creation Archives - Page 5 of 77 - DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

August 22, 2024August 20, 2024

The Giant Sequoia Design

The design that God has built into every ecosystem continues to radiate the truth of the biblical statement that we can know there is a God through the things He has made (Romans 1:20). As science discovers design in the creation, the truth of that biblical statement becomes obvious. We often see design in very small things such as bacteria, viruses, and algae, but on the other end of the scale, we find very large objects such as the giant sequoia.

Imagine a plant that can be uninjured by fire but needs fire to reproduce. In our day of forest mismanagement resulting in massive fires, this feature becomes important. In the past, smaller fires wiped out ordinary trees like oaks or maples. The super-large trees were unaffected by the fires and used them as part of their reproductive design. One of the most notable examples is the giant sequoia found in California.

The giant sequoia is so tall and large that fire does not affect it. The tree stands more than 370 feet tall. (A football field is 300 feet long.) Giant sequoias weigh 640 tons, as much as 107 elephants. They can be up to 29 feet wide and are not affected by the blights that affect ash, elm, oak, or maple trees. In California, the redwoods cover 1.6 million acres, and the giant sequoias another 48,000 acres. These trees, which do not depend on groundwater and a root system, get their moisture from snow, rain, and fog.

These giant trees occupy a unique ecological niche among Earth’s staggering diversity of plant and animal life. They show God’s design and planning, making our planet extraordinary.

Reference: SaveTheRedwoods.org

August 21, 2024August 20, 2024

Bats Are Unique in Several Ways

Bats are among the most amazing creatures. The August 2024 issue of National Geographic was devoted to exploring research into all that bats can do and how they do it. Bats are unique in several ways.

There are over 1400 species of bats, ranging in size from the bumblebee bat, which weighs less than an ounce, to the flying fox, a fruit bat with a wingspan of nearly six feet and weighing up to three pounds. One-fifth of all mammal species on Earth are bats, and bats do many things that benefit humans. They consume mosquitoes and agricultural pests and are primary pollinators for bananas, mangoes, avocados, and durians (an important Asian fruit).

Bat wings are made of skin stretched on light bones with many joints, with muscles embedded in the skin. By comparison, bird wings have three joints. Bat wings have vast numbers of tiny hairs that sense airflow. Attempting to develop a drone in such a small space has turned out to be incredibly difficult. The quadcopter drones in widespread use can’t rival the flight of a bat in dark places.

Bats are unique in their long life expectancy and disease resistance. They can live for decades and rarely get cancers. They carry several viruses but are not affected by them. Some researchers suggested that COVID-19 jumped from bats to humans. Research shows that as bats age, their DNA is repaired, and scientists are studying this repair and immune activity.

It is interesting that the Bible doesn’t say much about bats. In Leviticus and Deuteronomy, bats are among the flying creatures God told the Israelites not to eat, a point that has interesting connections to viruses they can carry. Bats are unique and a critical part of the ecosystem that God designed. The more we understand about them, the more we see the hand of God in their creation. These small creatures are essential to God’s ecosystem and to us.

Reference: National Geographic for August 2024, pages 16-49

August 20, 2024August 19, 2024

The Design of Sperm

One of the great mysteries that still confounds scientists is how a human sperm cell finds the egg it fertilizes. Experiments have shown that the design of sperm has several features that allow fertilization to occur. Understanding this is important because the real answer to the abortion question is not what to do once a human embryo is developing but how to prevent fertilization.

Researchers at the Weizmann Institute in Israel found that the sperm cell uses temperature to find the egg. The region around the egg is four degrees Fahrenheit warmer than surrounding parts of the fallopian tubes. The sperm cell can detect a temperature rise of one degree, causing it to swim toward the warmer area. Researchers at the Hanns Hatt of Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, have shown that human sperm cells can smell chemicals surrounding an egg using olfactory receptors similar to those found in the human nose.

Research shows that the design of sperm cells includes the ability to detect heat and respond to chemical signals from the egg. We see indications that the sperm cell’s design is beyond any chance proposal. Ancient people thought the baby was complete in the human sperm and the woman was essentially just a glorified incubator. Genesis 3:15 refutes that idea when God says to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her Seed.” It took humans a long time to understand that the seed was in the woman.

We frequently refer to human birth as a miracle. From the very start, as the sperm comes into contact with the egg, we see that every human being is a miracle of God and deserves to be loved and cared for. Atheism teaches that humans are just animals with no intrinsic or unique value. As Christians, we value human life regardless of ethnic, racial, or religious background. Perhaps the rejection of the Bible and persecution of Christians is rooted in a poor understanding of God’s design of human reproduction.

Reference: Discover magazine, July 2003, page 18.

August 14, 2024August 13, 2024

Komodo Dragons and Dinosaurs

Komodo dragons can give us a clue to ancient carnivores. Many atheists and denominational creationists make incorrect assumptions, as we have heard members of both groups say the Bible claims there was no death until Adam and Eve ate the “forbidden fruit.” That is simply not true because you can’t eat anything without something dying. When talking with kids, I often use the fun statement, “When you eat a mouthful of corn, you just murdered a plant.” That is not actual murder, but the point is that death is a part of eating. Topsoil consists of minerals and organic material that came from things that died, including insects and all kinds of animals.

The Genesis statement refers to spiritual, not physical, death. We have pointed out in our materials that Genesis 1:1-3 describes Earth’s preparation for human habitation. By the end of those three verses, you have a planet with everything humans would need, including coal, oil, topsoil, and the minerals essential for life on land. God provided an ecosystem that could produce all those things. The dinosaurs produced massive amounts of organic matter buried in an anaerobic environment to produce coal. Carnivores were necessary to control the herbivores, and they had to efficiently kill multi-ton herbivores.

Recent studies of the Komodo dragon have shown that even today, we have an animal with the equipment of the ancient carnivores. Komodo dragons can grow up to 10 feet (3 m) long and kill water buffaloes weighing more than 1,000 pounds (450 kg). Studies of Komodo dragon teeth show that they have a thin iron protective coating along the cutting edges and tips to keep them sharp. Because iron oxidizes, the iron in long-dead dinosaurs is no longer detectable, but studies indicate that T. rex probably had the same tooth design.

God designed carnivores to maintain the biological balance needed on a healthy planet. Komodo dragons give us a clue about the design features of carnivorous dinosaurs.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
Reference: Komodo dragon in wikipedia.org

August 13, 2024August 12, 2024

Coprolites Teach Us About the Past

In my fossil collection, I have several varieties of coprolites – better known as petrified dinosaur poop. Because they are petrified, they have no odor and leave no residue, but coprolites teach us about the past. I used them in teaching earth science in high school and in my lectureships and class lectures. I would lick a coprolite in front of the class to demonstrate that fossilization replaces organic material with rock. I always got the expected reaction from the kids, and it was a demonstration they didn’t forget.

On a more serious note, coprolites teach us about the past. My collection includes several coprolites from a large plant-eating dinosaur. You can look at a coprolite with magnification or examine a slice of the coprolite under a microscope. The coprolite from the plant-eater is 100% plant material with no animal material. I have another specimen that is just the opposite. It was excavated from the lower intestinal tract of a T. rex fossil and contains no plant material. Instead, it has teeth, bones, and even skin, proving that it came from a meat-eating dinosaur.

So what do coprolites teach us about the past life on Earth? Clearly, some dinosaurs were herbivores (plant eaters), and some were carnivores (meat eaters). In Williams, Arizona, a museum named “Poozeum” contains over 7,000 coprolite specimens from George Frandsen’s collection. These have come from various places and tell us a lot about the history of the dinosaur age.

Denominational attempts to explain how Noah got dinosaurs on the ark fail miserably when it comes to the facts, including coprolites. We have pointed out that the literal meaning of the words in Genesis 1 tells us that God used natural methods to produce the coal, oil, and other resources He knew we would need. Dinosaurs existed before humans as part of the process of producing and maintaining an environment that gives us the resources we need today.

For further information, go to doesgodexist.tv and view video number 30, in which you can see the two examples of coprolites I use in my presentations.

July 31, 2024July 30, 2024

Volcanoes Are a Design Feature of Earth

Planet Earth has roughly 1350 volcanoes and is far and away the most geologically active planet in the solar system. The only astronomical body that is even close to Earth is Io, a moon of Jupiter with more than 400 volcanoes. Io’s volcanoes result from gravitational flexing because it is tidal-locked with Jupiter while being pulled by the gravity of Jupiter’s other moons. Earth, however, has volcanoes because of the movement of tectonic plates. These plates move very slowly and are related to the convection motions of materials from the core of the Earth to its surface. Volcanoes are a design feature of Earth.

The benefits of volcanoes are immense. They bring precious metals to the Earth’s surface from deep within, constantly create land masses in the ocean depths that are now teeming with life, and recycle materials to the Earth’s surface, enriching soils where plants thrive and providing food for animal life. The Hawaiian Islands stand as a classic example of land masses produced by volcanoes, showcasing the positive impact of these geological features on our planet.

The recent eruption of Villarrica in Chile reminds us that volcanoes can be very destructive. In 79 A.D., Mount Vesuvius erupted, producing 20 feet of ash. What skeptics miss is that people built these cities on lava plateaus, and there were constant warnings that an eruption would occur. Mount St Helens in the United States is an American example of how volcanoes function, and even today, there are warnings of eruptions in various places around the world.

The situation with volcanoes is akin to that of earthquakes. It’s a scientific fact that certain zones on Earth are prone to both volcanoes and earthquakes. Despite this, humans continue to build large structures and settle in areas at risk. Volcanoes, while offering many benefits, can also cause significant damage and even loss of life. We must recognize that volcanoes are a design feature of Earth as we exercise wisdom in choosing where we live and how we prepare for their potential activity.

Reference: apod.nasa.gov for 7/17/24

July 29, 2024July 28, 2024

Three Basic Questions About Creation

In our day of complicated philosophical questions, politics, and power struggles, it is easy to forget the fundamental questions relating to the existence of God. The evidence for God’s existence is simple and straightforward. There are three basic questions about creation:

#1) Was there a beginning?
Taking the position that matter/energy is eternal flies in the face of all the evidence and violates scientific laws, such as the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

#2) Once we establish that there was a beginning, the next logical question is: What caused this beginning?
To say existence is uncaused means maintaining that something can come from nothing. That is a violation of scientific laws, including the laws of conservation.

#3) If we understand there was a beginning and that it was caused, what or who caused it?
Was the cause blind mechanistic opportunistic chance, or was it Intelligence? If it was Intelligence, there would be a purpose for the creation, and the creation should show order and design. Chance is random and chaotic.

The Bible spells out the purpose of the Intelligence that did the creating. It explains how humans are created in the image of that Intelligence. Our role in the war between good and evil is not hard to understand. Denying the existence of evil is a refusal to look at history. Theologians and philosophers have complicated this simple picture, but the average high school student can understand it.

What we believe about creation and about ourselves has massive consequences. Getting away from the basics has caused division in the various denominations and generated conflict between special interest groups and individuals. This column explores many of the challenges to faith, but the three basic questions about creation should not be a matter of debate. We all need to work to address the challenges of a world rejecting God and setting itself up for tragedy.

July 25, 2024July 23, 2024

Smalltooth Sawfish “Pocket Protector”

An interesting creature lives in the ocean off southern Florida and the Bahamas. The smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) is a member of the ray family with a snout lined with needle-sharp teeth that it can use to cut vegetation or chop up a predator that gets too close. The amazing thing about this fish is that the babies are live-born. The question is how can a baby sawfish avoid cutting up its mother or siblings before birth.

The answer to that question has come from researchers at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in Charlotte Harbor. They found that the baby sawfish’s teeth are housed in a sheath during its life inside the mother. It’s essentially a second skin that the smalltooth sawfish sheds about four days after birth. The researchers say the sheath feels like paraffin wax, which you can’t peel off, but with a slight give. The chemical composition of the sheath shows that it has two layers made of proteins similar to ordinary skin.

The ocean is full of living things with incredibly complex and specialized designs, enabling them to exist in unique environments. The lead researcher, Gregg Poulakis, said, “It’s a cool thing Mother Nature figured out to protect mom from those calcified teeth and protect siblings from sword fighting in the uterus.” Trying to explain such design by gradual evolution requires intermediate steps leading to the design features we see today. Those intermediate steps do not exist.

Every discovery speaks of an intelligence that filled in ecological niches and survival techniques like what we see in the sawfish. Romans 1:20 tells us that we can know God exists through the things He has made. The number of examples of cases like the smalltooth sawfish continues to grow as science learns more about the complexity of the world in which we live.

Reference: Science News magazine for July 13, 2024, page 5 and sciencenews.org

July 24, 2024July 23, 2024

Baobab Trees – Tree of Life

Fossil evidence of ancient trees known as baobabs found in Madagascar shows that they are among Earth’s oldest life forms. This genus, known as Adansonia, has eight species in Madagascar, Africa, and northwest Australia. People call them the “upside down trees” because of their shape. The nickname “tree of life” comes from the fact that they can live for thousands of years and grow to huge sizes.

The fruits of baobab trees are a superfood, and people use their trunks to make fibers for rope or clothing. The baobab’s large white flowers open at dusk, attracting bats as pollinators. The branches of the trees are nesting sites for birds. These trees look very different from modern trees. They have a pyramid shape with a large trunk that stores huge amounts of water and no limbs or leaves except at the top. They might remind you of a giant toadstool, but the shape is ideal for storing water and the safety of bats and birds.

DNA studies show a starting point for baobab trees in Madagascar, tracking their journey on ocean currents to Australia and Africa, where local conditions shaped them into what we see today. Scientific data shows no connection between baobabs and gymnosperms like pine trees and modern trees like oaks and palms.

Attention has been drawn to the fact that baobab trees are so useful that they are being overharvested. Genesis 2:9 tells us that “God made all kinds of trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.” The diversity we see in creation speaks of an intelligent purpose for plants, and everywhere we look, we see the benefits plants provide. Baobabs remind us that we live in a very special place, and we must not let greed, ignorance, and selfishness destroy what God has given us.

Reference: BBC News for May 15, 2024, and the journal Nature.

July 22, 2024September 5, 2024

Solar Storm Affected Mars

A massive solar storm affected Mars on May 20, 2024, shortly after it caused impressive auroras on Earth. This latest storm is part of the normal eleven-year cycle of solar maximums, but it is the first time such a storm has occurred while astronomers have the equipment to record its effect.

Xrays and gamma rays, which travel at the speed of light, reached Mars first and were followed minutes later by charged particles. According to NASA, the Curiosity rover at Gale Crater near the Martian equator took pictures showing white streaks resembling snow but were actually charged particles. The radiation from the solar particles was so intense that the star camera aboard the Mars Odyssey orbiter temporarily shut down.

Curiosity rover’s measurements of the radiation reaching Mars’ surface show that an astronaut standing next to the detector would get radiation equal to 30 chest X-rays. Earth has a strong magnetic field to shield it from energized solar particles, but Mars does not. At the same time, the thin Martian atmosphere could not give protection as the solar storm affected Mars.

Planets with a functional atmosphere and located in the Goldilocks Zone, where liquid water on the surface is possible, are rare. All stars go through cycles that pose threats to life on their orbital planets. Mars, a potential target for human visitation and a place where people speculated that life might exist, has received significant attention. This new data from a common solar event suggests that conditions for life to exist are even more challenging than previously thought.

The fact that a solar storm affected Mars is important. It tells us that Earth’s creation and the life on it are the product of intelligence and design, not opportunistic chance. They also tell us we must take care of the Earth because, in reality, there is no other place to go if we mess up this planet.

Reference: CNN Reports on Space Science for June 14, 2024.