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By Keith Barr
In
recent years as we have made more scientific advancements in DNA
research and understanding the complexities of life more and
more scientist, mathematicians and biologist have become
increasing doubtful about the possibility of evolution.
Proponents of Intelligent Design argue that life is so
irreducibly complex that the only feasible explanation is there
must be intelligence behind the design. It does not
necessary argue who this intelligence is it just says there must
be a designer because life at it’s most basic form is still so
incredibly complex that the only feasible explanation is there
must be a intelligent designer. Currently there is a
debate as to whether students should be taught that evolution is
a theory. Despite the new evidence, this has caused a tremendous
uproar in some circles in the scientific community. With
their materialistic world view facing serious challenge they are
unfairly attacking anyone who questions them, They charge
that people who believe in this are just creationist and
unfairly charge creationist as unscientific. What they really
fear is a public debate and widespread scientific study of
creationism.
Science is taught in our
school to teach students how things came about. The reason
there has been more advancement in the last few hundred years
than all the millennia that men have lived before is because of
an understanding of how things are formed at the sub-atomic
level. In science we encourage students to think in new an
innovative ways, starting with what is known and be always
willing to explore new possibilities. The greatest
impediment to scientific advancement is the stubborn bias and
refusal of people to have an open mind and accept new ideas,
even if it means challenging the old established beliefs.
To say that intelligent design is definitely not science is to
say the Bible definitely is not true and bad science. This
is not true. To say it should not be taught is a defeatist
attitude that shows the bias and or ignorance of its opponents
and will hinder scientific advancement.
Most people would be shocked
to learn that most of the scientific evidence supports creation
and not evolution. For instance let us look at the fossil
record. If it 1 species evolved from another in thousands or
millions of transitional steps where are the transitional
fossils? If there are millions of fossils then there
should be at least hundreds of millions or billions of
transitional fossils found. How many are there? The
answer is none. The creation model says God created
creatures to reproduce after its own “kind.” (Dogs can
produce different types of dogs but can’t produce monkeys.)
This is what the fossil record supports.
Some have argued you can’t say
intelligent design is science because you can’t study it.
That is not true. In a court of law we try to prove what
has happened in a case by examining the evidence and the word of
eyewitnesses. From the known facts the prosecutor gives a
theory to recreate the events based upon known data.
Prosecutors do this every day and life and death decisions are
made based upon this process. In murder cases some of the
most compelling evidence comes from the testimony of dead
people. Even though a person may not be alive to give the
testimony, the forensic evidence that is left is presented and
often it is the most compelling evidence of all.
In a case for intelligent
design we can look at the words of the eyewitness, we question
His credibility and see does His statements line up with the
facts. Everyday in our court system people are brought in
to testify. Sometimes convicted criminals are brought in
to testify against other criminals. Even though a wicked
or evil person may be testifying, the question is, are they
telling the truth? Even though a person may be brought in
to testify because he was offered reduced sentencing, the jury
is still allowed to hear their testimony. Sometimes a
person may testify whose testimony is unreliable, or
unbelievable at least the testimony is heard. Let us at
least hear what the Bible has to say.
We cannot question God
directly but we can question His reported testimony, The Bible.
Let us at least hear the testimony in court. We can question the
credibility and plausibility of it like we would question any
witness’s words or statements. Yes, the Bible is a
religious book but we are not debating the religious nature of
it. If we discount its testimony simply because of that
then we must discount everyone who is religious from ever
testifying in a court of law. Let us judge the science.
Let us look at just a few of
the scientific statements of the Bible.
The earth is round and it
hangs on empty space
(Job 26:7 KJV) He
stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the
earth upon nothing.
(Isaiah 40:22 KJV) It
is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the
inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the
heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell
in:
The earths core is
round (Proverbs 8:27 KJV) When he prepared the heavens,
I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the
depth:
We believe the Earth has an
inner core and outer core. They spin in opposite
directions causing the earth’s magnetic field. The Bible
mentions there is more than one foundation. (Job 38:4
KJV) Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the
earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. In
many passages God seems to boast about the foundations as if
there is something special about it. We know that no other
planet of this size has such a strong magnetic field. This
magnetic field acts like a force field, protecting us.
Without it all life would have vanished years ago from deadly
cosmic radiation.
(Ecclesiastes
1:6 KJV) The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth
about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the
wind returneth again according to his circuits.
The earth is round but
because the insides are liquid and the earth is spinning the
centrifugal force causes it to bulge at its equator and flatten
at the poles. The equator is closest to the sun so it is
warmer there. When air is heated its molecules become
excited and it gets lighter. Warm air rises. As this air
rises high up it is pushed further by the newly heated air
beneath it. It rises as high as it can in atmosphere.
With nowhere to go it flows to the poles. Now it is going
further away from the sun and cooling off and begins to descent.
Due to earths rotation it descends whirling down to the earth
and continues back toward the equator according to its circuits
exactly as Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes.
The only way Solomon could
have known this was either God told him or he had a weather
satellite and he knew all the above information.
One of the most incredibly
accurate passages is also one of the oldest written almost 4000
years ago. To many this verse alone proves the Bible is
true. In it God is speaking to Job from a whirlwind and
describes the things God has created.
(Job 38:24 KJV) By
what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind
upon the earth?
How
could Job know that you could break up sunlight?
There is a part of sunlight which is the heat element of light
which is invisible, the invisible infra red rays.
Since the earth is round and bulges at its equator the air at
the equator is closer to the sun and warmed more by the
invisible infrared rays causing the warm air to rise. It
is not light but a portion of the sunlight that does this.
Either God told him or you must believe that this ancient race
of shepherds had access to more scientific knowledge than the
entire ancient world but never used it
There are those that would
argue to teach creation would somehow diminish science.
That is preposterous. The Bible is not anti-science. It is
pro-science. The Bible itself says the God created the
universe not by supernatural magic but by scientific means.
(Proverbs
3:19 KJV) The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by
understanding hath he established the heavens.
The Bible encourages us to
get wisdom and understanding,
(Proverbs 4:7 KJV)
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with
all thy getting get understanding.
Wisdom is described like a
beautiful woman and to be greatly desired above all else.
(Proverbs 3:15 KJV)
She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst
desire are not to be compared unto her.
Clearly we can see the Bible
teaches us to value wisdom and knowledge. The first thing
the Bible teaches us is He created everything. If you want
scientific collaboration of the biblical account of creation
consider this;
Any activity on a nuclear
level (whether fusion or fission) would cause a tremendous
amount of heat. So much heat that it would have taken the
earth many years to cool off because of the heat of creation.
How does the Bible say that God dealt with this problem?
He used the same substance we use to cool our nuclear reactors
today. He created the earth underneath water so that it would be
cool in 2 days.
Is there any geological
evidence that the earth was ever covered with water? Every
geologist knows this is true because sedimentary rocks which
cover the earth’s surface can only be formed under water.
There is much to be gained from a study of creation from a
intelligent design perspective. The entire creation
process is spelled out in detail my book “Genesis
to Armageddon and Beyond”. Consider if Why do we wish our
students to be closed minded to intelligent design.
Consider this; if only consider one mod
It is just as wrong to
discount all of the science of the Bible as it is to discount
all the history mentioned in the Bible. To do that we must
say there was no Jerusalem, no Egypt, no Rome, No Iran, no Arabs
and no Jews. There is a great deal of archaeological evidence
that proves many historical statements in the Bible. That is why
there is a field of study called Biblical Archaeology or Near
East Archaeology. A serious study of Near Eastern
Archaeology cannot be done without a working knowledge of the
historical statements in the Old Testament in the Bible.
Archaeologist read the biblical accounts and set out to prove or
disprove them. This is done strictly on the basis of the
historical statements.
For
instance was there a city called Jericho where the walls fell
straight down? Yes. Was their evidence of the city
being burned by fire? Did this take place during harvest and
did the invaders incredibly leaving the valuable grain behind?
Was there a section of the wall attached to a house that did
not fall where Rahab the harlot could have lived? The
answer is yes to all these questions according to archaeological
evidence. Many unbelieving Biblical Archaeologist
set out to disprove the historical statements in the Bible but
ended up proving them. Let us not fear a truthful
scientific study of scientific statements in the Bible, but
embrace it. We Christians (John 8:32 KJV) And ye
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. I
challenge any unbelieving person to study the scientific
statements the Bible makes with an open mind. You will find out
why the Bible says, (Proverbs 9:10 KJV) The fear of the
LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy
is understanding.
We should not allow the howls
and protest of those fearful of a scientific study of
creationism and intelligent design to stop scientific progress.
They are fearful of their bias and materialistic world view
being challenged. We cannot allow their personal prejudices to
stop scientific study. Let us allow our students to do the same
in science that we do in archaeology. Let them study, let them
learn.
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