SKEPTICS ADMIT: SCIENCE CAN’T DENY SOUL
John 8:56
“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.”
Accepting that God created man, did He create a non-material part within him we call the soul as well as the familiar material body? Of course, the Bible has a lot to say about man’s soul and that following a person’s death, the soul of the faithful will be with God in heaven. However, there are others who regard the idea of a soul as nothing more than a superstition.
Nobel Prize-winner Sir John Eccles probably knew more than any other scientist in the world about how the brain works. He came to the conclusion that man has a non-material part to himself – as he said, “a ghost in the machine that controls the brain.” The brain is seen as the interface between the material world and the non-material world. His unlikely ally was Sir Karl Popper, noted philosopher of science and agnostic who also concluded that man has a non-material part to him. Other influential scientists working on brain research agree and conclude that man has an important part of himself that science cannot study. Some scientists fully agree but accept some rather strange anti-biblical New Age ideas about man’s soul.
While many scientists have believed that man is a completely material creature with no spiritual nature, some of the most knowledgeable scientists in the world do not agree.
Dear Father, in Your wonderful way, You have made it evident that man is more than just a chemical accident. Help me to look forward to being with You forever. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
John Gliedman, “Scientists in Search of the Soul,” Science Digest, Vol.90, No.7, July 1982, pp. 76-80. Photo: Karl Popper in the 1980s.
John 8:56
“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.”
Accepting that God created man, did He create a non-material part within him we call the soul as well as the familiar material body? Of course, the Bible has a lot to say about man’s soul and that following a person’s death, the soul of the faithful will be with God in heaven. However, there are others who regard the idea of a soul as nothing more than a superstition.
Nobel Prize-winner Sir John Eccles probably knew more than any other scientist in the world about how the brain works. He came to the conclusion that man has a non-material part to himself – as he said, “a ghost in the machine that controls the brain.” The brain is seen as the interface between the material world and the non-material world. His unlikely ally was Sir Karl Popper, noted philosopher of science and agnostic who also concluded that man has a non-material part to him. Other influential scientists working on brain research agree and conclude that man has an important part of himself that science cannot study. Some scientists fully agree but accept some rather strange anti-biblical New Age ideas about man’s soul.
While many scientists have believed that man is a completely material creature with no spiritual nature, some of the most knowledgeable scientists in the world do not agree.
Dear Father, in Your wonderful way, You have made it evident that man is more than just a chemical accident. Help me to look forward to being with You forever. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
John Gliedman, “Scientists in Search of the Soul,” Science Digest, Vol.90, No.7, July 1982, pp. 76-80. Photo: Karl Popper in the 1980s.
SCIENTISTS DISTRUST DATING METHODS
Exodus 20:11
“For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
Just how good are those radiocarbon dates? When reporting an exciting archaeological discovery, popular science magazines tell the reader, for example, that some man-made artifact is 40,000 years old. A few years ago it was common to find tolerance figures such as plus or minus 1,500 years attached to these ages. These tolerance figures effectively leave an impression of objective precision in the mind of the reader. Those tolerance figures are seldom used today.
The radiocarbon method was developed in 1948 and at that time was believed to be the ultimate answer to the archaeologists’ dating problems. The method has not lived up to its promise, and today it is distrusted by the scientific community unless backed up by a second dating method. To give one example, when scientists carbon-dated a mammoth bone hide-scraper discovered in the Yukon, it was evident that man and mammoth lived at the same time, but it carbon-dated at 25,000 to 32,000 years old. However, this put man on the North American continent about 20,000 years before humans were supposed to have arrived here! Eventually, a second test method using a nuclear accelerator was used, and this dated the same piece of bone at only 2,000 years!
This example is common, and Bible-believing Christians should not be concerned that carbon-dated ages will in any way disprove the Bible.
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Word through Whom we were created. You are the beating heart of Scriptural truth. Help us to see that all of Scripture is trustworthy.
“Old Crow Bones and Radiocarbon Dating,” Creation Ex Nihilo, Vol.9, No.4, p. 13. Photo: Skeleton of Columbian mammoth. Courtesy of WolfmanSF. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Exodus 20:11
“For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
Just how good are those radiocarbon dates? When reporting an exciting archaeological discovery, popular science magazines tell the reader, for example, that some man-made artifact is 40,000 years old. A few years ago it was common to find tolerance figures such as plus or minus 1,500 years attached to these ages. These tolerance figures effectively leave an impression of objective precision in the mind of the reader. Those tolerance figures are seldom used today.
The radiocarbon method was developed in 1948 and at that time was believed to be the ultimate answer to the archaeologists’ dating problems. The method has not lived up to its promise, and today it is distrusted by the scientific community unless backed up by a second dating method. To give one example, when scientists carbon-dated a mammoth bone hide-scraper discovered in the Yukon, it was evident that man and mammoth lived at the same time, but it carbon-dated at 25,000 to 32,000 years old. However, this put man on the North American continent about 20,000 years before humans were supposed to have arrived here! Eventually, a second test method using a nuclear accelerator was used, and this dated the same piece of bone at only 2,000 years!
This example is common, and Bible-believing Christians should not be concerned that carbon-dated ages will in any way disprove the Bible.
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Word through Whom we were created. You are the beating heart of Scriptural truth. Help us to see that all of Scripture is trustworthy.
“Old Crow Bones and Radiocarbon Dating,” Creation Ex Nihilo, Vol.9, No.4, p. 13. Photo: Skeleton of Columbian mammoth. Courtesy of WolfmanSF. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
THE OCTOPUS WITH A SHELL
Genesis 1:21
“And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”
While the nautilus is a familiar sea creature that lives in a shell, it is actually more like the squid and the octopus. Like the squid and the octopus, the nautilus has a well-developed nervous system, mouth, eyes and tentacles and can swim backward quite rapidly by shooting jets of water. It also builds itself a shell home in which to live. As it grows, it needs a larger compartment within its shell, and it moves forward in its ever-widening shell and closes off the cramped quarters behind. But unlike the average shellfish, the nautilus leaves a fleshy tube of its body in the old “room.” This tube extends all the way back to the first room it occupied. This fleshy cord is used to make the shell buoyant by flooding chambers or forcing water out of them. The nautilus is a swimmer, not a crawler!
The living nautilus is found in the southwestern part of the Pacific and eastern Indian oceans and looks exactly like the fossil specimens of the nautilus found in those rock layers containing the earliest forms of life. There is absolutely no evidence of evolution here!
God’s creativity seems to be unlimited as we see more of the amazing ways He has chosen to design His creatures, and the nautilus is just one more example of God’s abilities.
Heavenly Father, help me to come to You in prayer in all situations. When I am in need, help me to remember to cast all things on You, for Your power, thinking and creativity are truly unlimited. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Margaret Helder, “Marine Beauty Rediscovered,” Creation Science DIALOGUE, Vol. 15, No.3, October 1988, pp. 6-7. Photo: Nautilus. Courtesy of Manuae. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Genesis 1:21
“And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”
While the nautilus is a familiar sea creature that lives in a shell, it is actually more like the squid and the octopus. Like the squid and the octopus, the nautilus has a well-developed nervous system, mouth, eyes and tentacles and can swim backward quite rapidly by shooting jets of water. It also builds itself a shell home in which to live. As it grows, it needs a larger compartment within its shell, and it moves forward in its ever-widening shell and closes off the cramped quarters behind. But unlike the average shellfish, the nautilus leaves a fleshy tube of its body in the old “room.” This tube extends all the way back to the first room it occupied. This fleshy cord is used to make the shell buoyant by flooding chambers or forcing water out of them. The nautilus is a swimmer, not a crawler!
The living nautilus is found in the southwestern part of the Pacific and eastern Indian oceans and looks exactly like the fossil specimens of the nautilus found in those rock layers containing the earliest forms of life. There is absolutely no evidence of evolution here!
God’s creativity seems to be unlimited as we see more of the amazing ways He has chosen to design His creatures, and the nautilus is just one more example of God’s abilities.
Heavenly Father, help me to come to You in prayer in all situations. When I am in need, help me to remember to cast all things on You, for Your power, thinking and creativity are truly unlimited. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Margaret Helder, “Marine Beauty Rediscovered,” Creation Science DIALOGUE, Vol. 15, No.3, October 1988, pp. 6-7. Photo: Nautilus. Courtesy of Manuae. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
JAMES CLERK MAXWELL: CREATION SCIENTIST
1 Corinthians 2:5
“That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
James Clerk Maxwell was a Scottish physicist and professor at King’s College, London, and then at Cambridge University. Albert Einstein said that Maxwell had made a greater contribution to physics than anyone except Isaac Newton. Maxwell developed complex theoretical and mathematical explanations for all the forces in the universe except gravity and nuclear forces. He also made scientific contributions in the fields of optics, thermodynamics and mathematics. In other words, Maxwell was a scientist of gigantic proportions who is still greatly respected by scientists today.
By today’s standards, however, Maxwell would be called a “fundamentalist.” Maxwell lived at the same time as Charles Darwin and was very much aware of Darwin’s theory of evolution. He felt strongly that the theory was anti-scientific and wrote a powerful and important refutation of evolutionary writings. He also offered a careful mathematical refutation of the theory that the solar system had evolved from a cloud of dust and gas.
The great scientist Maxwell believed that Jesus Christ is the Savior that God has provided to deliver man from the results of sin — including eternal death. A writing of his, found after his death, states that the motivation for his work was that God had created all things, just as Genesis says. And since God has created man in His image, scientific study is a fit activity for any person’s life work.
Dear Heavenly Father, I pray today for the work of those in science who are convinced that You are indeed the Creator described in Genesis. Though they are opposed by men, bless their work and move more of our Christian young people to follow in their footsteps. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Portrait: James Clerk Maxwell.
1 Corinthians 2:5
“That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
James Clerk Maxwell was a Scottish physicist and professor at King’s College, London, and then at Cambridge University. Albert Einstein said that Maxwell had made a greater contribution to physics than anyone except Isaac Newton. Maxwell developed complex theoretical and mathematical explanations for all the forces in the universe except gravity and nuclear forces. He also made scientific contributions in the fields of optics, thermodynamics and mathematics. In other words, Maxwell was a scientist of gigantic proportions who is still greatly respected by scientists today.
By today’s standards, however, Maxwell would be called a “fundamentalist.” Maxwell lived at the same time as Charles Darwin and was very much aware of Darwin’s theory of evolution. He felt strongly that the theory was anti-scientific and wrote a powerful and important refutation of evolutionary writings. He also offered a careful mathematical refutation of the theory that the solar system had evolved from a cloud of dust and gas.
The great scientist Maxwell believed that Jesus Christ is the Savior that God has provided to deliver man from the results of sin — including eternal death. A writing of his, found after his death, states that the motivation for his work was that God had created all things, just as Genesis says. And since God has created man in His image, scientific study is a fit activity for any person’s life work.
Dear Heavenly Father, I pray today for the work of those in science who are convinced that You are indeed the Creator described in Genesis. Though they are opposed by men, bless their work and move more of our Christian young people to follow in their footsteps. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Portrait: James Clerk Maxwell.
CAN WE TRUST THOSE CARBON 14 DATES?
1 Corinthians 3:18
“Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.”
Many creation supporters are Christians that are also interested in ancient history and like to read about the latest archaeological discoveries. However, they are concerned when, say, some very ancient remains are carbon-14 dated at forty or even fifty thousand years old. According to the Bible, the Creation itself is no more than 10,000 years old, so how does the Bible-believing Christian handle this kind of information? To assure ourselves, we need to lift the cloak of secrecy about carbon-14 dating.
Willard Libby developed the carbon-14 dating method in 1947. This was considered such a major breakthrough that he received the Nobel Prize a few years later. However, like every other method of measurement, the method itself had to be calibrated against things of historically dated and known age. Libby used wooden coffin lids and for the earliest dates was obliged to use historically dated material from Egypt. Libby reported in a footnote that the Egyptologist had confessed that Egyptian dating is “perhaps five centuries too old at five thousand years.” This one little footnote reveals that if Egyptian dates were honestly brought forward by five hundred years, they would confirm the biblical Exodus. Secondly, any ages greater than about 5,000 years are beyond the range of historical calibration. The bottom line is that the carbon-14 method does have several serious and recognized problems beyond about 2,000 years.
Heavenly Father, I thank You that You are patient with us, especially when we read of discoveries and begin to doubt Your Word. Continue to teach me and give me understanding. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Photo: Willard Frank Libby.
1 Corinthians 3:18
“Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.”
Many creation supporters are Christians that are also interested in ancient history and like to read about the latest archaeological discoveries. However, they are concerned when, say, some very ancient remains are carbon-14 dated at forty or even fifty thousand years old. According to the Bible, the Creation itself is no more than 10,000 years old, so how does the Bible-believing Christian handle this kind of information? To assure ourselves, we need to lift the cloak of secrecy about carbon-14 dating.
Willard Libby developed the carbon-14 dating method in 1947. This was considered such a major breakthrough that he received the Nobel Prize a few years later. However, like every other method of measurement, the method itself had to be calibrated against things of historically dated and known age. Libby used wooden coffin lids and for the earliest dates was obliged to use historically dated material from Egypt. Libby reported in a footnote that the Egyptologist had confessed that Egyptian dating is “perhaps five centuries too old at five thousand years.” This one little footnote reveals that if Egyptian dates were honestly brought forward by five hundred years, they would confirm the biblical Exodus. Secondly, any ages greater than about 5,000 years are beyond the range of historical calibration. The bottom line is that the carbon-14 method does have several serious and recognized problems beyond about 2,000 years.
Heavenly Father, I thank You that You are patient with us, especially when we read of discoveries and begin to doubt Your Word. Continue to teach me and give me understanding. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Photo: Willard Frank Libby.
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