The Fallacy of Time and Chance

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In the beginning, God created ... (Genesis 1:1)

If you had not eaten in over two weeks and you found a dollar, would you spend it on a burrito (a sure thing) or on a lottery ticket and a chance to win $10 million (not a sure thing)?  If all you have to do is pick five correct non-repeating numbers in no special order, your chance of picking all five correctly is 1 in 71.5 million.  If, on the other hand, the numbers must be in the correct sequence the odds decrease to 1 in 8.6 billion.[1]  With those kinds of odds, I am sure I would buy a burrito rather than a lottery ticket!

The odds for spontaneous generation of life from non-life are greater than that of winning the lottery.  “So even by the wildest ‘guesstimates,’ the universe isn’t old enough or big enough to reach odds like the 1 in 103,000,000 that Huxley, an evolutionist, estimated as the odds against the evolution of the horse.”[2]  With odds like these, one may as well consider evolution a veritable impossibility.

When one considers the irreducible complexity of the simplest single-cell bacteria, the evidence  should suffice to convince even the most recalcitrant skeptic, provided he has not abandoned all reason.  The motility of a bacterium is accomplished by a whip-like tail called a flagellum.   “The flagellum is constructed of 40 proteins, 10 of which are used in other structures in the cell, and 30 of which are unique to the flagellum.  The flagellum will not function unless all 40 proteins are put together the right way … If the flagellum is missing even one protein, it will not function.”[3]  I might also add that if only one protein is out of order, the flagellum will not function.

Like creation, evolution cannot be proven scientifically or mathematically for that matter.  It takes an enormous amount of faith to believe “in the beginning hydrogen.”  Therefore, the only thing we can do is to consider the scientific evidence and see which origins model makes more sense or is more reasonable.

First of all, the universe and all that is in it “looks” designed.  Design demands a Designer.  Consider again the bacterium’s flagellum.

The flagellum has a motor that is about one-tenth of a micron in diameter, and a tail that turns at up to 100,000 rpm and acts as a propeller. The motor can reverse direction within a quarter turn. The electric motor of the flagellum is precisely analogous to our electric motors, but on a fantastically smaller scale, and it functions better than anything we can make.  One of the smallest man-made electric motors is 2 mm in diameter and was invented for use in boring plaque out of coronary arteries.  It involved the work of visionary cardiologists, as well as biomedical engineers.  These scientists, of course, stood on the shoulders of previous electricians, mathematicians, and engineers.

But the bacterial flagellum is 20,000 times smaller than this motor, works better, and turns faster!  The flagellum is fastened securely to the bacterial cell wall and has all the analogous parts of a man-made electric motor: It has a hook, or universal joint; a bushing; a rod (drive shaft); and an electrically-charged rotor and stator.[4]

Intelligent scientists and engineers took years to design a tiny micro-motor that is clunky in comparison to the motor that drives the bacteria’s flagella, and yet we are amazed at the genius of the men that designed it.  But therein lays the answer:  men with intelligence designed it; it did not “evolve” on its own from an assortment of miscellaneous junk parts.  The same is true of the bacterial flagellum; it is of impeccable design, and only a fool will attribute its existence to the “blind watchmaker” of evolution.

From the smallest bacteria to the greatest galaxies, our universe displays incredible design and precision.  Evolution, on the other hand, wants to take credit for all that exists by claiming that 14 billion years ago some nondescript cosmic egg exploded, and that from all of the chaos of that primordial explosion, all that we now see “organized itself” into what we understand our universe to be.  It makes for a nice story, but it lacks substance.  Dr. Henry M. Morris offers five solid reasons why this “big bang” theory is a load of poppycock:

1.        The primordial explosion should have propelled all the matter/energy of the cosmos out radially from its center, and by the principle of conservation of angular momentum, none of it could ever thereafter have acquired any kind of curvilinear motion.  Yet there are all kinds of curving and orbiting motions of the stars and galaxies of the cosmos, a situation that seems quite impossible if the universe began with the big bang.

2.        Sensitive measurements in recent years have increasingly been showing that the background radiation is not homogeneous and isotropic (that is, the same in all directions), as it should be if it had been produced by the big bang, but is “anisotropic” in all directions.

3.        The universe is anything but uniform in large-scale structure, as both the big-bang and steady state theories require, but instead is full of huge agglomerations of matter in some regions and vast empty spaces in others, scattered around the cosmos in far from any uniform manner.  Some astronomers are now trying somehow to justify a primeval lumpy big bang!

4.        In the context of the primeval fireball, it is hard to justify the accumulation of any amount of matter in any one location such as a star.  If the explosion is driving all galaxies apart in the resulting expansion, how could it fail to drive all atoms apart before they came together in galaxies?

5.        The most serious objection comes back again in the second law of thermodynamics.  Explosions produce disorder, not order!  The primordial super explosion surely would have produced absolute chaos and the most utter disorder.  If the universe is indeed a closed system, as evolutionary cosmogonists allege, then how in the name of sense and science could this primeval chaotic disorder have possibly generated the beautifully organized and complexly ordered universe that we now have?  The big-bang idea, viewed in this light is as absurd as the steady state idea. [5]

“In the beginning hydrogen?”  Not hardly.  Order cannot come from disorder.  Life cannot come from non-life.  Evolutionists will attempt to deny, or otherwise skirt the issue, but the fact remains that even in the simplest form of life, all the creature’s parts must be present concurrently or the thing will not live, let alone survive.  Evolution from non-life would require that all the necessary proteins and amino acids come together instantaneously and in the proper configuration in order to produce life.  This has been attempted in the laboratory, and what was touted as a great success (the creation of a few amino acids) was in fact a miserable failure.[6] The resultant “building blocks” of life were the wrong blocks, and they did not fit together in any way to produce life.  Of course, that was conveniently left out of the headlines.

This fact alone should discredit the illusion of evolution, but the averse will adamantly cling to the myth claiming that all life originated from a single source billions of years ago.  Although it has been shown that spontaneous generation is next to impossible, let us assume an original source from which all life sprang.  Surely the fossil record would bear some evidence of transitional forms of one kind of life changing to another.  Without a doubt, several “proofs” have made the headlines only to be exposed as frauds, the lie to be revealed only in the most obscure sections of the printed media.  The fact is that the fossil record is remarkably silent on transitional forms.  Everything in the fossil record appears suddenly and fully formed, but bless their hard little hearts, the evolutionists continue their desperate search.

The Bible says that God created everything: space, time, matter/energy, earth, sky and sea, all plant life, sun, moon and stars, sea animals, land animals and at the top of His creation was man – created in the image of God.  All things were created in six 24-hour days, and at the end of each creation day, God declared His creation “good.”  Then on the final day of creation, He declared His creation “very good” – that is to say, “perfect.”  Declaring that each act of creation was good suggests that there was no need for improvement, i.e. “evolution.”  Plants were to bear seed “after its own kind.”  Animals were to reproduce “after their kind.”  This is what the fossil record bears out.

Neither creation nor evolution can be proven scientifically, but when compared side by side, creation, as recorded in the Bible, makes much more sense.  “In the beginning hydrogen?”  No!  In the beginning God!

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[1]  Calculation done on WebMath.Com: http://webmath.com/lottery.html

[2]  From Answers in Genesis, “The Odds of Evolution,” http://aigbusted.blogspot.com/2007/11/odds-of-evolution_07.html

[3]  The Institute for Creation Research, The Creationist Worldview Program, Module 4, Course 2, Lesson 1, “Is Intelligent Design Unscientific?” Section : “Design: Purposeful Arrangement.”

[4]   Ibid.

[5]  Morris, Henry M., The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, (Green Forest, AZ, 2008), pp. 132-133.

[6]  See article “Evolution Hopes You Don’t Know Chemistry: The Problem with Chirality” by Charles McCombs, Ph.D, http://www.icr.org/article/evolution-hopes-you-dont-know-chemistry-problem-wi/

Holding All Things Together

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And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.  (Colossians1:17)

One of the irrefutable laws of physics is the First Law of Thermodynamics or the Law of Conservation, which states that matter/energy can neither be created nor destroyed – at least as it is observed today.  However, the Bible is clear that matter/energy did indeed have a starting point.  “In the beginning [time] God created the Heaven [space] and the earth [matter/energy]” (Genesis1:1).  Scripture is also clear that the Creator was Jesus. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same [Word] was in the beginning with God.  All things [matter/energy] were made by him [the Word], and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3). 

Our verse further emphasizes this truth: “He is before all things.”  Before there was matter/energy, before there was time, before there was space, there was Christ.  Actually, the Greek word translated “all things” is pántoon, which simply means “all.”  This phrase could more accurately and simply be translated “He is before all” – not just things, but everything: time, space and matter.

Not only did He exist before all, but He also created all.  “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” (v.16). 

The second part of the Law of Conservation is confirmed by the second part of our verse: “by him all things consist.”  The verb “consists” is the Greek verb sunésteeken, which means to “set together” or “to constitute.”  He holds all things together.  “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made” (Genesis 2:1-2).  So, matter/energy are no longer being created.  He made it all, and he maintains it all; so we sing “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11). 

In Defense of Genesis

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All Scripture is given by inspiration of God... (2 Timothy 3:16)

Genesis is a book that draws fire (as one might expect) from atheists and evolutionists; but unexpectedly, it also draws “friendly fire” from the Christian camp.  The atheists and evolutionists (typically one and the same) are, for all practical purposes, a lost cause.  They reject Genesis because they choose to; no amount of “evidence” will change their minds.  They simply do not want to believe; but the Christian compromise on Genesis is troubling.  This is the battle ground that creationists must conquer.

Although the term “compromiser” carries a negative connotation, I choose to use that term to identify Christians who will not accept the message of Genesis literally.  I do not mean to imply that these compromisers are unsaved or that they purposefully want to discredit God’s word; but in attempting make God’s Word more palatable to an unbelieving world, and to deflect the fiery missiles hurled against the book of Genesis as being unscientific, they unwittingly diminish the power of God to perform the mighty acts that Genesis describes.

Compromisers attempt to soften the impact of Genesis by claiming that it is only an allegory written to acknowledge God as Creator.  They will claim that the book is poetry, and that it is not intended to be historically or scientifically accurate.  The purpose of Genesis, they say, is to teach “who” created, but not “how” things were created.  The “how” can only be answered by science, or so they have been told, and so they say.

As for the claim that Genesis is allegory or poetry, expert scholars in Old Testament and Hebrew will attest to the fact that Genesis is written in narrative form, and as such it attempts to present these acts as facts.  Dr. John Morris wrote in an article entitled “Does Genesis Address the Time of Creation, or just the Fact of Creation?”  In it he emphasizes this point:

Hypothetically, consider a person fluent in Biblical languages who knows nothing of either Scripture or the various claims regarding the age of things, but who can read, carefully analyze, and understand a written document. Given the Bible for the first time, such a reader would certainly understand Genesis 1-11 to teach that creation occurred only thousands of years ago, not millions or billions, and he would cite several reasons.

He would note that the word "day" (Hebrew, yom) in Genesis 1 is best understood as a literal day (either a 24-hour day or the daylight portion of a day). While this common word can mean an indefinite time period, it almost always means a literal day and is so defined the first time it is used in Genesis 1:4-5.  Furthermore, it always means a literal day when modified by a number (i.e., 2nd day) or evening and/or morning, as it is in Genesis 1.  To cap it off, it always means a literal day when used in the plural form (i.e., six days of creation, Exodus 20:11).

Next, he would note the narrative character of those early chapters. They are telling a story, and there is no indication that it is figurative. He would find the poetic portions are no less "historic" than the prose portions. It all appears to be chronological, with each event followed by another.[1]

So the argument that Genesis cannot be taken literally because it is allegorical is based on a false premise.  In fact, even atheists would defend against that point.

In regard to the historical and scientific accuracy of Genesis, one only need look at the rest of the Bible for support.  If Genesis is not historically and scientifically accurate, then how can the rest of the Bible be trusted?  In the first place, God vouches for the integrity of His Word, which happens to include Genesis:  Psalm 119:89, 152, 160; Psalm148:4-6; Isaiah 40:8; Isaiah 55:11; Matthew 24:35; 1 Peter 1:25, etc.  Jesus cited Genesis as factual (Matthew19:4-6; Luke 17:26).  If the events recorded in Genesis are merely poetic allegory, then the deity of Christ is severely compromised because He presented it as historical fact.  Other writers of both the Old and New Testaments also regarded the Genesis account as fact.  To devalue the historical accuracy of Genesis is to cast doubt upon the whole of Scripture.

The Bible, however, has in all areas of scrutiny been proven true.  Modern archeologists use the Bible to locate ancient historical sites.  Even in those areas where the Bible was thought to be in error, e.g., the existence of the Hittite nation, or the reign of Belshazzar as recorded in the book of Daniel, archeology has proven the Bible to be accurate.

In all the instances where the Bible speaks to science, it is consistently found to be true.  Even in the accurate calculation of Pi (π) rounded to a whole number (2 Chronicles 4:2), the Bible is accurate.  So, if the rest of the Bible is historically and scientifically accurate, then it is unreasonable to doubt the accuracy of Genesis.

The “how” of creation is not addressed in Genesis nor can it be answered by science.  Surely the mind of man cannot approach the knowledge and understanding of God in order to fathom the “how” of His creation.  According to Genesis, God created out of nothing, and all that He created, He spoke into existence.  As incredible as this may sound to mortal beings such as ourselves, to doubt it in the least is to deny God His omnipotence and omniscience.  This is what compromisers must understand.

 

Science has no factual answers to the “how” of creation.  They propose theories, and their theories, especially with today’s technology, are continually proven false, and so the theories have to be continuously modified.  Science demands observation.  Creation cannot be and has never been observed.  Evolution from one “kind” into another has never been observed, and there is no evidence in the fossil record that it has ever occurred.  Science demands experimentation with repeatable results.  All attempts to “evolve” something in the laboratory have failed miserably.  Science has no answers for the “how,” and our compromisers need to understand that.

“Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4).  Genesis is the Word of God.  It is true; it is historically and scientifically accurate.  To doubt its veracity, is to cast doubt on all of Scripture.  There is no room for compromise.

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[1]  Morris, John D., “Does Genesis Address the Time of Creation, or just the Fact of Creation?” (https://www.icr.org/article/594/).

The Heavens Declare

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The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament sheweth his handy-work.  (Psalm 19:1)

Skeptics demand proof of God’s existence.  They want to see and touch and feel the evidence for God when ironically they are surrounded with evidence.  Having eyes they do not see, and having ears they do not hear (Mark 8:18) the clear message of creation “because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them” (Romans 1:19).  Indeed, as our text indicates, creation “proclaims” God’s existence.  Note the verbs used in Psalm 19:1-3: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handy-work.  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.  There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard” (emphasis added).

Creation is perfectly ordered.  So perfectly is the universe synchronized that engineers can accurately predict the positioning of heavenly objects at any given time so that deep space probes can be safely dispatched along their desired trajectory with confidence.  No “big bang” can produce such order and precision as any pyrotechnician can testify.  Instead, the universe shouts: “handy-work; knowledge!”  From the furthest galaxies to the smallest cells to the invisible atoms, all things exist in perfect order.  “Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (v.4).  As an architect lays down a line on a blueprint, so God has aligned all of creation in one harmonious orchestration.

This evidence is the Word of God for “There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard” (v. 3).  Silence, critic who would self-righteously judge God as unfair for castigating the unlearned and ignorant heathen!  “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 they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20 – emphasis added).  “[T]he judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether” (Psalm 19:9).  If this is true for the ignorant and uncivilized, how much greater the guilt of those who have the written Word and ignore it!  “The heavens declare the glory of God … by them thy servant is warned” (Psalm 19:1, 11).  Listen to the message of creation!

Reported Until This Day

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And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. (Matthew 28:4)

One of the greatest apologetics for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the empty tomb.  Around the modern city of Jerusalem there are at least seven tombs that supposedly held the body of Jesus.  The most famous is the Garden Tomb, but all of these tombs have one thing in common – they are all empty. Muhammad is buried in the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (Mosque of the Prophet) in the city of Medina.  Buddha’s body was cremated and his remains are divided up among several Buddhist temples.  The grave of Confucius is in his home town of Qufu, Shandong Province, China.  But there is no burial site on earth that holds the remains of Jesus.

Skeptics offer many explanations for this.  Some suggest that Jesus swooned and the coolness of the tomb revived Him, and He walked out under His own strength.  Others say that the women in their grief forgot where the body was placed and mistook an empty tomb for the tomb of the Lord.  Still others tenaciously hold to the story recorded by Matthew, i.e., “His disciples came by night and stole him away” (v. 13) while the soldiers slept, “and this saying is commonly reported … until this day” (v. 15).

A close examination of Matthew’s account of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection will readily debunk this story.  The disciples could not have stolen the body for several reasons.  First of all, they feared for their lives: “all the disciples forsook him, and fled” (Matthew 26:56).  Secondly, the tomb was guarded by professional soldiers (Matthew 27:65).  Peter had a short sword (Matthew 26:51; John 18:10), but he was no match for trained soldiers.  Thirdly, the tomb was secured with the seal of Rome (Matthew 27:66) that carried the death penalty for unauthorized tampering.  Finally, the soldiers were under penalty of death for falling asleep while on watch, but they willingly admitted to this infraction knowing that their lie would be covered up by the priests (v. 14).

The truth is that Jesus left the tomb unbeknownst to the soldiers.  In the meantime, a single angel rolled away the stone that would have taken several men to move (v. 2).  The sight of such a display of power accompanied by the radiance of his appearance melted the hearts of these battle hardened soldiers so that they “did shake, and became as dead men” (v. 4).  When the soldiers reported back, the chief priests “gave large money unto them saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept” (vv.12-13), “and this saying is commonly reported … until this day” (v. 15).  For those who refuse to believe, no amount of evidence will convince them; for those who believe, no evidence is required.  “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

April Fools

April Fools


The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." ( Ps 14:1)[1]

For since the creation of the world [God’s] invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Rom 1:20)

Atheists are some of the most miserable people I know. They hate it when people pray to the God they try so desperately to deny, so they expend enormous amounts of energy and money to stop believers from praying to a person whom they say does not exist. I believe that if I were truly an atheist, it would not bother me for someone to pray to some imaginary deity. Since, as they claim, God does not exist, what’s the harm? Somehow, I believe that the burr under their saddle is that deep inside they really do believe that God exists even though they try to deny Him, and these praying people just keep reminding them of the fact.

Atheists are such unhappy people. They try to fill the void in their souls with material stuff, with wine, women and song, or with noble causes, but all their efforts pass through them like sand through a seine. They dislike being alone in the quiet, because they know that they are not alone. Their demons haunt them, and even so, they understand that God is there. So they entertain themselves in noisy venues in attempt to drown out the nagging silence. They will venture to sports events, but they wait until after the kick off, the tip off, the puck drop, the first pitch or the green flag, because to enter sooner would subject them to the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag where they would hear, “One nation under God.” If I were an atheist, having God in the Pledge would not bother me, because it is just another word like all the others that are mindlessly chanted – no harm done.

Atheists are such discontented people. They truly do not enjoy life much, so they lash out at those that do. They want to take Christ out of Christmas for everyone so that they can enjoy a godless “Holiday Season.” They would like to turn Easter into a “Spring Festival” with Easter egg hunts, Easter bunnies and Easter parades, but let’s not publicize anything about the resurrection of Christ “whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 3:15). That is just another reminder that there is a God, and that Jesus died for their sin and they are accountable to Him. So they protest any celebration that would remind them of their responsibility to God. If I were a true atheist none of those holidays would trouble me, because all those things are meaningless, if there is no God.

Atheists are such gloomy people. They need a holiday just for them, and this is it – April Fools’ Day! It is already on the calendar. Perhaps our liberal Congress and President could declare it a national holiday. Even Christians could participate. God has already declared, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.” (Ps 14:1) They are rotten. What they do is sickening, and they really do no good at all. Has any atheist ever built a hospital? Has any atheist ever established a university? When they do get involved in some “good” thing, it is always at the detriment of all society. For instance, the battle over global warming, embryonic stem cell research, Planned Parenthood, various “conservation” movements and so on. There is no excuse for them because the clear evidence they have they reject, so that the appellation ascribed to them is entirely appropriate – FOOLS.

Happy April Fools’ Day!

Notes:

[1] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quoted is from THE NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE UPDATE. (The Lockman Foundation, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995).