Does God Exist Archives - Page 3 of 202

November 28, 2024November 19, 2024

Ten Lepers and Thankfulness

On His way to Jerusalem, Jesus entered a village where He was met by ten lepers. They stayed a distance from Him and cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Jesus merely told them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” That seems like a strange thing to say to them. The Jewish law required that lepers keep their distance from other people. The only way to avoid that requirement was to become free of the disease and go to a priest to be declared clean. However, these ten were not free of leprosy, so why should they go to the priest?

The command Jesus gave would have required faith on the part of the ten lepers to trust and do as He instructed. Going to the priest to be declared free of leprosy when they were not would make no sense to them. But trusting the words of the one they had just called “Master,” all ten lepers started on the journey to the priest. It was only while on the journey that the miracle happened. They were instantly free of the dreaded disease. Their skin was restored. It must have been the most exciting moment of their lives when they looked at each other and saw beautiful, healthy faces and bodies.

Nine of the former ten lepers rushed on toward the home of the priest who could declare them clean and restore their ability to return to their families and society. One of them did something requiring extra effort. Before rushing to the priest, he ran back to the one who healed him.

“When he saw that he was healed, (he) returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at (Jesus’) feet, giving Him thanks” (Luke 17:15-16). The scripture notes that this man was not a Jew but one of the despised Samaritans. Jesus asked the man a rhetorical question, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”

Why didn’t the others come back to thank Jesus? Maybe they were anxious to return to their lives, and that was more important than giving thanks. Perhaps they thought they would return after the priest had declared them clean. Of course, Jesus would not have been in that village later because He was on His way to Jerusalem. We often delay saying thanks until it is too late. Those nine lepers may have had nine excuses for not returning to say thanks immediately.

What’s your excuse? This is a reminder for us not to delay showing our appreciation. The ten lepers were healed, but the one who returned received a special blessing when Jesus told him, “Your faith has made you well.”

November 27, 2024November 19, 2024

A System Benefiting Birds, Ants, and Trees

Birds have an interesting method for keeping ants out of their nests and away from their eggs and chicks. Many ant species will eat everything in their path, and often, ants infect trees where birds build their nests. From a design standpoint, how can you build a system benefiting birds, ants, and trees?

Scientists have discovered that in tropical and subtropical areas, birds use fungal organs known as rhizomorphs to build their nests. Rhizomorphs are cord-like filaments that fungi use to capture nutrients, and they grow web-like in the canopy of tropical forests. These filaments repel ants to keep them out of the birds’ nests. Researchers have found that over 176 bird species use fungal rhizomorphs in their nests. Two bird species in Costa Rica build their nests almost entirely using rhizomorphs of horse hair fungus (Marasmius).

Researchers in Costa Rica found a symbiotic relationship between thorn acacia trees and ants. The ants collect nectar from the acacia, repel any invaders, and even trim back encroaching plants. The thorns of the acacia protect the ants from predation, and the rhizomorphs protect the birds. This complex system benefiting birds, ants, and trees is very difficult to explain by any chance process. The concept of God building a system that protects all three participants is simply an argument for His existence.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
Reference: “Fungus-laced bird nests repel ants” in Science News for November 2, 2024, and Animal Behaviour October 2024.

November 26, 2024November 19, 2024

Macro-World Micro-World

We live in a macro-world in which we see and touch large things. Most of us don’t recognize there is a micro-world made up of very small things. Without the small things, the large things could not exist. The most obvious example of the need for small things is the food that animals need to survive.

Food chains start with the very small. Carnivorous insects that don’t eat plants provide the starting point for food chains. As technological tools become available, scientists discover more and more small animals, even some that are vertebrates. One example is the discovery of tiny Brachycephalus pulex frogs, also known as Brazilian flea toads, because they can jump 30 times their body length. They are only 7 millimeters (.3 inches) long, and unlike other frogs, they don’t go through a tadpole stage. Their eggs hatch directly into tiny frogs.

Scientists have found tiny animals in desert environments providing a basis for life in what would appear to be a sterile environment. Tardigrades, known colloquially as water bears or moss piglets, are another example of very small creatures that are important agents for life in the macro-world.

Many plants and animals that allow life to exist are not perceived through our senses. Everywhere we examine the macro- or micro-world, we find a design created by God. Romans 1:20 tells us, “..the things of God which the eye is unable to see ever since the world was made are clearly perceived through the things that are made.” The things we can’t see include the spiritual things of God and the small things in the material world as well.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
Reference: Wikipedia

November 25, 2024November 20, 2024

Fine-Tuning the Universe

I recently attempted to bake some pumpkin bread. It was a disaster because I failed to use the proper proportion of one ingredient. When baking any pastry, having all the right ingredients in the right proportions is essential. Equally important is having the correct oven temperature for the right amount of time. Every factor must be just right. This is a simple illustration of fine-tuning the recipe. Far more complicated than baking any pastry is fine-tuning the universe.

Scientists have realized that the universe requires fine-tuning to make the existence of complex life possible. The number of factors that must be fine-tuned is vast, but five significant ones are these:

Gravitational Force Constant – This is the force that pulls us toward Earth. More than that, it holds the planet together and makes it round. It also holds the Moon in orbit around the Earth and the planets in orbit around the Sun. It holds together the Milky Way and all other galaxies. This force has to be strong enough to form stars and planets, but if it were too strong, stars would quickly burn up, and no planets would form.

Electromagnetic Force Constant – This force holds atoms together. It must be just right for chemical bonds to form, creating molecules that everything is made of, including our bodies.

Strong Nuclear Force Constant – This force holds together the protons and neutrons in the nuclei of atoms. It must be just right to form stable atoms.

Weak Nuclear Force Constant – This force regulates radioactive decay and must be precisely correct to form stars such as our Sun.

Cosmological Constant – This force controls the universe’s expansion speed, balancing the attractive force of gravity with the repulsive force causing space to expand. It must be extremely precise to prevent the universe from flying apart or collapsing on itself.

A properly “baked” universe requires that all of these constants and many more parameters be just right. The chance of all of them coming together by accident is beyond impossible. Fine-tuning the universe requires intelligent planning far beyond that of any human baker, and it could not have happened by accident. It is evidence of an intelligent creator God.

— Roland Earnst © 2024
Reference: “List of Fine-Tuning Parameters” by Jay W. Richards

November 22, 2024November 18, 2024

Humuhumunukunukuapua’a

Hawaii’s state fish is the humuhumunukunukuapua’a. The scientific name is Rhinecanthus rectangulus, but people call them humuhumu for short. This is a species of triggerfish, and the design complexity of these fish defies any chance formation.

The name Humuhumunukunukuapua’a means “a triggerfish with a pig’s snout.” These fish eat lobsters, sea urchins, and snails. They can blow water jets from their mouths to find these foods under sand. The triggerfish name comes from having a “trigger” that locks their dorsal fin in the up position to prevent a predator from extracting them when they hide in a small crevice.

A four-bar linkage mechanism links the humuhumu’s skeleton to its jaws. That gives it a powerful mechanical bite needed to capture its hard-shelled prey. Engineers study the humuhumu to see how humans can assemble and use such structures. This bone-cartilage mechanical linkage defies any step-by-step evolutionary assembly process, and there is no evolutionary precursor to triggerfish.
Like all the examples of design in the natural world, the humuhumunukunukuapua’a strongly supports the biblical statement that we can know there is a God through the things He has made (Romans 1:20).

— John N. Clayton © 2024
References: Waikiki Aquarium, YouTube Deep Marine Scenes, Wikipedia, and “Evolution of Levers and Linkages in the Feeding Mechanisms of Fishes” in Integrative and Comparative Biology.

November 21, 2024November 18, 2024

The Koran Is Not From God

Several Muslims want to know why we don’t promote the Koran in the same way we promote the Bible. The answer to that question is that our ministry deals with evidence, and the evidence is that the Koran is not from God. We have studied the Koran, which is available in Penguin Classics ©1974 and translated by N.J. Dawood (who is a Muslim).

Some of our Muslim friends respond that you have to know Arabic to understand the Koran, but that is not true of the Bible. There are translations of the Bible in many languages, and all are understandable. Not all Muslims believe all that the Koran actually says. Many Muslims are ignorant of the Koran, just as many “Christians” are ignorant of the Bible. We are comparing the books, not what people believe.

We are looking at scientific accuracy. Our websites deal with scientific statements in the Bible that science has shown to be correct. Can the same be said of the Koran? Here are some examples of scientific problems with the Koran:

Al-Nisa 4:23 – Nursing passes on genetic traits from mother to child.
Fact: No genetic traits are transmitted by nursing.

Al-Nisa and Al-Araf – Semen comes from the back or kidney area.
Fact: Semen comes from the testicles and prostate.

Prophets 21:31, The Bee 16:15, Lugman 31:10, The News 78:6-8 – God threw down mountains like tent pegs to keep the Earth from shaking.
Fact: Mountains do not keep the Earth from shaking and are not like tent pegs.

Al-Saffat 37:6, Al Jinn 72:8-9, Al Tariq 15:16-18 – A piercing flame is a shooting star – a weapon of God used to strike devils.
Fact: Meteorites are solid lumps of matter that survive passage through Earth’s atmosphere and reach the ground.

Al-Anam 6:38 – All animals and all things that fly form communities like man.
Fact: Many forms of life do not live in communities.

Al-Nahl 16:69 – Honey emerges from a bee’s abdomen and heals men.
Fact: Honey is produced in a hive, not in a bee’s abdomen.

Al-Naml 27:15-44 – Solomon talked with ants, birds, and giants.
Fact: This kind of communication does not happen.

This is a short list of errors that indicate the Koran is not from God. No such list can be taken from the Bible, even though it gives several scientific statements. Our “doesgodexist.org” website has a correspondence course that contains these and other examples in Appendix A and Appendix B.

November 20, 2024November 18, 2024

What Is the Evidence for Vaccines?

This ministry is dedicated to the proposition that science and faith are friends, which requires looking at evidence. We mean objective physical evidence, not tabloid claims or religious tantrums. So, what is the evidence for vaccines? Vaccines can indeed cause an allergic reaction, but so can eating wheat in some individuals. In fact, eating wheat products has killed a few people.

In 2022, children in South Sudan were dying from measles. The government began a vaccination campaign in 2023, and medical workers there now tell us that measles is almost totally unknown. The Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C., says that in the past 50 years, the measles vaccine saved nearly 94 million lives. The oldest weekly peer-reviewed medical journal in the world is The Lancet, founded in 1823 in England. In May 2024, the Lancet said vaccines against the 14 common pathogens have saved 154 million lives over the past five decades – six lives every minute. Vaccines have reduced global Infant mortality by 40%.

The shining light of vaccines is the smallpox vaccine, which British physician Edward Jenner developed in 1796. Before that time, smallpox killed millions of people, and others were left with scars, infertility, blindness, and crippling. Abraham Lincoln and Mozart both survived smallpox. A worldwide vaccination campaign by the World Health Organization eradicated smallpox in 1977.

The big issue in South Sudan right now is malaria, which killed 7000 people in 2022. Children are especially vulnerable to malaria, and parents are doing extraordinary things to get their children vaccinated. What is the evidence for vaccines? They help save lives.

God did not cause these diseases. Human error, ignorance, greed, and selfishness all increase them, but God has given us tools to combat horrible diseases. I remember when polio was killing my friends and classmates in the 1950s and how eager I was to get the Sauk vaccine, which stopped that plague. Christians must be on the front lines of ensuring that vulnerable people can get vaccinations.

November 19, 2024November 18, 2024

E-cigarettes Have Created a Teen Vaping Problem

As America moves away from God, young people are desperately searching for a substitute for the peace that faith brings. Since they came on the market in 2007, e-cigarettes have created a teen vaping problem. When a person inhales vapor laced with nicotine, the drug is quickly absorbed through the blood vessels and can reach the brain in as little as 10 seconds. This rapid absorption means that addiction comes very quickly.

Roughly 2.8 million young people use tobacco products, according to The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control. One in four of those using e-cigarettes say they use them every day. Data on long-term use of e-cigarettes is limited. Young people assume that vaping is safer than cigarettes, but frequently, other toxic chemicals are in the ingredients.

The 2023 Verkada Teen Vaping Survey of 2,650 Americans found that 96% of teenagers who vape view it as a problem, and 61% consider themselves addicted. More than half (54%) of the teens expressed a desire to quit vaping. The Vercada survey also found that 9 out of 10 teachers reported vaping to be disruptive to learning environments. When users who vape don’t have access to nicotine, they become agitated and sometimes belligerent. Anger management becomes an issue. This causes school attendance problems and conflicts with the students’ families. It’s also an issue for the Church as many teens who vape find it hard to participate in teen classes or activities.

Christians must learn about the dangers of nicotine and alcohol. In the New Testament, we find Christ and the apostles warning repeatedly about the dangers of the world, and vaping joins the list of world agents that bring addiction, heartbreak, conflict, and death. Help for teen vaping addiction is available at THIS LINK.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
Reference: “The Problem Clouding the Classroom” in the NEA Magazine for October 2024, pages 38-41.

November 18, 2024November 17, 2024

God Reveals Himself in Two Ways

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handywork” (Psalms 19:1 KJV). That is how the psalm begins with a Hebrew parallelism where the same thought is repeated in slightly different words. The word translated “firmament” is sometimes translated as “sky.” Literally, the Hebrew word means “expanse.” As we look up at night, we see beyond what we usually call the “sky” and observe the “expanse.” We see God’s glory and handiwork in the things He has made. (See also Romans 1:20.) But an essential truth in Psalm 19 is easily overlooked. It tells us that God reveals Himself in two ways.

In that first verse, the Hebrew word David uses for God is “El.” The ancient Middle Eastern people used that word to refer to a generic “god.” The Jews used it to refer to the Creator. Read the first six verses of that psalm, and you will see the psalmist says that twenty-four hours a day, the visible physical creation reveals knowledge of God and speaks of Him without using words. He says that this natural revelation of the Creator is available to everyone worldwide at all times.

Something changes in verse 7 when David begins to speak of God’s law–His divine revelation. In that verse, the word for God becomes “Yahweh.” The psalmist no longer uses the generic term known to all but the personal name revealed to Moses. (See Genesis 3:14.) In the following verses, David speaks of how God’s law revives the soul, imparts wisdom, brings enlightenment, and is greatly to be desired. God reveals Himself in two ways.

The point is that God is clearly revealed in His creation, but only in His written word can we fully know His will and plan for us. The cosmos, physics, chemistry, biology, and life all point us to “El,” an intelligent Creator. However, to fully know “Yahweh” the “I Am,” we turn to the written word. Some people refuse to accept the evidence of God in creation and call themselves atheists or, at best, agnostics. Others recognize that the creation indicates a Creator and adopt a theistic view but go no further.

The point is that we need to recognize that God reveals Himself in two ways. Go beyond the generic and lame concept of “the man in the sky.” Recognize that God has revealed Himself in the Bible and most clearly in Jesus Christ. The Creator loves us, and He conquered death by dying for us. (See John 1:1-14 and the rest of the gospels.) Our lives can only be complete when we accept God’s natural and written revelations.

November 15, 2024November 16, 2024

Singing and Making Melody in Your Heart

We hear many sounds in the natural world. Animals make sounds as a vehicle to convey a need they have. Birds get a lot of attention because we enjoy the sounds they use to mark territory or find a mate, but it is not music. What is music? We define music as “an art form that combines either vocal or instrumental sounds, sometimes both, using form, harmony, and expression of emotion to convey an idea.” Ephesians 5:19 talks about “singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”

Genesis 4:21 tells us that Jubal was the father of the harp and the flute, and archaeological evidence shows that, along with drums, those were the first instruments of music. In 1 Samuel 16:14- 23, King Saul had mental issues, and his servants suggested that music might help. This led to David playing the harp in the presence of Saul, and every time he did, “Saul was refreshed and was well, and the evil departed from him.”

Music has many forms and people have used it for dancing in every culture. The dancing can be part of worship, between two people, or by an accomplished dancer. All of these are possible because of the human relationship with God, as we are created in His image. Singing was part of many activities described in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word “zamar” was used when the singing was a praise to God. Singing aloud used the word “ranan,” while singing of God’s attributes was described by the Hebrew word “shir.”

In the New Testament, Greek words refer to an individual’s response to God in song. The Greek word “ado,” used in Ephesians 5:19, “singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,” indicates that singing is to be done with understanding. The same word is used in Colossians 3:16. James 5:13 tells Christians to sing when they are happy. The word used there is “psallo,” and the same word is used in Romans 15:9 and 1 Corinthians 14:15.

Worship is not a spectator sport, and God did not intend for Church worship to be a time of entertainment. All of us should sing in worship, but some say, “I’m tone-deaf and don’t sing well.” The truth is that most of the singing in ancient times involved chants – not four-part harmony. God listens to your heart, not to your sharps and flats.

Today, many churches have paid singers and special programs that feature skilled musicians. These are wonderful to attend and listen to. I enjoy listening to Bill Gaither’s programs on television, but I don’t participate—I listen. One of our co-workers is Paul Foster, who has a beautiful voice and is a skilled musician. He has a daily YouTube program called “Songs of Encouragement.” It is a wonderful teaching tool for anyone but does not replace worship.

Music testifies to human uniqueness and is a great tool God gave us. God’s Spirit is a part of our singing in worship that unifies us and brings us closer to God. Don’t neglect your personal involvement in “singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”