In the final days of 2022, we are looking back at some of the major topics we have previously covered.
Look around, and you will see amazing things in the natural world that give the appearance of design. Atheist evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has said that biology is the study of things that give the appearance of having been designed. But, of course, he does not believe they were designed because he does not believe in a designer. Is he correct, or is there a better explanation for the appearance of design? Here are some links to past articles in which we have dealt with that topic:
Those are just a few of the past articles on design that show evidence for a Designer. We believe that God has given us two revelations of Himself. One is His creation, and the other is His written word. The authority of the Bible is another subject we have dealt with often. Tomorrow, we will share some links from past articles on that topic.
In the final days of 2022, we are looking back at some of the major topics we have previously covered.
Yesterday, we looked back at what we have said about dinosaurs. Of course, that topic always leads to questions about the age of the Earth. Some insist that the Bible tells us that the planet is 6,000 years old, or at least not more than 10,000 years. Does it really say that? Here are some links to where we have discussed this before:
When considering the age of the Earth, we invite you to go to DoesGodExist.tv and scroll down to video #28, “The Age of Things.”
A helpful booklet on this topic is “GOD’S REVELATION IN HIS ROCKS AND HIS WORD.” It is available to read on DoesGodExist.org.
Those are some of the materials we have produced dealing with the age of our planet and God’s creative process to make Earth the perfect home for advanced human civilization and for working out His plan to defeat evil. Tomorrow, we will consider evolution.
Andrew Locock at the University of Alberta discovered two new minerals in a fragment of the El Ali meteorite that landed in Somalia. These minerals had never been found naturally on Earth, although scientists had synthesized them in a lab. Chris Herd, an Earth and Atmospheric Sciences professor and curator of the University of Alberta’s meteorite collection, named the two alien minerals “Elaliite” and “Elkinstantonite.”
The tabloids try to use this find to suggest that alien worlds exist that are radically different from Earth. The fact is that these minerals contain the common elements iron, potassium, and oxygen. Like many other “alien minerals” such as Brianite, Xifengite, and Heamanite, scientists have synthesized them. Inorganic materials can form new chemical configurations when they are subjected to temperatures and pressures not seen on Earth’s surface. All of these minerals with unfamiliar names are the product of conditions not present on the surface of our planet.
There are chemical restraints on what elements can sustain life. Biologists tell us that life is “that form that can move, breathe. respond to outside stimuli, and reproduce.” The elements that make those functions possible are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. For example, living things made of iron are not chemically possible, yet iron is the dominant element in meteorites. Oxygen is the one oxidizing element that allows respiration without adverse chemical reactions that would prevent life from surviving. For that reason, life forms breathing chlorine or bromine are not possible.
At the same time, alien minerals in meteorites do not mean that alien life is impossible. On the contrary, if there is life in space, it will be made of the same elements that we are. It may not look like us or live as we do, but we will not have any trouble identifying it as life.
Every time this issue comes up, it reminds me of my experience on a radio show. I was in Washington, D.C., doing a call-in talk show with Larry King (before he became famous) and a local atheist. We had a lively discussion about science and faith with some references to alien life. A caller said to the atheist, “What would you do if a spaceship landed on the White House Lawn and a little green man jumped out with a Bible in his hand and said, ‘Has Jesus been here yet?’” Before I could point out some problems with that proposal, my atheist opponent looked at me, smiled, and said, “Punt.” Larry King responded by going to a commercial.
One of the most interesting places on Earth is the Dead Sea. This body of water between Israel and Jordan is located 1400 feet below sea level at its surface. The lake is 978 feet deep and is fed by the Jordan River. The water is so salty that a person entering the lake floats so that most of their body is above the lake’s surface. The minerals that make the lake salty are essential and have been mined for centuries by simply evaporating the water. Health spas have sprung up around the lake, bringing in a busy tourist trade. However, we may be approaching the death of the Dead Sea.
The geology that has produced the lake is another interesting feature. The Jordan Rift Valley is a long depression between two geologic faults, known as a graben. Grabens are common on Earth, but this one is unusually deep.
One reason for the potential death of the Dead Sea is that in recent years it has been evaporating much more rapidly than ever before due to climate change. As a result, in some years, the lake’s surface has fallen four feet. As the lake level drops, numerous sinkholes have formed where the exposed ground that used to be at the bottom of the lake dries and collapses. As a result, an area that contained roads and beaches is now dotted with sinkholes making it too dangerous for travel.
However, the death of the Dead Sea has multiple causes. The Jordan River is essentially not flowing into the lake as people have diverted its water for drinking and irrigation. People also use evaporation ponds to recover minerals, accelerating the water loss. Between human over-use and climate change, the Dead Sea is rapidly becoming inhospitable to any human use or travel.
Concerned parties have proposed ways to stop water loss, but they require cooperation that is difficult to achieve. This is one more case where the human responsibility to care for what God has given us remains unmet. Trying to deny the problem exists is difficult when the evidence is overpowering. Human greed and exploitation, plus climate changes, may lead to the death of the Dead Sea.
If I asked, “How fast are you moving?” you might reply that you are sitting still. However, don’t forget that you are sitting on a planet that is spinning on its axis. A fixed observer in space would say that you are moving with the planet’s rotation at up to 1000 miles per hour if you are close to the equator. At the same time, Earth is revolving around the Sun at roughly 66,000 miles per hour. The Sun is one of 100 billion stars rotating around a black hole at the core of the Milky Way galaxy at approximately 400,000 miles per hour. Meanwhile, the galaxy is moving through space at around 2,200,000 miles per hour. So, how fast are you moving when viewed from a fixed point in space?
The amazing thing about the creation is that each of these numbers is critical for our survival. The spin of the Earth on its axis distributes heat in a way that we are not frozen or burned up. The revolution around the Sun keeps us from being drawn into the Sun or slung into outer space and frozen. The movement of the Sun around the galactic core prevents the black hole at the center of our galaxy from sucking in the entire solar system and destroying it. The galaxy’s movement through space prevents it from being absorbed by another galaxy. The speeds are critically fine-tuned because there is no tolerance for error.
As astronomers look at other solar systems and galaxies, they see the speeds that allow us to exist are not that common in space. The simple statement of Psalms 19 that “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above shows His handiwork” reminds us that we are not the product of an accident. The more we learn about the cosmos, the more obvious it becomes that our existence is a product of intelligent design.
The psalmist also reminds us of the astonishing fact that the Creator cares about us. “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars which you have ordained, what is man, that you are mindful of him …” (Psalms 8:3-4). So how fast are you moving right now? Fast enough to exist and to know that there is a reason for that existence. Read Job 1 and 2 and Ephesians 3:9-11 and 6:12 to learn more about that reason.
We have just enjoyed a return visit to the Wisconsin Dells. I say a “return visit” because, in the army, I was stationed at Camp McCoy near Sparta, Wisconsin. The closest place to go for an escape from military rigor was the Dells. Later, when I was in a National Science Foundation teacher training seminar, we spent a day at the Dells learning about the area’s geological history. I have been to the Dells nearly a dozen times and watched it change from a primitive camping area to a tourist water wonderland. As a geologist, I enjoy reading the rocks in Wisconsin Dells.
The Dells area is geologically interesting because the glaciers did something unusual there. For reasons still debated by geologists, glaciers that covered all of Wisconsin went around the Dells area. That left a very different geology compared to the rest of the state. Where we live in Michigan, glaciers dominated the whole state. Our house sits on a glacial moraine where glaciers dumped sand and gravel as they moved south.
In our gravel pits, we find rocks that came from hundreds of miles north of us. When I took my earth science students on field trips to area gravel pits, they found pieces of copper from the upper peninsula and Jasper conglomerate from southern Ontario. There is no exposed bedrock in southern Michigan, only sand, gravel, and clay left by the glaciers. Hundreds of pothole lakes and ponds cover the area, making it home to a variety of wildlife not abundant in Wisconsin. Farming in our area involves fruits and berries that are rare in Wisconsin.
Reading the rocks in Wisconsin Dells tells us a whole different story with exposed sedimentary bedrock and very little sand and gravel. The area’s rivers are very different, with large pillars and buttes that were spared by the glacial ice, and very few ponds. The whole ecological area of the Dells differs from the surrounding part of the state, and the varied ecology provides different natural resources. For example, the grasses that grow in a place like the Dells provide grains not as easily grown in glaciated areas.
Reading the rocks in Wisconsin Dells tells us that God has provided radically different ecological systems for our benefit. If all areas of the planet were the same, that would limit the available resources. The wisdom of having multiple agents to prepare different soils, different amounts of water, and different mixing of minerals reminds us of the message of Proverbs 8:22-31. That passage personifies Wisdom as being there when God created all these things. Learning to read Earth’s geological history shows us the methods God used to prepare this planet for human habitation. How blessed we are to travel and see places like Wisconsin Dells and learn of God’s wisdom, love, power, and patience in all He does.
Humans look for ways to celebrate certain days. We laugh at Groundhog Day and use Valentine’s Day for special human relationships. Some days have extensive significance, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Veteran’s Day. We are now observing Fibonacci Day on November 23. Fibonacci Day is an unusual celebration of a remarkable mathematical sequence.
Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician who noticed in the year 1202 some interesting oddities about a particular sequence of numbers: 1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55, 89,144, 233. Notice that when you add any two sequential numbers, you get the next number. For example 5 + 8 = 13; 8 + 13 = 21; etc. If you divide two sequential numbers, you get .618034, which some mathematicians have called the “golden mean.”
Applying this Fibonacci sequence to architecture, you get a practical application. A rectangle using any two sequential numbers is aesthetically pleasing to human eyes. If you cut a square off any of these rectangles, you get another rectangle with the Fibonacci sequence. If you connect the corners of the squares in a series of Fibonacci rectangles, you get a spiral (see sketch).
An amazing thing about this is that there are an unlimited number of examples of Fibonacci spirals in the natural world. A small sampling includes: *The spiral arms of galaxies curl in a Fibonacci spiral. *The curl of a wave in the ocean fits the Fibonacci spiral. *The snail shells curl in a Fibonacci curve. *Elephant tusks curve in a Fibonacci spiral. *The roots of human teeth curve in a Fibonacci spiral. *Spider webs fit the Fibonacci spiral *Keys on the piano are 5 black and 8 white, 13 in all, fitting the ratio.
*Musical chords producing pleasing sounds have the Fibonacci ratio. *Bacteria growth curves fit the Fibonacci ratio.
There is no natural or evolutionary reason for the Fibonacci sequence. Notice it isn’t just in one discipline but in widely separated areas of study.
The Fibonacci Association publishes a magazine called the Fibonacci Quarterly, and people have written several books about the Fibonacci ratio. If you are observing Fibonacci Day, realize that this demonstrates God’s design in the creation. Chance does not produce a pattern across multiple disciplines like this.
People today often refuse to use evidence to make decisions on everything from personal relationships to politics. One of the unique things we find in the Bible is that Jesus Christ challenges people to think.
In the book of Matthew, Jesus uses the phrase “What do you think” five times (17:25, 18:12, 21:28, 22:17, 22:42). Jesus never called his listeners to blind acceptance or thoughtless adherence to authority. In biblical Christianity, faith is not an emotionally-based response. Despite that fact, modern Christian denominations have relied on blind acceptance and emotion instead of thoughtful reasoning.
A good part of this failure is just plain intellectual laziness. People emotionally follow the charismatic leadership of individuals because it is easier than thoughtfully examining the evidence. The result is that we have cults and abusive religious systems. Unlike other world religions, the Bible and Jesus challenge us to examine the evidence and act on it.
Jesus used miracles to convince people ofHis divine nature. The prophecies about Christ predicted that He would not attract followers by his physical appearance. Consider Isaiah 53:1-6 which is undeniably a messianic prophecy. That passage says, “He had no form or comeliness … there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief … we esteemed Him not.”
Jesus Christ challenges people to think, but as long as people refuse to use their minds and examine the evidence, skepticism and chaos will result. Throughout the Bible, we find encouragement to look at the evidence and know that God is real and that His Word should guide our lives. Read Psalms 19:1, Psalms 53, Psalms 139:14, Proverbs 8, Matthew 6:26-30, Acts 17:22-31, and Romans 1:18-20. Waiting for God to “zap” you with faith is an exercise in futility. Instead, God rewards those who seek to understand and never calls us to blind acceptance.
The “Does God Exist?” program never relies on the opinion or credentials of any human. Instead, we call on all people to come to faith by using their intelligence and what they can see in the world around them. Examine the evidence!
Our materials are free or at cost and provide a way to organize the evidence so that each person who is willing can “know there is a God through the things He has made” (Romans 1:20). That means looking at the physical world and the spiritual world and dealing with the evidence that is all around us. Still, in today’s world, Jesus Christ challenges people to think.
People here in Michigan consider beavers a nuisance because they cut down trees and flood farmlands. Unfortunately, beavers cut down some beautiful shade trees on our property. However, beavers can help reduce a climate change problem.
A significant problem associated with the changing climate is the loss of water. Many reservoirs in the western United States are at extremely low levels, and some have completely dried up. Precipitation amounts have dropped while humans mismanage natural water storage.
Meanwhile, people have hunted and trapped beavers due to high prices for pelts and the flooding of farmland and private homes by the dams they built. The result is that water now floods downstream areas. Beavers reduce that problem by creating ponds that hold the water, so it runs off much more slowly. Besides reducing flooding, this also helps to minimize droughts. Studies funded by the National Science Foundation show that by live trapping and moving them upstream, beavers can help reduce a climate change problem.
God has provided ways to make climate change less damaging. For example, storing water in snow and glaciers helps mitigate the problem of water distribution. Additionally, beavers can reduce the problem by building dams that hold water back, providing relief from weather extremes.
God has given us the responsibility of managing what He has created. However, by creating pollution and mismanaging natural resources such as beavers, we have created problems we can no longer ignore. We can all participate in caring for the creation, and pleading ignorance won’t stop the damage.
When you read the biblical description of God, you find that it involves qualities that atheists reject. An omnipresent, omnipotent, and eternal God are biblical descriptions that skeptics refuse to accept as possible. The foundation of the atheist worldview rejects an infinite eternity in heaven. Likewise, mathematicians rejected the concept of infinity for many years until the end of the nineteenth century. However, infinity exists, and mathematics doesn’t make sense without it.
Euclid’s geometry deliberately excluded the idea of anything infinitely small or infinitely large. The Greeks believed they could describe the entire universe with positive rational numbers. However, there are cases where a calculation cannot be made with a whole number or one having non-repeating decimal places. For example, the value of pi requires an irrational number with infinite decimal representation. A circle with a radius of one turns out to be 22/7, which is 3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679 if carried out to 100 places. The value of pi is called an irrational number because even at 100 places, it does not end. The digits after the decimal point are infinite.
Legend says that Hippasus, the first to prove that irrational numbers exist, was executed when his proof was published. The scholarly group known as the Pythagorean brotherhood was vocal about naturalism which had to deny the existence of the infinite. Eventually, it became evident that their view of the cosmos was impossible. And yet here in the twenty-first century, we find that denial of the concept of infinity is still the thinking of those who reject the biblical concept of God.
You can’t understand your life as having an infinite purpose if you reject the concept of infinity. The concept of the infinite is contained in the statement of Jesus in Matthew 20:16, “So the last will be first, and the first last,” and Matthew 16:25, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God has set eternity in the hearts of humanity. On a fundamental level, that biblical concept of reality makes sense, and the history of mathematics is a strong support for the credibility of the biblical concept of eternity.
