Biblical Creation vs. Evolution

[Soldier4Christ]

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON Researcher Anson Mackay
http://www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/~amackay/, of the Environmental Change Research
Centre, has constructed the most accurate high-resolution temperature record of
Siberia (Lake Baikal) over the past 800,000 years. It clearly demonstrates the
region has often been considerably warmer than at present. The most recent data
shows Siberia first began warming around 250 years ago – well before the
industrial revolution, and its resulting greenhouse gas emissions could have
been a factor. Mackay concludes, "[Changes] started as early as c. 1750 AD, with
a shift from taxa that bloom during autumn overturn to assemblages that exhibit
net growth in spring (after ice break-up) ...Warming in the Lake Baikal region
commenced before rapid increases in greenhouse gases, and at least initially, is
therefore a response to other forcing factors such as insolation changes."

ED.COM. This is yet another in a now long line of historical studies which do
not support the contentions that modern man's industrial emissions are the key
cause of global warming. Given that the scientific historian is merely a prophet
in reverse – then time should prove him right in retrospect also! Sadly it will
probably be long after he is bankrupt from GW taxation.

[Soldier4Christ]

CAMBRIDGE UNI STUDY SHOWS Primary-aged children worry daily about global
warming, as well as other stress factors such as school tests, according to an
intimate portrait of primary school life, 'Community Soundings', published today
by Cambridge University.

ED.COM. Did you worry about the future of the planet when you were this age? Our
observation is that this is one more stress factor that will divide the Family
as the next generation blame the last generation. Our recommended solution -
Parents teach your children God's real history of the world – particularly
emphasising Genesis 8 : 22 where God tells Noah what the weather will be like to
the end of the world.

[Soldier4Christ]

HOBBIT WRIST BONES CONFIRM CREATION RESEARCH PREDICTION. A study of the
wrist bones of Homo floresiensis, otherwise known as “the Hobbit” was reported
in BBC News Online 20 Sep 2007, ABC News in Science and Science vol 317, p1743,
21 Sep 2007. Since the bones of this creature were found on the Indonesian
island of Flores there has been a fierce debate about whether it was a new
species of human being or a diseased modern human. Some creationists have joined
the side of “diseased human” proponents. A group of American and Australian
scientists have now studied three wrist bones, named trapezoid, captitate and
scaphoid. The researchers compared the H. floresiensis bones with human wrist
bones and those of three apes, gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans. The Hobbit
wrist bones are all more like ape bones than human bones. The researchers claim
this means that H. floresiensis is a new species of human that evolved
separately from “a hominin ancestor that migrated out of Africa” before the
evolution of present day humans.

ED. COM. In March 2005 we wrote that the H. foresiensis “head and body
proportions seem to most closely resemble the Australopithecines, which are a
group of extinct apes. The most famous and well studied Australopithecine is a
partial skeleton know as ‘Lucy’. The more this skeleton has been studied, the
more ape like it is found to be. We suspect the same will happen with H.
floresiensis.”

Later that year another study of the bones was published in Nature, 13 October
2005 that described a number of other Hobbit bones. We wrote the following: “If
we put the information from these new studies together with the previous studies
of Homo floresiensis we can summarise them as follows: This creature has the
brain size of a chimpanzee, a jaw like a ‘southern ape’, arms like a gibbon or a
monkey, legs like a chimpanzee or orangutan, body proportions of a ‘southern
ape,’ body mass like a chimpanzee and a brain-to-body proportions of the
chimpanzee or ‘southern ape’. Is there any alternative to the conclusion that
the creature was an ape? Therefore, it is inexcusable that it continues to be
classified as ‘Homo’ by evolutionists and creationists!” (see More Hobbit Bones
Found, Evidence News 2 Nov 2005) The wrist bone study with yet another feature
in common with the australopithecines simply confirms our prediction that H.
floresiensis is an extinct ape. As the “diseased human” vs “new human” battle
continues, over these bones Creation Research can stand on the sidelines of the
battle and say (humbly of course) “you are both wrong and we were right.” In
this case the Biblical Creation based belief that there has only ever been one
family of mankind has been a better basis for science than evolution.

[nChrist]

Me thinks that Al Gore is a major source of hot air. Environmentally, the only thing that would help is for him to wear a bag over his head and keep his mouth closed in public.

    

[Soldier4Christ]

Me thinks that Al Gore is a major source of hot air. Environmentally, the only thing that would help is for him to wear a bag over his head and keep his mouth closed in public.

    

  That may not even be enough of a help.

[nChrist]

That may not even be enough of a help.

        ROFL! - I forgot.

Al also needs to park his private jet and limo - he can either walk or ride a bicycle and practice what he preaches. He can also donate all of his MONSTER mansions to be used as hospitals, and he can live in a tent. I watched a show done by Shawn Hannity that took Al Gore's global warming apart quite well. I think that Hannity called Al Gore a "Lear Jet Limousine Liberal". It's an "Inconvenient Truth" that Al Gore's global warming is all hot air and his acting is horrible. Body language and voice analysis experts say that he doesn't believe what he's saying either. Meanwhile - he's counting his money and taking bows, and the big money folks can't wait to get their hands on the 6 billion dollars of taxpayer money that will be wasted on absolutely nothing.

Did I get closer?   

I personally think that we should make Al Gore part of a Rapid Response team to handle global warming. They could be like one of the "super hero" cartoons and have flashy costumes and either a mask or a helmet. However, there might be a problem in getting enough people to volunteer for the team. If we could just find ONE, they could be like "Batman and Robin", and we could get them a Batmobile for rapid response. I think their first task should be to CORK volcanoes. If they get good at that, they can start installing giant mirrors between the earth and the sun to reflect part of the sun's rays back into space. In case you're wondering, Al would be Batman, and we would have to find someone REAL SIMPLE for Robin. NOW this is science!          

[Soldier4Christ]

I think Al needs the mask and the helmet. One to hide his smiling all the way to the bank and the other for protecting him from the sky falling.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Earth: A Special Place

Secularists like to consider earth as just one of many millions of planets, occupying an obscure place in an insignificant galaxy in a sea of nothingness. Conversely, the Bible teaches that earth is very special to the Creator, performing a crucial role in the universe today, and prepared for an unending role in the cosmic saga.

This is the location God chose to situate His image in man, after He had created and constructed it and him in wisdom. This is where God sent His only begotten Son, to live a perfect life and die a sufficient sacrifice once man had rejected Him. This is where God is grooming His bride--the Church--for eternal life with Him and where He will reign forever from the New Jerusalem.

It is also special in a temporal sense, well designed for man's habitation. God created it in an orderly fashion, with each step necessary for the life and well-being of man.

On Day One He created space, time, and water, the raw materials from which He created all else. Water was essential for life, with all the right properties. Then He created light, the ongoing source of warmth, energy, and food. The unfinished planet was rotating under the light, with a speed of rotation and tilt to the axis calibrated so that each side of the planet received just the right amount.

Day Two saw the atmosphere created, with the precise amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide for animals and plants.

On Day Three God called the oceans together, and then formed the continents, complete with topsoil supporting plant growth, all necessary for the nourishment of animals and man.

The astral bodies were created on Day Four--the sun as a permanent source of necessary light, and the moon, stars, and planets as necessary adjuncts and protectors of earth. The sun, we now know, is near the center of the entire universe, just as earth is at the center of His attention. At just the right distance, the sun provides energy and warmth in precise amounts. If the sun were any closer, we would burn in unlivable heat; any farther, and we would be locked in ice. The moon's gravity causes the tides to continually circulate and freshen the oceans, without which life would not flourish as it does. The larger planets guard earth from incoming solar bodies. The heavenly bodies were also given for timekeeping and regulation of life.

Day Five saw the oceans filled with abundant life, with much creativity and variety, all enjoying harmony with the environment and each other, and each performing necessary functions which contributed to the well-being of the whole. The skies were alive with flying creatures, beautiful in plumage and song.

On Day Six God continued to display His creativity with land animals of all sorts and sizes, capable of marvelous things, and each one bringing glory to its Creator. All were necessary and existed in amazing balance. And then God recreated His very image in man, and placed him as steward over all creation, to shepherd it, embellish it, and use it wisely.

Perfect equilibrium lasted until man choose to reject God's loving care for him, incurring His judgment and placing in motion God's gracious plan of redemption, for man and his entire dominion. In eternity, He intends to recreate earth and the heavens, restoring the wonderful conditions it originally enjoyed, forever displaying His special care for it and us.

Give thanks to the Creator now and forevermore.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Mount Moran: A Witness to the Flood

Mount Moran, the nonconformist of Wyoming's Teton Range, is distinguished by having a blunt top, a prominent black vertical stripe on its upper part, and a tiny visible cap of marine sandstone on the summit. Its face is made of the same solid granitic stock as comprises the core of the other mountains of the Teton Range, but it differs in other respects. How does this beautiful mountain testify of Creation and the Flood?

First, the core of Mount Moran is comprised of crystalline basement rocks, the same types that make up most of the core of North America. If you drill deep enough in most places on the continent you will find these rocks. Although granitic in overall composition, most of the basement complex consists of metamorphic and igneous rocks that appear to be in crosscutting relationship with one another and which seem to indicate a long history of complex intrusive events. However, these relationships are not nearly as clear as the margins of true intrusive bodies such as the Sierra Nevada Batholith, where adjacent fossil-bearing sedimentary rocks were obviously cooked by the heat of the enormous magma body.

Is it conceivable that the patchwork basement of metamorphic and igneous rocks presents the appearance of a long history of melt, intrusion, and recrystallization, yet the entire body was created instantly? Is it possible these represent the collective work of Day One of the Creation Week? One thing is certain: it is easy to identify rocks like these as forming the core of most of the earth's continents.

Second, there is the peculiar black dike that from a distance looks like a vertical line made by a giant, broad, felt-tipped pen. In this case, the dike is about 150 feet in width, and diabase in composition. Diabase dikes are not uncommon in the rock record, but they are an especially common feature of the "late Precambrian" worldwide and may mark a unique episode in earth history when vertical cracks were opened and infilled with mafic (iron/magnesium-rich, quartz-poor) magma. It was emplaced sometime before the erosion surface known as "the Great Unconformity" was generated, yet after formation of the crystalline basement rocks.

Scripture indicates the Flood began when "all the fountains of the great deep |were| broken up |literally ‘faulted'|" in a single day (Genesis 7:11). Could these dikes such as exist atop Mount Moran mark an episode of worldwide tectonic unrest immediately prior to the start of the Flood? The evidence certainly fits with this.

Third and finally, there is what appears to be a tiny wisp of a light-colored cap atop Mount Moran, as if it needed to keep its head warm. The cap is in fact a remnant (the Flathead Sandstone) of a vast sheet of sandstone that once covered the continent like a layer of plastic wrap across a football field. The Flathead Sandstone is the basal part of an entire succession of marine fossil-bearing strata that tilt westward away from the axis of the Teton Range but which are mostly out of view from the floor of Jackson Hole. Geologists universally regard the Flathead Sandstone as the basal layer of a "marine transgression" that flooded most of the continent beneath seawater. Subsequent to this "flood," the mountain block called the Tetons was uplifted and sculpted by glaciers.

The biblical geologist who believes in the Flood can agree with this story; he questions only the necessity of the extreme timescale. An important question to ask is what scientific evidence forbids the possibility that Creation, the world-covering Flood, and subsequent uplift of mountain ranges like the Tetons, took any longer than several thousand years? Apart from uniformitarian prejudice, there is none.

Many are attracted to scenic places like Mount Moran. These wonders grab our attention for a good reason. Among the things the created world conveys is God's "eternal power" (Romans 1:20). Think about His power the next time you visit the Tetons.

[Soldier4Christ]

 More Than a Rising Star
by David F. Coppedge*

On his widely popular Cosmos science program in 1980, Carl Sagan described our paltry existence in pathetic terms: "We live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star, lost in a galaxy, tucked away in some forgotten corner of universe in which there are far more galaxies than people." Several developments since then have altered this perception dramatically.

First of all, earth's sun is not so humdrum. It belongs to a spectral class representing only 5% of all stars: a G2V yellow dwarf mainsequence variable. Many in this class pulsate much more radically than the sun, giving off deadly flares.

How does our sun compare with its classmates? In one of the longest-running observational programs of the 20th century, astronomers at the McMath Solar Observatory at Kitt Peak measured solar output with high precision. Researchers White, Wallace, and Livingstone recently published the results of their "Sun-as-a-Star" program in the Astrophysical Journal. This data set spanning 32 years--a rarity in science--concluded that our sun is uncommonly stable.

Scientists know the sun goes through an 11-year activity cycle. Flares and magnetic storms appear menacing through modern orbital observatories like SOHO, Hinode, and STEREO. Some flares and coronal mass ejections have topped the charts in recent years. Yet even these violent eruptions produce "little in the way of magnetic-field-related nonradiative heating."1 The energy of these magnetic storms escapes between the granules instead of heating the photosphere. As a result, the sun's heat output, or solar constant, has only varied by 6 one-hundredths of a percent during the entire observational period of 1974-2006.

M. S. Giampapa compared this behavior with other stars. The amount of variation in solar output is "about 10% less than the seasonal mean values, as measured over several seasons of observation, for even the most quiet solar-type stars."2 The sun is among the few solar-class stars with "immaculate photospheres,"3 which places our sun in the upper echelon of all the stars.

Astrobiologists might counter that there could still be a quadrillion rivals to the sun, but many other qualities make our sun even more special. We are located in a relatively safe position within the Milky Way. The sun's energy is tuned to the chemical reactions of vision and photosynthesis. And there is the amazing coincidence between the apparent diameters of the sun and moon that allow total solar eclipses to be visible on earth--dazzling displays of the wisdom and power of God.

In a debate at the American Museum of Natural History in 2005, five out of five secular planetary scientists voted that our solar system appears special. One commented, "The older I get, the less likely it seems to me there'd be a bunch of places like our solar system."4

The sun is a star among countless others, but in many respects it stands alone. It is the perfect lighthouse for the one planet that we know harbors life. Rejoicing like "a strong man to run a race," it journeys across our sky each day, radiating its life-sustaining energy and declaring the glory of God (Psalm 19:1-6).

References

1. White, O. R., L. Wallace, W. Livingston, and M. S. Giampapa. 2007. Sun-as-a-star spectrum variations 1974-2006. Astrophysical Journal. 657:1137-1149.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Goudarzi, S. 2005. Five out of five researchers agree: earth's solar system special.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Darwinism: Survival without Purpose
by Jerry Bergman, Ph.D.*

Humans have always wondered about the meaning of life...life has no higher purpose than to perpetuate the survival of DNA...life has no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference.1 --Richard Dawkins

Evolution is "deceptively simple yet utterly profound in its implications,"2 the first of which is that living creatures "differ from one another, and those variations arise at random, without a plan or purpose."3 Evolution must be without plan or purpose because its core tenet is the natural selection of the fittest, produced by random copying errors called mutations. Darwin "was keenly aware that admitting any purposefulness whatsoever to the question of the origin of species would put his theory of natural selection on a very slippery slope."4 Pulitzer Prize author Edward Humes wrote that the fact of evolution was obvious but "few could see it, so trapped were they by the human…desire to find design and purpose in the world." He concluded:

    Darwin's brilliance was in seeing beyond the appearance of design, and understanding the purposeless, merciless process of natural selection, of life and death in the wild, and how it culled all but the most successful organisms from the tree of life, thereby creating the illusion that a master intellect had designed the world. But close inspection of the watchlike "perfection" of honeybees' combs or ant trails…reveals that they are a product of random, repetitive, unconscious behaviors, not conscious design.5

The fact that evolution teaches that life has no purpose beyond perpetuating its own survival is not lost on teachers. One testified that teaching evolution "impacted their consciences" because it moved teachers away from the "idea that they were born for a purpose… something completely counter to their mindset and beliefs."6

In a study on why children resist accepting evolution, Yale psychologists Bloom and Weisberg concluded that the evolutionary way of viewing the world, which the authors call "promiscuous teleology," makes it difficult for them to accept evolution. Children "naturally see the world in terms of design and purpose."7 The ultimate purposelessness of evolution, and thus of the life that it produces, was eloquently expressed by Professor Lawrence Krauss as follows: "We're just a bit of pollution…. If you got rid of us…the universe would be largely the same. We're completely irrelevant."8

The Textbooks

To determine what schools are teaching about religious questions such as the purpose of life, I surveyed current science textbooks and found that they tend to teach the view that evolution is both nihilistic and atheistic. One of today's most widely-used textbooks stated that "evolution works without either plan or purpose…. Evolution is random and undirected."9 Another text by the same authors added that Darwin knew his theory "required believing in philosophical materialism, the conviction that matter is the stuff of all existence and that all mental and spiritual phenomena are its byproducts." The authors continued:

    Darwinian evolution was not only purposeless but also heartless--a process in which...nature ruthlessly eliminates the unfit. Suddenly, humanity was reduced to just one more species in a world that cared nothing for us. The great human mind was no more than a mass of evolving neurons. Worst of all, there was no divine plan to guide us.10

Another text taught that humans are just "a tiny, largely fortuitous, and late-arising twig on the enormously arborescent bush of life" and the belief that a "progressive, guiding force, consistently pushing evolution to move in a single direction" is now known to be "misguided."11 Many texts teach that evolution is purposeless and has no goal except to achieve brute survival: the "idea that evolution is not directed towards a final goal or state has been more difficult for many people to accept than the process of evolution itself."12 One major text openly teaches that humans were created by a blind, deaf, and dumb watchmaker--namely natural selection, which is "totally blind to the future."

    Humans...came from the same evolutionary source as every other species. It is natural selection of selfish genes that has given us our bodies and our brains…. Natural selection…explains…the whole of life, the diversity of life, the complexity of life, |and| the apparent design in life."13

The Implications

Many texts are very open about the implications of Darwinism for theism. One teaches that Darwin's immeasurably important contribution to science was to show that, despite life's apparent evidence of design and purpose, mechanistic causes explain all biological phenomena. The text adds that by coupling "undirected, purposeless variation to the blind, uncaring process of natural selection, Darwin made theological or spiritual explanations of the life processes superfluous."14 The author concludes by noting that "it was Darwin's theory of Evolution that provided a crucial plank to the platform of mechanisms and materialism…that has been the stage of most western thought."15 Another text even stated directly that humans were created by a random process, not a loving, purposeful God, and:

    The real difficulty in accepting Darwin's theory has always been that it seems to diminish our significance…. |Evolution| asked us to accept the proposition that, like all other organisms, we too are the products of a random process that, as far as science can show, we are not created for any special purpose or as part of any universal design.16

These texts are all clearly teaching religious ideas, not science. An excellent example is a text that openly ruled out not only theistic evolution, but any role for God in nature, and demonstrated that Darwinism threatened theism by showing that humans and all life "could be explained by natural selection without the intervention of a god." Evolutionary "randomness and uncertainty had replaced a deity having conscious, purposeful, human characteristics."

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

    The Darwinian view that… present-type organisms were not created spontaneously but formed in a succession of selective events that occurred in the past, contradicted the common religious view that there could be no design, biological or otherwise, without an intelligent designer…. In this scheme a god of design and purpose is not necessary…. Religion has been bolstered by… the comforting idea that humanity was created in the image of a god to rule over the world and its creatures. Religion provided emotional solace, a set of ethical and moral values…. Nevertheless, faith in religious dogma has been eroded by natural explanations of its mysteries…. The positions of the creationists and the scientific world appear irreconcilable."17

Darwin himself taught a totally atheistic, naturalistic view of origins. He even once said, "I would give nothing for the theory of natural selection if it requires miraculous additions at any one stage of descent."18 John Alcock, an evolutionary biologist, therefore concluded that "we exist solely to propagate the genes within us."19

Leading Darwin scholar Janet Browne makes it very clear that Darwin's goal was the "arduous task of reorienting the way Victorians looked at nature." To do this Darwin had to convince the world that "ideas about a benevolent, nearly perfect natural world" and those that believe "beauty was given to things for a purpose, were wrong--that the idea of a loving God who created all living things and brought men and women into existence was…a fable."

    The world…steeped in moral meaning which helped mankind seek out higher goals in life, was not Darwin's. Darwin's view of nature was dark--black…. Where most men and women generally believed in some kind of design in nature--some kind of plan and order--and felt a deep-seated, mostly inexpressible belief that their existence had meaning, Darwin wanted them to see all life as empty of any divine purpose.20

Darwin knew how difficult it was to abandon such a view, but realized that for evolution to work, nature must ultimately be "governed entirely by chance." Browne concludes:

    The pleasant outward face of nature was precisely that--only an outward face. Underneath was perpetual struggle, species against species, individual against individual. Life was ruled by death...destruction was the key to reproductive success. All the theological meaning was thus stripped out by Darwin and replaced by the concept of competition. All the telos, the purpose, on which natural theologians based their ideas of perfect adaptation was redirected into Malthusian--Darwinian--struggle. What most people saw as God-given design he saw as mere adaptations to circumstance, adaptations that were meaningless except for the way in which they helped an animal or plant to survive.21

Neo-Darwinist Richard Dawkins recognized the purposelessness of such a system:

    In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.22

How widely is this view held by scientists? One study of 149 leading biologists found that 89.9 percent believed that evolution has no ultimate purpose or goal except survival, and we are just a cosmic accident existing at the whim of time and chance. A mere six percent believed that evolution has a purpose.23 Almost all of those who believed that evolution had no purpose were atheists. This is only one example that Sommers and Rosenberg call the "destructive power of Darwinian theory."24

Purpose and Christianity

Christianity teaches that God made the universe as a home for humans. If the universe evolved purely by natural means, then it just exists and any "purpose" for its existence can only be that which humans themselves attribute to it. But our own experience and intellectual attainments argue against this. The similarity of human-constructed machines and the orderly functioning of the universe is the basis of the design argument. Just as a machine requires a designer and a builder, so too the universe that we see requires a designer and a builder.

Determining the purpose of something depends on the observer's worldview. To a nontheist the question "What is the purpose of a living organism's structure?" means only "How does this structure aid survival?" Eyesight and legs would therefore have nothing to do with enjoyment of life; they are merely an unintended byproduct of evolution. Biologists consistently explain everything from coloration to sexual habits solely on the basis of survival. Orthodox neo-Darwinism views everything as either an unfortunate or a fortuitous event resulting from the outworking of natural law and random, naturally-selected mutations. Conversely, creationists interpret all reality according to beliefs about God's purpose for humans. Evolutionists can usually explain even contradictory behavior, but creationists look beyond this and try to determine what role it plays in God's plan.

Conclusions

Orthodox evolution teaches that the living world has no plan or purpose except survival, is random, undirected, and heartless. Humans live in a world that cares nothing for us, our minds are simply masses of meat, and no divine plan exists to guide us. These teachings are hardly neutral, but rather openly teach religion--the religion of atheism and nihilism. The courts have consistently approved teaching this anti-Christian religion in public schools and have blocked all attempts to neutralize these clearly religious ideas.

As the Word of God states, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

References

1.   Scheff, Liam. 2007. The Dawkins Delusion. Salvo, 2:94.
2.   Humes, Edward. 2007. Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul. New York: Ecco, 119.
3.   Ibid, 119.
4.   Turner, J. Scott. 2007. The Tinkerer's Accomplice: How Design Emerges from Life Itself. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 206.
5.   Humes, Monkey Girl, 119.
6.   Ibid, 172.
7.   Bloom, Paul and Deena Skolnick Weisberg. 2007. Childhood Origins to Adult Resistance to Science. Science, 316:996.
8.   Panek, Richard. 2007. Out There. New York Times Magazine, 56.
9.   Miller, Kenneth R. and Joseph S. Levine. Biology. 1998. Fourth Edition, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 658, emphasis in original.
10. Levine, Joseph S. and Kenneth R. Miller 1994. Biology: Discovering Life. Second Edition, Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 161, emphasis in original.
11. Raven, Peter H. and George B. Johnson. 2002. Biology. Sixth Edition, Boston, MA: McGraw Hill, 16, 443.
12. Purves, William K., David Sadava, Gordon H. Orians, and H. Craig Keller. 2001. Life: The Science of Biology. Sixth Edition, Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates; W.H. Freeman, 3.
13. Interview with Richard Dawkins in Campbell, Neil A., Jane B. Reece, and Lawrence G. Mitchell. 1999. Biology. Fifth Edition, Menlo Park, CA: Addison Wesley Longman, 412-413.
14. Futuyma, Douglas J. 1998. Evolutionary Biology. Third Edition, Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, 5.
15. Ibid, 5.
16. Curtis, Helena and N. Sue Barnes. 1981. Invitation to Biology. Third Edition, New York, NY: Worth, 475.
17. Strickberger, Monroe. 2000. Evolution. Third Edition, Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett, 70-71.
18. Darwin, Francis (editor). 1888. The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin. London: John Murray, 210.
19. Alcock, John. 1998. Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, 16, 609.
20. Browne, Janet. 1995. Charles Darwin: Voyaging, A Biography. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 542.
21. Ibid, 542.
22. Dawkins, Richard. 1995. River Out of Eden. New York: Basic Books, 133.
23. Graffin, Gregory W. 2004. Evolution, Monism, Atheism, and the Naturalist World-View. Ithaca, NY: Polypterus Press, 42.
24. Sommers, Tamler and Alex Rosenberg. 2003. Darwin's Nihilistic Idea: Evolution and the Meaningless of Life. Biology and Philosophy, 18:653.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Thanksgiving Sacrifice
by Henry Morris III, D.Min.*

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. (Hebrews 13:15)

The "thanksgiving" part of this end-of-year holiday season has slipped a bit from its early intent. Although many American families will prepare a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner, and many will pause long enough to express "thanks"--to someone or something, perhaps even to God--there is no doubt that the public consciousness has drifted far from a clear worship of the Creator.

    "The God worshipped--and thanked--by millions of people bears little or no resemblance to the God of the Bible. As a matter of fact, conversation about the holiday is likely to reveal that many people have no transcendent referent in mind at all.

    "… t may be that a good many individuals think of giving thanks as some form of self-therapy, with gratitude identified more in attitudinal than theological terms.

    "The secular vision of thanksgiving feels empty and false. If there is no Creator and the universe is a cosmic accident, whom do we thank? At best, all we can do is be happy--at least in some sense--that this accident has not turned out worse. If there is no divine intelligence or benevolence behind world events, public and personal, it certainly seems like our Thanksgiving is just an exercise in considering ourselves comparatively lucky. How can fate be thanked?"

    R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Quoted by “On Faith,” an interactive conversation on religion moderated by Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn of The Washington Post, November 24, 2006.

Permit me to focus you with some of my own "sacrifices of praise" to the Heavenly Father.

    * I am forgiven and made holy, Heavenly Father, through the sacrifice of Your Son, the Lord Jesus. "Thank you" seems far too weak an expression for such an inestimable gift, but it is all I can really offer.

    * I love You, Lord Jesus, for Your perfect human life, Your willing substitution on the cross of Calvary for my sin, Your joyous victory over death, and the unfathomable promise of eternal life in Your presence. Please accept my heartfelt thanks until You return--then my anticipated service throughout eternity.

    * I am most grateful, Holy Spirit, that You have revealed the Father's will to me for my work and ministry. The "peace that passes all understanding" surrounds me and I acknowledge Your indwelling presence. For that peace, Your presence, and Your daily direction in my life, I thank You.

    * I love Your written Word, Lord God, and joyfully embrace its authority in my life. Thank You for inspiring its human authors, for preserving its integrity over the centuries, and for enabling me to "hear" and "hide" its treasures in my heart.

    * I long for Your kingdom to come, Lord of Lords, and praise You for granting me insight into eternal matters, that I might please You in this life. Knowing that "every knee" will bow in knowledge one day and "every tongue" confess Your Lordship, gives me, this day, assurance and hope for the future. For this confidence, I thank You.

    * And for daily blessings, El Shaddai, I thank You. For family and friends, for my church and pastor, for health and prosperity, for home and comforts, for work and purpose--for these and much more, I give You my thanks, my love, and my service. May the Courts of Heaven ring this day with the praises of Your saints around the earth.

[nChrist]

  * I am forgiven and made holy, Heavenly Father, through the sacrifice of Your Son, the Lord Jesus. "Thank you" seems far too weak an expression for such an inestimable gift, but it is all I can really offer.

    * I love You, Lord Jesus, for Your perfect human life, Your willing substitution on the cross of Calvary for my sin, Your joyous victory over death, and the unfathomable promise of eternal life in Your presence. Please accept my heartfelt thanks until You return--then my anticipated service throughout eternity.

    * I am most grateful, Holy Spirit, that You have revealed the Father's will to me for my work and ministry. The "peace that passes all understanding" surrounds me and I acknowledge Your indwelling presence. For that peace, Your presence, and Your daily direction in my life, I thank You.

    * I love Your written Word, Lord God, and joyfully embrace its authority in my life. Thank You for inspiring its human authors, for preserving its integrity over the centuries, and for enabling me to "hear" and "hide" its treasures in my heart.

    * I long for Your kingdom to come, Lord of Lords, and praise You for granting me insight into eternal matters, that I might please You in this life. Knowing that "every knee" will bow in knowledge one day and "every tongue" confess Your Lordship, gives me, this day, assurance and hope for the future. For this confidence, I thank You.

    * And for daily blessings, El Shaddai, I thank You. For family and friends, for my church and pastor, for health and prosperity, for home and comforts, for work and purpose--for these and much more, I give You my thanks, my love, and my service. May the Courts of Heaven ring this day with the praises of Your saints around the earth.

AMEN!

All good things are given to us by GOD, including life. We have a purpose to find out about in this short life, and that's to Glorify GOD. The CREATOR - ALMIGHTY GOD has a design and plan for us that's eternal. YES - GOD does exist, and HE created all things exactly according to Genesis in the Holy Bible. We can believe this or reject it, but it will be revealed as an absolute fact at HIS Appointed time. As Christians, we have a huge list of things to give thanks for every day - not just at Thanksgiving. A small token of our appreciation would be to Glorify HIM in our daily lives and fulfill our purpose.

Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable GIFT, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour Forever!

[Maryjane]

All one has to do is watch the Caveman show and laugh at the fact of evolution...