Are There UFOs at the Bottom of the Baltic Sea?

Clouds can at times look like flying saucers. Image courtesy of Wikipedia. (Creative Commons 3.0.)




Joel Kontinen

Recently, CNN reported on a disk-shaped object that was found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden. The news initially surfaced in July 2011.

Peter Lindberg, a Swedish submarine entrepreneur, spoke about the discovery to the media. As his submarine firm needed more funds for examining the phenomenon, this might say something about Mr. Lindberg’s willingness to promote the news of his discovery.

Using sonar, Lindberg and his crew found a massive disk-shaped object with a diameter of 60 metres (180 feet) and a “tail” 400 metres (1200 feet) long. Mr Lindberg also says that they found another object some 200 metres (600 feet) from their initial discovery.

Some have said that the object is a UFO that has sunk to the bottom of the sea.

The belief in extraterrestrial life is to a great extent based on Darwinian evolution. Many believe that if life could have evolved on Earth through naturalistic processes, it could also have evolved elsewhere in the universe.

Notwithstanding many popular science fiction films, most scientists would agree that travelling from one solar system to another should in practice be impossible. Accordingly, UFOs could not hail from outer space. Most UFO sightings are probably false alarms.

Some people believe that a minority of UFO sightings have to do with Spiritism. The assumed space aliens are bringing a message that resembles new age ideology in which nature has usurped the role of God.

Source:

'It's either the Millennium Falcon or a gateway to hell': Shipwreck hunters find mysterious object at bottom of Baltic Sea. Daily Mail 29 January 2012.

It’s Difficult to Believe in Evolution

Why do most people reject Darwin? NPR blogger asks. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.





Joel Kontinen

NPR blogger Marcelo Gleiser wrote an interesting blog post, asking why it is difficult to believe in evolution. Yes, he used the word ‘believe’.

He lamented that only 39 per cent of Americans believed in Darwinian evolution.

“The evidence for evolution is overwhelming. It's in the fossil record, carefully dated using radioactivity, the release of particles from radioactive isotopic decay, which works like a very precise clock. Rocks from volcanic eruptions (igneous rocks) buried near a fossil carry certain amounts of radioactive material, unstable atomic nuclei that emit different kinds of radiation, like tiny bullets,” Gleiser says.

However, precise dates can be very misleading. At the Creation 2011 Super Conference in Canada, nuclear physicist Jim Mason discussed the problems involved in radiometric dating and concluded that scientists could be – and have actually been – ‘precisely wrong’ in their dates.

In other words, although dates might look precise they can still be incorrect – they can be off by many millions of years.

It is not possible to test the credibility of any of the assumptions behind radiometric dating but they are often held to be true without evidence. Contrary to assumptions

- Rocks are by no means closed systems
- No one can be sure of the amount of parent isotopes in a rock
- Decay rates might have changed

In addition, “bad dates” are commonplace.

Next, Gleiser moves on to antibiotics resistance:

“But evidence for evolution is also much more palpable, for example in the risks of overprescribing antibiotics: the more we (and farm animals) take antibiotics, the higher the chance that a microbe will mutate into one resistant to the drug.”

While antibiotic resistance is often touted as evolution in action, there are problems with this view. In 2011 a paper in the journal Nature suggested that antibiotic resistance predated the discovery of antibiotics:

Vanessa D’ Costa and colleagues reported on

“targeted metagenomic analyses of rigorously authenticated ancient DNA from 30,000-year-old Beringian permafrost sediments and the identification of a highly diverse collection of genes encoding resistance to β-lactam, tetracycline and glycopeptide antibiotics. Structure and function studies on the complete vancomycin resistance element VanA confirmed its similarity to modern variants.”

They concluded that:

“These results show conclusively that antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon that predates the modern selective pressure of clinical antibiotic use.”

Antibiotic resistance is not evolution in action. Georgia Purdom, who has a PhD in molecular genetics, writes:

“Mutation and natural selection, thought to be the driving forces of evolution, only lead to a loss of functional systems. Therefore, antibiotic resistance of bacteria is not an example of evolution in action but rather variation within a bacterial kind. It is also a testimony to the wonderful design God gave bacteria, master adapters and survivors in a sin-cursed world.”

Far from being overwhelming, the evidence for evolution is questionable.


Sources:

D’ Costa, Vanessa M. & al. 2011. Antibiotic resistance is ancient. Nature 477, 457–461.

DeYoung, Don. 2005. Thousands … Not Billions. Green Forest, AZ: Master Books.

Gleiser, Marcelo. 2012. “Why Do So Many Have Trouble Believing In Evolution? NPR (18 January).

Purdom, Georgia. 2007. Antibiotic Resistance of Bacteria: An Example of Evolution in Action? Answers 2 (3), 74-76.

Archbishop Ussher or Millions of Years?

James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.





Joel Kontinen

Many Christians find it difficult to believe that the idea of millions of years cannot be found in the Bible. The word day in Genesis 1 in particular seems to cause huge problems. Some would say that with the Lord a day is like a thousand years – but only in Genesis 1. Few would believe that Noah was in the belly of a whale for 3,000 years, for instance.

However, there are many good reasons to believe that the Genesis 1 text means exactly what it says.

Anyhow, the late Paul Little said:

”Some well-meaning but misguided Christians … make the Bible say what it does not say. One classic and harmful example is the Bible chronology calculated by Bishop James Ussher (1581-1656), a contemporary of Shakespeare. He worked out a series of dates from the genealogies in the Bible and concluded that the world was created in 4004 B.C.”

What might be so harmful in this example? After all, the Bible does not teach the idea of millions of years.

While we cannot be dogmatic about Ussher’s date, it is nonetheless closer to the real date of creation than the billions of years dogma that theistic evolutionists and progressive creationists like to promote.

Source:

Little, Paul. 1988. Know Why You Believe. 3rd ed. Downers Grove, Il: InterVarsity Press.

Answers Research Journal at 4 Years: Still Going Strong

Joel Kontinen

Answers in Genesis launched Answers Research Journal (ARJ), a peer-reviewed online technical journal, in January 2008.

While sceptics were quick to criticise the journal and doubt its contribution to science, ARJ is still going strong. According to the AiG website:

“The quality of scholarship from such a wide range of creation researchers has surpassed even our highest expectations. In only four years, we’ve published nearly 1000 pages of solid scientific and theological discussion in 66 papers. That includes 19 papers in 2011—our highest number yet.”

Coming contributions include papers on hypercanes, radiohalos and theistic evolutionism.

Source:

ARJ: Four Years and Counting. Answers in Genesis.org 25 January 2012.

New Darwinian Equation: Shark + Shark = Evolution

Image courtesy of Albert Kok, Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

When two slightly different species of sharks get offspring, the result is called evolution in action, at least in AFP’s reporting on the issue.

Their offspring are sharks. In spite of this obvious observation, the hybrid sharks seen in Australian waters are advertised as proof of Darwinian evolution.

Such hybrids are not as rare in the animal kingdom as people usually assume. It has nothing to do with evolution. It tells us that the Genesis concept of kind is much more wider than the biological term 'species'.

Thus, for instance, lions and tigers can mate and get ligers. This shows that they belong to the same Genesis kind. Polar bears and grizzly bears can also produce bears.

According to evolutionists, sharks have been sharks for over "400 million” years and they are not about to change into something else.

Source:

Coopes, Amy. 2012. World-first hybrid shark found off Australia. AFP (2 January).

Genesis: Still a Huge Problem for Naturalistic Origins Theories

Gustave Doré (1832–1883): Creation of Light. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.





Joel Kontinen


Recently, the titles of two articles in New Scientist magazine illustrated the current state of origins theories: The Genesis problem and Why physicists can't avoid a creation event.

“How do you get a universe, complete with the laws of physics, out of nothing?” the magazine asks. The text is surprisingly honest:

“YOU could call them the worst birthday presents ever. At the meeting of minds convened last week to honour Stephen Hawking's 70th birthday - loftily titled 'State of the Universe' - two bold proposals posed serious threats to our existing understanding of the cosmos.”

These proposals state that the universe must have had a beginning, when it came into being out of nothing. While they equate this creation event with the Big Bang, the Genesis 1:1 description – “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" – is an even more credible explanation of the origin of everything.


Sources:

Grossman, Lisa. 2012. Why physicists can't avoid a creation event. New Scientist 2847, 6-7.

The Genesis problem. New Scientist 2847, 3. (13 January 2012).

Christopher Hitchens on Theistic Evolution: It's Not Logical

Atheists do not have a need for God in this scenario. Image courtesy of José-Manuel Benito Álvarez, Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

Some Christians, especially those affiliated with the BioLogos Foundation, have recently spoken about the need to embrace evolution.

However, atheists think that this is not logical. In a debate with Kenneth Miller on the topic Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete? the late Christopher Hitchens said:

“I can understand you avoiding my question about resurrection, but if you want to stay focused on science then you can’t have this both ways.”

In other words, if we do not believe that God could do miracles in Old Testament times, why would we assume that He could do them in the New Testament?

A truly biblical worldview begins with the supernatural creation described in the book of Genesis and includes a supernatural resurrection.


Source:

e-Skeptic: Debate: Christopher Hitchens vs. Kenneth Miller 11 January 2012.

Darwin in America: Eugenics

Darwin’s ideas had consequences for thousands of Americans. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

Ideas have consequences. Some of Charles Darwin’s thoughts had extremely dire consequences for thousands of people in America.

According to the North Carolina Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation website: “Between 1929 and 1974, an estimated 7,600 people were sterilized by choice, force or coercion under the authority of the N.C. Eugenics Board program.”

North Carolina was just one of the U.S. states that had a Eugenics Board. Inspired by Darwinism, eugenics was seen as a way of solving social problems such as poverty and illegitimacy. Unfit individuals were not deemed fit to have children.

Recently, the her.meneutics blog of Christianity Today had a concise appraisal of the strategy that caused so much suffering to so many people: “Eugenics attempts to eliminate human suffering by eliminating humans who suffer.”

It has been suggested that the German Nazis under Adolf Hitler adopted the American model for helping natural selection to rid humanity of the “less fit”.

Sources:

NC Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation.

Prior, Karen Swallow. 2012. When the State Took Away My Life: North Carolina Grapples with Sterilization Practice.her.meneutics (18 January)

Interesting Claim in Science: Queen Victoria Knights Four Scientists This Week

Queen Victoria in 1897. Image courtesy of W. and D. Downey/National Archives of Canada.




Joel Kontinen

Science is one of the most prestigious science journals in the world. However, this does not necessarily mean that everything it says is reliable. It has, for instance, been mistaken about our origins more than once or twice.

Last week Science’s newsletter SCIENCE News This Week included an interesting item: Queen Victoria will knight four scientists and bestow different honours on some other scientists.

Victoria ruled Great Britain from 1837 to 1901, which makes the news item rather interesting.

Later, in its Internet version, Science corrected the name of the UK monarch to Elizabeth II.

Sources:

Newsmakers. SCIENCE News This Week. 13 January 2012.

The updated version is here: Science

100 Years Ago: Captain Scott and “Reptilian-Looking” Birds

The Terra Nova expedition of 1910–1913 tried to find evidence for Darwinian evolution. Image courtesy of Cherry-Garrard, Apsley, Project Gutenberg.





Joel Kontinen

Robert Falcon Scott (1868-1912) was a British navy officer known for his ill-fated expedition to Antarctica. He and his team lost the race to the South Pole and also lost their lives on the return trip.

On January 17th, 1912 they reached the Pole only to learn that Roald Amundsen and his team had already been there.

Their expedition also had an evolution connection. Three members of his team tried to find evidence for Darwinian evolution by examining penguin eggs.

According to New Scientist,

“Emperor penguins were thought to be primitive birds. The idea was to collect embryos and see if any vestiges of reptilian ancestry could be discerned in the various stages of development. If so, it would link reptiles to birds and make a strong case for Darwin's theory of evolution. Sadly, the men only collected three eggs and returned frost-bitten, battered and bruised.”

However, no amount of eggs can prove the bird-reptile connection, which has enormous problems.

German zoologist Ernst Haeckel speculated that different species resemble each other during the early stages of their development. His embryo drawings have been used in textbooks for a century although they are known to be frauds.

Source:

Anathaswamy, Anil. 2011. Remember Scott's legacy of Antarctic science. New Scientist 2847, 24-25.

Two Big Bad Trojan Horses

Image courtesy of Wikipedia (Creative Commons 2.5).





Joel Kontinen

Throughout church history, ideas that are completely opposed to Christianity have often tried to infiltrate the church. In the early days, the apostles had to warn the believers of a salvation by works view stemming from the observance of Judaism. Later, Gnosticism became an even bigger threat.

In the past two centuries or so, two big bad Trojan horses – theistic evolution and the belief in millions of years – have tried and are still trying in infiltrate the church.

Murphy’s Law and Intelligent Design

The Fall resulted in thorns and thistles.




Joel Kontinen

First we had a power blackout caused by a blizzard and then two days later my laptop refused to function. Then we had more and longer blackouts.

Evolutionists often claim that anything less than perfect design means no design. However, in this case, a power grid that almost always works is still designed and so is a computer that once in a while does not function as it should.

They speak of a fallen world and not of the absence of design.

Orwellian Newspeak in New Scientist

George Orwell, the father of newspeak. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.





Joel Kontinen

Criticizing Darwinian evolution is an attack against science, Paul Wolpe argues in the latest issue of New Scientist in a genuine Orwellian way:

“SCIENCE is under assault. In the US and throughout the world, rhetoric about evolution, stem cells, global warming and other controversial and cutting-edge technologies often transcends legitimate disagreement to challenge the work of scientists.”

However, scientific theories should not be above criticism as no one has ever succeeded in developing a theory that had no defects. And Darwinian evolution has probably more of them than any other view scientists have suggested.

In Orwellian newspeak words are given meanings that differ diametrically from their ordinary meaning.

Evolutionists often regard evolution as a synonym for science. What they tend to forget is that modern science owes its origin and existence to Christian thinking or the view that a rational Creator has created a rational world that can be studied and observed.

Since its early days, Darwinian evolution has been a very questionable idea. Many of the great pioneers of science, for instance Louis Pasteur, resisted it. However, they did not attack science but merely criticised Darwinian evolution.

Many former people's republics were fond of newspeak. They were actually totalitarian oligarchies in which the people did not have any power and they had no idea what democracy was about.

Darwinists have embraced this method wholeheartedly.

Source:

Wolpe, Paul Root. 2012. Science needs a universal symbol. New Scientist 2846: 24-25.

BioLogos – Using Man’s Word as the Authority in Understanding Genesis

Many theologians have doubts about Adam.




Joel Kontinen



If human history teaches us anything, it at least tells us that it is difficult for us to believe that a transcendent Creator can communicate with us in an understandable way.

However, our thinking will not change reality. If God was powerful enough to create everything in the cosmos, He is capable of telling us how He did it.

Unfortunately, many Christians will doubt this. In recent years, scientists and theologians at the BioLogos Foundation have insisted that Christians should accept theistic evolution or the view that God is behind evolution.

In a 21-minute video clip, Ken Ham, CEO of Answers in Genesis-USA, speaks about the anti-biblical teachings of BioLogos.

When Stargazers Met the Creator of All Stars

Joel Kontinen

When Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, he was not only greeted by shepherds, who were members of the lower class, but also by the magi, stargazers who had the wherewithal to leave everything and embark on an investigative journey to see what was going on.

Traditionally, Epiphany is celebrated on 6th January to remind us of this historical event. Men who studied the stars met the One who “made the stars also”.

The apostle Paul describes Jesus as follows in Colossians 1:15-17 (NIV):

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Two Ways of Seeing the Past

Joel Kontinen

Ken Ham, CEO of Answers in Genesis (USA), often speaks of ultimate authority. In this brief video clip he talks about the difficulty of interpreting the past. In the Bible, God tells us that He was there in the beginning so He knows what He is talking about.

A False Cheetah and a Chimp That Did Not Learn Sign Language

A false Cheetah. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen

Last week brought us news about the demise of a chimpanzee named Cheetah at the age of 80. However, it was soon reported that this chimp was born long after the first Tarzan films were shot.

The real Cheetah starred alongside Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O’Sullivan in Tarzan films in the 1930s.

The media and science reporters are fond of ape tales but unfortunately we often can’t make head nor tail of their tall tales.

Recently, the journal Nature reported on Herbert Terrace, who in the 1970s tried to teach a chimpanzee named Nim Chimpsky to learn sign language. Nim learnt about 125 signs but unlike human children it failed to form logical sentences but merely combined signs haphazardly, for instance, ”eat – me –eat” or ”play – me – Nim”.

Terrace says that Nim aped signs to get rewards. The chimp tests turned out to big failures, as Nim was unable to learn properly. Finally it grew too big, and the tests had to be discontinued.

Evolutionists had hoped to prove that a chimp can learn to communicate but the case of Nim Chimpsky tells us that there is an enormous intellectual and linguistic gap between humans and chimpanzees.

Only humans, who are created in the image of God, are able to use language in a creative way.


Source:

Hoffman, Jascha. 2011. Q & A Herbert Terrace The interpreter. Nature 475 (7355): 173.