DGE?, Author at DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

June 14, 2022June 13, 2022

Transgender Explosion and Gender Definitions

A Japanese man has decided he no longer wants to be a human and has chosen to be a dog named Toko. He had a professional dog costume designed for 2-million Japanese yen (more than $15,000). You can see him walking on four legs and rolling on the floor in YouTube videos. When inquirers asked why he wanted to be a dog, he said the question was difficult to answer. His case is an extreme example of people wanting to change who they are that has caused a transgender explosion and confusion of gender definitions.

The transgender explosion in the United States has now become a target for Bill Maher, Ricky Gervais, and other comedians who refer to it as “trans extremism.” Gervais says, “The worst thing you can say today is ‘Women don’t have penises.’” The comedians point out that the root of the issue is the belief that gender is purely an internal feeling often stimulated by peer pressure. The point of no return occurs when doctors perform surgery and prescribe hormones. Making irreversible decisions at age 14 opens the door to terrible problems when you become an adult.

What are the motivations for a gender change? Each case is different, and none of them is simple. For a male, the ability to dominate in female sports competition may be attractive. Others may have feelings of jealousy, inferiority, or distrust. That is especially true if they have experienced abuse. The breakdown of the family unit, the complete abandonment of morals, and the impact of the entertainment industry all contribute to the transgender explosion in America.

However, the transgender explosion is just another symptom of what happens when a culture discards God and His Word. Every past culture on this planet has gone through a similar path. After a period of growth and strength, humans start to rely on immorality, materialism, naturalism, and racism, and the culture eventually collapses. Will America learn from history or repeat it? Only Christianity offers any hope that we will not follow the civilizations that have lived and died in the past.

Reference: The Week for June 10, 2022, page 12.

June 13, 2022June 12, 2022

Ancient Trilobites Had the Solution to Focusing Problems

Most of us have faced the problem of focus when taking a picture or looking through binoculars. If you focus on something close to you, things in the distance are out of focus and visa-versa. Historians credit Benjamin Franklin with inventing bifocals to solve this problem, but researchers have found that ancient trilobites had the solution to focusing problems long before him.

Trilobites were sea creatures that needed to focus on prey up close without losing sight of predators approaching. Studies of fossils of a trilobite known as Dalmanitina socialis have led scientists to create a new camera lens. The trilobite’s eye was so well-designed that an object an inch away and another a mile away would both be in perfect focus. Amit Agrawal of the National Institute of Standards and Technology wrote, “To the best of our knowledge, this type of compound-eye visual system is unique…in contrast to the single focal vision system present in all-known living arthropods that exist today.”

The trilobite eye had two concentric lenses that could focus near and far at the same time. Based on that design, Agrawal and his team developed a “spin-multiplexed bifocal metalens array capable of capturing high-resolution light-field images over a record depth-of-field ranging from centimeter to kilometer scale.” The metalens is a flat lens made up of millions of rectangular nanopillars that bend light differently depending on their shape, size, and arrangement. A computer algorithm brings these multiple images into a single picture with all objects in focus.

Potential applications of this new technology are many and varied. For example, Metalenses could be used for 3-D photography, self-driving cars, and Mars rovers. Ancient trilobites had the solution to focusing problems, and scientists date these creatures to some 400 million years ago. Human technology and engineering are just now learning to mimic what the Creator did in forming the trilobite eye. Everywhere we look in the natural world, we see that a wonder-working hand has gone before, and the trilobite is one more example.

References: Science News for June 4, 2022 page 12 and Nature Communications April 19, 2022.

June 11, 2022June 9, 2022

Why Does Anything Exist?

Why is there something rather than nothing? Most scientists today agree that the universe had a beginning. They disagree on how it began, but they largely accept the idea that it began to exist. However, another question many ask is, “Why does anything exist?” If there was nothing before the universe began, why are we here?

If nothing existed before the universe began, it is difficult to explain why there is anything at all. Some scientists have tried redefining “nothing” to make it “something.” Sometimes they suggest that something is gravity. So, if gravity existed before there was anything, where did the gravity come from? What they are doing is to substitute gravity for God, but how can there be gravity without mass?

Isaac Newton described gravity as the attraction between objects that have mass. The more mass, the more gravity pulls them together. That was the accepted theory until Einstein devised a new idea. His theory defined gravity as a curvature in space-time, which is the accepted concept today. But, according to scientists, the cosmic creation event (usually referred to as the big bang) was also the beginning of space and time. So, where does gravity come from if there is no space-time or matter-energy? That still does not answer the question, “Why does anything exist?”

Of course, if science says that gravity existed before anything else, atheists argue that it is no different from saying that God existed before anything else. Who or what made God? Everything that begins to exist must indeed have a cause. However, God is eternal. He did not begin to exist. God is the first cause, the unmade Maker, the necessarily existing uncaused Being. If God created time and space, He is outside of time and space. God existed before time, but even using the term “before” shows that we are limited to thinking in time terms. There is no before or after with God. He knows the future because He can see the entire timeline of the cosmos, viewing it from the outside.

So back to our original question, “Why does anything exist?” We can say that everything exists because God exists. God chose to create this fine-tuned universe of space, time, matter, and energy. Since God is outside of time, He can hear the prayers of millions of people all over the world at the same time. There I go using that “time” word again. We can’t think outside of time because we can’t live outside of time. If we could, for just a moment (another time word), step outside of history’s timeline and see it from God’s perspective, we could understand why God allows things to happen. We could understand the things that make us ask, “Why doesn’t God stop that from happening?” We could see the conclusion of all things. We would know that because of God’s wisdom, justice, and love, the conclusion is good.

June 10, 2022June 8, 2022

Earth Is a Complex Living Planet

In 1883, an Indonesian volcano named Krakatoa, or Krakatau, erupted. In August of that year, the volcano exploded with such fury that 70% of the island collapsed into the caldera. The explosion was so violent that people heard it thousands of miles away. On January 15, 2022, Tonga’s Hunga volcano exploded. That island nation was devastated, and people heard the booms in Alaska, 6,200 miles (almost 10,000 km) away. Events such as those remind us that Earth is a complex living planet.

On January 14, 2022, the Hunga volcano erupted, apparently sinking the volcano’s main vent below sea level. That set up conditions for the volcano to explode the next day. Because of the capabilities of modern science, a team of 76 scientists in 17 nations studied the atmospheric waves created by the explosion, concluding that they were the strongest since the Krakatau explosion nearly 140 years ago. David Fee of the University of Alaska Fairbanks said, “Our hope is that we will be better able to monitor volcanic eruptions and tsunamis by understanding the atmospheric waves from this eruption.”

Earth is a complex living planet with massive forces at work, constantly changing its surface. The North American land mass is unusually stable, allowing us to build huge buildings and large cities, but much of the world is not that stable. In recent years, we have learned that the continents move, bringing to the surface new minerals and nutrients needed for life. In addition, in the ocean trenches, material is taken back into Earth’s core to be reworked and brought back to Earth’s crust.

The more we learn about our planet and the forces that have molded and shaped it to make life possible, the more apparent it becomes that life is extraordinary and the habitat that supports it is unique. Therefore, taking care of this beautiful creation of God is essential, and part of that is understanding that Earth is a complex living planet.

Reference: National Science Foundation and the journal Science.

June 9, 2022August 4, 2022

The Apostles of Jesus Used Evidence

Yesterday, we said that we should not be afraid of evidence. We point out in our daily postings that solid evidence supports our faith in God, Jesus, and the Bible. We pointed out that Jesus used evidence. Today, we want to look at some examples of how the apostles of Jesus used evidence.

The Church began on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached to the crowd in the Temple. To convince the people of the fact that Jesus was God in the flesh and convict them of their sin of rejecting Him, Peter began by showing that the miracle of the apostles speaking in languages that they had not learned was evidence that their message was from God. Then he pointed out that Jesus of Nazareth had proven that He was from God by “miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through him” (Acts 2:22). Then in verses 23 and 32, we find Paul using the miracle of the resurrection as evidence that Jesus was the Messiah, God in the flesh.

On Pentecost, Peter spoke to the Jews who believed in the prophecies. Paul took a slightly different approach when he addressed the Greeks in Lystra. They did not have the Old Testament prophecies. Instead, they believed in many gods, even mistaking Paul and Barnabas for gods. Paul appealed to them on behalf of “the living God,” whose existence was evidenced by the fact that He “made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them” (Acts 14:15). Paul used a similar approach in speaking to the pagan philosophers in Athens. He spoke to them of the true God “who made the world and everything in it.” The evidence for God was in the things He had made, and Paul quoted Greek poets who had said, “For we are also his offspring.” (See Acts 17:22-29.) Paul also wrote similar words to the Romans, saying that all people can know there is a God by the things He has made (Romans 1;20).

Thus, we see that the apostles of Jesus used evidence to convince people of God’s existence and that Jesus is God. Likewise, Paul used eyewitness evidence when he wrote to the Corinthian church. First, he quoted an oral tradition of the Church that most likely originated within five years of Christ’s resurrection, telling about various people who witnessed Christ alive after the resurrection, including over 500 individuals at one time. Then Paul said that most of those people were still alive and could confirm what they had seen. Paul then testified that he also was an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ. (See 1 Corinthians 15;1-11.)

As we can see from these examples of Peter and Paul, the apostles of Jesus used evidence to testify to the existence of God, the deity of Jesus, and the truth of the resurrection. Evidence does not destroy faith. It reinforces faith. We can know that Jesus was God with us by His miracles. His greatest miracle, and the only one He predicted in advance, was the resurrection, and we have eyewitness testimony evidence for that. We can know there is a God by the things He has made, and science testifies to the fact that creation was fine-tuned for us to be here.

June 8, 2022June 8, 2022

Jesus Used Evidence, and We Do Too

Jesus Used Evidence with the two disciples on the Emmaus Road — Jesus speaking with two disciples on the Emmaus Road

You can look at atheist websites and see that they insist there is no evidence for the existence of God. In contrast to the atheist viewpoint, some Christian groups insist that faith is all you need, and evidence can even be harmful because it destroys the need for faith. We believe that there is extensive evidence for God’s existence, and we daily point that out to anyone willing to open their mind to it. To the Christians who have a negative attitude toward evidence, we want to point out that Jesus used evidence. Let’s examine how Jesus used evidence.

As Jesus spoke with his disciples for the last time, Philip asked Him to “show us the Father,” meaning God. Jesus responded by saying that anyone who has seen Him has seen the Father because He was in God, and God was in Him. He said that the words He spoke were the words of God, and His “works,” that is miracles, were the works of God. Then He said, “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.” In other words, the miracles Jesus performed were evidence of God and proof that Jesus was God with them in the flesh. Therefore, they needed to examine the evidence shown by His actions. (See John 14:8-11.)

After His resurrection, Jesus spoke with two followers on the road to Emmaus, but they did not recognize who He was. They were sad and discouraged because the one they had admired as “a prophet powerful in action and speech before God and the people” had been crucified. Before they realized that He was Jesus, He told them that the fulfilled prophecies were evidence that the one they were talking about was the Messiah, the promised one of God. His point was that they needed to examine the evidence in prophecy. (See Luke 24:25-27.)

When Thomas doubted the testimony of the other disciples that Jesus was alive, what did Jesus do? He showed Thomas the wounds in His hands and side, and He challenged Thomas to examine the physical evidence. (See John 20:24-29.)

Jesus never said that you have to believe without evidence or in spite of the evidence. On the contrary, Jesus used evidence for God and for the fact that He was God with us. He was not afraid of evidence, and we should not be either. Tomorrow, we will look at some examples of how the apostles used evidence for God and Jesus.

June 7, 2022June 6, 2022

Planet-Moon Size Ratio

What is the optimum size for a planet to form a just-right moon? According to a new study, the short answer to that question is, “Just about the size of planet Earth.” Is that another coincidence or a matter of design? First, let’s consider the planet-moon size ratio.

The radius of the Moon is a little more than one-fourth of Earth’s radius. That four-to-one ratio is unlike any other planet-moon size ratio in our solar system. The solar system’s largest moon is Ganymede which orbits Jupiter. It is one-third larger than our Moon, but Jupiter is more than 11 times the diameter of Earth. The essential factor is that our Moon is larger in relation to the size of the planet it orbits than any other moon in the solar system.

Scientists believe that our Moon was formed when a planet the size of Mars collided with the early Earth. The heat caused by the collision vaporized the material, which eventually congealed to form the Moon and planet Earth. (See Genesis 1:1-2.) The angle of that collision was precisely fine-tuned to result in a planet and moon with the exact size ratio for the Moon to control Earth’s tilt, rotation speed, and ocean tides, as well as perfectly covering the Sun during a total solar eclipse.

To suggest that the creation of a planet perfect for advanced life could have been an accident requires that you have a lot of faith in chance. But a new study by researchers from the University of Rochester in New York adds even more evidence for design. They found that a planet more than 1.3 to 1.6 times Earth’s size could not form a moon that would have the “life-enabling effects” that our Moon has.

Computer modeling shows that if larger planets collided, the energy of the impact would vaporize the material, but a stabilizing moon could not form. The vaporized material would cause drag on the planet, slowing it down so much that gravity would cause any material that congealed to crash into the planet. Not only is the planet-moon size ratio essential, but so also is the size of the colliding bodies.

Numerous factors beyond the planet-moon size ratio must be just right for a functional, life-supporting planet to form. Our planet meets every one of those requirements, and so far, astronomers have not found any other planet that does. The Bible does not tell us whether God chose to create life on another suitable planet anywhere in the universe. However, scientists will never stop looking for it. In the meantime, they keep finding factors that show evidence of intelligent design everywhere in the universe.

References: Space.com and Nature Communications

June 6, 2022June 6, 2022

Aliens Are Controlling Planet Earth?

Seeing the design and wisdom in the natural world leads many people to realize it cannot be merely a product of chance. But, at the same time, they don’t want to attribute it to God because that would obligate them to live for God as Christ told us. So, they adopt the idea that aliens are controlling planet Earth as an alternative.

Enterprising hucksters have seized upon this thinking by offering a variety of claims about aliens from space. Nearly every day, someone claims evidence of alien visitation. Looking up at night, we can see much to fuel this thinking. There are roughly 3000 active satellites in orbit today, ranging from communication devices to military observation platforms and scientific research projects.

When you add to all of the active satellites, others that no longer function and all of the debris from various launches, the area around planet Earth is full of material to cause sightings. The term “Unidentified Flying Object” (UFO) has now become “Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon” (UAP). That seems more correct because many of them are reflections, ball lightning, auroras, and drones.

Nothing in the Bible says this planet is the only place where God has created life. However, the size of the cosmos and the distances to places where aliens could exist is so massive that alien visitation is highly unlikely. For an alien to travel from even the closest star system to planet Earth would require over four years if they could travel at the speed of light, which is impossible. Any alien affecting things on Earth would have to know how to manipulate time and space. If they are that advanced, it would be simple for them to avoid detection.

The bottom line is that we should not expect aliens to solve our problems. Humans need to find a way to get along and manage our relationships. The one system that has proven itself when followed is the teachings of Jesus Christ. Every human effort to find a successful alternative to Matthew 5 – 7 has failed. “Survival of the fittest” thinking has led to slavery, war, and the likes of Hitler, Mao, Stalin, and Putin. Instead of suggesting that aliens are controlling planet Earth, we need to turn control over to God.

June 4, 2022June 3, 2022

Critical Race Theory Won’t Solve the Problem

Critical Race Theory has become a hot issue today because one of the significant failings of America has been the way racial issues have been handled. My father had his first college teaching job at Talladega State Teacher’s College, an all-black college in Talladega, Alabama. I was the only white kid in the neighborhood and also in my first and second-grade classes at school. I never had a problem in Talladega, but when we moved to McComb, Illinois and people found out where I had gone to school, I experienced persecution because I was “a nigger lover.” I didn’t know what that word meant, but it began my education about race issues in America.

Today, we are being told about the “Tulsa Massacre,” something I had never heard of until recently. “Black lives matter” has made it impossible to avoid exposure to the entrenched problems facing all Americans, especially those of dark brown skin. Unfortunately, politicians have waded into this struggle and have made “race” the lens through which we view everything. They seem to think they have the power to legislate a solution to this issue. Critical Race Theory (CRT) is an ideology that says people are either “oppressors” or the “oppressed,” “good” or “bad,” based entirely on their race. The conflict over CRT has resulted from its inclusion in the school curriculum at a very early age. That has produced a strong reaction, both pro, and con, in every corner of our country.

Atheists and skeptics have jumped into the promotion of CRT, pointing to the poor history of race relations in religious groups. I remember the Klan burning a cross in our front yard in Talladega because of where my father was teaching. I remember a terrible experience when I had a tonsillectomy. The surgeon pushed me, a blood-soaked kid, on a gurney out to my mother and told her, “Here, nigger lover, you clean him up.” My family’s closest friends have been people of color, and I have seen what they endure. However, teaching Critical Race Theory to first graders is not a solution to racial prejudice in America.

The Bible makes it clear that Christians must treat all people as equals and that we are all one. Therefore, the Church must take the lead in educating its members about race while reaching out to the oppressed. Galatians 3:27-28 says: “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Changing the hearts of non-Christians is an uphill battle that can be won, but Critical Race Theory won’t do it.

June 3, 2022June 2, 2022

Harmony of the Gospels

When I was a seminary student in a gospels class taught by scholar R. C. Foster, the students received the challenge of assembling “a harmony of the gospels.” It turned out to be more of a chore than I expected. It was in the 1960s before the time of computers and word processors, which today allow you to rearrange text by electronically “cutting” and “pasting.” We had to literally cut and paste with scissors and glue. We had to take inexpensive paperback Bibles and snip passages from each of the gospels, assembling them into columns in a notebook, creating a timeline of Christ’s ministry. It was my first and only experience with cutting up Bibles.

When only one of the gospels told of a parable, miracle, or teaching of Jesus, the job was relatively easy. When more than one gospel writer told about the same incident, it required juxtaposing the two or more accounts. It was an excellent way to realize that witnesses often describe scenes differently. For example, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell of an incident that happened after Jesus and his disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee and arrived at a Gentile area known as the Decapolis. Matthew tells of two wild, demon-possessed men who lived in the tombs near the shore. These men, who terrorized the locals, came out of the tombs to challenge Jesus. Christ cast the demons out of the men and into a herd of swine. (See Matthew 8:28-34.)

Critics point out that when Mark and Luke tell the story, they speak of only one man. They claim this is an error in the gospels, and the descriptions can’t both be accurate. However, the critics miss the point. Matthew gives us the detail that there were two men, but Mark and Luke concentrate on the one who was the dominating personality, and they give more information on his actions. They tell us that chains couldn’t bind him, and nobody could tame him. He was naked and crying and cutting himself night and day. When he saw Jesus, he took a worshipful pose and called him “the Son of the most high God.” After Jesus cast the demons out of the man, people were amazed that he was sitting and clothed and in his right mind.

The people were then terrified not of the man but of Jesus, and they asked Him to leave their area. As Jesus prepared to get back on the boat, the formerly possessed man begged to go with Him. Jesus didn’t allow the man to go with Him but told him to go back and tell his friends, “what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had compassion on you.” The man became a witness for Jesus in the pagan area of Decapolis. (See Mark 5:1-20 and Luke 8:26-39.)

When you read this account from all three gospel writers, you will find details the others omitted. A testimony to the Bible’s divine nature is not only the harmony of the gospels but also their brevity. Only the essentials are there. Matthew chose to reveal that there were two men, but he left out other details. Mark and Luke give more information about the one man Jesus appointed to be a witness for God in a pagan area.

The formerly pagan and demon-possessed man apparently was an effective witness to his neighbors. Months later, Jesus returned to the Decapolis and was met by “great multitudes” eager to see the one who had healed and restored sanity to the man of the tombs. Now the “Son of the most high God” was able to show compassion for multitudes of people. He healed “the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others.” (See Matthew 15:29-31.)

As a result of Jesus’ compassion and a restored man willing to share his story with others, many people in a pagan region “glorified the God of Israel.” And as a result of having to prepare a harmony of the gospels to pass R. C. Foster’s class, I came to understand and appreciate why the Bible contains four accounts of Jesus’ ministry.