Problems for evolution and the big bang - 1/168 How could plants ever have existed for millions of years without the ability to photosynthsize? 1) Where would they get their energy from? 2) How could they have developed the extremely complex mechanisms required for photosynthesis over millions of years as raw energy pouring into an open system destroys life, and every plant that didn't have the full, working mechanisms for photosynthesis would die. Say you do have plants that can live in the dark by getting energy from some other source. Point 2 would mean that they could not grow in sunlight, so they would only flourish in dark caves. So how are they supposed to develop the mechanisms needed for turning sunlight into energy without ever having grown under sunlight? It would be easier trying to teach a blind man to see. And if plants could evolve in caves somehow (!), then they couldn't have supported the vast number of species that lives in the open air that would need them for food and shelter. 'All things were made by Him; and withoout Him was not anything made that was made', John 1:3. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 2/168 The stars of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, rotate about the galactic centre with different speeds, the inner ones rotating faster than the outer ones. The observed rotation speeds are so fast that if our galaxy were more than a few hundred million years old, it would be a featureless disc of stars instead of its present spiral shape. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 3/168 According to evolutionary theory, comets are supposed to be the same age as the solar system, about 5 billion years. Yet each time a comet orbits close to the sun, it loses so much of its material that it could not survive much longer than about 100,000 years. Many comets have typical maximum ages (on this basis) of 10,000 years. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 4/168 Each year, water and winds erode about 25 billion tons of dirt and rock from the continents and deposit it in the ocean. This material accumulates as loose sediment on the hard basaltic rock of the ocean floor. The average depth of all the mud in the whole ocean, including the continental shelves, is less than 400 metres. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 5/168 Every year, rivers and other sources dump over 450 million tons of sodium into the ocean. Only 27% manages to get back out of the sea each year. The remainder is thought to simply accumulate in the ocean. If the sea had no sodium to start with, it would have accumulated its present amount in less than 42 million years at today's input and output rates. This is much less than the evolutionary age of the ocean, 3 billion years. The usual reply to this discrepancy is that past sodium inputs must have been less and outputs greater. However, calculations which are as generous as possible to evolutionary scenarios still give a maximum age of only 62 million years. Calculations for many other sea water elements give much younger ages for the ocean. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 6/168 The total energy stored in the Earth's magnetic field has steadily decreased by a factor of 2.7 over the past 1000 years. Evolutionary theories explaining this rapid decrease, as well as how the Earth could have maintained its magnetic field for billions of years, are very complex and inadequate. A much better creationist theory exists. It is straightforward, based on sound physics, and explains many features of the field: its creation, rapid reversals during the Genesis Flood, surface intensity decreases and increases until the time of Christ, and a steady decay since then. This theory matches paleomagnetic, historic and present data. The main result is that the field's total energy (not surface intensity) has always decayed at least as fast as now. At that rate the field could not be more than 10,000 years old. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 7/168 In many mountainous areas, strata thousands of feet thick are bent and folded into hairpin shapes. The conventional geologic time-scale says these formations were deeply buried and solidified for hundreds of millions of years before they were bent. Yet the folding occurred without cracking, with radii so small that the entire formation had to be still wet and unsolidified when the bending occurred. This implies that the folding occurred less than thousands of years after deposition. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 8/168 Strong geologic evidence exists that the Cambrian Sawatch sandstone, formed an alleged 500 million years ago, of the Ute Pass Fault west of Colorado Springs was still unsolidified when it was extruded up to the surface during the uplift of the Rocky Mountains, allegedly 70 million years ago. It is very unlikely that the sandstone would not solidify during the supposed 430 million years it was underground. Instead, it is likely that the two geologic events were less than hundreds of years apart, thus greatly shortening the geologic time-scale. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 9/168 Radiohalos are rings of colour formed around microscopic bits of radioactive minerals in rock crystals. They are fossil evidence of radioactive decay. 'Squashed' Polonium-210 radiohalos indicate that Jurassic, Triassic and Eocene formations in the Colorado plateau were deposited within months of one another, not hundreds of millions of years apart as required by the conventional time-scale. 'Orphan' Polonium-218 radiohalos, having no evidence of their mother elements, imply either instant creation or drastic changes in radioactivity decay rates. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 10/168 All naturally occurring families of radioactive elements generate helium as they decay. If such decay took place for billions of years, as alleged by evolutionists, much helium should have found its way into the Earth's atmosphere. The rate of loss of helium from the atmosphere into space is calculable and small. Taking that loss into account, the atmosphere today has only 0.05% of the amount of helium it would have accumulated in five billion years. This means the atmosphere is much younger than the alleged evolutionary age. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 11/168 Evolutionary anthropologists say that the Stone Age lasted for at least 100,000 years, during which time the world population of Neanderthal and Cro-magnon men was roughly constant, between one and 10 million. All that time they were burying their dead with artefacts. By this scenario, they would have buried at least four billion bodies. If the evolutionary time-scale is correct, buried bones should be able to last for much longer than 100,000 years, so many of the supposed four billion Stone Age skeletons should still be around (and certainly the buried artefacts). Yet only a few thousand have been found. This implies that the Stone Age was much shorter than evolutionists think, a few hundred years in many areas. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 12/168 The usual evolutionary picture has men existing as hunters and gatherers for 100,000 years during the Stone Age before discovering agriculture less than 10,000 years ago. Yet the archaeological evidence shows that Stone Age men were as intelligent as we are. It is very improbable that none of the 4 billion people should discover that plants grow from seeds. It is more likely that men were without agriculture less than a few hundred years after the Flood, if at all. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 13/168 According to evolutionists, Stone Age man existed for 100,000 years before beginning to make written records about 4,000-5,000 years ago. Prehistoric man built megalithic monuments, made beautiful cave paintings and kept records of lunar phases. Why would he wait 1000 centuries before using the same skills to record history? The biblical time-scale is much more likely. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 14/168 Abrupt appearance of animals. All the different, basic kinds of animals appear abruptly and fully functional in the strata - with no proof of ancestors. 'Evolution requires intermediate forms between species and paleontology does not provide them.' (David Kitts, paleontologist and Evolutionist) Darwin was embarrassed by the fossil record. It contains no proof for macroevolution of animals. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 15/168 Plants appear abruptly. Evolutionist Edred J.H. Corner: '...I still think that to the unprejudiced, the fossil record of plants is in favor of special creation.' (Evolution in Contemporary Thought, 1961, p.97) Scientists have been unable to find an Evolutionary history (beginning to end) for even one group of modern plants. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 16/168 Animals unchanged. Contrary to common belief, most fossils are not of extinct types of animals. Most fossils are very similar (and often totally identical) to creatures living today. It is said there are many more living species of animals than there are types known only as fossils. If Evolution is true, one may wonder why the case is not just the reverse! Evolutionary history is supposed to be filled with temporary, intermediate stages of Evolution, from amoeba to man. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 17/168 Sufficient fossils. There is a continuing lack of evidence for Evolution despite an enormous number of fossils. Although scientists will continue to discover new varieties of fossil animals and plants, it is generally agreed that the millions of fossils already discovered (and the sediments already explored) provide a reliable indication of which way the evidence is going. That is, there will continue to be little or no fossil evidence found to support Evolutionism. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 18/168 Fast strata formation. There is increasing evidence that many sedimentary rocks, which some thought took thousands or millions of years to accumulate, almost certainly were deposited in only months, days, hours, or minutes. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 19/168 Rapid coal formation. The old Evolutionary theory about coal forming in swamps is wrong. There is increasing evidence that massive coal deposits were formed in deep flood waters. Various coal layers in the U.S. consist mainly of sheets of tree bark abraded from huge masses of uprooted trees. The bark layers were buried in mud and carbonized into coal. Coal formation is relatively quick when heat is applied. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 20/168 Fossilization requires very special conditions. Dinosaur and other fossils could not have formed in the way suggested by most Evolutionary books. Animals almost never fossilize unless they are buried quickly and deeply - before scavengers, bacteria and erosion reduce them to dust. Such conditions are highly unusual. In almost all cases, the very existence of the fossils, in the types and numbers discovered, strongly indicates catastrophic conditions were involved in their burial and preservation. Without such conditions, there seems to be no plausible way to explain their existence. Huge dinosaurs, huge schools of fish, and many diverse animals are found entombed by massive muddy sediments which hardened into rock. Almost all fossils are found in water-laid sediments. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 21/168 Wrong order for evolution. It has been reported that '80 to 85% of Earth's land surface does not have even 3 geologic periods appearing in 'correct' consecutive order' for Evolution. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 22/168 The fossil record does not provide evidence in support for Evolution. 'Fossils are a great embarrassment to Evolutionary theory and offer strong support for the concept of Creation.' (Dr. Gary Parker, Ph.D., Biologist/paleontologist and former Evolutionist) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 23/168 Carbon dating extremely inaccurate. For example, Coal from Russia from the 'Pennsylvanian,' supposedly 300 million years old, was dated at 1,680 years. (Radiocarbon, vol. 8, 1966). Bones of a sabre-toothed tiger from the LaBrea tar pits (near Los Angeles), supposedly 100,000-one million years old, gave a date of 28,000 years. (Radiocarbon, vol. 10, 1968). A freshly killed seal dated by C14 showed it had died 1300 years ago. (Antarctic Journal, vol. 6, [September-October 1971], p. 211). Living mollusk shells were dated at up to 2,300 years old. (Science, vol. 141, 1963, pp. 634-637). Living snails' shells showed they had died 27,000 years ago. (Science, vol. 224, 1984, pp. 58-61). Problems for evolution and the big bang - 24/168 The universe is far to clumpy to have been created by the big bang, even when you invent cold dark matter to make up 99% of the matter in the universe. Also, COBE, the instrument that measures background radioation (so called background noise of the big bang) found that is was uniform in every direction, but if the big bang theory was true, this would not be the case, and this was certainly an unexpected result. New Scientist magazine reported that 'Many accepted theories of galaxy formation will have to go if the datd build-up from cosmic background explorer satelite is published... Big Bang theorists will be in a lot of trouble when the data is released', and went on to say, 'But the authorities concerned are not releasing the data'. I wonder why! Problems for evolution and the big bang - 25/168 Another measure from the age of the earth comes from the moon. When space ships landed on the moon, evolutionists expected the ships to sink in the thin layer of meteoritic dust that should have accumulated on the surface of the moon over its assumed age of billions of years. They estimated this layer to be at least 16.5 metres deep. But to their disappointment, when Luna landed on the moon, the greatest reading it gave was under 0.5 metres, showing that the moon is also young. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 26/168 Breaks 1st Law of Thermodynamics. Energy is neither being created or destroyed. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 27/168 Breaks 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. All physical systems, when left to themselves, will move in a direction from order to chaos. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 28/168 Breaks 3rd Law of Thermodynamics. Order is maximum at absolute 0 temperature (-237°C). Adding raw energy reduces order. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 29/168 Breaks Laws of Probability. If we are extremely generous to evolution, and give it 3 trillion years, and all the space in the universe for reactions that occur 100 billion billion times a second, the probability of evolution creating a 'simple' cell are 1:10^450, when there are only 1:10^170 possible reactions. This is considered a mathimatical impossibility. Similarily, the chances of evolution creating a horse is known to be 1:10^3000000. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 30/168 Breaks Pasteur's Law of Biogenesis. Life can only come from life. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 31/168 Breaks the Law of the Principle of Conservation of Angular Momentum. This principle states that uniform radial motion could never give rise to curvilinear motion. Hence the assumption that a linearly expanding gas converted into orbiting galaxies and planetary systems is just not possible. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 32/168 Breaks Law of Cause and Effect. This states that for every effect, there must be a cause which is superiour in every aspect, showing that the universe could not have created itself as the Big Bang theory assumes. The universe (effect) needed a cause which is outside and superior to it. The only Cause that is outside space and time and is superior to all things is God. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 33/168 Kraus, in a recent book, Has Hawking Erred?, calcculated a conservative estimate for the mass of the universe as 8*10^25. His conclusion was this, 'the idea that a speck of matter smaller than a dust particle on my table could have accomidated the condensed mass of the entire universe, streches credibility beyond its limits... The Big Bang theory must be seriously questioned'. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 34/168 The Hubble Space Telescope reported that the stars are older than the very universe itself. The 'most perplexing' such galaxy to date has an apparent age (according to evolutionary theories) of 3.5 billion years, which is far too 'old' for a galaxy at such an alleged early stage (red shift 1.5) of the universe's history. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 35/168 There are many evidences for man having lived with dinosaurs, such as foot prints found on a 'pre-historic' beach in Turkmenistan, of both man and dinosaurs. Also, many cave paintings and etchings have been discovered of dinosaurs. A 'pre-historic' horse that many evolutionists claimed to be an ancestor to the 'modern' horse, tan coloured, with a black stripe and black legs has been found living in Tibet! And there has been a new species of elephant discovered that is indentical to paintings of cave walls and has many features such as a sloping back and set-back head, once considered by evolutionsists to be a relation to the mammoth, found alive and kicking in Nepal! Problems for evolution and the big bang - 36/168 Many cells, organs and functions of the body cannot be simplified. They could not have evolved either together or seperately as they require each others cooperation to have any beneficial value. With any part missing, the unit would cease to function, and would be more of a hindrance than a help. For example. God has given the wood pecker two backward-facing toes and an arrangemnet of tendons and leg muscles, sharp claws, and stiff tail feathers with spines, for use as a prop while climbing, a reinforced skull to stop it bashing its brains out, shock-absorbing tissue between the beak and the skull, a chisel-tipped beak and a stronger bill than most birds, slit-like nostrils with tiny feathers blocking them, so the saw dust doesn't enter the beak, muscles which pull its brain away from the beak every time it strikes a blow, supurbly coordinated neck muscles to keep its head straight while pecking, otherwise the bird's brain would tear away, and a long tounge spear-headed with bristles for sensing when it has caught a grub. Normal birds store their tounges in their beaks, but because the wood peckers tounge is so long, it is stored in its right nostril. It emerges, and splits in too halves, each going over one side of the skull underneath the skin. Then they come around and up underneath the beak, and enter the hole in the beak where they rejoin. Without any one of these features, the bird would simply not survive. It couldn't have evolved, like many other things such as the Giraffe's long neck. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 37/168 Mutations are never beneficial. They are only either harmful or deadly. This is in keeping with the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Many experiments were carried out on fruit flies. Some flies had no legs, others had no wings. None of the mutations were beneficial to the fruit fly. Mutations don't add any information for creating new features. They are only the rearrangement of proteins in DNA. Any time a species was found to have developed a new feature, after investigation, it is always found to be just a rearrangemnet of old information. If anything, mutations degrade and loose information. Famous exmaples like the Giraffe that stretched up to get the leaves of the trees don't work. These kind of changes aren't hereditory. And what happened to the young Giraffes that couldn't reach any leaves? Problems for evolution and the big bang - 38/168 Contrary to popular opinion, it doesn't take thousands of years for fossils to form. One nice example is of a miner who misplaced his felt hat while working in a mine in 1850. Fifty years later, it was discovered and found to have evolved from a soft hat into a hard hat! :). And in 'the buried village' in New Zealand, there has also been everything from petrified bowler hats, bags of flour and ham to sausages believed to be petrified lamp fuel. In Australia, there have been fence posts, which are wooden on top, and turned to stone under the ground, after being in the ground for only 50 years. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 39/168 It doesn't take thousand of years for stalligmites or stalligtites to form. One famous exmaple if of a fizzy drinks bottle in a cave which already has a layer of 3 mm. Another example is of a stalligmite forming on some newly built steps in a cave. The guide said that stalligmites take many thousands of years to form, but when asked about this one, said to the effect that this rule applies to most, but not all stalligmites. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 40/168 Creationsts do not argue that life is merely complex, but is ordered in a way as to defy natural explanation. The order in the proteins and DNA of living things is independant of the properties of the chemicals which they consist, unlike a crystal of salt where the structure results from the porperties of the salt molecule. The order in living things parallels that in printed books, where the information is not contained in the ink or even in the letters but in the complex arrangement of letters which make up words which make up sentences which make up paragraphs which make up chapters which make up books. These components of written language respectively parallel the nucleic acid bases, condons, genes, operons, chromosomes and genomes which make up the genetic programs of living cells. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 41/168 In all the fossil record, comprising of millions of fossils, not a single transitional form is to be found. Evolutionists cannot blame the size of the record, as Darwin hinted, for the absence of those forms. According to Newell, an evolutionist: 'Many discontinuities tend to be more and more emphasised with increased collecting'. Simpson, one of the world's foremost evolutionists wrote: 'Regular absense of transitional forms, is not confined to mammals, but is almost a universal phenomenon. It is possible to claim that such transitions are not recorded because they did not exist'. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 42/168 Polystrate fossils: These are fossils standing in a verticle position instead of the usual horizontal, and spanning more than one layer of 6 metres (20 ft) thickness. Outstanding examples are fossil trees 24 metres (80 ft) standing vertically or sometimes upside down and spanning 4-5 layers. Each layer, according to evolution, must have taken millions of years to be deposited, and there is no way evolutionists can explain how such fossilized trees remained upright while the layers were being deposited. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 43/168 Fossilized tracks of man and dinosaur: These appear together in the Paluxy River basin in Texas. According to evolution, dinsosaurs are supposed to have become extinct 70 million years before man arrived on the scene. But here we have evidence that they roamed the world together, wiping out 70 million years of evolution. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 44/168 Frozen mammoths in Siberia: Found with their meals still in their stomachs, these show sudden death by freezing. According to evolution, the freezing came very slowly. Hence there is no way evolution can explain this sudden freezing of mammoths. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 45/168 Pollen and spores from land plants in Cambrian strata: According to evolution, when Cambrian strata were being depositied, land plants had not yet appeared on the scene, and there is no way to explain the presence of pollen and spores in Cambrian rocks. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 46/168 The geologic column: Described by geologists as a regular succession of rock layers, starting with the 'oldest' at the bottom and the 'youngest' at the top, the geologic column is nowhere found complete and is not always as predicted. Vast areas of 'older' rocks are found on top of 'younger' ones, so huge, and laid down so smoothly that they cannot be explained away as geologic faults. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 47/168 Evolutionist, W. Stansfield wrote, 'It is obvious that radiometric methods may not be the reliable dating methods they are often claimed to be. Age estimates on a given geological stratum using different methods are often quite different... There is absolutely no reliable long-term radiological clock'. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 48/168 The potassium-argon method is well known for its inconsistent results. It is enough to mention that when this method was applied to volcanic rocks known to be 200 years old from the historical record, it gave a range of values from 22 million to 200 million years old. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 49/168 In an article in the Anthropological Journal of Canada, under the heading 'RadioCarbon, Ages in Error', Robert Lee sets forth the truth of the matter. 'The troubles of the radiocarbon dating method are undeniably deep and serious... it should be no surprise then, that fully half of the dates are rejected. The wonder is, surely, that the remaining half come to be accepted'. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 50/168 At a symposium on pre-history, Proffesor Brew summarised a common attitude among archaeologists towards the C14 dating method: 'If a C14 date supports our theories, we put it in the main text. If it does not entirley contradict them, we put it in a footnote. And if it is completely out of date, we just drop it'. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 51/168 Dr. John Eddy, an astro-geophysicist, in a report published in the Geotimes of September 1978 makes this comment: 'There is no evidence based solely on solar observations, Eddy stated, that the sun is 4.5-5*10^9 years old. 'I suspect', he said, 'that the sun is 4.5 billion years old. However, given some new and unexpected results, to the contrary, and some time for frantic recalculation and theoretical adjustment, I suspect that we could live in Bishop Ussher's value for the age of the earth and sun. I don't think we have much in the way of observational evidence in astronomy to conflict with that'. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 52/168 All recorded history and civilizations of the world date back to a maximum of 6000 years. Isn't this strange if man, according to evolution, has been around for over 1 million years? Problems for evolution and the big bang - 53/168 The oldest living trees in the world dated accurately by annual growth rings are about 4-5000 years old, in harmony with the date of the flood in the creation model. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 54/168 The present world population (about 4 billion people) is in harmony with the date of the flood. If we start with 8 people who came out of the ark, and apply a growth factor of 2.5 children per family (less than the present rate), we will end up with the present population in about 4300 years, which takes us back to Noah's time. But if we take the same rate, and apply it to only half a million years of evolution of man, there would not be enough surface area on our planet to contain the number of people. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 55/168 Dr. Barnes of Texas University studied the rate of decay of the magnetic field of the earth, using recorded data of scientists over the past 300 years. He found out that if we go back beyond 20,000 years, the heat from currents causing the magnetic field would have been so strong, as to seperate the core from the mantle of the earth. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 56/168 Modern studies (Even by Dr. Libby who discovered the method) show that the C14 equilibrium state (Which takes 30,000 years to achieve from the start of the atmosphere) has not been reached yet, and that C14 formation is still at least 24% more than decay. All dates arrived at by this method now require adjustment, and such adjustments have reduced the dates dramatically. In RadioCarbon magazine, several examples were given, such as coal from Russia, supposidly 300 million years old, after re-dating, was only 1680 years old! Problems for evolution and the big bang - 57/168 Modern studies (Even by Dr. Libby who discovered the method) show that the C14 equilibrium state (Which takes 30,000 years to achieve from the start of the atmosphere) has not been reached yet, and that C14 formation is still at leats 24% more than decay. From these measurements, scientists were able to calculate an upper limit to the age of the atmosphere of 10,000 years. Since we cannot imagine an earth without an atmosphere, the age of the earth (and mankind!) has an upper limit of 10,000 years in conformity with what God has revealed about creation. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 58/168 The Weekend Australian 7-8 May, 1983, described the responce of Richard Leaky, the Director of the Natural History Museums in Kenya, to the Lucy find: 'Echoing the critism made of his father's habilis skulls, he added that the Lucy's skull was so incomplete that most of it was 'imagination made of plaster of Paris', thus making it impossible to draw any firm conclusion about what species she belonged to'. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 59/168 The famous research anatomist, Prof. Lord Solly Zuckerman, like many other authorities in this field, has questioned the scientific validity of fossil finds. In his book, Beyond the Ivory Tower, he writes: 'The record is so astonishing, that it is legitimate to ask whether much of science is to be found in this field at all'. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 60/168 The earlier discovery by Richard Leaky in 1973, the Director of the Natural History Museums in Kenya, of modern man aged 2.8 million years old (according to evolutionist dating methods), wiped out all the previous ape-men related findings. Speaking on the find, Leaky said: 'What we have discovered simply wipes out everything we have been taught about human evolution and innerhave nothing to offer in its place'. Evidence of the Bible's inspiration - 61/168 'He hangeth the earth on nothing' (Job 26:7). Job wrote this fact over 3500 years ago, yet this is 20th century physics. The laws of gravity which Newton discovered do no add anything to what Job recorded, they simply explain how God 'hangeth the earth on nothing'. At the turn of this century, scientists believed that a space substance called 'ether' existed throughout space, and helped to hold the earth in its position. But this has now been disproved, and the most scientific statement is still that 'He hangeth the earth on nothing'. Evidence of the Bible's inspiration - 62/168 'The host of heaven cannot be numbered' (Jer 33:32). For centuries, there have been attampts at counting the number of stars. Ptolemy counted 1056, Brahe said 777, Kepler counted 1005. The number has been increased until today it is well known that there are well over 100 billion stars in our own galaxy, with probably another 100 billion galaxies. Evidence of the Bible's inspiration - 63/168 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood' (Lev 17:11). Over the ages, scientists argued about the 'life of the flesh', and suggested that various organs in the human body carried this responsibility. Blood was never on their list. In 1628, Harvey proved that the blood circulates from the heart and back to it, reaching all parts of the body via arteries and viens. He was the first to discover what is a well known fact today. Evidence of the Bible's inspiration - 64/168 'For dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return' (Gen 3:19). In the late eighteenth century scientists developed techniques for analysing minerals, and many other such techniques exist today. Chemical analysis of the composition of man's body, and the dust of the earth has shown that the following elements which make up major constituents of the human body are also present in typical samples of dust on the surface of the earth: Calcium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sodium, Magnesium, Iron, Oxygen, Chlorine, Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Sulphur. Evidence of the Bible's inspiration - 65/168 The dimensions of the ark have been analysed by experts in the field of hydraulic engineering. Dr Henry Morris, who chaired civil engineering departments in top America universities, after careful analysis of the dimensions came the the conclusion that it is almost impossible to capsize. (Morris, H.M. The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Baker Book House, Michigan, 1993, p. 295). Evidence of the Bible's inspiration - 66/168 Analysis of the stability of Noah's ark has been carried out using a cross section of the ark and the forces and moments acting on it as it is tilted about by violent storms. They show that the bouyant force tending to right it, always acts outside the wieght force tending to capsize it. The result is it will always return to its normal floating position. Noah's ark's ratio of length to width is 6 to 1 (300 cubits to 50 cubits) tend to keep it from being subjected to wave forces of equal magnitude over its whole length, since wave fields tend to occur in broken and varying patterns, rather than in a series of long uniform crest-trough sequences. Any vortex action to which it might occasionally be subjected would also tend to be resisted by its 6 to 1 length to width ratio. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 67/168 In his book, The Big Bang Never Happened, E. J. Lerner argues that the Big Bang is nothing but a myth that contradicts scientific observations: 'The Big Bang has flunked every test, yet it remains the dominant cosmology, and the tower of theroetical entities and hypotheses climbs steadily higher. Today's cosmologists have... thus returned to a form of mathematical myth... Entire careers in cosmology have now been built on theories which have never been subjected to observational test, or have failed such tests and been retained nonetheless'. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 68/168 Jeremy Rifkin in his book, Entropy: A New World View writes: 'We believe that evolution somehow magically creates greater overall value and order on earth. Now that the environment we live in is becoming so dissipated and disordered that it is apparent to the naked eye, we are beginning for the first time to have second thoughts about our views on evolution, progress, and the creation of things of material value... Evolution means the creation of larger and larger islands of order at the expense of greater seas of disorder in the world. There is not a single biologist or physicist who can deny this central truth. Yet who is willing to stand up in a classroom or a public forum and admit it'. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 69/168 Lipson, the British physicist comments in an article published by Physics Bulletin, May 1980, entitled, A Physicist Looks at Evolution: 'If living matter is not, then, caused by the interplay of atoms, natural forces, amnd radiation, how has it come into being?'. After dismissing a sort of directed evolution, he concludes: 'I think, however, that we must go further than this and admit that the only acceptable explanation is creation...I know this is anathema to physicists, as indeed it is to me...but we must not reject a theory we do not like if the experimental evidence supports it'. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 70/168 Darwin analysed many features of animals and attributed them to survival of the fittest. He assumed that new traits, for example, the long neck of the Giraffe, were acquired characteristics due to the environment, and believed that these could be inherited. Giraffes supossidly got long necks becasue their ancestors stretched them to reach leaves high in the trees, then passed on more neck 'pangenes' to their offspring. This idea of progress through effort, which contributed to the early popularity of evolution, has since been proved wrong and discarded. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 71/168 Denton writes the following as a conclusion to the subject of transitional forms: 'In a very real sense therefore, advocacy of the doctrine of continuity (eg. evolutionism) has always necessitated a retreat from pure empiricism (ie. logic and observation), and contrary to what is widely assumed by evolutionary biologists today, it has always been the anti-evolutionists (eg. creationists), not the evolutionists, in the scientific community who have stuck rigidly to the facts and adhered to a more strictly empirical appraoch... It was Darwin the evolutionist who was retreating from the facts'. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 72/168 Charles Darwin is popularly supposed to have solved the problem of 'the origin of species,' in his famous 1859 book of that title. However, as the eminent Harvard biologist, Ernst Mayr, one of the nation's top evolutionists, has observed: 'Darwin never really did discuss the origin of species in his On the Origin of Species'. (In Mayr's book Systematics and the Origin of Species (1942), as cited by a prominent modern evolutionist, Niles Edlredge, in his book, Time Frames: The Rethinking of Darwinian Evolution and the Theory of Punctuated Equilibria (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985), p. 33) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 73/168 Not only could Darwin not cite a single example of a new species originating, but neither has anyone else in all the subsequent century of evolutionary study. 'No one has ever produced a species by mechanisms of natural selection. No one has gotten near it...'.(Colin Patterson, 'Cladistics.' Interview on BBC, March 4, 1982. Dr. Patterson is the senior paleontologist at the British Museum of Natural History) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 74/168 It is a very curious fact that no one understands how evolution works. Evolutionists commonly protest that they know evolution is true, but they can't seem to determine its mechanism'. 'Evolution is... troubled from within by the troubling complexities of genetic and developmental mechanisms and new questions about the central mystery--speciation itself'. (Keith S. Thompson, 'The Meanings of Evolution,' American Scientist (vol. 70, September/October 1982), p. 529) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 75/168 It used to be claimed that the best evidence for evolution was the fossil record, but the fact is that the billions of known fossils have not yet yielded a single unequivocal transitional form with transitional structures in the process of evolving. 'The known fossil record fails to document a single example of phyletic evolution accomplishing a major morphologic transition...'. (Steven M. Stanley, Macroevolution: Pattern and Process (San Francisco: W.M. Freeman and Co., 1979), p. 39) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 76/168 The ubiquitous absence of intermediate forms is true not only for 'major morphologic transitions,' but even for most species. 'As is now well known, most fossil species appear instantaneously in the fossil record, persist for some millions of years virtually unchanged, only to disappear abruptly...'. (Tom Kemp, 'A Fresh Look at the Fossil Record,' New Scientist (Vol. 108; December 5, 1985), p. 67. Dr. Kemp is Curator of the University Museum at Oxford University) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 77/168 As a result of the ubiquitous absence of intermediate forms, many modern evolutionists agree with the following assessment: 'In any case, no real evolutionist . . . uses the fossil record as evidence in favor of the theory of evolution as opposed to special creation...'. (Mark Ridley, 'Who Doubts Evolution?' New Scientist (vol. 90; June 25, 1981), p. 831. Dr. Ridley is Professor of Zoology at Oxford University) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 78/168 Not only are there no true transitional forms in the fossils; there is not even any general evidence of evolutionary progression in the actual fossil sequences. 'The fossil record of evolution is amenable to a wide variety of models ranging from completely deterministic to completely stochastic'. (David M. Raup, 'Probabilistic Models in Evolutionary Biology' American Scientist (vol. 166. January/February 1977), p. 57) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 79/168 'I regard the failure to find a clear 'vector of progress' in life's history as the most puzzling fact of the fossil record...we have sought to impose a pattern that we hoped to find on a world that does not really display it'. (Stephen Jay Gould, 'The Ediacaran Experiment,' Natural History (vol. 93; February 1984), p. 23. Dr. Gould, Professor of Geology at Harvard, is arguably the nation's most prominent modern evolutionist) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 80/168 The superficial appearance of an evolutionary pattern in the fossil record has actually been imposed on it by the fact that the rocks containing the fossils have themselves been 'dated' by their fossils. 'And this poses something of a problem: If we date the rocks by their fossils, how can we then turn around and talk about patterns of evolutionary change through time in the fossil record?' (Niles Eldredge, op. cit., p. 52) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 81/168 The basic reason why there is no scientific evidence of evolution in either the present or the past is that the law of increasing entropy, or the second law of thermodynamics, contradicts the very premise of evolution. The evolutionist assumes that the whole universe has evolved upward from a single primeval particle to human beings, but the second law (one of the best-proved laws of science) says that the whole universe is running down into complete disorder. 'How can the forces of biological development and the forces of physical degeneration be operating at cross purposes? It would take, of course, a far greater mind than mine even to attempt to penetrate this riddle. I can only pose the question...'. (Sydney Harris, 'Second Law of Thermodynamics.' This nationally syndicated column appeared in the San Francisco Examiner on January 27, 1984) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 82/168 Entropy can be forced to decrease in an open system, if enough organizing energy and information is applied to it from outside the system. This externally introduced complexity would have to be adequate to overcome the normal internal increase in entropy when raw energy is added from outside. However, no such external source of organized and energized information is available to the supposed evolutionary process. Raw solar energy is not organized information! Problems for evolution and the big bang - 83/168 The existence of similarities between organisms--whether in external morphology or internal biochemistry--is easily explained as the Creator's design of similar systems for similar functions, but such similarities are not explicable by common evolutionary descent. 'It is now clear that the pride with which it was assumed that the inheritance of homologous structures from a common ancestor explained homology was misplaced'. (Sir Gavin de Beer, Homology, an Unsolved Problem (London: Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 15. Sir Gavin is a leading European evolutionist) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 84/168 'The really significant finding that comes to light from comparing the proteins' amino acid sequences is that it is impossible to arrange them in any sort of an evolutionary series'. (Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (London: Burnett Books, 1985), p. 289. Denton is a research microbiologist in Australia) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 85/168 The old arguments for evolution based on the recapitulation theory (the idea that embryonic development in the womb recapitulates the evolution of the species) and vestigial organs ('useless' organs believed to have been useful in an earlier stage of evolution) have long been discredited. '...the theory of recapitulation...should be defunct today'. (Stephen Jay Gould, 'Dr. Down's Syndrome,' Natural History (April 1980), p. 144) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 86/168 The old arguments for evolution based on the recapitulation theory (the idea that embryonic development in the womb recapitulates the evolution of the species) and vestigial organs ('useless' organs believed to have been useful in an earlier stage of evolution) have long been discredited. 'An analysis of the difficulties in unambiguously identifying functionless structures...leads to the conclusion that 'vestigial organs' provide no evidence for evolutionary theory'. (S.R. Scadding, 'Do `Vestigial Organs' Provide Evidence for Evolution?' Evolutionary Theory (vol. 5, May 1981), p. 173) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 87/168 Salomonsen, writing about the breathtaking navigational feat, says: 'Even when birds were anaesthetised for the outward journey, or if their cages were made to rotate continuously so that their orientation was constantly changing, they were just as able to find their way home as were the control birds. Therefore there can be no doubt that birds have a special sense of geographical position, i.e. a real navigational sense. The nature of this instinct remains a mystery; even more so, the location of the relevant sense organ'. (Salomonsen, F.: Aus der Serie: Moderne Biologie BLV Munchen. Basel, Wien, 1969, 210 S) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 88/168 The origin of the ice age has greatly perplexed uniformitarian scientists. Much cooler summers and copious snowfall are required, but they are inversely related, since cooler air is drier. It is unlikely cooler temperatures could induce a change in atmospheric circulation that would provide the needed moisture. As a result, well over 60 theories have been proposed. Charlesworth states: 'Pleistocene phenomena have produced an absolute riot of theories ranging 'from the remotely possible to the mutually contradictory and the palpably inadequate'.'. (Charlesworth, J.K., 1957,The Quaternary Era, Vol. 2, London, Edward Arnold, ;. 1532) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 89/168 Take the Coelacanth. On the basis of fossil evidence, evolutionists believed it was intermediate between fish and amphibia. Reconstructions showed Coelacanth to have both amphibian and fish-like characteristics. Later, live Coelacanths turned up in the Indian Ocean near Cape Province, South Africa. They were fish. The reconstructions had been wrong. All of which shows that fossils provide a poor basis for detailed inferences about proposed links between classes. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 90/168 'Is it really credible that random processes could have constructed a reality, the smallest element of which--a functional protein or gene--is complex beyond...anything produced by the intelligence of man?'. (Denton, op. cit., p. 342) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 91/168 Evidence of rapid deposition and burial of fossils is found in the Redwall Limestone. Along the Colorado River at Nautiloid Canyon, just north of Grand Canyon, the Redwall Limestone contains large fossils of nautiloids squid like marine animals that possessed a straight shell, sometimes over two feet long. The long, slender shells of numerous nautiloids, in Nautiloid Canyon, have a dominant orientation, indicating that current was operating, as fine grained lime mud accumulated. (Observation of Steven A. Austin in Nautiloid Canyon, April 1989) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 92/168 All of the species of Australopithecus and Homo habilis had long curved fingers and long curved toes. Creatures with such anatomical features use them for only one purpose--swinging from branch to branch in the trees. So much for the supposed human-like upright locomotion of Homo habilis and Australopithecus, including 'Lucy.' Problems for evolution and the big bang - 93/168 Though Darwin hoped fossil transitions would appear eventually, none did. Only trivial cases of microevolution, hardly rivaling selective breeding, were evident. Nor for more than a hundred years would any accurate measure of distances between existing classes become possible. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 94/168 In all comparisons, the hypotheses of general evolution are false. Denton writes: The really significant finding that comes to light from comparing the proteins' amino acid sequences is that it is impossible to arrange them in any sort of evolutionary series. (Jacques Monod, Chance and Necessity, London: Collins, 1972, p. 110 (as cited by Denton, op. cit., p. 289)) The upshot is that the whole concept of evolution collapses (Ibid., p. 291) [because] the pattern of diversity at a molecular level conforms to a highly ordered hierarchic system. Each class at a molecular level is unique, isolated, and unlinked by intermediates. (Ibid., p. 290) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 95/168 Accidental design adjustments, as necessary for general evolution, are logical disasters. Random mutations from radiation, replication errors, or other proposed sources, rarely result in viable design adjustments, never in perfect more advanced designs. Evidence for general evolution is altogether lacking and predictions from the theory are false. Darwin confessed the distinctness of specific forms and their not being blended together by innumerable transitional links is a very obvious difficulty. ( See Charles Darwin, op. cit., p. 307 (as cited by Denton, op. cit., p. 56)) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 96/168 Based on the Big Bang theory, cosmologists predicted that the distribution of matter throughout the universe would be homogeneous. Thus, based upon the so-called Cosmological Principle, it was postulated that the distribution of galaxies in the universe would be essentially uniform. No matter in which direction one looked, if one looked far enough, one would see the same number of galaxies. There would be no large scale clusters of galaxies or great voids in space. Recent research, however, has revealed massive superclusters of galaxies and vast voids in space. We exist in a very 'clumpy' universe. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 97/168 The present crisis in Big Bang cosmologies began in 1986, when R. Brent Tully, of the University of Hawaii, showed that there were ribbons of superclusters of galaxies 300 million light-years long and 100 million light-years thick, stretching out about a billion light-years, and separated by voids about 300 million light-years across.(R. B. Tully, Astrophysics Journal 303:25-38 (1986)). dThese structures are much too big for the Big Bang theory to produce. At the speeds at which galaxies are supposed to be moving, it would require 80 billion years to create such a huge complex, but the age of the universe is supposed to be somewhere between 10 and 20 billion years. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 98/168 Recently (January 3, 1991), Will Saunders and nine fellow astronomers published the results of their all-sky redshift survey of galaxies detected by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite. This survey revealed the existence of a far-greater number of massive superclusters of galaxies than can be accounted for by Big Bang cosmologies. (Will Saunders, et al, Nature 349:32-38 (1991)) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 99/168 In an attempt to salvage the Big Bang theory, cosmologists have invented hypotheses to explain the failures of their hypotheses. One of these is the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) theory. According to this theory, 90-99% of the matter in the universe cannot be detected. If CDM existed, it would supply sufficient gravitational pull to create large clusters of galaxies. The structures discovered during the past few years, however, are so massive that even if CDM did exist, it could not account for their formation. Saunders and co-workers thus state that the CDM model can be ruled out to at least the 97% confidence level. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 100/168 Recently, the U.S.-European Roentgen Satellite (ROSAT), detecting x-ray emissions, discovered evidence of giant superclusters of quasars on the edge of the universe, supposedly eight to 12 billion light years from the earth. (R. Cowen, Science News 139:52 (1991)). Physicist Paul Steinhardt, of the University of Pennsylvania, states that 'This may be the start of the death knell of the cold-dark-matter theory. ' Even if this hypothetical matter existed, it still could not explain the existence of these giant clusters of quasars'. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 101/168 Since the Big Bang theory predicted a homogeneous universe with matter evenly distributed throughout the universe, evolutionary cosmologists expected that the background radiation would be perfectly smooth. That is, no matter in which direction one looked, the background radiation would be the same. Just as predicted, the background radiation was perfectly smooth. Theorists were delighted, smug in the assurance that this background radiation was the leftover whimper of the Big Bang. Now it turns out that the universe is not homogeneous, but is extremely lumpy, with massive superclusters of galaxies and great voids in space. If the background radiation is left over from the Big Bang, it should not be smooth, but should be more intense in certain directions than in others, indicating inhomogeneities at the very start of the universe, immediately following the initial moments of the Big Bang. Astronomers thus began to search for differences in the background radiations. All measurements showed it to be perfectly smooth. Thus COBE was launched to an orbit 559 miles above the earth, carrying sensitive instruments to measure the background radiation. Alas, preliminary data from COBE announced in January, show absolutely no evidence of inhomogeneity in the background radiation. It is perfectly smooth. (E. G. Lerner, Aerospace America March 1990, p. 41) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 102/168 'No energetic processes, even unknown ones, could have occurred that were vigorous enough to either create the large-scale structure astronomers have observed or stop their headlong motion once created. There is simply no way to form these structures in the 20 billion years since the Big Bang'. (E. G. Lerner, Aerospace America March 1990, p. 42) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 103/168 The Greenland Society of Atlanta has recently attempted to excavate a 10-foot diameter shaft in the Greenland ice pack to remove two B-17 Flying Fortresses and 6 P-38 Lightning fighters trapped under an estimated 250 feet of ice for almost 50 years (Bloomberg, 1989). Aside from the fascination with salvaging several vintage aircraft for parts and movie rights, the fact that these aircraft were buried so deeply in such a short time focuses attention on the time scales used to estimate the chronologies of ice If the aircraft were buried under about 250 feet of ice and snow in about 50 years, this means the ice sheet has been accumulating at an average rate of 5 feet per year. The Greenland ice sheet averages almost 4000 feet thick. If we were to assume the ice sheet has been accumulating at this rate since its beginning, it would take less than 1000 years for it to form and the recent-creation model might seem to be vindicated. Problems for the brand-new plasma theory already - 104/168 The plasma universe assumes that electric and magnetic forces are dominant in space instead of gravity. However, it has not been shown that electromagnetism is capable of forming and shaping galaxies, even with unlimited time. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 105/168 Galileo: From the Divine Word, the Sacred Scripture and Nature did both alike proceed. (From Galileo's letters of 1613-1615. Quoted by Gerald Holton, Introduction toConcepts and Theories in Physical Science (Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., Reading, MA, 1973, p. 57) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 106/168 Newton: This most beautiful [gravitational] system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. (In the second edition of Newton's Principia. Quoted by J. De Vries, Essentials of Physical Science. (Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., Grand Rapids, SD, 1958), p. 15) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 107/168 Newton: When I wrote my treatise [principia] about our [solar system], I had an eye on such principles as might work with considering men for the belief in a Deity; and nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that purpose. (From a 1692 letter. Quoted by Gerald Holton, p. 192) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 108/168 It should be remembered that astronomers have no satisfying formation mechanism for the vast nebulae themselves, from which stars are assumed to grow spontaneously. To make the popular assumption that the gas and dust came from preexisting stars is simply to reason in a circle. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 109/168 Over the years, Barnard's Star, 61 Cygni, VB8B, and several other stars showed wobbles that were heralded as planet-caused. Each planet report was later debunked. (MacRobert, A.M. and J. Rather, The Planet of 51 Pegasi, Sky and Telescope 91(1), 1995, pp. 38 40). In 1992, a planet was declared to be orbiting a nearby pulsar. (Bailes, M., A.G. Lyne, and S.L. Shemar, A planet orbiting the neutron star PSR1329-10, Nature 352(6333), 1991, pp. 311-313). Variation in the light signal was later embarrassingly shown to be caused by the earth's own orbital motion instead of by a new planet. (MacRobert, A.M., et al. op. cit., p. 40) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 110 /168 The standard model of the Sun assumes that it is around 5 billion years old and that it has already passed into its nuclear burning stage. This makes it all the more extraordinary that in 1976 a team of Russian astronomers, writing in the respected British Scientific Journal Nature showed how their research pointed clearly to the startling fact that the Sun does not even seem to possess a large dense nuclear burning core. Instead, their results showed the Sun as bearing the characteristics of a very young homogeneous star that corresponds with the early stages of the computer models. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 111/168 A team of Russian astronomers have proposed that nuclear reactions 'are not responsible for energy generation in the Sun'. They said that such a conclusion, 'although rather extravagant', follows from their own research into the analysis of the global oscillations of the Sun and is quite consistent with two other major observational findings. They cited these other evidences as being the observed absence of appreciable neutrino flux from the Sun, and the observed abundance of Lithium and Beryllium in the stellar atmosphere. (Severny, A.B. Kotov, V.A., and Tsap, T.T., 1976. 'Observations of solar pulsations,' Nature, vol. 259, p 89) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 112/168 A team of Russian astronomers have proposed that the Sun, according to their data, could be homogeneous throughout. (Severny, A.B. Kotov, V.A., and Tsap, T.T., 1976. 'Observations of solar pulsations,' Nature, vol. 259, p 89) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 113/168 Evidense for a young sun: The fundamental oscillation of the Sun matches the model for a young star. The Solar Neutrino Emission is that of a young star. The Lithium and Beryllium abundance in the Sun is consistent with that of a young star. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 114/168 There are a great many confirmatory evidences for a young Sun. One of the most recent was the announcement at a major scientific conference in 1995 that the temperature at the center of the Sun seems to be varying over a period of several months. (Chown, M., 'The riddle of the solar wind,' New Scientist 12th August, 1995, p 16) This is extremely hard to understand if the Sun has a huge central core with a resulting enormous heat capacity. However, such rapid temperature changes are explicable if the Sun is young and homogeneous. In such a situation there can be very rapid convective changes in temperature throughout the entire Sun. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 115/168 The Sun still has its normal abundance of Beryllium which is destroyed at a temperature of 4 million degrees. (Karttunen, H., Kroger, P., Oja, H., Poutanen, M., Donner, K.J., 1987.Fundamental Astronomy Springer-Verlag p 273) If the Russian scientists are correct in assuming that the Sun is homogeneous, then this means that the temperature throughout the whole Sun must be far lower than the 15 million degrees required for the Sun to be an old main-sequence star. Evidence for Noah's flood - 116/168 Geologists consider most of the great mountainous areas to have been uplifted since man has been on the earth. That these areas have been under water is clear from the fact that, near the summits, they are formed largely of marine strata, often containing recent marine fossils. Evidence for Noah's flood - 117/168 Although the mechanism of mountain formation is still a subject of controversy among geologists, the tremendous energies associatated with the eruptions and erosions of the great flood provide the most logical model within which to find the true answer. Evidence for Noah's flood - 118/168 The great mountain uplifts and corresponding ocean basin depressions would necessarily be accompanied by an abundance of other tectonic activities, such as faults, folds, thrusts and earth movements of many kinds. The present earthquake belt and continuing earthquake activities around the world can be understood as remnant effects of the great post-diluvian uplifts. The same applies to the earth's significant volcanism: the erruptions of the fountains of the deep (Gen 7:11). The post-flood isostatic readjustments, especially the mountain uplifts, would surely have triggered the release of additional floods of magma, and these are reflected in the tremendous recent lava plains around the world, as well as the great number of only recently extinct volcanoes, not to mention the considerable number still alive. Evidence for Noah's flood - 119/168 Velikkovsky, in his book Earth In Upheaval writes: 'When a fish dies its body floats on the surface or sinks to the bottom and is devoured rather quickly, actually in a matter of hours, by other fish. However the fossil fish found in sedimentary rocks is very often preserved with all its bones intact. Entire shoals of fish over large areas, numbering billions of specimen, are found in a state of agony, but with no mark of scavenger attack'. (Velikkovsky, I. Earth In Upheaval, Doubleday & Co., New York, 1955, p 222). Evidence for Noah's flood - 120/168 In his book, Frontiers of Astronomy, Fred Hoyle writes: 'Evidently then and ice age would arise if the greenhouse effect of our atmosphere was destroyed. This would happen if the concentrations of those gases of the atmosphere that are responsible for blocking the infra-red radiation were appreciably reduced. The gas of main importance in this respect is water vapour. The question therefore arises as to how the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere might be systematically reduced, especially the amount at a height of some 6,000 m (20,000 ft) above the ground. In this may lie the answer to the riddle of the ice age'.(Hoyle, F. Frontiers of Astronomy, Harpers, New York, 1955, p. 8) Quotable quotes - 121/168 'Christianity has fought, still fights, and will fight science to the desperate end over evolution, because evolution destroys utterly and finally the very reason Jesus' earthly life was supposedly made necessary. Destroy Adam and Eve and the original sin, and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the son of god. Take away the meaning of his death. If Jesus was not the redeemer that died for our sins, and this is what evolution means, then Christianity is nothing.' (G. Richard Bozarth, 'The Meaning of Evolution', American Atheist, 20 Sept. 1979, p. 30) Quotable quotes - 122/168 'I would advise no one to send his child where the Holy Scriptures are not supreme. Every institution that does not unceasingly pursue the study of God's word becomes corrupt. Because of this we can see what kind of people they become in the universities and what they are like now. Nobody is to blame for this except the pope, the bishops, and the prelates, who are all charged with training young people. The universities only ought to turn out men who are experts in the Holy Scriptures, men who can become bishops and priests, and stand in the front line against heretics, the devil, and all the world. But where do you find that? I greatly fear that the universities, unless they teach the Holy Scriptures diligently and impress them on the young students, are wide gates to hell.' (Martin Luther, 'To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate, 1520,' trans. Charles M. Jacobs, rev. James Atkinson, The Christian in Society, I (Luther's Works, ed. James Atkinson, vol. 44), p. 207 (1966)) Quotable quotes - 123/168 'I am convinced that the battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being. These teachers must embody the same selfless dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach, regardless of the educational level--preschool day care or large state university. The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new--the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism.' (John Dunphy, A Religion for a New Age, Humanist, Jan.-Feb. 1983, p. 26) Quotable quotes - 124/168 'Why has it taken 100 years to learn that one of the largest of all dinosaurs Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus of the school book) has been wearing the wrong head? That seems rather basic. How did this mix-up occur; and where has the old fellow's head been all of this time? The answer to the last question is, of course, that its true head has been in the museum's research collection for all these many years, patiently waiting for research to catch up to reality.' (Taken from the display notebook at Dinosaur National Park Museum, Vernal Utah) Quotable quotes - 125/168 'At any rate, almost everything in Hawking's book is based on his fertile imagination and logical speculation, with almost no visible evidence or proof. This appears to differentiate his work from fiction, which is almost always based on obvious, demonstrable fact. In another way, however, physics is a lot like fiction or income tax calculating, in that when there is a conflict between the world and an intellectual construct, the author adjusts the world to fit an imagined plot.' (Roger L. Welsch, 'Astrophys Ed', Natural History, February 1994, pp. 24, 25) Quotable quotes - 126/168 'Take black matter, for example. As fate would have it, the most recent and popular theories in physics just don't work. It's not as if there are some loose threads around the edges; the theories don't work at all. If they did, the universe would instantaneously fall in on itself or fly apart. Now those of us who are not astrophysicists would probably do something like discard the theories. Not astrophysicists. They readjust the uncooperative universe to fit their theories, postulating a gigantic quantity of invisible gravity-producing stuff they call black matter, even though it's not black and maybe not even matter. And there you are. Just like that, the modern, popular theories are back in business. I can imagine that readers new to physics and its way of doing things might be skeptical, but those of us who are higher up in the world of science feel nothing but anticipation in all this theorizing. It could, after all, be a step toward a newer and even sillier putty.' (Roger L. Welsch, 'Astrophys Ed', Natural History, February 1994, p. 25) Quotable quotes - 127/168 'All Abortions 25% Off: In January, a Denver General Hospital clinic began a program to attract reluctant inner-city pregnant women to get prenatal care by offering them free lottery tickets. And in May, a fee-charging family planning clinic in Wilmington, Del., began offering abortions at a 25 percent discount to women under age 18.' (Chuck Shepherd, News of the Weird, The Salt Lake Tribune, July 25, 1993, p. A-17) Quotable quotes - 128/168 'In seeking to understand why the Haeckelian view persisted so long, we have also to consider the alternatives. We often are highly conservative and will hold to a viewpoint longer than is justified when there is no alternative or, worse, when the logical alternative upsets the rest of our world view.' (Keith Stewart Thomson, 'Marginalia Ontogeny and phylogeny recapitulated', American Scientist Vol. 76, May-June 1988, p. 274) Quotable quotes - 129/168 'Everybody knows fossils are fickle; bones will sing any song you want to hear.' (J. Shreeve, 'Argument over a woman', 1990, Discover, Vol. 11 (8), p. 58) Quotable quotes - 130/168 'Imaginations run riot in conjuring up an image of our most ancient ancestor--the creature that gave rise to both apes and humans. This ancestor is not apparent in ape or human anatomy nor in the fossil record...anatomy and the fossil record cannot be relied upon for evolutionary lineages. Yet palaeontologists persist in doing just this.' (J. Lowenstein and A. Zihlman, 'The invisible ape', New Scientist, Vol. 120 (1641), pp. 56, 57, 1988) Quotable quotes - 131/168 The Nature of the Fossil Record: 95% of the fossils (by number) consist of shallow marine organisms (e.g. corals, shellfish), of the remaining 5%, 95% are all the algae and plant/tree fossils (including the coal) and all the other invertebrate fossils (e.g. insects), 5% of the 5% (or 0.25% of the entire fossil record) are the vertebrate fossils (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals), only 1% of this 0.25% (or 0.0025% of the entire fossil record) are vertebrate fossils that consist of more than a single bone! (e.g. there are only about 2,100 dinosaur skeletons in all the world's museums). From a lecture given by Kurt Wise at ICR brown bag. Dr. Andrew Snelling and Dr. John Morris vouch for it. These statistics are not from one source, but a compilation from many. Quotable quotes - 132/168 'Many animals which are well-known and accepted were once controversial--or at least 'unexpected.' Some of the more interesting of these cryptozoological precedents are: The gorilla, largest of all the primates, discovered in Central Africa in 1847; Baird's tapir, discovered in Central America in 1863; The giant panda, discovered in China in 1869, but not collected alive until 1936; Przewalski's horse, discovered in Mongolia in 1881; The mountain gorilla, a subspecies, discovered in East Africa in 1902; The okapi, a fossil giraffid, discovered in Zaire in 1901; The pygmy chimpanzee, described in 1929, but not brought back to Europe from Zaire until the late 1930's; The coelacanth, a 6-foot Mesozoic fish (a true 'living fossil'), discovered in South Africa in 1938; The Chacoan peccary, a Pleistocene fossil form, discovered alive in Paraguay in 1975; Megamouth, a 15-foot shark, representing a completely new species, genus, and family, discovered in 1976.' (International Society of Cryptozoology Invitation For Membership) Quotable quotes - 133/168 'Today we are confronted with a wide variety of reports of such 'unexpected' animals--often appearing under the popular label of 'monster.' Some of those which the Society is concerned with are: Reports of unusual felids, such as 'big cats' in Britain, continental Europe, and Australia, and large, unknown cats reported in Africa and South America: Reports of living thylacines in Tasmania ('Tasmanian tigers') and mainland Australian, and possibly other thought-extinct marsupials, such as Thylacoleo ; Reports of giant individuals of known species, such as giant great white sharks and giant anaconda snakes in South America; Reports of giant octopuses spanning 50-100 feet or more; Reports of 'sea serpents' in many global marine environments, which may represent unknown species of large seals or supposedly extinct primitive whales known as archaeocetes; Reports of northern latitude 'lake monsters' in Loch Ness, and several other Scottish lochs, and in Irish, Swedish, Soviet, Canadian and U.S.A. lakes; Reports of large, long-necked animals in the swamps of Central Africa (Mokele-Mbembe) said to resemble Mesozoic sauropod dinosaurs, and flying animals resembling Mesozoic pterosaurs; Reports of surviving Pleistocene megafauna, such as mammoths in Siberia and giant ground sloths in South America; Reports of large hominoids in the Himalayan region (Yeti), Soviet Union and Mongolia (Almas), China (Wildman), and North America (Sasquatch).' (International Society of Cryptozoology Invitation For Membership) Quotable quotes - 134/168 'Insect resistance to a pesticide was first reported in 1947 for the Housefly (Musca domestica) with respect to DDT. Since then resistance to one or more pesticides has been reported in at least 225 species of insects and other arthropods. The genetic variants required for resistance to the most diverse kinds of pesticides were apparently present in every one of the populations exposed to these man-made compounds.' (Francisco J. Ayala. 'The Mechanisms of Evolution', Scientific American, Sept. 1978, p. 65) Quotable quotes - 135/168 'Scientists at the University of Alberta have revived bacteria from members of the historic Franklin expedition who mysteriously perished in the Arctic nearly 150 years ago. Not only are the six strains of bacteria almost certainly the oldest ever revived, says medical microbiologist Dr. Kinga Kowalewska-Grochowska, Three of them also happen to be resistant to antibiotics...In this case, the antibiotics clindamycin and cefoxitin, both of which developed more than a century after the men died, were among those used.' (Ed Struzik, Dr. Kinga Kowalewska-Grochowska, 'Ancient bacteria revived', Sunday Herald, 16 Sept. 1990) Quotable quotes - 136/168 'But the reports of Eve's death may have been greatly exaggerated. Indeed, no one argues with the idea that all modern humans inherited their mitochondrial DNA from one common female ancestor. But what is in dispute is the hypothesis first put forth in 1987 by molecular anthropologist Allan Wilson of University of California, Berkeley who claimed to know Eve's age and whereabouts-that she lived about 200,000 years ago in Africa.' (Ann Gibbons, 'Mitochondrial Eve: Wounded, But Not Dead Yet', Science, Vol. 257, 14 August 1992, p. 873) Quotable quotes - 137/168 'In the early 1980's, teeth were found that gave better evidence of its (Pakicetus) being intermediate between land-dwelling and marine,' Thewissen said. 'Those teeth, as well as the ear bones we found, were located in fossil deposits in beds of rivers too shallow for an animal of that size to have lived in the water. Also, the other bones found with them were certainly from land mammals.' No Pakicetus leg or foot fossils have been reported.' (Hans Thewissen, Duke University Paleontologist, 'News Notes', Geotimes, April 1993, p. 9) Quotable quotes - 138/168 'Now comes the important question. What caused all these extinctions at one particular point in time, approximately 65 million years ago? Dozens of reasons have been suggested, some serious and sensible, others quite crazy, and yet others merely as a joke. Every year people come up with new theories on this thorny problem. The trouble is that if we are to find just one reason to account for them all, it would have to explain the deaths, all at the same time, of animals living on land and of animals living in the sea: but, in both cases, of only some of those animals, for many of the land-dwellers and many of the sea-dwellers went on living quite happily into the following period. Alas, no such one explanation exists.' (Alan Charig, 'A New Look At The Dinosaurs', p. 150) Quotable quotes - 139/168 'Everybody knows that organisms get better as they evolve.' They get more advanced, more modern, and less primitive. And everybody knows, according to Dan McShea (who has written a paper called 'Complexity and Evolution: What Everybody Knows'), that organisms get more complex as they evolve...The only trouble with what everyone knows, says McShea, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Michigan, is that there is no evidence it's true.' (Dan McShea, 'Onward and Upward?' by Lori Oliwenstein, Discover, June 1993, p. 22) Quotable quotes - 140/168 'At one level, of course, it must be: we really are more complex than that first cell, and we're not alone. Did natural selection drive organisms onward and steadily upward, toward ever greater complexity, because being more complex improved their chances of survival? Researchers have always assumed the answer was yes. But lately McShea and a few other researchers have been trying to test that unshakable assumption with real data.' (Dan McShea, 'Onward and Upward?' by Lori Oliwenstein, Discover, June 1993, p. 22) Quotable quotes - 141/168 'Until last year Hallucigenia was one of the strangest animals that ever lived. This sausage-shaped sea creature, which died out half a billion years ago, early in the Cambrian Period, was said to have walked on seven pairs of spikes and to have sported a row of wavy tentacles along its back. But last year, in the Yunan province of China, paleontologists dug up some new specimens closely related to Hallucigenia. Those fossils made clear the Hallucigenia researchers had known was a figment of their imagination: they had been looking at it upside down.' (Roger Lewin, 'Whose View of Life?', Discover May 1993: p. 18) Quotable quotes - 142/168 ''Yes, a bit embarrassing,' concedes Simon Conway Morris, the British paleontologist who described and named Hallucigenia back in 1977. 'I always suspected we might be looking at it the wrong way, but until the Chinese fossils came along we couldn't be sure.' If that were all there was to the Hallucigenia story, it would be worth a scholarly paper or two and no more. But the confusion surrounding Hallucigenia is emblematic of a much larger debate now going on in paleontological circles, one that opposes two radically different-indeed, inverted-views of the history of life on Earth.' (Simon Morris, 'Whose View of Life?', Discover, May 1992, p. 18) Quotable quotes - 143/168 'Paleontologists have tried to turn Archaeopteryx into an earth-bound, feathered dinosaur,' Feduccia says. 'But it's not. It is a bird, a perching bird. And no amount of 'paleobabble' is going to change that.' (Allan Feduccia, Professor of biology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 'Archaeopteryx: Early Bird Catches a Can of Worms', Science, Vol. 259, 5 February 1993, p. 764) Quotable quotes - 144/168 'The family tree of the horse is beautiful and continuous only in the textbooks. In the reality provided by the results of research it is put together from three parts, of which only the last can be described as including horses. The forms of the first part are just as much little horses as the present day damans are horses. The construction of the whole Cenozoic family tree of the horse is therefore a very artificial one, since it is put together from non-equivalent parts, and cannot therefore be a continuous transformation series.' (Prof. Heribert Nilsson, 'Synthetische Artbildung', Verlag CWE Gleerup, Lund, Sweden, 1954, pp. 551-552) Quotable quotes - 145/168 'I have thought about your question and would say that probably, so far as I know, there is no professor of Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class university who does not believe that the writer(s) of Gen. 1-11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that: (a) creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience. (b) the figures contained in the Genesis genealogies provided by simple addition a chronology from the beginning of the world up to later stages in the biblical story. (c) Noah's flood was understood to be world-wide and extinguish all human and animal life except for those in the ark. Or, to put it negatively, the apologetic arguments which suppose the 'days' of creation to be long eras of time, the figures of years not to be chronological, and the flood to be a merely local Mesopotamian flood, are not taken seriously by any such professors, as far as I know. (Letter from James Barr of The University of Oxford to David C.C. Watson) Quotable quotes - 146/168 'It is apparent that the most straightforward understanding of the Genesis record, without regard to all of the hermeneutical considerations suggested by science, is that God created heaven and earth in six solar days, that man was created in the sixth day, that death and chaos entered, the world after the Fall of Adam and Eve, that all of the fossils were the result of the catastrophic universal deluge which spared only Noah's family and the animals therewith.' (Pattle P. T. Pun, 'A Theology of Progressive Creationism', Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, Vol. 39, No. 1, March 1987) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 147/168 A carefully buried Neandertal infant in a Northern Syrian cave has confirmed not only a high level of cultural sophistication, but a larger average brain size than people today. (The Weekend Australian, Oct. 18, 1995, p. 49). Problems for evolution and the big bang - 148/168 German scientists have found perfectly preserved wooden spears, in company with other artefacts, suggesting that Neandertals had sophisticated hunting, planning, designing and manufacturing skills. A.U.K. archeologist was quoted as being 'speechless', not only because of these implications, but because it was 'unimaginable' that such wooden items were still intact despite being geologically 'dated' at an alleged 400,000 (!) years. (Sydney Morning Herald, Feb. 28, 1997, p. 11). Problems for evolution and the big bang - 149/168 Where did all the SNRs (Supernova remnants) go?. The 3rd stage of SNRs begins 120,000 years after the initial explosion at 340 light years in diameter. There is 1 supernova about every 25 years. By observational limtation formulae, we would expect to see only 14% of 3rd stage SNRs in our galaxy. If the universe was billions of years old, there should be (1,000,000-120,000)/25 3rd stage SNRs in our galaxy, or about 35,000. Of these, 5,000 should be observable. If the universe wasn't billions of years old, but only 6,000 years old, we would expect to see none, as none have had time to form yet. Which theory does the evidence support? There are actually no 3rd stage SNRs observed in our galaxy! Problems for evolution and the big bang - 150/168 Breaks the Law of the Principle of Conservation of Angular Momentum. Our sun is observed to spin very slowly today while the planets move very rapidly around the sun. (In fact, although the sun has over 99% of the mass of the solar system, it only has 2% of the angular momentum). This pattern is directly opposite to that pattern expected for Nebular Hypothesus. Many scientists today no dount assume that modern theories have solved this problem. But a well known solar system scientist, Dr Stuart Ross Taylor has said: 'The ultimate origin of the angular momentum of the solar system remains obscure'. (S.R. Taylor, Solar System Evolution: A New Perspective, Cambridge University Press, 1992, p.53). Problems for evolution and the big bang - 151/168 Another problem with the general Nebular model is the formation of the gaseous planets. As the gas would pull together into the planets, the young sun would pass through what is called the T-Tauri phase. In this phase the sun would give off an intense solar wind far more intense than the present. This solar wind would have an effect of driving excess gas and dust out of the still forming solar system and thus there would no longer be enough of the light gases to form Jupiter and the other 3 giant gas planets. This would leave the 4 gas planets smaller than we find them today. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 152/168 Io, one of the moons of Jupiter, shows signs of heat remaining in its interior, due to massive volcanoes that can be seen errupting on its surface. Small moons like this were expected to have cooled off long ago if they really were billions of years old. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 153/168 Ganymede turned out to still have a strong magnetic field, contrary to original expectations. If our planet were as close to the sun as Mercury, it would be far too hot for any life to exist. Neptune's planet rings not only show evidence of youth, its high level of atmospheric activity implies that it has not yet cooled off as much as 'old-agers' expected. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 154/168 An international team of astronomers led by an Estonian academic published their analysis of galaxy clusters in the journal Nature (Jan. 9, 1997). They conclude that 'the largescale structure of the cosmos is an orderly rectangular, 3d latticework of clusters and voids'. The lines of concentrated matter appear to be spaced at fairly regular 91 million-light-year intervals. The Washington Post's Kathy Sawyer says this is a 'surprise' because 'leading theories' of cosmological evolution (ie 'big bang' theories) say that galaxy distribution (as you would expect from and explosion) is supposed to be 'random'. An internet posting quotes the New York Times (undated) as saying that this finding, like a massive 3d chessboard, looks as if it will require some 'new laws of physics' to explain it. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 155/168 Experiments by scientists from the Chicago Natural History Museum have shown that fish carcasses lowered onto the muddy bottom of a marsh decay quite rapidly, even in oxygen-poor conditions. In these experiments, fish were placed in wire cages to protect them from scavengers, yet after only six and a half days, all the flesh had decayed and even the bones had become disconnected. (R. Zangerl and E.S. Richardson, 'The paleoecological history of two Pennsylvanian black shales', Fieldiana: Geology Memoirs 4, 1963). Problems for evolution and the big bang - 156/168 The Voyager missions in the 1970s and 80s revealed surprising features in the beautiful rings of Saturn, which were found to possess a very detailed structure, described as 'rings within rings within rings'. The sharp edges of the rings and other evidences imply that the rings must be quite young in age. (Wayne R. Spencer, 'Design and Catastrophism in the Solar System', Proceedings of the 1992 Twin-Cities Creation Conference, pp. 164-5). Problems for evolution and the big bang - 157/168 Scientists expected the small moon of Uranus, called Miranda, to be undramatic and uninteresting, since if it were very old, such a small moon should have little heat left for driving geological processes. Actually, Miranda's surface has a very extreme topography and many strange geological features that are difficult to understand if indeed it is very old. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 158/168 Neptune, being the 8th planet from the Sun, would not be expected to have enough heat energy left for driving high speed winds after more than 4 billion years, yet it does. Measurements in late 1995 by the Galileo probe indicate a similar situation at Jupiter. Heat for driving the surprising turbulence and strong winds in Jupiter's atmosphere must be coming from inside the planet, not from the sun or any other external influence (Douglas Isbell and David Morse, 'Galileo Probe Suggests Planitary Reappraisal', NASA Press Release Number 96-10, Jan. 22, 1996. www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo. Because the sun is so distant it provides little energy to Jupiter). Problems for evolution and the big bang - 159/168 Neptune's rings have thick regions and thin regions. This unevenness means that they cannot be billions of years old since collisions of the ring objects would eventually make the ring very uniform. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 160/168 Io surprised astronomers by indications of volcanic activity. Such a body smaller than the earth should have lost all its internal heat long ago if it was billions of years old. So in line with the 'old ages' idea, a complex model was developed in which Jupiter's gravity rythmically 'squeezes' Io to keep heating it by friction. However this heat from Jupiter's gravity cannot account for all the heat coming from Io and its volcanoes. This points to Io being young, not billions of years old. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 161/168 Computer simulations of Nebular Hypothesis do not start with initial conditions of those like real nebulas, and have other problems. One scientist summarised these by saying, 'The clouds are too hot, too magnetic and they rotate too rapidly'. (H. Reeves, 'The Origin of the Solar System', The Origin of the Solar System, S.F. Dermott, editor, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1978, p. 9). The contraction produces effects that tend to make the formation of planets impossible. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 162/168 What mechanism could have possibly added all the extra information required to transform a 1-celled creature progressively into pelicans, palm trees and people? Natural selection alone can't do it--selection involves getting rid of information. For example, a winged-beetle on a windy island might benefit from a mutation that stops the beetle from growing wings, but this is corruption or loss of the original information on how to make wings. And what if this mutation happened to a beetle living on a continent? Would that be an advantage for the beetle? Natural selection can't explain how the beetle got the information to make wings in the first place. All mutations degrade information, sometimes they have little observable effect, but most of the time are harmful for the creature. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 163/168 Electrical charge is one of the fundamental properties of matter. Electrical charge provides the primary basis for chemical reactions. If electrical charge did not exist, we would not have atoms, molecules, or life. A scientist can develop models which describe the behavior of electrical charge under many different conditions. He can use these models to predict very accurately many events he sees taking place in the world around him. This approach is the basis for modern technology. HOWEVER--he cannot tell WHY electrical charge exists to begin with. He is absolutely helpless to explain WHY the universe is a universe with electrical charge instead of one without it. Problems for evolution and the big bang - 164/168 Just when evolutionists were riding high about their success in getting some chimps to use a very basic but definite (sign) language, some notable dampeners to their enthusiasm have appeared. First, it turns out that there is at least one parrot that can rival chimps and dolphins in creative language use and complexity of reasoning. Bird's aren't supposed to be our close evolutionary cousins, and they have much smaller brains. Perhaps Irene Pepperberg at the University of Arizona forgot all that when she trained an African grey parrot named Alex, who 'speaks English and means what he says'. He can count up to 6, and can recognise and name some 100 different objects, as well as their colour, texture and shape. (Scientific American, April 1996, page 23). Problems for evolution and the big bang - 165/168 It has long been believed that both chimps and orangs are self-aware. When they see themselves in front of a mirror with unexpected markings on their bodies, they show that they can recognise themselves by inspecting the marked areas on their own bodies. However, more that one experimenter is coming to the conclusion that self-recognition may not be the same as true self-awareness. Daniel Povinelli from the University of SW Louisiana says that over the last few years he has 'become much more open to the possibility that chimps may not develop a mental understanding of themselves and others, at least not to the extent that pre-school children do'. (Science News, Vol. 149, No. 3, Jan 20, 1996, pp. 42-43). Povinelli remains a committed evolutionist, and his negative results on chimps are reported with cautious, almost grudging wording at times. Nevertheless, the results of his studies indicate that 'humans operate in a mental realm that may stay off-limits to apes and other animals. By 3-5 years of age, children conclude that their peers behave according to unseen beliefs, intentions and other mental states' -while 'chimps may not try to decipher others' minds in this way'. Quotable quotes - 166/168 When it comes to the origin of life on earth, there are only 2 possibilities: Creation, or spontaneous generation (evolution). There is no third way. Spontaneous generation was disproved 100 years ago, but that leads us to only one conclusion: That of supernatural creation. We cannot accept that on philosophical grounds (personal reasons), therefore, we choose to believe the impossible that life arose spontaneously by chance. (George Wald, 1967 Nobel Peace Prize in Science). Problems for evolution and the big bang - 167/168 Scientists are shocked to find out that the universe has an 'up' and a 'down' --a north and a south, if you will. 'The observation, if correct, would be one of the most surprising and fundamental new insights about the universe to emerge in recent years,' wrote science reporter John Noble Wilford in the New York Times. 'The notion that space is uniform, that it is the same in all directions, with no north and south or up and down, is a major tenet of modern cosmology, backed by Einstein's theory of relativity.' Once again, scientists are forced to reconsider their most important assumptions about issues such as the birth of the universe. Yet, if only these scientists would consider as part of their equation the existence of God and the accuracy of the Bible, they wouldn't be nearly so perplexed --changing theories and explanations, it seems, from year to year, month to month. The Bible tells us there is order to the universe. There is a north and a south. In fact, it tells us that the third heaven -- where God resides --is in the north! (Isaiah 14:12-14) Problems for evolution and the big bang - 168/168 The moon - due to tidal friction, is slowly spiralling away from the earth, which is slowing down its rotation. If you calculate back a billion and a half years ago, the moon would have been in direct contact with the earth. So that is a very strong indicator that the moon can't be even a third as old as the claimed 4.5 billion years, and it is probably vastly less than that.