formed so quickly really believable? A commercial process for doing just this has been in use for over 25 years in Halifax on the east coast of Canada. The commercial processing plant was built at a cost of $196 million, and it converts half a million tons of sewage into 700,000 barrels of oil per year. The process is essentially the same as that which formed current oil reserves but takes only 30 minutes! This helps demonstrate that living things buried beneath the rapidly deposited sediments of the Flood 4,500 years ago, and subjected to heat, could easily have produced today’s oil deposits.
The Apostle Peter wrote about the End Times when he pointed out that people would deny that there was ever a worldwide Flood. The truth is that they do not want to believe that God judges sin, but we know that through His Son, Jesus, we can be saved from the consequences of our sin.
Heavenly Father, I thank You that You are merciful and forgiving toward me for the sake of Your Son. I pray in His Name. Amen.
Fred Raaflaub. “Sewers Hold Oil Fortune.” The Calgary Sun, July 27, 1988, p. 33. Photo: Oil well gusher in 1922, Okemah, Oklahoma.
DOES THE BIBLE MENTION FOSSILS?
Job 26:5
“Dead [things] are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.”
Does the Bible mention fossils? Before you answer too quickly, you need to know that fossils are not a modern discovery.
Long before the time of Christ there were Greek philosophers who knew about fossils. They said the fossils were evidence that simple life forms had developed into complex life forms during the long history of the Earth. This explanation relied upon natural processes and did not require a Creator God they could not see. We recognize this today as evolution.
Fossils are produced when a plant or animal dies and is covered by water or air-carried material before it has a chance to decay. We would naturally expect that the Genesis Flood would have produced most of the fossils. While Job 26:5 is a difficult passage, it seems to be talking about fossil formation when it speaks of “dead things forming under the waters.” Even the 1837 edition of Matthew Henry’s Commentary suggests that Job is here talking about fossils. The commentary even includes a drawing of a plesiosaur fossil. Most of the modern commentaries and Bible translations take an evolutionary view or ignore the subject.
While we cannot be absolutely certain that Job is talking about fossils, we do know that the Bible does have much to say about the material world – and when it does so, it is always accurate!
Heavenly Father, I thank You that Your Word is always accurate in all that it talks about. It is accurate even in worldly subjects, and we pray that it will draw some people to its promises about a relationship with You through Jesus Christ. In His Name. Amen.
Photo: Plesiosaur skeleton (Meyerasaurus) in the Museum am Löwentor, Stuttgart, Germany. Courtesy of Ra'ike. Licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
WISDOM IN HIDING
1 Corinthians 2:7
“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], which God ordained before the world unto our glory...”
You don’t have to watch a drama very long or read too far into a book before you find what is hidden being revealed. The Bible often talks about truths that are hidden because of unbelief.
A scientist was recently studying insect-eating birds in an oak tree that was in bloom. He was surrounded by male flowers called catkins. Suddenly, one of the catkins began walking away. The surprise that he had discovered was a species of caterpillar that feeds on catkins and ends up looking just like a catkin – even having fake pollen sacks. In this way, it escapes the notice of feeding birds.
The scientist then found that the members of this caterpillar species that hatch in early spring and feed on catkins end up looking like catkins. But members of the same species that hatch later and feed in oak trees end up looking like oak twigs. This observation was a complete surprise because it means that it is the caterpillars’ diet that causes the difference in appearance.
When things are hidden, reality is always different than we expect. While the Gospel is clear, Scripture often mentions that unbelief causes the clear to be hidden to the unbeliever. It is helpful for us to understand this as we see the popularity of belief in evolution and a world without God.
Dear Father, I thank You that Your Word is clear. Remove all unbelief from me so that I may see Your truth more clearly. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
I. Wickelgren. “Caterpillar Disguise: You Are What You Eat.” Science News, v. 135, p. 70. Photo: Male flowering catkin on a willow. Courtesy of Didier Descouens. Licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
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