Echoes of Noah's Days: New Evidence for a Mega-flood and a Super River

Science publications have recently written about cataclysms such as a mega-flood. Image of a miniature Noah’s ark at the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum.




Joel Kontinen

A mega-flood filled the present Mediterranean Sea in a few months. At the height of the flood, the sea level arose by over ten metres a day.

This text is not from the book of Genesis but from a recent article in New Scientist. Its author Kate Ravilious even mentioned Noah and said it was a ”flood of biblical proportions”. She was reporting on research published in Nature that dates the mega-food at over 5 million years before our time.

Daniel Garcia-Castellanos and colleagues came up with the flood hypothesis after interpreting data from boreholes and seismic activity. They assume that at one time the Mediterranean Sea almost dried up due to evaporation and then it was quickly re-filled by the waters of the Atlantic.

Recently, Phil Gibbard, a professor of geography at Cambridge University, and colleagues published research in Quaternary Science Reviews of a ”super river” that they suggest separated the British isles from continental Europe.

They came to this conclusion after studying sedimentary deposits in the Bay of Biscay. The researchers associated this cataclysm with the ice age. They assume that the river existed in three different periods between 30,000 and 450, 000 years ago.

Interestingly, two research teams have harboured the idea that lots of water can bring about dramatic changes. Their view is not new. Written 3,500 years ago, the book of Genesis already describes a year-long global flood that destroyed the entire primeval world except for those on board the ark.

What the researchers still would need is a more global perspective, however, and an update on the reliability of dating methods.

Sources:

D. Garcia-Castellanos, F. Estrada, I. Jiménez-Munt, C. Gorini, M. Fernàndez, J. Vergés and R. De Vicente. 2009. Catastrophic flood of the Mediterranean after the Messinian salinity crisis. Nature 462:778-781 (10 December)

Edwards, Lin. 2009. ‘Super-river’ formed the English Channel. PhysOrg.com (2 December)http://www.physorg.com/news178954083.html

Ravilious, Kate. 2009. Mega-flood filled the Mediterranean in months. New Scientist. (9 December). http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427383.900-megaflood-filled-the-mediterranean-in-months.html?full=true&print=true

At last: Skeptics are awakening to see what creationists really believe

Skeptic, Michael Shermer’s magazine, is probably one of the best-known skeptic publications. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen

Known for his many books and articles, Michael Shermer, the editor of Skeptic magazine, is not averse to discussing controversial topics. In the new issue of E-Skeptic he recommends Daniel Loxton’s article on creationism.

Loxton equates young earth creationism with Darwinism.

According to an old myth, creationists believe that species have hardly changed since creation.

However, Loxton took a look at the websites of Answers in Genesis and Creation Ministries International and he was almost as astonished as the shepherds to whom angels announced the good news near the little town of Bethelem.

He noticed that creationists do not deny natural selection. Neither do they claim that species have not changed or do not change.

Many creationists believe that the global flood of Noah’s days was a genetic bottleneck that most probably accelerated speciation.

Loxton even checked what Creationwiki had to say about baraminology. The concept is derived from the Hebrew words bara (’create’) and min (’kind’). In other words, baraminology has to do with the study of created kinds.

Animals change according to their kinds. For instance, the Australian wild dog dingo (Canis lupus dingo) is now considered to be a separate species. It probably developed from the domesticated dog (Canis lupus familiaris) that returned to living in the wild. The domesticated dog developed from the wolf (Canis lupus).

However, a dog could never evolve into a cat. Neither could a unicellular organism develop into a multicellular animal since it would need far too many beneficial mutations. As Haldane’s dilemma suggests, even hundreds of millions of years would be far too short for that.

Darwinian evolution does not work in practice. It cannot explain where the necessary genetic information comes from. Without huge additions of information, a unicellular organism will for ever remain a unicellular creature.


Source:

Loxton, Daniel. 2009. Young Earth Creationism = Darwinism. Skepticblog (8 December)
http://skepticblog.org/2009/12/08/young-earth-creationism-darwinism/

Wired Science: Simple Organisms Do Not Exist

E. coli. Image courtesy of Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH. A fresh study indicates that bacteria are more complex than previous thought.




Joel Kontinen

Unicellular organisms can be astonishingly complex, a new study conducted at the University of Arizona reveals. Although Mycoplasma pneumoniae only has a fifth of the genes of Escherichia coli, it is by no means simple.

Howard Ochman and Rahul Raghavan, biologists at the University of Arizona, recently published a paper on M. pneumoniae in Science. They documented almost all proteins that M. pneumoniae uses, studied the function of each gene and recorded their gene activity.

M. pneumoniae has only eight gene switches (E. coli has 50), but they are able to control its molecular activities. This suggests amazingly sophisticated co-operation.

In other words, stupid bacteria are surprisingly clever.

Charles Darwin assumed that the cell was exceedingly simple. However, recent biochemical discoveries have shown that the cell is more of a conglomeration of well-designed nano factories than a Darwinian black box.

Rather than being noise, the message that these humble bacteria are trying to communicate clearly speaks of extremely intelligent design.

If only we had ears that could hear.



Source:

Keim. Brandon. 2009. There’s No Such Thing as a ‘Simple’ Organism. Wired Science. (30 November). http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/basics-of-life/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Fscience+(Wired%3A+Science)

Design returns to biology – in spite of Darwin’s anniversary

Design is on its way back to biology in spite of Darwin’s anniversary. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

Although the Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776), who was known for his sceptical views, doubted design in nature, the majority of scientists and thinkers in Charles Darwin’s (1809-1882) days still thought that what looked liked it had been designed was no illusion but had actually been designed.

Scientists and philosophers saw signs of design in nature. In the 1850s they still regarded William Paley’s (1743-1805) analogy of the watch and watchmaker as a credible explanation of intelligent design.

Evolutionists assumed that Charles Darwin put an end to the idea of design in nature. They believed that natural selection and random variation (mutations) could account for everything that looked as though it had been designed.

Now, however, 150 years after the publication of The Origin of Species, design is on its way back to biology although mainstream science journals as well as Richard Dawkins and other hard-line Darwinists are still reluctant to admit it.

For instance, the attention that Dr. Stephen Meyer’s book Signature in the Cell has recently attracted, suggests that the wind has gradually begun to change.

Evolutionists used to resort to semantics when they failed to understand the function of an organ or part of a biological system. Thus, we heard of junk this and junk that and that there were vestigial organs everywhere.

Now, there is scant evidence for junk and vestigial organs in biological systems. It seems that design is on its way back to biology.

Source:

Olasky, Marvin. 2009. 2009 Daniel of the Year. World (19 December) http://www.worldmag.com/articles/16170

Climate Scientists Destroyed Data

The discussion on climate change is getting hotter. Image courtesy of NASA.




Joel Kontinen

The discussion on climate change is getting hotter and hotter after either a hacker or a disgruntled worker released a thousand e-mails that Professor Phil Jones, director of the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, GB, and co-workers either sent or received.

For the most part, science publications have been reticent about the incident and its consequences but it seems that the temperature and in some cases also the blood pressure of participants on Internet forums has risen.

It is even possible that historians will remember the word ”climategate”.

The published e-mails suggest that CRU scientists have prevented dissidents from publishing their views in climate journals.

CRU scientists have admitted that in the 1980s they threw away raw climate data. Scientists who take a skeptical approach to man-made climate change cannot check whether the figures CRU has given are reliable.

In a separate incident, climate researchers in New Zealand have doctored climate data in order to get a warming trend.

Scientists and other activists who have raised alarms on the dangers of carbon dioxide have not always sounded very credible. For instance, Al Gore and some climate advocates have had a habit of flying from one climate conference to another in their private jets, spewing tons on carbon dioxide into the air.

This might say something about the credibility of the branch.

We might find it more difficult to believe that science should have to do with a quest of knowledge.

Sources:

Leake, Jonathan. 2009. Climate change data dumped. Timesonline (29 November) http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6936328.ece

Watt. Anthony. 2009. Uh, oh – raw data in New Zealand tells a different story than the official one. Whats Up With That. (25 November.) http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/11/25/uh-oh-raw-data-in-new-zealand-tells-a-different-story-than-the-official-one/#more-13215

The Best Evolution Book of Darwin’s Year Shows That Darwinism Does Not Work

Joel Kontinen



The Times Literary Supplement has chosen Dr. Stephen C. Meyer’s Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design (HarperCollins) as one of the best books of the year.

The book was chosen by Thomas Nagel, a philosopher at the University of New York, who says he is an atheist. Dr. Meyer’s book shows that the cell is so sophisticated that Darwinian mechanisms cannot explain its origin. It speaks of intelligent design.

Darwinism cannot explain the origin of genetic information.

The Times Literary Supplement (TSL) is perhaps the most prestigious literary magazine in Europe. Each year, it announces its list of ten best books. Initially, the TLS was published as a supplement of The Times. Since 1914 it has been an independent magazine.

Although we have celebrated Darwin’s double anniversary this year, pro-evolution books have failed to win any awards.

Amazon has also chosen Signature in the Cell as one of the best books of the year.

Source:

Books of the Year 2009. Timesonline (25 November)
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article6931364.ece

New Book Outlines the Revolutionary Effect of Christianity on Mission Fields

The religion that Jesus Christ established changes both individuals and societal structures. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

Christianity can change both individuals and the structures of society. In her new book Christian Mission: How Christianity Became A World Religion, (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), Dr. Dana L. Robert, an expert on missions history, shows how lady missionaries promoted the welfare of women and brought about societal reforms in Asian and African villages.

Dr. Robert says that these brave pioneers

- established thousands of orphanages and schools
- medicated women in cultures in which male doctors refused to treat female patients
- fought for women’s rights
- resisted prostitution and child marriages
- protested against the killing of widows in India
- campaigned against foot-binding in China
- resisted women’s circumcision in Africa
- tried to prevent honour killings in the Middle East

Such radicalism should not astonish us. According to the New Testament, Christianity is a revolutionary faith. Writing to the Corinthian church, the apostle Paul said, ”Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17).

This radical message is no mere theory; it motivated these missionaries to resist societal ills.

Atheists and freethinkers who are eager to notice the shortcomings of Christians would definitely benefit by discovering how the gospel makes this world into a better place.

Perhaps even the worldview of Richard Dawkins might change a little bit, were he to have the courage to read Dr. Robert’s book.

Source:

Carpenter, Joel. 2009. Bridging the Local and the Global. ChristianHistory.net. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/booksandresources/reviews/bridgingthelocalandtheglobal.html