A
new invention of man has taken hold of our world over the last 150
years and largely replaced what was known to be true since the beginning
of mankind itself. Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in
1859, sparking controversy over his theory of evolution that lasts
until this present day. Later to come would be the Big Bang Theory; its
attempt to explain the beginning of our universe was created after
observing the expanding universe, upon which one scientist came to the
conclusion that if it is expanding, it must have all been compact at one
point. These theories are held to by atheists and agnostics, though the
theory of evolution is popular among many groups, even Christians. I
have been told that there is no evidence in favor of Biblical creation-
that everything points to the two theories I have just mentioned. I have
been
asked to explain my reasoning and give evidence for a young Earth to
convince the skeptic and strengthen the faith of the Christian. My
intent is, by God’s grace, to do just that. But this will take an open
mind, and logical reasoning and critical thinking that the Supreme
Court, via organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union,
have pushed out of the science curriculums in our public schools. Being
told to believe Evolution,
the Big Bang Theory, and in no God is no different than being told to
believe in God and that He created the world and man. Both require
evidence to be legitimate. I would not be practicing my faith if I had
not found evidence to support that there is a God and that His Word, the
Bible, is true. The journey I have been on to acquire further proof has
only strengthened it. I pray the same for you who have found faith in
Christ; for those who have not, I pray you would.
Let me begin by addressing the Big Bang Theory, and if there is even a God. The Big Bang Theory states that
there was an infinitely dense and infinitely hot particle 13.7 billion
years ago that exploded, expanding the universe quickly with its unknown
energy. This blast created matter and time. The matter that was created
was hydrogen and helium, the rest of the elements derived from
reactions in the chaotic universe as it cooled. I’ll stop there for now;
I’ll get to Earth and us later.
There
are many things wrong with this. I’ll point out the most obvious.
“Infinite” is not a scientific term. Anything else, even the largest of
numbers, can always be defined by science and math. Why not this one?
Because no matter what number would be placed on the density and heat of
this particle, it would never be dense and hot enough. The Law of Conservation of Mass and the First Law of Thermodynamics state
that matter cannot be created or destroyed. How then did this “Big
Bang” create matter? If I were to crush a rock, or detonate a bomb, all
the pieces of that rock or bomb would be smaller than the original
whole. That is part of this law. It is why it is a law and not a theory-
it guides nature. How did a microscopic particle create even an
asteroid, much less 200 billion galaxies full of billions of stars?
The
biggest problem with the Big Bang Theory is this: where did the
particle come from? Ask any atheist, you will likely be told, “We
haven’t found that out yet. But that’s part of the joy of discovery.
We’ll keep searching. We’ll leave it to the next generation if we have
to.” But isn’t this a futile effort? So, what if there is a brilliant
“discovery” down the road where the origin of this particle is found. My
question then is, where did that thing that formed that particle come
from? We can keep chasing this for as long as we want, but eventually we
have to realize that matter or energy cannot create itself. It, too, goes against the Law of Conservation of Energy and the First Law of Thermodynamics, things scientists hold to until it is inconvenient. Look
at a vacuum (space, not Bissell) for as long as you want, and nothing
will ever form from it. Ever. So there has to be something more powerful
existing outside of time, not held to the laws of nature, that created
the particle. Or rather, created things in His own way.
“If you can’t explain it, use God.”
“Oh,
well isn’t that convenient,” you say. “Anything you can’t explain you
just say it’s God.” I’m not saying I can’t explain it. I’m saying it
CANNOT be explained
apart from something more powerful. Certainly people have blamed things
they themselves can’t explain on God, but really now, aren’t we past
that age? When things in nature couldn’t be explained, scientists looked
to explain them. Many of these discoveries were made by Christian,
young-Earth creationists. See Louis Agassiz, Charles Babbage, Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, Wernher von Braun, David Brewster, Georges Cuvier, Henri Fabre, Michael Faraday, Ambrose Fleming, Joseph Henry, William Herschel, James P. Joule, Johann Kepler, Carolus Linnaeus, Matthew Maury…Well, you get the picture.1 Some
make the argument that God is used as an excuse not to take proper
action or to neglect preparation. There is even a popular joke in which a
man refuses help during a flood claiming “God will save me.” But
whenever you look in the Bible (for those who don’t believe the Bible,
hang on- though I’ve found those who don’t believe it still use it in
arguments against it) at any wise person you never find this to be the
case. Whenever a person is preparing for a journey or Israel is
preparing to go to battle, they do just that- prepare. It is not a sign
of them having a lack of faith, but rather having the wisdom to make
plans while relying on God to carry them through according to His will.
Esther prepared to go before the king; Joseph prepared to go before
pharaoh. Christians, at least those with sense, are not people that sit
around and wait for God to set things in front of them. They stay close
to Him, and when He brings something into their life they need, they
know it and make the right preparation. “See, so God is your crutch.” He’s not my crutch, He’s the only reason I walk.
Why Christianity and the Bible?
Now
that we see there has to be a creator of the universe, let’s look at
exactly what He is. I am often asked, “How do know your religion is the
right one? There are thousands of religions with different beliefs, what
makes yours special?” This is what makes “religion” too complicated for
some. I look around and feel their sentiment at times. Allow me to make
this case.
The
easy argument for people who deny the Bible’s authenticity is that we
really can’t know what it originally said because it has been
translated and retranslated, and has been lost as a result. I will make
the concession- there are many versions of the Bible in English that
have surfaced in recent years that are incorrect, done with money or an
agenda in mind. But apart from these, this argument has no merit. The
manuscript evidence for the Bible is undeniable. The Old Testament had
already been found in manuscripts from 900 A.D. when in 1947 the Dead
Sea Scrolls were discovered in Qumran. These date to 150 B.C. and
matched the other manuscripts over 95%, with the 5% “being chiefly of obvious slips of the pen and variations in spelling”.2 The
New Testament is more convincing. There are 5600 manuscripts of it, all
99.5% accurate. The next closest Greek work of its time is Homer’s Iliad with
643 copies and 95% accuracy. Want to discredit the Bible? You better
start with discrediting every classic Greek author. You might claim that
this is only the manuscripts and that they have been skewed in
translation. But when the King James Version was translated in 1611, it
took from the Textus Receptus. “Textus Receptus” literally means “received text”- they translated it directly from these manuscripts, not from other translations.3
Still
there is a plethora of other evidence to support that the Bible is
true. Archaeological evidence has always backed up what is spoken of
places in the Bible.
Excavations around the site of Sodom and Gomorrah have revealed a
massive cemetery and a flourishing civilization the suddenly came to a
halt around the 21st century B.C.- around the time of Abraham. Another well-to-do city, Gerar (Gen. 20), was likely located in the 1920s and reveals it to be as it was described. Beth-el
(Gen. 28), or Luz, was excavated to reveal a Canaanite settlement (it
was in their land) as well as thick, charred walls (the Israelites
burned it later when taking the land- Josh. 12:7-16). Shechem
(Gen. 33:18-20) has revealed several smaller settlements (hence why
Abraham could purchase land) and a larger, later settlement. This does
not exhaust the list from Genesis, and there are many other books to
examine.4
The
Bible was written by about 40 different writers over 1500 years. Yet it
all fits together, both in details and as a grand scheme of pointing to
Jesus Christ. Yes, I understand there are many people and websites that
claim the Bible is full of errors and contradictions, but they either
do not have a good understanding of it or choose to ignore the
understanding of it. (There is no way I could get into all of these accusations here.) With
the study that we are told to do and by comparing passages with other
passages in context, it all makes sense. And to deny the authorships is
to deny history itself; even secular historians would admit that
different men penned the Bible. Some of these men didn’t know each
other. Others did and died for their faith. Would you die for something
you knew was untrue? There are about 2500 prophecies written hundreds of
years or even longer before the 2000 that have already been fulfilled
were- the other 500 will soon enough.5 The
probability of fulfilling EIGHT of these prophecies is 1 in
100,000,000,000,000,000. That is equivalent to you picking the correct
silver dollar out of a two foot pile the size of Texas. And that is
eight of 2000.
What book has had more done in literary works and in the arts? It has sold the most copies and has outside sources to vouch for it. “Jewish historian Josephus, born in 37 A.D., ‘provide(s)
indispensable background material for the student of…New Testament
history. In them, we meet many figures well known to us from the New
Testament. Some of his writings provide direct commentary on New Testament references.’”6
The church in the first century had extremely strict guidelines for
what they would judge authentic and put into the Bible. This was to
avoid the doctrine of the false teachers that Jude and Peter (II Peter
2) spoke about. Many leaders have found in it inspiration, including
America’s founding fathers, who stated we are “endowed by our Creator
with certain inalienable rights.” Abraham Lincoln stated, "I
believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given man. All the good
from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.
But for it we could not know right from wrong.”
Indeed, we can see many changed lives for the better through a true
faith in Jesus. Yes, many have misinterpreted the Bible for evil, but it
has rearranged many homes, brought many lives back from despair. John Newton was a slave ship captain when he found the saving grace of Jesus; he wrote the song “Amazing Grace”. Innumerable stories can be given, my life included.
Christianity
is the major religion that can claim so many writers over such a wide
margin. Many other religions have a founder who had a “revelation” one
day, wrote things down, and gained a following. We are the only one with
a risen Savior. Every other religion’s leader is still in their grave.
Why,
then, does anyone deny God and the Bible? It comes down to the
religion- yes, religion- of Humanism. It has its set of beliefs, leaders
(Steven Hawking, Richard Dawkins, Bill Nye, etc.), texts of great
importance (namely, On the Origin of Species), and followers. It is a term abhorred by atheists and agnostics, but a descriptive term nonetheless. Despite the obvious case against a Big Bang, the plenteous evidence (some of which I shall soon present) against Evolution, and evidence for the Bible and Christianity being legitimate and true, many still choose this path instead. Why? Because this is not always about a preponderance of evidence, or having something proven.
It is human nature to rebel, especially against authority. I want to do
it, and if you’ll admit it, you don’t want to be told what to do
either. So it is natural, despite our consciences (a later point), that
we will want to deny any higher authority. God and His Word are not just higher but ultimate authority, and to follow means submitting to Them. Why submit to another authority in one’s life when we can simply choose to ignore it, ignore the evidence, and ignore the truth?
Nothing will convince some, unfortunately, because at the very heart of
Humanism is a desire to be our own gods. It is that claim that means
there is no higher authority- we are all equal, and there is no one to
answer to in this life or any afterlife. We can do what we want and live
how we want- who is going to stop us or tell us it is wrong? Though
Humanism is extremely appealing and all-too popular, it simply is not
the way things are. “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14).
To truly be productive and reasonable, but more importantly, for the
sake of your eternal life, weigh your beliefs and what I have to say
carefully. Be objective, not looking through this self-destructive lens.
The Bible is not so moral?
To
fully elaborate on the arguments I have heard against the evils of the
Bible would be another lengthy writing in and of itself, as well as a
lot of recollection. Any person who stands vehemently against something
will be quick to try to find flaws, and at face value there may appear to be flaws, even though
the Book itself is true and accurate. “The Bible supports murder,
genocide, rape, slavery, etc.” We must understand that the Bible is also
a historical book, showing us our beginning and some of mankind’s
history, as well as having application to us today. A history book,
though not having the same power as the Bible, recounts events like
these from history- that does not mean the writers support them. “But
God kills a lot of people Himself.” Our society is guided by our laws,
and Israel was guided by God’s laws. Serious disobedience
to Him often resulted in death, showing us the seriousness of our sin
and that while God is love, His wrath is also sure. Who are you to
dictate terms to your Creator?
“You’re
not properly following the Bible because you eat pork, shave your
beard, don’t stone adulterers, etc.” The beginning of the law in Exodus
states, “And
Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the
mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell
the children of Israel;” (Ex. 19:3). And the beginning of Leviticus: “And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them…” (Lev. 1:1-2). The same or similar phrase is repeated many times throughout Leviticus. Clearly, the law was given to the
Hebrew people and for the Hebrew people- NOT gentile Christians. “But
you just said you can apply it.” Yes, there is great application in
these books, and many of the principles apply to us, but the law was not
written for us.
Any
other Biblical issues or questions I would love to sit down and discuss
with someone sometime. But pulling out a verse out of context,
misinterpreting the Bible, and making invalid arguments to try and
discredit Christians or support sins such as homosexuality only makes us
sound uneducated about the Bible, not scholarly.
“Alright,
so you had your proud moment there. What IF there is some powerful
being and the Bible IS historically accurate. That still doesn’t mean
that the Bible is that being’s book to mankind and that it has any power
other than as a historical piece of literature.” And I suppose under
what I’ve given you so far, you wouldn’t be wrong to think that. But
hold on before you start to draw any conclusions. There are still a lot
of holes to shine the Light through in Evolution- it is not quite all it is made out to be.
Let
me first address any Christian that believes this theory. You likely
didn’t need any evidence to convince you the Bible is accurate; beyond
that, you believe it is true, or else you wouldn’t be a Christian. Then
let me share this: “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”
(Titus 1:2). The Bible tells us that God can’t lie. He literally CANNOT
lie; it goes against His nature. He can’t sin; He can’t be in the
presence of sin. So if God can’t lie, and if the Bible is true, why are
you denying the first two chapters of the Bible? “But the evidence…” The
evidence supports us as well, which I will get to soon, but if you are
believing a man-made theory over what God says, you are doing nothing
short of calling God a liar, because God says how He made the universe
and made man. Six literal days. The Hebrew word yom, every
other time it is used in the Bible with a number (over 150 times),
always means a 24 hour period. And God formed us from the dust of the
Earth. We did not evolve. So either God is a liar or you are. (I am a
blunt person, I make no apologies.) I wouldn’t bet on God. “God
is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he
should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken,
and shall he not make it good?”
(Num. 23:19). The Bible is a collection of separate books, but also one
singular work as a whole. You cannot pick and choose what to believe
from it and what not to. If you can’t trust God to be telling the truth about creation, how in this young world can you trust Him to be telling the truth about your salvation? Or about John 10:28: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”? Examine where you are at.
For those who still need convincing, I present you evidence from a philosophical view and from three different areas of science.
If
I am walking through the woods and find a tennis ball, how would I
explain how it got there? The cloth outside, rubber exterior, and hollow
interior, printed words on the side. It obviously just happened. “That is absurd. It was designed and carefully manufactured. Then, I assume, someone put there.” Obviously.
It is ridiculous and incorrect to believe that a tennis ball would
simply appear somewhere on its own. Someone had to put it there. The
manufacturer does not put rubber and cloth in a box, wait for a really
long time, come back, and a tennis ball is there. Someone had to make
it. Why, if a tiny ball like a tennis ball had to have a designer, maker, and one who placed it there, can a huge ball like the Earth be here by chance? “But that’s different.” Yes, the Earth is much more complex. For either ball, the answer, “It just happened,” is senseless.7
In the weekend after the debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham, host of Wretched Radio Todd Friel
had this to say of Nye’s opening statement (recall that he told the
tale of his grandfather having his bow tie tied by an undertaker in a
hotel): “This is really a debate of worldviews…According to Bill Nye’s
worldview, I expected him to say that he got on the bed and laid there
for millions of years until the bow tie tied itself.” What an accurate
view of evolution. The belief in this theory
is that things simply took care of themselves, apart from anyone being
involved other than, according to some, creating it.8
Why aren’t we still evolving then? According to evolution, homo erectus, as much ape as man, came into existence between 200,000 and 1.2 million years ago. Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, a cave-man-esque creature, came into existence between 200,000 and 30,000 years ago, and homo sapiens anywhere from 50,000 to recently.9 From these numbers, as well as the numbers given for evolution from other animals and protozoa,
it is apparent that the rate of evolution has been ever-increasing. We
should, therefore, be noticing humans evolving into another higher state
of being than where we presently are. Where is this new species?
Another
“recent” highlight of the evolution chart I find interesting is when
humans learned to write. Even according to evolutionists, it was 6,000
years ago.9
When skewed carbon dating (discussed later) cannot be used, they have
to use other means to date the writing. We know in the Bible that
language has existed from the beginning- God spoke to Adam and Eve in
the garden.
Written language would have existed by the time of Abraham due to the
advanced civilizations (i.e. Egypt); but where would they have learned
these skills? God likely instituted written language from the beginning.
A man gets into a taxi. He puts a gun to the back of the driver’s neck and tells him to hand over his money, or else he will fire. The driver truthfully
says he has no money, and the man makes good on his word. “That’s
terrible. Why would God let that happen?” I will answer that in the end;
let me first ask you: What made it wrong? We are all animals, having
come from stardust.
Life has no real value. God did not create us in his image. It is
“survival of the fittest”- the fittest in this case happened to have a
gun.7
I can’t believe that the conscience I have been given has derived from an evolutionary process. “You’re
being unreasonable. Everyone knows killing is wrong.” According to who?
Sure, the Bible says it is, but God is a liar anyway. “It is laws and societal norms that guide us.” The Aztecs used to sacrifice their children. The Nazis were perfectly fine with committing mass genocide. Did that make their actions right? Ah, then where do we get morals? Why
do we consider certain things wrong? The thug in the taxi, the Nazis-
they were just the most fit to survive. Why do we have compassion on the
elderly, the homeless, on orphans? According to evolution, it is every
man for himself. If they can’t survive in this world that is their
problem. I worry about me. We’re all on an equal plain when it comes to
morality. You’re telling me killing is wrong? You’re just another human.
Society says so? Other humans. Laws say so? Made by other humans. Nothing is above me.
I
find part of my purpose in life in writing, hoping I can influence just
one person. I hope in my life I can influence someone as I live for a
God I trust in and as I stand for life and our rights. That isn’t all of
my purpose; I find some of it in school, in friendships, the list could
go on. Where do find your purpose? It could be through school, work, money, a sport, a hobby, a person, or multiple things. “Well, I…Hey, where are you going with this?” Do we not all strive for a purpose? To find our purpose, to work toward something,
to feel satisfaction that we have accomplished what we set out to do?
Why? Why do we as humans desire to have a purpose? Have you ever
wondered that? If life is meaningless- by meaningless I mean we are an
accident, we are just another step on the chain of evolution, and there
may or may not be anything after this- why does it matter if we have a
purpose? “Because we have to live this life to the fullest.” Really?
What do you consider living life to the fullest? Probably not going to
classes, or church, or definitely not writing. If you do, I commend you,
you aren’t average. Why do we do these things then? Because it leads us
to a career, to a relationship (or at least we think) with God, and to influence others. It leads us to our PURPOSE.
A universe and planet that came into existence from a series of random
events led to a planet of beings that seek a purpose? Beings that were
created on accident seek a purpose? Beings that came into existence without a purpose do not seek a purpose. Beings who were created WITH purpose and with A purpose seek out a purpose.7
A man is driving too fast through a town and gets pulled over. A higher authority had established the law for the speed limit;
he just discovered it. Scientists and mathematicians do not create
their own laws of nature, they discover laws that are already in place.
Why are there equations to describe naturally occurring phenomena? Why
were they there for Pythagoras, Einstein, and Joule to discover? Why is
there a water cycle, carbon cycle, moon phases, Laws of Thermodynamics,
Laws
of Conservation of Mass and Energy, and thousands more events that
happen without us even paying attention? Why do they all work together
in harmony rather than chaos? “Well, the scientific explanation is…”
Yes, I can look that up myself. My question is, how did they get there?
How do they all work together? This all screams of a designer. I’ll give a couple probabilities soon enough, but how can we look at the way in which everything in our world works, and say it is an accident?
It is a coincidence, mere chance. There was a Creator, someone involved
in making it all happen. The Bible even speaks of this: “For the
invisible things
of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
Godhead; so that men are without excuse:” (Romans 1:20). The argument of
cause and effect says that everything that exists must have an adequate
cause. Which is more credible: all-powerful God or all by chance?7
In
2003, the British National Council of Arts sponsored an experiment: six
monkeys in a cage with a keyboard for a month. They beat on it and used
the restroom on it for a month. And at the end, they had failed to type
a single word. They didn’t even type the word “a” (it must have a space
before and after, not simply be in a long sequence of letters). Now we
can learn two lessons from this experiment. First of all, though monkeys
are intelligent for animals, they are not even on the same level as
humans. Who can look at an experiment like this and claim we evolved
from these creatures? The probability, the “chance” of typing the word
“a”, on a simple 30 key keyboard, is 30x30x30, or 27,000. The odds of
typing the Shakespearean sonnet that begins, “Shall I compare thee to a
summer’s day?” is 30488. The
number of PARTICLES in the universe is eight times smaller than that
number. There aren’t even enough particles in the universe to go through
the trials test that probability. Yet that sonnet is so simple in
comparison to the simplest of life forms, or a single chromosome in the
human body. If these monkeys can’t type “a”, chance cannot produce life.7 "One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it all…To be forced to believe only one conclusion - that everything in the universe happened by chance - would violate the very objectivity of science itself…They (Evolutionists)
challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we really
light a candle to see the sun? It is in scientific honesty that I
endorse the presentation of alternative theories for the origin of the
universe, life and man in the science classroom. It would be an error to
overlook the possibility that the universe was planned rather than
happening by chance." –Dr. Wernher von Braum12
If
an injured person has all of their extremities removed, do they cease
to be that person? “Of course not.” Why? Because there is more to us
than our bodies. Even remove part of one’s brain, there is no one
certain part that defines who a person is. If you want to get to know
someone, you don’t study their anatomy. You get to know them. You learn
their passions, their interests, their feelings. Why does a collection
of neurons respond to being challenged, feel the security of loved ones,
or is aware of its existence? Because there is more to us than a body.
We have a soul. And a soul does not evolve.
A famous Canadian doctor, Wilder Penfield, used to conduct experiments
on patients by stimulating different areas of their brains (the brain
has no pain receptors). They recalled memories, experienced different
senses, but no matter what happened, they would always say, “You did
that Dr. Penfield.” Whatever part of the brain was stimulated, there was
nothing that could make them do something or decide something. We have a
free will, we make our own choices and our own decisions; this is not
part of our brains, it is part of our conscience- our soul (both of
which the Bible talks about). Penfield knew it was part of a person’s
soul. At what point will the computer I am typing on come alive and be
aware of its existence? Enjoy a sunset? Make a decision? “That is
irrational.” Exactly.7
“Methinks she doth protest too much.” These words spoken by Queen Gertrude in Hamlet carry
the connotation of one’s ardent denial being the cover-up of an
embarrassing truth. If I am offered a cigarette, why would I say, “Get
that cancer causing coffin nail out of my face!” when I can simply say,
“No thank you.” If you worship Zeus or are guided by Santa Claus, I wouldn’t write a book or yell at you, I’d just smile at your irrationality and go about my business. Why then the militant atheists and Evolutionists?
Why fight so hard something you do not even believe in? Why troll
commentary, following creationists simply to respond to their every
word? Why the venomous words and the life’s purpose of trying to disprove Creation?
Why the surface of keeping it out of schools when there is no danger of
it going back in? Why see something apparently so based in fallacy as
such a danger to society? “But you’re writing a paper.” Remember, I am
told to “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15). There is no hate in my words, and no commandment to Evolutionists. Why do you spend so much time fighting the minority of people in our country? Methinks you doth protest too much.7
You
are broken down in a rough part of a city. Your cell phone is dead, and
you have to get out and find a payphone. Your already elevated
heartbeat skyrockets as you see ten men approaching, all dressed the
same, with baseball bats. You know you can’t run. The leader, tall and
muscular, approaches you. Does it matter that this is a church softball
team on their way back from a game? They just finished a Bible study on
the Good Samaritan. Of course it matters! That makes all the difference.
Why? Because it is that faith that changes lives. It is not dead, it is
not useless, but it is clearly alive and makes a difference.7
All
of life is based on faith. Any gambling involves stakes, but some
stakes are higher than others. This gamble involves your soul, your
eternal residence. How will you wager? God either exists and is
all-powerful, or He does not and is not. What will you place your faith
in- chance or Him?7
The
chart showing the evolution of man goes from single-cell creatures
eventually to reptiles, mammals, “cavemen”, and finally man. Notice
something missing? Where are women? In order to carry on a species, male
and female parts must be created. (I realize some may be giggling, but
in the scientific world these discussions must be had.) But parts would
not be mutated until needed. At what point did evolution stop and sex
take over as the means of continuing the species? How did man gain the
necessary organs when they were not needed at first? Where did the
information for sexual reproduction come from? “From prior species.” How
did they learn it? Why do males and females both pass on 23 chromosomes
to their offspring? Kind of amazing how it all happened. How do two
anatomically and physiologically different organisms both evolve
simultaneously with the parts (especially females, with a uterus and
ovaries) they don’t need and then figure out what to do with them to
procreate? There’s not much room for trial and error, get it wrong for
very long and we go extinct. “I guess they happened to get it right.”
Yes, preposterous odds being overcome seems to be a theme in evolution.
But when we examine the Bible, we see that “male and female created he
them” (Gen. 1:27). It really does make a bit more sense that way.7
What
is not understood by evolutionists has also often simply been played
off as part of their theory. Embryonic recapitulation was well-accepted
for a while; this is the belief that embryos of higher life forms
(especially humans) go through the previous stages of evolution in the
womb before birth. Darwin called embryological evidence “second to none”
in importance. An
embryo develops so-called “gill slits” which were claimed to be for
breathing, as a fish does. However, these are actually germ-fighting
organs, the middle ear canals, and the parathyroid and thymus glands.
The “yolk sac” from the “reptile stage” actually develops the first
blood cells. The “tail” from the “primate stage” is actually the coccyx,
a very important bone in the human body (remember infant bones are much
softer than adults’). Then there is the vestigial organ argument. Evolutionists in the 1800s listed about 180 organs that we “don’t need” and were “left over from evolution.” Among these are “the pituitary gland (oversees skeletal growth), the thymus (an endocrine gland), the pineal gland (affects the development of the sex glands), the tonsils and the appendix (both
now known to fight disease).” Just because they can be removed does not
make them vestigial; we can live without a kidney or lung, but they are
not vestigial. Everything in our bodies has a purpose, because an
intelligent Designer made them that way.10
One
other explanation involved how life could have form from basic elements
with no genetic material. The Primordial Soup theory was developed in
1920 and tested by Stanley Miller and Harold Ulrey
in 1950. They mixed Methane, Ammonia, Water, and Hydrogen, all elements
thought to be present on primitive Earth’s surface. They then
electrically sparked it to signify lightning. This created all 20 types
of amino acids. However, there were issues with their experiment. Amino
acids must become protein. A protein is 100 amino acids of 20 different varieties, and there are 10130 combinations of amino acids.
And, each amino acid immediately folds itself into the exact shape it
will be to link up with another amino acid to form a protein. Again, something else is left up to improbable odds. Even so, amino acids are only the building blocks of DNA and chromosomes. If we can even make it to one cell, each cell must have the correct proteins and the right amount of each. Beyond
that, the “early atmosphere” is thought to have different gases than
what was used in the experiment. There was (according to Evolutionists)
no ammonia or methane. Experiments without these gases did not produce
abundant amounts of amino acids. This primordial soup is also too dilute
to further any process. It cannot spontaneously generate proteins and
by itself has no mechanism to do so. Can matter without the built in ability compose the information to do this?
This also hits a wall with the Second Law of Thermodynamics (also a
pain in the field of astronomy). As this law states, a system becomes
less organized over time, losing usable energy to
whatever processes it is going through. Thus an amino acid cannot of
itself form a protein, halting the process of evolution at the building
block stage. The Primordial Soup theory has been all but abandoned by
scientists today, but it still remains the closest case yet for an
explanation, apart from the Biblical account, to where life came from.13,15
When
looking at fossil records, there are a number of “missing links”. In
fact, there are no links. There are no fossils of a bird transitioning to a mammal, or a fish to a reptile, or a primate to a human. “What about Lucy?”
What about Lucy? This purported missing link has all the features of a
chimpanzee. She has a v-shaped jaw and legs at a 15 degree angle. And
her knees were discovered a year before the rest of her body, 200 feet
lower and a mile and a half away. They were put together because of
“anatomical similarity”. There is no fossil evidence, among all the
searching, to show evolution in action.10,11 As one expert in the field said, “The
fossils that decorate our family tree are so scarce that there are
still more scientists than specimens. The remarkable fact is that all
the physical evidence we have for human evolution can still be placed
with room to spare inside a single coffin.” Take notice of “OUR family tree”. This was spoken by an Evolutionist, Dr. Lyall Watson. In fact, Evolution itself creates great circular logic, as Ronald P. West, PH.D., explained: "Contrary to what most scientists write, the fossil record does not support the Darwinian theory of Evolution
because it is this theory (there are several) which we use to interpret
the fossil record. By doing so we are guilty of circular reasoning if
we then say the fossil record supports this theory."12
Studies
in the field of microbiology have also shone light on both the
complexity of even simple life as well as how closely related humans are
to other organisms. From studying Cytochrome C and Hemoglobin
differences, it can be found that humans are actually more closely
“related” to the lamprey, vertebrae of their own unique class Hyperoartia, than they are to actual
bony fish. This throws off the process of evolution, as the lamprey
would have “evolved” from ancestors found in fossil records and no
further, and humans would have no relation to them. However humans
would, as claimed, have relation to fish.10 Also, from microbiologist Michael Denton: “Molecular
biology has shown that even the simplest of all living systems on the
earth today, bacterial cells, are exceedingly complex objects. Although
the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing less than
10-12 grams,
each is in effect a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing
thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular
machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far
more complicated than any machine built by man and absolutely without
parallel in the nonliving world.”14
I can even offer a bit of anthropological evidence. Robert Young’s Concordance, 22nd Edition, lists 37 ancient written records on creation,
separate from the Bible. They all place the date of creation at no
earlier than 7000 B.C. Nine thousand years or below clearly fits better
into the Biblical account of creation as opposed to some scientists’ and
their followers’ date of over 13 billion years.16
We
find from studying organism that there simply is not the genetic
information to jump families in the animal kingdom, much less to evolve
from inanimate material to single cell organisms to create the plants
and animals that exist today. Michael Denton wrote, “To the skeptic, the proposition that the genetic programmes
of higher organisms, consisting of something close to a thousand
million bits of information, equivalent to the sequence of letters in a
small library of one thousand volumes, containing in encoded form
countless thousands of intricate algorithms controlling, specifying and
ordering the growth and development of billions and billions of cells
into the form of a complex organism, were composed by a purely random
process is simply an affront to reason. But to the Darwinist the idea is
accepted without a ripple of doubt…”14 Much
more realistic is that God created the vegetation “after its own kind”
on the third day and the animals “after his kind” on the fifth and sixth
days. And He made man in His image on the sixth day as well. After the
flood and the confusion of the languages at Babel, these people were
spread across the Earth. For those who doubt this, fear not, more evidence is coming.
“How
can the Earth be 6,000 years old when there are rocks that are millions
of years old?” We must remember how these rocks were determined to be this old. There are over a hundred different dating methods, that give a wide range of dates for the same rocks. Radiometric
dating, including Carbon-14, one of the most utilized, are based on
assumptions that, in a nutshell, are based on the belief that the
universe is billions of years old. It is first assumed that the decay
rate has stayed the same. This could be assumed if there were no outside
forces, but since rocks and other things that are tested are out in
nature, we cannot know that the decay rate has been constant- especially
if it has been millions of years. Second, a closed system
is assumed. But what if extra amounts of parent elements have
contaminated the rock, or if another element has leaked in or washed out. It can make a much bigger difference over time than we would think. The third assumption is that the starting point only
contains the parent element. How do we know there weren’t other
elements, and what do we know of the initial percentages? We can’t know.
“Isochron dating can help correct this.” It is still based on two of three assumptions. These assumptions are inaccurate.
And these inaccuracies show in the dating of known rocks. Mt. Etna erupted 2,100
years ago; its igneous rocks were dated at 25 million years. Sunset
Crater in Arizona erupted in 1065 but rocks were dated at 200,000 years
old. Dated between 1.4 million and 22 million years old, the rocks at
the Hualalai Basalt in Hawaii are from an eruption 200 years ago. The rocks at Mt. Ngaurhoe, New Zealand, are from eruptions in 1949 and 1954 but were
dated at 275,000 years old. The Mt. Etna Basalt rocks were formed in
1971 but dated between 140,000 and 350,000 years old. Mt. St. Helen’s
rocks were dated as being 2.8 million years old. Lastly, the artifacts
that are known to be 1,000 years old in the lava flow atop the Grand
Canyon were dated at 1.3 billion years old- older than the bottom layer of the Canyon.17
“So
what about the flood? Should we honestly believe that?” The Bible
explains many things that even man was long confused on. Did a river
carve out the Grand Canyon, or did a flood? How did
saltwater fossils get in the Grand Canyon, as well as all over the
world? We could claim many saltwater lakes used to exist, or we could
look at the Bible’s explanation for it. With the ark’s large
specification, it is quite possible to have fit all the animals at that
time onto it if they were not all fully grown. “What about the plants?
How did they survive?” Several things can be determined about the world
back then that can lead to a few predictions that alone or combined can
answer this question. First, as the oceans increase in salinity every
year, they would not have been as salty back then- giving plants a
better chance of survival. Second, plants then were likely not as plants
now-
and many fossils show plants and animals to be more physically robust
in the past (more apt to survive). Third, even now, there are some
species of plants that thrive in water. See mangroves, many flowering
plants, and swampland plants. Remember also that plants were first
detected after the flood 128 days after the ark had come to rest. This
would have given new plants time to take root. There could have been
floating land mats on which vegetation would have survived. Charles
Darwin observed, “.
. . out of one small portion of the earth thus completely enclosed in
by the roots of an oak about 50 years old, three dicotyledonous plants
germinated. . . .”
Another option is seeds having survived in the excrement and carcasses
of animals, which then would have been protected during the flood and
could have taken root. Again Darwin observed, “Again,
I can show that the carcasses of birds, when floating on the sea,
sometimes escape being immediately devoured: and many kinds of seeds in
the crops of floating birds long retain their vitality. . . but some
taken out of the crop of a pigeon, which had floated on artificial
sea-water for 30 days, to my surprise nearly all germinated.” We also know
that plants had to be taken on the ark to sustain Noah and his family
and the animals, and some of these were replanted (Noah planted a
vineyard- Genesis 9:20).18 “And how did the animals spread across the Earth?” Animals
(as well as people) disbursed from the ark and distributed across the
Earth. The setup of land bridges is not incorrect; their dates are.
“Where are kangaroo fossils?” Remember, certain conditions must be met
to create a fossil. Not everything that dies creates a fossil; there
must be a rapid burial. (There was, however, a rapid burial in a global
flood.)19
The
Bible explains a few other mysteries, some of which will be mentioned
in the astronomy portion. Catastrophic plate tectonics due to a global
flood can tell us how the continents were spread apart. The Bible speaks about
the ocean floor as well, something geologists assumed was sandy and
flat like the desert until stenography in the 1900s proved otherwise.
Until that point that was used as evidence AGAINST the Bible. “And
the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were
discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of
his.” (II Samuel 22:16). “Then
the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were
discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy
nostrils.” (Psalm 18:15). “The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I
went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was
about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O
LORD my God.”
(Jonah 2:5-6). What about springs in the seas? These were not
discovered until 1977, and again were used as evidence for the Bible’s
falsehood. “When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:” (Proverbs 8:27-28). “In
the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the
seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the
great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” (Genesis 7:11). Matthew Maury, “The father of modern Navigation”, got his inspiration to study oceanography from Psalm 8:8: “The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.” Job 28:25 spoke on atmospheric pressure: “To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.” The Bible called scientific discoveries centuries before they happened.20
Let’s
look back to what we can find in rock. High levels of radiogenic Helium
have been found in Zircon crystals. Helium is thin and can seep through
rock, but it still takes time. If
the sampled granite is 1.5 billion years old as we are told by
evolutionists, only the most recent Helium should still be present.
However, there is still a large amount present. There is enough left to
account for an age of 6,000 years.
In granite and metamorphic rocks, there have been found in both flood-age and “ancient” rocks short-life polonium halos and long-life U halos. This can only be explained by rapid changes in U decay rates. This goes against evolutionary theory.
Carbon-14
dating, as any astute scientist would know, tests things that were once
alive for levels of carbon. It can, therefore, only be used on dates
about “80,000 years or younger”, according to Evolution, of course.
Hence, anything within rock assumed to be older they do not bother
testing because it is assumed it is void of carbon. However, tests have
proven otherwise. Coal (metamorphosed plants) thought to be millions of
years old were dated in the thousands of years based on the carbon that
WAS present. This carbon could not be there after millions of years.
Many other fossils were tested, including dinosaur bones and petrified
wood. They all contained carbon. Finally, a number of diamond samples
considered billions of years old were tested. They, too, still contained
carbon.17
Other
things on Earth can be observed. The Nile River overflows every year,
and its sediment deposits lead to a conclusion of an Earth under 30,000
years old. Account for a few abnormally large floods, and we are placed
into the range of our young Earth. Earth’s rotation slows .00002 second per year.
If this has been occurring for billions of years, the centrifugal force
toward the beginning of time would have made our planet notably
deformed, not slightly deformed.10 Earth’s
magnetic field is rapidly decaying at a constant if not decreasing
rate. At the current rate, 8,000 years ago Earth’s magnetism would have
been that of a magnetic star. If electric currents in the Earth’s core
are responsible for this magnetism, 20,000 years ago the heat generated
by them would have been enough to dissolve the Earth.23
The
amount of sodium chloride (common salt) in the Dead Sea puts the
Earth’s age under 13,000 years. The permeability of rocks in oil fields
should dissipate any pressure and cause the oil to bleed off into the
rocks within a few thousand years- the oil is still there. Twenty-eight
billion tons of sediment are added to the ocean’s floor every year; the
sediment would be over 100 miles thick if the Earth was as old as
Evolution claims. Reasonable ages set for limestone caverns are 5,000
years. Lord Kelvin’s calculations of heat flow through Earth contradict
Charles Lyell’s uniformitarian assumption.16
“Explain the ice layers in
Greenland.” A scientist such as Bill Nye wrongly claims that a layer of
ice is formed from a winter-summer session. Thus, 680,000 layers of ice
in Greenland, he claims,
680,000 years. First, if the Earth is 4.6 billion years old, I think
we’re missing a few billion layers of ice. But this is not the
explanation for how these layers form anyway. An ice layer forms by
water melting and freezing. This is hardly limited to once a year. In
1942, a squadron of planes went down in the Greenland ice layer. About
50 years later, a Kentuckian decided to dig them up. Fifty years, fifty
layers, right? After excavating the planes from 260 feet of ice, the man
was asked how many ice layers there were. “Hundreds and hundreds,” the
man said.21
“And the Bristlecone pine?” This tree dated at 8680 years had a growth-ring series of 11,300. Experiments have shown that in especially wet or stressful seasons, certain trees grow multiple rings. If this pine survived the flood (Bristlecones
are made up of 90% dead wood protecting the tree), this would have been
especially wet and would have provided extra rings. If it was
originally created, trees, as well as all plants and animals, were
already made in a reproductive state, meaning it would have already had
rings. Looking at rings alone cannot provide an entirely accurate
measurement of age.22
Have you ever wondered why trees drop their leaves? A tree’s metabolic rate slows down, and as days get shorter and colder its
winter dormancy mechanism kicks in. Really. When it gets less sunlight
and colder temperatures, a tree knows to begin the process to drop its
leaves. How does it do it? A membrane of abscission cells begin form at
the base of the stem, cutting off the flow of sugars and water to the
leaf. This also helps promote the breakdown of chlorophyll pigments for
absorption back into the stems. The abscission layer, after completely
forming, dissolves and cuts the leaf from the tree. Why? Whenever it is
warm, leaves photosynthesize. So whenever the weather would break, they
would commence; but when it gets cold again, they’d have
water in their veins and freeze. The tree would have no way to get
energy and would die. Hence it drops its leaves during the cold season
and regrows them.24,25
That’s
a rather complicated process. And a very vital one as well. Who told
trees to do that? Something that complex, with specialized cells, we are
told to believe happened through chance? Trees simply know when to drop
their leaves? I’m sorry, I can’t believe that.
One final thing we find in the Bible is fascinating and sheds light on man’s true origin. “And
the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
(Genesis 2:7). Every element found in our bodies is found in “the dust
of the ground”- the soil. This is not a convenience formation of an
evolutionary perspective. Silicon is 27.7% of the Earth’s crust but only
.026% of the human body, but is important for the formation of bones.
It would stand to think that if Evolution were the model to go by that
percentages would be more closely aligned. Ninety-six percent of the
human body is comprised of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen.
Oxygen is 61% of our bodies and 46.6% of the crust. Carbon is 23% of us
and .03% of the crust; hydrogen is 10% and
.14%. Find any other element in the human body- phosphorous, potassium,
sulfur, etc.- and they are all found in soil. And as God told Adam (and
reiterates throughout the Bible), “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return”
(Genesis 3:19). Our physical bodies, like anything else, do no simply
cease to exist. They break down into their elements again and become
soil- not stardust.26
When
the first lunar landing occurred in 1969, scientists were worried that
the lunar lander would sink into many feet of dust. Meteoric dust
continuously piles up on the moon’s surface, adding thousands,
if not millions, of tons of dust every year. After several billion
years, the dust should have been thick enough to cause worries. Instead,
one-eighth of an inch of dust was found on the moon’s surface- leading
us to conclude that the moon is much younger than believed. Since the
moon is also believed to have played a significant role in creating life
on Earth, perhaps everything is not as old as we are told. Meteoric
material also contributes nickel to the oceans. The amount of nickel also points to an age of several thousand years for Earth.10
It
is hard to take the idea of Evolution of the cosmos apart from the Big
Bang Theory. To say that some god created things to a certain point and
then left it up to chance seems illogical. To say a god created the
energy for the Big Bang Theory seems only to be explaining away the
impossible. The Big Bang Theory at its base has already been shown to be
a scientific fallacy; however, whether one believes in it or in
evolution after a creation, further proof against this will be offered.
“Now
hold on. There was just another breakthrough that offered proof for the
Big Bang Theory.” Ripples in the space-time fabric of the universe are
being touted as proof for inflation. First, we should
be clear that this has not been confirmed. Repeatedly it has been said
“if proven” it would offer proof. Regardless, this is inaccurate. Proof
of one part of a theory does not offer blanket approval of an entire
theory. There are
many models of the Big Bang, and this does not fit all of them. What
the detection of gravitational waves does prove is that there was
a beginning. This is why many Evolutionists have hated the Big Bang
Theory; they cannot accept that matter has always existed. This
contradicts the previously prevalent “Steady State” theory, where matter
was considered to have always existed. This, of course, is impossible,
as science itself tells us and as has been previously explained. What is
a “breakthrough” for the Big Bang actually offers proof for Creation.
While the ripples are being detected, showing that matter in fact had a
beginning, the Big Bang still cannot explain the origin of that matter.
But the Bible clearly tells us the origin of matter: “In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1). Fred Hoyle, who
coined the term “Big Bang” and later switched from an atheist to agnostic, stated, “A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics.”
“Well what of the ripples?” The Bible tells us multiple times that God
stretches out the Heavens- this will be discussed a bit later.27,28
This
very discovery also refutes the argument that “Because there are stars
nearly 14 billion light years away, the universe has to be that old.”
Explosions to not expand linearly, but logarithmically. (They expand
quickly and decelerate quickly.) Why then are Creationists held to the
Hubble Constant that the universe has always been expanding at this
speed? Did we experience a Big Bang or a Big Drift? A star being 14
billion light years away only means that light traveling at current
space time would take 14 billion years to reach Earth. If everything was
jammed together (again, another impossibility) then everything would
have been visible in the beginning.28
This
argument also suffers from something called the “horizon problem”.
According to the Big Bang Theory, the young universe would have
developed different temperatures in different spots. However, all of the
known universe has uniform temperatures today. How could temperatures
have been balanced? The quickest would have been electromagnetic
radiation, since light travels the fastest of anything we know. But
using the Evolutionists’ assumptions of uniformitarianism and naturalism
(explained below), there has not been enough time in 14 billion years
for light to have been exchanged among locations of uneven temperatures.
“So
how does Creation explain how we see light from distant stars?” Most
people assume that time flows the same everywhere. But as Albert
Einstein discovered, the rate at which time passes is affected by motion and gravity.
When an object moves close to the speed of light, time is slowed (“time
dilation”). Clocks would stop if they could move the speed of light.
Time also slows when closer to a source of gravity (such as at sea
level). These effects
seem minimal in daily life, but have been measured with atomic clocks.
Hence, what would take billions of years in deep space may only take
thousands of years in Earth’s time. This would be natural if Earth is in
a “gravitational well”. Many scientists believe the number of galaxies
is infinite, but, although it cannot be proven with certainty, a finite
number of galaxies is consistent with evidence. This would put Earth in a
gravitational well, in which it requires extra energy to pull something
away from our position into deep space. We can’t feel extra gravity,
but time passes more slowly on Earth. These effects would have been more
pronounced when the universe was smaller in the past.
Another
theory is the idea of cosmic local time vs. universal time.
Historically, cosmic local time has been used, which is similar to our
time zones in that light arrives at the same time it leaves due to it
traveling. Light does not experience the passage of time. Today, universal time is used, where a light year takes an Earth year to be traversed. However, we cannot say for certain
if the Bible was written in cosmic local time or universal time- thus,
light could have left stars on day 4 and arrived at Earth on day 4
cosmic local time, just as a 4:00 flight from Dayton can arrive in
Denver at 4:00.
Evolution,
void of a belief in the miraculous work of God, also assumes
naturalism. “Nature is all that there is.” But if God created the world
supernaturally and performed numerous miracles over history, He also
could have brought starlight to Earth by supernatural means. Seeing that
there are serious issues with Evolution’s theories behind this is
enough to trust God that He indeed brought the light here, whether by
conventional or supernatural means.29
The
Second Law of Thermodynamics again poses a problem for the evolution of
the cosmos. The universe as a whole is one closed system where energy
cannot be created or destroyed, only changed in form. This Law tells us
that the amount of usable energy is always decreasing and decay
increasing. The ability for the universe to continually form new stars,
planets, and other complicated
bodies would decrease over time. The chaos of the universe would also
take away usable energy as well. Over nearly 14 billion years, how much
usable energy would be left? While the Earth itself perhaps is an open
system with the Sun, Dr. Duane Gish put four stipulations on an
environment to allow complexity to be generated. The system must be an open system, have an adequate external energy force, possess energy conversion mechanisms, and have a control mechanism within the system for directing, maintaining and replicating these energy conversion mechanisms. A young Earth by Evolution’s standards would not have met these conditions.10
Speaking
of the Sun, it is decaying at a rate of five feet per hour. At that
rate, 100,000 years ago, life could not have existed on Earth.16 But
it is amazing how Earth is in the perfect location from a star that is
the right size so that life can be supported. And its ellipse varies by
less than two degrees so that temperatures do not vary
enough to eliminate life. And its axis is tilted to allow for seasons
to grow crops. And the Moon is the proper distance to allow tides but
not mass flooding. What are the chances of that?
By the rate of comet decay, a young solar system is also suggested.16 But
let’s look at what the Bible told us about our solar system and
universe long before it was discovered by observational science. Again,
the Bible was told to be lying to us until these were confirmed.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” (Psalm 19:1). All that we see above brings glory to God. “Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;” (Jeremiah 33:25). Fixed laws on Earth and in the universe come from God. Is the Earth round? “When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:” (Proverbs 8:27). “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:” (Isaiah 40:22).
That
is also part of what answers the question to an expanding universe.
There is no question the universe is expanding, but what differs are the
interpretations. Some parts of Evolution says there was a Big Bang,
because if the universe is expanding it had to all be together. Creationists see that the Bible has long told us that. “Thus saith
God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he
that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:” (Isaiah 42:5). “Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;” (Isaiah 44:24). “Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.” (Job 9:8). “Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:” (Psalm 104:2). See also Isaiah 48:13 and 51:13, Jeremiah 10:12 and 51:15, and Zechariah 12:1. Clearly God knew something long before scientists did.30
How is Earth situated in space? “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” (Job 26:7). For a long time, this was hard for scientists to believe. How did everything come into existence? “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:3). How many stars are there? “That
in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy
seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea
shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;” (Genesis 22:17).
Ptolemy had calculated only 1,022 stars; the Bible clearly states there
is an innumerable amount. In case this is for some reason taken as
something different: “And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.” (Genesis 32:12). Is there a beginning to matter? Big Bang Theorists only just found their evidence for this. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1). “Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:” (I Corinthians 2:6-7).31,32
Let’s see what God had to say about a few constellations and stars. “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?”
(Job 38:31-32). This is at the point of God’s challenge to Job (where
He also mentions many of His other wonders, including “behemoth”, likely
a dinosaur). God is asking Job why he is not trusting fully in Him when
Job has not, cannot, and does not do what God can do. Pleiades is, to
the naked eye, a grouping of seven stars, but has been revealed in
photographs to be 250 stars. All of them travel in the same direction
and keep the shape of the constellation. God asks Job if he can bind
Pleiades, because God did- in much greater fashion than we realized at
first. Currently, Orion’s belt is a straight line. However, in the
future, the two right-hand stars will approach each other and form a
naked eye double while the third will drift away eastward. Can Job
loosen Orion’s belt? God is in the process. While Arcturus looks fixed,
it is actually a runaway star moving at 257 miles per second, compared
to the sun’s 12 ½ miles per second (it is also a thousand times more
massive than the Sun). Nothing can turn it from its path. Could Job
guide Arcturus? God does. Charles Buckhalter of the Chabot Observatory was led to this worldwide-attention-grabbing conclusion: “The
study of the Book of Job and its comparison with the latest scientific
discoveries has brought me to the matured conviction that the Bible is
an inspired book and was written by the One who made the stars.” These facts were only discovered in the twentieth century, but were written in the Bible about 3,000 years ago.32
Why
is this all so significant? What does it matter if we have different
ideas about when the universe was created and who created man? What
matters is that we’re all here, right?
I sometimes wish I could say that, as it could make my life easier. But it’s not the case.
If you’re convinced, or are at least questioning, and I pray you are,
that is wonderful. But that is not my goal. You can believe in God,
even in a young Earth, and still be separated from the One who created
you. But that is not what your Creator desires.
You
see, God created everything, from the simplest bacteria to the largest
star, all for His glory. “Well that’s a little conceited.” It would be,
but One who is perfect, literally perfect, because He is all-powerful
and sets the standards for perfect, and has the power to create all of
this, deserves glory. Nature glorifies Him. The universe glorifies Him.
But
more important than anything else, God created man (and soon after
woman) to glorify Him. Humans were the only things created in His image.
Adam and Eve, the first humans, were the only ones that had communion
with God, and they talked directly to Him. They lived in a state of
perfection with the rest of nature.
But
God doesn’t want forced worship. Just like we wouldn’t want forced
love, God doesn’t either. So God created mankind with a free will and
the ability to make their own choices. And to be able to make their own
choices, there had to be a choice between right and wrong. And they chose wrong. “Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” (Romans 5:12).
Why
do bad things happen to good people? Why does God allow people to get
sick, for wars and genocide to happen? Ever hear such questions? Ever
ask them? I have. This is why. It was not God’s choice, but man’s.
Because of this fall into sin, all of nature was changed from a state of
perfection to degrading into all the terrible things that have happened
and still happen in the world.
But there was hope. God told Satan, in the midst of pronouncing the punishment for his and mankind’s sin, “And
I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
(Genesis 3:15). This seed would be Jesus Christ, whose heel would be
bruised on the cross, but Who would deal the crushing blow to Satan at
the same time.
The
world would continue to degrade after this until God had to punish it
with the flood I spoke of earlier. “How can a loving God commit an act
like that?” Remember all of God’s traits: He is loving, merciful,
gracious, and many other things, but He is also just and has wrath. He
cannot- literally cannot- be in the presence of sin. And He must punish
it. Whereas God punished sin directly on people back then, the flood’s symbolism pointed to another sacrifice.
There
was only one way to be saved from the destruction of the world. It was
through one door. Noah preached as he built the ark for 500 years,
but when the door was shut, it was God who closed it. No amount of human
empathy could then save the world from God’s wrath. Doubtless the
people on the outside who had scoffed at Noah quickly saw he was correct
and wanted in. But they had missed their chance. So too is there one
door to Heaven, Jesus Christ, and a finite amount of time to go through
the door to save yourself from destruction. Once God closes the door,
and “of that day and hour knoweth no man” (Matthew 24:36), it will be too late.
One other symbol is beautiful from this global catastrophe. Afterwards, God says “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.” (Genesis
9:13). This speaks of the rainbow we are all familiar with, but the
word “bow” is there for a reason. Anyone familiar with a bow knows that
there are curved limbs and the bowstring. Observing the rainbow, we see that if
we imagine the bowstring stretched across the bottom, the bow is facing
upward. The rainbow is placed in the sky as a token that God will never
destroy the whole world by water again. But looking at the symbolism,
we are told more. With the flood God poured out His wrath on the world.
But the next time God would pour out His wrath for the sin of the whole
world, it would not be aimed down at Earth, but aimed up at His Son sent
from Heaven.
I
have mentioned Jesus several times, so let’s talk about Him. All
throughout the rest of time, people would continue to fail God. God knew
there was nothing they could do on their own to regain the fellowship
He desired with them, and He promised through a host of prophets, as
well as many times Himself, that a Redeemer and Savior would come. He
chose a man named Abraham to be the father of the nation of Israel, and
led an improbable line to become Jesus’ lineage. Included among His
ancestry is Judah, who had the child that continued the line with his
daughter-in-law, thinking she was a prostitute. There was another former
prostitute, Rahab.
Ruth was a poor widow from the Moabites, who were begun in incest.
David committed adultery and had his new wife’s husband killed. Solomon
had 700 wives and 300 concubines. What’s
the point of telling you this? God can and does use anyone. These
people had flaws, they had pasts to make one blush, and they continued
to fail God. But they had faith in God and allowed Him to use them. You
cannot be too bad, guilt-ridden, or “inferior” to accept God’s grace.
So
finally, after centuries of waiting, the Messiah who had been
prophesied of for so long came. He gave us many good teachings, and did
many good things, but He had a greater purpose for coming. Eventually
the religious leaders of the day got their wish, and Jesus was
crucified, dying a brutal death. He was buried in a borrowed tomb, which
was then sealed with a large stone and guarded by Roman soldiers. But
three days after He died, an angel rolled the stone away, the guards
fell down “as dead men”, and Jesus rose again.
It
was through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection that we have a way
to Heaven. Jesus had told one religious leader who came to Him early in
His ministry, “And
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son
of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to
condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He
that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God.” (John 3:14-18)
Those
who have believed in Christ cannot stand condemned before Him. But
before you do, you live in a state of condemnation. Just what does this
condemnation mean? Romans 6:23
tells us that “the wages of sin is death”. Revelation speaks not just
of a physical death which we all have, but a second death where
“whosever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the Lake of Fire” (Revelation 20:15). Revelation is of course written about the future. How do we avoid this?
By God’s gift of His Son. “He that believeth on him is not condemned.” “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Acts 2:21). It is so
simple. Since there is nothing we can do on our own, God made a way
that we can have rejoined fellowship with Him for now and all eternity
in Heaven. We simply have to call out to Jesus in faith accepting His
payment for our sin, asking Him to forgive
us for our sin and guide our lives. There is nothing special about the
specific words we say, but that we call out to God in faith.
What conclusion will you come to? With every argument
given, with every polarizing statement, you can think one of three
things: that person is lying, that person is crazy, or that person has
told me the truth.7
If I am lying or crazy than this falsehood I have bought into has
forever changed my life. If you choose to take me as such, I don’t care.
I won’t love or like you any less. I am not interested in what people
think of me; I would have never written this if I was. But if this has
made sense to you, if you feel convicted for it, do not close your mind
to it. Act on it. Christian, repent and trust God fully for what His
Word says. Lost soul, choose Him today. Take the living God at His word
and don’t look back. My prayers are with you all.
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“Joe,
your sources seem biased.” If you don’t trust them, then go to an
unbiased source- not an opposing source that will interpret things in
its own way, but an unbiased source, and examine them yourself. Realize that these sources come from scientists and historians as well.