creation Archives

December 28, 2023December 27, 2023

Major Factors for Rejecting Faith in God

Polls show that belief in God among Americans has declined over the past few years, and most dramatically among Gen-Zers. Generation Z is the term used to describe those born between the late 1990s and early 2000s (approximately 1997 to 2012). This generation grew up with access to the internet and portable digital technology. What are some major factors for rejecting faith in God?

Stephen C. Meyer said that the Discovery Institute surveyed people if they agreed with this statement: “The findings of science make the existence of God less probable.” Among self-proclaimed atheists, 65% agreed, and 43% of agnostics agreed. What these people perceive about science has influenced their belief in God. However, as we have said before, science supports faith in God.

In recent years, scientific discoveries have given us more reasons to believe in God. One significant discovery is that the material universe had a beginning. Evidence for that appeared in the 1920s, was confirmed in the 1960s, and further reinforced in the 21st century. The Bible tells us that in verse 1, but it took scientists years to accept the evidence. Anything that begins to exist must have a cause. The cause of the material universe must be outside of time and space and, therefore, immaterial. Science recognizes that time, space, matter, and energy all had a beginning, but they could not have created themselves.

A second discovery that points to an intelligent Creator is that the universe was fine-tuned for life from the beginning. Many physical constants must be precisely as they are for life to exist. More than that, without precision fine-tuning of the physical laws and constants, the universe itself would not exist. Chance cannot explain the precision because so many precise factors must work together.

A third discovery that came into a fuller understanding in the 21st century is the design of the digital code in the DNA molecule that makes life possible. This design has been there since the emergence of the first living cell. We have no examples of information being created without a mind to create it. Information does not happen by chance.

In those three recent discoveries, science rediscovers God. Then what are the major factors for rejecting faith in God? More on that tomorrow.

Reference: Stephen C. Meyer on “Has Humanity Forgotten God” on YouTube

December 27, 2023December 26, 2023

Birds that Swim in Cold Water

Scientists have only recently come to understand many designs in nature. An interesting example is how birds that swim in cold water survive without hypothermia. The feet of ducks, gulls, loons, and geese show an example of incredible hidden design.

In these birds, arterial blood enters the leg and cools down. On its way to the heart, ventral blood picks up the heat released by the arterial blood in a process called “countercurrent heat exchange.” A mesh of arteries and veins called the “rete mirabile” (Latin for “wonderful net”) surrounds the blood vessels and amplifies the heat exchange. This arrangement limits the amount of heat the bird loses, saving it from having to use energy to reheat the blood. When you combine this discovery with the design that allows them to stand on one leg, you see how they are ideally suited to live in cold climates.

It is truly remarkable that virtually all climate zones have life forms perfectly designed to live in them. God created life to fill the whole earth regardless of climate conditions. Romans 1:20 says, “We can know there is a God through the things He had made.” Birds show the design of living things that radiates the wisdom and knowledge of the Creator. The foot design of birds that swim in cold water is just one great example of that.

Reference: Audubon magazine winter 2023, page 52

December 21, 2023December 19, 2023

Natural Science Cannot Answer these Questions

Natural science cannot answer these questions we examined yesterday:
1- ”Why does the universe exist?”
2- ”How did something come from nothing?”
Science is very good at answering “how” questions but not as good with “why” questions. Let’s look at two more “why” questions.

3- ”Why are the physical constants precisely tuned to support conscious life?”
Science has determined that the universe’s physical constants are fine-tuned to support our existence. They are fine-tuned with such precision that it could not be merely accidental, and this precision makes scientists who don’t want to believe in God very uncomfortable.

If you eliminate an intelligent Creator, there seems to be only one possible explanation for the apparent fine-tuning. It’s the “multiverse” idea. This proposal suggests that an almost limitless number of universes exist with various physical constants. We are lucky enough to be in the one universe with precise constants to support conscious observers like us. Therefore, it is merely an accident that we see the physical constants as being fine-tuned; otherwise, we wouldn’t be here to observe them.

The multiverse concept is not scientific since it cannot be proven or disproven. It lies outside of the limits of science. Furthermore, if you can’t explain the emergence of one universe from nothing, how can you explain an infinite number of universes from nothing?

Since science has set limitations on itself, it also can’t answer this question:
4- “Why do I exist?”
It’s a question that probably everyone thinks about at some time in life. “Why am I here?” “What is my purpose?” Regardless of how you ask the question, the answer is what gives meaning to life. Science can’t answer the question, but without an answer, many people give up on life. The lack of an answer is perhaps the biggest problem in today’s world, especially among young people.

Natural science cannot answer these questions because the answer is supernatural. God loves you and designed you for a purpose. He came into our world in a physical form we know as Jesus Christ. (See John 1:1-14.) From a humble birth to a perfect life, He showed us how to live. By His sacrifice on the cross, He demonstrated God’s love. If you take time to ponder this, you will realize that the questions natural science can’t answer are the most important ones.

December 19, 2023December 18, 2023

The Design of Dirt

Most of us take dirt for granted and perhaps even have a negative attitude toward what lies beneath our lawns and gardens. We may not realize that soil is a complex structure designed for life and that many life forms live in it. We should take a moment to consider the design of dirt.

There are many kinds of soil, and the amount varies widely in different environments. In deserts or polar areas, we find very little soil. For example, in Alaska, the soil is very thin, but life there is supported by the yearly migration of salmon. In desert areas, we may have only sand and no soil. Also, volcanic regions may have no soil since soil takes time to develop. Volcanic rock coming out of the lava flow is usually very sterile.

Because of the design of dirt, it is home to 59% of Earth’s species. Scientists have identified twelve families of living organisms that survive in the soil. Some of these are more familiar, such as mollusks, arthropods, fungi, protozoans, bacteria, viruses, plants, and even mammals. Less well-known are nematodes, oligochaets, enchytraeids, and archaes.

Humans depend on all of these life forms for food, fiber, and the survival of the animals humans use for food. Life on land could not exist without the organisms living in the soil beneath our feet. Using chemicals on soil threatens its ability to provide what we need to survive. Agriculture is moving toward more efficient and effective methods of growing our food. Efforts to duplicate the design built into Earth’s soil are proving to be a challenge.

In the Garden of Eden, everything humans needed to eat was already growing. God had designed soil that produced the plants; all the first humans had to do was gather it. When God expelled them from the garden, they were forced to deal with an Earth that was out of balance. They had to control the soil and what grew in it. We can try to copy God’s design of soil, but we are only beginning to understand how complex it is and what it takes to maintain a working environment. God’s wisdom is seen everywhere we look, even down to the design of dirt.

Reference: “The Soil Contains Multitudes” in the January/February issue of American Scientist, page 8.

December 12, 2023December 11, 2023

You Can’t Sneak Up on a Sleeping Bird

Have you ever tried quietly approaching a bird that appeared to be sleeping? If you have, you were probably unsuccessful, especially if the bird was nesting. Researchers have discovered a design feature called “microsleeps” that may help explain why you can’t sneak up on a sleeping bird.

Researchers discovered this feature in chinstrap penguins in Antarctica. The Max Planck Institute in Germany, the Korean Polar Research Institute, and the Neuroscience Research Center in France conducted this research. They found that the chinstrap penguins nod off thousands of times daily but sleep for only four seconds each time.

The researchers attached brain wave sensors, so there is no question that the birds were sleeping. The short microsleep naps add up to roughly eleven hours a day. The birds are essentially awake all the time, protecting their eggs, their young, and their nests. To get accurate data, researchers chose Antarctica, where the Sun does not set during the breeding season. You can’t sneak up on a sleeping bird, but researchers haven’t determined if all birds practice microsleep or whether they do it when they are not nesting.

The more we learn about the creation, the more we appreciate the Creator who made all living things, giving them the necessary equipment to survive. Human technology is opening more and more doors of understanding to “the things God has made” (Romans 1:20). The complexity of systems that allow survival and safety for various animal species is another argument for rejecting the notion that life is the product of blind chance.

References: Smithsonian Magazine and National Geographic

December 6, 2023December 5, 2023

Neon Tetras Avoid Bottlenecks

Sometimes, we can overlook design features in living things even though they are all around us. Most of us who have had tropical fish aquariums are familiar with the fish known as neon tetras. These fish are great for aquariums because they are tiny – usually about an inch long. They have a brilliant blue stripe running laterally and a red strip underneath toward the tail. These fish are native to the Amazon Basin and live in freshwater.

Researchers have discovered that neon tetras have a quality lacking among many humans. They have the ability to wait their turn. Researchers took a school of tetras and put them in a tank that had a narrow opening to get to a food source. The tetras could get through the narrow opening without clogging and impeding passage. The small fish didn’t collide with one another as they swam through the opening to get to the other side of the tank. Researchers say ants are the only other form of life to demonstrate agility in avoiding bottlenecks.

One has to wonder why these fish have this ability since humans have not solved the problem of getting large numbers of people through narrow openings. Neon tetras live in streams that pass through many rocks, and being able to wait their turn gives them a better chance of survival than if they ended up with a bottleneck.

All living things have characteristics carefully fitted to their needs and environment. As we study life forms, we see this repeatedly, and it screams out the message of Romans 1:20: “we can know there is a God through the things He has made.”

Reference: National Geographic for December 23, page 22

December 4, 2023December 3, 2023

The Treasury of the Snow

“Have you entered the treasury of the snow…?” (Job 38:22”. “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater…” (Isaiah 55:10). “He gives snow like wool …” Psalms 147:16).

That is just a sampling of the Old Testament understanding of the importance of snow. Many of us don’t view snow as a treasure, not realizing how snow does things that rain cannot do. The fact is that snow is essential to humans as well as many forms of animal and plant life. We couldn’t live without the treasury of the snow.

Snow on the mountains locks up water during winter and releases it gradually during the summer. Rain comes all at once and is quickly gone, as many of us have experienced flooding in the past year. If that moisture came as snow, there would be no flooding, and melting snow would gradually provide water for plants and animals. Falling snow also has a cleaning effect, as Job 9:20 suggests.

In the winter, snow allows small animals like vols, moles, chipmunks, and field mice to feed on plants and insects they would not have access to in summer. They can even raise their young under the protection of snow. When the snow melts, larger animals can feed on these smaller ones, preserving the balance of the food chain. Even in winter, the larger animals can catch some of them because the snow does not block the sound of their scurrying. The whole food chain is affected by the treasury of the snow.

Snow formation is due to the water molecule’s design and not some accident. The polarity of the water molecule means it has positive and negative ends. That creates the beautiful snowflake shapes. As water freezes, the molecules latch onto each other, and the volume of the water expands. This allows lakes to freeze on the surface since the density of ice is lower than that of liquid water. Non-polar materials do not expand as they freeze.

Romans 1:20 tells us we can know there is a God through the things He has made. The treasury of the snow is an essential part of God’s design to allow life to survive.

November 22, 2023November 26, 2023

Biological Complexity in Living Organisms

Those who advocate for naturalistic evolution have a problem. Well, they have more than one, but this one is a math problem. In a publication on the National Institutes of Health’s Pub Med website, Alexei A. Sharov presents a dilemma for evolutionists. Simply stated, the size of the genome indicates biological complexity in living organisms, while macro-evolution requires exponential growth to achieve that biological complexity.

Perhaps this will be easier to understand if we relate it to Moore’s Law in semiconductor technology. In 1965, Gordon Moore of Fairchild Semiconductors and Intel projected that the number of components in each integrated circuit would double yearly. In 1975, the prediction was revised to every two years. It took on the quality of a “law” as the semiconductor industry used it as their target for planning production. Moore’s Law has led to technological changes that produced economic growth and social change. The point is that doubling the complexity of electronic technology means a logarithmic increase in versatility, as we have seen over the years.

Alexei Sharov applied that principle to evolution based on the exponential growth in biological complexity. Using the exponential increase in biological complexity in living organisms as a guide, it is possible to go backward in evolutionary time to see when life began. If the exponential hypothesis is true, tracing back in time, the origin of life would have been ten billion years ago. That is how long it would take for the genome to evolve to its present complexity in mammals. No evolutionist or other scientist believes our planet is that old. That presents a math problem for naturalistic evolution.

So, what do Sharov and others propose as the solution? They call it “panspermia,” meaning that life came to Earth from outer space. Nobel Prize winners Fred Hoyle and Francis Crick were advocates for panspermia. However, most evolutionary scientists reject it. Perhaps there is a better way to explain the fact that naturalistic evolution does not fit into Earth’s timeline. The solution, soundly rejected by Hoyle and Crick, is the idea of a Creator outside of time and space who designed the universe and life and put us on this planet for a purpose.

References: “Genome increase as a clock for the origin and evolution of life” on Pub Med, National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Institutes of Health, and Wikipedia

November 21, 2023April 23, 2026

Afraid of the Facts

We should never be afraid of the facts when they are accurately presented. U.S. President John Adams said, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

Last week, we looked at James Tour’s challenge to the leading origin-of-life scientists. None of them were willing to address even one of the five roadblocks to abiogenesis that he presented. The fact is that the study of abiogenesis, the origin of life from non-living matter, has progressed very little in the last 70 years. Science has found many barriers to abiogenesis since the Miller-Urey experiment of the early 1950s.

Quora is a social media question-and-answer website where people post questions and others respond with answers. A recent questioner asked, “Are scientists terrified of abiogenesis?” A person who said he was “45 years a physician” answered that he was not afraid of abiogenesis. Part of the response from the “physician” was:

“Abiogenesis is a process that occurred at least once in the history of the earth, and that single event (or handful of events) may have left no traces at all. The steps in abiogenesis were probably a series of unknown physical and chemical steps. So, the process may never be known.”

Saying that “unknown physical and chemical steps” in a “process may never be known” is a vague answer. He seems to be saying, “I’m not going to worry about that because it scares me.” As I said, people should never be afraid of the facts.

Genesis chapter one uses the Hebrew word “bara,” which is always used to describe something that only God can do. Verse one describes God creating the heavens and Earth out of nothing. Verse 21 uses that word again to describe the creation of the first soulish animal life (nephesh). Between those verses, the term “made” (Hebrew “asah”) or the words “let there be” describe God’s work. Bara is not used again until verse 27 when God created humans.

Science has made significant progress in understanding the processes described by “made” and “let there be.” In some cases, scientists have even duplicated those processes in laboratories or particle accelerators. However, understanding how God created everything from nothing or life from non-living matter is beyond what science has accomplished or perhaps will ever understand. Christians should never be afraid of the facts because they point to a creator God.

November 20, 2023November 20, 2023

World of Life Beneath the Soil

An unknown world of life lurks beneath our feet, and we should be thankful that it does. A research report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) says that approximately 59% of all living species on Earth live in the soil. Because there are so many organisms living there and they are generally out of sight, scientists don’t know how many species exist in the world of life beneath the soil.

According to the report by Diana Wall of Colorado State University, Fort Collins, soil organisms support life above the soil in many ways. They make it possible for us to grow food, and they break down organic waste. We often think of earthworms, but there are also many smaller worm species. We seldom see various insects that spend their lives in the soil. However, we do see insects that live much of their lives under the ground as well as above. Those include ants, springtails, woodlice, and millipedes. We often think of some animals that live in the soil as pests, such as termites and nematodes. However, they serve the purpose of breaking down organic materials, helping to keep the world from filling up with waste.

Plants also live in the world of life beneath the soil. For example, fungi do not use photosynthesis like green plants, so they can survive in the darkness. Subterranean life forms include the least familiar amphibians, the caecilians, whose name means “blind ones.” Naked mole-rats live underground, and many other mammals spend at least part of their lives in subterranean darkness.

According to the report in PNAS, “soil is the most biodiverse singular habitat.” We don’t often think of the world of life beneath the soil, but we should thank God that He thought of it. Subterranean life makes it possible for life above ground to thrive and prosper. We see this incredible web of life as evidence of design.

Reference: pnas.org