Evidence for God in Life Design Archives

September 28, 2023September 27, 2023

Birds Use Spikes to Protect Their Nests

One of the exciting examples of design in the living world is the nesting behavior of birds. We have previously reported on data about birds that nest in peculiar places to protect their eggs and their behavior to thwart predators. We have all seen birds building nests in cliffs or under roof structures, but predatory birds like eagles and hawks can still land on the nests and eat the eggs or baby birds. Scientists have discovered that some birds use spikes to protect their nests from even bird predators.

Researchers in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Scotland found nests in which birds have used long spikes to make it difficult for predators to get to their eggs or chicks. One crow’s nest in Antwerp, Belgium, had 1500 long, sharp spikes. They would make reaching the nest’s occupants extremely difficult for any hawk or eagle. It would also deter other predators, such as cats.

The nests of carrion crows and Eurasian magpies have been found with spike defenses. These birds have used whatever sharp objects they can find in urban areas to build their fortress, including plastic pieces, nails, screws, and knitting needles.

Birds use spikes to protect their nests because God has built into the DNA of various bird species the ability to do unique things to survive. The more we learn about the natural world, the more we should be amazed at the intelligence and design behind all kinds of life on Earth. “We can know there is a God through the things He has made (Romans 1:20).

Reference: Science News September 9, 2023, page 4.

September 26, 2023September 25, 2023

Preparing for Winter – How Do They Know?

Preparing for Winter – How Do Living Things Know?

The ability of plants and animals to achieve maximum survival success in changing seasons is quite interesting. Here in Michigan, our winters can arrive suddenly and forcefully. It may be 75 degrees one day and below freezing the next. It was quite warm in early September, but many trees were already preparing for winter. The leaves of our sumac trees became brilliant red and started falling off the branches. As we approach the end of September, some species of maple trees are changing colors and dropping their leaves.

Several species of birds have left Michigan, heading south for the winter. We live on a river where we see a massive increase in fish activity. There is also a significant increase in the activity of insects, with some butterflies, such as monarchs, heading south in groups. The number of cocoons in our bushes and in our house has accelerated, and some species of bees and wasps have become more aggressive.

The big question is how living things seem to know it’s time to start preparing for winter, even when there is no significant temperature change. There have also been no clues from other weather factors like humidity, rainfall, wind velocity, and direction. The scientific evidence shows that living things pick up on less obvious signals that say, “Winter is coming, and you need to prepare.”

Some living things sense the length of daylight, telling them to prepare for winter. Another factor is the angle of the Sun’s rays, which controls what kind of light reaches Earth’s surface. The Sun’s light contains a variety of wavelengths. The higher energy wavelengths are refracted and scattered more than the longer, lower energy forms. The sky is blue because blue light has higher energy than the rest of the visible spectrum and thus is scattered and refracted more. The next highest energy wavelength is green. Plants are green because they reflect that color, protecting them from the next highest energy of light that reaches Earth’s surface.

As the Sun gets lower in the sky, wavelengths we can’t even see, such as ultraviolet, are refracted and scattered away from the surface. Living things detect that change and start preparation for winter. Explaining how this system of life came into existence is a real challenge for those who deny God’s creation of our planet and the life on it. It’s a joy to see the things God has made testifying about His intelligence and design as they start preparing for winter (Romans 1:20).

September 20, 2023September 19, 2023

Honey Buzzard Migration

The more we learn about bird and insect migrations, the more we are astounded by how they do what they do. Chance explanations fail when the migrations become complex. The honey buzzard migration is another example of an incredible migration that defies chance explanation.

Researchers using a satellite tracking system in Finland released data on a bird known as the European honey buzzard. This bird actually does eat honey and will search out the nest of bees and hornets to find its food. Scientists knew that this bird spends its austral summer around the town of Reitz in Free State, South Africa, where bee nests are abundant. They tracked the honey buzzard migration as it left Africa on April 20th and arrived in Finland on June 2nd at the time when, once again, its favorite food was available. This bird enjoys summer twice by its migration, securing food and avoiding winter, but its route is very complicated.

You might think the honey buzzard would just head north, but that would involve going over dangerous landforms and climate irregularities. Instead, the bird makes a 90-degree turn at the source of the Nile River and follows it. When the bird reaches the end of the Nile, it returns to the same longitude line where it started, avoiding the Mediterranean and the Sudan to eventually reach its destination in Finland.

Honey buzzards cover 10,000 kilometers in 42 days, averaging 230 kilometers daily. If you want to see honey buzzards attacking a bee nest, do a word search on the web, but don’t expect an explanation of its migratory route. The honey buzzard migration is programmed into the bird’s DNA, and how the program got there is another example of design by intelligence. Instinctive drives defy chance explanations because they involve a changing Earth with landforms and climate factors that happen too fast for gradual accommodation. We suggest that honey buzzard migration is another evidence of God’s design for all life forms in the creation.

September 12, 2023September 11, 2023

North American Curly Horses and Evolution

One of the great tragedies of the evolution/creation war has been the failure of people on all sides to define what they mean by “evolution.” We see a classic example in North American Curly Horses, sometimes called the American Bashkir Curly. This breed of horses has a heavily curled coat in the winter, and a much thinner coat in summer, when the mane and tail molt.

The curly coat is an advantage during very cold weather. In addition to the unusual coat, North American Curly Horses are well known for various other characteristics. They are much quieter in disposition than other horses and have thicker bones, rounded hooves, and exceptional memory. Curly horses are the only hypoallergenic horse breed – good news for people allergic to horses.

Horses can be traced back to the time when their ancestor was a small creature about the size of a dog. The best-known fossil horse is eohippus, sometimes called the “dawn horse,” but other forms of horses based on fossilized remains are merychippus, mesohippus, and miohippus. North American Curly Horses are hypoallergenic because a protein that most horse-allergic people react to is absent from their hair. Horse ranchers are cross-breeding curly horses with other breeds to establish some of their characteristics in other breeds.

North American Curly Horses are another example of how humans have benefited from evolutionary change. This evolution is not part of a theory to deny God as the creator. The design of life that allows change in this way is an excellent testimony to the wisdom and intelligence of God’s creation. When God created the first horse, He built into its DNA the genes that would allow change. We can say the same of the many other plants and animals humans need to survive on this planet.

Evolution of species is an excellent proof of the existence of God, but don’t confuse it with creation. They deal with two different things. Creation produced the first horse-like animals, and God’s design of life allowed them to change into the North American Curly Horses and other breeds we have today.

— John N. Clayton 2023

References: International Curly Horse Organization, American Bashkir Curly Registry, www.britannica.com, and Wikipedia.

September 8, 2023September 8, 2023

An Octopus Garden

One of the more interesting creatures in the ocean is a small octopus called the pearl octopus (Muusoctopus robustus). They get their name because they look like pearls on the dark ocean floor. Because of their small size, they are easy victims of predation. They have no defense mechanisms and are an easy meal for various predatory ocean creatures. How do they continue to thrive in their Pacific Ocean habitat? The answer lies in an octopus garden.

Researchers discovered the octopus garden 80 miles from the central California coast at a place called the Davidson Seamount. A seamount is an ancient volcano that has either sunk into the ocean floor or has been covered by rising ocean water. The Monterey National Marine Sanctuary and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have studied deep-sea corals on this seamount for 20 years. They recently discovered an octopus garden – home to at least 6,000 nesting pearl octopuses and perhaps as many as 20,000.

The design of this “garden” offers successful reproduction of this vulnerable species. By being 10,500 feet down, they avoid many octopus predators simply because they don’t feed that deep. Like many other forms of life, synchronized birthing floods the area with offspring so a predator can’t wipe out a whole population. Hydrothermal springs at the base of Davidson Seamount warm the water, allowing the pearl octopus eggs to hatch much faster.

We see many remarkable designs in the biological world, allowing animals to survive. Every nook and cranny of the planet is home to some form of life, and this is just one more example. As Romans 1:20 says, “We can know there is a God through the things He has made.”

References: CBSNews.com and Science.org. To learn more about the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, click HERE.

September 7, 2023September 5, 2023

Siphonophores – A Colony of Animals Living as One

The more science learns about the biological world, the more unique things we see. Most of us know about jellyfish, corals, and anemones. These ocean animals are members of the phylum Cnidaria. In that phylum, a strange order named Siphonophorae has 175 species. The Portuguese man o’ war is a member of the order of siphonophores.

Siphonophores may look like one organism, but they are actually colonies consisting of thousands of clones that function in different ways. Siphonophores start with a single “bud” called a zooid. The zooid replicates itself asexually, producing thousands of clones. Each clone has a specific job, such as eating, moving, or reproducing.

The colony of clones functions together as if they were one animal. For example, the Portuguese man o’ war has gas-filled zooids, allowing it to float on the ocean’s surface. Other zooids capture prey, while others digest the food. The individual zooids rely on each other for survival as one large functioning colony we call the Portuguese man o’ war.

In 2020, scientists found a siphonophore that was 150 feet long, probably the world’s longest animal. Most siphonophores live in the darkness of the deep oceans and are bioluminescent, using chemicals to produce light that attracts prey. The Portuguese man o’ war is an exception as a siphonophore that lives on the ocean’s surface.

The deep sea diving expeditions of the Schmidt Ocean Institute and the EV Nautilus have taught us much about the designs built into living things that allow life to exist in places totally alien to humans. Siphonophores make us realize that planet Earth is a wonderfully designed and unique place in the universe, full of amazing living creatures. We must treasure God’s gift and take care of it instead of abusing and polluting it.

Reference: Ocean Conservancy newsletter Splash for Fall 2023 page 2. You can learn more about the EV Nautilus HERE and the Schmidt Ocean Institute HERE.

September 6, 2023September 5, 2023

The Thymus and Adult Health

New research shows a connection between the thymus and adult health. When I was a child in the early 1940s, doctors performed surgeries on children to remove a gland or organ because they thought it was vestigial and no longer needed. By the time I was in high school, my tonsils, adenoids, and appendix had all been removed. When my daughter Wendy became a teenager, she had repeated throat issues and infections. Her doctor refused to remove her tonsils or adenoids even though they were infected and hurting her repeatedly.

We know now that the tonsils and adenoids are an important part of the lymphatic system, keeping our bodies healthy by trapping harmful bacteria and viruses. As we have come to understand the immune system in humans, we have found that surgically removing the tonsils and adenoids can open us to infections. New research indicates the same is true of the thymus.

The thymus is a gland in the chest between the lungs, in front of and above the heart. It produces immune cells called T cells that protect against foreign invaders that could cause illness. In children, the thymus is very active, but after puberty, it shrinks. By then, the body has memory T cells specialized in attacking intruders the body has fought before. Since the thymus gradually becomes smaller, it is frequently removed in heart operations because it gets in the way.

Oncologist David Scadden and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston researched the thymus and adult health. They examined the health outcomes of 1,146 patients who had their thymus removed at the hospital between 1993 and 2020. They compared those with an equal number of patients who had the same surgeries but did not have their thymus removed. The death rate for those whose thymus was removed was three times higher than those who did not. Thymus removal was also associated with two times the risk of cancer within five years.

The thymus serves a purpose in childhood but may play a different role in adulthood. The researchers don’t know the cause of these striking numbers, but they show a strong connection between the thymus and adult health. We now know that the appendix, tonsils, and adenoids contribute to the body’s immune system to help keep us healthy. It appears that we should add the thymus to that list.

Psalms 139:14 says, “I will praise you, God, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works..” We don’t have to look far to see God’s wisdom and design in creation. Just look in the mirror.

References: Science News for August 26, 2023, and New England Journal of Medicine

August 29, 2023August 28, 2023

God’s Temple Is Sacred

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that God’s Spirit has His home in you? If anybody desecrates the temple of God, God will bring them to ruin, for God’s temple is sacred to Him, and that is what you are” (1 Corinthians 3:16 -17).

If you take the Bible seriously, you must understand that taking care of your body is essential to how you live. In this ministry, we have discouraged using alcohol, nicotine, marijuana, and all recreational drugs because Jesus and Bible passages like this one teach us that God’s temple is sacred.

How does God “bring to ruin” those who do not take care of their bodies? Like most actions of God, it is not by God playing Zeus and throwing a lightning bolt at an offender. God simply removes His protective hand from those who insist on desecrating His temple. When God removes His protective hand, what happens? Look at the evidence in the latest numbers from the Center for Disease Control.

In 2022, the CDC says that 109,680 Americans died of overdoses, over 60% from synthetic opioids. Marijuana use and vaping have climbed to the highest levels ever seen. In the past year, 44% of young adults used marijuana, up from 28% a decade ago. Over 10% of young adults use cannabis every day. Binge drinking for middle-aged adults hit 29% in 2022. As of 2021, 61.2 million Americans age 12 and older have used illicit drugs.

We can see the result of this abuse in the increase in emergency room visits, the rate of accidents, broken homes, and the collateral damage to families. The numbers from the National Center for Drug Abuse are staggering. It is difficult for those of us working with young people and people with mental issues to do any quantitative analysis. Suffice it to say that the number of cases coming to us is much higher than at any previous time.

Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but are really greedy wolves. By their fruits, you will know them…” Matthew 7:15-16. The message of the Bible as to how we should live gives beauty and purpose to life and provides the best measure of good health. God’s temple is sacred, but even people who reject the teachings of Christ can’t deny the destructive consequences of following the teachings of modern secular prophets.

Reference: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

August 28, 2023August 27, 2023

The Tragic Fires of Lahaina

The tragic fires of Lahaina destroyed the train station — Lahaina train station before the fire

Those who have not been to Maui may be unable to comprehend the tragic fires of Lahaina and what happened there. I lectured on Maui several times, visited Lahaina, and even lived in the area for a short time in Kehei. Knowing the area, I can understand the conditions leading to the wildfire that destroyed the town and killed so many people.

Maui is a beautiful island. There are two huge mountains and two primary sections of the island. Haleakala is a popular tourist area with a road to Hana on the east side of a volcanic mountain where there are many gardens and lush vegetation. The other side is a barren area of relatively recent lava flows.

On the island’s northern side, a mountain area known as Kahakuloa has an observatory at the top. Lahaina is located on the west side of this mountain. I worked with a church on the east side of Haleakala, a wet area with lush vegetation. Between these two mountains is a relatively flat area with the villages of Waikapu and Pounene and the main shopping area for locals and tourists.

Unlike Haleakala, Kahakuloa has weathered igneous rock on its west side, which has led to soil capable of supporting crops, primarily sugar cane. When we were there, the growers used fire to remove the processed sugar cane. The area was very dry, with a vast cattle ranch and people living in open houses and sheds because rain was infrequent.

What we have described here is a classic example of a rain shadow. Moist air moves up the sides of the two mountains, and as it cools, it drops its water as rain. All the moisture is gone by the time it gets to the top of the mountains. As a result, very dry air goes over the mountain and cascades down the other side, creating desert-like conditions. This is not an area to attract tourists, but with irrigation, it’s a productive agricultural area.

A fire on the mountain’s east side would not spread since lush green trees and grass do not burn easily. On the mountain’s west side, any dead cane, grass, or bushes would be great tinder. People must plan for climate changes, avoiding towns where drought conditions can produce the tragic fires of Lahaina.

Agriculture must use places to plant crops based on understanding the movement of air and water. The tragic fires of Lahaina were not an act of God but the result of human mismanagement of what God has given us. The question is whether we will learn from our mistakes or repeat them.

August 24, 2023August 23, 2023

The Problem of Homochirality

Can life arise spontaneously from non-living chemicals? Scientists have spent many hours and vast amounts of research money attempting to prove it can. One of the many challenges they must solve is the problem of homochirality.

All the large molecules required to make a living cell are composed of building blocks that have mirror images. When you look in a mirror, you see a reversed image of yourself. The right hand appears to be on the left and vice versa. The right- and left-hand analogy is used when referring to the building blocks of life. Those building blocks come in either right or left-handed forms. We call that handedness “chirality” from the Greek word for hand. Homochirality means having the same handedness.

Life almost exclusively uses only one chirality. The amino acids that make up proteins are left-handed. Scientists are uncertain why, but they have to accept the fact that to build the proteins that RNA and DNA molecules require for life, you must have only left-handed amino acids.

In nature, amino acids are not homochiral. They come in a distribution of about 50/50 left and right, creating the problem of homochirality. For amino acids to form the building blocks of life, they would have to be homochiral. Scientists have yet to find a way to make that happen, even in the laboratory. They aren’t even sure why life requires it since the chemical properties of mirror-imaged compounds are the same for all practical purposes.

The problem of homochirality is one of the many obstacles that prevent non-living chemicals from coming together to form life without intervention by an intelligent force. Even the intelligence of our best scientists has not overcome those obstacles. I saved an Associated Press news release from 2007 titled, “Scientists Believe Artificial Life Will Be Possible in 3 to 10 Years.” We are well past that goal, and I suspect they are not much closer today.