Bible Archives

March 16, 2026March 15, 2026

Water Is Unlike Any Other Substance

My astronomy students were always amazed to learn the basic physics fact that water exists in 22 different forms throughout the solar system, and that water is unlike any other substance on planet Earth. A simple example of this is to consider why a lake freezes, with ice on top and liquid water underneath. When most substances cool, they become denser, but at 4 degrees Celsius, water starts to violate that rule and becomes less dense.

Every elementary student knows that water can exist as vapor, liquid, or solid (ice). On Earth, water boils at 100 degrees C when the air pressure is 100 kilopascals. (A Pascal is 1 newton per square meter, and there are roughly 4.45 Newtons in a pound). At the same air pressure, water freezes at 0 degrees C. If you drop the air pressure to 100 Pascals, ice turns into water vapor, skipping the liquid phase altogether. One more point of interest to astronomers is that if the pressure is extreme–over 100 gigapascals–water will exist as ice regardless of the temperature.

As space probes visit other planets and their moons, they measure temperatures. Not only do the temperatures tell us about these bodies, but the shapes of ice crystals on them can tell us about the conditions there. Natural water ice crystals on Earth are hexagonal, but since water is unlike any other substance, scientists in the lab have forced ice crystals to take six different shapes. Depending on the temperature and pressure, they can be cubic, tetragonal, orthorhombic, rhombohedral, and monoclinic.

It has been said that the more we know about the creation, the closer we get to the creator. Because water is unlike any other substance, its structure allows a lake to freeze on the surface while life continues under the ice. The presence of water on other planets and their moons throughout the solar system enables the clockwork precision that allows Earth to endure for centuries with great stability. We learn about all of this through the facts of science discovered by human minds. Genesis 1:1 not only tells us that there was a beginning to time, space, and matter/energy, but we now know that the “heavens” includes God’s miracle glue that holds it all together–water.

Reference: March 2026 issue of Scientific American (pages 12-13)

March 13, 2026March 11, 2026

Birding and the Brain

An article in New Scientist suggests that birdwatching may change brain structure and help protect against brain aging. Researchers at Canada’s York University studied 48 people whose hobby was birdwatching. Although they all shared an interest in birding, half were experts, and half were novices. The researchers found an interesting link between birding and the brain.

For the test, the researchers selected 18 bird species that looked somewhat similar. They showed each birder a picture of a bird for less than four seconds. Ten seconds later, they asked them to identify that bird species from four images of similar-looking birds.

Of course, the experts outperformed the novices at identifying the birds. They also showed increased brain activity in three areas. These areas of the brain are involved in object identification, visual processing, and attention/working memory. Birding involves all of those brain functions. The researchers concluded that “building expertise in birding reshapes the brain.” The test group ranged in age from 22 to 79. With age, our brain’s structural complexity and organization tend to decline, and the study showed that the decline was less pronounced in the expert birders.

What can we learn from this research on birding and the brain? It could be that those expert birdwatchers already had structural brain differences before they started birding. However, it supports the idea that maintaining brain activity helps to reduce the effects of aging on the brain. It also suggests that other activities or hobbies that use similar skills might also slow brain aging. The skills required for birding involve attention, memory, and sensory integration. Other activities involving similar skills could have the same positive effect on our brains.

We have often heard it said that if you don’t use it, you will lose it. That is true for physical abilities, and it is also true for brain-related activities. Being physically and mentally active helps to keep us healthy and sharp. I believe this principle can also apply morally. Living a life of good moral behavior and following the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 5-7 and elsewhere in the New Testament can make us morally strong and prepared to face the temptations of daily life. Reading and meditating on the Bible, like birding, involves attention, memory, and sensory integration.

Reference: New Scientist magazine, February 2026, and online.

March 11, 2026March 9, 2026

AI to Study the Dead Sea Scrolls

Beginning in 1946 and 1947, some Bedouin shepherds accidentally (or providentially) discovered what has become known as perhaps the most important collection of ancient documents ever found. Known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, more were discovered in the Qumran caves near the Dead Sea until 1956. Researchers are now using AI to study the Dead Sea scrolls.

For Bible scholars, the significance of these documents lies in their confirmation of the accuracy of the transmission of many Old Testament books. Of 15,000 scrolls and fragments dating from the third to the first centuries BC, 40% contain Hebrew scriptures. The most complete Old Testament book is Isaiah, the messianic prophet who predicted much about Jesus Christ seven centuries before His birth.

These scrolls have been studied using paleography (the study of letter shapes), radiocarbon dating, and even DNA analysis of the animal skins on which they’re written. Now, researchers are using AI to study the Dead Sea Scrolls. They named their AI model “Enoch” after the Old Testament figure who didn’t die. (See Genesis 5:21-24 and Hebrews 11:5.)

To train Enoch, researchers used radiocarbon data from other scrolls found in various locations in the Judean Desert. They also instructed the model to analyze the distinctive styles of the characters, cross-referenced with other scrolls. Using this AI method, they examined over 130 scrolls and found that almost all of them were even older than previously estimated.

The bottom line is that these ancient scrolls containing Old Testament texts align closely with the text in our Bibles today. This demonstrates that the Bible has been reliably copied and transmitted over thousands of years. The Bible text today can be trusted to reflect the original writings. Although using AI to study the Dead Sea Scrolls is still in the early stages, it is providing us with a clearer understanding of how and when these documents were produced.

Reference: Biblical Archaeology Review, Spring 2026, page 10, and Wikipedia.org

March 9, 2026March 8, 2026

Euthanasia Is Not the Answer

One of the difficult questions facing all of us who are getting older is how we will die. CBN published an article on December 5, 2025, reporting that in Canada, 16,499 people have died through medical assistance. Canada’s Minister of Health, Marjorie Michel, released the Sixth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying, claiming it “protected those who are vulnerable, while supporting freedom of choice and personal autonomy.” Especially interesting are the reasons the report lists for why people received a government-provided terminal injection. These include loneliness, isolation, and feeling like a burden to family, friends, or caregivers. Euthanasia is not the answer, in Canada or anywhere else.

The Bible is very clear that God considers the body sacred. First Corinthians 3:16-17 states: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” One of the Church’s responsibilities is to address the causes that lead people to want to end their lives. In Matthew 25:35-40, Jesus taught that His followers should care for those who are hungry, thirsty, without clothes, sick, or in prison. Acts 2:42-47 shows that the first-century Church met regularly and attended to one another’s needs.

I write this as a man who would be a candidate for euthanasia if I lived in Canada. I am 88 years old, have diabetes, severe arthritis that makes walking difficult, am in constant pain, and all my blood relatives, including my two younger brothers, have passed away. My wife of 49 years has also died, and I have remarried. Now I worry about being a burden to my second wife. I wear a “Do Not Resuscitate” necklace because I do not want to be revived if God is willing to take me home. I find joy in the ministry I have dedicated myself to for 60 years. I try to minimize the burden I place on my wife and friends, and I seek to ease their burden when I can, but euthanasia is not the answer.

The medical establishment can eliminate pain, and the Church can address everything else, allowing all of us to die with dignity. Those who reject God often have no purpose in life, and they seek answers to their mental, physical, and spiritual pain by destroying themselves. Euthanasia is not the answer. A much better solution would be to look at the evidence for God, become a Christian, and look forward to what He has prepared for us beyond this life.

Reference: cbn.com

March 4, 2026March 3, 2026

Water Into Wine Controversy

The “News and Notes” section of our fourth-quarter 2025 Does God Exist journal included an item about the Cana wedding feast where Jesus turned water into wine (John 2:1-11). Our skeptic friends have been quick to challenge this biblical event, claiming it is impossible from a chemical standpoint. John Lankford, a chemistry teacher in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and supporter of this ministry, sent the following comment on the matter:

In the last journal, you addressed this event of “water into wine.” While teaching AP chemistry, a student asked me, “Wouldn’t H₂O changing into all the organics needed for flavoring require a nuclear event?” I explained a POSSIBLE scenario to the class.

Since we don’t know many details of the event, we can logically SPECULATE some things. First, the “water” was not pure (a misnomer itself) but contained gases like carbon dioxide and oxygen. So, all the basic atoms were in the water. In fact, CO₂ + H₂O + energy —> a sugar + O₂. So, no nuclear reaction is needed to get carbon for grape sugars or flavorings. But an external energy and organizational force is required (which was Jesus, the Word). The oxygen, as a by-product, could give the “wine” a “bubbly effect” that might enhance the taste (similar to how people buy “oxygenated water” today).

This, of course, is just SPECULATION, but basic FACTS about ancient waters and the chemical reaction we see in photosynthesis suggest that Jesus called into play what was already available in nature to perform a miracle. (PS-even the assumed clay jar may have acted as a catalyst). The fact that a miracle can have a “mechanism” does not negate its being a miracle.

At any rate, this SUPPOSITION lets the student know that a “nuclear reaction” need not be what “must happen.”

Thanks to John for his explanation of the water into wine miracle from a chemistry teacher’s perspective.

March 3, 2026March 2, 2026

Hubble Constant and Gravitational Waves

For years, many scientists were reluctant to accept that the universe had a beginning. Looking through a telescope in the 1920s, Edwin Hubble observed that other galaxies were moving away from us. Going back in time, this suggests that at some point, they were much closer together. If we go far enough back, all matter and energy in the universe would have started from a single point called a singularity. For years, many scientists dismissed this idea, and Fred Hoyle mockingly named it the “big bang.” This leads us to the Hubble constant and gravitational waves, but I am getting ahead of the story.

In 1964, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson accidentally discovered the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMBR or CMB), which is leftover from the cosmic creation event (aka “big bang”). The CMB scientifically proved that the universe had a beginning. Further evidence in the 21st century made it impossible to deny that the universe had an origin. Since 1998, science has shown that the universe’s rate of expansion is accelerating. They hypothesize a mysterious force called “dark energy” to explain this acceleration, even though they have never detected this mysterious force.

To measure how fast the universe is expanding, scientists look for what they call the Hubble constant. They have two methods for measuring it: one involves using supernovae, and the other is based on physics principles within the standard model of cosmology. Explaining these methods is beyond the scope of this discussion, but the key issue is that they produce different results. This discrepancy is known as the “Hubble tension.” This leads us to a connection between the Hubble constant and gravitational waves.

In a March 2026 research paper, scientists from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Chicago have proposed a third way to measure the Hubble constant using gravitational waves. Albert Einstein’s 1915 theory of general relativity predicted gravitational waves, but they remained undetected for a hundred years. Then, in 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the United States detected a gravitational wave for the first time. Since then, with international collaboration, more detections have followed.

Gravitational waves are produced by the collision and merging of black holes or neutron stars. The new theory suggests that by measuring the speed at which these collisions are moving away from us, it may be possible to determine the Hubble constant more precisely. Achieving this will require more sensitive gravitational wave detectors than the current ones. According to Daniel Holz at the University of Chicago, this could help us “learn more about the age and composition of the universe.”

The Hubble constant and gravitational waves give us new insights into creation. Ever since science was compelled to accept that the universe had a beginning, we have learned more about the power and wisdom of the Creator. The more we discover, the more we realize we can know there is a God through what He has made (Romans 1:20).

Reference: space.com

February 25, 2026February 22, 2026

The Public School’s Job

The February 13, 2026, issue of Time magazine featured an article titled “Censored in the Classroom,” which told the story of Summer Boismier. She was dismissed from her position as a librarian and English teacher in Oklahoma public schools after she made controversial books available to her students. The article is quite biased, portraying Boismier as a victim and implying that the public school’s job is to have every book on every subject in its library.

As a retired public school teacher who spent 41 years at James Whitcomb Riley High School in South Bend, Indiana, I understand the struggles faced by teachers and parents raising teenagers into responsible adults. Oklahoma has tried to prevent easy access to pornographic material for adolescents, which was the cause of Boismier’s issues.

The question is, what is the public school’s job? I would suggest that public schools serve several key functions. One is to teach young people vital skills. Learning to read, write, do math, and understand science, history, and health should be their main priorities. Promoting knowledge of every LGBTQ sexual activity is not the job of the public school’s duty.

As a parent, I want my children to learn life skills that prepare them to become productive, stable, and happy adults. If they have questions about LGBTQ topics, I prefer they find answers at home. The root of this issue is that many parents wish to hand over parenting to schools and dismiss any standards based on religious beliefs. Consequently, concerned parents who can afford it send their children to private schools, while public schools tend to serve students from low-income families. Funding these schools with tax money raises additional concerns for parents. Various experiments are underway to address this, including charter schools, private school vouchers, and scholarships for students from low-income families.

Complicating the public school’s job and parental responsibility is the fact that much online material promotes harmful behaviors. The most important responsibility of parents is to raise their children to lead successful, productive lives that are pleasing to God (Ephesians 6:1-4).

Reference: Oklahomavoice.com

February 24, 2026February 22, 2026

Irresponsible Comments About Dark Matter

We are seeing some irresponsible comments about dark matter in both religious and secular articles. The fact is that dark matter is a designed feature of the cosmos and demonstrates the Creator’s wisdom.

The story of dark matter begins nearly 100 years ago when a Swiss astronomer named Fritz Zwicky observed that the Coma Cluster of galaxies contained galaxies moving so fast that they should have flown apart. About 40 years later, American astronomer Vera Rubin noticed that stars along the edges of spiral galaxies were moving so fast that centrifugal force should have sent them flying into intergalactic space. In recent years, astronomers have observed gravitational lensing—the bending of light by gravity—in regions of space without visible matter. These facts point to the presence of unseen or dark matter.

Despite these irresponsible comments about dark matter, it is not where hell is located. It is not a product of celestial evolution and will not destroy the Earth, at least not in the next 1000 years. It is simply a designed feature that allows us to live on this planet in the solar system within this galaxy.

What would the universe look like if dark matter did not exist? Galaxies would need to be much larger to prevent them from collapsing into their centers due to gravity. If you visit NASA’s daily website apod.nasa.gov, you will see that space is full of galaxies. That would not be possible without dark matter.

Psalms 19:1 finds David looking at the sky, unobstructed by modern lights, and stating, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech; night after night, they reveal knowledge.” That was true in the clear skies David could observe, and it remains true today as astronomers use modern telescopes to see God’s wisdom displayed in the heavens.

Reference: Wikipedia.org

February 13, 2026February 9, 2026

Nonsense About a Created God

You’ve probably heard this question before. Someone says God created the universe, and then another person asks, “So who created God?” As silly as this question seems, it is often used as an argument against God’s existence by leading atheist Richard Dawkins. His best-selling book from a few years ago, The God Delusion, revolves around this very question. Asking “Who created God?” only makes sense if you are assuming a God who was created. But that’s not the God described in the Bible. It’s not the God that Christians, Jews, or even Muslims believe in. Let’s stop the nonsense about a created god.

When we talk about God, what do we mean? Are we thinking of the God described in the Bible who is eternal, uncreated, and exists before all things? “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth” (Genesis 1:1). Not only did God create everything, but He also sustains the universe (Colossians 1:17 and James 1:17). Richard Dawkins makes it clear he does not believe in God, but the god he does not believe in is not the God described in the Bible. I also do not believe in the god that Dawkins does not believe in. The God who created and sustains the universe is eternal, which voids the nonsense about a created god.

The ancient Greeks believed that matter had always existed, and that some god or gods emerged from the matter. Various gods, filled with human passions and sins, fought for control, bringing about a chaotic world. In other words, matter existed forever, but gods arose and kept things in chaos. Because of this misunderstanding of creation, the Greeks didn’t make much progress in what we now call science. If you don’t believe there is order in the universe, you can’t really study and find order within it.

Long before the Greek philosophers, the ancient Hebrews knew about the eternal God, the Creator of the universe. When the apostle Paul addressed the philosophers on the Areopagus in Athens, he pointed out how inadequate understanding of God. In Athens, Paul saw many idols honoring various gods. Just in case they missed one, he saw an inscription “to an unknown God.” Paul told them that even their own poets acknowledged that humans are God’s offspring, and if that’s true, God cannot be made of silver, gold, or stone—carved by human hands.

Therefore, we don’t need the nonsense about a created god. It’s meaningless. God is not a created being. We are His creation, meant to serve Him. Only by establishing a relationship with God can our lives be truly fulfilled, and this is possible because He seeks that relationship with us. He went so far as to send His only begotten Son to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins and to open the way for us to be restored to the eternal God who created, sustains, and loves us.

February 5, 2026January 31, 2026

Tile Pattern Design in the Natural World

Science News highlighted an intriguing report on tile pattern design found in nature. Biologist John Nyakatura and colleagues at Humboldt University of Berlin examined tile-like patterns in various plants and animals. They aimed to discover ways to incorporate these biological tilings into bioinspired devices. They documented 100 examples in the journal PNAS Nexus.

The skin of an elephant has a tile-like pattern, with cracks and wrinkles that trap water and mud. This arrangement helps dissipate heat and cools the elephant. Butterfly wings use overlapping tiles arranged to display colors while repelling water and reducing drag during flight. The eye of a fly features a tile pattern made of closely packed rods, each transmitting an image to the brain, making it extremely difficult to swat the fly. Instead of bones, the cartilage skeletons of sharks and rays consist of thousands of individual tiles that grow as the animals mature.

Research shows that other living organisms also benefit from tile pattern design. The sunflower’s head consists of a tile-like pattern of tiny flowers called florets. By packing the florets in a tile-like structure, the sunflower becomes more attractive to pollinators. Studies of the HIV-1 virus reveal that it has a tiled protein shell that protects its genome. Armadillos are protected by overlapping tiles that provide stiffness while allowing them to roll into a ball. The earliest forms of life also used tiles, indicating that tiles did not evolve recently by chance. The fossilized shells of ancient cephalopods, known as ammonites, show squiggles along the edges of their shell’s tiles.

Understanding the usefulness of tile designs opens the door to significant new benefits for humanity. The more we study living things, the more we recognize God’s wisdom and planning. The statement in Romans 1:20 that “we can know there is a God through the things He has made” is supported by every scientific discovery.

Reference: Science News for February 2026, Pages 8-9, and PNAS Nexus