GOD CREATED SCIENCE - Part I

In this series, I will set forth what I trust will be interesting snippets of scientific information which I hope will provide the merest of glimpses of the infinite mind and wisdom of our God.

We must ever remember that God did not only USE the laws of nature, He CREATED them. About 140 AD Ptolemy (approximately 100 AD - 170 AD) an Egyptian who wrote Greek, described the earth as static with the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn circling it in that order of distance.

Copernicus, the Polish astronomer set forth a contrary view -- that earth circled the sun. He presented his correct discovery in his book, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Globe in 1543. This, of course, was contrary to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. Before this time, the energy of the centrifugal force produced by a spinning object was well understood. Those opposing Copernicus' and later Galileo's theory that the earth spun on its axis, rued this fact as evidence that these two scientists were in error and upheld the old concept that it had to be untrue on the basis that the centrifugal force would have led to all free bodies on the earth, including humans, being thrown into space. Clearly such a catastrophe was not happening. Thus these men felt sure that this fact proved that the earth possessed no movement.

Of course God well knew when He placed mankind on a moving earth, that without a counter force, we. indeed, would not adhere to this earth. But our infinite God created another force, gravity. That force is stronger than the centrifugal force of our rotating planet. Thus gravity overcomes the centrifugal force and we are well able to keep our feet firmly planted on this earth. The power of gravity was just sufficient to assure this fact, but not so great that it pinned us down to a single place on earth. Our limb muscles are sufficiently powerful that we can walk and run freely. In placing a right balance between the centrifugal force and the force of gravity, God, as always, had prepared His creation to perfection.

GOD CREATED SCIENCE - Part 11

Without atmospheric oxygen, animal and human life on this earth would be impossible. Our atmosphere consists of 20.9 percent Oxygen. Percentages of other atmospheric gases are Nitrogen 78.084, Argon 0.934, Carbon Dioxide 0.033, Neon 0.00018, Helium 0.000052, Krypton 0.000011, Xenon .0000087.

In the first of this series we showed the crucial role of gravity, discovered by Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), prevented the centrifugal force of our rotating planet casting us out into space. Although gravity is by far the weakest of the four presently recognised forces of nature, it extends over huge distances. The other three forces are the strong, weak and electromagnetic forces. The strong force, which is found in the atomic nucleus, is over a trillion times stronger than gravity. God in His wisdom created it to extend only over a distance of 1/10¹³ centimetres (one ten-trillionth of a centimetre). Can you imagine if gravity possessed the same strength as the strong force, while extending its effect over vast distances? It is likely that all the stars, planets and other celestial objects - along with living creatures -- would be immovably stuck fast to one another. Praise God it was He who created the laws of science!

The force of gravity ensures oxygen's availability in our atmosphere. All gases possess a velocity. As an approximate general principle, the lighter the gas the greater its velocity. Hydrogen possesses an atomic weight of 1, and helium - the second lightest element, which is also a gas - has an atomic weight of 4. On the other hand, Nitrogen (14) and Oxygen (16) have considerably higher atomic weights. Further, these latter two elements normally form compounds, being united with a fellow atom. Thus we write their symbols as N2 and O2. A very small percentage of oxygen atoms unite in "clumps" of 3 which we call ozone, and such is symbolised as 03. O2 has a molecular weight of 32 (2x16) and N2 of 28 (2x14). Atmospheric hydrogen and helium rarely unite with like atoms. Thus the velocities of the molecular oxygen and nitrogen are considerably less than those of the atoms of hydrogen and helium. The slower velocities of nitrogen and oxygen ensure that rarely do these gaseous molecules reach such velocities that they can escape from the atmosphere of a planet the size of the earth by overcoming the force of gravity. On the other hand, both hydrogen and helium atoms frequently reach such speeds. This is the reason for their infinitesimal amounts in our atmosphere (see above). All these two molecules, 02 and N2 and two atoms, H and He, the symbols for hydrogen and helium, respectively, are produced by various means upon earth. In His wisdom, God has created an earth of the correct size to ensure oxygen is present in adequate quantities in our atmosphere, in order to sustain life. He has placed sufficient vegetation on land and in the sea to renew our oxygen supply when we, by our body's metabolism requirements, convert oxygen to carbon dioxide (C02). The world's vegetation converts CO2 into its constituent atoms, carbon and oxygen, expelling the oxygen to replenish the atmosphere and incorporating the carbon atoms into the production of wood or other types of vegetation. Some may question the need for almost 75 percent of the atmosphere consisting of nitrogen. Once more we perceive the wisdom of our God. If virtually the entire atmosphere were oxygen, the terrible forest fires we endure each summer in Australia would pale in their enormity, prevalence and frequency by comparison with those we would experience if nitrogen did not dilute the oxygen.

What a blessing it is that nitrogen is a non inflammable gas! Someone surely designed such a fine balance within our atmosphere. That Someone, beyond all dispute, was the God of Heaven, revealed to us in Scripture. By the way, if earth were only the size of the moon, which exerts only one-fifth of earth's gravity, this planet, like the moon, would possess no atmosphere whatsoever, because the velocities of nitrogen and oxygen would be sufficient to escape from a planet exerting so little gravity.. The same is true if our sun were further from us and thus exerted less gravity upon our world. Further, if the carbon dioxide and methane percentages in our atmosphere were marginally greater than they are presently (review paragraph 1 of this article), the global warming we now see would be utterly catastrophic.

Our earthly ecosystem is extremely finely balanced. The severe six-year drought, which is presently devastating our vast agricultural lands in Australia, is stark testimony to this fact. It demonstrates that we humans of western nationality, greedy for the advantages we see in the free use of fossil fuels, are willing to destroy the very atmosphere which sustains our existence.

Currently India and China, understandably, are driving forward to match western standards of living, and are making giant strides. They represent 40 percent of the population of the world - considerably more than all our present first-world nations' populations combined. On ABC News Network Radio in Australia, on 19 October, 2006, it was reported, for example, that China will increase the number of vehicles on its roads fivefold in the next decade. That's a massive increase in the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere. God saw such degradation of the world in these last days. He warned us: Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. (Isaiah 51:6)

We live in this day and we humans are the culprits. Even our atmosphere and the outer layer of our earth testify to the fact that Jesus' return is imminent.

Latest research demonstrates that 98.77 percent of our human genes are shared with chimpanzees. That should deflate our egos! In the eyes of the great majority of scientists, this research has merely confirmed that which scientists since the age of Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882 had already "known" - we share a common ancestor with chimpanzees. (See Time, cover story, "How we became man", Australian edition, 9 October, 2006).

What does the knowledge of the fact that our human genome shares 98.77 percent of its genes with the genome of chimpanzees do for our self esteem? The correct answer to that question is that it is irrelevant to it. If we are humble servants of God we should possess no prideful self-esteem, recognising that without the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we are absolutely NOTHING, except pathetic, lost sinners. If Christ through the Holy Ghost accepts us as servants of Him, then that is none of our own doing and merits no self-credit, although it should generate humble amazement and deep gratitude to our Saviour. But let us pause for a moment before rushing into a belief that Darwinism has been confirmed. Science, in general today, seems bereft of consideration of any alternative to evolution. In this sense scientists and those foolish enough to endorse their clearly faulted theory, exert blind faith which is tantamount to unreasoned religious fervour. Yet, only a simpleton could really believe that anything originated from nothingness. Never has a single scientific observation nor experiment even hinted at such a conclusion. No such observation or experiment ever will. "Something" has to have been in existence from eternity past. That "Something" is Someone - the Godhead of Scripture stands alone as that credible "Something." The written testimony of many witnesses in Scripture is unshakeable. Beyond this we - each one who possesses the Holy Scriptures - hold in our hands irrefutable evidence that an all-seeing God who, without the least error, foresaw the future with infallible accuracy. Yet today, this mighty body of evidence - divine prophecy - is almost totally ignored even by many Christians, let alone atheistic scientists. It is time long overdue that learned institutions ceased awarding doctoral degrees in science for that which may best be described as scientific fiction. Let it ever be remembered that - "And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; where unto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. -- 1 Peter 1 :18-20

It is a matter of great puzzlement that the Roman Catholic Church, which boasts, incorrectly, that it possesses apostolic succession from the apostle whom the Holy Spirit inspired to write the above Scripture, has accepted the words of Pope John Paul II who endorsed evolution in a public statement. Yet that Church does not see itself clearly portrayed in Biblical Prophecy. It is time for all Christians to stay their faith by the study of Bible Prophecy.

The valid science of Intelligent Design, so dismissed out of hand by devout evolutionists, has exploded the myth that the process of natural selection accounts for the intricacy of living objects. Of course God has, in His infinite wisdom placed within the genes of His created vegetation and creatures, a remarkable range of biodiversity in order that such can survive in the tropics, in the arctic regions and in the areas which are temperate or desert regions. This can roughly be designated a process of natural selection. Biodiversity has provided a seemingly unending variety of roses, but none of these has ever evolved to other distinct species of flowers, despite the fact that roses share numerous genes with a very wide variety of other plants. Those few scientists who do support the scientific principle of Intelligent Design, fall far short of their duty when they do not specify who the Intelligent Designer is. Not one word of Scripture was placed in the Holy Bible without providing mankind with this information.

In the beginning GOD created the heaven and the earth. -- Genesis 1:1, emphasis added.

This is the valid alternative to evolution which most scientists refuse to consider. The principal tenet of Intelligent Design is that biological entities of all kinds exist, possess complex systems of biological processes, the great majority of which are of no value whatsoever until every step in the process is complete. Thus small random single chemical compounds, even if they did evolve, would not possess a single advantage to the plant or creature which would serve Darwin's hypothetical concept of natural selection for they would be utterly useless to the organism.

Remnant Herald No 111, Feb. 2007.

GOD CREATED SCIENCE -- Part 111

WHO WAS THE COMMON ANCESTOR OF HUMANS AND CHIMPANZEES?

One such example is sexual reproduction. Even if the utterly impossible proposed evolution of a male of any of the numerous animals which propagate by this manner was to appear on earth, not a single one of them would survive beyond its own lifetime, unless, within the period of its short lifetime (short in comparison to the billions of years of evolutionary postulations), unless a fully sexually-equipped female, in possession of all the complex pituitary gland and other hormones essential for sexual reproduction, the provision of the sexual female organs and anatomy and even the sexual drive, were all in place. Even then those two - fully sexually developed male and female - would have had to evolve on a common continent and in a close locality in order to meet so that they could copulate. Remember, those conditions would have to have been met by each of the numerous varieties of sexually multiplying creatures. Some of these creatures exist for a mere day in which such sexual activity can take place. One example of this is the glowworm found in the Waitomo Caves in the North Island of New Zealand, Bolitophilia luminosa. In the laviform (worm) state, these luminous lava (worms) exist for about one year. But the resultant insect when it emerges, dies within twenty-four hours during which brief period copulation occurs. It is time for evolutionists to face the poverty of their theory. It is a preposterous insult to mankind's intelligence. We have not even mentioned the development of other systems, such as the respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurological, endocrine, renal, skeletal, cardiovascular and others. Let us return to the 98.77 percent genes we humans share with chimpanzees. The time is long overdue when the scientific community returned from the dead-end road of evolution and once more considered an alternative explanation of the large number of parallel genes we share with chimpanzees - that both man and chimpanzees were designed by the same Infinite Designer. After all, man breathes, so do chimpanzees; both share similar gastrointestinal tracts, skeletons, cardiovascular systems, urinal systems, hepatic systems and many more. Why should it amaze us that we hold so many genes in common? In this a common Creator is surely revealed. Even with mice we share about 90 percent of genes (See Time, op. cit. p.45). For reasons cited above, this should not be surprising. However, man alone, and no other creature, was made in the image of God. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." - (Genesis 1:26-28)

How did God place in us conscience, character development, the gift of speech, the power to discern and choose between right and wrong, evil and good, the mind to know the unseen God, the ability to read and write with knowledge, ability to grasp the infinite gift of salvation, the emotion of love for God? Never, in the years of eternity, possessing immortal minds, will we comprehend the infinite depths of these questions. But already valid science is catching the merest glimpses to the answers to one or two of these questions. How significant is the 1.23 percent of genes which we possess which are different from those of chimpanzees? It is beginning to emerge that the answer to this question is "enormous." We cite one instructive example: By comparing the protein coded by the human FOXP2 gene with the same protein in various great apes and in mice, they discovered that the amino acid sequence that makes up the human variant differs from that of the chimp in just two locations out of a total of 715 – an extraordinary small change that may nevertheless explain the emergence of all aspects of human speech, from a baby's first words to a Robin Williams monologue. And indeed, humans with a defective FOXP2 gene have trouble articulating words and understanding grammar. - Time, op.cit. p.40

We stand in awe of God's creative genius. We are surely "fearfully and wonderfully made." I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth full well. - (Psalm 139:14)

Remnant Herald No.112, April 2007