DGE?, Author at DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

May 15, 2021May 11, 2021

People Believing Fake News

One of the most frequently quoted excuses for someone rejecting factual information is to claim it is fake news. Not everything called fake news actually is. On the other hand, there are plenty of examples of people believing fake news. In January, protestors following a fake news story disrupted a mass COVID vaccination site in Los Angeles, preventing hundreds of people from getting the vaccine. A fake news story started by QAnon got a lot of attention, claiming that Satan worshippers controlled politics and the media.

People spreading fake news often use social media to present their deliberate or ignorant lies. Health information is the most dangerous area of concern. Frequently a claim is based on a single case which may be one in millions of other cases. The problem with any health scare is that you never know what other health problems the person may have had. The number of deaths of people in nursing homes in COVID was massively greater than the deaths of school-age children. By cherry-picking data, one can make convincing statements about the danger of health issues when the actual risk is very low.

We suggest that all of us need to understand a few basic points about news reporting. News outlets in today’s world are heavily biased and don’t report the news–they interpret it. Getting unbiased information in today’s world is very difficult. Even government organizations frequently state their findings in a way designed to promote political positions. Listen critically to any news program.

Christians must avoid becoming some of the people believing fake news. Even scientific material is affected by vested interests in whatever the scientist is promoting. Even some Nobel Laureates have supported some very bad science, and sometimes they take on destructive causes both socially and politically.

We have frequently mentioned that Jesus Christ repeatedly steered his followers away from getting overly entwined in politics, government, or secular causes. He paid taxes but made it clear that we should render to Caesar the things that are Caesar and to God the things that are God’s. Don’t get entangled in the affairs of this world to the exclusion of your labors for Christ. It is your service to God and the things Jesus discusses in Matthew 25:34-40 that really count.

Reference: Science News, May 8, 2021.

May 14, 2021May 11, 2021

Fetal Microchimerism and Pregnancy

Smithsonian Magazine published an article on scientific research showing that becoming pregnant literally shapes a mother’s heart and mind. The scientific name for this is “fetal microchimerism.” The study shows amazing changes in a woman’s body and mind when she becomes pregnant. These include:

1) The mother regrows heart cells in the same way a salamander grows a new tail.
2) The DNA in new heart cells does not match the mother’s DNA.
3) The new heart cells travel to any damaged part of the mother’s heart.
4) Fetal stem cells transform into blood-vessel-like tubes and heart muscle cells in the mother.
5) Fetal cells not used in the mother’s heart show up in the mother’s lungs, spleen, kidneys, thyroid, skin, and bone marrow.
6) Fetal cells stay with the mother for life. Scientists find fetal cells in the corpses of older women with grown children.
7) Women with three or more kids have a 12% lower risk of dementia.
8) During the first month of motherhood, a woman is 23 times more likely to have her first hospitalization for bipolar disorder than at any other time in her life.
9) New mothers show significantly greater activity in the brain’s thalamus, which regulates consciousness, sleep, and alertness.
10) When observing distressed babies, mothers show unusual electrical brain activity.
11) Mothers have an oxytocin rush into the bloodstream during labor and delivery, facilitating uterine contractions and milk letdown. There is evidence that oxytocin is also a neurotransmitter stimulating a mother’s concern for infants.

When God designed women to give birth to babies, He didn’t just set up a chamber where the baby could grow. He also built into the conception process a system that benefits the mother and the child. Fetal microchimerism means that fetal cells from the baby remain in the mother’s body and affect her in various ways. Can you imagine what an abortion does to this system?

Science is just beginning to understand the complexities of this design. The process of abortion has long-term effects on the mother. The more we learn, the more obvious it becomes that abortion is not only the murder of an innocent baby, but it has collateral damage to the mother.

Reference: Smithsonian Magazine (May 2021, pages 50-57)

May 13, 2021May 11, 2021

Trees Can Slow Global Warming

Anyone who has read valid scientific studies must be aware that there is massive evidence that the planet is facing climate change. Politicians are proposing all kinds of elaborate and expensive solutions. The fact is that God has given us a solution that goes back to Genesis 1:11-12. “And God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees…and God saw that it was good.’” Trees can slow global warming.

In Liuzhou, China, Italian architect and urban planner Stefano Boeri is helping to develop the world’s first “forest city.” Nearly a million plants are being used to cover parks, schools, offices, and apartments. People in Louisville, Kentucky, are working on a similar plan called The Green Heart Project, with 14.5 million dollars to plant 10,000 trees. Louisville has had some health issues with high pollution levels and high rates of cardiovascular disease. The Green Heart Project began in 2018 directed by Eruni Bhatnagar of the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute at the University of Louisville. Similar studies and projects are underway at Murray State University, Arizona State University, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Lawrence University, Yale, Stanford, and Johns Hopkins.

Most of us are aware that trees take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, but the idea of planting trees and other forms of vegetation in urban areas is relatively new. In 2014, Italian developers completed the Bosco Verticale, which is Italian for vertical forest. They built a double skyscraper to hold 800 trees, 15,000 perennials, and 5,000 shrubs that spill over terraces. Dozens of studies have shown that people living near green spaces have lower stress levels, lower asthma rates, and fewer cardiovascular and respiratory tract illnesses.

When the Genesis account was written, there were no problems with carbon emissions and pollution, but even then, God was giving us a key to health. Rather than causing enormous energy costs and damaging our economy, trees can slow global warming, so let’s plant massive numbers of trees.

May 12, 2021May 11, 2021

Alzheimer’s and Dementia are a Growing Problem

Recently a critic suggested that if God were so great, He wouldn’t allow dementia and Alzheimer’s to be a part of the human experience. There is no question that Alzheimer’s and dementia are a growing problem in today’s world. Those of us who have had family members develop these disabilities can testify how hard it is for family and loved ones. Is the inability of a mother to recognize her children or husband a failure in human brain design?

The Alzheimer’s Association has released data showing that one in three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or other dementia. Since 2000, the number of deaths due to Alzheimer’s has more than doubled. It kills more people than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. Almost two-thirds of Americans living with Alzheimer’s are women, and more than six million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s. We don’t know all of the causes and contributors to Alzheimer’s. Still, we know enough to tell us that Alzheimer’s and dementia are related to our environment, our growing life expectancy, and our lifestyles.

In the past, people just didn’t live long enough to develop Alzheimer’s. Life expectancy brings many age-related health issues. For that reason, Alzheimer’s and dementia are a growing problem. Diet and physical activity are related to Alzheimer’s. In modern life, we do a lot of sitting and consume many foods that are not good for our brains. The same conditions that have caused heart disease and diabetes also produce Alzheimer’s and dementia. God did not design humans to sit behind a desk with no exercise and eat foods that negatively affect our brains. The Alzheimer’s Association has shown that multiple vaccinations for flu and pneumonia reduce the risk for Alzheimer’s.

Our brains are incredible devices that allow us to survive and do amazing things. We clearly see God’s design in how our brains work, but human activity and choices have contributed to a decline in brain health. Alzheimer’s and dementia are a growing problem but not an indication that God failed in His design. It shows that the neglect of our brains and our choices in life have caused problems that prevent our incredible biological computers from handling all the data we want them to retain. We must take care of the good things God has given us, and our brains are among the most important.

Data from the Spring 2021 issue of Alzheimer’s Update on alz.org

May 11, 2021May 10, 2021

Skin Color of Ancient Humans

“Systemic racism” is making the news in a wide variety of subject areas. Science News magazine carried an interesting discussion of how media presentations and museums have contributed to racial bias. When you look at a series of pictures dealing with apes and ancient humans, they are artist depictions with many details that could not possibly be determined from a few bones. Anthropologists cannot determine soft tissue like ears, noses, and lips or skin color of ancient humans by looking at some bones.

When I taught a class on anthropology, I found the portrayal of Neandertals interesting. The earliest images showed hunched-over creatures with matted hair walking with the gait of a very old man. The fact is that grooming is part of any primate’s behavior. Some scientists believe that the first fossil specimens had arthritic problems that contributed to how they appeared.

The Time-Life series that was popular several decades back contained numerous errors. One interesting fact was that early specimens were shown with dark skin and negroid soft tissue, while recent models had lighter skin and caucasian features. The article in Science News points out that the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has a similar portrayal in which the skin color of ancient humans gives the impression that people with lighter skin are more evolved.

Many years ago, in a college lectureship, I confronted a professor who said that black people evolved from gorillas and white people were true humans who had not changed. I asked the audience to compare the properties of a gorilla with those of the races today. Here are some examples:
Gorillas have straight hair, not curled hair. Which race has straight hair?
Gorillas have white skin under their hair. Which race has white skin?
Gorillas have thin linear lips. Which race has thin lips as opposed to thicker lips?

I’m sure you get the point. The physical features of white people are more like gorillas than those of black people. I suggested to the professor that white people evolved from gorillas, and Adam was a black person. The reality is that no one evolved from gorillas, and no evolutionist would suggest that. We can’t determine the skin color of ancient humans.

Adam named his wife “Eve” because she would be the “mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20). All of us carry the same genetic information indicating the truth of that statement. Like it or not, we are all related. The imaginative artwork that is so popular in the media and museums is almost always inconsistent with scientific evidence.

The biblical concept of humans is spiritual and has nothing to do with a person’s race or ethnic background. We are all in God’s image, and that reference has to do with our soul, not how we look (Genesis 1:27).

Reference: Science News magazine for April 24, 2021 (page 32)

May 10, 2021May 9, 2021

Unique and Bizarre Planet Earth

“Planet Earth – Unique And Bizarre.” Those are the words used by Astronomy magazine (June 2021, page 21) to describe the results of studies of the planets within and beyond our solar system. Why is Earth a unique and bizarre planet?

We have four terrestrial planets in our solar system. In addition to Earth, they are Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Those planets have smaller masses than Earth, ranging from Mercury with 5.5% of Earth’s mass to Venus with 81.5%. They also have radically different atmospheres. Venus, which is closest to Earth’s size, has an atmosphere that is 96% carbon dioxide. Mars, roughly half of Earth’s size, is 95% carbon dioxide and 2.7% nitrogen. By contrast, Earth’s atmosphere has 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and less than .1% carbon dioxide.

NASA stationed an observation satellite at the Lagrange point between Earth and the Sun. That is the location where Earth’s gravity balances the Sun’s gravity. The satellite will remain stationary at roughly a million miles from Earth, gather data, and compare Earth data with information from other solar systems. It shows that Earth is the only planet we know of with abundant liquid water driving an active water cycle.

Scientists believe life itself is responsible for much of the design of planet Earth. Earth’s vegetation has taken whatever carbon dioxide was in our atmosphere and turned it into oxygen. It is no coincidence that the Genesis account portrays plants as the first thing to appear after God created the dry land and seas.

Another factor making Earth a unique and bizarre planet is the abundance of minerals. Earth has massive minerals of all kinds. Meteorites contain a very small number of minerals, and the Moon has more than the meteorites, but far less than Earth. The media tends to suggest that everything in space is like what we see on Earth, but the data that scientists are gathering shows that our planet is radically different.

At the end of each day of the Genesis account, God said, “it is good” (Genesis 1:10,12, 18, 21, 25). The first chapter ends with God saying, “it is VERY good.” Over and over, the Psalms call our attention to how unique our planet is. “When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; what is man, that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him” (Psalms 8:3-4). Psalms 19:1 adds, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky shows his handiwork.”

Our unique and bizarre planet was created by an Intelligence that shaped it into the one place that can support human life, not only in our solar system but perhaps in the entire creation.

Reference: Astronomy magazine

May 9, 2021May 6, 2021

Chrissy Teigen’s Comments About Miscarriage

Chrissy Teigen is a model, TV host, and wife of singer John Legend. She had a miscarriage in September of 2020 and shared the pain of that experience with her 34 million Instagram followers. In a picture in The Week magazine, with tears streaming down her face, she and her husband held a blanket-wrapped bundle. In the article, Chrissy Teigen’s comments about miscarriage impact the abortion debate.

Teigen says that sharing her experience with others has helped her deal with the “gut wrenching” grief of losing a baby. She does not refer to it as something other than a human being. She and her husband hold the miscarried child wrapped in a blanket as something precious and special. Teigen says, “I’m happy to talk about my uterus if that’s going to make other women feel that they can do it too.”

All scientific evidence points to the fact that a child in the uterus is still a child. It is not merely a part of the mother that can be removed as one would remove an appendix or a wisdom tooth. It is rare for a celebrity to come out with such an honest and accurate portrayal of the unborn. Chrissy Teigen’s comments about miscarriage contribute mightily to the discussion of what abortion really is. It is simply unadulterated infanticide.

Rerence: The May 7, 2021 issue of The Week magazine ((page 10).

May 8, 2021May 7, 2021

Data on Neanderthals and DNA

News reports of the data on Neanderthals have often contained misinformation. Neanderthals (or Neandertals) were not apes, and they were not primitive subhumans. They engaged in activities similar to modern humans. Our suggestion for many years has been that we should think of the Neanderthals as a race of humans. When one looks at the different races of humans in today’s world, we see huge variations. A pygmy is much different from a Scandinavian, and yet from a scientific standpoint, they are one species. They can mate and produce fertile offspring, which was has been the usual way of defining a species.

The newest data on Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) is that they interbred with those we call Homo sapiens, and their genes are being discovered in populations in Europe and western Asia. Science News carried an article titled “Neanderthals and Humans Mated Often.” It reported on the DNA evidence linking Neanderthals to modern humans.

If scientists found the remains of Adam and Eve, what would their DNA look like? The Bible gives us no indication of what Adam and Eve were like regarding their race or physical characteristics. The sons of Noah were Ham, Shem, and Japheth. In the original Hebrew, Ham means dark-colored and Japheth means fair. The term Neanderthal comes from where scientists found their first bones in the Neander Valley of Germany. The name has nothing to do with skin color. If we found the fossil remains of Adam and Eve, what name would we give them?

The only thing we know is that Eve was the mother of all living (Genesis 3:20). How long ago she lived and how we would classify her today is pure speculation.

Reference: Science News for May 8 and May 22, 2021 (page 7)

May 7, 2021May 7, 2021

Periodic Cicada or Magicicada

In recent years, people have paid a great deal of attention to insects and how they benefit humans. Some insects pollinate our fruit trees. Others provide food for birds and a variety of mammals–even humans. Insects also help convert waste into valuable nutrients. One of the dangers to the total insect population is over predation because so many animals eat them. One insect species solves the problem in a unique way. It is the periodic cicada or Magicicada that appears every 17 years. These insects suddenly emerge from the ground in massive numbers, as many as 1.5 million per acre, to overwhelm their predators.

Dr. Cliff Sadof of Purdue University has headed up research into the life cycle of cicadas. He tells us why we will have a massive amount of noise during the coming weeks from treetops all around us here in Indiana and other areas of the eastern United States. When the soil temperature reaches 64 degrees F at a depth of eight inches, the periodic cicada or Magicicada will start crawling out of the ground. In massive numbers, they climb up trees to molt. After molting, their bodies will be white as they unfold new wings. In a few hours, their bodies will harden, and the males will fly into the treetops and start singing to attract females.

After mating, the females will lay eggs in twigs with a saw-like egg-laying device called an ovipositor. After the eggs hatch, the nymphs will fall from the treetops and burrow into the ground, where they feed on sap from the tree roots. Seventeen years later, the nymphs will emerge and become adult cicadas repeating the cycle.

The cicadas are easy to see, good to eat, and plentiful in huge numbers. Birds, squirrels, and other insect-eating animals will gorge on the cicadas giving other insects a reprieve to recover their numbers. The soil around the trees will be aerated and enriched. The process will prune upper tree branches encouraging new growth.

In Indiana and many other states, the cycle is 17 years. In other regions, the periodic cicada or Magicicada has a 13-year cycle. Trying to explain how such a system came into existence by chance requires a tremendous amount of imagination. We suggest that cicadas are another example of wisdom built into the natural world by God to allow life to exist on planet Earth.

Our thanks to David Harrington, who sent us this information from the Herald Bulletin in Anderson, Indiana.

May 6, 2021May 5, 2021

How Little We Know – The Pulsating Earth

The May 2021 issue of Discover magazine (page 20) carries an interesting article about a mystery that scientists have been unable to solve. The mystery is why planet Earth pulsates every 26 seconds. Researchers at the Lamont Geological Observatory first reported the pulsation in 1960. After more than 60 years, nobody has formulated an accepted explanation of why this is happening. The point here is not Earth’s pulsations but how little we know about creation.

In time someone will probably find an acceptable explanation for Earth’s pulsations. My point is the nature of human knowledge. We are all amazed at what science has accomplished. We watch the helicopter fly on Mars. We see the COVID vaccine developed in less than a year when it usually took half a decade to build a vaccine. We are amazed by new fabrics and the products of genetic engineering.

The fact is how little we know. Human knowledge is still very primitive compared to all that we observe. We are still struggling to understand what caused gravity. We are only dimly aware of the quantum world and how it forms the material we see around us. Our understanding of the human mind is so incomplete that experts in the field of brain study say we still don’t understand what 95% of the brain does. Perhaps the most significant gap in the knowledge and beliefs of many of us is the question of why there is something instead of nothing.

What little we do understand puts us in awe of the power and intelligence of God. Dr. Frank Baxter used to say that everything he knew as a scientist taught him, “That a wonder-working hand has gone before.” In Proverbs 8:4-5, Wisdom says it another way: “To you, O men, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind. You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, gain understanding.” The Psalmist said it this way:” When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him (Psalms 8:3-4).

Every bit of knowledge we acquire reminds us of how little we know and raises more questions for us to investigate. This is a wonderful time to be alive when so many of the secrets of God’s creation are just being discovered.

Reference: Discover magazine May 2021