Biblical Creation vs. Evolution

[nChrist]

Pastor Roger,

I am very happy to see so-called science turning around. It also makes me happy to hear many scientists give their testimonies for CHRIST. We are seeing more of this every day, but I honestly don't think that evolution will be thrown into the garbage before the Second Coming of CHRIST. If we had absolute proof for everything, everyone would be Christians and Darwin might have even been a preacher teaching Genesis.   

[Soldier4Christ]

Compromising The Word of God

Pope: Contrast between evolution, God 'an absurdity'
Says Darwin theory 'appears as a reality,' 'enriches our understanding of life'

Pope Benedict XVI says the theory of evolution is backed by strong scientific proof - but the theory does not answer life's "great philosophical question."

Benedict told 400 priests at a two-hour event that he's puzzled by the current debate in the United States and his native Germany over creationism and evolution.

Debaters wrongly present the two sides "as if they were alternatives that are exclusive - whoever believes in the creator could not believe in evolution, and whoever asserts belief in evolution would have to disbelieve in God," the pontiff said.

"This contrast is an absurdity, because there are many scientific tests in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and enriches our understanding of life and being.

"But the doctrine of evolution does not answer all questions, and it does not answer above all the great philosophical question: From where does everything come?"

A transcript of the Tuesday event was posted in Italian yesterday on the Vatican's Web site.

The speech came at the end of a three-week vacation in the mountains of northern Italy near the Austrian border, where people are worried that global warming will change their way of life.

"We all see that today man can destroy the foundation of his existence, his Earth," Benedict said.

"We cannot simply do what we want with this Earth of ours, with what has been entrusted to us."

[nChrist]

Brothers and Sisters,

This is very sad, and it doesn't make any sense at all - NONE! Darwin's account and GOD'S account of Creation disagree completely. There is NO way to believe both of them at the same time. They are completely opposed to each other, so one of them has to be FALSE!

Like it or not, one does have the choice of either believing GOD or believing Darwin. Genesis is GOD'S WORD, and it's what GOD wanted us to know about HIS Creation. Darwin's nonsense is still called a theory after all of these years because it's junk and isn't science at all. Darwin did call GOD a liar, and that's the ONLY way to put it. Some evolutionists don't like the idea of directly calling GOD a liar, so they call themselves theistic evolutionists. This fancy term means that they claim to believe in GOD and Darwin at the same time. It really doesn't matter what fancy term they use - they are still calling GOD a liar.

It boils down to something real simple - YES OR NO - GOD told the truth about Creation in Genesis. If you say NO - you are calling GOD a liar. Someone can dance all they want, but it really boils down to this one simple question. Then, the devil uses the rest. If GOD didn't tell the truth in Genesis, what other portions of the Bible are false? But, the devil does much better than this. If Genesis is false, GOD is false, and there is really no basis for believing anything about GOD, JESUS CHRIST, and Salvation. The devil has deceived many with Darwin's garbage, so Darwin and the devil were a powerful team. At this point, it really doesn't matter that the theory of evolution is falling apart as absolute nonsense and garbage. The damage has already been done, and the damage is still being done by worldly people who prefer to believe the man Darwin over GOD. It's really just this simple, and those who try to dance around the end result look stupid.

SO, if someone wants to say that evolution is true, it's much more intelligent to claim they are an atheist at the same time. WHY? - Nobody can dance fast enough to explain how both Genesis and Darwin are the truth. It can't be done except by baloney that falls apart immediately. YES! - evolutionists call GOD a liar, and there's no other way to explain what they're doing. Their attempted explanations amount to stand up comedy that is also BLASPHEMY! So, there really isn't anything funny about this. Only GOD will decide the ultimate questions, but I can easily conclude the easy part - the theory of evolution calls GOD a liar, and that's BLASPHEMY and stupid.

Brothers and Sisters, there are some things in this life that you just CAN'T straddle the fence like politicians. There ARE actually some things that you MUST take a stand on - one way or another - not in between. The theory of evolution and Genesis is a perfect example of "CHOOSE ONE - THEY BOTH CAN'T BE RIGHT!"

If you haven't guessed, I believe GOD - END OF STORY! - NO ARGUMENT! In terms of faith, it takes much less faith to believe GOD than it does to believe Darwin. In terms of the Pope choosing Darwin over GOD, that tells me more than I want to know about the Pope.

[Soldier4Christ]

AMEN!!

[Soldier4Christ]

Sweet Home Virginia
by John Morris, Ph.D.

Two major events occurred this past spring that brought back poignant memories of my years in Virginia: the massacre at Virginia Tech and the home-going of Dr. Jerry Falwell.

As you may know, my father served on the faculty of Virginia Tech as Chair of the Civil Engineering Department from 1956 to 1970, during which time the department came to national prominence. I majored in civil engineering there, graduating in 1969. The tragic shootings this spring occurred in the same building where my father's department was located. The images of the campus and interviews with the faculty reminded me of the roots of the modern creation movement.

Research for the seminal work The Genesis Flood took place at Virginia Tech's university library. This book catalyzed the entire creation movement and resulted in numerous speaking opportunities. As the book gained acceptance and influence, the idea of a creation study and promotion group began to take shape. This led to the founding of the Creation Research Society in 1963, and ultimately the Institute for Creation Research in 1970.

However, this kind of notoriety was not welcomed by the faculty. A witnessing Christian was bad enough, but a creationist? Several efforts were made to have my father removed, but his department was one of the most successful on campus, publishing influential papers, receiving noteworthy grants, and producing quality graduates. Because of tenure, there was no acceptable way to oust him. And so, his books kept pouring out, and the creation movement continued to gain ground.

The liberal First Baptist Church in Blacksburg, which our family attended, was so alarmed by the rapid growth of my father's Sunday School class that he was removed. No tenure there. So he and several others started Harvest Baptist Church, which still flourishes and has an effective ministry on campus.

As anti-creation academic pressure mounted on campus, he resigned his post and partnered with Dr. Tim LaHaye to launch the new Christian Heritage College and its research branch, the Institute for Creation Research. The "embarrassed" Virginia Tech faculty actually threw a party to celebrate his departure. Since that time, Virginia Tech has been a bastion for evolution teaching. While it is not possible to claim that evolution teaching itself was responsible for the recent actions of a madman, one can't help but wonder if a distorted view of man as an evolved animal played a part in the deranged killer's actions.

One frequent guest speaker at Harvest Baptist Church was a young preacher from Lynchburg, Jerry Falwell. My father would also speak at Thomas Road Baptist Church, and over the years the two men forged a deep friendship that bore much fruit. Dr. Falwell remained a strong creationist, and even at the time of his sudden death in May, the ICR Graduate School and Liberty University were exploring ways to jointly sponsor graduate training and research in creation science.

Often Dr. Falwell would include creation in his preaching, and he insisted the university retain an emphasis in creation apologetics, in spite of adversarial accreditation demands. I remember the two times I was scheduled to debate Dr. Stephen J. Gould on national television. Both times Dr. Gould backed out at the last minute, refusing to debate another scientist. Not willing to legitimize creation, he insisted the program find a preacher for him to debate. Dr. Falwell was more than willing, knowing the evolutionist ploy to couch the debate as religion versus science. Not only did he uphold the "gospel of Christ" (Romans 1:16), but he took every opportunity to reference ICR's scientific work and contributions.

Throughout his life, Dr. Falwell remained a good friend of creation ministry and a partner in the work of Christ. My brother, Dr. Henry Morris III, and I traveled to Lynchburg for Dr. Falwell's memorial service, where many thousands gathered to celebrate a life well lived in the service of the King.

Looking back, I am reminded of both triumphs and tragedies, but remain in awe of God for His sovereign control. I long for, as I'm sure you do, the glorious return of our great Creator, Redeemer, and King to set things fully right.

[Soldier4Christ]

 The Rapid Ascent of Basalt Magmas
by Andrew A. Snelling, Ph.D.*

It is now well established that the earth's upper mantle is the source of the basalt magmas erupted by many volcanoes as lava flows1--for example, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii. The earth's crust is predominantly of a granitic composition, whereas the mantle is closer to a basaltic composition. Pieces of mantle rock are often brought to the earth's surface in basalt lava flows. Other evidence also confirms that the basalt magmas are generated by partial melting of the upper mantle rock.

Explosive Eruptions and Mantle Water

Where such volcanic eruptions occur on the continents, the basalt magmas typically have to ascend some 60-80 kilometers (35-50 miles) from the upper mantle to the surface. Furthermore, the mechanisms by which magmas ascend and the rates of magma ascent are known to play a critical role in the dynamics of volcanic eruptions, but these phenomena have until now been poorly constrained. Critics of catastrophic Flood geology have thus used the presumed long, slow ascent of basalt magmas, and their uniformitarian extrapolation back into the past of the small volumes of basalt magmas delivered to the earth's surface today, to insist that many millions of years of eruptions would have been needed to produce the basalt lavas found in the geologic record.

However, the ascent rate of the gas-rich, explosively erupted kimberlite magmas that host diamonds has previously been determined as four meters per second (about 787 feet per minute or nine miles per hour)!2 Such a rapid ascent rate is crucial to survival of the diamonds carried by these unusual magmas from 200-400 kilometers (125-250 miles) down in the mantle up to the earth's surface. A slower ascent rate would result in the diamonds turning to graphite. To put this ascent rate into perspective, it only takes between 12 and 30 hours for the diamond-carrying kimberlite magma to travel from 200-400 kilometers depth in the mantle up to erupt at the earth's surface (Figure 1).

Small amounts of water have been found dissolved as hydrogen and hydroxyl ions (the dissociated components of water) in the minerals within fragments of mantle rocks (xenoliths) brought to the earth's surface in basalt magmas.3 Even those small amounts have major effects on physical and chemical processes in the mantle, also being critical to plate tectonics.4 Furthermore, experimental studies have shown that this water dissolved in mantle minerals would likely be partially lost during transport to the earth's surface, being partitioned into the ascending magma.5 Consequently, measuring the water still dissolved in such minerals within xenoliths in erupted basalts could provide clues to quantifying magma ascent rates prior to eruption.

Patagonian Basalt Study

Such a study has now been undertaken.6 Olivine crystals were separated from garnet-bearing mantle xenoliths within the Quaternary (post-Flood) alkali olivine basalt flows of Pali-Aike, Chile,7 for Fourier Transform Infrared at the centers of the mineral crystals in these xenoliths indicate that these pieces of mantle rock were originally under temperature and pressure conditions corresponding to a depth of 60-80 kilometers.8 Furthermore, there is no geophysical evidence below these lava flows of a magma chamber in which the xenoliths could have been stored for an extended period and become equilibrated with their host magma during transport from the mantle to the earth's surface.

The alkali basalts hosting the mantle xenoliths erupted at a temperature estimated to have been between 1200ºC and 1290ºC.9 Furthermore, FTIR measurements of the visible clinopyroxene crystals (phenocrysts) in the basalts show no evidence of hydroxyl (OH) incorporated in them. This, together with the absence of amphibole, indicates that the basalts were undersaturated in water, making the basaltic magma which transported the mantle xenoliths an effective "sink" (or potential receiver) for hydrogen. An environment thus existed in which the mantle xenoliths could have become progressively dehydrated during magma ascent, and in proportion to the rate of ascent.

Profiles of FTIR measurements across individual grains in the mantle xenoliths revealed that the water distribution in the pyroxene grains was homogeneous, in contrast to the olivine grains where their rims were hydroxyl depleted.10 In total, thirty olivine grains were studied, and all olivine grains larger than 0.8 mm across had hydroxyl-depleted rims. Additionally, profile measurements were repeated on two of the olivine grains while crystallographically oriented, because it is known that hydrogen diffusion in olivine is related to its crystal structure. These measurements confirmed that the rims of the olivine grains in the mantle xenoliths were hydroxyl-depleted. This indicates that this olivine was dehydrating in the water-undersaturated host basalt magma as the mantle xenoliths were engulfed by it and transported up from 60-80 kilometers depth to the earth's surface.

Calculating a Rapid Ascent Rate

Using experimentally-determined diffusion coefficients for hydration of olivine,11 water diffusion profiles were calculated for all three crystallographic axes of an olivine grain at a temperature of 1245±45ºC for various durations, with an initial water content of ~312 weight parts per million (wt ppm) and a final water content of 0 wt ppm at its rim. Thus it was possible to approximate the ascent rate of the mantle xenoliths and, by extension, their host basalt. The calculated ascent rates ranged from 1.9 hours at 1290ºC to 3.4 hours at 1245ºC and 6.3 hours at 1200ºC. Furthermore, FTIR analyses across cracks in the olivine grains did not exhibit any perturbations of the hydrogen profiles, so hydrogen diffusion from the grain rims occurred predominantly prior to the cracking of the grains near the earth's surface or after the eruption of the host basalt. Therefore, these mantle xenoliths must have reached the earth's surface in a matter of only several hours.

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

Assuming a depth of origin for the xenoliths of 60-80 kilometers, the corresponding ascent rate is 6±3 meters per second (13.5±6.5 miles per hour). Because these xenoliths are denser than the host magma, this estimate gives a minimum ascent rate for the host alkali basalt magma. That equates to this basalt magma only taking between two and eight hours to travel from the upper mantle to erupt at the earth's surface. Such a rapid ascent to the earth's surface is consistent with the freshness of these xenoliths and is similar to the ascent rate of four meters per second determined for volatile-rich kimberlite magmas containing diamonds.

Conclusions

Any claim that the eruptions of basalt lava flows are a timescale problem for the Genesis Flood on a young earth can now be easily dismissed. If it only takes basalt magmas between two and eight hours to travel from their upper mantle sources to erupt through volcanoes at the earth's surface, then many basalt volcanic eruptions could have easily occurred during the Flood year. Furthermore, the volume and scale of the basalt lavas found in the geologic record, such as the so-called flood basalts of the Deccan and Siberian Traps,12 testify to the global catastrophism operating in the Flood year, in contrast to today's occasional, small, and relatively insignificant basalt eruptions.

The bigger question is how so much of the upper mantle rock partially melted quickly enough to generate those enormous volumes of flood basalts. However, during the Flood year the pre-Flood ocean floor ruptured into plates that sank into the mantle via thermal runaway subduction, the resulting mantle-wide convective flow generating huge mantle plumes and rapid melting of enormous volumes of upper mantle rock beneath the mid-ocean rift zones.13 Thus catastrophic plate tectonics during the Flood is the only viable explanation for the many basalt flows found in the earth's rock record. And this new experimental evidence confirms the rapid ascent and eruption of basalt lavas, consistent with the Biblical framework of earth history.

References

      1. Hall, A. 1996. Igneous petrology, 2nd ed. Harlow, England: Addison Wesley Longman Ltd.
      2. Kelley, S. P., and J.-A. Wartho. 2000. Rapid kimberlite ascent and significance of Ar-Ar ages in xenolith phlogopites. Science 289:609-611.
      3. Bell, D. et al. 2003. Hydroxide in olivine: A quantitative determination of the absolute amount and calibration of the IR spectrum. Journal of Geophysical Research 108 doi: 10.1029/2001JB000679.
      4. Hirth, G., and D. L. Kohlsedt. 1996. Water in the oceanic upper mantle: implications for rheology, melt extraction and the evolution of the lithosphere. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 144:93-108. Regenauer-Lieb, K., et al. 2001. The initiation of subduction: Criticality by addition of water? Science 294:578-580.
      5. Ingrin, J., and H. Skogby. 2000. Hydrogen in nominally anhydrous upper-mantle minerals: Concentration levels and implications. European Journal of Mineralogy 12:543-570.
      6. Demouchy, S. et al. 2006. Rapid magma ascent recorded by water diffusion profiles in mantle olivine. Geology 34:429-432.
      7. Skewes, M. A., and C. R. Stern. 1979. Petrology and geochemistry of alkali basalts and ultramafic inclusions from the Pali-Aike Volcanic Field in southern Chile and the origin of the Patagonian Plateau lavas. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 6:3-25.
      8. Stern, C. R. et al. 1999. Evidence from mantle xenoliths for relatively thin (<100 km) continental lithosphere below the Phanerozoic crust of southernmost South America. Lithos 48:217-235.
      9. D'Orazio, M. et al. 2000. The Pali-Aike Volcanic Field, Patagonia: Slab-window magmatism near the tip of South America. Tectonophysics 321:407-427.
      10. Demouchy et al., ref. 6.
      11. Kohlstedt, D. L., and S. J. Mackwell. 1999. Solubility and diffusion of "water" in silicate minerals. In Microscopic properties and processes in minerals, ed. K. Wright and R. Catlow, 539-559. Dortrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
      12. Jerram, D. A., and M. Widdowson. 2005. The anatomy of continental flood basalt provinces: Geological constraints on the processes and products of flood volcanism. Lithos 79:385-405.
      13. Austin, S. A., J. R. Baumgardner, D. R. Humphreys, A. A. Snelling, L. Vardiman, and K. P. Wise. 1994. Catastrophic plate tectonics, In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Creationism, ed. R. E. Walsh, 609-621. Pittsburgh, PA: Creation Science Fellowship.

[Soldier4Christ]

Who's Building Noah's Ark This Time?
by John Morris, Ph.D.*

Over the years several individuals and various groups have attempted to reconstruct Noah's Ark, either at full or partial scale. Most efforts were halted in the planning stage or in the fund-raising stage, but some have actually been completed. Some were proposed as creation museums or evangelistic tools, while others were for-profit tourist attractions.

Most recently a stylized scale model of Noah's Ark was completed by an unlikely group and in a most unlikely location. The environmental advocacy group Greenpeace constructed a 33-by-13-foot model on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey, at an altitude of over 8,000 feet! Its purpose was a new one, to "highlight dangers of global warming."

At the unveiling ceremony the group exclaimed, "We call on you to urgently cooperate globally to avert this catastrophic climate change…. This requires immediate implementation of a radical program to halt the rise of greenhouse gas emissions." All from Mount Ararat, site of a previous preservation of humanity in time of global catastrophe. <

As previously reported in Acts & Facts, I do not agree with the conclusions of global warming advocates, nor with their anti-Western agenda. I especially disassociate myself from the blasphemous use of a profound Scriptural truth to promote a scientific and political lie.

Our earth, created by a wise and forward-thinking Creator, operates in marvelous balance. Numerous feedback mechanisms keep one factor, such as a cyclic build-up of carbon dioxide, from overwhelming the rest. Other factors adjust to bring it all back in line, thus keeping the earth habitable by man -- God's image. God designed earth to continue, in all circumstances. If earth could survive the Flood, it can survive anything!

Adam and his descendants were placed on Earth to act as God's stewards, caring for the planet, wisely using it for man's good and God's glory. Christian-creationists rightly exhibit care for the environment, not abusing His creation for selfish ends.

However, we must not worship the creation over the Creator. Nor can we prefer earth over the image of God placed in stewardship over it. Just as the earth functions in God-ordained balance, so we must seek balance in our thinking.

My 13 trips to Mount Ararat attempting to locate the remains of the real Noah's Ark have been unsuccessful. Now at least we know we can find its smaller counterpart.

*Dr. John D. Morris is the President of the Institute for Creation Research.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Revealing Purpose in "Junk" DNA
by Frank Sherwin, M.A.*

Chromosomes are compact linear entities in the nucleus of the cell. They are composed mainly of DNA, some RNA, and proteins called histones. People have been created with 23 matched pairs (46 total) of chromosomes. Years ago, scientists discovered that only about three percent of the human genome (the complete set of DNA inherited from the father and mother) is comprised of genes--about 35,000 of them. The remaining 97 percent was given the unscientific title of "junk" because secular biologists felt that over evolutionary time the DNA had lost its function. This useless DNA was the foundation for the secular argument that the genome was not designed.

Creation scientists countered--as they did with other alleged vestigial organs and tissues--that just because we don't know the function at the present, that doesn't mean the DNA doesn't have some important function. One need only look at the tonsils and appendix that were once taught by Darwinists to be vestigial but are now known, thanks to good scientific research, to serve important functions in the human body.

Sadly, the title "junk DNA" stuck, and hundreds of thousands of biology students and laymen were taught--incorrectly--that the trillions of cells in our body had mostly vestigial or useless genetic material (DNA) that served no function. Today, it is more correct to say that some sections of DNA are non-coding, but are not junk and have an important function.

For example, it has been discovered that some of the formally "useless" DNA actually controls embryos. An article in Developmental Cell magazine1 by Barbara Knowles and others examines the surprisingly high level of DNA called transposable elements (TEs) in the maternal transcriptome in mouse eggs and initial cleavage embryos. TEs or "jumping genes" are a number of types of DNA pieces found in virtually all life forms. They function as promoters (specific areas of a DNA molecule containing sequences required for critical function) for a number of RNA molecules. This scientific research counters the evolutionary assumption that many repetitive TEs in the human genome are useless. "I think a lot of 'junk DNA' has a function, and in a weird way it's controlling gene expression," stated Dr. Knowles.

Cells also contain introns, non-coding sections of DNA that are spliced out of the messenger RNA (mRNA) strand before it leaves the nucleus of a cell to become translated in the cytoplasm. This splicing technique is quite complicated and requires enzymes and energy. Such a complex performance led many to suspect that introns have a control function.2

Creationists continue to state that God doesn't make junk. Instead, we have been "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 137).

Footnotes
1. Hardman, H. 2004. [PSA for Peaston, et al., in Developmental Cell, 2004 7:597606] "Junk" DNA may be very valuable to embryos. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-10/cp-dm100604.php
2. Sterner D. A., Carlo T., Berget S. M. 1996. Architectural limits on split genes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A 93: 15081-15085.

*Frank Sherwin is a zoologist and seminar speaker for ICR.

[Soldier4Christ]

Lagerstätten!
by William Hoesch, M.S.*

Lagerstätten is a word creationists should be familiar with. German for "place, of storage [or] resting place" it refers to a sedimentary deposit extraordinarily rich in the diversity or quality of preservation of its fossils. Paleontologists distinguish two kinds. Concentration lagerstätten are deposits with a peculiar abundance of broken-up hard parts, such as a bone bed. These are interesting, but it is the second variety--called conservation lagerstätten--that we would like to focus on. These include some of the world's most extraordinary fossil deposits, and it is the exceptional quality of preservation of the fossilized organisms, especially their soft parts, that sets them apart.

Workers at fish markets are in the best position to appreciate the significance of lagerstätten. Without salt or refrigeration, decay sets in very quickly on a dead fish. Modern varieties of the small, herring-like fossilized fish from Wyoming's Green River Formation, for example, rot in a period of days or weeks.1 Yet somehow they got pickled by the billions in this world-famous lagerstätten. Either they were rapidly buried in mud or else they got exposed to some unusual oxygen-deprived and/or saline environment soon after death, in order for these fossil fish to be preserved. Not months, nor years, nor millennia, but days! The following are a few other favorite examples.

Preserved in northeast Brazil's Santana Formation are not just the bones of fossil fish, but the mummified remains of gills, muscles, and stomachs.2 Gills are normally infested with bacteria 4-5 hours after a fish's death. "What is clear," reports D. M. Martill, "…is that the phosphatization [fossilization] took place moments after the fish had died and was completed within only a few (probably less than 5) hours." In this case, "instantaneous fossilization" is suspected by Martill to have been the very cause of death!

Crinoids, which are marine animals of the echinoderm or starfish family, comprise famous lagerstätten in both England and the United States. In the walls of New York state's Niagara Gorge (downriver from the Falls) are found whole crinoids that were "buried to death" in lime muds.3

What makes experts Taylor and Brett (1996) so confident? Crinoids, or "sea lilies," are composed of hard plates held together by extremely delicate soft tissue. Ordinarily, death of the organism results in quick disintegration of its plates; but here, whole organisms are preserved. Rapid burial in mud is required.

Are lagerstätten anomalies of the fossil record, or are they telling us something that is basic to its very character? They are certainly more common than what most geologists would have thought possible only a few decades ago. Flood geologists from former genera­tions might have explained it by going back to Genesis.

Footnotes
1. Whitmore, J.H., Experimental fish taphonomy with a comparison to fossil fishes, Ph.D. dissertation, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, 2003.
2. Martill, D.M., 1989, The Medusa effect: instantaneous fossilization: Geology Today 5(6): 201-205.
3. Taylor, W.L. & Brett, C.E., 1996, Taphonomy and paleoecology of echinoderm lagerstätten from the Silurian (Wenlockian) Rochester Shale: Palaios 11:118-140.

*William A. Hoesch, M.S. geology, is Research Assistant in Geology.

[Soldier4Christ]

Stewardship, Service & Sacrifice
by Henry Morris III, D.Min.

"Stewardship," as it is applied to our finances, is taught in most churches to all congregants at nearly every age. Unfortunately, too often the practice of stewardship begins and ends with the monetary gift.

From a biblical perspective, stewardship is expected in all aspects of our lives!

Jesus was always and in every way "about His Father's business." He preached the gospel, He healed the wounded and brokenhearted, He freed the captives and gave sight to the blind (Luke 4:18). Should we do less? "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter 4:10).

"Service" is just as frequently couched only in terms of "church" or "charity" work. Often, only the "full-time" ministry is considered real service to the Lord, with all other vocations cast in the light of "secular" employment. But the Bible teaches that we are to "do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).
The Genesis mandates (Genesis 1:28 and 9:1-7) are the foundational delegation of authority for all legitimate "service" to God as "stewards" of earth's inhabitants, resources, and social order. "Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful" (1 Corinthians 4:2).

"Sacrifice" of our personal wants and desires in favor of our Father's instructions is also expected of every man, woman, and child who desires to please God. Neither is any ministry exempt. Wise stewardship of every resource is commanded. "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things" (Philippians 3:7-8).

ICR has long encouraged this "creationist" perspective. Please consider co-laboring with us in our efforts to motivate leaders to teach "total stewardship" among God's people.

"O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together" (Psalm 34:3).

[nChrist]

Pastor Roger,

Brother, this remains one of my favorite threads because of all the discoveries and new things almost every day now that indicate to even skeptics that the theory of evolution is junk.

However, it's fairly easy to get confused with all of the tags and labels floating around these days. I've read some articles that supposedly support creationism that don't go FAR ENOUGH toward the truth. I feel quite certain that they are toned down so they will have a chance to get it into our schools, but it still upsets me that they don't bluntly state the TRUTH. There are several different kinds of courses now that are supposed to be counters to evolution, and I don't think that any of them go far enough.

I'm not so sure that I want to be known as a Creationist. I think that I would rather use a few more words and tell someone exactly what I believe. ALMIGHTY GOD created the universe, exactly as recorded in Genesis of the Holy Bible.

I'm thankful that there are counters being considered for our schools, but I'm afraid that many of them represent a fairly sad compromise. As an example, ALMIGHTY GOD isn't just a "Higher Being" or a "Supreme Being". ALMIGHTY GOD is who HE said that HE was - the GREAT I AM, THE ALPHA AND OMEGA, and the other HOLY NAMES enumerated in the Holy Bible. Some would tell me that I want GOD back in the classroom, and they would be telling the truth. Using the term, "Higher Being" isn't the whole truth and can mean different things to different people. In my opinion, this is not an acceptable compromise. The absolute fact and TRUTH is the same as it's always been - ALMIGHTY GOD is the CREATOR of the Universe, and HE told us what HE wanted us to know about Creation in Genesis. I don't ever plan to state a watered down version of the TRUTH to make the world happy. In fact, I could care less about making the world happy. The TRUTH leads to JESUS CHRIST and Salvation, so I plan to state the BOLD TRUTH - FULL STRENGTH!

Love In Christ,
Tom

[Soldier4Christ]

The absolute fact and TRUTH is the same as it's always been - ALMIGHTY GOD is the CREATOR of the Universe, and HE told us what HE wanted us to know about Creation in Genesis. I don't ever plan to state a watered down version of the TRUTH to make the world happy. In fact, I could care less about making the world happy. The TRUTH leads to JESUS CHRIST and Salvation, so I plan to state the BOLD TRUTH - FULL STRENGTH!

Amen and neither will I.

Those that were willing to compromise by calling it Intelligent Design are well meaning but being well meaning does not get us into heaven nor does it get to the absolute truth of the matter. Unfortunately this intelligent design teaching has spawned off even more cults. One of which now claims it was intelligent beings (ET's or aliens) from other planets that created us. Their well meaning compromise just caused more problems. There is but one truth and the Bible gives us just that. To be a Christian means to believe Jesus Christ and to follow Him. This includes believing what Jesus taught and He taught nothing less than creation.

[nChrist]

Brother, I've tried to read some of the alien garbage, but I just can't maintain attention with that nonsense. In fact, there are all kinds of wild cults driven by weird theories about aliens.

It's a sure thing that the devil wants people to believe literally anything except the Holy Bible, so there's a ton of baloney to choose from. BUT, the theory of evolution is worse than baloney, and many folks bought it as prime cuts.

This brings to mind a famous quote from P.T. Barnum of Barnum & Bailey Circus fame:  "You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time."

[Soldier4Christ]

Evolutionist scientist still refusing to accept the truth.

Fisherman catches 'living fossil'
Scientists previously thought coelacanths had died out about 70 million years ago

An extremely rare "living fossil" caught by a fisherman in Indonesia is being examined by scientists.

The 1.3m-long (4.3ft), 50kg (110lb) coelacanth is only the second ever to have been captured in Asia and has been described as a "significant find".

An autopsy and genetic tests are now being carried out to determine more about the specimen.

Coelacanths provide researchers with a window into the past; their fossil record dates back 350 million years.

These fish are odd in appearance, looking almost as if they have legs because of their large-lobed fins - they are sometimes dubbed "old four legs". The blue fish can also perform headstands, hovering with their head just over the sea floor, possibly to detect food.

Scientists previously thought the fish group had died out about 70 million years ago, but were shocked when in 1938 they discovered that a specimen had been caught in a fishing net off the east coast of South Africa.

Since then, more than 300 specimens of the modern coelacanth species (Latimeria chalumnae) have been found in the waters around the Comoros Islands, which are situated in the Western Indian Ocean, and the eastern coast of Africa.

However, scientists were surprised once again when a coelacanth was discovered thousands of kilometres away in Indonesia in 1998.

It looked similar to the coelacanths found near Africa, but genetic analysis revealed that the genomes differed by about 3.5%, and it was described as a new species called Latimeria menadoensis.

Peter Forey, a coelacanth expert at the Natural History Museum, London, said: "When the Indonesian coelacanth turned up in 1998, lots of people went out to look for more around this area, but nobody ever saw anything until now.

"The fact that another specimen has been found is significant; it confirms that this is a genuine location for another coelacanth's population."

A fearsome catch

Justinus Lahama, an Indonesian fisherman, caught the fish two months ago off the coast near Manado, on northern Sulawesi Island.

He told AFP news agency: "It was an enormous fish. It had phosphorescent green eyes and legs.

"If I had pulled it up during the night, I would have been afraid and I would have thrown it back in."

He took the catch back to the port where it remained alive for 17 hours in a netted pool outside of a restaurant. It was then frozen and is now being examined by scientists.

Genetic fingerprinting tests to be carried out by an international team of scientists will confirm if it is the same species as the coelacanth found in 1998.

The tests, said Dr Forey, could also help to reveal more about how and why the two species exist thousands of kilometres apart.

"The fact that the two populations are separated by this enormous gap of thousands of miles begs the question of how long ago and why they separated," he said.

"Estimates from the genetic fingerprinting carried out on the fish caught in 1998 suggest that they separated about four to five million years ago, however if you look at the geology of the oceans, it suggests that they should have separated about 30 million years ago.

"More sequences taken from this new fish will help us to calibrate these estimates."

Various efforts to conserve these ancient fish are underway. They are considered to be endangered and are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

On Wednesday, another group of scientists announced that they had discovered a 400-million-year-old fossil of a coelacanth fin.

The find was reported in the journal Evolution and Development.

Researchers from the University of Chicago said it had been excavated from sediments at Beartooth Butte in northern Wyoming and would reveal more about the evolution of the creatures.