DGE?, Author at DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

October 4, 2024October 1, 2024

To Understand the Godhead

Both believers and skeptics ask the question, “What is the godhead?” While I don’t pretend to understand the Godhead, I have spent years trying to explain it.

Passages like John 14:26 bother a lot of folks. That passage has Jesus saying, “But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” The word “godhead” is found three times in the King James version of the New Testament, each time translating a different Greek word. In Acts 17:29 (theios), Paul was talking to the philosophers in Athens. Romans 1:20 (theiotes) deals with evidence for God’s existence. Colossians 2:9 (theotes) was dealing with philosophy and human deceit.

An analogy that may help us understand the Godhead is that humans have three parts that makeup one individual. We all have intellect, which allows us to be creative and have ideas of a spiritual nature. God’s intellect is seen in the creation and design we see all around us.

We all have a personality that allows us to express our spiritual nature and to love in a way that is not just survival. Jesus taught His followers to be known by their love (See John 13:34-35) and demonstrated it in His life. He used the Greek word “agape” and referred to caring about all of humanity – even our enemies.

We all have spirit, which is the action that we do, and the Bible consistently uses that word with a verb. (“The Spirit MOVED upon the face of the waters.” “He will TEACH you.” My spirit will not always “STRIVE” with man.) We are all just one individual, but we all have intellect, personality, and spirit.

When the disciples questioned how they could see God, Jesus gave an answer that involved one part of the Godhead while referencing the other parts. (See John 14:9-10.) John 1:1 and 1:14 and 1 Timothy 3:16 show that Jesus was God in the flesh. It is impossible for us to understand the Godhead. St. Augustine wrote, “If you understand God, what you understand isn’t God.” J.B. Phillips wrote a book titled “Your God is Too Small,” in which he pointed out how the human mind limits God.

We humans will never understand everything there is to know about God, creation, or God’s purpose in creating us, but we can understand enough to make our lives meaningful and productive.

October 3, 2024October 1, 2024

Neurons in Your Brain and AI

You can see an obvious example of God’s creation design by looking in a mirror. Everything you see and experience is due to neurons in your brain, messengers that use electrical and chemical signals to convey information, allowing you to live. Neurons carry data to different parts of your brain, spinal cord, and your whole body. Just trying to grasp the number and functional complexity of neurons is beyond human thinking. In one cubic millimeter of the human brain, a single neuron connects with 5600 nerve fibers, and our whole body contains 86 billion neurons that form 100 trillion connections.

Julie Polter, writing in Sojourners magazine (August 2024, pages 9-10), calls our attention to the fact that when we hold a baby and look into those sparkling eyes, “we become acquainted with tiny beings who are also full, unique people.” She goes on to say that “the neural pathways in a baby or toddler’s brain multiply when given loving attention and interaction from the people around them.”

We hear all the concerns about robots and artificial intelligence (AI), which is intelligence exhibited by computer systems. How can AI exist? Would anyone suggest it is some accident and just a product of chance? AI is limited in what it can do because it is relatively simple compared to the neurons in your brain. You are not an accident and not the product of blind chance.

Looking in the mirror and thinking about how special and unique every human being is, we see God’s design in an undeniable form. Jesus called His followers to recognize this special creation and love (agape) our enemies. Even though we may struggle to understand what others do, we know they are a product of God’s design. They can do wonderful things if they allow God to use them for the purpose He created them to accomplish.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
References: Harvard Medical School and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke on their websites

October 2, 2024October 1, 2024

Suicide Prevention Services

September 2024 was “National Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month.” Data on suicides among young people ages 15 to 24 is alarming. A group called Samaritans has provided suicide prevention services in Massachusetts for 50 years, and they released data for that state. They reported 596 suicide deaths in 2021, but since March of 2022, 3800 young people have accessed the Samaritan’s “Hey Sam” text line. They have volunteers in the 15 to 24 age bracket trained to dialogue with their peers struggling with thoughts of suicide.

It is good that individuals and organizations are attempting to provide suicide prevention services, but the Church needs to pay more attention to the needs of young people. Too many congregations assume that their role is entertaining young people rather than opening dialogues about our purpose in life and the importance of faith when life is rough. The “Does God Exist?” ministry offers free videos online, free postage-paid correspondence courses, and class teaching materials to assist the Church in providing answers to questions young people ask. We also welcome questions that we answer privately and online.

As the world plunges deeper into naturalism, greed, humanism, atheism, the break up of family, and denial of purpose for our existence, we can expect more frustration in the minds of young people. Some kids survive in spite of us, but suicide prevention services can’t address the needs of all kids. Jesus gave a pattern for life in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, and His teachings make sense to thinking young people. What they see in world leaders does not.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
Information from USA Today Network-New England. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the National Alliance on Mental Health provide phone and online help. You can dial 988 or online chat988lifeline.org. The Samaritans phone number, 877-870-4673, is available 24/7 for calls or text messages.

October 1, 2024September 29, 2024

Transgender Inmates

The rights of male prisoners who declare their “gender identity” is now female has raised new problems for those managing prisons. California, Massachusetts, and Connecticut have laws that allow transgender inmates to request transfer to prisons that match their sexual preferences. This results in male prisoners being transferred to women’s prisons simply by declaring that they are now women.

The California prison system has received 261 applications from intersex, non-binary, and transgender inmates to transfer to different prisons. In addition to transgender men requesting transfer to women’s prisons, transgender women have reportedly suffered sexual violence in men’s prisons. In California, a third of those seeking transfer are registered sex offenders. Female prisoners in Washington state and Pennsylvania have filed lawsuits against prisons allowing sexual harassment by transgender felons.

We see huge collateral damage from allowing a change in God’s design for males and females. The United States makes a significant effort to protect the rights of all citizens, but conflict results when the rights of trans citizens violate the rights of non-trans citizens. This problem goes beyond transgender inmates in prisons.

Government-sanctioned immorality has also affected college students who cannot have a dorm free of members of the opposite birth gender. Female high school girls cannot have a bathroom or locker room free of males who have gained admission to these facilities simply by claiming to be women. Competitive athletics has a growing number of trans females who are born males and are reducing the rights of girls to have success as athletes.

The aggressive action of the LGBTQ movement in America has moved the government to allow all of these abuses. We can’t ignore God’s design of male and female bodies without the kind of abuse we are seeing. Christ would have us treat those with gender problems with love, kindness, respect, and attention to their needs, but blind acceptance of all claimed transgender desires means others will suffer the loss of their rights.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
References: National Review and The Week for Sept 6/13, 2024, page 12.

September 30, 2024September 29, 2024

Caterpillars Appear to Be Defenseless

Most of us know that caterpillars are a significant part of life on our planet. They are a stage in many insects’ lives and a substantial food for many other life forms. Most caterpillars appear defenseless, so you might assume they are in danger of being wiped out, meaning there would be no more butterflies and moths.

Some caterpillars, such as those for monarch butterflies, have a poison defense. However, recent research has shown that caterpillars are not as helpless as we might think. They are designed with a defense mechanism called “electroreception,” which allows them to avoid being eaten by predator wasps.

The caterpillar can use the bristles that cover its body to detect the faint electric field generated by the wasp’s wing beats. Once it detects the presence of a wasp, the caterpillar assumes a defensive mode. It may remain coiled up with the bristles facing outward or even enter a biting defense.

Electroreception is common in aquatic animals, but this is the first time this predator-prey interaction has been recorded in land creatures. While most caterpillars appear to be defenseless, like all living things, they are carefully designed to have what they need to survive and prosper.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
Reference: “Warning Charge” in Scientific American, October 2024, pages 16-17

September 27, 2024September 24, 2024

Understanding God’s Nature and Dimensions

One of my favorite book titles and quotes is Your God Is Too Small, written by J. B. Phillips in 1953. The book’s theme is that humans are limited in understanding God’s nature. That issue continues today with questions concerning the spiritual realm. God is not a physical being, limited to physical dimensions. What does that mean?

We live in a three-dimensional world, meaning you can move up or down, left or right, straight ahead or behind you. In mathematics, we demonstrate this concept on the cartesian axes of x, y, and z, and we can plot each of those dimensions against time. You can go to the left or right, up or down, forward or backward at a certain speed until you arrive at a particular spot. Notice that each case requires the passage of time. You can’t put time on a cartesian axis because time is 4th dimensional. Just as God created the three dimensions, He also created the 4th dimension. We struggle with that concept because we can’t control the time dimension. It controls us.

The Bible describes God as a being outside of time, not limited by that dimension as we are. Psalms 90:4 (repeated in 2 Peter 3:8) tells us that “with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Revelation 1:8 and 11, 21:6, and 22:13 describe God as “the Alpha and Omega – the beginning and the end.” We realize that has enormous implications for understanding God’s nature. When we pray, God hears our prayer outside of time. Revelation 21:3-4 is easier to comprehend if we realize that without time, all the bad stuff relating to time, including pain, suffering, death, disease, and war, are gone.

If God is outside of time and created time, He exists in a dimension higher than time. There are virtually unlimited dimensions in mathematics, and here we are struggling with one we can’t perceive physically. The Apostle Paul got a glimpse of this and tried to describe it in 2 Corinthians 12:1-5. God’s answer to prayer is frequently not in the time frame we understand. Our concept of heaven and hell is badly distorted by not understanding God’s nature and the spiritual realm outside of time.

The people who heard Paul speak at the Areopagus in Acts 17:22-32 struggled with understanding God’s nature, and Paul challenged them to think. For many of them, and many in today’s world, their God was and is too small.

September 26, 2024September 24, 2024

Reproductive System of Victoria Waterlilies

Yesterday, we looked at the amazing design and structure of Victoria amazonica waterlilies. Named after Queen Victoria of England and the Amazon River where they grow, the huge leaves of these plants are amazing, and their flowers are beautiful. However, I think the most impressive is the reproductive system of Victoria waterlilies.

We have to call this a system because it involves a particular beetle species and several steps. The flowers of this plant last about 48 hours, changing from white to pink and from female to male.

On the first day, all the flowers of a single patch open at the same time. They are white female flowers that present a sweet, fruity fragrance that attracts scarab beetles of the genus Cyclocephala. When darkness falls, the flowers stop producing the scent and close, trapping the beetles inside. The beetles transfer pollen picked up from a previously visited flower.

On the second day, the flowers receive anthocyanins turning them pink to show that they have been pollinated. As the flowers remain closed, the beetles are treated to a starchy and spongy treat that nourishes them. The flowers then open to release the beetles, and the stamens of the now male flower deposit pollen on the beetle. The flower then closes and descends below the water while the beetle carries the pollen to a white flower in another location, where the process repeats.

This reproductive system of Victoria waterlilies cross-pollinates the plants while preventing self-pollination, as the flowers are female one day and male the next. The beetles are treated to nourishment as they carry out the pollination. The system depends on a plant species and a beetle species working together according to a timed sequence. Could this have happened by an accident of evolution, or does it show design? We think design is the best explanation, and design demands a Designer.

— Roland Earnst © 2024
References: worldatlas.com and wikipedia.org

September 25, 2024September 24, 2024

Design and Structure of Victoria Waterlilies

If you were going to build a barrier between the atmosphere and the water in a pond or lake, what material would you use, and how would you construct it? The construction industry would probably use concrete or iron. The problem with these materials is that they are vulnerable to chemical degradation and changes in temperature. In recent years, we have seen bridges collapse after relatively short periods of existence. Bridge design is difficult because the atmosphere presents a different set of problems than those encountered in the underwater world. God has an answer to this issue, which we can see in looking at the design and structure of Victoria waterlilies.

In the Amazon River, the leaves of the Victoria amazonica waterlily can grow to 10 feet in diameter. These lilies have very large, flat green leaves that grow on the surface of the water. The submerged stalk can grow to 26 feet long at an inch per hour. For protection from underwater herbivores, the salk and leaf bottoms are covered with numerous small spines.

The very large leaves have a network of veins underneath that some have compared to “transverse girders and supports.” This lattice-like structure under the leaves allows the plant to hold air, giving the leaf great strength and buoyancy. If the weight is evenly distributed across one leaf, it can support hundreds of pounds.

Many times, people have copied the amazing designs we see in the natural world, and Victoria water lilies may be one example. You can see them in many botanical gardens in the United States and other countries. Everywhere we look, we see the wisdom and design of God in His creation. However, the most amazing thing about the Victoria amazonica waterlily is the system it uses to reproduce. We will look at that tomorrow.

September 24, 2024September 23, 2024

Addictions Are Linked to Trauma

One of the significant symptoms of today’s decadent society is the massive amount of addiction we see in all age groups, races, and nationalities. Addiction treatment experts have been unsuccessful in dealing with addiction because they have not addressed the root causes of addiction. It is becoming more evident that all kinds of addictions are linked to trauma people have experienced.

Statistics show that more than 40% of people with opioid addiction report some type of childhood abuse or neglect. Of addicted women, 41% report having been subjected to childhood sexual abuse. Other studies have shown that at least 85% of all people who have an addiction have had at least one adverse childhood experience, and the risk increases with each additional experience. There is also a high correlation between PTSD and addiction, with 58% of PTSD sufferers having a substance abuse addiction.

All of the drug therapies and socialization efforts we can offer do not undo the past. We will never stop wars as long as greed and selfishness dominate and humans practice survival of the fittest. Addictions are linked to trauma, and this is where authentic Christianity (not denominational religion) can make a difference. The biblical design of the nuclear family is the best tool we have for most of addiction’s challenges.

Ephesians 5:21-6:4 speaks of submitting to one another in the fear of God. Husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the Church, and love them as they love their own body. Wives are told to respect their husbands. Fathers are to bring up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Colossians 3:21 warns fathers not to provoke their children to anger. As people base their conduct on skepticism, atheism, and naturalism, we can expect addictions to increase.

Following the teachings of Jesus Christ is not only a key to eternal life but also to life on Earth, free of the addictions linked to trauma. Chemicals cannot help people find meaning and purpose in life, but Christ and His Church can.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
Reference: “New Treatments Address Addiction alongside Trauma” by Maia Szalavitz in Scientific American magazine for October 2024, pages 45-51

September 23, 2024September 22, 2024

Creation and Evolution Are Not the Same

Creation and evolution are two different things. Evolution does not attempt to answer creation. Evolution assumes creation. Evolution assumes that time, space, and matter/energy have been created. It assumes that matter/energy has formed galaxies, stars, planets, moons, comets, asteroids, etc. It assumes that in the Milky Way galaxy, a G-2 star came into existence with a planet that had water and all the parameters needed for life. Evolution then assumes a set of chemical reactions occurred that produced the precursors of life and that life itself came into existence. Once all of this has been assumed, evolution attempts to explain how that life may have changed into what we see on Earth today.

Both atheists and denominational writers confuse creation and evolution. The problem is that many religious people believe that God created all living things precisely as they are today, even though we can see evolution happening in our lifetime. Meanwhile, many atheists assume that if you believe in creation, you are a follower of several highly publicized denominational programs involving creation museums and carnival-like entertainment venues.

Many churches take busloads of young people to those creationist venues, assuming it will build their faith. For a large percentage of the young people, the reverse is happening. We get letters, emails, and phone calls from teenagers who are struggling with their faith and leaving the church of their parents because they see the bad science and poor Bible understanding associated with the creationist materials. This confusion becomes even more destructive when the church they attend takes a dispensational approach to the return of Jesus involving conflict, war, politics, and a restoration of David’s throne on Earth.

Creation and evolution must not be confused. Genesis 1:1 uses the Hebrew word “bara” to describe creation. Bara refers to something that only God can do. Genesis begins with: “Reshith Elohim bara shamayim erets.” The Hebrew words simply mean that God created time, space, and matter/energy. Quantum mechanics has verified that time itself is a created thing. Colossians 1:16 and John 1:3 show why “Elohim” is plural in the Hebrew of Genesis 1. This is actual creation. You can argue about current evolutionary theories, but that is not creation. Our ministry work involves the creation, but we do not espouse the “creationist” position or support the denominational teachings associated with it.