THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD PARENTS
Ephesians 6:1
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right."
Do good parents undo their best efforts when they place a child in day care? Who has more influence on a child's development when that child must be placed in day care? Recently we have heard about many studies, some of which arrived at conflicting conclusions. Some said that parents have little or no effect on their children's development. Others concluded that day care doesn't influence a child's development at all. Now unique new research seeks to clear this up.
This two pronged research effort is unique because it relied on direct observation of children and caregivers. The first prong of the study, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, observed 1-3 year olds in over 1,300 families. These families ranged from stay-at-home moms to those who used day care. Home backgrounds were studied, mothers were videotaped, and children were tested for language development and similar skills. This part of the study concluded that mothers who are warmly involved with their children had the greater influence on their child's development. They also concluded that average children who go to day care and have an involved, caring mother will be stunted by poor day care, but modestly helped by good day care.
The second prong of the study rated day care in nine states, and then extended its results to the entire country. They rated 61 percent of day care programs as "fair" or "poor, " with 39 percent rated as "good" or "excellent." What's clear from these results is that in God's order of things, nothing can replace good parenting!
Lord, help me to be a good parent and to be good to my parents. Amen.
S.M. "Good parents still make the difference," Science News, February 6, 1999, v. 155, p. 91. Photo: Courtesy of Marty from Manitou Springs. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Ephesians 6:1
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right."
Do good parents undo their best efforts when they place a child in day care? Who has more influence on a child's development when that child must be placed in day care? Recently we have heard about many studies, some of which arrived at conflicting conclusions. Some said that parents have little or no effect on their children's development. Others concluded that day care doesn't influence a child's development at all. Now unique new research seeks to clear this up.
This two pronged research effort is unique because it relied on direct observation of children and caregivers. The first prong of the study, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, observed 1-3 year olds in over 1,300 families. These families ranged from stay-at-home moms to those who used day care. Home backgrounds were studied, mothers were videotaped, and children were tested for language development and similar skills. This part of the study concluded that mothers who are warmly involved with their children had the greater influence on their child's development. They also concluded that average children who go to day care and have an involved, caring mother will be stunted by poor day care, but modestly helped by good day care.
The second prong of the study rated day care in nine states, and then extended its results to the entire country. They rated 61 percent of day care programs as "fair" or "poor, " with 39 percent rated as "good" or "excellent." What's clear from these results is that in God's order of things, nothing can replace good parenting!
Lord, help me to be a good parent and to be good to my parents. Amen.
S.M. "Good parents still make the difference," Science News, February 6, 1999, v. 155, p. 91. Photo: Courtesy of Marty from Manitou Springs. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
ONE SMELLY AMOEBA
Job 9:25-26
"Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey."
Not all dangerous predators can be seen. One of the most dangerous predators in a drop of pond water is Amoeba proteus. This amoeba literally terrorizes its one celled pond mates because they can smell him coming to engulf them. Among his favorite snacks are one celled creatures of the genus Euplotes. But Euplotes can defend themselves. When some members of this genus smell the amoeba coming, they dart away to safety. Others can grow pikes to defend themselves. Some can even grow hard shells to protect themselves.
This scenario leaves a problem for evolution. What benefit to a predator is there in warning its prey? Evolution should have selected against the amoeba's ability to produce its unique scent, called the A factor. Now a new discovery has revealed the amoeba's scent is really a clever design, pointing to a Designer. These amoebas reproduce by splitting, so they are surrounded by clones. The A factor is just strong enough to allow the proteus to identify clone mates so that they don't eat each other, but not so strong that it prevents proteus from getting enough to eat.
God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from another unseen predator - the devil. The evil in the world is the warning scent of the devil's presence. God has placed many evidences within the creation that He is the Creator so that as our relatively few days on this earth flee by, we will be drawn to His Son. Believing in Him, we will receive forgiveness and salvation from sin, death and the devil.
We thank You, dear Father, that in Your love, You sent Your Son to save me from sin, death and the devil. Amen.
S. Milius, "Amoeba betrayed by anticannibal defense," Science News, March 20, 1999, v. 155, p. 182. Image: Amoeba proteus.
Job 9:25-26
"Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey."
Not all dangerous predators can be seen. One of the most dangerous predators in a drop of pond water is Amoeba proteus. This amoeba literally terrorizes its one celled pond mates because they can smell him coming to engulf them. Among his favorite snacks are one celled creatures of the genus Euplotes. But Euplotes can defend themselves. When some members of this genus smell the amoeba coming, they dart away to safety. Others can grow pikes to defend themselves. Some can even grow hard shells to protect themselves.
This scenario leaves a problem for evolution. What benefit to a predator is there in warning its prey? Evolution should have selected against the amoeba's ability to produce its unique scent, called the A factor. Now a new discovery has revealed the amoeba's scent is really a clever design, pointing to a Designer. These amoebas reproduce by splitting, so they are surrounded by clones. The A factor is just strong enough to allow the proteus to identify clone mates so that they don't eat each other, but not so strong that it prevents proteus from getting enough to eat.
God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from another unseen predator - the devil. The evil in the world is the warning scent of the devil's presence. God has placed many evidences within the creation that He is the Creator so that as our relatively few days on this earth flee by, we will be drawn to His Son. Believing in Him, we will receive forgiveness and salvation from sin, death and the devil.
We thank You, dear Father, that in Your love, You sent Your Son to save me from sin, death and the devil. Amen.
S. Milius, "Amoeba betrayed by anticannibal defense," Science News, March 20, 1999, v. 155, p. 182. Image: Amoeba proteus.
UNNATURAL SELECTION?
Luke 12:33
"Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth."
Just about every public school textbook once included the example of the peppered moth. The moth is used as a prime example of natural selection. Supposedly, as the trees in the English countryside began to be covered with coal pollution in the mid 1800s, the light colored tree trunks became darker. The peppered moth exists in two varieties - black and white - and was said to rest on the tree trunks. As the trunks turned black, the white variety was more easily seen and picked off by the birds, leaving the black variety to multiply. Students are told this is natural selection.
But since the 1980s, numerous studies of moth populations and how they live have called the use of the peppered moth as an example of evolution into serious question. Several additional population studies in polluted and unpolluted forests show little correlation between whether there are lighter or darker moths. After pollution control laws went into effect in England, the population of dark moths decreased in the north but increased in the south! In addition, the nocturnal moths do not rest on the tree trunks during the day, but stay hidden under the branches higher in the tree. In the famous photograph shown in every biology textbook - of a pair of moths resting on a tree - the moths were actually glued to the tree trunks to provide the picture!
Let's not give away the treasures of the truth of God's inerrant Word for the false treasure of earthly theories which deny our Creator.
Thank You, Father, that Your saving Word is trustworthy. Amen.
Jonathan Wells, Ph.D., "Second Thoughts about Peppered Moths," April 6, 1999.
Luke 12:33
"Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth."
Just about every public school textbook once included the example of the peppered moth. The moth is used as a prime example of natural selection. Supposedly, as the trees in the English countryside began to be covered with coal pollution in the mid 1800s, the light colored tree trunks became darker. The peppered moth exists in two varieties - black and white - and was said to rest on the tree trunks. As the trunks turned black, the white variety was more easily seen and picked off by the birds, leaving the black variety to multiply. Students are told this is natural selection.
But since the 1980s, numerous studies of moth populations and how they live have called the use of the peppered moth as an example of evolution into serious question. Several additional population studies in polluted and unpolluted forests show little correlation between whether there are lighter or darker moths. After pollution control laws went into effect in England, the population of dark moths decreased in the north but increased in the south! In addition, the nocturnal moths do not rest on the tree trunks during the day, but stay hidden under the branches higher in the tree. In the famous photograph shown in every biology textbook - of a pair of moths resting on a tree - the moths were actually glued to the tree trunks to provide the picture!
Let's not give away the treasures of the truth of God's inerrant Word for the false treasure of earthly theories which deny our Creator.
Thank You, Father, that Your saving Word is trustworthy. Amen.
Jonathan Wells, Ph.D., "Second Thoughts about Peppered Moths," April 6, 1999.
GLOW, LITTLE OCTOPUS
John 8:12
"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
The deep, dark depths of the ocean are filled with many varieties of luminescent creatures. But among the octopus there are only two or three species in which the females develop luminescent rings around their mouths. But that has all changed with a remarkable series of discoveries about an already-known species of octopus.
The red octopus, Stauroteuthis syrtensis, lives in the deep waters off the east coast of the United States. In 1997 a foot long specimen was being studied. When the scientists turned off the lights in the lab, they were amazed to see the octopus's suckers glowing. The blue green glow, they discovered, glows brightest at 470 nanometers, a frequency that travels well under water. Scientists say that this glow might explain how the octopus makes its living. It doesn't eat what most octopods eat. Rather, it eats tiny crustaceans whose shallow-water cousins are drawn to light. If the deep-water versions are drawn to light, all this clever little octopus needs to do to eat is turn on the porch light. The frequency of the light and the unusual diet of this octopus all provide evidence of God's all wise design. If these special features had depended on chance to develop, this octopus would have never come about.
God is the Creator and Source of all light. The perfect light of His truth in the Gospel shines at just the "right frequency" to draw us to the forgiveness of sins and salvation found only in Jesus Christ.
Father in heaven, we thank You for the light of the Gospel which brings us to the light of the life Christ has won for us. Amen.
S. Milius, "Octopus suckers glow in the deep, dark sea," Science News, March 13, 1999, v. 155, p. 167. Photo: Stauroteuthis syrtensis.
John 8:12
"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
The deep, dark depths of the ocean are filled with many varieties of luminescent creatures. But among the octopus there are only two or three species in which the females develop luminescent rings around their mouths. But that has all changed with a remarkable series of discoveries about an already-known species of octopus.
The red octopus, Stauroteuthis syrtensis, lives in the deep waters off the east coast of the United States. In 1997 a foot long specimen was being studied. When the scientists turned off the lights in the lab, they were amazed to see the octopus's suckers glowing. The blue green glow, they discovered, glows brightest at 470 nanometers, a frequency that travels well under water. Scientists say that this glow might explain how the octopus makes its living. It doesn't eat what most octopods eat. Rather, it eats tiny crustaceans whose shallow-water cousins are drawn to light. If the deep-water versions are drawn to light, all this clever little octopus needs to do to eat is turn on the porch light. The frequency of the light and the unusual diet of this octopus all provide evidence of God's all wise design. If these special features had depended on chance to develop, this octopus would have never come about.
God is the Creator and Source of all light. The perfect light of His truth in the Gospel shines at just the "right frequency" to draw us to the forgiveness of sins and salvation found only in Jesus Christ.
Father in heaven, we thank You for the light of the Gospel which brings us to the light of the life Christ has won for us. Amen.
S. Milius, "Octopus suckers glow in the deep, dark sea," Science News, March 13, 1999, v. 155, p. 167. Photo: Stauroteuthis syrtensis.
"TOO MANY NOTES"
1 Chronicles 13:8
"And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets."
Perhaps you remember the line from the film Amadeus in which someone observes of Mozart's music, "Too many notes." That statement reflects some people's opinion of Mozart's highly complex music. But researchers are finding that this mathematical complexity may be the reason for what some call "the Mozart effect."
Researchers at several universities around the United States have confirmed that Mozart's complex music has positive effects for both adults and children. In one study, rats were subjected to Mozart for 12 hours a day, beginning four weeks before birth. A second group heard only silence, a third heard only a constant hissing sound, while a fourth group heard only minimalist composer Philip Glass. When the rats were old enough to run a maze, they were tested. The Mozart rats not only ran the maze considerably faster than any of the others, but they made fewer mistakes. Other research has shown that adults do better on intelligence tests after hearing Mozart. While this effect is temporary in adults, children exposed to Mozart show a permanent improvement.
It is thought that the complex nature of Mozart's music encourages the brain to make more connections within itself. The more connections you have, the smarter you are. Surely music is a gift of God that benefits us and could never exist in a universe created by the forces of chance.
Thank You, Lord, for the gift of music. Help me to use music to praise You and to tell others of Your salvation. Amen.
John Fauber, "Mozart is music to the brain's ears," The Christian News, January 18, 1999, p. 9. Photo: Mozart sheet music.
1 Chronicles 13:8
"And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets."
Perhaps you remember the line from the film Amadeus in which someone observes of Mozart's music, "Too many notes." That statement reflects some people's opinion of Mozart's highly complex music. But researchers are finding that this mathematical complexity may be the reason for what some call "the Mozart effect."
Researchers at several universities around the United States have confirmed that Mozart's complex music has positive effects for both adults and children. In one study, rats were subjected to Mozart for 12 hours a day, beginning four weeks before birth. A second group heard only silence, a third heard only a constant hissing sound, while a fourth group heard only minimalist composer Philip Glass. When the rats were old enough to run a maze, they were tested. The Mozart rats not only ran the maze considerably faster than any of the others, but they made fewer mistakes. Other research has shown that adults do better on intelligence tests after hearing Mozart. While this effect is temporary in adults, children exposed to Mozart show a permanent improvement.
It is thought that the complex nature of Mozart's music encourages the brain to make more connections within itself. The more connections you have, the smarter you are. Surely music is a gift of God that benefits us and could never exist in a universe created by the forces of chance.
Thank You, Lord, for the gift of music. Help me to use music to praise You and to tell others of Your salvation. Amen.
John Fauber, "Mozart is music to the brain's ears," The Christian News, January 18, 1999, p. 9. Photo: Mozart sheet music.
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