“Nothing about molecular machines makes sense without intelligent design.”

The human kinesin motor domain. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen


All living organisms are full of molecular machines that have all the hallmarks of intelligent design.

We have learnt a lot about biology in the past 40 years. In 1973, Theodosius Dobzhansky’s paper Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution was published in the American Biology Teacher.

Recently, an article in the blog Evolution News & Views stated the current state of our biological knowledge in very different words: “Nothing about molecular machines makes sense without intelligent design.”

Scientists have discovered so much in the past four decades that it has become increasingly difficult to defend Darwinian evolution cogently.

Evolution Does Not Work - It Is the Wrong Kind of Change

An Australian Green Tree Frog (Litoria caerulea). Image courtesy of Wikipedia. Evolution lacks the mechanism for turning a frog into a prince, even if it had 300 million years to do so.




Joel Kontinen

Evolutionists often claim that evolution is merely change over time. As it might be difficult to dispute the fact that we do see a lot of change in both us and others, evolution might sound plausible.

However, as this brief video clip by Creation Ministries International shows, there’s more to it. The type of change claimed by Darwinists is the wrong kind of change. It has to do with a loss of genetic information, for instance an animal loses its ability to grow thick fur, and not the kind that could over hundreds of millions of years turn a frog into a prince.

In other words, Darwinian evolution lacks a mechanism for real, information-gaining change.

When Heaven Touched Earth: The Incarnation of Jesus

Easter reminds us of the astounding love of God. El Greco: Christ carrying His cross. (1580). Image courtesy of Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen


Unbelievers tend to have a distorted view of God. They often fail to see His goodness towards us humans and focus on the things they don’t like.

In effect, they have created a god in their image. However, the God of the Bible is different. As the Apostle Paul states in his letter to Titus (Tit. 3:4-5, NIV):

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”

This is what we celebrate at Easter. God became flesh to redeem His fallen image.

Resurrection of an Old Darwinian Fable

Darwinian stories often feature monkeys.




Joel Kontinen

Darwinian storytelling can be intriguing because the tales are so fact-free. Recently, New Scientist resurrected a hypothesis of how early humans began to run (and get bigger brains as well):

“In 2004, two biologists proposed that the human body is specialised for long distance running, perhaps as an adaptation for hunting (by running prey to exhaustion) or scavenging (allowing us to compete with dogs and hyenas for widely dispersed carcasses). Either way, endurance running could have supplied early humans with a rich source of protein that supported the flowering of our extraordinary brains.”

Where is the evidence for this kind of speculation? There isn’t. It’s just another story devoid of facts and full of imagination, as Darwinian just-so stories tend to be.


Source:

Lawton, Graham. 2013. The body: Born to run... and throw. New Scientist 2908, 33.

Iran Keeps on Torturing American Pastor

Pastor Saeed Abedini. Image courtesy of the American Center for Law and Justice.





Joel Kontinen

The Iranian regime is notorious for its dislike of Christians, especially of pastors who preach God’s Word. Iran threatened to execute Rev. Youcef Nadarkhani for attempting to convert Muslims, but an international media campaign persuaded the Iranians to set the pastor free.

However, now the regime is torturing another Christian pastor, who has been imprisoned since last summer. Rev. Saeed Abedini, a former Muslim, is a dual Iranian-American citizen, and he has been involved in the home church movement in Iran.

As Christians, we should definitely pray for Rev. Abedini. We can also support the American Center for Law and Justice’s (ACLJ’s) campaign for his release by signing an online petition.


Source:

Pastor Saeed After Beatings and Torture: “I did not recognize myself”. ACLJ. 22 March 2013.

Learning Wisdom from Chairman Mao Zedong

The journal Nature suggests we can learn wisdom from Chairman Mao. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

Recently, there was a short article in the journal Nature about the things we can learn from Chairman Mao Zedong.

Colin Macilwain suggests that while people in the west tend to live in the past, Chairman Mao wanted to leave the past behind and go on to something new and not be satisfied with things as they are.

Macilwain says that we tend to see Mao as a monster, but he nevertheless suggests that we could learn from him.

He ends his article with these words:

“As for Chairman Mao, he'd have cheered a report from the Xinhua news agency on 6 February. The story, ‘Frugality fuels science breakthrough’, lauded a team of neutrino scientists for, among other things, finding cheap accommodation. I've never seen a story along these lines in Europe or the United States. And that, I'm afraid, suggests that decadence has set in.”

Macilwain contrasts Mao’s wisdom with the self-satisfaction he sees in western science and its funding. What he does not say is that Mao with his ruthless ways wholeheartedly embraced Darwinian evolution and brought misery, suffering and death to millions of his countrymen.

Source:

Macilwain, Colin. 2013. The unlikely wisdom of Chairman Mao. Nature 495 (7341):143.

Pope Francis: “God’s Plan Is Inscribed In Nature”

Pope Francis sees God’s plan in nature. Image courtesy of Casa Rosada, via Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen

Some previous popes have embraced evolution.

In contrast, Pope Francis, in his inauguration homily, said:

“Let us be ‘protectors’ of creation, protectors of God's plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.”

Not a very bad start.


Source:


Pope: Let Us Be “Protectors” of Creation, Not Allowing Omens of Destruction And Death to Accompany Our World's Journey. Vatican Information Service 19 March 2013.

Small Crab, Big Headache for Evolutionists

This crab does not support evolution.




Joel Kontinen


Living fossils cause headaches for evolutionists – or at least they should. While the (neo) Darwinian theory of evolution predicts that species change dramatically over millions of years, surprisingly many species hardly change at all.

Thus, the horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) has hardly changed in over ”400 million” years.

There is no shortage of living fossils.

New Discovery: Camels Lived in Arctic Canada

Joel Kontinen

We don’t usually think of camels as living in the arctic region. However, a recent discovery suggests that they once did:

Recently, a press release issued by the Canadian Museum of Nature stated that a Canadian research team had “identified the first evidence for an extinct giant camel in Canada's High Arctic. The discovery is based on 30 fossil fragments of a leg bone found on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, and represents the most northerly record for early camels, whose ancestors are known to have originated in North America some 45 million years ago.”

The researchers actually found collagen in the bones, which throws a dark cloud on the age of millions of years.

The collagen profile of the fossil suggests that the animal was indeed a camel.

How could the camel have lived so far in the north? The most logical explanation is that the global flood of Noah’s day washed the animal into an area that is not exactly known for its camels.

The pre-flood climate in the north was probably a lot warmer than it is today.

Source:

Remains of Extinct Giant Camel Discovered in High Arctic by Canadian Museum of Nature. Canadian Museum of Nature. 5 March 2013.

Richard Dawkins on Twitter: Human Babies Are Less Human Than Adult Pigs

Richard Dawkins. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

Richard Dawkins seems to believe that unborn human babies are of less value than adult pigs. Writing on Twitter, he says: “With respect to those meanings of "human" that are relevant to the morality of abortion, any fetus is less human than an adult pig.”

Dawkins’ statement indicates what belief in atheism and evolution can lead do.

Source:

Twitter

Miraculous Change in Evolution? Yes, According to an Evolutionist

American ornithologist William Beebe compared evolution to a fairy tale. Image courtesy of the New York Zoological Society.




Joel Kontinen

At times, evolutionists can be rather honest and they write or say what they really think. This happened to American ornithologist William Beebe (1877 – 1962). He wrote: The “idea of miraculous change, which is supposed to be an exclusive prerogative of fairy-tales, is a common phenomenon of evolution.”

The miraculous inventions of evolution are called Darwinian just so stories.

They are seldom if ever very scientific.

Source:

Beebe, William. 1965. The Bird: Its Form and Function. New York Dover Publications.

How Could Noah Fit All the Dinosaurs on the Ark?

Joel Kontinen

Many people assume that Noah’s ark was rather small and that most dinosaurs were huge. Actually, both assumptions are wrong.

The ark was a huge vessel, probably over 150 metres or almost 500 feet long. Many dinosaurs were rather small, only the size of a sheep.

However, some sauropods were enormous. Interestingly, research has suggested that they had a huge growth spurt in their adolescence. Noah had no reason to take the biggest dinosaurs on board, as God probably brought smaller (and younger) ones to him, as this brief video produced by Creation Ministries International suggests:

Creation Legend Dr. Duane T. Gish Has Passed Away

Dr. Duane Gish passed away this week. Image courtesy of CreationWiki.


Joel Kontinen

Dr. Duane T. Gish, one of the pioneers of the modern creationist movement, died earlier this week at the age of 92.

Dr. Gish earned a PhD in biochemistry from the University of California - Berkeley. He served as Vice-President of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR). He is known for 300 debates with evolutionists. His success prompted evolutionists to cease debating creationists.

His book Evolution: The Fossils Say No became a classic. He later updated it with Evolution: The Fossils Still Say No and wrote Creation Scientists Answer Their Critics, in addition to several articles critical of Darwinian evolution.

Dr. Gish was not a big man physically, but intellectually and inspirationally he was a giant.

Richard Dawkins Does Not Dare to Criticise Islam’s God

Our old friend C. R. Dawkins did not have the courage to criticise Allah, the Islamic God. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

Richard Dawkins can on occasion be outspoken, at least when he does not have to be afraid of the consequences his words might bring on himself. He has not shied away from criticising Christianity or Judaism.

Dawkins has, for instance, claimed that the God of the Old Testament is “arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction”.

Recently, Al-Jazeerah interviewed him on his views of God in general and his view of the Islamic God in particular.

“Well, um, the God of the Koran I don't know so much about," was his answer.

Honesty has never been one of Dawkins’ strongest points and he probably values his life or health more than an opportunity to step on the toes of Muslims, who might not appreciate his criticism.

When it comes to the God of the Bible, Dawkins needs to read chapter 15 in the Gospel of Luke. It describes what God is really like. He loves people who He has created in His image, and is always ready to welcome them back, if they cease from rebelling against Him.


Source:

Murray, Douglas. 2013 Facing uncomfortable truths. The Jewish Chronicle Online (24 February).

A Cross Between a Bear and a Cat? – No, It’s a Binturong, a Modern Animal

Joel Kontinen

It looks like a cross between a bear and a cat, but it is a relative of the African civet. The binturong (Arctictis binturong) that lives in the forests of Southeast Asia is also called the bearcat, although it is neither a bear nor a cat.

The Binturong is not about to evolve into a bear or even a cat, but it is designed well to live in trees.

Has the Darwinian Chicken or Egg Dilemma Been Solved?

Joel Kontinen

Which was first, the egg or the chicken? For the Darwinist, this has evolved into a huge problem that is practically unsolvable.

Without the egg there would be no chicken. And without the chicken, there would be no eggs. A scrambled egg is not a viable solution to this dilemma.

However, a poster at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney claims to have found a solution by explaining that all modern tame chicken are descended from wild chicken.

This has nothing to do with the Darwinian chicken or egg dilemma. It cannot be solved by claiming that chicken evolved from chicken, even if one calls them jungle fowl.

Stasis in Evolution: Why Don’t Animals Change?

Joel Kontinen

The fossil record does not support Darwinian evolution. There is far too much stasis, i.e. many creatures hardly change at all over assumed millions of years.

This is something that evolution did not predict. The existence of numerous living fossils suggests that evolution is not true.

A YouTube video produced by Creation Ministries International deals with this issue:

Babies Are Programmed To Understand Language, New Research Shows

The human brain is exceedingly complex. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen

It is becoming exceedingly difficult to explain language learning from a strictly naturalistic perspective.

Already in the 1950s, Noam Chomsky suggested that human babies have an inborn “language acquisition device” that enables them to learn spoken language. New research shows that babies have this capacity even before they are born.

A recent Nature News item discussed a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences:

“Despite having brains that are still largely under construction, babies born up to three months before full term can already distinguish between spoken syllables in much the same way that adults do, an imaging study has shown.”

Now, one could ask, why is this so? It seems that human babies are programmed to understand language. This suggests design – the very intelligent variety.

Like consciousness, language is something that is immaterial, so it does not fit in well with the evolutionary model.

Source:

Nuzzo, Regina. 2013. Babies' brains may be tuned to language before birth: Brain imaging shows that premature babies process speech in similar ways to adults. Nature News (25 February).