Evidence for God in Life Design Archives - Page 11 of 127

December 29, 2023December 30, 2023

A Mindful Ultimate Cause for Our Existence

Yesterday, we said that all major polls from Gallup and Pew agree that faith in God is declining in America. We pointed out that the majority of atheists and agnostics agree with the statement: “The findings of science make the existence of God less probable.” That is true even though recent scientific discoveries point to the existence of a mindful ultimate Cause for our existence.

In the past, a significant factor that caused people to reject faith in God was the problem of pain and suffering. Why would a loving and all-powerful God would allow pain and suffering? That question has led many people to reject God in the past, but another factor for rejecting God has exceeded that one.

According to the Discovery Institute, research shows that 50% of people who reject God do so because of suffering, disease, and death. However, 65% of those who reject belief in God today do so because of: “Scientific theories about the unguided evolution of life.” That means science has become a more significant factor in rejecting God than the pain and suffering problem.

What are the implications for humans if we evolved by unguided evolution? Suppose humans have evolved from the lower animals by a mindless, undirected process. In that case, it means that humans have no intrinsic value, no ultimate purpose, no objective morality, and death is the end of our existence as our bodies decay. When people believe that, what can keep them from being filled with despair and choosing suicide and murder? If we fail to find happiness in life, why not bring it to an end?

Before society is destroyed by complete despair, we have a message of hope. We want to tell you that there is a mindful ultimate Cause for our existence. Even scientific evidence points to the existence of God. The Bible and Jesus Christ show us that God loves us and has a plan for our lives. There is purpose and hope and a reason to live. As we enter a new year, the Does God Exist? ministry will continue to share that good news with everyone willing to open their hearts and minds to listen.

Reference: Stephen C. Meyer on “Has Humanity Forgotten God” on YouTube

December 28, 2023December 27, 2023

Major Factors for Rejecting Faith in God

Polls show that belief in God among Americans has declined over the past few years, and most dramatically among Gen-Zers. Generation Z is the term used to describe those born between the late 1990s and early 2000s (approximately 1997 to 2012). This generation grew up with access to the internet and portable digital technology. What are some major factors for rejecting faith in God?

Stephen C. Meyer said that the Discovery Institute surveyed people if they agreed with this statement: “The findings of science make the existence of God less probable.” Among self-proclaimed atheists, 65% agreed, and 43% of agnostics agreed. What these people perceive about science has influenced their belief in God. However, as we have said before, science supports faith in God.

In recent years, scientific discoveries have given us more reasons to believe in God. One significant discovery is that the material universe had a beginning. Evidence for that appeared in the 1920s, was confirmed in the 1960s, and further reinforced in the 21st century. The Bible tells us that in verse 1, but it took scientists years to accept the evidence. Anything that begins to exist must have a cause. The cause of the material universe must be outside of time and space and, therefore, immaterial. Science recognizes that time, space, matter, and energy all had a beginning, but they could not have created themselves.

A second discovery that points to an intelligent Creator is that the universe was fine-tuned for life from the beginning. Many physical constants must be precisely as they are for life to exist. More than that, without precision fine-tuning of the physical laws and constants, the universe itself would not exist. Chance cannot explain the precision because so many precise factors must work together.

A third discovery that came into a fuller understanding in the 21st century is the design of the digital code in the DNA molecule that makes life possible. This design has been there since the emergence of the first living cell. We have no examples of information being created without a mind to create it. Information does not happen by chance.

In those three recent discoveries, science rediscovers God. Then what are the major factors for rejecting faith in God? More on that tomorrow.

Reference: Stephen C. Meyer on “Has Humanity Forgotten God” on YouTube

December 27, 2023December 26, 2023

Birds that Swim in Cold Water

Scientists have only recently come to understand many designs in nature. An interesting example is how birds that swim in cold water survive without hypothermia. The feet of ducks, gulls, loons, and geese show an example of incredible hidden design.

In these birds, arterial blood enters the leg and cools down. On its way to the heart, ventral blood picks up the heat released by the arterial blood in a process called “countercurrent heat exchange.” A mesh of arteries and veins called the “rete mirabile” (Latin for “wonderful net”) surrounds the blood vessels and amplifies the heat exchange. This arrangement limits the amount of heat the bird loses, saving it from having to use energy to reheat the blood. When you combine this discovery with the design that allows them to stand on one leg, you see how they are ideally suited to live in cold climates.

It is truly remarkable that virtually all climate zones have life forms perfectly designed to live in them. God created life to fill the whole earth regardless of climate conditions. Romans 1:20 says, “We can know there is a God through the things He had made.” Birds show the design of living things that radiates the wisdom and knowledge of the Creator. The foot design of birds that swim in cold water is just one great example of that.

Reference: Audubon magazine winter 2023, page 52

December 26, 2023December 19, 2023

Are You Content with Your Life?

Recent studies of the mental state of college students show that 45% of them are too depressed to function well, and 10% of those have tried or are contemplating suicide. The use of chemical drugs to bring contentment has grown at an incredible rate. The number of psychological descriptions of mental discontent has grown so large that psychologists now have labels for almost everything imaginable. Are you content with your life?

Jesus Christ lived with twelve dysfunctional, ordinary men. The followers of Christ were not highly educated or leaders in their communities. In some cases, they abruptly left their regular station in life to follow Jesus. In Luke 14:16-24, Jesus tells a parable about a man preparing a great dinner and inviting people to come. The invited people made excuses for not coming, ranging from needing to look at a recently purchased property to a guy who just got married. The twelve men who followed Jesus didn’t procrastinate and give excuses about why they couldn’t follow Him. However, they still struggled with contentment:

*The brothers James and John had their mother appeal to Jesus to give them the choice positions in His kingdom (Matthew 20:20-23).
*Peter was boisterous and competitive (John 21:20-22).
*Thomas struggled with his faith (John 20:24-28).
*Philip and Andrew were skeptical about what Jesus could do (John 6:7-9).

In Philippians 4:12, Paul stated that he had LEARNED to be content. When you read the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 5-7, you see that many of His words were designed to enable His followers to find contentment. Learning not to be angry with others (Matthew 5:22-25) brings contentment. Avoiding pornographic activity (Matthew 5:27-28) and not wanting revenge but caring about others (Matthew 5:38-44) can do wonders for our mental attitude. Making prayer personal in a quiet time with God and practicing forgiveness can relieve stress (Matthew 6:6-15). Not being obsessed with making money can bring huge rewards (Matthew 6:19-21 and 25-34).

When you read about the first century Church in Acts 2:42-45, you learn that their activity led to contentment for everyone – even those who were not part of the congregation. Ephesians 3:14-21 gives a picture of contentment. God is a relational God who does not want us to be stressed. Spend some time learning to comprehend what Paul had learned. Christians should be the most contented people in the world. With the stress of life today, being content is critically important. Are you content with your life?

December 12, 2023December 11, 2023

You Can’t Sneak Up on a Sleeping Bird

Have you ever tried quietly approaching a bird that appeared to be sleeping? If you have, you were probably unsuccessful, especially if the bird was nesting. Researchers have discovered a design feature called “microsleeps” that may help explain why you can’t sneak up on a sleeping bird.

Researchers discovered this feature in chinstrap penguins in Antarctica. The Max Planck Institute in Germany, the Korean Polar Research Institute, and the Neuroscience Research Center in France conducted this research. They found that the chinstrap penguins nod off thousands of times daily but sleep for only four seconds each time.

The researchers attached brain wave sensors, so there is no question that the birds were sleeping. The short microsleep naps add up to roughly eleven hours a day. The birds are essentially awake all the time, protecting their eggs, their young, and their nests. To get accurate data, researchers chose Antarctica, where the Sun does not set during the breeding season. You can’t sneak up on a sleeping bird, but researchers haven’t determined if all birds practice microsleep or whether they do it when they are not nesting.

The more we learn about the creation, the more we appreciate the Creator who made all living things, giving them the necessary equipment to survive. Human technology is opening more and more doors of understanding to “the things God has made” (Romans 1:20). The complexity of systems that allow survival and safety for various animal species is another argument for rejecting the notion that life is the product of blind chance.

References: Smithsonian Magazine and National Geographic

December 6, 2023December 5, 2023

Neon Tetras Avoid Bottlenecks

Sometimes, we can overlook design features in living things even though they are all around us. Most of us who have had tropical fish aquariums are familiar with the fish known as neon tetras. These fish are great for aquariums because they are tiny – usually about an inch long. They have a brilliant blue stripe running laterally and a red strip underneath toward the tail. These fish are native to the Amazon Basin and live in freshwater.

Researchers have discovered that neon tetras have a quality lacking among many humans. They have the ability to wait their turn. Researchers took a school of tetras and put them in a tank that had a narrow opening to get to a food source. The tetras could get through the narrow opening without clogging and impeding passage. The small fish didn’t collide with one another as they swam through the opening to get to the other side of the tank. Researchers say ants are the only other form of life to demonstrate agility in avoiding bottlenecks.

One has to wonder why these fish have this ability since humans have not solved the problem of getting large numbers of people through narrow openings. Neon tetras live in streams that pass through many rocks, and being able to wait their turn gives them a better chance of survival than if they ended up with a bottleneck.

All living things have characteristics carefully fitted to their needs and environment. As we study life forms, we see this repeatedly, and it screams out the message of Romans 1:20: “we can know there is a God through the things He has made.”

Reference: National Geographic for December 23, page 22

December 4, 2023December 3, 2023

The Treasury of the Snow

“Have you entered the treasury of the snow…?” (Job 38:22”. “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater…” (Isaiah 55:10). “He gives snow like wool …” Psalms 147:16).

That is just a sampling of the Old Testament understanding of the importance of snow. Many of us don’t view snow as a treasure, not realizing how snow does things that rain cannot do. The fact is that snow is essential to humans as well as many forms of animal and plant life. We couldn’t live without the treasury of the snow.

Snow on the mountains locks up water during winter and releases it gradually during the summer. Rain comes all at once and is quickly gone, as many of us have experienced flooding in the past year. If that moisture came as snow, there would be no flooding, and melting snow would gradually provide water for plants and animals. Falling snow also has a cleaning effect, as Job 9:20 suggests.

In the winter, snow allows small animals like vols, moles, chipmunks, and field mice to feed on plants and insects they would not have access to in summer. They can even raise their young under the protection of snow. When the snow melts, larger animals can feed on these smaller ones, preserving the balance of the food chain. Even in winter, the larger animals can catch some of them because the snow does not block the sound of their scurrying. The whole food chain is affected by the treasury of the snow.

Snow formation is due to the water molecule’s design and not some accident. The polarity of the water molecule means it has positive and negative ends. That creates the beautiful snowflake shapes. As water freezes, the molecules latch onto each other, and the volume of the water expands. This allows lakes to freeze on the surface since the density of ice is lower than that of liquid water. Non-polar materials do not expand as they freeze.

Romans 1:20 tells us we can know there is a God through the things He has made. The treasury of the snow is an essential part of God’s design to allow life to survive.

December 1, 2023November 29, 2023

The Journey to Safety

We have often talked about the design of animals. Various animals act on what we often call “instinct.” Programmed into sea turtles is a journey to safety. When baby sea turtles hatch on the beach, they instinctively and quickly head to the ocean to escape the predators on land. Their mothers didn’t teach them to do that. It is programmed into them. When a kangaroo is born, it will instinctively journey to safety by climbing into its mother’s pouch. She does nothing to assist the tiny creature. Programming a specific action is very efficient, so we program computers to do specific tasks.

In contrast to programmed actions, there is free will. When we tell our children what to do, they may do something entirely different. The child can understand our instructions but still refuse to follow them. The reason is that the child finds other things he wants to do are more appealing.

The bottom line is that commanding actions is less efficient than programming those actions. A baby sea turtle, kangaroo, or robot will act in the way it is programmed. If you are a parent, you have realized that your child will not always do what you command. The question, then, is why didn’t God program humans to do what He wanted? Why did He give us free will? Programming us to act as He desired would have been much more efficient.

God commands us rather than programming us to do His will because He wants to have a relationship with us. Robots can be very efficient because they have specific functions programmed into them and will do what their designer intended. That is not true of humans. However, you can never have a real relationship with a robot. God wants to have a relationship with us. He knew what would happen when He created the first humans, but He did it anyway. We have rebelled and made a mess of our lives and our world. Hatred, war, and mayhem have been the results.

Why, then, did God choose to create us? To Him, having a relationship with us was worth the price. Jesus Christ came to Earth to restore the broken relationship. He was the perfect man, but at the same time, He was God in the flesh. He showed us how to have a loving relationship with God and each other. Then, He bore the punishment for our disobedience to restore the broken relationships.

We are not robots. We are God’s creation, in His image, with free will. We can choose the journey to safety or ignore God and choose our own path. God has made the journey to safety and peace available to us. Why choose the path to destruction?

November 30, 2023November 29, 2023

Seaweed as a Food Source

God has given us a food source that so far humans have been unwilling to tap – seaweed. It is super fast growing, with some species like giant kelp growing 50 centimeters a day. Seaweed doesn’t need land or pesticides and doesn’t have to be watered. Furthermore, it is packed with protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. With over 800 million people starving worldwide, one answer might be seaweed as a food source.

Oceans cover roughly two-thirds of our planet, yet they contribute less than three percent of humans’ total food calories. Asian recipes have used seaweed for centuries, and its cultivation is limited mainly to Asia — large areas of the sea could be seaweed farms. There are 12,000 different types of seaweed, and humans have only learned how to cultivate fewer than 30.

Dried seaweed retains its nutrients and has a long shelf life, so it doesn’t have to be refrigerated or frozen. The reluctance to use seaweed as a food source has primarily come from misconceptions about it. Many of us have only seen water plants growing in a freshwater pond and have no idea what ocean-grown seaweed is like. In addition to food and the replacement of environmentally polluting agents, seaweed can be a significant carbon sink, absorbing massive amounts of carbon dioxide.

Seaweed can also be used as a natural fertilizer for land plants and as feed for animals. It can even be a cotton alternative in textiles and, in some cases, as a biodegradable replacement for plastics. Like most human problems, the solution is there, but we aren’t using all of the wealth of resources God has given us. One solution God has provided may be seaweed as a food source and more.

Reference: Opinion article by Vincent Doumeizel on cnn.com

November 24, 2023November 21, 2023

The Feel-Good Hormones

Hormones are chemical messengers that travel through our bloodstream. You can describe them as signaling molecules that work to set things in motion. The name comes from a Greek word meaning “setting in motion.” Hormones are produced in various areas of our bodies and are sent through the bloodstream to signal some action or response. Good health requires a balance of hormones, and proper diet, exercise, and rest help to keep them in balance. The feel-good hormones are four classes of hormones that, as you might guess, do things that make us feel good.

ENDORPHINS- Endorphins are the body’s natural painkillers. The pituitary gland, located at the base of the brain, synthesizes and stores them. Endorphins help to mask pain, reduce stress, and improve mood. When we push through a painful task or strenuous exercise, endorphins are there to help us.

DOPAMINE- Two areas of the brain produce dopamine, and you can think of this hormone as the brain’s reward system. Exercise, eating a food we like, or accomplishing a task can cause the brain to release dopamine, giving us a pleasurable feeling. The use of some drugs and alcohol can release a flood of dopamine, giving us a sense of euphoria, a “high.” But coming down from that high can lead to depression and a desire for more of the drugs. Normal activities or exercise stimulate dopamine more slowly, and the effect of the hormone remains longer. Good stewardship of our bodies and health calls for avoiding harmful drugs and alcohol.

OXYTOCIN- Some people call this feel-good hormone the love hormone. Touching, hugging, or sexual activity can trigger the release of oxytocin. The brain’s hypothalamus produces it, and the pituitary gland releases it into the bloodstream. Oxytocin can help improve social interactions and give us a desire to develop stronger connections with others.

SEROTONIN- Serotonin is a natural mood booster, and depression can result from a low level of this hormone. Serotonin performs many functions and is produced by the central nervous system in various areas of the body. Serotonin improves memory and learning and promotes relaxation. Exercise, as well as exposure to sunshine and the outdoors, can increase the production of serotonin. Meditation and quietness in prayer can also reward us with this mood-boosting hormone.

The feel-good hormones are part of good health, and a healthy lifestyle boosts them. However, too much of a good thing too quickly is not healthy. Alcohol and drugs can give us a high but only lead to a letdown. A healthy lifestyle involves proper diet, exercise, rest, prayer, meditation, thankfulness, and balanced relationships with others. Incorporating those things into our lives is the best way to enjoy the blessings God has for us.