Questions and answers about Genesis – Part 2
The Bible gives a selective history of the earth from its creation to its demise. Many question this. Did you know that there are answers to your questions? Here’s the answers to some questions that were asked recently.
This post is based on questions and answers after a presentation by Dr Tas Walker of Creation Ministries International (CMI). (more…)
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Can we change the climate?
Recent floods in far north Queensland took everyone by surprise. It was quite scary, because it happened very quickly. Water started rapidly rising — seemingly out of nowhere. Most people thought that there may be a lot of rain when cyclone Jasper passed but there was no warning that there was going to be millions of litres of water tumbling down the Tableland hill, pushing houses and land to the side. Cars were floating past the house. It was mayhem. (more…)
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Many scientists believe scientific theories religiously
This post comes from Dr Jay Wile.
Those who understand the formation of our universe using the Big Bang model are forced to believe that the vast majority of the universe is made up of material about which scientists know absolutely nothing. As shown in the picture, to believe in the Big Bang model today, you must believe that all the matter involved in all the experiments done by all the scientists in history makes up only about 5% of the universe. 72% of the universe is composed of dark energy, a form of energy that was completely unknown until the 1990s and is so far undetectable and not understood at all. The other 23% is made of dark matter, which is matter that we cannot see because of the limitations of our experimental capabilities. Scientists have been trying to detect dark matter for decades, but so far, nothing has been found. (more…)
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What the Bible says about nature
Nature is made up of atoms and molecules that we can see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. It is essential for living, providing such things as air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat, and materials to use from farms, mines, forests and factories.
Nature is a part of creation. The definition of some terms used in this article is given in Appendix A. (more…)
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Nature Psalms
Nature includes the air we breathe, the water we drink, the places and wildlife we love. Nature can inspire Christians to praise and worship God. But nature can turn unbelievers from God – there is no mention of God on Earth Day. And unbelievers can see nature as a god that they can become obsessed with.
The psalms were songs used by the Hebrews to praise God. Nature psalms praise the Lord as the creator and sustainer of the physical universe (Estes, 2005). God is separate from nature because He created it. This made Jewish beliefs different to the common beliefs of ancient times that various objects in nature are divine. Just think about the gods of Egypt, Canaan, Greece and Rome. The theological description is that God is “transcendent”, which means He is independent of the creation. But the creation (nature) is also sustained by His mighty power; He sustains “all things by His powerful word” (Heb. 1:3NIV). And the creation (nature) declares (shows) God’s greatness (Ps. 19:1). (more…)
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God’s glory for all to see
A look at Psalm 104
I had an uncle who lived at Katoomba, who was an avid bushwalker (hiker) in the Blue Mountains. When I was young, I made a bush walk near our house on a farm. It had a sign at the beginning and included a bridge across a hole I had dug in the ground. Maybe it’s not surprising that bushwalking (hiking) is one of my hobbies. (more…)
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Christians discovered and invented science
A common view is that there is a perceived conflict between Christianity and science. But this is erroneous because Christians discovered and invented science.
This post is based on a book by Dominic Statham.
Science
Scientists seek to gain knowledge of the laws which govern how the natural world works. They describe these laws rather than explain them. For example, we don’t know what gravity is or why there is attraction between positively and negatively charged particles although we can describe these behaviors. And science can’t tell us where these laws come from. (more…)
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Revealed through creation
This post comes from Lisa M Samra of Our Daily Bread.
In the 1901 hymn “This Is My Father’s World” (Appendix), pastor and poet Maltbie Babcock wrote of the delight he felt on his frequent outdoor walks, where he was captivated by breathtaking panoramic vistas. Writing of his fascination with the skies, seas, and creatures, he described sensing God’s presence and concluded, “He speaks to me everywhere”.
Although creation doesn’t have an audible voice, as His handiwork it’s one important way we learn about the One who “made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them” (Acts 14:15). In creation we see evidence of God’s glory (Ps. 19:1), as well as aspects of who God is, such as His “eternal power and divine nature” (Rom. 1:20). (more…)
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Distant starlight and the biblical timeframe
This post comes from Dr Don Batten of Creation Ministries International.
The following question is often directed to Christians, ‘How can you believe in a straightforward biblical time-frame and explain distant starlight?’
The ‘problem’ is formulated thus:
- The biblical time-frame is about 6,000 years since creation (“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”, Gen. 1:1)
- There are stars that are millions and billions of light years distant that we can see. Travelling at the speed of light, the light from those stars would take millions or billions of years to travel to Earth, depending on the distance, so that we can see them.
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Natural selection is the opposite of Darwinian evolution
This post comes from Dr Jason Lisle of the Biblical Science Institute.
Natural selection is often claimed to be the mechanism by which Darwinian evolution occurs. And yet the scientific evidence shows that natural selection is actually the opposite of evolution.
What is Natural Selection?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines natural selection as “a natural process that results in the survival and reproductive success of individuals or groups best adjusted to their environment and that leads to the perpetuation of genetic qualities best suited to that particular environment.” Other dictionaries and biology textbooks also support this definition. Basically, natural selection is the principle that organisms that have traits well-suited to their environment tend to survive and reproduce in greater numbers than organisms with traits that are not well-suited to their environment. In extreme cases, the organisms that are less suited to their environment are driven to extinction. (more…)
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Occam’s razor
How has sea level changed over history?
Scientists think that in ancient times the global climate and sea level went through many cyclic changes. Why do they believe this and what is the pattern of the sea level according to written history? This post addresses the gross features of the global mean sea level (GMSL), and not minor variations and trends. (more…)
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Demons Bluff is falling down
From March 2021 the beach below Demons Bluff (near Anglesea in Victoria, Australia) has been closed due to the significant risk of cliff collapse. Landslips are unpredictable and can occur without warning. The size of material that falls onto the beach can be very large, with rocks and debris a potentially fatal hazard. A crack about 10 centimeters wide has grown to 70 centimeters in recent years, and that part of the cliff “is about to disappear”. The crack runs about 60 meters along the cliff. A large chunk of cliff collapsed at Demons Bluff in 2019. (more…)
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Beware of the bias
Everyone is biased
If you change the bias in lawn bowling, the ball curves in the opposite direction and finishes in a different position. Similarly, if you change the bias (assumptions) in a scientific investigation you may obtain a different outcome.
In this post we look at the occurrence of bias in scientific investigations. (more…)
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The historical Adam
Theological conundrums and scientific implications
Adam is an important historical figure in the Bible. But if Adam is historical, should we see evidence for him in the genetics of modern humans? And how does the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 relate to what we see in human genetics worldwide?
This post is based on a presentation by Dr Robert Carter of Creation Ministries International (CMI). It deals with many questions about human races and human history.
Why is Adam important?
There are profound theological implications for the existence or non-existence of a man named Adam early in human history. According to the Bible he is the person from whom all human beings descend. For example, the genealogy of Jesus (His human nature) goes back to Adam (Lk. 3:38). And Luke is the most historian-like writer of the authors of the gospels. (more…)
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Questions and answers about Genesis
The Bible gives a selective history of the earth from its creation to its demise. Many question this. Did you know that there are answers to your questions? Here’s the answers to some questions that were asked recently.
This post is based on questions and answers after a presentation by Dr Mark Harwood of Creation Ministries International (CMI). (more…)
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The dangers of theistic evolution
The foundations of a building can move and crack due to expansive soils such as clay, poor soil compaction, plumbing leaks, poor drainage, or tree roots. Did you know that the theory of biological evolution destroys the foundation of the Christian gospel?
This post is based on a presentation by Dr Mark Harwood of Creation Ministries International (CMI). (more…)
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Limitations of atheistic creation stories
Approximately 15 million Indians have been made redundant in the economic slowdown during the coronavirus pandemic. The majority of these are women who were doing low-skilled work. In a similar way, is God unnecessary because science can now explain all we need to know about the universe?
The big-bang model and the theory of biological evolution are atheistic creation stories. They assume there is no divine influence by ruling out the supernatural. So it is often assumed that they do away with the need for a God. But we will see that these theories explain less than what most people think. They have not made God redundant.
The big bang model of the universe
According to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), “The big bang is how astronomers explain the way the universe began. It is the idea that the universe began as just a single point, then expanded and stretched to grow as large as it is right now—and it is still stretching!” (see Appendix A). They also say, “It’s a theory of the origin and evolution of the universe”. (more…)
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The real climate change
Weather change is not climate change
“Climate change” is mentioned often today in a context that means “weather change”. There is a difference between weather and climate. Climate is the long-term weather pattern. Weather influences what clothes you wear on a given day, while the climate influences the contents of your entire wardrobe. (more…)
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When science caught up with the Bible
The universe had a beginning
The pagan Greek philosophers thought the physical universe had no beginning. To Plato (428-348 BC), the universe was perfect and unchanging. And Aristotle (384–322 BC) argued that the world (matter) must have existed from eternity. If the universe could never have gone from nothingness to somethingness, it must always have existed. For this and other reasons, time must stretch eternally into the past and future. Aristotle taught that the world was eternal.
Medieval philosophers also wondered whether the universe is eternal or had a beginning. And medieval authors debated that point in light of the Christian creation story. (more…)
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A functionally mature creation
Creation of the cosmos according to the Bible
There are two main worldviews concerning the creation of the universe: the big-bang theory and the Bible. According to the laws of nature, both explanations have a light time travel problem (Appendixes C and D).
This post gives a summary of the biblical worldview of the creation of the universe. It begins with seven inferences from the Bible.
Inference 1
Over six days at the beginning of time, God created a functionally mature universe (Gen. 1:1-2:1) (Appendix A). This is not deceitful because God communicated to mankind what happened. According to the genealogical and historical information in the Bible it occurred about 6k years ago. After the six days: (more…)
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Was the universe caused by natural or supernatural means?
There are two types of explanation for the origin of the universe. These are either natural or supernatural. The natural explanation says that the universe is a product of the laws of physics and chemistry operating on energy and matter in space and time. It may also assume that the universe is part of a larger ‘multiverse’ that creates new universes (Appendix A).
The supernatural explanation says that the universe was created by something/someone beyond the laws of nature or something miraculous. It is not defined by space-time, matter and energy nor the laws of physics. Which type of worldview offers the best explanation? (more…)
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Is the theory of biological evolution science or history?
Here is a conversation I had with Dr Jay Wile on whether “historical science” (like the theory of biological evolution) is science or history. Is it scientific or is it an historical narrative (a story written by scientists based on what they believed happened in the unverifiable past)?
Other conversations on this topic are given in Appendix A.
Dr Wile’s comment
With regard the documentary movie “Dismantled” by Back2Genesis:
… I do want to point out that I strongly disagree with the first part of the documentary, which tries to claim that evolution isn’t really science; it’s history. As such, it’s not the same as the science that cures disease and makes Mars rovers, because it studies something that is not repeatable: the past. This is a very common assertion among creationists, but it is utterly false.
In fact, epidemiology has cured disease by studying the past. More importantly, the study of the past is definitely repeatable. We cannot repeat the past itself, but we can study the evidence related to the past, develop a hypothesis, and then test that hypothesis with more observations of the evidence related to the past. We can repeat such observations in different parts of the world, and if the hypothesis is repeatedly verified, it is just as scientific as a hypothesis about a medical procedure. A theory is scientific if it makes predictions that can be observationally verified. This is true whether the theory is about the past, present, or future. (more…)
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Genetics doesn’t support the idea of biological evolution
We have seen that biology and paleoanthropology don’t support the idea of biological evolution – that single cells changed into humans by mutations and natural selection. But what about genetics?
This post is based on the documentary movie “Dismantled” by Back2Genesis.
Chimp-human similarity
It’s hard to find anyone who has not heard the often repeated claim that humans and chimpanzees are genetically 98-99% identical. This has been promoted to the world as proof that humans share a common evolutionary ancestor with chimps. However, recent studies now challenge this claim.
Evolutionary geneticists have acknowledged that the actual genetic differences are far greater than we’ve been told. For example, primate evolutionist Todd Preuss states “it is now clear that the genetic difference between humans and chimpanzees are far more extensive than previously thought; their genomes are not 98% or 99% identical” (1). Earlier studies published in the evolutionary scientific literature reported an overall DNA similarity of 98-99%. However, large portions of the chimp genome didn’t align with the human genome and so were excluded from the reported estimates! For instance, the algorithm parameters used in the major milestone publication in Nature reported by the chimpanzee sequencing and analysis consortium omitted over 100 million DNA letters (2)! When accounting for these large non-alignable regions and other omitted sequence data, the actual chimp-human DNA similarity is significantly lower than the 98-99% identity claims. (more…)
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Paleoanthropology doesn’t support the idea of biological evolution
We have seen that biology doesn’t support the idea of biological evolution – that single cells changed into humans by mutations and natural selection. But what about paleoanthropology?
This post is based on the documentary movie “Dismantled” by Back2Genesis.
Missing links
Since the time of Darwin many determined individuals have searched for missing links between apes and mankind. Periodically fragmentary skeletons have been found and artists reconstructions of their bones are presented to the public as undeniable evidence that mankind evolved from ape-like creatures. To scientists who study their bones these alleged transition forms are called hominins (see Appendix). (more…)
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