Evidence for God from Science Newsletter August, 2000

Greetings in the name of the Lord! This is the latest edition of the update for the Evidence for God from Science website. It has been four months since the last update so this e-mail is a little longer than usual. Fifty-eight new pages have been added to the site, mostly from the slideshow, "Creating a Christian Apologetics Website."

RTB Creation Conference

Reasons To Believe held its creation conference, "Putting Creation to the Test" from June 22-24, 2000 in Southern California. I was privileged to attend the conference, and like most others, came away with more enthusiasm for the Old Earth creation model and ways of using the model to reach out to secular intellectuals with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Dr. Hugh Ross, president of Reasons To Believe, pointed out that we should not have to argue about what creation model is correct. Simply present your favorite model (Old Earth, Young Earth, naturalism, extraterrestrial origins, etc.) and watch the scientific literature to determine which model fits the data the best.

Dr. Ross continued by pointing out the failures of the naturalistic model. Scientists have recognized that science is unable to explain, and have made no significant progress, regarding the origin of the universe, the origin of life, and the origin of human consciousness. Atheists contentions that a creation model is not testable, not falsifiable, and has no predictive power have been shown to be false. Dr. Ross then presented his version of a testable creation model. The model was derived from the six major creation accounts found in the Bible. Other models, which use only the Genesis text, were shown to be scripturally unsound.

Dr. Fuz Rana and Dr. Ken Samples presented an excellent response to atheist's objections. Dr. Rana discussed the Cambrian explosion and how the recent finds in China make certain the short duration of the Cambrian explosion. Evolutionists objections, such as the lack of soft-bodied fossils before the Cambrian (both poriphera and jellyfish have been found), and the discovery of vertebrates in the Cambrian layers make a naturalistic explanation unreasonable. In fact, 146 of 182 skeletal designs made their appearance during the Cambrian explosion. Dr. Rana also responded to so-called examples of poor design in nature. Recent studies have shown that the Panda's thumb is optimally designed for the job it is required to do. The opposable thumb is not designed to accommodate 12 hours/day of scraping leaves from bamboo branches. However, the panda's thumb (modified wrist bones) can accomplish this function without a problem. Richard Dawkins has stated that the human eye is defective in that the photo receptor cells are found behind the neural layer that transmits the signal, thus cutting down the efficiency of photon detection. However, recent evidence shows that the arrangement is necessary, since the receptor cells must be next to an adequate supply of oxygen and nutrients. Directly behind the receptor cells is a large capillary bed that supplies the voracious metabolic needs of those cells. In addition, the presence of the neural layer in front of the photo receptor cells prevents over-bleaching of the receptor pigments, which would incapacitate the visual apparatus. If the system were arranged the way Dawkins suggested, it would not work at all! More complete reports on these topics will be forthcoming from this site.

Numerous poster presentations/workshops were given the afternoon of the last meeting day, including two by myself. These are available at the GodAndScience.org website:

Creating a Christian Apologetics Website
http://www.GodAndScience.org/general/website.html

Teaching Apologetics to Young Children (PowerPoint presentation)
http://www.godandscience.org/ppt/child.ppt

I had the opportunity to meet many people from all over the United States. In fact, about one third of the attendees came from outside of California. Nobody was disappointed by the conference. People were excited at the prospect of sharing the information with others to help break down the barriers to faith. I hope some of you get a chance to go to the conference next year. I expect it to be larger and even more exciting than this year.

Apologetics

I have added an "atheism test" that I am encouraging all atheistic visitors to my site to take. The test asks the person 4 simple questions:
1. Are you an honest atheist?
2. Enter the percentage of all knowledge in the universe that you think mankind possesses
3. Enter the percentage of all human knowledge that you personally possess

Upon completion of the first 3 questions, the person is shown a graph of their own personal ignorance. The page challenges the atheist with the following questions: "Based upon what you don't know, how can you claim to know that God does not exist? Is it possible that God could exist outside the limits of your knowledge?" The final question asks whether the person is still an atheist or is now an agnostic. About one half of the "atheists" who have taken the test now acknowledge that they have become agnostics. I have no way on knowing how many of those responses are from curious Christians (although they are advised that it is for atheists only). I encourage you to send your atheist friends and coworkers to take the test:

http://www.GodAndscience.org/apologetics/atheiststest.html

If you are curious about what the average graph of personal ignorance looks like (but don't answer the question) go here:

http://www.GodAndScience.org/apologetics/01.html

A new page has been added that describes the many verses that confirm the scientific accuracy of the Bible. The Bible accurately describes concepts in the fields of cosmology, earth sciences, and biological sciences. Dozens of verses are cited in the paper.

Accurate Biblical Descriptions of Scientific Principles
http://www.GodAndScience.org/apologetics/sciencebible.html

The page "People of Faith - Astronauts" has been updated to include links to astronauts James Benson Irwin and James Benson Irwin, in addition to Buzz Aldrin's Communion on the Moon

People of Faith - Astronauts
http://www.GodAndScience.org/apologetics/astronauts.html

One of the common criticism of the double-blind medical study of the efficacy of prayer in healing has been that the study was not repeated. Given that such studies are not fundable through the usual agencies (federal agencies NIH and NSF, and drug companies), it is not surprising that the study was not run. However, a group of doctors at the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo, recently published a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine (published by the American Medical Association) confirming the original study by Byrd. The second report has atheists scrambling to try to discredit the studies now that their primary objection has been answered. Read the commentary on the two studies, and download the original articles, if you like.

Scientific Evidence for Answered Prayer and the Existence of God
http://www.GodAndScience.org/apologetics/cardiac.html

A related page has been recently added also:

Scientific Studies that Show a Positive Effect of Religion on Health
http://www.GodAndScience.org/apologetics/religionhealth.html

Evolution/Creation

I am once again behind in the evolution pages. Updates will be available within the next few weeks, God willing. However, I was incensed to find out about a new book, "A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of
Sexual Coercion." In this book, authors Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer claim that rape is "a natural, biological phenomenon that is a product of the human evolutionary heritage," just like "the leopard's spots
and the giraffe's elongated neck." In other words, rape is a biological "adaptation" that allows undesirable males the opportunity to pass on their Functional and physical units of heredity passed from parent to offspring. Genes are pieces of DNA, and most genes contain the information for making a specific protein.genes. According to Randy Thornhill, "Every feature of every living thing, including human beings, has an underlying evolutionary background. That's not a debatable matter." Read more about the Implications of Evolution in Morality, Culture, and Society:

http://www.GodAndScience.org/evolution/implications.html

More information has been published regarding the theory that birds are descended from dinosaurs. New quotes, references, and technical information is presented that shows why birds cannot be descended from dinosaurs. In a recent article, Alan Feduccia admits that many scientists have abandoned the theory because of the "growing body of contrary evidence" and "the fact that a ground-up [i.e., from bipedal dinosaurs] origin of avian flight is considered a near biophysical impossibility."

Demise of the "Birds are Dinosaurs" Theory
http://www.GodAndScience.org/evolution/dinobird.html

The Evolution Pages at GodAndScience.org:

http://www.GodAndScience.org/evolution/index.html

Young Earth Creationism

Many new pages have been added to the young earth section. I have produced a list of indicators of the age of the earth from creation. Most of the evidence does not rely upon any Big Bang assumptions or anything else that young-earth creationists would reject as unreliable. This page is "in progress" and will continue to expand as I find new evidence in the scientific literature.

Scientific Evidence for the Age of the Universe
http://www.GodAndScience.org/youngearth/ageofuniverse.html

A response to young earth claims that the Big Bang theory is scientifically challenged has been added:

Rebuttal to "Ten Problems Against the Big Bang"
http://www.GodAndScience.org/youngearth/bigbangrebuttal.html

I received an e-mail describing four more "proofs" for a young earth. Find out why these "proofs" are bogus.

Not Enough Dust on the Earth or Moon Prove the Earth is Young
http://www.GodAndScience.org/youngearth/dust.html

The Rings Around Saturn Must be Young
http://www.GodAndScience.org/youngearth/rings.html

The Slowing of the Earth's Rotation Rate Means the Earth Must be Young
http://www.GodAndScience.org/youngearth/rotation.html

The Human Population is Increasing Too Rapidly
http://www.GodAndScience.org/youngearth/population.html

General

The "Resources" page has been updated, with links to new versions of the popular browsers, Netscape Communicator 4.75 (Windows and Mac) and Internet Explorer 5.5 (Windows), and Adobe's postscript drivers. These resources are also available on the CD-ROM (see below). Keep your PC updated:

http://www.GodAndScience.org/general/resources.html

Are you interested in reaching out to others with the gospel through the Internet? The process can be complicated and involved, and unless you are familiar with all the resources needed, it can seem overwhelming. However, now you can get a concise, yet thorough guide to the steps and resources necessary to make your own website. It is possible to produce your own website at virtually no cost at all. The information is presented in a slideshow format, so that you can go to just the information you need and get the resources and free website hosting for your own site. YOU can do it!

Creating a Christian Apologetics Website
http://www.GodAndScience.org/general/website.html

New to the humor department:

Giving Thanks as a New Christian
http://www.GodAndScience.org/general/bearfood.html

God, Adam and Eve, and Your Kids
http://www.GodAndScience.org/general/adamevekids.html

Doctrine

The Congress has passed legislation (which have been vetoed by President Clinton) to outlaw certain types of late-term abortions that are nothing less than legal infanticide. I have added a page about D&X (partial birth) abortions and why they are never medically necessary. Warning! Most people will find the page at least somewhat disturbing:

http://www.GodAndScience.org/doctrine/abortion.html

Also added are two recent testimonies given before the Congress, one by abortion survivor Gianna Jessen. Gianna gave a rousing testimony of the grace of God and did a nice job of presenting the gospel before the Congress:

http://www.GodAndScience.org/doctrine/jessen.html

The second testimony by nurse Jill Stanek is quite disturbing, but illustrates the disparity of care for babies born alive following abortion compared to those who are born premature. If you are not afraid to cry, follow the link below:

http://www.GodAndScience.org/doctrine/stanek.html

Cub Scouting

I have added a new site about our Cub Scout Pack. Scouting is a great way to teach boys important life skills and moral values while they have fun learning. Learn more about scouting and our pack:

http://pack414.godandscience.org

GodAndScience.org has moved to a new server. The site is now hosted at nomonthlyfees.com:
http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=12768212&siteid=32140217&bfpage=home

For a one-time $200 fee (plus $35/year for domain name fees after the first year, which you have to pay anyway) you get lifetime web hosting. Included in the package is 200 MB of space, up to 1000 e-mail addresses (pop3 or forwarded), free counters, scripts, FrontPage extensions, anonymous FTP, and complete site statistics. The extra space has allowed me to put all the resources (including the 300 dpi PowerPoint presentations) on the site.

Projects being worked on:

What does the Bible say about Reincarnation?
This is a page that examines what the Old and New Testament says about reincarnation. The New Testament is very clear about the issue, but the Old Testament is not so clear. Jews believe that you can come back in a second mortal life to help atone for your sins. In fact, recently, an influential Orthodox Rabbi from Israel stated that all of the 6 million Jews who died in the Holcaust were reincarnated sinners. However, there are a number of Old Testament verses that indicate that we have only one mortal life.

The Trinity in the Old Testament
Orthodox Jews and many cults do not like the idea of the Trinity, complaining that the concept is not found in the Bible. Pages already exist on this site that demonstrate the concept of the Trinity from the New Testament. However, Jews do not accept the New Testament as scripture. The new page will demonstrate how the Trinity is found in the Old Testament so that you can be better prepared to share the gospel with your Jewish friends and co-workers.

Creationary Model for the Universe and Life on Earth will be a comprehensive model for the universe that fits both biblical accounts and scientific data. It is a much-requested (by evolutionists) creationary model. One of the most common complaints from evolutionists is that we criticize evolution without providing a reasonable alternative. This page will be an attempt to answer their charge.

All ways lead to God - An examination of this popular belief is shown to be logically impossible.

Evidence for God from Science CD-ROM

The Evidence CD-ROM is available and contains the entire website for Evidence for God from Science (over 10 MB) Genesis Screen Saver (20 MB) plus the original PowerPoint presentations (another 20 MB). As an added bonus, all the latest browsing (Netscape Communicator and Internet Explorer), viewing (MS Word Viewer, PowerPoint Viewer, Acrobat Reader, PostScript Viewer and PDF creator) and compression (Stuffit/Aladdin Expander, ZipIt, and WinZip) resources are available for both Windows (32 bit and 16 bit) and Macintosh (PPC and 68K). Get your copy today:

Discontinued

You will receive an invoice ($10.00) with your completed order to cover the cost of materials and shipping. A multiple order discount is available. Updates are now available (CD-ROM without the jewel case) for $5.00. Those who signup and pay through PayPal will receive a $5.00 signup bonus.

Those are the most recent updates and changes since the last e-mail update. If you would like to see anything in particular at Evidence for God from Science, let me know. May you be blessed of the LORD, Maker of heaven and earth.

In Christ,
Rich Deem

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Evidence for God from Science
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http://www.godandscience.org/newsletters/2000-08.html
Last Modified August 4, 2000

Evidence for God from Science: Christian Apologetics