Evidence for God in Physical Design Archives - Page 10 of 59

April 17, 2023April 15, 2023

Tectonic Plates and Continental Drift

One of the interesting designs of planet Earth is the fluid nature of the crust and interior of the planet. Looking at a global map suggests that North and South America must have been connected to Europe and Africa in the past. As technology has improved, we have been able to see the connections and identify and measure the slowly moving tectonic plates and continental drift. This movement gives rise to surface features that affect human life and bring resources to supply the needs of all living things.

In 2005, geologists tracked 163 earthquakes as a 35-mile-long chasm opened in Ethiopia’s Afar Desert, where a volcanic eruption occurred. In 2018, a giant fissure 50 feet deep and 65 feet wide opened west of Nairobi, Kenya. These changes are surface expressions of movement in the mantle of magma inside the planet. The movement of tectonic plates happens very slowly, but even at a rate of less than an inch a year, scientists can measure it.

Tectonic plates and continental drift formed the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Along the edges of the various plates, material from the surface sinks back into Earth’s interior, while volcanos bring new materials to the surface, creating a colossal recycling system. Planet Earth is active, continuously producing new land with fresh minerals.

Because this process is so slow, its impact on human existence is minimal. However, people continue to build large cities along the fault lines. In California, we have the making of a colossal disaster as cities like Los Angeles straddle a geologically active region. The warnings are there, but they go unheeded.

Understanding the design of our planet with tectonic plates and continental drift should enable us to avoid geologic catastrophes and locate the mineral resources we need. Proverbs 8:22-26 finds “Wisdom” speaking about her presence at the beginning of God’s creation work. We see God’s wisdom and patience as we look at our planet’s design.

References: Wikipedia “Afar Triangle,” “Afar Triple Junction,” and “Great Rift Valley, Kenya”

April 13, 2023April 11, 2023

The Weight of Rain

How much does rain weigh? We just had a one-inch rainfall in a single thunderstorm. So let’s do some simple calculations to determine the weight of rain.

One acre of ground is 43,560 square feet. A one-inch rain is 1/12th of a foot, so the total volume of water that fell on every acre was 3,630 cubic feet. The density of water is 62.4 pounds per cubic foot. If you multiply 3,630 cubic feet by 62.4 pounds, you will see that 226,512 pounds of water (or 113.26 tons) fell on every acre of ground. There are 640 acres in a square mile, and most thunderstorms cover many square miles. So, each square mile of land received 72,486.4 tons of water in a one-inch rainfall. God’s power and energy are beyond our understanding, but we see a small piece of it in the weight of rain that falls on us.

There are many lessons involved in looking at these numbers. First, we should not underestimate the power of water to erode human structures and natural areas like the canyons we see and enjoy. We often overlook the use of water to generate electric power, and it is a renewable resource. Also, God designed water to be the basic substance of life.

The Bible refers to water many times. Proverbs 8:24-29 speaks of water as a product of wisdom and design. Psalms 23:2 refers to the peace of water and the benefits it brings. Revelation 22:1-2 repeats that, and verse 17 refers to the “water of life.” Song of Solomon 8:7 tells us that love is the only thing water cannot quench. And we need to remember that God used water to cleanse a corrupt Earth in the flood of Noah (Genesis 6:5-8).

As we learn more about other planets and moons, we see how blessed we are to be on a planet with abundant water. This is no accident. Scientists have only recently discovered the process required to make water, and we cannot overemphasize the importance of taking care of the water God gave us. Water continues to shape our planet, and we must not restrict it from what it was designed for by wasting or polluting it. How much does rain weigh? The weight of rain is great, but its value is much greater.

April 12, 2023April 11, 2023

Water Stewardship Past and Present

One of the major issues facing us today is how we get enough water to the right places to meet human needs. Between climate change and the growing human population, water availability is a huge concern in countries worldwide. We either have too much water resulting in floods or droughts that threaten food shortages. The fact is that God has equipped planet Earth with plenty of water. The problem is human water stewardship is not what it should be.

In the year 330, Roman Emperor Constantine took an ancient Greek city known as Byzantium and renamed it New Rome to become the new center of the Roman Empire. As the city grew, it became known as Constantine’s City or Constantinople. Three decades later, a court orator named Themistius wrote that “the city thirsts.” The city was surrounded by the sea on three sides, but it needed fresh water for its growing population. So, in 340, Constantius II began a major aqueduct construction project completed under Roman Emperor Valens In 373. The enormous project required an amount of stone equivalent to the Great Pyramid of Giza and enough mortar to fill 500 Olympic-size swimming pools. With the aqueducts, reservoirs, and a system of cisterns, Constantinople could truly become the new Rome in the fourth and fifth centuries.

Many areas today face a shortage of water. Six states, including 40 million people in the American West, receive water from the Colorado River. The states are Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and California. In 1922, the states made a compact giving California the largest share of the water. Unfortunately, the Colorado River has been shrinking in recent years while the human population has grown. The pact made in 1922 is not working well, especially for Arizona, and the situation requires better water stewardship.

Could we build a water system today analogous to what the Romans did almost 1,700 years ago? Can you imagine the benefit to all Americans if we had such a water distribution system in the western US? Droughts and flooding occur, but the effect is made worse by poor stewardship of the water resources God has given us. People in Africa, and other areas, need wells to provide safe water, and Christian organizations are working to meet that need. We can and must do more, and Christians should be the first to realize the importance of water stewardship because we honor the Giver of every good and perfect gift. (See James 1:17 and Mark 9:41.)

References: “The City Thirsts” by James Crow in Current World Archaeology magazine # 117 for February/March 2023, and “The Colorado River war and the growing problem of less water” on TheWeek.com.

April 6, 2023April 2, 2023

The Mystery of Oumuamua

An interesting space mystery circulating since 2017 has been the story of an outer space object named Oumuamua. This object is shaped like a cigar, is dark in color, and has an unusual orbit. Astronomers in Hawaii first discovered it and gave it the name “Oumuamua,” which means “scout” or “messenger” in Hawaiian. Part of the mystery of Oumuamua is deciding what it is – perhaps an asteroid or a comet. Oumuamua is smaller than most comets at 300 to 3000 feet (100 to 1,000 meters) long. It has no visible tail, as most comets do. A surprising thing about Oumuamua is that as it orbited the Sun, it sped up and accelerated away from it.

The media jumped on the scientific announcement of Oumuamua. Tabloids predicted it was an alien spaceship that picked up hydrogen from the Sun, and that’s why it accelerated. We have repeatedly pointed out that nothing in the Bible tells us whether or not there is life in outer space.

Like most tabloid stories, there is no reported scientific explanation of what Oumuamua is and why it behaves as it does, apparently tumbling through space. Comets have a great many volatile materials frozen inside them. When the Sun heats them, those materials vaporize, creating a small force, but usually not enough to alter the comet’s path.

We can learn some lessons from the mystery of Oumuamua. One is to be very careful about what you read in the media or hear on TV news broadcasts. A more important message is that there is a lot of material left over from the creation process that is traveling through space. Space is not a pure vacuum, and capturing and analyzing some of that material could answer many questions about the science involved in the creation.

The most important message is that the universe is carefully designed, and we see signatures of that design everywhere we look. Oumuamua tells us a little more about the mysteries of space and the even bigger wonder of the intelligence that created it all. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies proclaim the work of His hands” (Psalms 19:1).

References: USA Today 3/26/23 and Wikipedia

March 21, 2023March 20, 2023

Cosmos Creation Model and the Webb Space Telescope

One of the beautiful things about science is its methodology. Even when a theory is widely accepted in the scientific community, it still can be proven wrong and end up being discarded. An example of that is suggested by what the latest pictures from the James Webb Telescope are doing to the cosmos creation model.

The classical cosmos creation model suggests that the big bang produced matter/energy, resulting in atoms and molecules. The gravitational attraction of those molecules began to produce clouds of stars and dust. Those clouds then coalesced into small galaxies that grew and merged. Larger galaxies formed over time and are still developing.

Astronomers looking into space see galaxies interacting and sometimes even merging. The Webb telescope looks back farther than ever before toward the beginning of the cosmos. Early galaxies should be small with relatively small masses compared to the enormous galaxies like our Milky Way. However, Dr. Joel Leja from Penn State University has revealed that the latest observations by the Webb telescope do not support the widely accepted cosmos creation model.

The Webb telescope has discovered six large, fully-formed galaxies with huge masses. These supermassive galaxies are near the starting point for the expansion of the cosmos, so researchers are struggling to understand how they can exist. Some suggest they are supermassive black holes, but scientists think that black holes of this size are relatively late productions of galactic evolution.

None of this has any bearing on the cosmological argument for the existence of God as the creator. This research does not answer the question of the origin of space, energy, and time. However, it does upend the classical model of the creation and expansion of the cosmos. God is the creator of the cosmos, and His methods are so complex that human attempts to produce a cosmos creation model will take many more years of study and exploration. Indeed, “The Heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psalms 19:1).

Reference: “The galaxies that shouldn’t exist” in The Week for March 10, 2023 page 21.

March 16, 2023March 13, 2023

Homogeneous View of the Cosmos

The standard model of cosmology maintains that matter in the universe should be more or less evenly distributed across space. This homogeneous view of the cosmos was based on what astronomers could observe using the instruments available when they developed the first cosmological theories. If the creation started with a singularity, the cosmos as a whole should be relatively even. Gravitational interactions would make some local lumps in the creation, but matter should be evenly distributed through the cosmos as a whole.

In 2021, researcher Alexia Lopez was analyzing the light from distant quasars when she detected a giant arc of galaxies in the constellation of Bootes. It spanned a massive 3.3 billion light years in diameter. That structure is one-fifteenth of the radius of the observable universe. Known as the “Giant Arc,” it violates the homogeneous view of the cosmos, which says that everything should be evenly distributed with no noticeable irregularities.

As the Webb telescope sends more observations to researchers, old theories of galactic formation and the origin of the cosmos may have to be discarded, and new ideas advanced. Nevertheless, the fundamental question of creation continues to lead back to the same conclusion: there was a beginning to time, space, and matter/energy.

The object here is discovering the process God used to make everything we see. The complexity of the creation process was so great that it is very difficult to attribute it to some accidental incidents. The statement in Proverbs 8 gives us more understanding as Wisdom talks about being present before the creation. We see evidence of that in every discovery in astrophysics.

Reference: BBC Report “The giant arcs that may dwarf everything in the cosmos”

March 15, 2023March 13, 2023

The Multiverse Fad in Fiction and Science

Science fiction has toyed with the idea that there are many universes parallel to one another, each having people like us on a planet like ours – but different. Hollywood has used this theme in ever-increasing numbers of films in which characters move from one universe to another. The current Academy Award-winning movie Everything Everywhere All at Once is a prime example. Or who can forget the famous Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life in which George Bailey (James Stewart) sees an alternative universe in which he never lived. Between It’s a Wonderful Life 75 years ago and today’s Everything Everywhere All at Once, the multiverse fad has been used to present many stories. But is it real?

Movies and TV often depict parallel universes that resemble our own but with opposing characters or circumstances, such as in the Star Trek episode Mirror, Mirror, or the 1998 movie Sliding Doors. Atheists have proposed the idea of multiple universes entirely different from each other. Knowing that the odds of explaining the fine-tuning of our universe without design or purpose are infinitely small, they suggest that with an infinite number of universes, life will eventually happen by chance alone. We just happen to live in the one universe that got everything right.

However, the multiverse fad is not confined to entertainment and atheism. Some scientists, both unbelievers and believers, propose a multiverse theory. There are three main versions: (1) Eternal inflation presents the idea that pocket universes continuously pop into existence with stars, planets, and galaxies like ours. (2) String theory suggests the cosmos is made up of tiny, undetectable vibrating strings in the fabric of space-time in which an unlimited number of universes come into existence all by chance. (3) The many worlds idea is a product of quantum mechanics in which the splitting of space/time produces an ever-growing array of universes. In this concept, every universe would look the same and have the same history – so in another universe, there would be a copy of you reading an article like this one.

These ideas may be helpful for producing science fiction books or movies or giving imaginative material for debate among intellectuals, but they are not science. To be scientific, something must have evidence that allows it to be tested and falsified. If you can’t test a theory, it is pure speculation and has no scientific basis. No multiverse theory is supported by evidence. The mathematics used to support the theories have literally billions of possible solutions and don’t contribute to their validity.

The bottom line is that the multiverse fad is an interesting facet of human imagination. Skeptics can try to use it to discount God’s creation of the cosmos, but that is not science and does not contribute to our knowledge. Massive evidence shows God created the cosmos and created humans uniquely in His image. Science and faith are friends, and the Bible equips us to live in this constantly changing world.

Reference: “Mapping the Multiverse” in the March/April 2023 issue of Discover magazine

March 13, 2023March 12, 2023

Earth’s Thermostat in the Rocks

A new report shows that rain, carbon dioxide, and various kinds of rocks are major players in controlling Earth’s climate. The study, led by Penn State University, pooled data from 45 soil sites and many watersheds worldwide to see how the weathering of rocks combines with rain to stabilize climate. You might call it Earth’s thermostat in the rocks.

We know that volcanoes have emitted large amounts of carbon dioxide, potentially turning the planet into a greenhouse. However, rain dissolves the carbon dioxide out of the air, creating a weak acid that falls to the surface. The acid wears away the rocks in Earth’s crust, and carbon is part of the byproducts of this action. Streams and rivers carry the carbon to the ocean, where it is eventually locked away in sedimentary rocks.

Richard Yuretich, a program director of the National Science Foundation’s Division of Earth Sciences, says that the breakdown of rocks into soil “removes significant amounts of carbon dioxide and water from the atmosphere, processes that are also related to temperature.” As the temperature rises, the rate of carbon sequestration increases, helping to control the greenhouse effect. This process creates what is essentially Earth’s thermostat to help maintain a relatively constant temperature.

This new research will significantly impact our understanding of climate change. It helps us understand how Earth’s design has allowed a constant temperature throughout the past’s varied activity of carbon emissions. How much effect it will have in the future as humans add more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere remains to be seen. However, there have been past periods of significant volcanic activity, so the carbon dioxide levels have not been static.

Earth’s thermostat in the rocks is just one more example of how the planet’s design has made it possible for life to exist during climate changes. We know that the thermostat in our car or home was designed with intelligence. Likewise, the thermostat built into our planet is also not some accidental device but is essential for the existence of life on Earth.

References: The National Science Foundation Research News Report, March 8, 2023, and the journal Science, 26 Jan 2023

March 2, 2023February 27, 2023

Listening for Messages from Space

In 1960 radio astronomer Frank Drake began research to find alien civilizations in deep space by aiming an 85-foot radio telescope at some sun-like stars. He found nothing, but it was the beginning of a program known as SETI – Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. The program has continued for 63 years, with many radio telescopes listening for messages from space. Researchers have spent thousands of hours and millions of dollars with zero results. They have detected no deep-space radio signals containing any intelligence – only noise.

Radio signals continuously originate from stars, nebula, and other space objects, but it is all noise. How do the SETI scientists know it’s just noise and not intelligence? Intelligence has a pattern. They may not understand the language, but they can tell language from random noise. They can distinguish random, accidental, chance blips from something created by an intelligent being.

Thus, scientists have confidence that they know the difference between information transmitted by an intelligent being and random noise when listening for messages from space. How about when examining the DNA within living cells? Does the complex pattern of information that creates the blueprint within each living cell show intelligence behind it – or is it random noise? Does it resemble a computer program written by a super-intelligence, or does it display random, accidental chance? If we can tell the difference between intelligence and randomness in space, why can’t we tell the difference in our own bodies? Is the problem that some people want to find signs of intelligence in deep space but don’t want to see it within our cells?

Frank Drake admitted that in 1974 he transmitted an encoded message toward a star cluster 25,000 light-years away in the constellation Hercules. That means the message should reach its target in 25,000 years (minus 49 years). If any intelligent being gets the message and responds immediately, the return message will take 25,000 years. Unfortunately, Drake died in 2022, at age 92, without getting a message back.

Is it possible that there really is an intelligent Being out there listening and waiting to hear from us? Is it possible that Being is not limited by time and space? Is it possible that the Being has already communicated with us by coming to Earth and taking on human form? Is it possible that while spending time and money listening for messages from space, we are not listening to Him?

We have dealt with SETI before, as you will find HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

February 20, 2023February 18, 2023

The Gravitational Constant and Earth’s Mass

“How much does planet Earth weigh?” We can’t put the planet on a scale, and the correct question is, “What is Earth’s Mass?” The scientific literature tells us Earth’s mass is six ronnagrams. That is six followed by 27 zeros (6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 g). Newton’s law of gravitation is expressed in the equation F=G(mm’/x²). The m and m’ are the masses of two objects, x is how far they are from each other, and G is the gravitational constant which makes the equation work. The value of G is 6.67430 x 10^-11, that is .0000000000667430.

Any two objects with mass will attract each other. For example, you and the Earth are attracting each other, and you are attracted to the person sitting next to you, such as your spouse or significant other. So why don’t you feel that attraction to each other? (Gravitationally, that is.) If you put your mass and the other person’s mass into that equation, you will find that the force is extremely small. However, if you were in outer space and floating isolated from any other mass, you and that person would be drawn together.

So what is the point? This design of the gravitational constant is an amazing display of God’s wisdom and intelligence. Earth’s mass is so large that you can feel its attraction for you. That prevents you from flying off into space while allowing all of life to have mobility on the planet’s surface. The attraction of gravity on all objects in space pulls them together, with the force depending on the mass of the objects. The matter clumps into meteoroids, asteroids, and comets if the mass is relatively small. Greater mass results in stars and planets, with gravity pulling them into spherical shapes. Gravity also keeps solar systems and galaxies from flying apart. The gravitational constant acting on mass allows the cleansing of debris from space and the continuing production of new astronomical bodies.

The value of the gravitational constant (G) allows the creation of the universe, the Milky Way galaxy, our solar system, and planet Earth. It is just one of many mathematical constants that must be just right to allow matter and life to exist. How did such numbers get chosen? Is this some cosmological accident, or is it the product of intelligence?

Atheists respond by suggesting there are an infinite number of universes with different constants. We just happen to be in the one that got everything right. Unfortunately, there is no way to test this multiverse theory scientifically. It is more like a religious idea that has no purpose except to avoid believing in the existence of an intelligent Creator.

The gravitational constant is only one of many constants that must be fine-tuned for the existence of life in any universe. We have no reason to believe there are other universes, but if there are, they would also have to be created. We believe God created our universe for a purpose. The Bible gives a purpose for human life and states clearly that the creation described in Genesis 1:1 was by a God who created with Wisdom, as we read in Proverbs 8:1, 22 -31.