THE PUZZLE OF MATHEMATICS
Genesis 1:31a
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, it was very good.”
When a clothing manufacturer selects a high quality fabric he is usually concerned enough to make sure that good workmanship goes into the final product. In a similar way, the fabric of the creation tells us a lot about its Creator. Mathematics more than anything else reflects the fabric of the creation.
Many scientists today are puzzled by the fact that the material world they study can be accurately described in mathematical equations. The falling of a stone or a feather, even the colors of a rainbow, all correspond to mathematical formulae. Even chaos has a mathematical description. One Nobel physicist was moved to write a paper titled, “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences.”
Because mathematics so precisely describes reality, we can send a space probe billions of miles, on perfect target. Mathematics allows us to receive the pictures it returns to Earth using a transmitter no more powerful than a five-watt light bulb. As one science writer put it, scientists use mathematics as a wonderful gift, but they have no idea why it works so well.
Of course, creation-scientists don’t wonder why math works. They know that the creation is the work of an orderly and wise Creator Who was pleased with His final product. The precision of mathematics reflects the excellent quality of His fine workmanship.
Dear Father, I praise You because You have truly done all things well. Help me to be a better witness of Your excellent workmanship to those around me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Photo: Double Alaskan rainbow. Courtesy of Eric Rolph. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
Genesis 1:31a
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, it was very good.”
When a clothing manufacturer selects a high quality fabric he is usually concerned enough to make sure that good workmanship goes into the final product. In a similar way, the fabric of the creation tells us a lot about its Creator. Mathematics more than anything else reflects the fabric of the creation.
Many scientists today are puzzled by the fact that the material world they study can be accurately described in mathematical equations. The falling of a stone or a feather, even the colors of a rainbow, all correspond to mathematical formulae. Even chaos has a mathematical description. One Nobel physicist was moved to write a paper titled, “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences.”
Because mathematics so precisely describes reality, we can send a space probe billions of miles, on perfect target. Mathematics allows us to receive the pictures it returns to Earth using a transmitter no more powerful than a five-watt light bulb. As one science writer put it, scientists use mathematics as a wonderful gift, but they have no idea why it works so well.
Of course, creation-scientists don’t wonder why math works. They know that the creation is the work of an orderly and wise Creator Who was pleased with His final product. The precision of mathematics reflects the excellent quality of His fine workmanship.
Dear Father, I praise You because You have truly done all things well. Help me to be a better witness of Your excellent workmanship to those around me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Photo: Double Alaskan rainbow. Courtesy of Eric Rolph. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
ANT MATHEMATICS
Luke 14:28-30
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.”
Can ants count? It seems so! When a scout ant finds an item of food too big to carry, but especially good, the scout will return to the nest to get help. Scientists have discovered that ants apparently size up the task ahead so that they can return with just sufficient help.
One scientist cut a dead grasshopper into three pieces. The second piece was twice as big as the first, and the third was twice as big the second. He then left the pieces in different locations where ants could find them. He watched as each was discovered by a scout, inspected, and each scout returned to the nest for help. When the scout returned with help, the scientist counted the number of ants working at each piece of grasshopper. The smallest piece had 28 ants and the piece that was twice its size had 44 ants working on it, almost twice as many as the smallest piece. And how many ants do you think were working on the piece that was twice the size of the second? If you doubled that 44 to 88 you would be within one of being right – yes, there were 89 ants working to return the biggest piece to the nest!
The ants were carrying out the biblical principal to “count the cost of the project before you begin it.”
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, You spared nothing for my salvation, even though it cost You terrible suffering and death. As Yours, give me wisdom to plan well in the things of the world, but no desire to withhold anything from You because of the cost. Amen.
Photo: Weaver ant in fighting position. Courtesy of PHGCOM. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
Luke 14:28-30
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.”
Can ants count? It seems so! When a scout ant finds an item of food too big to carry, but especially good, the scout will return to the nest to get help. Scientists have discovered that ants apparently size up the task ahead so that they can return with just sufficient help.
One scientist cut a dead grasshopper into three pieces. The second piece was twice as big as the first, and the third was twice as big the second. He then left the pieces in different locations where ants could find them. He watched as each was discovered by a scout, inspected, and each scout returned to the nest for help. When the scout returned with help, the scientist counted the number of ants working at each piece of grasshopper. The smallest piece had 28 ants and the piece that was twice its size had 44 ants working on it, almost twice as many as the smallest piece. And how many ants do you think were working on the piece that was twice the size of the second? If you doubled that 44 to 88 you would be within one of being right – yes, there were 89 ants working to return the biggest piece to the nest!
The ants were carrying out the biblical principal to “count the cost of the project before you begin it.”
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, You spared nothing for my salvation, even though it cost You terrible suffering and death. As Yours, give me wisdom to plan well in the things of the world, but no desire to withhold anything from You because of the cost. Amen.
Photo: Weaver ant in fighting position. Courtesy of PHGCOM. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
HOW TO SPEAK BEE
Psalm 26:6-7
“I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, 0 LORD: That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.”
One might expect that the ape would turn out to be the best animal communicator. But evolution’s expectations about language, and a link between man and apes, proves to be wrong.
The bee has the most complex and detailed functional language among the animals. Let’s say that a bee has located a particularly good source of nectar and returns to the hive to tell its friends where it is. Our bee dances a figure eight, with the cross points at the center of the eight giving the direction of the nectar in relation to the sun. As the bee dances on the wall of the honeycomb, the position of the sun is always down. If the bee moves up the comb wall at 17 degrees to the left of vertical, it means the honey is 17 degrees to the left of the sun. This communication even works on cloudy days, since bees can see the ultraviolet light that penetrates the clouds. Distance is communicated by the speed of the dance.
Neither man’s languages, nor the bees’ language evolved – they were given by God. Why else would the bee indicate direction relative to the sun in the same way that human beings do? That the bee is the best communicator in the animal world, and not the apes, helps to show that language cannot be explained by evolution.
Dear Father in heaven, I am filled with wonder and rejoicing when I hear about all of the wonderful things You have created and how You have provided for all Your creatures. But never let me forget to rejoice in Your salvation. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Photo: Honeybee landing on milkthistle. Courtesy of Fir0002. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
Psalm 26:6-7
“I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, 0 LORD: That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.”
One might expect that the ape would turn out to be the best animal communicator. But evolution’s expectations about language, and a link between man and apes, proves to be wrong.
The bee has the most complex and detailed functional language among the animals. Let’s say that a bee has located a particularly good source of nectar and returns to the hive to tell its friends where it is. Our bee dances a figure eight, with the cross points at the center of the eight giving the direction of the nectar in relation to the sun. As the bee dances on the wall of the honeycomb, the position of the sun is always down. If the bee moves up the comb wall at 17 degrees to the left of vertical, it means the honey is 17 degrees to the left of the sun. This communication even works on cloudy days, since bees can see the ultraviolet light that penetrates the clouds. Distance is communicated by the speed of the dance.
Neither man’s languages, nor the bees’ language evolved – they were given by God. Why else would the bee indicate direction relative to the sun in the same way that human beings do? That the bee is the best communicator in the animal world, and not the apes, helps to show that language cannot be explained by evolution.
Dear Father in heaven, I am filled with wonder and rejoicing when I hear about all of the wonderful things You have created and how You have provided for all Your creatures. But never let me forget to rejoice in Your salvation. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Photo: Honeybee landing on milkthistle. Courtesy of Fir0002. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
BEES OUTSMART SCIENTISTS
Psalm 19: 9, l0b
“The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogethe...sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”
Scientists have long recognized that bees are intelligent creatures. At the same time, they believe that this intelligence is the product of millions of years of natural selection. The extremely fast learning ability of the bee either puts in doubt the millions of years or shows the hand of the Creator.
Researchers at Princeton University decided to find out whether bees were smart enough to find their food source if it was moved. The researchers moved the prime food source 50 meters farther away from the hive. They found that it took the bees less than one minute to locate the moved source. Being precise scientists, they then moved the food source another 50 meters away. The bees still took less than a minute to find the food source. Two more moves, each a precise 50 meters, produced the same results.
However, the bees had also been studying the researchers. Before the researchers could finish moving the food source yet another 50 meters, they found that the bees had discovered the pattern and were already waiting at the new location!
God is our Creator, and He has cleverly left the evidence of His handiwork – His fingerprints, if you will – in the creation itself. For those who have eyes to see, this fills us with wonder and, yes, with love for the Creator God who first loved us.
Dear Father in heaven, help me to have eyes which not only see Your creation so clearly that I can discern Your fingerprints, but so that I can also clearly see what You are teaching me in Your Holy Word. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
OMNI, Vol. 6-9, June 84, p. 47. Photo: Courtesy of Sajjad Fazel. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Psalm 19: 9, l0b
“The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogethe...sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”
Scientists have long recognized that bees are intelligent creatures. At the same time, they believe that this intelligence is the product of millions of years of natural selection. The extremely fast learning ability of the bee either puts in doubt the millions of years or shows the hand of the Creator.
Researchers at Princeton University decided to find out whether bees were smart enough to find their food source if it was moved. The researchers moved the prime food source 50 meters farther away from the hive. They found that it took the bees less than one minute to locate the moved source. Being precise scientists, they then moved the food source another 50 meters away. The bees still took less than a minute to find the food source. Two more moves, each a precise 50 meters, produced the same results.
However, the bees had also been studying the researchers. Before the researchers could finish moving the food source yet another 50 meters, they found that the bees had discovered the pattern and were already waiting at the new location!
God is our Creator, and He has cleverly left the evidence of His handiwork – His fingerprints, if you will – in the creation itself. For those who have eyes to see, this fills us with wonder and, yes, with love for the Creator God who first loved us.
Dear Father in heaven, help me to have eyes which not only see Your creation so clearly that I can discern Your fingerprints, but so that I can also clearly see what You are teaching me in Your Holy Word. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
OMNI, Vol. 6-9, June 84, p. 47. Photo: Courtesy of Sajjad Fazel. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
FAST ROCKS
Jeremiah 2:26-27
“As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests and their prophets, saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth…but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.”
Rocks, especially on high mountains, seem so solid and permanent by human standards that it is easy to believe that they have been there for millions of years. We can also be deceived into believing those evolutionary claims that rock formations represent millions or billions of years of Earth history.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of visitors to natural caves are told by the guides that the stalactites and stalagmites growing within the cave represent thousands to even millions of years of natural growth. Like many other evolutionary claims, this one is easy to disprove. Stalactites are said by evolutionists to require a century to grow one inch. Yet, foot-long stalactites have been found in coal mines in the lime-rich area of Newcastle, Australia. The mines in which these are found are less than 40 years old. Similar examples can be found even in some of the older subway tunnels right under our city streets!
Our Creator God warns us many times about looking to nature as our source of knowledge and truth. Unfortunately, when we think that nature itself is able to correct His Word, we are guilty of the same idolatry that atheistic evolutionists commit. Yet, our gracious Creator continually reminds us He is there, waiting to forgive us, for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ, on our behalf.
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, You were the Instrument of our creation and You are the Word made flesh. Cleanse our hearts of all thinking which would replace You with what You have made, and grant us Your Spirit to make a strong witness for Your Word. Amen.
John Mackay. “Fossil Bolts and Fossil Hats.” Creation Ex Nihilo, Vol. 8. Nov., p. 10. Photo: Witch’s Finger stalagmite in Carlsbad Caverns.
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