Curiosity Rover: Evolution on Mars?

Evidence of life on the red planet? Image courtesy of NASA.





Joel Kontinen


As it is becoming increasingly difficult to find evidence for evolution on Earth, NASA has turned its attention to looking for it on the red planet.

Technically, NASA is not searching for proof of evolution, but merely for hints that there once could have been conditions on Mars that would have allowed life to appear on the planet.

The naturalistic origin of life is part and parcel of the worldview that rejects the Creator. In recent years, NASA has embraced a philosophical stance that has no place for God.

Gone are the days when astronauts were allowed to read Genesis aloud in space.

NASA’s approach is a bit odd, given that the more we have learnt about the cell, for instance, the more obvious it has become that it cannot have come about through blind Darwinian processes. The same applies to the origin of life. It is too complicated to pop up all by itself.

Information always requires a sender. Intelligent life requires an intelligent sender.


Source:

Chang, Kenneth. 2012. After Safe Landing, Rover Sends Images From Mars. The New York Times (6 August).

Noah’s Ark Has Been Launched

Huibers’ ark is surprisingly large. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

Noah’s Ark was not a toy boat. The first ocean-going vessel that was bigger than it was built some 150 years ago.

In 2007 Johan Huibers, a Dutch carpenter, built his previous ark. Many were amazed at its huge size.

Huibers' first floating ark was 70 metres (230 ft) long, 13 metres (43 ft) wide and 13 metres (43 ft) high. He hoped to build a full-size ark in time for the London Olympics.

The ark has now been launched. Huibers used the measurements detailed in Genesis, 300 x 50 x 30 cubits. History knows of cubits of various lengths, but the ark's most likely length was 140-155 metres or 455-508 feet.

Huibers’ floating ark has been anchored off the Dutch town of Dordrecht. The ark dwarfs the buildings on the waterfront.

Source:

Nisbet, Robert. 2012. Modern-Day Noah Opens Doors Of Ark Creation.. Sky News (29 July).

Chinese Official: “A Brain Needs Washing”

Chinese officials want to remind Hong Kong schoolchildren of the benefit of Chairman Mao’s thinking. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

The Chinese government wants to enlighten schoolchildren in Hong Kong about the blessings brought about by the Communist party. However, some citizens, used to a more independent way of thinking, were not very pleased with the new curriculum and took to the streets, protesting what they saw as brainwashing.

Jiang Yudui, who represents a pro-Beijing association, said that the curriculum would wash their brains but this would not necessarily be a bad thing:

“ A brain needs washing if there is a problem, just as clothes need washing if they’re dirty,” he said.

In the western world, Darwinism has a similar indoctrinating effect as the Communist party has in China, but here few have the courage to call the teaching of evolution what it in reality is.

Source:

Lau, Joyce. 2012. Thousands Protest China’s Plans for Hong Kong Schools. The New York Times. (29 July).

Over 430 Mammal Species Lived during the Dinosaur Era

Joel Kontinen

Natural history museums do not usually display mammals and birds together with dinosaurs. It is difficult for museums that are devoted to spreading the dogma of naturalistic evolution to acknowledge that, as a rule, animals tend to resist change.

At the Creation 2012 Super Conference in North Carolina, doctor Carl Werner said that he had examined the fossil collections of over 60 natural history museums and had gone to ten dig sites to see what the dino era fauna really looked like.

The result was a big surprise.

At least 432 mammal species are known to have lived during the dino era. The number is surprisingly high, as there probably only were 600 dinosaur species, which would make the era of dinosaurs a misnomer.

Doctor Werner found out that many modern species of mammals and birds (excluding the big mammals) already lived at the time of the dinosaurs. Moreover, they looked surprisingly similar to the animals that we see today. For instance, ducks, flamingos and parrots already lived at the same time as T. rex.

CMI’s Super Conference ended yesterday. Although it coincided with the London Olympics, the five-day event attracted hundreds of participants. In addition, God TV broadcasted the sessions to millions of homes.

The latest issue of Creation magazine has an article on modern birds co-existing with dinosaurs, written by Dr. Don Batten.

C. S. Lewis: Science Is Magic’s Twin

Joel Kontinen

C. S. Lewis once said that science and magic are twins. A soon to be released book edited by Dr. John West will examine this issue.

The Magician's Twin: C. S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society (Discovery Institute Press, 2012) will be accompanied by a video documentary that will premiere on August 11 in Seattle.

Scientism can be defined as ”an exaggerated trust or belief in the power of scientific methods and knowledge” (The New Penguin English Dictionary). For some people, it seems to be a secular religion.

The Creation Super Conference Is Now Live

Joel Kontinen

God TV is now sending the Creation Super Conference sessions live.

Yesterday evening nuclear physicist Dr. Jim Mason talked about the problems with radiometric dating. No one can be sure about the starting assumptions or the ratio of parent vs. daughter elements in a particular rock, whether there has been a loss or gain of substances, or whether the decay rate has always been stable.

Dr. Mason mentioned some “bad” dates, such as a 3.5 million year age for Mt. Ngauruhoe in New Zealand that erupted in the 1950s and a 2.8 million year for Mt. St. Helen’s lava flow in 1984.

He also discussed the presence of radiocarbon (C-14) in coal and diamonds. No C-14 should be detected in coal or diamonds over 90,00 years old. However, coal and diamonds consistently contain radiocarbon, which is a big problem for the millions of years view.

Thus, radiometric dating can give precise dates that nevertheless are precisely wrong.

In yesterday’s final talk geologist Dr. Carl Froede warned of the danger of basing our interpretations of the past on the assumptions of the non-theistic worldview.

You can watch the sessions here.

If Bacteria Remain Bacteria, Is That Evolution in Action?

Joel Kontinen

Evolution in action is a mantra we hear every now and then. One of the primary causes for this is that some bacteria are resistant to antibiotics. However, this has little, if anything, to do with evolution, as research has shown that bacteria that predate the medical use of antibiotics were resistant to antibiotics.

Furthermore, bacteria always remain bacteria, just like fruit flies remain fruit flies, regardless of headlines suggesting that evolution has occurred.

ICR’s latest That’s a Fact video looks at “evolving bacteria”.