Evidence for God from Science Newsletter August, 2001
Greetings in the name of the Lord! This is the latest edition of the update for the Evidence for God from Science website. There is much news to report and a few additions to the site.
News
My wife, Carole, went in for her annual MRI to check the status of her brain tumor. In August, 1996, Carole had been diagnosed with an inoperable astrocytoma, grade 2-3, with an expected prognosis of 3-7 years to live. Her tumor was irradiated in December, 1996 and has shown no signs of growth. The latest MRI confirms that the tumor has not changed since last year. We are praising God for this continuing good news. Thank you for your prayers. For more information, see God at Work in My Life (http://www.godandscience.org/personal/godswork.html)
The second annual Reasons To Believe Creation Conference, "Beyond Genesis 1" was held June 28-30 in Southern California. This year's conference was almost completely different from last year's, but equally informative and inspiring. The overall emphasis of the conference was about how the numerous creation accounts fit together into one coherent model of how God created the universe, the earth, and life on it. We examined the following passages in order to get the "big picture":
| Genesis 1-11 | Job 9 | Job 34-41 | Psalm 65 |
| Psalm 104 | Psalm 139 | Psalms 147-148 | Proverbs 8 |
| Ecclesiastes 1, 3, 8-12 | Isaiah 40-51 | Romans 1-8 | 1 Corinthians 15 |
| 2 Corinthians 4 | Hebrews 1, 4 | 2 Peter 3 | Revelation 20-22 |
The extensive referencing to the creation in the scriptures demonstrates its theological importance. I hope to incorporate some of these additional passages into the page, Day-Age Genesis One Interpretation (http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/day-age.html).
Although the emphasis of the conference was creation, there were two notable talks that were slightly off topic, but really excellent. Ken Samples, vice president of philosophical and theological apologetics at RTB, gave an excellent talk entitled, "A Worldview Approach to the Christian Faith." In his talk, Ken listed the ten central components of a worldview and eight different tests to determine if a worldview is logically consistent. The idea of logically testing worldviews had not occurred to me before, but now I am inspired to do some side by side comparison of some of the currently common worldviews and the Christian worldview. I hope to get out a paper on this topic soon.
The other great talk, entitled, "How to Interpret the Bible: Avoiding Modern Mindlessness" was given by Dr. Walter Russell, professor of New Testament at Biola University. In his presentation, Dr. Russell explained how the schools are teaching students to interpret literature on the basis of how it relates to the individual, rather than the intent of the author and the perspective of the historical period. Unfortunately, this kind of teaching has been seeping into the Church, such that a common way to read the scriptures is to ask the question, "What does this mean to you?" Of course, the Bible was written primarily in the context of a Jewish culture or first century Christian Church. To interpret it on the basis of our global, secular culture does a great disservice to the intent of its Author. Dr. Russell also decried the modern worship tendency to sing and focus on how the individual feels, rather than focusing on the character and nature of God. This "I"-centeredness derives from secular culture, and has no place among those who are called to serve the Lord.
My
church, Sierra Madre Congregation Church, held their annual Vacation
Bible School in mid-July. As usual, I was co-teaching the 5th
and 6th
graders with Dave Sargent (see A
MESSIANIC PASSOVER HAGGADAH
and A Messianic Passover Seder).
The theme this year was "Son Creek Junction," a Vacation Bible School
with a Western flavor. What was different for us (the teachers) this
year was that the class was large (over 20) but extremely well-behaved.
Since I was doing the teaching the second day, I gave my testimony, and
followed up by asking how many in the class had already accepted Jesus
as Lord and Savior. To my surprise, everyone in the class raised their
hands. This fact probably accounted for their exceptionally good
behavior.
Scott Brisbane, a ministry volunteer has developed a new layout and navigation design for GodAndscience.org. I think that you will like the new look and it will be much easier to navigate the site. The new site can be found at:
Apologetics
H. L. Nigro, author of 
Before
God's Wrath, has written a new article for GodAndScience.org about end
times prophecies in the Old Testament book of Daniel. Although theses prophecies
span centuries, they are unnervingly accurate. And we can be assured that, as
accurately as they were fulfilled in the past, those prophecies yet to come in
the book will, likewise, be just as precisely fulfilled.
End of Days Bible Study of the Prophet Daniel
http://www.GodAndScience.org/apologetics/daniel.html
Drs. Hendrik J. Bruins and Johannes van der Plicht reported in the prestigious
British journal, Nature, that the destruction of Jericho was dated to
1580 (± 13 years) B.C. (using 14C dating). This date is significant,
since several archeologists have insisted that Jericho was destroyed by the
Egyptians between 1550 and 1300 B.C. The recent study discredits the Egyptian
theory, since the date is much too old. In addition, scientists, using 14C
dating and tree rings, have found evidence of a volcanic eruption from the
Aegean island of Thera, which has been dated to 1628 B.C.2
This would place the eruption at 45 years prior to the destruction of Jericho,
at a time which coincidentally corresponds to the time of the plagues the Lord
unleashed upon Egypt (one of which was "a darkness which may be felt"). The 45
year interval between the plagues and the conquering of Jericho by the
Israelites corresponds to the time frame indicated in the Bible. For more
information see the page below:
No Proof for the Exodus? - The potential role of Thera and 14C dating
of the destruction of Jericho
http://www.GodAndScience.org/apologetics/thera.html
Evolution/Design
There is more confirmation of the biblical creation model regarding the appearance of life and the creation of humans. A thorough genetic analysis of Asian men has concluded that all of these men came from one source, between 35,000 and 89,000 years ago. This study thoroughly discredits the multiregional evolutionary theory of human descent. In another big story, scientists have discovered a completely developed crustacean from the early Cambrian. What concerns the evolutionists is that this leaves zero time for this creature to have evolved from some other primitive animal. Remarkably, evolutionists are speculating that this latest discovery will soon result in "exploding" the Cambrian explosion, since they expect to find a large number of ancestors to these animals in the pre-Cambrian. So far, it's the usual explanation - the missing link!
- Another blow to multiregional evolutionary theory
- Fully formed crustacean found from the early Cambrian
Recent Problems in Evolution
http://www.GodAndScience.org/evolution/evolprob.html
Doctrine/Theology
A new page has been added in the prolife category. Having published pages on the biblical and scientific basis for the prolife position, I have examined some of the logical fallacies found in the abortion laws of our nation. Although I am not a lawyer, one can readily see the inconsistency of selectively applying punishment for the killing of a fetus because it is wanted by the mother. According to CALIFORNIA PENAL CODE SECTION 187, "Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought." However, when the malice is on the part of the mother, the killing is perfectly legal. Read more on this issue below:
Law and Abortion - The Legal Basis for a
Prolife Position
http://www.GodAndScience.org/doctrine/lawabortion.html
Prolife Pages
http://www.GodAndScience.org/doctrine/abort.html
Young Earth Creationism
Two new pages have been added on young earth creationism. The first examines the young earth claim that carnivorous activity did not begin until after the fall of mankind. A new page examines this claim from a biblical (non-scientific) viewpoint. In fact, the Bible does state that both herbivores and carnivores were created on day 6:
Did God Create Carnivores on Day 6?
http://www.GodAndScience.org/youngearth/carnivores.html
The second page discusses the widely held belief that there was a water canopy above the earth prior to the flood. This canopy was said to help accounts for long lifespans of pre-flood humans along with a source for all the water required for a global flood. The new page examines why the Bible claims that no such canopy ever existed, along with scientific reasons why such a canopy cannot exist.
The Vapor Canopy Theory- Why the Bible (and
science) says it is false
http://www.GodAndScience.org/youngearth/canopy.html
In writing the paper about the vapor canopy, I realized that I had left out even more reasons why the Bible claims that the flood was local. If you carefully read the flood story, you find that the terminology explaining how the flood ended requires a local flood interpretation, since the water "receded" and was dried by the wind. Neither of these methods would impact a global flood. In addition, the text states that after the flood "the earth was completely dry." If one were to interpret this verse from a global perspective, one would have to conclude that the earth became one big desert after the flood. Obviously, the "earth" that the text refers to is the local land in which the flood occurred.
The Genesis Flood- Why the Bible Says
It Must be Local
http://www.GodAndScience.org/apologetics/localflood.html
This and previous newsletters are now available online. Go to the URL below to read the current and past e-mail newsletters:
http://www.GodAndScience.org/newsletter.html
Projects being worked on:
- "All ways lead to God" - An examination of this popular belief is shown to be logically impossible
- Sequence of DNA that are very similar to normal genes but that has been altered so they are not expressed.Pseudogenes: Argument for Evolution and Against Design? - It has been argued that the presence of apparently copied, non-functional Deoxyribonucleic acid: the chemical inside the nucleus of a cell that carries the genetic instructions for making living organisms.DNA The order of nucleotides in a DNA or RNA molecule, or the order of amino acids in a protein molecule.sequences (known as Sequence of DNA that are very similar to normal genes but that has been altered so they are not expressed.pseudogenes) support the theory of evolution and invalidate the idea that an intelligent being designed life on earth. Although this argument presents a serious threat to intelligent design, the idea that it confirms evolution in every regard is, likewise, problematical.
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. The LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him.
In Christ,
Rich Deem
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Evidence for God from Science
Website: http://www.GodAndScience.org/
http://www.godandscience.org/newsletters/2001-08.html
Last Modified August 30, 2001
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