|
Clearly Seen
by Dave and Mary Jo Nutting
Carolyn Sonmor, the wife of AOI's artist, is about to give birth. It
is amazing! Her unborn baby is already equipped with the ability to ward
off disease and to heal from wounds. At the moment of birth, a highly
complex network of closely integrated systems will take off in unison
so that her baby can live and breathe! There is such an extreme complexity
of design even in things we take for granted. The type of sophistication
in these systems has been put forth as undeniable evidence for the existence
of an intelligent designer. This argument is effectively challenging evolutionary
thinking in schools and universities across the nation. However, we must
take the argument a step further! Why?
Pantheistic religions have been steadily gaining in popularity. Their
adherents also recognize design, but do not attribute it to the Creator
God of the Bible. Instead, they claim the universe itself is cosmically
conscious and produced this design by means of evolution. Since the design
argumen has been twisted by this growing group, we almost stopped presenting
it. Then we reconsidered Romans 1:20 and realized that God thinks design
is a good argument!
However, God in Romans 1:20 doesn't stop with design as merely evidence
of His existence. He takes it a step further to say that "His eternal
power and divine nature (Godhead)" are clearly seen. We believe this
last part is significant, and will continue to become even more so, as
people in our "modern" society are taught various forms of "New
Age" philosophies. In fact, the debate may actually turn from the
existence of God to the character and nature of God.
So what is "clearly seen” of God's character and nature by studying
the physical universe? First, its awesome beauty declares that God is
a Master Artist. Next, like all works of art, we see evidence that the
universe had a beginning. This points to a God who is outside the universe
— apart from the physical realm. In addition, the enormous energy
packed into everything from gigantic stars to the incredibly tiny atom
certainly reveals the awesome power of this God. Yet, with all that power,
we still observe, from what He has made, that He is very personal and
caring! He anticipates ahead of time what Mark & Carolyn's baby needs,
and provides for that need. (Anticipatory provision!)
Also, the dazzling array of detailed complexity and order proclaim God's
wisdom and concern for details. He doesn't leave things to "the lucky
roll of the dice of the universe." He set into operation scientific
laws
and absolutes which govern this universe and are necessary for our existence.
This is not an "anything goes" world as Humanists claim.
Isn't it comforting to know that we don't have to wake up in the morning
and wonder if the earth is rotating backwards today or if gravity had
ceased functioning during the night? Our universe is a predictable and
dependable universe rather than one in chaos. This reflects a dependable,
trustworthy God who made it that way.
As we observe the DNA language code in our body and our human ability
to communicate, we recognize that our God also communicates. He is actually
called the Living Word in the Bible. What does He want to communicate?
Just think of three tiny words: “I Love you!" That means so
much for a spouse or child to hear! But God wants us to know He also loves
us so much that He actually gave his only son, Jesus, to live among us,
and die for us to communicate that love (John 3:16). God knows the Sonmor
baby needs to enter into an eternal relationship with Him and provided
for that need even before birth. That is just part of the character and
divine nature that is clearly manifested by what we can see around us!
Our Creator God is a trustworthy, Master Artist with enormous power, yet
is personal and cares so much for us that he whispers, "I love You."
This is the God we want to honor and serve, not the impersonal force of
Cosmic Humanism!
The
Bucket Orchid Testifies
of Design and Creation
by Stephen B. Austin
The more this author studies the many unique plant pollination systems in
nature, the more he is compelled to speak praise to our Creator God, the
Lord Jesus Christ.
One of my favorite examples is the bucket orchid, in the genus Coryanthes.
Botanists recognize about 20 species, all of which are found in tropical
Central and South America.
These flowers are pollinated by the males of two bee species, Euglossa cordata
and Euglossa meriana. The attraction is a special nectar, which they use
to attract female bees. When the flowers emit the fragrance of the nectar,
these male bees approach the orchids in a frenzy, which might be compared
to that of yellow jackets being attracted to bacon grease.
The surface of the Coryanthes orchid is slick and slimy, and in their frenzy,
with the bees jostling one another, they sometimes slip and/or fall into
the lower petal of the orchid, known as the lip. This lip forms a sort of
“bucket” which contains a pool of liquid which drips from a pair
of glands above it. Once a bee falls into this pool, he becomes waterlogged
and is in danger of drowning, but our Creator has designed a unique escape
route — a convenient step that leads from this pool of liquid to a
tunnel — an escape route that amazingly provides for the pollination
of this flower.
When a bee enters this tunnel, the walls suddenly contract, temporarily
trapping the bee, and allowing two sacs of pollen (pollinia) to be securely
glued to its back. Despite its struggles, the bee is unable to escape for
about ten minutes — time enough for the glue to secure the pollinia
to its back. Then the unwilling bee is gradually freed and is able to escape
and fly off to dry.
 mmmm
 mmmm
Should this bee find another bucket orchid — in search of this special
nectar — it could face the same fate. Except this time, when the
bee falls into the bucket and finds the escape tunnel, the pollinia are
removed from its back by a hook on the ceiling of the tunnel. When this
occurs, pollination has been effected.
How could such a unique system have evolved? How could the bucket orchid
have been pollinated before the euglossine bees developed a desire for
its nectar? How could the unique glands — the ones dripping the solution
into the bucket — have come into being at the right time? And what
would its purpose be in the meantime? Can the escape tunnel be explained
by random processes? How could the unique system of gluing the pollinia
on the backs of the bees happen by chance? And can natural selection explain
the purposeful development of the hooks to capture the pollinia? All of
these features would have to have been operational at the very beginning,
because if they were not, the flower could never have been pollinated
and would not have survived. Evolutionists have no credible explanation
for such a marvelous system. Design demands a designer — the God
who made heaven and earth.
The
Evolution of Flight?
by
Justin Glick
As a pilot, I am fascinated with anything that flies, especially
birds. Flight itself is an amazing feat. It took years for Orville and
Wilbur Wright to develop an airplane that could fly, but is it reasonable
to say that, given enough time, an animal could evolve the ability to
fly?
Let’s suppose that I want to turn my 1988 Buick Century into an airplane.
Obviously, I would need to add wings, but that is not as easy as it sounds.
I would first need to determine the size and shape of the wings needed
for the performance that I wanted. The placement and attachment of the
wings to the car would be critical, and the tail would need to be at just
the right distance from the wings for stability and control.
The engine would need to be much more powerful than my current four cylinder,
yet very light. It would also need to be air-cooled rather than liquid-cooled.
The entire car would need to be re-engineered to be structurally strong,
yet extremely light and aerodynamic. Everything from the drive train,
to the upholstery, to the metal used in the entire vehicle, would have
to be modified or discarded.
The dashboard would need to include controls like a compass, altimeter,
and air speed indicator. The steering wheel would now become the “yoke”
and would require new linkage, cables, pulleys, and sensors to function
properly. The gas and brake pedals would now be used for steering.
Just as it would take drastic re-engineering to change a car into an airplane,
so it would take drastic re-engineering to change a lizard into a bird.
Think about it. A bird has high-efficiency lungs that connect to air sacks
in strong, hollow bones, making air flow continuously through the lungs
rather than in and out like a reptile. Also, the two pairs of powerful
flight muscles which power the wings are both on the bird’s chest.
The tendon that pulls the wings up and down runs through a hole in the
shoulder bone and attaches to the top of the wing, like a rope and pulley
system. For a reptile to evolve into a bird, it would mean that one set
of muscles had to migrate from the animal’s back to its chest.
A bird’s digestive tract is also shortened so that processed food
is not needlessly stored. The urine is extremely concentrated and is mixed
with the solid waste which is processed rapidly to reduce weight.
As you can see, re-engineering requires planning, careful calculations,
and experience. Blind chance and random mutations however, cannot step
back from their work like aircraft engineers and evaluate what they did
right or wrong. If a mistake were made, the creature would die, and evolution
would need to start all over. A half wing or half leg would be useless
for either flying or walking. If an animal couldn’t fly, no amount
of hopping on the ground or jumping from trees would help it.
Yet, it is not just birds that fly. There are flying mammals, insects
and in the past, flying pterosaurs. None of these groups are said to have
a common ancestor. For flight to have evolved once would be incredible,
for it to have evolved independently four times is impossible.
If airplanes are designed, why can’t we say that birds are as well?
Does it not seem hypocritical to study these animals to help us design
and improve our aircraft, yet say these animals originated by chance?
If we consistently look at the evidence, we should realize that flight
is too complex an ability to have evolved by chance, random natural processes,
mistakes, and natural selection. We need to give God the glory for His
handiwork.
|
|
|
C R E A T I O N
