DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY - Page 58 of 242 - Evidence for God In the Things He Has Made

March 26, 2022March 25, 2022

Seniors Using Alcohol – Health Effects

We tend to think that drinking and the effects of alcohol are a problem for young people and middle-aged adults. There is no question that alcohol is the most destructive drug in today’s world. However, the view that young people need to avoid distilled alcoholic drinks but it is okay for seniors is dead wrong. We see much pain and suffering in our world today from different sources, but there is no reason for seniors using alcohol and adding to the problems that come with age.

Starting at about age 50, the average adult loses muscle, gains fat, and carries less water in the bloodstream. That means that seniors using alcohol may be more affected because it is less diluted than in younger people. In addition, the stomach and liver don’t produce as much of the enzyme called ADH, which processes alcohol. As a result, a person may not be aware that the alcohol content in their body is higher than in the past, and they may not realize the damaging effects. Our ability to perceive the effects of alcohol also diminishes after age 50, so we may ignore changes in vision, balance, and hearing caused by alcohol.

For seniors using alcohol, the aging process can be accelerated because it pulls water from your body. It also causes the shrinking of the brain, especially the cortex, which controls our executive function. In addition, Dr. George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, says that over 200 medical conditions are made worse by the consumption of alcohol. These include but are not limited to cancer, immune system disorders, liver problems, stroke, and diabetes.

There is a lot of literature blaming God for the age-related disabilities inflicting our world. While not drinking at all doesn’t guarantee a person won’t have health issues, a very high percentage of age-related diseases are impacted by the abuse we tend to heap on our bodies. That abuse includes not only alcohol but recreational drugs and nicotine. For Christians, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16), and we need to take care of that temple. Learning how to do that is vital for all of us.

Reference: AARP Bulletin for March 2022, pages 18-19.

March 24, 2022March 21, 2022

Resistance to Change

Jesus Christ preached a message of change. However, people had a resistance to change from the religious system they were in, even though it was impossible to follow completely. One had to keep many rules, and no person was justified by the law no matter how well they kept the requirements. In Acts 15:10, Paul referred to it as a ”yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear.” In Galatians 3:10-11, Paul referred to it as a curse.

The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 – 7 finds Jesus talking about the old way of doing things and teaching people to change. Despite that, in Acts 6:14, the religious leaders objected to the teachings of Jesus by which He attempted to change their religious practice. We all know that led to them crucifying Jesus.

Christianity opposes racism, and Jesus demonstrated that (John 4:1-29). Christianity opposed sexism and prejudice (Galatians 3:27-28 ), but even today, we have people who refuse to accept what Jesus taught. They refuse because of their resistance to change, so racism and misogynistic practices still exist. A major reason why people refuse to become Christians is because they oppose change, even when they know their current way of living is negative.

The “Does God Exist?” ministry is based on evidence. The evidence is massive that Jesus lived, was the Son of God, and taught a new way of life. The evidence shows that alternative lifestyles opposed to Christianity don’t work. The evidence is that worship does not work when confined to buildings and rituals and certain times of the day.

People tend to be comfortable with the status quo, but Christianity calls us to something better. Read 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 and realize that change needs to begin now by our choice because ultimately change will happen, and resistance to change will not stop it.

March 23, 2022March 21, 2022

Phenotypic Plasticity and Life

Red Eared Slider Turtle and Phenotypic Plasticity — Red Eared Slider Turtle

There are so many examples of design in God’s creation that we often overlook them. One example that has been a problem for evolutionists is the cause of the variability of traits in organisms. Scientists call it phenotypic plasticity. For example, what determines whether the sex of an offspring is male or female? Biologists tell us that it is a matter of genetics, but that isn’t always the case.

When a red-eared slider turtle deposits her eggs, the place where she lays them determines the sex of the baby turtles. If she lays her eggs in a cool place, the babies will be males. If she lays her eggs in a warm sunny spot, the baby turtles will be females. The environment where the eggs are laid controls the ratio of males to females and limits the time of year when more females will be available to produce more offspring.

Sometimes the physical shape of an animal and its diet are determined by the environment in which it finds itself. The Mexican spadefoot toad is a classic example. The tadpoles of this toad will typically feed on plankton and algae, but occasionally a tadpole will find itself in a pool that is rich in fairy shrimp. The shape and diet of the tadpole that has eaten the shrimp will change. It now becomes a carnivore with a broad head and a new shape ideal for fast swimming.

We also see this ability to change as a function of environmental conditions in some plants. For example, cabbage white butterfly caterpillars sometimes attack wild radishes. When this happens, the plant immediately begins producing chemicals in its leaves to repel the caterpillars. Trait variability is a significant issue in evolution. In Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species, he spent the first two chapters trying to explain this problem, but he never succeeded.

The ability to change as the environment changes is a design feature of many life forms. Phenotypic plasticity is a testimony to the wisdom and design that God built into all life.

Reference: American Scientist magazine, March/April 2022, pages 94-103.

March 22, 2022March 21, 2022

Cryonic Eternal Life

One of the byproducts of naturalism is the desire to achieve immortality. If you believe this life is all there is to your existence, the logical thing is to try to make this life eternal. One way to do that could be to have your body frozen when you die until science can find a way to make you live forever. Organizations such as the Cryonics Institute in Michigan are offering cryonic eternal life.

When you pay the fee for cryonic eternal life, technicians will prepare your body. When you are declared dead, technicians cool the body with ice water and keep the tissues oxygenated using CPR and an oxygen mask. Then, they fly the iced body to a laboratory and connect it to a heart-lung bypass machine that circulates the blood. Next, they pump in a solution to act as an antifreeze to prevent cell tissues from being destroyed by ice crystals. Finally, they cool the body to minus 320 degrees F in a tank of liquid nitrogen.

The idea is that when medical science advances and finds a cure for whatever caused the person’s death, they can revive the body, reverse the aging process, and give the person another shot at life. This is obviously a very theoretical idea. However, Shannon Tessier, a cryobiologist at Harvard University, points out that when scientists attempt to freeze a sample of human tissue, “the tissue is completely obliterated, the cell membrane is completely destroyed.”

Atheists have responded to our material by saying that they are going to be cryonically treated at death so they can live forever. However, it is obvious that the technology to make that possible is a very long way off and probably will never happen. More to the point, the only reason to do this would be a desperate attempt by people opposed to God’s plan to bypass the biblical injunction “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

Even if the proposed ideal of cryonic eternal life became real, think of the problems it would cause. Population issues would be astronomical, and all of the limitations placed upon us by our physical situation would still be present. How much greater would it be to accept a better eternal existence that God offers for free through Jesus Christ.

Reference: Discover magazine March/April 2022, page10.

March 21, 2022March 20, 2022

The Size of the Cosmos

We have often mentioned NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). Their March 16, 2022, post showed the above diagram of the OBSERVABLE universe. The emphasis on the word observable is because astronomers have realized that what we can see is only part of the creation. Our technology allows us to appreciate the size of the cosmos. When you look into space with today’s most powerful telescopes, you can see far beyond our Milky Way galaxy.

We can observe that there are billions of galaxies with different shapes, and each contains billions of stars. However, visible light is limited. Just as the light from a lightbulb appears less bright as you move further away from it, visible radiation from distant objects becomes dimmer the farther away they are. As a result, science has developed new instruments to see radiation other than visible light, such as Xrays and microwaves. In addition, we now have devices that can detect neutrinos and gravitational waves from objects still farther away.

Everything we can detect operates by the same physical laws that govern our own tiny part of space. So any suggestion that there could be universes with different physical laws and physical constants is pure speculation.

The more we learn about the size of the cosmos as we use improved instruments, the more obvious it becomes that the creation is too vast for us to comprehend. The cosmos speaks of design, power, and creative expression beyond what our technology can perceive.

The NASA website reveals higher dimensions, and the size of the cosmos speaks to us of a God beyond our comprehension. In the words of Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies show his handiwork.”

On Wikimedia, you can see the above logarithmic illustration with annotations identifying the objects. In addition, you can find some of our previous APOD references HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

March 19, 2022March 15, 2022

Archaeological Support For The Bible

A problem we face in this ministry is that no matter what we do, our material becomes dated. We have had an excellent response to our new video series on archaeology and the Bible titled “Beyond Reasonable Doubt.” However, recent archaeological journals have reported new finds that offer more archaeological support for the Bible and its historical integrity.

Archaeologists have discovered an inscription containing the name “Jerubbaal” at Khirbet al-Rai near Lachish in the Judaean Foothills. The inscription was in a grain silo dated to the 12th or early 11th century B.C. Judges 6:32 mentions Jerubbaal as a name given to Gideon. Earlier, in the same area, archaeologists found an inscription on the floor of a city believed to be the biblical Shaarayim dating to the early 10th century B.C. This inscription has the name “Eshbaal.” That was the name of Saul’s son who challenged David’s kingship in 1 Chronicles 8:33 and 2 Samuel 2-4. These inscriptions show that those names were in use at the very time of the biblical references.

Another interesting archaeological support for the Bible has to do with the Philistines. It is well-known that pork was a taboo for the Israelites but a mainstay of the diets of the Philistines, Greeks, and Romans. Archaeological digs in Israelite cities do not show any bones of pigs, but digs involving cultures other than the Israelites contain massive numbers of pig bones. Understanding that fact adds importance to Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son, who, at his lowest point while in “a far country,” took a job feeding pigs.

Archaeological digs in Arabia are showing increasing evidence that Christianity was highly successful by the fifth or sixth century A.D. The move to monotheistic texts is attributed to Christians who rejected the paganism that was a part of Arabia at that time.

Recent finds have more archaeological support for the Bible and its historical integrity. They heavily challenge the skeptics who suggest that the Bible is only a bunch of ancient Jewish myths and historically unreliable. The controversy between biblical minimalists and maximalists has prevented a clear picture of how much evidence shows that the Bible is credible and reliable. It is not only an expression of God’s will for humanity, but it is a record with historical integrity.

Reference: Biblical Archaeology Review for Spring 2022 pages 17, 26, and 42.

March 18, 2022March 15, 2022

The Bible is Too Hard to Understand

What is the number one reason why people have trouble understanding the Bible? It isn’t the language. It isn’t what translation you use. Also, it isn’t because you need a high level of education to make sense of it. Jesus taught things that are easy to understand. On the other hand, Satan leads us to say the Bible is too hard to understand to justify why we are not following what it says. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus was talking to common folk like us. The Jewish scholars may have had a hard time understanding His message, but the common folks did not.

Think of what is hard to understand in today’s world. Can anyone make sense of the war in Ukraine and the mindset of the Russian leaders who are bringing such pain and suffering to innocent people? Why do evolution and “survival of the fittest” have such an attraction to people of the world? Why are we obsessed with video games that bring images of fighting, death, and destruction into our homes? Why is sexual misconduct front-page news every day? The physical world doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Until you get your mind around the fact that the Bible and the teachings of Jesus are devoted to the spiritual, you will struggle with it. Jesus said, “my kingdom is not of this world” and “don’t worry about tomorrow.” The idea of “agape” love has meaning only if you understand the spiritual and are not hung up on material desires. If you think the Bible is too hard to understand, you are probably thinking only of the material realm.

A classic example of material thinking is confusion about the concept of heaven and hell. In 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, Paul writes about the change that takes place when we die. This passage uses two Greek terms: “psychikon soma” refers to our physical body, and “pneumatikon soma” refers to our spiritual body. If you picture heaven and hell as physical places, you will get confused. This passage makes it clear that it is our spiritual makeup that inherits hell or heaven, depending on the choices we make in life.

We may not be able to imagine the joy of a spiritual existence without time or pain or suffering. However, we can understand that hell is not a place in the center of the Earth with demons with red suits and pitchforks tormenting us.

Jesus offers freedom from all the misery and fears of this physical existence. That is REAL freedom. If you think the Bible is too hard to understand, train yourself to think in spiritual terms. Then the Bible and what it offers will make sense to you.

March 17, 2022March 15, 2022

How Fish Navigate

A question that has bothered researchers for many years is how fish navigate. Fish move from one place to another, swimming around obstacles or locating food sources with no obvious way to know how to get to their objective. For example, we live on the edge of a river and have watched fish find their way around brush piles, even when the brush is moved by flooding.

Biologist Shachar Givon of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel conducted an ingenious experiment to learn how fish navigate. She constructed a fish-operated vehicle for a goldfish to drive. The vehicle consisted of a square fish tank fastened to a chassis with four multidirectional wheels. A downward-facing camera was connected to a computer algorithm which prompted the wheels to move the vehicle in the direction the fish was swimming. The six goldfish in the experiment navigated around obstacles and avoided dead ends. After one or two runs, they became proficient in reaching their goals. The researchers suggest understanding how fish navigate in unfamiliar territory, such as the terrestrial world, may help humans navigate in unfamiliar environments such as the zero gravity of space.

We can learn from the way God has designed survival methods in the natural world. In this case, we learn from an animal as primitive as a goldfish. The natural world is filled with examples of God’s design, and how fish navigate is just one of many systems we are just beginning to understand and may use as models to shape the future.

Reference: American Scientist magazine, March/April 2022, page 77

March 16, 2022March 15, 2022

End-Times Religion, Ukraine, and Jesus

Any rational human being has to be horrified by the tragic acts of Vladimir Putin as he orchestrates a military attack on innocent people. As Putin directs the killing of babies, he is also causing incredible loss of resources needed for the peace and well-being of millions of people. This is the act of a madman drunk with power and in total rejection of God. In America, we are disheartened by teachers of end-times religion. Those people are supposed to be Christian leaders, but they are showing incredible ignorance of the teachings of Jesus.

End-times religion is based on the doctrine of dispensationalism. One of the best known of these leaders is Pat Robertson. He claims that Putin “is being compelled by God to invade Ukraine, but that wasn’t his goal. His goal was to move against Israel.” Robertson attempts to base his claim on his interpretation of Old Testament prophesy.

Robertson is just one of several end-times religion preachers who misinterpret prophesy and fail to understand what the Kingdom of Christ is all about. It is “Christian Zionism,” which promotes the idea that Jesus is going to return in something called the “rapture” to take his people away. The doctrine says that He will return to conduct a war against Arab countries, Russia, China, and Iran. Then He will establish Israel as the one world power with Jerusalem as the world’s capital and Jesus as the supreme king. This teaching is destructive, and it opposes the Bible on every turn.

The word “rapture” comes from the Latin “raptus,” which is the translation of the Greek word “harpazo,” meaning to be caught up or caught away. We find “harpazo” used in Acts 8:39, 2 Corinthians 12:2, and Revelation 12:5. Christian Zionists misuse Matthew 24:39-41; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; and 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 as references to back up their teaching. There are several versions of this teaching, but they are all in contradiction to the words of Jesus, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).

The biblical picture of Christ’s second coming is not political, nationalistic, or geographic. Second Peter 3:10-12 indicates the entire physical universe will be annihilated. Revelation 20:1 and 21:1 tell us that the cosmos and Earth will vanish. This material world will be dissolved, and all the ills that go with it will be gone.

End-times religion conveys a discouraging false promise. None of us wants more war, pain, politics, hate, racism, pollution, or tears. The invasion of Ukraine is the result of atheism, greed, power struggles, and materialism conducted by a madman. It is not endorsed by God, and it opposes all that Jesus taught. Jesus weeps with us at the pain inflicted by Satan’s agents as they show that they are without compassion or empathy.

March 15, 2022March 20, 2022

Creation of Heaven and Earth

As scientists find more and more evidence, the picture of creation becomes clearer. That is not to say that science has the entire creation of heaven and Earth figured out. However, studies have allowed us to see what was done, even if we don’t understand and will never in this life understand how it was done.

Science has identified four fundamental forces involved in creation. They are the electromagnetic force, the weak nuclear force, the strong nuclear force, and the gravitational force. These forces work on particles that science has observed or particles for which science has found evidence but has not observed. For example, photons are responsible for electromagnetism. Particles called gluons are responsible for nuclear forces, with eight gluons causing the strong nuclear force and three gluons causing the weak nuclear force.

The recently discovered particle called the Higgs boson gives mass to the force particles and controls their behavior. Physicists are studying how that happens and looking for a particle that causes the gravitational force. As research continues, science strongly suggests that those forces began as a single force. Our standard rules of physics cannot deal with this concept, and the time during which the forces originated is called the “Planck era.” The creation of heaven and Earth is not a simple process, and science is trying to understand it.

The so-called “standard model” of particle physics has so much supporting evidence that most physicists accept it as a starting point to understanding the process of creation. Some scientists have developed an approach called “string theory” to understand what took place in the Planck era. The mathematics of string theory forces us to believe that creation has come about from dimensions higher than our own. A prominent string theory called “bulk” has creation originating in an 11-dimensional arena. We live in a three-dimensional world with time as a fourth-dimensional quantity. The idea of 11 dimensions is beyond our comprehension. We can describe it mathematically, but we cannot visualize it.

The Bible summarizes the creation of heaven and Earth by simply indicating that an Intelligence in a far higher dimension than our own created time, space, and the physical world in which we exist. “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth” accurately describes what our research and observations tell us.

In summary, there was a beginning often described as the “big bang.” At that beginning, there was Planck time when our laws of physics did not apply. The creation event was caused by “Elohim,” an intelligence outside of space/time who operates in dimensions outside of our physical universe. The creation included the matter/energy from which everything is made and the three-dimensional space, “shamayim,” translated “heaven” in your Bible. It also included the planet we call home, “erets” in Hebrew, created from that matter/energy. The more we know of the creation, the more we know of the Creator.

Reference: “Imaging Our Infant Universe” by Sten Odenwald in Astronomy magazine, April 2022, pages 16-23 or on www.astronomy.com

You can see a chart of the text of Genesis 1:1 to 2:3 HERE. You will find a chart of Hebrew words from Genesis and their definitions HERE.