New Scientist: 10 Puzzles of Evolution

Joel Kontinen


Last week, New Scientist magazine focused on God and religion. This week, it examines ten of the biggest problems for human evolution.

While New Scientist is not about to endorse creation or even intelligent design, a survey of the problems of evolution is a welcome innovation.

The puzzles include the following:

· Why aren't we more like chimps?
· Why did we become bipedal?
· When did language evolve?
· Why are our brains so big?
· Why did we lose our fur?

The Genesis-based creation model would explain these questions much better than Darwinism could. The obvious answer to each puzzle is that the basic assumptions of evolution are wrong. Man never shared a common ancestor with apes, never walked on four feet, never had small brains and never was hairy. Humans could speak from the very first day of their existence.

In contrast, Darwinian evolution has to rely on ever changing just-so stories in order to explain these puzzles.

Unfortunately, New Scientist repeats the old claim of the “little more than 1 per cent” genetic difference between chimpanzees and humans. The real difference is much greater. Moreover, only man was created in the image of God.

Sources:


Douglas, Kate. 2012. Puzzles of evolution: Why did we lose our fur? New Scientist 2857, 39

Jones, Dan. 2012. Puzzles of evolution: Why aren't we more like chimps? New Scientist 2857, 34-35.

The Atheists’ Very Religious Rally

Last week Michael Shermer preached on the virtue of atheism. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen

Last week American atheists gathered in Washington D.C. for a rally that sounded very religious. Known as the Reason Rally, it at least partly consisted of secular sermons in which the word God was substituted by “reason”.

Dr. Michael Shermer, editor of Skeptic magazine, was one of the speakers of the event that occurred just before Easter - and the Pope’s visit to Mexico and Cuba.

Shermer’s talk was a sermon on the benefits of freedoms that actually are blessings stemming from Christianity. He probably knows this but does not admit it.

“Instead of enslaving people because they were a lesser species, we expanded our biological knowledge to include all humans as members of the species,” Shermer said, very much in command of Orwellian newspeak.

Actually, it was Darwinian evolution that (for instance in Darwin’s Descent of Man and Hunter’s Civic Biology of the Scopes Trial fame) argued for many races of man. The Bible has always taught the brotherhood of all descendants of Adam.

“Instead of treating women as inferiors because a certain book says it is man’s right to do so, we discovered natural rights that dictate all people should be treated equally,” Shermer went on to say, forgetting that Christianity teaches the equality of all people in Christ.

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” the apostle Paul writes in Galatians 3:28 (NIV).

But let us allow Shermer to continue:

“And so as we rally here today to celebrate reason, let us also remember that we must never let down our guard, for there are those still who would prefer to live in a Medieval world of superstition and dogma. There is no guarantee that reason will triumph over ignorance.”

Many would agree that one of the worst instances of superstition and dogma is a belief in a world where natural processes are assumed to turn nothing into everything.

Shermer goes on to say:

“The force behind this moral arc is reason and science. To that end let us ‘Thank Reason’ for our blessings of liberty.
Thank Reason for our democracy.
Thank Reason for our rights.
Thank Reason for our prosperity.
And Thank Reason for our freedom.”

The last time true believers in atheism said or heard something very much like this was in the French Revolution. With religion out of the way, very soon the men with an invention known as the guillotine began to show where this “reason” could lead to.

Source:

Shermer, Michael. 2012. The Moral Arc of Reason Reason Rally, March 24, 2012, Washington D.C. Skeptic.com.

New Scientist Considers the Significance of God and Religion

Joel Kontinen


In April 1966 Time magazine had its famous Is God Dead? cover story. At that time, many people assumed that scientific progress would make the Creator God superfluous.

Much has happened since then. It seems that God is far from a has-been. Belief in evolution and the power of science to explain our existence has certainly not become any popular. Quite the contrary. For instance, last week New Scientist published its “God issue”.

According to New Scientist, faith in God is not about to disappear anytime soon. Unfortunately, many of its writers interpret religion from an evolutionary perspective, concluding that it is a factor that promotes our survival.

Only one of the writers – Victor Stenger – took an openly aggressive approach to God. Stenger, who is a skeptic, occasionally digressed into writing about the Republican Party’s aim of turning America into a theocracy. (This, of course, is conspiracy theory at its worst, but then left-leaning skeptics tend to be fond of weird explanations.)

The other articles are more matter-of-fact.

Justin L. Barrett for instance says that people have a natural tendency to believe in a Creator. He quotes research by Margaret Evans at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She found out that children tend to believe in creationist explanations even if their parents would accept evolution.

According to Barrett, this kind of faith differs decisively from a childlike belief in, say, Santa Claus or the tooth fairy. A child knows that whereas Santa Claus does not really exist, God is real.

Sources:

Barrett, Justin L. 2012. The God issue: We are all born believers. New Scientist 2856, 38-41.

Stenger, Victor J. 2012. The God issue: God is a testable hypothesis. New Scientist 2856, 46-47.

Professor A. E. Wilder-Smith: ”People Believe in Evolution Because They Want to Believe In It”

Professor A. E. Wilder-Smith wrote several books that were critical of evolution.




Joel Kontinen

”Evolution is scientific socialism,” Professor A. E. Wilder-Smith said in an interview on Dutch TV in the late 1970s. A socialist believes that welfare comes from nothing. Chemical evolution must also assume that something can come from nothing, although Louis Pasteur proved experimentally that it is impossible. Life does not come from non-life. Matter does not spontaneously organise itself into cells.

Biological evolution has to assume that genetic information increases through mutations. However, there is no empirical evidence of this. The evolutionist will only accept as evidence for his theory that what he wants to see, but he rejects design and creation – for ideological reasons, because he does not want to be accountable to God for his deeds.

Professor Wilder-Smith speaks of the effect of our worldview on how we interpret reality. The colour of the spectacles through which we look at reality determines what we see.

The dating of the geological column is based on circular reasoning. The column is dated with the help of fossils. And the evolutionist already “knows” that fossils are millions of years old. Round and round he goes.

Educated at Oxford and other top universities, A. E. Wilder-Smith (1915–1995) had three earned doctorates (in organic chemistry, chemotherapy and natural sciences) and he taught in many universities in several countries, so he knew well what was happening in science.

Wilder-Smith knew that the natural sciences know nothing of evolution. He said that he could not believe in what he knew to be nonsense and what was scientifically impossible.

God could not have used evolution as His method of creation. According to the Bible, the Word (Logos) made everything there is. In contrast, the materialistic approach will deny the existence of the non-material dimension.

Wilder-Smith explains that evolution implies that there are no moral truths. The history of Nazi Germany and the communist countries shows that the fruit of Darwinism are rotten.

When Professor Wilder-Smith gave his interview on Dutch TV, in many countries the Marxist view of history was assumed to be true and many thought that the Berlin Wall would never come crumbling down.

Cave Expert Dr. Emil Silvestru Talks About Caves, Noah’s Flood and Radiometric Dating

Joel Kontinen

Emil Silvestru of Creation Ministries International – Canada is a karstologist or cave expert with a PhD in geology. In the following video clips he is interviewed by Jim Cantelon of 100 Huntley Street. He talks about caves, Noah’s flood and radiometric dating methods.

Dr. Silvestru says that science in not about the facts but about how one interprets the facts.

There is much that speaks for a global flood, such as the existence of enormous flat erosion surfaces (planation surfaces) in mountains covering huge areas, even 1 million square kilometres, the continuity of sediments (the Cococcino Sandstone, for instance, covers half a million square kilometres in North America), and massive layers of dead animals all over the world.

Dating methods are always based on assumptions, which are based on more assumptions. Dr. Silvestru mentions that carbon-14 has been found in diamonds that are assumed to be as old as 3 billion years. In 1970, an exceptionally well-preserved muskox fossil found in the Yukon Territory was C-14 dated. The muscles at the back of the head gave a date of 24, 000 years and the fur 17,000 years. He has an interesting explanation for this discrepancy.

Are Animal Rights More Important Than Human Rights?

A rhesus macaque. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.





Joel Kontinen

Recently, Nature news reported on an animal rights campaign that has almost halted all air transports of monkeys.

Very few commercial airliners are willing to carry macaques and other monkeys that are needed in medical research. Oxford University, for instance, has used macaques in research in order to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease.

The real victims in the campaign are humans suffering from diseases that as yet have no medical cure. The problem in animal activism is that humans are the ones who will ultimately suffer. This, however, does not seem to bother activists, who are most probably inspired by Darwinian evolution.

Source:

Wadman, Meredith. 2012. Activists ground primate flights. Nature News (20 March).

"Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution"?

Joel Kontinen



In 1973 evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky wrote an article entitled "Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution.”

Recently, evolutionist Massimo Pigliucci refuted this idea in a blog post. He argued that Dobzhansky was wrong.

Pigliucci also acknowledges that Darwinism “is not a scientific theory, but an ideological-philosophical position.”

Many others have likewise seen problems in Dr. Dobzhansky’s claim.

In part 1 of a video produced by Answers in Genesis, Dr. David Menton examines Dobzhansky’s often repeated view and shows that it is not true.

Biology makes much sense, especially when Darwinian evolution is not mentioned at all.

Outrunning Disaster - New That’s a Fact Video from ICR

Joel Kontinen


The latest episode of ICR’s That’s a Fact video series discusses natural disasters, especially the Flood of Noah’s day.

While no one could outrun a mega-disaster such as the Flood, there is a way of escaping doom – by trusting in the One who is our only hope.

His name is Jesus.

New Video on Mount Saint Helens

Joel Kontinen

In May 1980 Mount St. Helens erupted, showing that major geological features can be produced in almost an instant instead of needing millions of years.

A new DVD shows what happened. Here’s its promo, courtesy of Creation Ministries International:

The Inspiring Story of an Abortion Survivor

Joel Kontinen


Some babies survive an abortion. Gianna Jessen is one of the few who did. A Christian and a pro-life activist, she is a living testimony of how wrong killing a baby is.

According to her website,

“After being burned alive for approximately 18 hours in the womb from the saline solution, Gianna was delivered alive in a Los Angeles County abortion clinic. Her medical records state, ‘born during saline abortion’ ... this is what caused her Cerebral Palsy.”

She was not expected to be able to even hold up her head, let alone walk. However, while she still walks with a limp, she has run two full marathons (42 km or 26.2 miles).

An internationally known singer and speaker, Gianna Jessen is a voice for the unborn. She points out that an abortion violates the rights of a baby - who is a human being.



October Baby, a soon to be released film, is based on her real-life story.





Source:

Gianna Jessen’s website.

No Dark Ages: 13th-Century Bishop Discovered What Colour Is

Bishop Robert Grosseteste. Image courtesy of William Morris, flickr.com.





Joel Kontinen

Skeptics will tell us that the Middle Ages were exceptionally dark, at least in the intellectual and scientific realm. However, historians would disagree as many great inventions were made during that period.

Recently, an article in New Scientist suggests that a 13th-century English bishop might have come up with a ”a working theory of colour centuries before the birth of modern science.” The bishop, Robert Grosseteste (ca. 1175 –1253), is characterised as “a pre-Renaissance Renaissance man.”

In the New Scientist article Michael Brooks says that Grosseteste’s view of what colour is resembles the modern view of colour. Grosseteste knew that

“colours do not exist by themselves, but are a property of the interactions of light and matter: ‘Colour is light incorporated in a diaphanous medium,’ as he puts it. Second, colours are made by sliding along three scales: from clara to obscura; from multa to pauca; and from purum to impurum. Whiteness, he adds, is an extreme produced by the combination of clara, multa and purum. This description is very similar to the way we regard colour today. ‘At the conceptual level Grosseteste's writings show a very strong resonance with modern views of colour,’ says Hannah Smithson, a perceptional psychologist at the University of Oxford and a member of the Ordered Universe team.”

The Dark Ages were not so dark after all. Far from being anti-science, medieval churchmen could actually promote science. They could do so because they believed that a rational Creator had created a rational creation that could be studied.

Source:

Brooks, Michael. 2012. Medieval modern master: Colour decoded before its time. New Scientist 2855, 52-53.

Ken Ham: Theories of the Beginning vs. Theories of the End

Joel Kontinen

In this brief video clip, Ken Ham, CEO of Answers in Genesis-USA, explains how theories of the beginning differ from theories of the end.

While long-age views of Genesis use external ideas to interpret Scripture, views of eschatology are often based on our understanding of what the Bible actually says.

Judge Aharon Farkash: No Evidence of Forgery in the James Ossuary Case

The James ossuary. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.






Joel Kontinen

An ossuary or limestone burial box with the inscription “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” made headlines in 2002. Some experts, for instance Andre Lemaire of the Sorbonne, thought that the ossuary and its inscription were genuine.

Soon, however, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) filed a lawsuit, accusing the owner, antiquities collector Oded Golan, of forging the inscription on the ossuary.

The IAA’s experts declared that the inscription was a later addition to the ossuary.

Now, however, Judge Aharon Farkash of the Jerusalem District Court issued the verdict in the case. He stated that there was no evidence of fraud. He did find Mr. Golan guilty of trading in antiquities without a license, though.

The verdict does not prove that the inscription on the James ossuary is authentic, but it indicates that there is no compelling evidence of it being a forgery.

Source:

Shanks, Hersel. 2012. Verdict: Not Guilty. Two Remaining Defendants Cleared of Forgery Charges After 5-year Trial. Biblical Archaeology Society. (14 March).

Charles Darwin, Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi

The portrait of Daniel arap Moi was once displayed in every governmental office in Kenya. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.





Joel Kontinen

What do Charles Darwin, Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi have in common? The connection is mostly ideological.

When Jomo Kenyatta was the president of Kenya, his portrait was displayed in every governmental office in the country, as though Big Brother was watching. The same custom of reminding the wanainchi or citizens of who is in charge continued during the presidency of his successor Daniel arap Moi, although these offices might have had nothing to do with the central government.

What has this to do with Charles Darwin? He is present (at least in spirit) in most science articles about human development although they might have nothing to do with evolution. For instance, a recent issue of New Scientist had two articles that reminded readers not to forget Uncle Charlie:

According to the magazine,

"Evolution is a powerful force - it has found many engineering solutions in our body."

” Indeed, the multiple roles of middle-aged people in human societies are so complex and intertwined, it could be argued that they are the most impressive living things yet produced by natural selection.”

The problem with this statement is that natural selection is not evolution. It cannot account for the arrival of species. It can only explain why a particular species or a variety of that species is suited for living in a particular environment (for instance, dogs with thick fur in a cold climate).

“Without the evolution of middle age, human life as we know it could never have existed.“

Darwin and evolution are totally unnecessary explanations. They hardly have anything to do with the subject matter of the articles. They seem to be added later so that no one might suspect that the writers are creationists or advocates of intelligent design.

Especially when the articles basically discuss intelligent design.

Sources:

Bainbridge, David. 2012. Middle age: A triumph of human evolution. New Scientist 2855, 48-51.

McKee, Maggie. 2012. Exotic electrical effect pops up in soft mammalian tissue. New Scientist 2855, 6-7.

Medical Study: It’s OK to Kill Newborn Babies

Joel Kontinen


In late February, the Journal of Medical Ethics published an online article entitled "After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?" It is perhaps no surprise that it has made headlines all over the world.

“Slaughter newborn kids, say academics,” the british tabloid The Sun interpreted the gist of the paper. It was not a misinterpretation, as the paper’s abstract says:

“Abortion is largely accepted even for reasons that do not have anything to do with the fetus' health. By showing that (1) both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons, (2) the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant and (3) adoption is not always in the best interest of actual people, the authors argue that what we call ‘after-birth abortion’ (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled.”

In other words, authors Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva argue that killing babies (regardless of what one chooses to call them) before birth is no different from killing them after birth. They are at least consistent.

What is troubling is their low view of human life. It seems to be inspired by Darwinian evolution and it reminds me of the opinions of Peter Singer and PZ Myers.

In contrast, here’s what Gianna Jessen, who survived an abortion, says about her life:




Sources:

Giubilini, Alberto and Francesca Minerva. 2012. After-birth abortion: why should the baby live? Journal of Medical Ethics. (23 February) doi: 10.1136/medethics-2011-100411.

Wilson, Graeme. 2012 Slaughter newborn kids, say academics. The Sun (1 March).

Palestinian Official: ”Jesus is the Palestinian Prince of Hope and Peace”

Church of The Nativity in Bethlehem. Image courtesy of Wayne McLean (Jgritz).


Joel Kontinen

Since the first century AD, there have many views of who Jesus is. In New Testament times, some believed He was a good teacher, some thought that He was John the Baptist, Elijah or Jeremiah or some other prophet.

People still have differing opinions on who Jesus is. Recently, Omar Awadallah, head of the UN department in the PA Foreign Ministry, claimed that Jesus is a Palestinian:

“Jesus is the Palestinian prince of hope and peace and Bethlehem is his birthplace,” he said.

I don’t know of any Bible scholar who would agree completely. As to His human descent, Jesus was a Jew, although there were some non-Jews in His genealogy. The Bible does call Him the Prince of Peace. It says He was born in Bethlehem, but it definitely does not say that He was Palestinian.

The Bible also describes Him as the Creator and Redeemer, the Author of Salvation and the only Way to God.

Source:

Lazaroff, Tovah. 2012. PA: Register Church of Nativity under ‘Palestine'. The Jerusalem Post 8 March.

Answers in Genesis Video: Seven Habits of Highly Suppressive People

Joel Kontinen


Have you ever heard about the seven habits of highly suppressive people? According to Bill Jack of Worldview Academy, the apostle Paul wrote about them in Romans chapter 1.

They are the result of rejecting God’s revelation that is clearly seen in nature:

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen,” Paul states in Romans 1:20 (NIV).

This is the truth that they suppress.

Recently, Answers in Genesis posted the first part of Bill Jack's talk on this challenging topic:

Darwin Doubter Featured in Science

An increasing number of scientists doubt Darwin (above). Image courtesy of Wikipedia.


Joel Kontinen


French microbiologist Didier Raoult has published over 1,250 papers in scientific journals. He has earned both a Phd and an MD and he is a Darwin doubter.

“Controversial and outspoken, Raoult last year published a popular science book that flat-out declares that Darwin's theory of evolution is wrong”, Catherine Mary writes in the journal Science that seldom if ever features Darwin doubters.

Source:

Mary, Catherine. 2012. Sound and Fury in the Microbiology Lab. Science 335 (6072): 1033-1035.

Creation Museum Nominated Most Popular US Destination for Under 15-Year Old Kids

Joel Kontinen

AiG’s Creation Museum in Kentucky was nominated the most important destination in the USA that kids under 15 should see. In a contest that Budget Travel arranged recently the Museum garnered a total of 7,615 votes or over 250 votes more than the second-placed US Space and Rocket Center.

Atheists did not like the idea at all. They did what they could to persuade people to vote for any other destination than the Creation Museum.

Their efforts were all in vain, however. The voters preferred the Creation Museum over any other destination.

Source:

Budget Travel.com.

Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani Is Still Alive And Needs Our Support

Joel Kontinen

Illegally imprisoned for 874 days, Christian pastor Youssef (Youcef) Nadarkhani is still alive and needs our support. The human rights organisation American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) has initiated a Twitter campaign in order to show the Iranian authorities that pastor Nadarkhani is not alone.

If you have a Twitter account, you can join others in supporting him. See details here.

Creation Facts on Vimeo

Joel Kontinen

The Institute for Creation Research has produced a series of short (1.5 minutes) videos on a variety of topics related to creation.

Each week, ICR releases a new That's a Fact video. Last week’s video was on flood stories. Previous videos have for instance discussed “useless” body parts, evolution in action, the uniqueness of humans and the second law of thermodynamics.

You can access the videos here.

Neanderthals As Ancient Mariners

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal girl. Image courtesy of Christopher P.E. Zollikofer. Anthropological Institute, University of Zurich via Wikipedia.

Joel Kontinen



The abilities of the Neanderthals are getting more versatile almost every week. The latest instalment adds seafaring to the list.

Stone tools found on the Greek islands of Lefkada, Kefalonia and Zakynthos suggest that the Neanderthals reached these Ionian islands by sea before modern men.

They crossed the sea at a time when evolutionists believe the islands were separated from the Greek mainland by much water – probably too much for swimming.

Once dismissed as grunting apemen, the Neanderthals have been welcomed into the human family as fully-fledged members.

Source:

Marshall, Michael. 2012. Neanderthals were ancient mariners. New Scientist 2854, 10. (29 February).