tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30484339584071898522024-03-06T06:28:17.932+00:00Last Days Christian MessengerPurpose of this blog. To help seekers to find the true God in these last dark days on planet Earth (even after it seems too late).It will include:why Creationist teachings can be trusted and why they are more rational than theory of evolution,why the Bible is true and can be trusted as the inspired Word Of God,how to be saved from sin and hell and from the fast approaching Great Tribulation and Coming wrath,Why Jesus is the only way to God,Information on Things about to Happen as ProphesiedJohn Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-48221938459241434802012-04-01T11:30:00.000+01:002012-04-01T11:30:25.716+01:00Strong Evidence that Jesus Will Be Returning Soon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I am indebted to another site for the following information found on <a href="http://www.thepropheticyears.com/wordpress/the-prophetic-end-of-the-age-is-likely-to-occur-around-2030-ad.html">http://www.thepropheticyears.com/wordpress/the-prophetic-end-of-the-age-is-likely-to-occur-around-2030-ad.html</a><br />
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I have copied just a small excerpt. I decided not to give that author's timing predictions because I feel that can be dangerous. Jesus made it clear that NO-ONE knows the exact date However, this excerpt is sufficient to show the evidence. Here it is:<br />
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<div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">"........<b> If we are that close to the second coming, then the stage for some of the end time prophetic events should already be observable in the world.</b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">For example (according to the Bible),</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">* we should be able to observe that Israel is back in the land surrounded by enemies;</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">* we should see a powerful nation far north of Israel with the military capabilities to fulfill the Gog prophecy in Ezekiel 38 and 39;</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">* we should see nations rising in the Far East that will be able to field the 200 million horsemen army from the East foretold in Revelation 9:16;</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">* we should see a group of nations on its way to becoming a world power in the area of the old Roman Empire;</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">* we should see technology and communications that will make it possible so that no one can buy or sell without the biometric 666 identification of Rev 13:17;</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">* we should also see the rise of apostasy and see a world harlot religious system forming like is symbolized in Revelation 17.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b>What do we see?</b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Israel became a nation again in 1948 after almost 2000 years of exile. Today Israel is surrounded by Arab enemies and Islam is consolidating against Israel.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Putin in far north Russia just announced a ten-year plan to build a modern military and he also intends to form a new soviet-like union.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">China and India will peak in population with those of military age during the next generation and nobody doubts that they will become military and economic superpowers. Book of Revelation makes it very clear that this huge army was prepared for a specific point in time and we can see the makings of that army forming now. Very soon there will be a hundred million surplus men in the Far East that will have little chance of a normal family life and they will become expendable.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The EU is a rising fascist beast that is increasingly gaining control over once sovereign nations of Europe. It certainly looks like the EU or some spin-off from it will fulfill the revival of the Roman Empire that was foretold in Daniel and Revelation.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Computer devices and projected Internet satellite systems will make the Revelation 666 buy and sell system over all people on earth technically possibly very soon.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">We can also see the Harlot of Revelation 17 coming together through “all paths” theology and we can see Vatican efforts to try to put world religion under their authority.</div></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-42254623356327030472012-02-25T08:17:00.002+00:002012-02-25T08:54:50.348+00:00Evidence That the Last Days (as Reported In The Bible) Are Here NOW<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Here is an excellent report by "Light For The Last Days".<br />
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Here is a clip as an introduction:<br />
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<u>"</u><b><u>2012 Where is the World heading?</u></b><br />
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You don‘t need to be a prophet to know that world events are taking a turn for the worse. Switch on a world news programme or open a newspaper and you are likely to find news of some event which endangers the world. On the other hand, you do need to understand what the prophets of the Bible say about the last days of this age to know what the outcome of all this will be. In this article we look at some of the events taking place at the present time and conclude with some pointers to the conclusion which the Bible says will come upon the world."<br />
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Please click on the following link to read the rest of the report.<br />
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<a href="http://www.lightforthelastdays.co.uk/2012%20Where%20is%20world%20heading.pdf">Some Evidence That the Last Days Reported In The Bible Are Here NOW </a> to read the evidence.<br />
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On the next page there is a youtube video from Tony Pearce introducing his recently revamped website "Light For the Last Days" describing its contents. For those trying to understand "what on earth is happening to the world today" the website is a must read. To watch the introduction please click start below<br />
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</div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-30717502074728678652011-09-22T18:29:00.002+01:002011-09-22T18:32:31.277+01:00UFO Sightings, Abductions etc Are They Evidence of Life on Other Planets (Aliens) or Some Other Explanation?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Sometime ago I wrote an article on this whole subject. I then found an article on Tony Pearce's website "Light For The Last Days" which gives a wonderful explanation and backs up my reasoning (in a better way than I could present). Also please check out this report from Answers In Genesis </span></span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n1/believe-in-ufos#" style="color: #fa7508;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n1/believe-in-ufos#</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Here is my report:</span></span></span></span><br />
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b>First My UFO Explanation</b></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">God said that the planets were to be signs and seasons to serve the Earth and that the Earth was created to house MAN. So important to the heart of God was MAN that God sent His SON into the world to save us from our sins. In the context of God's dealings with man it makes no sense that God would create life on other planets.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">What about sightings? From stories I've heard, most of those who have had "real" alien experiences specifically abductions have at some time or other been involved with the occult in some shape or another: seances, astrology, yoga, tarot cards etc. This would indicate that demonic activity can be experienced by those who have been affected by demons or even demon possessed. However, there may be some simple "earthly" or other spiritual explanation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">The Old and New Testament teaches that Satan and his demonic cohorts are able to manifest in many guises and disguises. For example a serpent in the garden of Eden, pretending to be the ghost of a loved one or as an angel of light. he is in the counterfeit business and is quite able to appear in a form which will lead people into deception or fear and turn them away from the true and Living God. Sometimes, he roars like a lion ,ie makes noises, but for the believer has no bite. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Those rapture reports given in the bible: Elijah, Enoch, Jesus have to be explained away by satan, so what does he do? </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3048433958407189852&postID=3071750207472867865&from=pencil" name="more" style="color: #fa7508;"></a></span>He invents the whole idea of UFO's (spaceships, aliens etc) and that people have been beamed up. Then when the Church is raptured this will be the explanation that aliens have done it.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">The visions described in the bible, for example Ezekiel's vision, were visions. They were not actual sightings. God gives visions to his prophets to show them what will happen in the future and so they are seeing something in the future - not in the present. As prophets are mere men and cannot grasp the mighty things of God, often they see things in pictures to act as parables.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">For example, the creatures all had 4 faces; all of these resemblng his highest creatures on Earth. The vision was an allegory to teach the people something about God and His creation. We see this in the book of Revelation. Often God actually explains what the vision means. For example we are told the beast with 10 horns = a union of 10 kings.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>Now To The Report By Tony Pearce</b>. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">As far as I am concerned it is very conclusive that UFO's are demons and NOT aliens and NOT the return of Nephilim (part human/part angels). Note: that the Book Of Revelation DOES indicate that demonic activity will be rampant in the very last days. In these last days (just before and after the rapture of the church) satan intends to build an anti-God army of those influenced or possessed by demons, to destroy God's people. However, he will be defeated and the souls of the followers of Jesus will be safe in the arms of Jesus. I will stop here as I do not want to get drawn into the Pre Trib, Post Trib debate.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;"><b>Here is what Tony Pearce wrote:</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"The recent release by the Mexican government of a video apparently showing 11 flying saucers circling one of its patrol jets </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">has boosted the claim that this planet is regularly visited by trippers from outer space. Belief in UFOs is now an established part of the worldview of millions of people, especially in the western world where for many it has become a substitute religion. This is the subject of a video ‘The X Files’ in which </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://www.penfoldbooks.com/" style="color: #fa7508;">Michael Penfold </a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">gives fascinating insight into the nature of UFOs. These are some of the main points he makes.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></div></div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">When former US President Jimmy Carter put a message in the Voyager spacecraft for aliens to read and hopefully respond to, he was expressing the desire of many to make contact with some other beings in the universe. Belief in visitors from outer space is not new – it can be found in ancient Egyptian and Roman civilisation – but it is now widely accepted as an undeniable fact that UFOs are real. The current preoccupation with UFOs began in 1947 when Kenneth Arnold, a US pilot, claimed to see 9 flying saucers at Rainer, Washington. Two weeks later it was claimed that two UFO craft crashed in Roswell, New Mexico and that the US government has since conducted secret experiments on alien corpses. Since then there have been numerous sightings, some witnessed by thousands like one in Gibraltar in 1989.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">95% of supposed sightings can be explained away as not really UFOs. Either they are deliberate hoaxes or something else – meteors, weather balloons, birds, tricks of the light or the imagination of the viewer. But there are 5% which cannot be explained this way. Michael Penfold looks at the possible ways to explain these sightings.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Option 1. They are visitors from outer space</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">There are an estimated 20,000 billion, billion stars in the universe. These stars have planets around them. So, the reasoning goes, there has got to be life on one or more of these planets somewhere. For those who believe life on earth began by the chance process of evolution, finding life elsewhere would be a tremendous boost to the credibility of their theory. If life could have spontaneously come into being somewhere else in the universe it would give weight to the idea that this is how we came to be here. For those who are perplexed at the state of the world today the idea that aliens from a more advanced civilisation could come and help us out of the hole we are in is a comforting thought.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">It is impossible for humans to go outside this solar system to find out whether there is life in space, because the distances are too great. But that does not stop us trying to find out if there is life out there. A major motivation for the project to land a man on Mars is to determine whether that planet has ever supported life forms. The Seti (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) project is backed by some of the world’s richest men and uses the most powerful radio telescopes to search the universe for signs of life. However nothing has been discovered. Carl Sagan has written, <span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">‘The receipt of a single message from space would show that the transmitting civilisation has survived. No such message has ever been received.’</span></div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">L</span>ife requires an incredibly fine balance of circumstances to exist. A planet needs to be stable, the right distance from the star so that it neither fries nor freezes, packed with the ingredients to support life (air, water, soil etc), with an atmosphere shielding it from dangerous elements in space and protecting the environment below. There are at least 100 different parameters for life to exist and if any of these were altered by a fraction life would disappear. Even if you have a planet which has the right conditions to support life, you also need the right circumstances for life to come into existence spontaneously if you accept the theory of evolution. (We do not believe in evolution and have a number of books and videos available on this subject).</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">If such a life form could come into being in a distant galaxy it then has to develop the most incredible technology to cover the vast distances in the universe to reach us. The nearest star to us is 4.3 light years away. The Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 light years wide. The closest galaxy after the Milky Way is 1.5 million light years away. A spacecraft travelling at one million miles a day would take 70,000 years to cover the 4.3 million miles to the nearest star. To reach a distant star in the Milky Way or another galaxy altogether and we are beginning to talk in terms of millions of years.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">A craft travelling at the speed of one million miles a day would be going so fast that if it hit even a very small object in space (which it probably would) it would explode. Leaving this problem aside, only beings with the most incredible technology who have a life span of millions of years and do not need a huge supply of food and drink to keep alive could cross the universe in spacecraft. If we are to believe the claims of UFO magazines such craft are not only making it across the universe but also doing so in huge numbers. Almost every day there is a report of a sighting.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The sightings themselves raise a number of problems. At the same event they may be seen but not photographed or photographed but not seen. Despite apparently reaching incredible speeds of up to 18,000 mph they have never given off a sonic boom. They violate the laws of physics making 90% turns at very high speeds. They may change shape, size and colour at random. This is not the behaviour of a physical craft or being. This raises the possibility of a second option.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Option 2. They are supernatural entities</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Some UFO researchers who are not believers in God or the Bible have come to the conclusion that this is a possible explanation. J Allen Hynek in an article ‘Machines made of Shadows’ has written:<span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> ‘The spiritual theory explains why UFOs can make right angle turns. It explains why they can be dematerialised, why sometimes they are picked up on radar and sometimes not.’</span></div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"></span>Michael Penfold shows that this is the most logical conclusion from the evidence available. He says that aliens are supernatural beings manifesting in a form which makes them acceptable to the modern mindset. Based on the evidence he also comes to the conclusion that they are malignant supernatural beings, i.e. demons or evil spirits. Whereas in the past evil spirits may have appeared as hobgoblins or ghosts or leprechauns today people are reluctant to believe in those things. So they appear as aliens – something which has become part of our mainstream culture through films like ‘<b>ET</b>’, ‘<b>Independence Day</b>’ and ‘<b>Men in Black</b>’. He gives 5 reasons why this explanation fits the facts.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">1) ‘Aliens’ share the menacing characteristics of demons</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">2) Alien abductions and UFO experiences come primarily to those who are already involved in the occult.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">3) Post alien abduction symptoms match post occult experience symptoms.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">4) Alien messages match the messages channelled by demons.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">5) Alien names match names of demons.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Whitley Striber, in his book ‘Communion’ about his supposed abduction by aliens, wrote <span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">‘I felt an indescribable sense of menace. Whatever was there seemed so monstrously ugly, so filthy and dark and sinister. Of course they were demons. They had to be.’</span></div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"></span>David Jacobs in ‘Abductions and the ET hypothesis’ wrote: <span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">‘Physically the abduction experience can seriously harm a person and significantly alter the course of one’s life. Although the physical effects of abduction can be extremely severe it is the psychological problems that have the most destructive effect.’</span></div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"></span>William Alnor in ‘UFOs in the New Age’ wrote <span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">‘After reading literally hundreds of messages from space brothers during the past several years and carefully analysing their views, I am convinced that these entities are trying to sell humanity one of the biggest deceptions of all time.’</span></div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"></span>Michael Penfold agrees that the UFO phenomenon is all about spiritual deception. It ties in with other influences like yoga, TM, hypnosis, Zen Buddhism, drug taking in altering consciousness so that the normal function of the mind is bypassed by a spiritual entity aiming to deceive. To back this claim up he cites the five main messages which have been communicated by supposed contact between humans and aliens:</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">1) We are on the threshold of a New Age of enlightenment.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">2) God is an impersonal force of which we are part. We are god and our divinity is within.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">3) There is no death. We are endlessly re-incarnated.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">4) Good and evil are only illusions and one side of the same coin.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">5) Jesus is just a great teacher and all roads lead to God.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">This in itself should show us that these entities are not aliens crossing billions of miles of space. Why would they bother to make this hazardous journey in such vast numbers as is being claimed, just to give us the same message as you can find in books on the occult in most bookshops?</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Dr Pierre Guerin, a secular researcher, wrote in Flying Saucer Review Vol 25 No 1: <span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">‘UFO behaviour is more akin to magic than to physics as we know it. The modern UFOnauts and the demons of past days are probably identical.’</span></div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"></span>To confirm this it is remarkable that the names ‘aliens’ have given themselves are almost identical to the names given to pagan gods and demons throughout history. UFO contacts have been receiving messages from a being calling itself Ashtar for years. Variations of this name such as Astaroth, Asharoth, Astarte appear ancient literature, including the Bible, in relation to pagan gods. John Peel in ‘Operation Trojan Horse’ writes, <span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">‘Mr Ashtar has been around a very long time posing as assorted gods and demons and now in the modern phase as another glorious spaceman.’</span></div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"></span>This raises the conclusion that these supposed visitors from outer space come from very much closer to home. We are not alone in the universe but we live alongside angels and fallen angels. Human rebellion against God has opened us up to the deception of Satan and his demons.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Most of the manifestations of UFOs come in the form of ‘bright lights in the sky.’ The Bible tells us that Satan is <span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">‘the prince of the power of the air’</span>(Ephesians 2.2), that he is able to produce <span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">‘lying signs and wonders’</span> (2 Thessalonians 2.9) and that he is able to transform himself into <span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">‘an angel of light’</span> (2 Corinthians 11.14). Satan is using this phenomenon to change the way we think and to soften us up to accept his counterfeit Messiah, the Antichrist, as the answer to human ills. He also wishes to blind people to the real truth, the Gospel, and take as many people to hell with him as possible.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Going back to the 5 main messages of UFOs mentioned above, they are all wrong.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">1) We are not on the threshold of a New Age of enlight-enment, but on the edge of the Great Tribulation, the worst time in human history which will precede the glorious return of the Lord Jesus the Messiah to the earth to judge the world in righteousness.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">2) God is not an impersonal force, but a loving heavenly Father who can be known through faith in Jesus the Messiah.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">3) We have one chance to get it right in this life. The lie of the devil in the Garden of Eden is <span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">‘You shall not die … you will be like God’</span> (Genesis 3.4-5). This is being recycled in the New Age Movement of which UFO culture is a part. In fact after death we face the Day of Judgement when we give account of our lives to God.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">4) The idea that right and wrong are only illusions and part of the same whole is Chinese Taoist philosophy which is also being recycled for popular consumption through movies like Star Wars and the Harry Potter books. In fact God is the Creator of all things and wholly good. The Bible teaches us the difference between good and evil and how to live in the light of God’s truth. Satan is a created being who is the source of evil and who is doomed to spend eternity in the lake of fire.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">5) There is one way we can avoid joining him in this fate – through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus the Messiah who died as a sacrifice for our sins and rose again from the dead to give eternal life to all believers. Jesus is a great teacher, but not just a great teacher. He is God made flesh who revealed the ultimate truth to all mankind. Humanity has once been visited on earth, not from outer space, but from Heaven itself. If we reject the words of this heavenly visitor, then there is no further enlightenment coming for us from anywhere else.</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Simon Edge writing in the Daily Express (14/4/04) explains the widespread belief in UFOs: <span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">‘People often say it would be lonely otherwise. Certainly there is something infinitely terrible about the emptiness of the universe – think of the scene in the movie Moonraker in which a space walking astronaut is cut off from his craft and floats screaming into eternity. In an irreligious age, fear of the void is even greater.’</span></div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">There is no need to have this fear. We can make contact with an infinitely good God who cares for us and is able to communicate by the Holy Spirit to help us and guide us through this life. He also gives answers to the big questions: ‘Where do we come from? Why are we here? How can we know what is right? Where are we going?’ Don’t be conned by the subtle deceptions of our culture. Follow Jesus who says, <span class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’</span> John 8.12."</div><div class="body" style="color: black; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a continuation to this article please now (as a continuation) read on by clicking on this following shortcut link:</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #783f04; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://lastdayschristianmessenger.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-be-saved-after-rapture-it-is-not.html" style="text-decoration: none;">How To Be Saved After The Rapture. It Is Not Too Late</a></span></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-50693545427638636142011-09-21T23:45:00.006+01:002012-02-13T11:43:29.478+00:00Why Jesus Is The ONLY Way To Heaven and How To Be Saved<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>Edited 13 Feb 2012 (see part in bold for the edited bit)</u></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are reading this it is probably because you are either intrigued or you are someone who is serious about getting right with God but maybe do not know why Jesus is the only way? Let me give a fairly brief analysis on why Jesus is the only way to be eternally saved and why He is the only way, through whom we can become worthy and certain of Heaven.</span><br />
<div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before I do this let me just say that NO religion in the world can come even remotely close to offering what Jesus offers. Only Christianity claims their messiah and Lord to have risen from the dead and because of this only Jesus can offer us the following:</span></span></span><br />
<span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* sins forgiven eternally</span></span></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* enabling us to become "born-again" becoming a new person with the characteristics of God</span></span></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* enabling us to be transformed, washed and cleansed from the inside from all guilt, shame and impurity</span></span></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* being filled with God's Spirit</span></span></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* a close intimate relationship with God through His Spirit within us</span></span></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* the resurrection from the dead</span></span></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* certainty of going to Heaven</span></span></span></div><div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>* </b></span></span></span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.2em;">(after physical death or at the rapture - whatever comes first) </b><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em;">receiving new glorified bodies which can always experience constant joy, love, peace, purity, perfection and boundless abilities </b></div></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>* everlasting life in the presence of God eternally</b></span></span></span></div></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will now explain why these things are a reality through Jesus!</span><br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3048433958407189852&postID=5069354542763863614&from=pencil" name="more" style="color: #fa7508;"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reason Jesus came into the world was for a mission to bring us back to God! This was because humanity had become separated from their God. So He came for the sole purpose of reconciling us back to God as a "go between" by taking upon Himself all the punishment that we deserved. So He died in our place to rescue humanity from the destination of an eternity separated from its Creator.</span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">God made humanity perfect at the beginning and designed to live forever in eternal bliss on Earth. However, after the first humans disobeyed God, a separation from God began for ALL of us because we all inherited the same (sinful) nature with a tendency to rebel and do wrong. Man can only live eternally if perfect and in close unity with God.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because of disobedience (sin) spiritual death occurred and the initial impact of that was the sudden commencement of decay in our bodies leading to physical deterioration, sickness and death. Physical death became a reality (the commencement of cells dying within the body). From that time all mankind inherited a sinful (imperfect, self-centred) nature with the tendency to do wrong things because of the sinful nature deep within our souls. This is why everyone is SELF-centred (to a lesser or greater extent) at their very heart.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Adam and Eve were tempted to become like God, to know good from evil. What actually happened after their disobedience is that they only knew evil and NOT good. They became gods sure enough (gods of their own life - self-important and self-centred, ie self on the throne of their lives) becoming fully corrupt having fallen a long way from where they were.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">God cannot look on sin, but He loves us so much that He wants to rescue us from the consequences of sin and spiritual death. The penalty or wages for sin is death - we HAVE to die. But God does not want us to die, so He had to step in and pay the price for us HIMSELF.</span></span></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before I continue, let me just digress for a moment to explain something Immensely Important (without which the rest may not make sense).</span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We do not believe in 3 Gods but ONE God made up of 3 entities (or manifestations) of the ONE God, as revealed throughout the Bible. Jesus said "when you see me you see the Father", "I am in the Father and the Father is in me" "I and the Father are ONE". The scriptures teach that Jesus was NOT created but has eternally existed and is the visible part of God and that Jesus was the one creating the whole universe "all things were made by Him and nothing that was made was made except through Him". So it is the visible manifestation of God that made Himself vulnerable by coming to Earth being born as a baby, growing as a man and then dying on the cross. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he Man Jesus died on the cross, but the divinity did not die. Jesus said "it is finished". He then said "into your hands I commit my Spirit". </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a </span></span></div><a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">complete mystery what happened on the cross, but what is clear when we compare all the scriptures together is that "the Word became flesh", The Son Of God took on human form. When He died the divinity left the body and the body died. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that means that "God" (in His entirety) did not die, it was the body (the sin stained body - because of OUR sins) that died. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But to show that Jesus had dealt with sin and death once for all, He needed to re-enter that body on the 3rd day and amazingly He retains that body (although now glorified) for all eternity.</span></span></div></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, Jesus took our place.</span></span></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Jesus died on the cross, He was punished by God for all our sins and for our sinful nature. He took upon Himself all the consequences of our sinful nature and died as a sacrifice for ALL our sins once and for all time. This means that we can (again) have a close intimate relationship with God because the blood of Jesus has cleansed us from sins once and for all. </span></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because we are clean, He can live within us through the Holy Spirit.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, not everyone can benefit from this "grace" unmerited favour of God without doing anything. There is a condition (as follows)!!!:</span></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body
entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=5609491057230369992" name="more" rel="nofollow" style="color: #de7008; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;"></a></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jesus </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">said "for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life". So you need to believe!</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, this does not mean just an intellectual belief because Jesus said the demons believe and shudder. True belief means to take steps of faith. I mean if you believed that a chair would take your weight but you were too afraid to sit on it, you would not be practising your belief. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An example of faith in action is by confessing aloud that Jesus is the Son of God etc. Romans 10:10 says "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Charis SIL', charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: normal;">For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved" </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ie confessing Jesus verbally is evidence that you believe. Justified means being forgiven and made acceptable to God. The act of confession is simply a way of "exercising and confirming" your faith in action and proving to yourself that you believe and are willing to take the consequences of your faith.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To believe in Jesus, means:</span><br />
<span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) that you believe in who He is with all your heart and mind (God incarnate - the Son of God) and that he was punished by the Father for your sins, died and rose from the dead and is alive forevermore</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) that you recognise you are a sinner (as stated above) who needs to be saved </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) that you recognise and accept that Jesus's death on the cross was required and is sufficient to save you (personally) from your sins and your sinful nature</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4) that you entrust your life to Him</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Note: Unless you recognise that you are lost and dead in your sinfulness (without the intervention of Jesus) you cannot be saved.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So here is a list of steps which happens automatically when Jesus is drawing you:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) the realisation that God exists and that you are cut off from Him because of your sinfulness</span></span><br />
<span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) a deep feeling of sorrow about your sinful tendencies and your sinful nature. "all we like sheep have gone astray, each to his own way".</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) the realisation that you cannot become good enough to get into heaven but need the mercy of God</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4) you sincerely and genuinely cry from your heart to God for mercy for your sins, confessing your sins to God direct (without use of a priest) asking for forgiveness</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">putting your trust in Jesus (because He has made the ultimate sacrifice for your sins)</span></span></span><br />
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once 1 to 5 occurs, you then simply receive the free gift of salvation from God through believing in and putting your trust in Jesus</span><br />
<span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6) You invite Jesus to come into your heart and soul to save you. This is handing your life over to Christ. Then "it is no longer I that live but Christ who lives in me".</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7) Jesus will fill you with His Holy Spirit so that you will become a new creation. You will be changed deep within with the Divine nature.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remember salvation is a free gift. It CANNOT be earned by works. The Bible says that all our righteousness (goodness) is like filthy rags in God's sight. We can NEVER be good enough to earn Heaven. Ephesians chapter 2 says "we are saved by grace though faith, not by works"</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><b style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><b style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Testimony</span></span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><b style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"></span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I reached a point in my life where I realised my life was meaningless. I had a fear of where I would end up unless I was in a right relationship with God. At that point, I knew there was something wrong with my life but I did not understand that I was a sinner. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I knew I was not perfect and did wrong things, but did not understand why Jesus dying on the cross saved us from our sins.</span></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A minister explained to me why Jesus cried out "my God, My God, why have you forsaken me". When he explained that my personal sins were nailed upon Jesus, so Jesus suffered God's wrath in my place, suddenly the realisation hit me of God's immense love. I then realised that I was a sinner who caused Jesus agony.</span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did not need to understand everything about repentance etc because the love of God melted my heart causing me to realise I was a sinner and that Jesus died in my place. It tore my heart to think Jesus was dying there because of me. I there and then gave my life to Jesus, asking him to save me from my sinfulness and take control of my life, with a determination to go God's way - not mine, from that moment onwards.</span></div><div class="yiv1894168796post-body entry-content" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was only later that I learnt what true repentance was. You don't need to understand it all now. All God is looking for (at the moment) is an earnestness within you for Jesus to save you from your sins by turning your life over to Him. Beforehand (in a very child-like way) I repented in the way I knew how (at that time) simultaneously as I received Jesus into my heart as my Saviour and Lord."</span></span><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yiv1894168796Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span></div><br />
<div id="yiv1894168796yiv1646010700" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; background-color: #f6f6f6; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once you give your life to Christ, please let me know and I will help you in your first steps as a newly born saved believer on your journey ahead</b></div></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-27643280746640939282011-09-21T16:17:00.004+01:002012-02-24T18:23:55.656+00:00How To Be Saved After The Rapture. It Is Not Too Late<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The purpose of this article is to help those who are left behind after the rapture (ie, after born-again Christians have been instantly snatched up into heaven) to know how they can still be saved and to show them what to do.<br />
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The Bible (in particular the Book of Revelation) explains that a time is coming when God will bring an end to the sinful, rebellious, God forsaken activities on planet Earth. Just like in the days of Noah when he first rescued the true people of God first before He unleashed His judgements and also in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah when He first rescued the truly Godly out of the City first before He destroyed that City. Again He will rescue the truly Godly (those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation from sin) from this Earth before He sends His final judgements on planet Earth.<br />
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In a number of places in the Bible it talks about a coming "GREAT TRIBULATION" which will last 7 years. The first half of that period will be a time when satan will possess a human being known as the antichrist. These first 3.5 years he will seem like a messiah figure and will be worshipped by multitudes. However, during the first half of these 7 years he will become a global tyrant enforcing his evil will on every one, forcing them to take a mark known as 666 upon their forehead or hands. In fact no-one will be allowed to buy or sell (includes food and drink) without this mark. During the second half of those 7 years, things on Earth will become so evil that God will step in and judge the Nations with such terrible plagues and disasters beyond what the Earth has ever experienced before. All those who take the mark of the beast will be damned for eternity. To take the mark will mean that individuals WILLINGLY (they will know what they are doing) give their souls to satan. Once they have done this, they will not be able to repent afterwards. They will have sold their souls forever, no longer will they have free will, they will be controlled by the antichrist without any conscience or goodness left in them.<br />
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Those who were raptured will have been saved from all this. The 7 years which start after the rapture will culminate in the most terrible times ever experienced by humanity on Earth. It is better that you do not go through this and that you give your hearts to Jesus NOW. Let Jesus take care of your souls by believing in Him and trusting upon Him NOW, so that you will be included in the rapture and not be left behind.<br />
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However, if you are reading this AFTER the rapture takes place, then you will have to go through a nightmare experience on Earth. BUT,even if you have been left behind it is <b><u>not too late</u></b> for you to be saved from your sins, to prepare your souls for Heaven and to become a child of God with the empowering of the Holy Spirit. You can still put your trust in Jesus, (even after the rapture) but you WILL have to go through the greatest trial that Christians have ever had to go through. God will not leave you powerless though and will enable you to face these terrible times. All you need is to be determined in your faith to NEVER deny Jesus and be prepared to face death for your faith.<br />
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There will be many like you who will be killed (probably by beheadings) for their faith during these times. You will have a crown of glory awaiting you in Heaven and will obtain eternal glory in Heaven and enjoy the GLORIOUS and amazing presence of Jesus forever. In the light of eternity, the terrible persecution will be like a pin prick in comparison to the wonder and glory of Heaven.<br />
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If you have been left behind, I encourage you to read through the whole Book of Revelation which (in those days) will read like a newspaper. In fact it is the newspaper headline stories told in advance. By reading the Book Of Revelation you will find great encouragement to know that God IS IN CONTROL. Whatever happens hold true to Jesus and NEVER consider taking that 666 mark which will be an allegiance with satan.<br />
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As I write this, in September 2011, we are already seeing vast numbers of Bible prophecies being fulfilled before our very eyes. These prove that we are in the very last of the last days before the rapture, the Great Tribulation and the Judgements take place. In fact these fulfillments are for our purpose to prove that the Bible IS the WORD OF GOD to us all. We are living in days when the godless are trying to do everything they can to disprove the existence of God. We are now living in days, like in Noah's time, when God WILL intervene and reveal His power upon Earth. You will not want to be around when He does that. It is better that you repent now.<br />
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As Peter said "it is not God's Will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance". Paul and Peter both implied that God's "absence" or "hiddenness" is an expression of His mercy, patience and graciousness holding back His wrath because He does not want us to perish. However, a time HAS been reserved, by God, in which "enough is enough" and HE WILL ACT! Therefore, repent and believe NOW before that time comes or repent as soon as possible after the rapture. However, always be aware that no-one knows the time of their death. It could be virtually simultaneous at the time of the rapture. You MAY NOT have a second chance. To illustrate this further, here is a link to an excellent presentation of all this:<br />
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Please click here <a href="http://raptureready.com/rr-second-chance.html">Second Chance For Salvation?</a><br />
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Please read this link because it spells it out much more descriptively the reasons why it is not a good idea to wait and see, but decide for Christ NOW, before it is too late</div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-21415337041467646392011-09-08T15:39:00.001+01:002011-09-09T12:50:32.185+01:00Present Day Israel Is A Nation Of Miracles, Created By God. The Overwhelming Facts!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was given this free booklet for distribution purposes and would like to share it with you. It is truly an amazing book which gives overwhelming facts proving how God's hand is upon the Land Of Israel and the amazing miracles that have happe</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ned. The link to this booklet is:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bible411.com/bookletoffer/IsraelANationOfMiracles.pdf" style="color: #de7008;">www.bible411.com/bookletoffer/IsraelANationOfMiracles.pdf</a> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, it may be difficult for you to download as it may require registration. So I copy/paste the whole contents here as follows: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">At the bottom of this booklet I have included some videos which also show the miracle of the Land. Here is the amazing recent history of Israel (which includes many fulfilled Bible prophecies concerning the Land) as follows:</span></span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: GoudyOldStyle; font-size: 20pt;">I</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: GoudyOldStyle; font-size: 20pt;">SRAEL </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: GoudyOldStyle; font-size: 20pt;">A N</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: GoudyOldStyle; font-size: 20pt;">ATION OF </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: GoudyOldStyle; font-size: 20pt;">M</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: GoudyOldStyle; font-size: 20pt;">IRACLES</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; font-weight: bold;">A Half-Century of Miracles</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">The new born state of Israel was 50 years old in 1998. What a 50 years! To start with—the rebirth of the state of Israel in 1948 was a miracle of history (Ezek.37:1-11; Luke 21:29,30). Never before has a nation been destroyed, its people dispersed to the ends of the earth, and then, nearly two thousand years later, re-gathered to their homeland and reestablished </span>as a nation.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">When Israel declared itself an independent state on May 14, 1948, still another miracle occurred. </span>The armies of seven Arab nations marched on the newborn State, boasting that they would “push the Jews into the sea.” Outnumbered 100 to 1, Israel not only repelled the invaders but acquired more of Palestine than was granted in the UN partition plan.</div><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Yigael Yadin, Israel’s commander of operations in that war, had a terse explanation of Israel’s victory. “It was a miracle!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">Five Examples of Miracles<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">A Syrian column of 200 armored vehicles— including 45 tanks—attacked Degania, the oldest<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">kibbutz in Israel. What a psychological blow this defeat would be! Without artillery, Jewish forces were helpless to block the Syrian advance. Until then the only heavy weapons available in all Israel were four howitzers of the type used by the French army in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Two of these ancient fieldpieces were promptly dismantled and rushed to Degania. The local commander, Lieutenant Colonel Moshe Dayan, had them reassembled at the very moment the first Syrian tanks rumbled through the kibbutz perimeter, and they scored a hit on the advance tank. Had the Syrians known that these two obsolete weapons represented half the arsenal of fieldguns in all Israel, they would have pressed the attack. Instead, the armored vehicles swung around in their tracks and clattered back up the mountain road.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">At Safed, near the Sea of Galilee a small unit of Israeli defenders were holding off thousand Arabs. A sudden tropical storm broke loose. The Israelis in desperation took their remaining gasoline, poured it over 50 empty drums, set them afire and rolled them down the hill. The flaming barrels flying down the slopes, the rumble of hollow barrels striking rocks—together with the tropical storm—created such an illusion that the bewildered Arabs imagining some sort of secret weapon took to their heel and fled.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">In December 1948, the Egyptians were harassing Israeli settlements in the Negev while advanced columns were moving north. Yadin used the Bible for strategy. It mentioned an ancient road forgotten for centuries, which ran lmost directly to Mushrafa, the Egyptians’ central garrison. Heavy boulders were pushed aside with bulldozers. Soldiers in armored vehicles, jeeps and supply trucks sped under cover of darkness along the ancient road and surprised the Egyptians. Taking this garrison destroyed the Egyptian defense system and ended the war 14 days later.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">To liberate the airport at Lydda the tactics of Gideon were employed. Seven thousand Arab<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">troops were ready to attack. Sixteen Israelis dressed as Arabs infiltrated into the city of Lydda. Like Gideon’s band of 300 they made such a commotion during the night that the Arabs, totally confused, fired upon each other. Finally the majority fled back across the border. The Syrian Army had regrouped east of the Galilee. A Jewish column of 24 homemade armored trucks and cars, on the way to relieve a besieged Kibbutz, took the wrong road and crossed the border into Lebanon. Before they discovered their mistake, they ran head-on into a column of supplies for the Syrian Army in Galilee—dozens of trucks of ammunition, a string of light artillery and 20 new armored cars. The Israelis fired point blank at the first truck—a tanker loaded with gasoline. It exploded and set on fire the following truckload of hand grenades. Rapid repeating explosions were heard for miles around.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Terrified, the Syrians abandoned their cargo. The Israelis scarcely had enough men to drive the captured supply train back into Galilee. Finally they reached the beleaguered Kibbutz, only to learn that the Arab besiegers heard rumors that the Jewish army had invaded Lebanon,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">therefore, the Arabs fled Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">The victory of the 1948 War was a big miracle composed of a series of little miracles. Why? Over 2500 years ago the prophet Isaiah made a remarkable prophecy concerning Israel regathered back in her land. <i>“They that war against thee shall be as nothing and as a thing of nought…for I will help thee.” </i>(41:12,13).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Bible Helped Build Israel<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">The miracles continued. Trees, fruits and vegetables grow over what was once shifting sandy<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">wastes or malaria swamps. New industries fringe historic cities. Highways and pipelines stretch across a energetic nation that had slept for centuries. David Ben Gurion, Israel’s dynamic first Prime Minister, was an ardent student of the Bible as an accurate history of Israel and its land. He dispatched engineers, horticulturists, botanists, etc., with the Bible in one hand and research tools in the other. Miracles happened!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Following Bible clues, copper and iron mines were established. One mining engineer, Abraham Dor observed that at the richest veins of copper —“we come upon the slag and furnaces of ancient Israel. We often get the feeling that someone has just left.” Deuteronomy 8:7-9 was often framed on the walls of mining offices:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">Reclaiming the Wasteland<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Barren land transformed to the fertility of ancient Israel is a miracle predicted in Scripture<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">(Amos 9:14-15; Ezek. 36:34-35). It was long assumed that most of Palestine was wasteland,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">irreclaimable for agriculture. But archaeologists discovered the presence of more than 70 ancient settlement sites in one 65-mile stretch of the Jordan Valley alone, each with its own well for water. Lot, over 3,000 years ago, was not exaggerating when he “lifted up his eyes, and he saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, even as the garden of the Lord” (Gen.13:10). New agricultural settlements—from Dan to Beersheba—have risen beside ancient sites reidentified by Biblical archaeologists. Concrete pumping stations were set over ancient springs or wells. A well from Abraham’s day, now supplies water for residents on the outskirts of Beersheba.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">One of the basic necessities in that arid country is reforestation. Ever since Jews began<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">returning, they have been planting forests, naming them in honor of such leaders and friends of Israel as Chaim Weizmann, Lord Balfour, George V and scores of others. The Bible has helped them decide what kind of trees to plant and where to plant them. Debating whether a certain barren hillside would be a suitable location for Israel’s immense “Forest of Martyrs,”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Israelis found the answer in Joshua, which proved that a forest had existed there. “Knowing that trees grow more easily where trees have flourished before,” explained Professor Zohary of Hebrew University, “we rely on the Good Book.” “The first tree Abraham put in the soil of<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Beersheba was a tamarisk,” said Israel’s outstanding authority on reforestation, Dr. Joseph<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Weitz. “Following his lead, we put out two million in the same area. Abraham was right. The tamarisk is one of the few trees we have found that thrives in the south where yearly rainfall is less than six inches.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">The writer personally knew the Boyko Family who pioneered in developing Biblical principles of agriculture that helped the Aravah and the Negev blossom as a rose. The Bible made Israel the agricultural giant it is today exporting its products worldwide. It took another miracle to make this possible. In Bible times there were two copious rainy seasons in Palestine—the “early and the latter rain.” But for the past many centuries the “early<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">rain” has been minimal while the “latter rain” and dew have disappeared completely. Since 1878, the “latter rain” is falling again. The precipitation of both has spiraled over the decades just as predicted in Joel 2:23,24.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Miracle of Immigration<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Jews from the four points of the compass heard the call to come home (Isa. 43:5,6). Israel’s<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Declaration of Independence stated that Israel “will be open to the immigration of Jews from all countries of their dispersion.” Even as war still raged and the little State faced possible destruction or bankruptcy, the newcomers poured in. During the first three years of statehood,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">the average reached 18,000 a month and in some months the figure exceeded 30,000.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Between May 15, 1948, and June 30, 1953, the Jewish population of the country doubled. By the end of 1956, Israel’s population had nearly tripled, reaching 1,667,000. Imagine the economic shock of absorption! Jews kept pouring into Israel over the decades. In 1984 - 1985 and again in 1991 harrowing airlifts brought Ethiopian Jews from utter despair to a Land<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">of hope. Finally, the long-expected prophetic fulfillment of Jews from Russia began in 1991. By 1998 over 800,000 have returned from the former Soviet Republics (CIS) and they are still coming. Over a million are expected. Israel’s population increased from 650,000 in 1948 to nearly 6,000,000 in 1998. The miracle of absorption continues.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Miracle of the ’67 War<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">The Arabs boasted that they would destroy Israel. However, in six days Israel overran the<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">combined forces of Syria, Jordan, Egypt and took the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, the West Bank (Samaria and Judea), and the Sinai—one of the greatest military feats in history. To many Orthodox Jews worldwide, especially in the United States, it was a wake-up call from God. Thousands poured into Israel and settled in Samaria and Judea to stake Israel’s eternal claim to the so-called West Bank—the heartland of Israel. They are certain the Messianic Age is near at hand. As Biblical Zionists, they oppose any give-away of land in<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">the peace process.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">A Hi-Tech Leader<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Ezekiel 38:12, 13 predicts that Israel will become an economic envy of the nations. The<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">immigration of Russian Jews is literally paying off. This year has witnessed an explosion in both hi-tech developments and the number of contracts Israeli hi-tech companies have signed with manufacturers worldwide. Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “The failure of Soviet communism to capitalize on the outstanding R & D skills of the Russian Jews was a stroke of good fortune for Israel. We now have the highest per capita of scientists in the world. This has<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">put Israel on the cutting edge of technology.” The New York Stock Exchange lists more hi-tech companies from Israel than any other nation… Ezekiel also predicts the sanctification of God’s name when Israel’s enemies would threaten His people (38:16-23).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">50 Year Anniversary<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Actually Israel’s miracles began in 1878 with the regathering of the Jewish people to their Land. Ironically the PLO also celebrated its own 50-year anniversary from 1948. The Palestinians have several names for their anniversary. One is “50 years of catastrophe!” Two people claim the one land is theirs. Who is right? Who are the Palestinians?</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; font-weight: bold;">Whose Land?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; font-weight: bold;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">The Biblical Claim</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US"><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">The prophet Jeremiah 16:14-18 speaks of Israel receiving a “double of punishment” before they are regathered to their Land (16:14-18). This double would be a period equal to their prior period of favor with God. Jeremiah also observed that during this double of punishment the Land of Israel would become relatively desolate of man and beast (33:10-16).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Palestinian Claim<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">PLO Chairman Yassir Arafat in his speech before the UN in 1974 declared, “The Jewish<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">invasion began in 1881... Palestine was then a verdant area, inhabited mainly by an Arab people in the course of building its life and dynamically enriching its indigenous culture.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Financed by the oil rich Arab States, Arafat has conducted a worldwide propaganda campaign<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">to convince the world community that the Holy Land has for centuries sustained a thriving<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Palestinian culture. What happens when this claim is compared with the personal observations of the following recognized authorities? In 1738 Thomas Shaw observed a land of barrenness... from want of inhabitants.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">1<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">In 1785 Constantine Francois de Volney recorded the population of the three main cities. Jerusalem had a population of 12,000 to 14,000. Bethlehem had about 600 able-bodied men. Hebron had 800 to 900 men.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">2<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">In 1835 Alphonse de Lamartine wrote, “Outside the city of Jerusalem, we saw no living object, heard no living sound…a complete eternal silence reigns in the town, in the highways, in the country…. The tomb of a whole people.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">3<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">In 1857, the British consul in Palestine, James Finn, reported, “The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is that of a body of population.” This historic observation is a remarkable confirmation of the Biblical predictions that during Israel’s “double” period of time of punishment and dispersion, the Lord would cause the Land to become desolate of man and beast (Jeremiah 33:10; Zechariah 10:12; Jeremiah 16:14-18). No wonder by 1857 it was just waiting for “a body of population!”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">4<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">In the Lord’s providence this needed body of population-the Jewish people-began to return after 1878 at the end of their Scriptural period of His disfavor. The most popular quote on the desolation of the Land is from Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad (1867), “Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies….Palestine is desolate and unlovely…. It is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">The records of history confirm the Biblical predictions that during the Jewish dispersion and<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">“double” of God’s disfavor, the Land of Israel would become desolate awaiting the return of the Jewish people when its period of disfavor ended in 1878. The records of history simply do not confirm today’s Palestinian claim of Palestinian roots and culture in a “verdant area” since the Arab rule of the land (A.D. 640-1099).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">1 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Thomas Shaw, travels and observations (Oxford: Printed at the Theatre, 1738).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">2 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Volney, travels through syria and egypt.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">3 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Alphonse De Lamartine, RECOLLECTIONS OF THE EAST (Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1838).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">4 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">British Foreign Office Documents 78/1294, Pol. No. 36.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">Southern Syria Vs. “Palestine”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">The Romans had changed the name of the Land of Israel to “Palestine.” From A.D. 640 until the 1960s, Arabs referred to this same Land as “Southern Syria.” Arabs only started calling the Land “Palestine” in the 1960s. Until about the eighteenth century, the Christian world called this same Land, “The Holy Land.” Thereafter, they used two names: “The Holy Land” and “Palestine.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">When the League of Nations in 1922 gave Great Britain the mandate to prepare Palestine as a national home for the Jewish people, the official name of the Land became “Palestine”—and remained so until the rebirth of the Israeli State in 1948. During this very period, the leaders of the Arabs in the Land, however, called themselves Southern Syrians and clamored that the Land become a part of a “Greater Syria.” This “Arab Nation” would include Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Transjordan as well as Palestine. An observation in Time magazine well articulated how the Palestinian identity was born so belatedly in the 1960s:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">5<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Golda Meir once argued that there was no such thing as a Palestinian; at the time, she wasn’t entirely wrong. Before Arafat began his proselytizing, most of the Arabs from the territory of Palestine thought of themselves as members of an all-embracing Arab nation. It was Arafat who made the intellectual leap to a definition of the Palestinians as a distinct people; he articulated the cause, organized for it, fought for it and brought it to the world’s attention….<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">If there was an Arab Palestinian culture, a normal population increase over the centuries would have been expected. But with the exception of a relatively few families, the Arabs had no attachment to the Land. If Arabs from southern Syria drifted into Palestine for economic reasons, within a generation or so the cultural tug of Syria or other Arab lands would pull them back. This factor is why the Arab population average remained low until the influx of Jewish financial investments and Jewish people in the late 1800s made the Land economically attractive. Then sometime between 1850 and 1918, the Arab population shot up to 560,000.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Not to absolve the Jews but to defend British policy, the not overfriendly British secretary of state for the colonies Malcolm MacDonald, declared in the House of Commons (November 24, 1938), “The Arabs cannot say that the Jews are driving them out of the country. If not a single Jew had come to Palestine after 1918, I believe the Arab population of Palestine would still have been around 600,000…”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">6<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Jewish contributions and Jewish immigration continued to flow into the Land. The Jews<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">created industry, agriculture, hospitals—a complete socioeconomic infrastructure. As job<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">opportunities increased, so did Arab immigration. In fact, in 1939 President Roosevelt observed that “Arab immigration into Palestine since 1921 has vastly exceeded the total Jewish immigration during this whole period.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">7<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">For one specific example, in 1934 between 30,000 and 36,000 Arabs from the Hauran Province in Syria left for “the better life” in Palestine.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">8<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">On the other hand, Great Britain’s White Paper of 1939 closed the doors of Jewish immigration to their Land. Simultaneously, there was a large-scale Arab immigration to the new Land of opportunity during World War II.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">9<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">In 1946 Bartley C. Crum, a United States Government observer, noted that tens of thousands of Arabs had entered Palestine because of this better life–and they were still coming.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">10<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">5 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">TIME, January 3, 1994<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">6 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Irving Howe and Carl Gershman, Ed., ISRAEL, THE ARABS AND THE MIDDLE EAST (New York: Quadrangle Press, 1972), p. 178.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">7 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">“Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">8 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">LEAGUE OF NATIONS PUBLICATIONS, V.I.A. MANDATES, 1935, 27th Session.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">9 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">UNRWA Reviews, Infor. Paper No. 6.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">10 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Anny Latour, THE RESURRECTION OF ISRAEL (Cleveland: World, 1968), p. 318.</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Testimony of Arabs and Christians<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Because Arabs until the 1960s spoke of Palestine as Southern Syria or part of Greater Syria,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">in 1919 the General Syrian Congress stated, “We ask that there should be no separation of the southern part of Syria, known as Palestine.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">11<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">In 1939 George Antonius noted the Arab view of Palestine in 1918:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">12<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Faisal’s views about the future of Palestine did not differ from those of his father and were<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">identical with those held then by the great majority of politically-minded Arabs. The<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">representative Arab view was substantially that which King Husain [Grand Sherif of Mecca, the<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">great grandfather of the current King Hussein of Jordan] had expressed to the British<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Government…in January 1918. In the Arab view, Palestine was an Arab territory forming an<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">integral part of Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Referring to the same Arab view of Palestine in 1939, George Antonius spoke of “the whole of the country of that name [Syria] which is now split up into mandated territories…”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">13<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">His lament was that France’s mandate over Syria did not include Palestine which was under Britain’s mandate. As late as May 1947, Arab representatives reminded the United Nations in a formal statement, “Palestine is a… part of the Province of Syria…. Politically, the Arabs of Palestine were not independent in the sense of forming a separate political entity.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">14<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">On May 31, 1956, Ahmed Shukairy had no hesitation, as current head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, in announcing to the Security Council the observation, “It is<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">15<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Syrian President Hafez Assad once told PLO leader Yassir Arafat:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">16</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">You do not represent Palestine as much as we do. Never forget this one point: There is no such thing as a Palestinian People, there is no Palestinian entity, there is only Syria. You are an integral part of the Syrian people, Palestine is an integral part of Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Therefore it is we, the Syrian authorities, who are the true representatives of the Palestinian people. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Assad stated on March 8, 1974, “Palestine is a principal part of Southern Syria, and we consider that it is our right and duty to insist that it be a liberated partner of our Arab homeland and of Syria.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">17<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">In the words of the late military commander of the PLO as well as member of the PLO Executive Council, Zuhair Muhsin:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">18<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">There are no differences between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. We are all part of one nation. It is only for political reasons that we carefully underline our Palestinian identity.…yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity serves only tactical purposes. The founding of a Palestinian state is <i>a new tool in the continuing battle against Israel </i>[emphasis ours].<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">The following are significant observations by Christians of the Arabs in Palestine in the 1800s:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">19<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">The Arabs themselves, who are its inhabitants, cannot be considered but temporary residents. They pitched their tents in its grazing fields or built their places of refuge in its ruined cities. They created nothing in it. Since they were strangers to the land, they never became its masters. The desert wind that brought them hither could one day carry them away without their leaving behind them any sign of their passage through it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Stephen Olin, D.D., L.L.D., called one of the most noted of American theologians-after his extensive travels in the Middle East-wrote of the Arabs in Palestine “…with slight exceptions they are probably all descendants of the old inhabitants of Syria.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">20<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">The most authoritative Arab statement, however, as to whom the Holy Land belongs is<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">found in the Koran, the Islamic Scriptures:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">21<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">The fact is that the Koran agrees with the Bible that God (Allah) made a covenant with the Sons of Israel and assigned the Holy Land to the Jews (See the Koran, Sura V, “The Table”). The Koran also describes the land given to the Jews as “blessed” and foresees a return of Israel to their land at the end of days. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">These testimonies confirm the Christian Scriptures that God gave the Land to the Jewish people as an everlasting possession. The relatively few Arabs who wandered into the Land between A.D. 670-1878 were but temporary dwellers. The truer perspective of history reveals that the large recent influx of Arabs that paralleled the regathering of Jews has no historic rootage in the Land.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 6.5pt;">11 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;">Michael Curtis, Ed. THE PALESTINIANS: PEOPLE, HISTORY, POLITICS (New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1975).</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">12 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">George Antonius, THE ARAB AWAKENING: THE STORY OF THE ARAB NATIONAL MOVEMENT<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">(Philadelphia: 1939).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">13 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Ibid.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">14 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Howe and Gershman, Ed., ISRAEL, THE ARABS AND THE MIDDLE EAST.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">15 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Ibid., p. 178.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">16 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Kamal Jumblatt, I SPEAK FOR LEBANON (London: Zed Press, 1982).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">17 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Ibid.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">18 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">TROUW [Daily Newspaper, Netherlands], March 31, 1977.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">19 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Felix Bovet, Egypt, Palestine, Phoenecia: A Visit To Sacred Lands (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1882).</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">20 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Stephen Olin, TRAVELS THROUGH SYRIA AND<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">EGYPT (New York: Harper & Bros., 1851).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">21 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Elliot Green, Jerusalem Post, June 11, 1994, p. 6.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Verdict of History: Land Rights<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Before Jewish immigration and Jewish investments spawned massive Arab immigration,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Arabs were actually leaving Palestine. Then the flow of traffic reversed. “…Palestine changed from a country of Arab emigration to one of Arab immigration. Arabs from the Hauran in Syria as well as other neighboring lands poured into Palestine to profit from the higher standard of living and fresh opportunities provided by the Zionist pioneers.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">22<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">This phenomenon is confirmed by the Palestine Royal Commission Report which observed that in the period between the Balfour Declaration and the United Nations Partition Resolution of 1947, Palestine became a land of Arab immigration.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">23<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">As further documented by Ernst Frankenstein, substantial Arab immigration was a recent phenomenon:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">24<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">The early “lovers of Zion” began the stimulation of Arab immigration. Some writers have come out with the conclusion that in 1942, 75 percent of the Arab population were either immigrants or descendants of immigrants into Palestine during the preceding one hundred years, mainly after 1882.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Indeed, the verdict of history does more than confirm the Prophets that the population of the Land of Israel would be minimal until the “double” of Israel’s disfavor ended in 1878 when the regathering of the Jewish exiles began (Jeremiah 33:10; Zechariah 10:12 and Jeremiah 16:14-18).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">The record of history testifies that the great influx of Arabs also began after that date. These facts of history explain why the United Nations needed to develop a definition that a “Palestinian Refugee” is any Arab who had been in “Palestine” for only two years.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">25<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">This U.N. definition, in fact, is incompatible with the assumption that the Arab Palestinian roots go back one or two thousand years. The Jews themselves have dominated the Land called “Palestine” for the past two millennia. The Jews themselves are as much “Palestinian” as the Arabs who claim to be Palestinians. If any population has a right to the name Palestinian (if they wanted it), it would be the Jews whose ancestors had their Land renamed “Palestine.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">22 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Howe and Gershman, Ed., ISRAEL, THE ARABS AND THE MIDDLE EAST, p. 178.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">23 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">"London: His Majesty's Stationary Office," Chapter 10, 1937.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">24 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Ernst Frankenstein, JUSTICE FOR MY PEOPLE (London: Nicholson & Watson, [1943]), p. 130.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">25 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Joan Peters, TIME IMMEMORIAL (New York: Harper & Rowe, 1984), p. 4.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; font-weight: bold;">The Nation’s Partitioned God’s Land</span><br />
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; font-weight: bold;"></span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">“When I bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">nations… I will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.” Joel 3:1,2<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">With the ending of God’s “double” of disfavor and punishment, God takes issue with the nations responsible for hounding and scattering “my people.” Now during God’s regathering of the Jews by Divine Providence since 1878 to “my Land,” He also takes issue with the fact that the nations have “parted My Land”—His Land. How have the nations “partitioned” His Land?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">World War I was the second significant event in end-time prophecy regarding the regathering of Israel. Turkey, with an expansive empire that compassed the Middle East (including Palestine) and North Africa, fought with Germany and the Central Powers against the Allies. At the breaking up of the Turkish Empire by the victorious Allies, both Jews and Arabs requested independent states. The world powers were generous in the extreme to the Arabs by granting them twenty-two independent Arabs states—encompassing 5,414,000 square miles. The Jews asked for less than one percent of that vast territory. The Allies agreed to this request (which included both sides of the Jordan) in the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the 1920 San Remo Conference of World Powers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">For imperialistic interests, however, in 1921 Great Britain reneged on the Balfour Declaration, lopped off 77 percent of the Land promised in the Balfour Declaration and set up the Arab Emirate of Transjordan. Then in 1922 the League of Nations gave Great Britain a Mandate to prepare the remaining 23 percent of Palestine (including Samaria, Judea, Gaza, Golan Heights and Eastern Jerusalem) for a Jewish National Home. But under French pressure, in 1923 the Golan Heights was ceded by the British to the French mandate of Syria.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">26<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">They partitioned His Land and the Lord was angry</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">26 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Martin Gilbert, ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT, (London: Weidenfeld & Nocolson, 1992), p. 8.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">Oil Diplomacy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Oil was then discovered in the Arab countries. Consequently, “oil diplomacy” was instituted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">British foreign policy simply bowed to Arab appeasement. In 1939 the British White Paper<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">banned further immigration to Palestine. Also, with brutal callousness, the United States and most nations refused to accept the beleaguered Jews of Europe. Consequently, six million Jews were slaughtered in the Holocaust. How many millions of these hapless victims<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">would have found a haven in Palestine if Britain had not reneged—with the silent consent of the other nations of the world—on its own mandate obligations by banning Jewish immigration?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">What a heinous collective crime of history! Lloyd George, who was the Prime Minister of Great Britain, when he issued the Balfour Declaration went on national radio to call the 1939 British White paper, “an act of national perfidy which will dishonor the name of Britain.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;"> 27</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">This time the nations actually denied the Jews any of God’s Land and the Lord was angry.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Finally, the Gentile nations, guilt-ridden after defaulting on their promise since 1922, felt a moral obligation to grant the Jews an independent state. But, unfortunately, the UN Partition Plan of 1947 further reduced the size of the new Israeli State.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">They partitioned “My Land” and the Lord was angry…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">When Israel became an independent State in 1948, armies from six Arab nations invaded the newborn State. Outnumbered 100 to one, Israel’s ragtag army pushed back the invaders and took more of its rightful Land. Divine Providence was telling the world something about whose Land it is. The only failure in Israel’s rightful victory at that time was not succeeding in recapturing East Jerusalem.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">27 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Latour, THE RESURRECTION OF ISRAEL, p. 203.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jordan Occupied East Jerusalem<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Instead, the Arab State of Transjordan captured East Jerusalem, expelled all Jews and<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">destroyed or desecrated all Jewish holy sites. That is actually when Jerusalem became<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">“occupied territory.” Defying the U.N. Mandate, Transjordan also occupied the west bank of the River Jordan. No longer limited to being “Trans” (across) Jordan (the east bank), Transjordan reduced its name to simply Jordan, now ruling over both the occupied west bank and the original east bank of Jordan. But this annexation of the “West Bank” by Jordan was not recognized by any nation of the world—except Great Britain and Pakistan. Jordan was even denounced by its Arab allies, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who wanted to<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">expel Jordan from the Arab League!</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">28<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">It is claimed that 600,000 Arabs fled “temporarily,” but temporarily became permanently when the Arab invaders failed to destroy the new State of Israel. David Ben-Gurion adamantly argued that the 600,000 figure was a lie. “The refugee issue is one of the biggest lies, even among our own people… I have all the figures. From the area of the State of Israel, only 180,000 Arabs left in 1948. There were 300,000 Arabs altogether in Israel and 120,000 remain.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">29<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">In the 1967 Six Day War, under the threat of being “pushed into the sea” by Egypt, Syria and<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Jordan, Israel actually liberated the “occupied territory” of Jerusalem and granted free access to Jews, Christians and Moslems to worship at their respective Holy sites. Israel also liberated the “West Bank” and Gaza. How easily recent history is forgotten. By comparison, Israel’s<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">administration, despite its faults, has been much more humane. The realities of the Jordanian and Egyptian occupation are conveyed in the following quote from HARSH REALITIES:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">30<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">For 19 years, until 1967, Jordan brutally occupied the renamed “West Bank” with its 20 UNWRA refugee camps…. And when western Palestinians rioted in December ’55, April ’57, April ’63, Nov. ’66 and April ’67, King Hussein sent in tanks which shelled city streets and machine gunned people at random, killing hundreds of men, women and children. The Gaza Strip, as it was known for the 19<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">years of harsh Egyptian occupation, had 8 UNWRA refugee camps in which the Palestinians were forced to live in overcrowded squalor. Egypt refused to absorb any refugees; kept them stateless, denied passports, and forbade them to travel or work in Egypt. [On the other hand, Palestinians were permitted to work in Israel after 1967.]<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">For 19 years of brutal occupation of their fellow Arabs, Jordan and Egypt kept these areas in a deliberate state of economic stagnation and severe unemployment. Average unemployment in the early Sixties ran between 35-45%, and refugee unemployment hit a high of 83%. Yet during this entire period, the world was silent….Only after Israel’s seizure of these territories in a defensive war in 1967, did anyone discover the “legitimate rights and national aspirations” of the Palestinian Arabs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">From a humanitarian viewpoint, their situation improved immeasurably under Israeli administration. Unemployment hovers around a mere 1% (1989) and per capita gross income tripled in less than 20 years; infant mortality rates dropped from the pre-1967 140 per 1,000 to only 30 per 1,000 today—at a time when the rest of the Arab world is still at 80 per 1,000; 7 Arab colleges and universities were established under Israel “occupation,” where none existed before 1967. Yet it is Israel that is now being attacked.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Had the Arab countries any true intentions of helping their beleaguered brethren from western Palestine, they would and could have absorbed them easily 4 decades ago, as the Israelites did of an even greater number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands. The Palestinian Arabs share the same language, religion and culture, and for 70% of them, the same countries of origin just 3 generations before when their grandfathers emigrated for economic reasons to Palestine from surrounding Arab lands. But the 22 Arab countries, uninterested in aiding their Palestinian brothers,preferred to use them as a political weapon to wield against Israel, and the U.N. supported this heartless human manipulation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">In the mid-1970’s Israel attempted to give the Palestinian Arab refugees in Gaza new and better housing. The U.N. General Assembly, at the urging of the Arab states, passed Resolution 32/90 condemning Israel for trying to relocate these refugees and demanded they be returned “to the camps in which they were removed.” And yet, a senior U.N. official came to Gaza in January 1988 accompanied by 10 TV crews on a fact-finding visit and laid the entire blame for the situation at Israel’s feet. As if the U.N.’s own complicity in the matter didn’t exist!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">28 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Yedelya Atland, HARSH REALITIES (Jerusalem: C. M. Israel Group Ltd., 1989), p. 19</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">29 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Howe and Gershman, ISRAEL, THE ARABS AND THE MIDDLE EAST, p. 207.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 6.5pt;">30 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Atland, HARSH REALITIES, pp. 19, 20.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Refugee Problem<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">When the six Arab nations invaded Israel at Israel’s birth, many claim 600,000 Arabs were<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">displaced in that war. What is not well known is that approximately 800,000 Jews, who were living in those six Arab nations, had to flee for their lives because of Arab hatred. The solution to this refugee problem was simple—a fair exchange. Israel, at a terrible economic cost, absorbed the 800,000 Jewish refugees. But the Arab nations refused to accept these Arab refugees, their Arab brethren. Rather, they placed them in refugee camps, which became dark holes of hate and misery, models for propaganda to turn world opinion against Israel. They succeeded.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0075b8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">“They Partitioned My Land”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">The UN has now had the audacity to call Jerusalem and the “West Bank” “occupied territories” only after Israel regained them in the 1967 War. In 1922 the League of Nations had recognized the legal, moral and historic right of the Jewish people to a national homeland in Palestine— including Jerusalem. If the Jews had a right to Jerusalem recognized by the world community in 1922, that right is still valid today.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">But since then, the vast oil reserves were discovered in Arab lands. The nations are compromising Israel’s rights for their own oil interests. Consequently, the U.S. administration and the UN define East Jerusalem as “occupied territory.” When Jordan occupied East Jerusalem, it was “occupied territory.” But now, in fact, no part of Jerusalem is “occupied territory.” Jerusalem—indivisible—belongs to Israel. The same logic applies to the “West Bank.” Unfortunately, Israel’s government presently is too intimidated by tremendous pressure from the U.S. and other world powers to insist on its historic right to Judea-Samaria, the so-called “West Bank.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">What is the Lord’s perspective of all of these events? He is angry at the nations. Whose Land is it that the world powers are now pressuring Israel to give to the Arabs? During the current regathering of the Jews to Israel, even before God’s Kingdom is set up in Jerusalem, God refers to Israel as “MY people” and their Land as “MY Land” (Ezekiel 38:16; Isaiah 11:11). “they parted [partitioned] MY land.” To whom does the Land belong? The Arabs? No! The Land belongs to God and He gave it to the children of Israel. But the nations have the arrogance to partition God’s Land. They took 77 percent of it away from Israel, “MY people,” and gave it to the Arabs—and now the United States and the nations of the world are pressuring Israel to surrender more of their Godgiven Land to the Arabs. But the Lord has His own land plans for Israel.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; font-weight: bold;">Expanding Borders</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; font-weight: bold;"></span>A six-year study by over 250 scientists and experts predicts that by the year 2020 the population of Israel will exceed 8,100,000, making Israel by far the most densely populated developed country in the world. Israel will be more than 2.5 times more densely populated than Japan and the Netherlands, and there will be a serious shortage of land for residential construction. In Micah 7:11 the prophet speaks of our time as “the day for extending your</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">[Israel’s] boundaries” (NAS). Actually, the Scriptures (Isa. 11 & Zech. 10) indicate another large immigration of Jews from the CIS and a massive exodus from the U.S. even before 2020. But there will be no land shortage.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">A final Arab-Israeli war will precede this massive immigration. Israel’s borders will be expanded to include all of the Golan Heights, much or all of the sparsely inhabited nation of Jordan and Southern Lebanon (Isa. 11:14; Zeph. 2:8-9; Micah 7:11, 14; Obad.18-20). All of this territory was promised Israel in the Balfour Declaration back in 1917. But God will finally give to Israel even more than the nations promised (Genesis 15:18-21). The God of Israel is a God of miracles—and He has only begun His miracles in achieving Israel’s ultimate destiny. God will even work miracles to bring all nations into harmony with Israel. His intentions are revealed by the Prophet Jeremiah (31:11):<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">For I am with thee (Israel) saith the Lord, to save thee; though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in measure and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">After the destruction of their governments, the people of these nations will “seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem” which will become the capital of God’s Kingdom (Zechariah 8:20-23). Instead of converging on Israel and Jerusalem to partition the Land or take it, the nations will come to Jerusalem to learn of the God of Israel so that they may walk in His ways. Instead of coming to dissect Israel, they will come to be taught (Isaiah 2:1-4). Yes, the Messianic Era will come.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain [Kingdom] of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion [the spiritual seed of blessing] shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem [the natural seed of blessing].<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">The whole world—the Arab peoples too— will come up to worship the God of Jacob in Jerusalem. Peoples of all national tongues will come to pray to the LORD God of Israel because they will understand God is blessing Israel (Zechariah 8:3, 21-23):<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">…Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain… O house of Judah and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing; fear not, but let your hands be strong…. It shall yet come to pass that there shall come people and the inhabitants of many cities,… saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts… ten men shall take hold out of all the languages of the nations, even shall take hold<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Israel’s jubilee—fifty years of nationhood—is only the tumultuous beginning. Beyond all the tears and trouble lies Israel as a beacon light to the Gentiles. “There shall not be heard any more violence in thy land, wasting and destruction within thy boundaries; but thou shalt call, Salvation, thy walls, and thy gates, Praise” (Isaiah 60:3, 18 Isaac Leeser). God’s comprehensive peace settlement for Israel will only signal the beginning of an eternity<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">of blessing all the families of the earth. Then the promise to Father Abraham—passed down to Isaac then Jacob—will be fulfilled: “In thee and thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 28:14). The God of Israel is a God of miracles. He has only begun His miracles in achieving Israel’s ultimate destiny when the wonderful promises of Israel’s Prophet Isaiah (35:5- 10) will be fulfilled for all mankind:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame [man] leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, [shall be] grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it [shall be] for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err [therein]. No lion shall be there, nor [any] ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk [there]: And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Here are the videos:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4IeMY_CveE&feature=related" style="color: #de7008;">YouTube - Israel, The Divine Miracle 1/3</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Ce16CEnOU&NR=1" style="color: #de7008;">YouTube - Israel, The Divine Miracle 2/3</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZT4S6Bg2jQ&NR=1" style="color: #de7008;">YouTube - Israel, The Divine Miracle 3/3</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v0wCpuTBMs&feature=related" style="color: #9e5205;">YouTube - Israel Against All Odds - The Miracle Of The Survival Of Israel - Part 1</a></div><div class="MsoNormal">The next 12 videos of this film can be seen as prompted on the screen. The next is written material.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.churchisraelforum.com/chapter_one_Israels_Amazing_Uniqueness.htm" style="color: #de7008;">Chapter One - Israel's Amazing Uniqueness</a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Note: After writing this article I noticed that (amazingly) a blog I follow also unwittingly posted a simliar article about Israel (part 1) but on a slightly different slant and complements my article nicely. It is on: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #9e5205; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #9e5205;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://livingwatersministiescyprus.blogspot.com/2010/09/some-history-of-modern-day-israel.html" style="color: #9e5205;">S</a></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #9e5205; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://livingwatersministiescyprus.blogspot.com/2010/09/some-history-of-modern-day-israel.html" style="color: #9e5205;">OME HISTORY OF MODERN DAY ISRAEL</a> 15 Sep 2010.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #9e5205; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #9e5205; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>David has since posted 2 further articles on Israel which I recommend on:</b></span><br />
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="color: #9e5205; font: normal normal bold 160%/normal Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #9e5205;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://livingwatersministiescyprus.blogspot.com/2010/09/even-more-amazing-events-that-showed.html" style="color: #9e5205;">E</a></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://livingwatersministiescyprus.blogspot.com/2010/09/even-more-amazing-events-that-showed.html" style="color: #9e5205;">VEN MORE AMAZING EVENTS THAT SHOW YAHWEH IS WITH ISRAEL</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #9e5205;"> 21 Sep 2010 </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #9e5205;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #9e5205;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #9e5205; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://livingwatersministiescyprus.blogspot.com/2010/09/mess-with-israel-at-your-peril.html" style="color: #9e5205;">MESS WITH ISRAEL AT YOUR PERIL</a> 25 Sep 2010</span></span></span></h3></div></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-19159955758446835692011-09-08T15:29:00.001+01:002011-09-08T15:29:41.609+01:00How The Bible Was Put Together and Proving Why It IS The Inspired Inerrant Word Of God<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The purpose of this report is to explain how the Bible was put together and therefore also demonstrate:</span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* why/how the Bible is the inspired inerrant Word of God</span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* why the Bible can be fully trusted to build our lives and faith upon</span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* why no other religious book is worthy to be compared to the Bible</span></strong></span> </span></strong><br />
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</span></strong></span></span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">I have collected together (from various sources) logical arguments to prove these things.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">My First Source</span></strong><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> collected from </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.gotquestions.org/" style="color: #de7008;">http://www.gotquestions.org/</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Question 1: "Is the Bible truly God's Word?"<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Answer:</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Our answer to this question will not only determine how we view the Bible and its importance to our lives, but also it will ultimately have an eternal impact on us. If the Bible is truly God’s Word, then we should cherish it, study it, obey it, and fully trust it. If the Bible is the Word of God, then to dismiss it is to dismiss God Himself.</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">The fact that God gave us the Bible is an evidence and illustration of His love for us. The term “revelation” simply means that God communicated to mankind what He is like and how we can have a right relationship with Him. These are things that we could not have known had God not divinely revealed them to us in the Bible. Although God’s revelation of Himself in the Bible was given progressively over approximately 1500 years, it has always contained everything man needs to know about God in order to have a right relationship with Him. If the Bible is truly the Word of God, then it is the final authority for all matters of faith, religious practice, and morals.</span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">The question we must ask ourselves is <b>how can we know that the Bible is the Word of God and not just a good book? <a name='more'></a></b></span></span>What is unique about the Bible that sets it apart from all other religious books ever written? Is there any evidence that the Bible is truly God’s Word? These types of questions must be seriously examined if we are to determine the validity of the Bible’s claim to be the very Word of God, divinely inspired, and totally sufficient for all matters of faith and practice. There can be no doubt that the Bible does claim to be the very Word of God. This is clearly seen in Paul’s commendation to Timothy: “… from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/2%20Timothy%203.15-17" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">2 Timothy 3:15-17</span></a>).<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></div><br />
<span class="apple-style-span">There are both <b>internal and external evidences that the Bible is truly God’s Word</b>. The internal evidences are those things within the Bible that testify of its divine origin. One of the first <b>internal evidences </b>that the Bible is truly God’s Word is seen in <b>its unity</b>. Even though it is really sixty-six individual books, written on three continents, in three different languages, over a period of approximately 1500 years, by more than 40 authors who came from many walks of life, the Bible remains one unified book from beginning to end without contradiction (for those who dispute that there are contradictions, please read the answer given to that under question 5 below)</span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span"></span>This unity is unique from all other books and is evidence of the divine origin of the words which God moved men to record.<br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">Another of the internal evidences that indicates the Bible is truly God’s Word is <b>the fulfilled prophecies</b> contained within its pages. The Bible contains hundreds of detailed prophecies relating to the future of individual nations including Israel, certain cities, and mankind. Other prophecies concern the coming of One who would be the Messiah, the Savior of all who would believe in Him. Unlike the prophecies found in other religious books or those by men such as Nostradamus, biblical prophecies are extremely detailed. There are over three hundred prophecies concerning Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Not only was it foretold where He would be born and His lineage, but also how He would die and that He would rise again. There simply is no logical way to explain the fulfilled prophecies in the Bible other than by divine origin. There is no other religious book with the extent or type of predictive prophecy that the Bible contains.</span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">A third internal evidence of the divine origin of the Bible is <b>its unique authority and power</b>. While this evidence is more subjective than the first two, it is no less a powerful testimony of the divine origin of the Bible. The Bible’s authority is unlike any other book ever written. This authority and power are best seen in the way countless lives have been transformed by the supernatural power of God’s Word. Drug addicts have been cured by it, homosexuals set free by it, derelicts and deadbeats transformed by it, hardened criminals reformed by it, sinners rebuked by it, and hate turned to love by it. The Bible does possess a dynamic and transforming power that is only possible because it is truly God’s Word.</span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">There are also <b>external evidences</b> that indicate the Bible is truly the Word of God. One is <b>the accurate historicity of the Bible</b>. Because the Bible details historical events, its truthfulness and accuracy are subject to verification like any other historical document. Through <b>archaeological and scientific evidences</b> and <b>other writings</b>, the historical accounts of the Bible have been proven time and time again to be accurate and true. In fact, all the archaeological and manuscript evidence supporting the Bible makes it the best-documented book from the ancient world. The fact that the Bible accurately and truthfully records historically verifiable events is a great indication of its truthfulness when dealing with religious subjects and doctrines and helps substantiate its claim to be the very Word of God.</span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">Another external evidence that the Bible is truly God’s Word is <b>the integrity of its human authors</b>. As mentioned earlier, God used men from many walks of life to record His words. In studying the lives of these men, we find them to be honest and sincere. The fact that they were willing to die often excruciating deaths for what they believed testifies that these ordinary yet honest men truly believed God had spoken to them. The men who wrote the New Testament and many hundreds of other believers (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/1%20Corinthians%2015.6" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">1 Corinthians 15:6</span></a>) knew the truth of their message because they had seen and spent time with Jesus Christ after He had risen from the dead. Seeing the risen Christ had a tremendous impact on them. They went from hiding in fear to being willing to die for the message God had revealed to them. Their lives and deaths testify to the fact that the Bible truly is God’s Word.</span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">A final external evidence that the Bible is truly God’s Word is the <b>indestructibility of the Bible</b>. Because of its importance and its claim to be the very Word of God, the Bible has suffered more vicious attacks and attempts to destroy it than any other book in history. From early Roman Emperors like Diocletian, through communist dictators and on to modern-day atheists and agnostics, the Bible has withstood and outlasted all of its attackers and is still today the most widely published book in the world.</span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">Throughout time, skeptics have regarded the Bible as mythological, but archeology has confirmed it as historical. Opponents have attacked its teaching as primitive and outdated, but its moral and legal concepts and teachings have had a positive influence on societies and cultures throughout the world. It continues to be attacked by pseudo-science, psychology, and political movements, yet it remains just as true and relevant today as it was when it was first written. It is a book that has transformed countless lives and cultures throughout the last 2000 years. No matter how its opponents try to attack, destroy, or discredit it, the Bible remains; its veracity and impact on lives is unmistakable. The accuracy which has been preserved despite every attempt to corrupt, attack, or destroy it is clear testimony to the fact that the Bible is truly God’s Word and is supernaturally protected by Him. It should not surprise us that, no matter how the Bible is attacked, it always comes out unchanged and unscathed. After all, Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Mark%2013.31" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Mark 13:31</span></a>). After looking at the evidence, one can say without a doubt that, yes, the Bible is truly God’s Word.</span><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></strong><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* Note: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Following on (after the last of the 6 Questions below) is a more detailed report providing some specific evidences re the boldened items above ie:</span></span></strong><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> the Bible's</span></strong><b> unity,</b> <b>fulfilled prophecies,</b> <b>its unique authority and power, </b><b>the accurate historicity of the Bible, </b><b>archaeological and scientific evidences</b> and <b>other writings,</b> <b>the integrity of its human authors, the</b><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">indestructibility of the Bible</span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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<strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Question 2 "How do we know that the Bible is the Word of God, and not the Apocrypha, the Qur’an, the Book of Mormon, etc.?"</span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;">Answer:</strong><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The question of which (if any) religious text is the true word of God is of utmost importance. To avoid circular reasoning, the first question we must ask is: how would we know if God communicated in the first place? Well, God would have to communicate in a manner that people could understand, but that also means that people could make up their own messages and simply claim that they came from God. So, it seems reasonable to think that if God wanted to authenticate His communication He would have to verify it in a manner that could not be duplicated by mere humans - in other words, by miracles. This narrows the field considerably.</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">Beyond the evidence for the Bible's correctness (manuscript evidence) and its historicity (archeological evidence), the most important evidence is that of its inspiration. The real determination of the Bible's claim to absolute inspired truth is in its supernatural evidence, including prophecy. God used prophets to speak and write down His Word and God uses miracles like fulfilled prophecy to authenticate His messengers. For example, in</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Genesis%2012.7" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Genesis 12:7</span></a>, God promises that the land of Israel was to be for Abraham and his descendants. In 1948 Israel was returned back to the Jewish people for the second time in history. This may not seem so astonishing until you realize that no nation in the history of the world has been scattered from its homeland and returned! Israel has done it twice. The book of Daniel predicts with accuracy the coming of the four great kingdoms from Babylon, to Medo-Persia, to Greece, to Rome centuries before some of those kingdoms came on the scene (a time span of over 1,000 years!) with details concerning how they would rule and be broken. This includes the reigns of Alexander the Great and Antiochus Epiphanies.</span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">In Ezekiel 26 we can see in astonishing detail how the city of Tyre was to be destroyed, how it would be torn down, and how its debris would be thrown into the sea. When Alexander the Great marched on that area, he encountered a group of people holed up in a tower on an island off the coast near there. He could not cross the sea, so he could not fight those in the tower. Rather than wait them out, the proud conqueror had his army throw stones into the sea to build a land bridge to the tower. It worked. His army crossed the sea and overthrew the occupants of the stronghold. But where did he get so much stone? The rocks that were used for the land bridge were the leftover rubble from the city of Tyre . . . its stones cast into the sea!</span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">There are so many prophecies concerning Christ (over 270!) that it would take more than a few screens worth of space to list them all. Further, Jesus would have had no control over many of them such as His birthplace or time of birth. Second, the odds of one man accidentally fulfilling even 16 of these are 1 in 10^45. How many is that? For comparison, there are less than 10^28 atoms in the entire universe! And Jesus, who affirmed the Bible as the Word of God, proved His reliability and deity by His resurrection (an historical fact not easily ignored).</span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">Now consider the Quran - its author, Muhammad, performed no miracles to back up his message (even when he was asked to by his followers - Sura 17:91-95; 29:47-51). Only in much later tradition (the Hadith) do any alleged miracles even show up and these are all quite fanciful (like Muhammad cutting the moon in half) and have zero reliable testimony to back them up. Further, the Quran makes clear historical errors. Muslims believe the Bible is inspired but with some errors from editing (Sura 2:136 as well as Suras 13, 16, 17, 20, 21, 23, 25). The question they cannot adequately answer is: "When was the Bible corrupted?" If they say before 600 A.D. then how can the Quran admonish believers to read it? If they claim it was after 600 A.D., then they have jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire, for we have absolutely no doubt as to the accuracy of biblical manuscripts from at least the 3rd century forward. Even if Christianity were false, the Quran still has an insurmountable problem because it makes judgments against Christians for believing things that they do not (nor have they ever) believed. For example, the Quran teaches that Christians believe the Trinity is the Father, the Mother (Mary), and the Son (Sura 5:73-75, 116), and the Quran also teaches that Christians believe that God had sex with Mary to have a son (Suras 2:116; 6:100-101; 10:68; 16:57; 19:35; 23:91; 37:149-151; 43:16-19). If the Quran is really from God, then it should at least be able to accurately report what Christians believe.</span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">Joseph Smith, the author of the Book of Mormon, tried to do some miracles such as prophecy (a test for a true prophet in</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Deuteronomy%2018.21-22" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Deuteronomy 18:21-22</span></a>) but failed several times. He foretold of Christ's second coming in History of the Church (HC) 2:382. Joseph Smith preached that the coming of the Lord would be in 56 years (about 1891). The second coming did not occur in 1891, and the Mormon Church does not claim that it did. Nor has it occurred since. He also prophesied that several cities would be destroyed in Doctrine and Covenants (D&C) 84:114-115. New York, Albany and Boston were to be destroyed if they rejected the gospel according to Smith. Joseph Smith himself went to New York, Albany, and Boston and preached there. These cities did not accept his gospel, yet they have not been destroyed. Another famous false prophecy of Joseph Smith was his "END OF ALL NATIONS" in D&C 87 concerning the rebellion of South Carolina in the war between the states. The South was supposed to call on Great Britain for aid, and as a result war would be poured out upon all nations; slaves would revolt; the inhabitants of the earth would mourn; famine, plague, earthquake, thunder, lightning, and a full end of all nations would result. The South finally did revolt in 1861, but the slaves did not rise up, war was not poured out upon all nations, there was no worldwide famine, plague, earthquake, etc., and there was no resulting "end of all nations."</span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">The collection of writings that Protestants call the Apocrypha (hidden writings), Roman Catholics call the deuterocanonical (later or second canon) books. These books were written between 300 B.C. and 100 A.D., the Intertestamental Period between the inspired writings of God's Prophets in the Old Testament and those of the Apostles and their contemporaries in the New Testament. These were "infallibly" accepted into the Bible by the Roman Catholic Church in 1546 at the Council of Trent. Now the Apocrypha would be covered under the evidence for the Bible if these writings were truly inspired - but evidence seems to indicate that they are not. In the Bible we find prophets of God whose messages are ratified by miracles or prophecy that comes true, and whose message is immediately accepted by the people (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Deut%2031.26" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Deut 31:26</span></a>;</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Josh.%2024.26" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Josh. 24:26</span></a>;</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/1%20Samuel%2010.25" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">1 Samuel 10:25</span></a>;</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Daniel%209.2" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Daniel 9:2</span></a>;</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Col.%204.16" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Col. 4:16</span></a>;</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/2%20Peter%203.15-16" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">2 Peter 3:15-16</span></a>). What we find in the apocrypha is just the opposite - no apocryphal book was written by a prophet; in fact one book specifically states that it is not inspired (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/1%20Maccabees%209.27" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">1 Maccabees 9:27</span></a>)! None of these books were included in the Hebrew Scriptures. There is no ratification of the authors of any apocryphal book. No apocryphal book is cited as authoritative by later Biblical writers. There is no fulfilled prophecy in any apocryphal book. Finally, Jesus, who quoted from every section of Old Testament Scripture, never once quoted from the apocrypha. Neither did any of His disciples.</span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">The Bible so far outshines every competing source for being God's revelation that if it is not God's Word, it would seem impossible to choose among the leftovers. If the Bible is not God's Word, then we have been left with no clear criteria by which to know what might be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Question 3: "How and when was the canon of the Bible put together?"</span></strong><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></b><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Answer:</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The term “canon” is used to describe the books that are divinely inspired and therefore belong in the Bible. The difficulty in determining the biblical canon is that the Bible does not give us a list of the books that belong in the Bible. Determining the canon was a process conducted first by Jewish rabbis and scholars and later by early Christians. Ultimately, it was God who decided what books belonged in the biblical canon. A book of Scripture belonged in the canon from the moment God inspired its writing. It was simply a matter of God’s convincing His human followers which books should be included in the Bible.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Hebrew believers recognized God’s messengers and accepted their writings as inspired of God. While there was undeniably some debate in regards to the Old Testament canon, by A.D. 250 there was nearly universal agreement on the canon of Hebrew Scripture. The only issue that remained was the Apocrypha, with some debate and discussion continuing today. The vast majority of Hebrew scholars considered the Apocrypha to be good historical and religious documents, but not on the same level as the Hebrew Scriptures.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">For the New Testament, the process of the recognition and collection began in the first centuries of the Christian church. Very early on, some of the New Testament books were being recognized. Paul considered Luke’s writings to be as authoritative as the Old Testament (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/1%20Timothy%205.18" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">1 Timothy 5:18</span></a>; see also <a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Deuteronomy%2025.4" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Deuteronomy 25:4</span></a></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">and</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Luke%2010.7" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Luke 10:7</span></a>). Peter recognized Paul’s writings as Scripture (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/2%20Peter%203.15-16" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">2 Peter 3:15-16</span></a>). Some of the books of the New Testament were being circulated among the churches (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Colossians%204.16" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Colossians 4:16</span></a>;</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/1%20Thessalonians%205.27" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">1 Thessalonians 5:27</span></a>). Clement of Rome mentioned at least eight New Testament books (A.D. 95). Ignatius of Antioch acknowledged about seven books (A.D. 115). Polycarp, a disciple of John the apostle, acknowledged 15 books (A.D. 108). Later, Irenaeus mentioned 21 books (A.D. 185). Hippolytus recognized 22 books (A.D. 170-235). </span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><br />
</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The first “canon” was the Muratorian Canon, which was compiled in A.D. 170. The Muratorian Canon included all of the New Testament books except 3 = 24 books. In A.D. 363, the Council of Laodicea stated that the Old Testament and all the 27 books (which we have today) of the New Testament were to be read in the churches. The Council of Hippo (A.D. 393) and the Council of Carthage (A.D. 397) also affirmed the same 27 books as authoritative.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The councils followed something similar to the following principles to determine whether a New Testament book was truly inspired by the Holy Spirit: 1) Was the author an apostle or have a close connection with an apostle? 2) Is the book being accepted by the body of Christ at large? 3) Did the book contain consistency of doctrine and orthodox teaching? 4) Did the book bear evidence of high moral and spiritual values that would reflect a work of the Holy Spirit? Again, it is crucial to remember that the church did not determine the canon. No early church council decided on the canon. It was God, and God alone, who determined which books belonged in the Bible. It was simply a matter of God’s imparting to His followers what He had already decided. The human process of collecting the books of the Bible was flawed, but God, in His sovereignty, and despite our ignorance and stubbornness, brought the early church to the recognition of the books He had inspired.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Question 4: "How do we decide which books belong in the Bible since the Bible does not say which books belong in the Bible?"</span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br />
</b><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Answer:</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">If Scripture is to be our sole authority, on what authority do we know which books belong in the Bible - since the Bible does not state which books should be in the Bible? This is a very important question, because a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In the chain of communication from God to humanity, is there a weak link? If so, then the whole chain fails, and the communication ultimately cannot be trusted.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Consider the various "links" comprising God's communication to us: first came God's desire to communicate. This was rooted in His love, for the most loving thing a good God can do is reveal Himself to His creation. Next came the actual transmission of God's Word through human writers. This involved a process the Bible calls "inspiration," in which God breathed the words that the human agents recorded (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/2%20Timothy%203.16" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">2 Timothy 3:16</span></a>). After that came dissemination, as the Word was delivered to its audience through preaching or other means. Then came recognition, as God's people distinguished Holy Scripture from other religious writings. And then, preservation, through which God's Word has survived to the present day, despite many attempts to destroy it. And finally, illumination, as the Holy Spirit opens the believer's understanding to receive the Word.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">And that's the "chain"--the demonstration of God's love in the inspiration, dissemination, recognition, preservation, and illumination of His Word. We believe that God was involved in each step of the process, for why would God go to such lengths to inspire His Word and then not preserve it? Why would He speak to us and then fail to guide us in recognizing His speech?</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">This recognition of God's Word is usually called "canonization." We are careful to say that God determined the canon, and the church discovered the canon. The canon of Scripture was not created by the church; rather, the church discovered or recognized it. In other words, God's Word was inspired and authoritative from its inception--it "stands firm in the heavens" (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Psalm%20119.89" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Psalm 119:89</span></a>)--and the church simply recognized that fact and accepted it.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The criteria the church used for recognizing and collecting the Word of God are as follows:</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1) Was the book written by a prophet of God?</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">2) Was the writer authenticated by miracles to confirm his message?</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">3) Does the book tell the truth about God, with no falsehood or contradiction?</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">4) Does the book evince a divine capacity to transform lives?</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">5) Was the book accepted as God's Word by the people to whom it was first delivered?</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Of these criteria, the one of most importance was the first one--was the book written by a prophet? Its corollary, did the book receive apostolic approval?, was the chief test of canonicity in the early church. This criterion is a logical result of knowing what an "apostle" was. The apostles were gifted by God to be the founders and leaders of the church, so it is reasonable to accept that through them came the Word governing the church.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The apostles were promised the Spirit of truth who would bring to their remembrance what Christ had said (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/John%2014.26" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">John 14:26</span></a>) and guide them into "all truth" (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/John%2016.13" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">John 16:13</span></a>). After the ascension of Christ, the apostles received supernatural gifts to enable their work and confirm their message (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Acts%202.4" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Acts 2:4</span></a>). God's household is "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets" (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Ephesians%202.20" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Ephesians 2:20</span></a>). Given the apostles' special commission, it only makes sense that the church made apostolicity the number-one test of canonicity. Thus, the Gospel of Matthew was considered canonical (it was written by an apostle); and the Gospel of Mark, with its close association with the Apostle Peter, was also accepted.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">When the New Testament was being written, the individual books and letters were immediately accepted as God's Word and circulated for the benefits of others. The church of Thessalonica received Paul's word as the Word of God (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/1%20Thessalonians%202.13" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">1 Thessalonians 2:13</span></a>). Paul's epistles were circulating among the churches even during apostolic times (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Colossians%204.16" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Colossians 4:16</span></a>). Peter recognized Paul's writings as inspired by God and equated them with "the rest of the Scriptures" (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/2%20Peter%203.15-16" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">2 Peter 3:15-16</span></a>). Paul quoted the Gospel of Luke and called it "Scripture" (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/1%20Timothy%205.18" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">1 Timothy 5:18</span></a>). This widespread acceptance stands in stark contrast to the few debated books, eventually rejected as non-canonical, that enjoyed a limited favor for a time.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Later, as heresy increased and some within the church began clamoring for the acceptance of spurious religious writings, the church wisely held a council to officially confirm their acceptance of the 27 New Testament books. The criteria they used allowed them to objectively distinguish what God had given them from that of human origin. They concluded that they would stay with the books that were universally accepted. In so doing, they determined to continue in "the apostles' teaching" (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Acts%202.42" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Acts 2:42</span></a>).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Question 5: "Does the Bible contain errors, contradictions, or discrepancies?"</span></strong><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></b><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Answer:</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">If we read the Bible at face value, without a preconceived bias for finding errors, we will find it to be a coherent, consistent, and relatively easy-to-understand book. Yes, there are difficult passages. Yes, there are verses that appear to contradict each other. We must remember that the Bible was written by approximately 40 different authors over a period of around 1500 years. Each writer wrote with a different style, from a different perspective, to a different audience, for a different purpose. We should expect some minor differences. However, a difference is not a contradiction. It is only an error if there is absolutely no conceivable way the verses or passages can be reconciled. Even if an answer is not available right now, that does not mean an answer does not exist. Many have found a supposed error in the Bible in relation to history or geography only to find out that the Bible is correct once further archaeological evidence is discovered.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">We often receive questions along the lines of “Explain how these verses do not contradict!” or “Look, here is an error in the Bible!” Admittedly, some of the things people bring up are difficult to answer. However, it is our contention that there are viable and intellectually plausible answers to every supposed Bible contradiction and error. There are books and websites available that list “all the errors in the Bible.” Most people simply get their ammunition from these places; they do not find supposed errors on their own. There are also books and websites available that refute every one of these supposed errors. The saddest thing is that most people who attack the Bible are not truly interested in an answer. Many “Bible attackers” are even aware of these answers, but they continue to use the same old shallow attacks again and again.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">So, what are we to do when someone approaches us with an alleged Bible error? 1) Prayerfully study the Scriptures and see if there is a simple solution. 2) Do some research using some of the fine Bible commentaries, “Bible defense” books, and biblical research websites. 3) Ask our pastors/church leaders to see if they can find a solution. 4) If there is still no clear answer after steps 1), 2), and 3) are followed, we trust God that His Word is truth and that there is a solution that just simply has not been realized yet (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/2%20Timothy%202.15" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">2 Timothy 2:15</span></a>,</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/2%20Timothy%203.16-17" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">3:16-17</span></a>)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Question 6: "Who were the authors of the books of the Bible?"</span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br />
</b><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Answer:</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Ultimately, above the human authors, the Bible was written by God.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Second%20Timothy%203.16" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Second Timothy 3:16</span></a>tells us that the Bible was “breathed out” by God. God superintended the human authors of the Bible so that, while using their own writing styles and personalities, they still recorded exactly what God intended. The Bible was not dictated by God, but it was perfectly guided and entirely inspired by Him.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Humanly speaking, the Bible was written by approximately 40 men of diverse backgrounds over the course of 1500 years. Isaiah was a prophet, Ezra was a priest, Matthew was a tax-collector, John was a fisherman, Paul was a tentmaker, Moses was a shepherd, Luke was a physician. Despite being penned by different authors over 15 centuries, the Bible does not contradict itself and does not contain any errors. The authors all present different perspectives, but they all proclaim the same one true God, and the same one way of salvation—Jesus Christ (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/John%2014.6" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">John 14:6</span></a>;</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/niv/Acts%204.12" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d448a;">Acts 4:12</span></a>). Few of the books of the Bible specifically name their author. Here are the books of the Bible along with the name of who is most assumed by biblical scholars to be the author, along with the approximate date of authorship:</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy = Moses - 1400 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Joshua = Joshua - 1350 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel = Samuel/Nathan/Gad - 1000 - 900 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1 Kings, 2 Kings = Jeremiah - 600 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah = Ezra - 450 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Esther = Mordecai - 400 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Job = Moses - 1400 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Psalms = several different authors, mostly David - 1000 - 400 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon = Solomon - 900 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Isaiah = Isaiah - 700 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Jeremiah, Lamentations = Jeremiah - 600 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Ezekiel = Ezekiel - 550 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Daniel = Daniel - 550 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Hosea = Hosea - 750 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Joel = Joel - 850 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Amos = Amos - 750 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Obadiah = Obadiah - 600 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Jonah = Jonah - 700 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Micah = Micah - 700 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Nahum = Nahum - 650 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Habakkuk = Habakkuk - 600 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Zephaniah = Zephaniah - 650 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Haggai = Haggai - 520 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Zechariah = Zechariah - 500 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Malachi = Malachi - 430 B.C.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Matthew = Matthew - A.D. 55</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Mark = John Mark - A.D. 50</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Luke = Luke - A.D. 60</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">John = John - A.D. 90</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Acts = Luke - A.D. 65</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon = Paul - A.D. 50-70</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Hebrews = unknown, mostly likely Paul, Luke, Barnabas, or Apollos - A.D. 65</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">James = James - A.D. 45</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1 Peter, 2 Peter = Peter - A.D. 60</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">1 John, 2 John, 3 John = John - A.D. 90</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Jude = Jude - A.D. 60</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Revelation = John - A.D. 90<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">Now onto my other sources to illustrate in a more detailed way how question 1 above can be seen in action</span></u></b><u><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Unity of the Bible</span></strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
The Bible would be less than trustworthy if its message wasn't consistent. The miraculous fact about the Bible is that it has one theme from beginning to end - the glory of God through His Son, Jesus Christ.<br />
When I think about the phenomenal unity of the Bible, as it demonstrates itself at every level of scrutiny, I enthusiastically agree with the following statement, which is said to have been found inside a Gideon's Bible:<br />
<br />
This Book is the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding; its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character. Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. Follow its precepts and it will lead you to Calvary, to the empty tomb, to a resurrected life in Christ; yes, to glory itself, for eternity.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
The Bible presents a unified message, not a loose assortment of religious ideas. One amazing example of the Bible's unity is the comparison of the four Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each writer presents the life of Christ from a different angle: Matthew - Jesus as the king, Mark - Jesus as a servant, Luke - Jesus as the perfect man, John - Jesus as the Son of God<br />
<br />
These writers describe the same events in the life of Jesus, and even though they emphasize the events in different ways, their accounts all match up.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">The rest of the Bible shows the same unity, despite the fact that it consists of sixty-six books written by some forty different authors over a period of fifteen hundred years. The unity of Scripture is one of the clearest indications of its supernatural origin. Only the sovereign God of the universe could have superintended the writing of Scripture so that every line remains in total agreement. The Bible is unquestionably the book that God wrote!</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;">Fulfilled Prophecy Are Evidence for the Bible's Divine Origin<o:p></o:p></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* 2,000 prophecies including some 300 prophecies and implications about the life, death, and resurrection of <span style="color: black;">Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* There are no prophetic failures.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* While there are both obvious and subtle prophecies, most are very detailed and specific.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* No other religion has specific, repeated, and unfailing fulfillment of predictions many years in advance of contingent events over which the predictor had no control.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* Studies of psychics show only around 8% of their predictions come true and virtually all of these can be attributed to chance and a general knowledge of circumstances.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* Mathematicians have calculated the odds of Jesus fulfilling only 8 of the Messianic prophecies as 1 out of 10<sup>17</sup></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></sup></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">(a 1 followed by 17 zeros). This is equivalent to covering the entire state of Texas with silver dollars 2 feet deep, marking one of them, mixing them all up and having a blind-folded person select the marked one at random the first time. For more on this, see</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #028888;">What Are The Odds?</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* Fulfilled prophecy is powerful evidence that the Bible is divine rather than human in origin.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* Objection: Jesus manipulated events to fulfill prophecy. Answer: (a) Many prophecies were out of his control (ancestry, place of birth, time of death). (b) His miracles confirmed Jesus to be the Messiah. (c) There is no evidence that Jesus was a deceiver. (d) In order to manipulate all the people (including his enemies) and even his disciples to make it appear that he was the Messiah, Jesus would have needed supernatural powers. If he had such powers, he must have been the Messiah he claimed to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><h5>Just A Few Examples of Non-Messianic Prophecies Fulfilled</h5><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* </span><em><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The Succession of Great World Kingdoms</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">(<span style="color: #028888;">Daniel 2:37-42</span>). Even negative critics agree that Daniel foretold the governments in order of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* </span><em><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Cyrus King of Persia</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">(Isaiah</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #028888;">44:28-45:1</span>). Since Isaiah lived between about 740 and 690 BC and Cyrus did not make his proclamation for Israel to return from exile until about 536 (<span style="color: #028888;">Ezra 1</span>), there would have been no human way for him to know what Cyrus would be named or what Cyrus would do.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* </span><em><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Israel to Be Returned to Its Land A Second Time</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">. </span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2061:4&version=KJV" style="color: #de7008;">Isaiah 61:4</a><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> The first time God reclaimed a people was from the Babylonian Exile; the second time was in 1948 AD<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* </span><em><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The Closing of the Golden Gate</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">(<span style="color: #028888;">Ezekiel 44:2-3</span>). The Golden Gate is the eastern gate of Jerusalem, through which Christ made his triumphal entry on Palm Sunday before the crucifixion (<span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 21</span>). Ezekiel predicted its closing and in 1543 AD Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent closed the gate and walled it up, not knowing he was fulfilling prophecy. It remains sealed to this day exactly as the Bible predicted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* </span><em><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The Destruction of Tyre</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">(<span style="color: #028888;">Ezekiel 26:3-14</span>). The prophecy was partly fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city and left it in ruins. Alexander the Great later attacked the seemingly impregnable Island of Tyre by taking the stones, dust, and timber from the ruined mainland city to build a causeway to the Island. This prophecy is comparable to saying that Chicago will be destroyed and never rebuilt.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* </span><em><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The Doom of Edom (Petra)</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">(<span style="color: #028888;">Jeremiah 49:15-17</span>). Given the virtually impregnable nature of the ancient city carved out of rock and protected by a narrow passageway, this was an incredible prediction. Yet, in 636 AD it was conquered by Muslims and today stands deserted but for tourists.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* </span><em><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Flourishing of the Desert in Palestine</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">(<span style="color: #028888;">Ezekiel 36:33-35</span>). Since before the turn of the twentieth century, Israel has been renovated and Israel's agriculture is flourishing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">* </span><em><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Destruction of Jerusalem</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">(<span style="color: #028888;">Mark 13:1-2</span>). Fulfilled literally when the Romans completely destroyed Jerusalem and the temple buildings. According to historian and eyewitness Josephus, some of the stones were 37 feet long, 12 feet high and 18 feet wide. Stones were even pried apart to collect the gold leaf that melted from the roof when the temple was set on fire.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold;">Messianic Prophecies Fulfilled</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Let's look at these exciting Old Testament prophecies that are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Look up each Old Testament verse, and compare it to the New Testament fulfilment. Remember that the prophecies were written hundreds of years before their fulfillment.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold;"> </span></div><div align="center"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 647px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #028888; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 6pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 6pt;" valign="top"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: white;">Topic</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #028888; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 6pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 6pt;" valign="top"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: white;">Old Testament</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #028888; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 6pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 6pt;" valign="top"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: white;">New Testament</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be the seed of the Woman<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Genesis 3:15</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Luke 2:5-7</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Galatians 4:4</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be the seed of Abraham<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Genesis 12:2-3, 18:18</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 1:1-2</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Luke 3:34</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Acts 3:25</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Galatians 3:16</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be of the tribe of Judah<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Genesis 49:10</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 1:1-2</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be of the seed of David<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">2 Samuel 7:16</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Psalm 132:11</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Jeremiah 23:5, 33:15</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 1:6, 22:42-45</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Luke 1:31-33</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Acts 2:29-30</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Romans 1:3</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be born of a virgin<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Isaiah 7:14</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 1:18-25</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Luke 1:26-38</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be born in Bethlehem<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Micah 5:2</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 2:1-6</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Luke 2:4-6</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Tribute paid to Messiah by great kings<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Psalm 72:10-11</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 2:1-11</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be heralded by a messenger<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Isaiah 40:3</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Malachi 3:1</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 3:1-3</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be the Son of God<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Psalm 2:2,7</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 3:17</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Luke 1:32-33</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be anointed by the Holy Spirit<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Isaiah 11:2</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 3:16-17</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Galilee to be the first area of Messiah's ministry<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Isaiah 9:1-7</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 4:12-16</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be meek and mild<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Isaiah 40:11, 42:2-3, 53:7</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 12:18-20, 26:62-68</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to minister to the Gentiles<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Isaiah 42:1, 49:6-8</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 12:21</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Luke 2:28-32</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah will perform miracles<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Isaiah 35:5-6</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 9:35, 11:3-6</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">John 9:6-7</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be a prophet like Moses<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Deuteronomy 18:15-19</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 21:11, 24:1-35</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">John 1:45, 6:14</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Acts 3:20-23</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to enter the temple with authority<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Malachi 3:1-2</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 21:12</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah will enter Jerusalem on a donkey<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Zechariah 9:9-10</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 21:1-11</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be betrayed by a friend<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Psalm 41:9</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">John 13:18-21</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be forsaken by his disciples<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Zechariah 13:7</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 26:31, 56</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah will be smitten<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Isaiah 50:6</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 26:67, 27:26,30</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to experience crucifixion (long before crucifixion was invented)<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Psalm 22:15-17</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 27:34-50</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">John 19:28-30</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah will be pierced<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Zechariah 12:10</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">John 19:34-37</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Details of Messiah's suffering and death and resulting salvation (hundreds of years before Christ!)<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Psalm 69:21</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Isaiah 53:2-12</span>,<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 26-27</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Mark 15-16</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Luke 22-23</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">John 18-19</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to die in 33 AD<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Daniel 9:24-26</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">33 AD is the widely accepted historical date of the crucifixion<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Casting of lots for His garments<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Psalm 22:18</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">John 19:23-24</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be raised from the dead<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Psalm 16:10</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Acts 2:25-31, 13:32-37, 17:2-3</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah's resurrection<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Job 19:25</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Psalm 16:10</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Acts 2:30-31, 13:32-35, 17:2-3</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">1 Corinthians 15:20-22</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to ascend to heaven<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Psalm 68:18</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Luke 24:51</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Acts 1:9</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Ephesians 4:8-13</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah to be at the right hand of God<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Psalm 110:1</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 26:64</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Mark 14:62</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Romans 8:34</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Hebrews 1:3</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal">Messiah, the stone which the builders rejected, to become the head cornerstone<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Psalm 118:22-23</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Isaiah 8:14-15, 28:16</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-top: 12pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #028888;">Matthew 21:42-43</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Acts 4:11</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Romans 9:32-33</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">Ephesians 2:20</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #028888;">1 Peter 2:6-8</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">Can you imagine how people would receive a contemporary book that had this kind of success in predicting events even just one year in the future? People would flock to buy it, and the author would have a cult following. The verses you looked up are just a sampling of all the prophecies that have been fulfilled since the Bible was written. The Bible passes the test of reliability without a doubt!<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Archaeological and External Evidence for the Bible<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Archeology consistently confirms the Bible!</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">Archaeology and the Old Testament</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Ebla tablets—discovered in 1970s in Northern Syria. Documents written on clay tablets from around 2300 B.C. demonstrate that personal and place names in the Patriarchal accounts are genuine. In use in Ebla was the name "Canaan," a name critics once said was not used at that time and was used incorrectly in the early chapters of the Bible. The tablets refer to all five "cities of the plain" mentioned in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: #028888;">Genesis 14</span>, previously assumed to have been mere legends.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Greater proportion of Egyptian words in the Pentateuch (first five books) than in rest of the Old Testament. Accurate Egyptian names:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Potiphar</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(Gen.39),<em>Zaphenath-Paneah</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(Joseph's Egyptian name, Gen. 41:45),<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Asenath</em>(Gen.41:45),<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>On</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(Gen. 41:45),<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Rameses</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(Gen. 47:11),<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Oithom</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(<span style="color: #028888;">Exodus 1:11</span>).</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Finds in Egypt are consistent with the time, place, and other details of biblical accounts of the Israelites in Egypt. These include housing and tombs that could have been of the Israelites, as well as a villa and tomb that could have been Joseph's.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Confounding earlier skeptics, but confirming the Bible, an important discovery was made in Egypt in 1896. A tablet—the Merneptah Stela—was found that mentions Israel. (Merneptah was the pharaoh that ruled Egypt in 1212-1202 B.C.) The context of the stela indicates that Israel was a significant entity in the late 13th century B.C.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The Hittites were once thought to be a biblical legend, until their capital and records were discovered in Turkey.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Crucial find in Nuzi (northeastern Iraq), an entire cache of Hittite legal documents from 1400 B.C. Confirms many details of Genesis, Deuteronomy, such as: (a) siring of legitimate children through handmaidens, (b) oral deathbed will as binding, (c) the power to sell one's birthright for relatively trivial property (Jacob & Esau), (d) need for family idols, such as Rachel stole from Laban, to secure inheritance, (e) form of the covenant in Deuteronomy exactly matches the form of suzerainty treaties between Hittite emperors and vassal kings.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Walls of Jericho—discovery in 1930s by John Garstang. The walls fell suddenly, and outwardly (unique), so Israelites could clamber over the ruins into the city (<span style="color: #028888;">Joshua 6:20</span>).</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">In 1986, scholars identified an ancient seal belonging to Baruch, son of Neriah, a scribe who recorded the prophecies of Jeremiah (Jer. 45:11).</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">In 1990, Harvard researchers unearthed a silver-plated bronze calf figurine reminiscent of the huge golden calf mentioned in the book of Exodus.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">In 1993, archaeologists uncovered a 9th century B.C. inscription at Tel Dan. The words carved into a chunk of basalt refer to the "House of David" and the "King of Israel." And the Bible's version of Israelite history after the reign of David's son, Solomon, is believed to be based on historical fact because it is corroborated by independent account of Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">It was once claimed there was no Assyrian king named Sargon as recorded in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: #028888;">Isaiah 20:1</span>, because this name was not known in any other record. Then, Sargon's palace was discovered in Iraq. The very event mentioned in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: #028888;">Isaiah 20</span>, his capture of Ashdod, was recorded in the palace walls! Even more, fragments of a stela (a poetic eulogy) memorializing the victory were found at Ashdod itself.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Another king who was in doubt was Belshazzar, king of Babylon, named in<span style="color: #028888;">Daniel 5</span>. The last king of Babylon was Nabonidus according to recorded history. Tablet was found showing that Belshazzar was Nabonidus' son.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah have been discovered southeast of the Dead Sea. Evidence at the site seems consistent with the biblical account: "Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens." The destruction debris was about 3 feet thick and buildings were burned from fires that started on the rooftops. Geologist Frederick Clapp theorizes that that pressure from an earthquake could have spewed out sulfur-laden bitumen (similar to asphalt) known to be in the area through the fault line upon which the cities rest. The dense smoke reported by Abraham is consistent with a fire from such material, which could have ignited by a spark or ground fire.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></h2><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">Archaeology and the New Testament</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The New Testament mentions specific individuals, places, and various official titles of local authorities, confirmed by recent archeology. Luke sites exact titles of officials. (Titles varied from city to city so they are easily checked for accuracy.)<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Lysanias the Tetrarch</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>in Abilene (<span style="color: #028888;">Luke 3:1</span>)—verified by inscription dated 14-29 A.D.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Erastus</em>, city treasurer of Corinth (<span style="color: #028888;">Romans 16:23</span>)—verified by pavement inscription.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Gallio</em>—proconsul of Achaia (Greece) in A.D. 51 (<span style="color: #028888;">Acts 18:12</span>).<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Politarchs</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>("city ruler") in Thessalonica (<span style="color: #028888;">Acts 17:6</span>).<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Chief Man of the Island</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>on Malta (<span style="color: #028888;">Acts 28:7</span>).<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Stone Pavement</em>at Pilate's headquarters (<span style="color: #028888;">John 19:13</span>)—discovered recently.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Pool at Bethesda—</em><span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span>discovered in 1888. Many examples of silver shrines to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Artemis</em>found (<span style="color: #028888;">Acts 19:28</span>). Inscription confirms the title of the city as "Temple Warden of Artemis". Account of Paul's sea voyage in Acts is "one of the most instructive documents for the knowledge of ancient seamanship."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Census of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: #028888;">Luke 1</span>. Census began under Augustus approximately every 14 years: 23-22 B.C., 9-8 B.C., 6 A.D. There is evidence of enrollment in 11-8 B.C. in Egyptian papyri.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 60pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt;">o<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Problem: Historian Josephus puts Quirinius as governor in Syria at 6 A.D. Solution: Recent inscription confirms that Quirinius served as governor in 7 B. C. (in extraordinary, military capacity).</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 60pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt;">o<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Problem: Herod's kingdom was not part of the Roman Empire at the time, so there would not have been a census. Solution: it was a client kingdom. Augustus treated Herod as subject (Josephus). Parallel—a census took place in the client kingdom of Antiochus in eastern Asia Minor under Tiberius.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 60pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt;">o<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Enrollment in hometown? Confirmed by edict of Vibius Maximus, Roman prefect of Egypt, in 104 A.D. "...it is necessary for all who are for any cause whatsoever way from their administrative divisions to return home to comply with the customary ordinance of enrollment."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">pinion of Sir William Ramsay, one of the outstanding Near Eastern archeologists: "Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy; he is possessed of the true historic sense; he fixes his mind on the idea and plan that rules in the evolution of history, and proportions the scale of his treatment to the importance of each incident. He seizes the important and critical events and shows their true nature at greater length...In short, this author should be placed among the very greatest of historians."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Diggers recently uncovered an ossuary (repository for bones) with the inscription "Joseph Son of Caiaphas." This marked the first archaeological evidence that the high priest Caiaphas was a real person. According to the gospels, Caiaphas presided at the Sanhedrin's trial of Jesus.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Further Proof Archaeology confirms the Bible, from another source</span></strong><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">For centuries skeptics have claimed that the Bible is filled with historical errors. They have pointed to several biblical accounts, particularly in the Old Testament, where archaeology contradicted the Bible. So what has happened over the years? In many cases scientists have been proven to be inaccurate and the Bible has been shown to be trustworthy and reliable. Here are a few examples:</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
- Scientists stated that the Bible is historically inaccurate because they believed that King David was a fictional character. They said that the remains of Egyptian, Babylonian, and Assyrian cultures make no specific reference to him. But recently an Assyrian stone tablet dating from the ninth century B.C. has been found by a group of archaeologists in northern Israel. It shows an Aramaic inscription listing Assyria's enemies. Included in the list were the words "king of Israel" and "house of David."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;">- </span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;">The most documented biblical event is the worldwide flood described in Genesis 6-9. Discoveries indicate that a number of Babylonian documents describe the same flood. "The Sumerian King List . . . , for example, lists kings who reigned for long periods of time. Then a great flood came. Following the flood, Sumerian kings ruled for much shorter periods of time.</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 54pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 18pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">- <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">This is the same pattern found in the Bible. People had long life spans before the flood and shorter life spans after the flood. Also, the 11th tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic speaks of an ark, animals taken on the ark, birds sent out during the course of the flood, the ark landing on a mountain, and a sacrifice offered after the ark landed."</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 18pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">- <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"> "The discovery of the Ebla archive in northern Syria in the 1970s has shown the biblical writings about the Patriarchs to be viable. Documents written on clay tablets from around 2300 B.C. demonstrate that the personal names in the Patriarchal accounts are genuine."</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">- <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"> "The Hittites were once thought to be a biblical legend, until their capital and records were discovered at Bogazkoy Turkey."</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">- <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"> "It was once claimed there was no Assyrian king named Sargon as recorded in Isaiah 20:1, because this name was not known in any other record. Then, Sargon's palace was discovered in Khorsabad, Iraq. The very event mentioned in Isaiah 20, his capture of Ashdod, was recorded on the palace walls. What is more, fragments of a stela memorializing the victory were found at Ashdod itself."</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">- <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"> "Another king who was in doubt was Belshazzar, king of Babylon, named in Daniel 5. The last king of Babylon was Nabonidus according to recorded history. Tablets were found showing that Belshazzar was Nabonidus' son who served as coregent in Babylon. Thus, Belshazzar could offer to make Daniel 'third highest ruler in the kingdom' (Dan. 5:16) for reading the handwriting on the wall, the highest available position."</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> <o:p></o:p></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Proof from Science</span></strong><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">Here are a few of the scientific truths found in the Bible:<br />
- Many centuries before Galileo (1564-1642) claimed that the earth was round, the Bible declared, "It is God who sits above the circle of the earth. The people below must seem to Him like grasshoppers" (Isaiah 40:22).</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
- Matthew Maury (1806-1873) is considered the father of oceanography. When he was bedridden during a serious illness, he asked his son to read to him from the Bible. While listening to Psalm 8:8 in the King James Version, Maury noticed the expression "paths of the seas." Upon his recovery, Maury went looking for these paths, and as a result, discovered the continental currents. Maury's book on oceanography is still considered a basic text on the subject and continues to be used in many universities.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
- A Roman engineer named Marcus Vitruvius discovered the hydrologic water cycle in 30 B.C. Yet this truth was fully revealed to mankind in 1600 B.C. The Bible records, "The rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows again to the sea" (Ecclesiastes 1:7).</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
- The earth's gravitational field is mentioned in Scripture: "God stretches the northern sky over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing" (Job 26:7).</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
Because science supports the claims of the Bible, it is no wonder that many of the world's great scientists were Christians who looked to Scripture as the foundation for their knowledge of the universe. Examples include Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Robert Boyle, George Washington Carver, Michael Faraday, Samuel Morse, Isaac Newton, Gregor Mendel, Albert Einstein, Louis Pasteur, and the Wright brothers.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></h2><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> <o:p></o:p></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt;">Manuscript Evidence for the Bible</span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">Reliability of the New Testament as Historical Documents</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">"Astounding" number of ancient manuscripts extant: 5,000 Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin and 9,000 other--totaling over 24,000 manuscript copies or portions of the New Testament. These are dated from 100 to 300 years after the originals. (There are no original manuscripts ["autographs"] extant, but the number and similarity of copies allows scholars to reconstruct the originals.)</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 12pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Early fragments: John Ryland manuscript 130 A.D. in Egypt; Bodmer manuscript containing most of John's gospel 150-200 A.D.; Magdalen fragment from Mat. 26 believed by some to be within a few years of Jesus' death; Gospel fragments found among the Dead Sea Scrolls dated as early as 50 A.D.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Comparison with other ancient documents (available copies versus the originals):</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> Caesar—10 copies—1000 year gap</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> Tacitus—20 copies—1000 year gap </span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> Plato—7 copies—1200 year gap</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 30pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">F. F. Bruce: "There is no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good attestation as the New Testament."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 30pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">William F. Albright: "Thanks to the Qumran discoveries, the New Testament proves to be in fact what it was formerly believed to be: the teaching of Christ and his immediate followers circa.25 and circa. 80 AD."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></h2><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></h2><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"> Quotations from Early Church Fathers:</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Clement of Rome (a disciple of the apostles) cited Matthew, John, and 1 Corinthians in 95 to 97 A.D. Ignatius (who knew the apostles well) referred to six Pauline Epistles in about 110. Polycarp (disciple of apostle John) quoted from all four Gospels, Acts, and most of Paul's Epistles from 110 to 150. Taitian's harmony of the Four Gospels completed in 160 A.D. Irenaeus (who apparently heard the apostles) quoted from Matthew, John, Acts, and 1 Corinthians in 160 A.D.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 12pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Of the four Gospels alone, there are 19,368 citations by the church fathers from the late first century on. Even if we had no manuscripts, virtually the entire New Testament could be reconstructed from these quotations. This argues powerfully that the Gospels were in existence before the end of the first century, while some eyewitnesses (including John) were still alive.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></h2><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">Primary Source Value</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Testimony of the New Testament authors themselves:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="color: #028888; text-decoration: none;">Luke 1:1-3, 3:1</span></em>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="color: #028888; text-decoration: none;">John 21:24</span></em>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="color: #028888; text-decoration: none;">Acts 26:24-26</span></em>, <em><span style="color: #028888; text-decoration: none;">2 Peter 1:16</span></em>, <em><span style="color: #028888; text-decoration: none;">1 John 1:3</span></em>.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></h2><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">Reliability of the Old Testament</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">· </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Jewish scholars performed "unbelievable" care in copying and preserving Scripture.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-left: 30pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">· T</span>he Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947 are dated from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D. These manuscripts predate by 1000 years the previous oldest manuscripts. They represent every Old Testament book except Esther (as well as non-biblical writings). There is word for word identity in more than 95% of the cases, and the 5% variation consists mostly of slips of the pen and spelling.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Indestructibility of the Bible</span></strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
If you scan the books on your bookshelf, how many of them were written more than twenty-five years ago? How many were written a century ago? How many were written a millennium ago? Truthfully, most books written today have a marketability of only a few short years.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
The Bible has a different track record. Perhaps the earliest book in the Bible is Job. Although Bible historians cannot be sure of the date of the writing of the book, they believe Job lived around the time of Abraham. Job's lifespan probably occurred around four thousand years ago.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">The Bible truly has lasted longer than any other book!<br />
What's amazing about this record is that the Bible has survived in spite of tremendous persecution through the years. Arthur W. Pink, a Bible historian, writes:<br />
When we bear in mind the fact that the Bible has been the special object of never ending persecution the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>wonder</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>of the Bible's survival is changed into a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>miracle</em>. . . . For two thousand years man's hatred of the Bible has been persistent, determined, relentless, and murderous.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">Every possible effort has been made to undermine faith in the inspiration and authority of the Bible, and innumerable enterprises have been undertaken to consign it to oblivion. Imperial edicts have been issued to the effect that every known copy of the Bible should be destroyed, and when this measure failed to exterminate and annihilate God's Word, then commands were given that every person found with a copy of the Scriptures in his possession should be put to death.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">The very fact that the Bible has been so singled out for such relentless persecution causes us to wonder at such a unique phenomenon.<br />
<br />
An interesting story about this persecution involves the Roman emperor Diocletian. In a royal edict proclaimed in A.D. 303, he demanded that every copy of the Bible be burned. Theologian Henry Thiessen describes the incredible results:<br />
He had killed so many Christians and destroyed so many Bibles, that when the Christians remained silent for a season and kept in hiding, he thought that he had actually put an end to the Scriptures. He caused a medal to be struck with the inscription: "The Christian religion is destroyed and the worship of the [Roman] gods restored." But it was only a few years later that Constantine came to the throne and that he made Christianity the state religion. What would Diocletian say if he could return to earth and see how the Bible has gone on in its world mission?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Bible Text</span></strong><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">Another aspect of the Bible's indestructibility is the fact that the Bible we read today is a translation from texts that have not changed in thousands of years. Before the printing press was invented, the text of the Bible was copied by hand. The scribes who did the copying received special training. Some dedicated their entire lives to this task. They were so careful about what they did that after four thousand years scholars can find only a handful of letter discrepancies between the earliest Hebrew manuscripts and today's Bibles. Through these scribes and other events, God has preserved His Word through the centuries.<br />
<br />
One of the most important factors supporting the accuracy of the Old Testament is the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date from 200 B.C. to A.D. 68. In 1947 a Bedouin shepherd boy was traveling the northwest rim of the Dead Sea when he discovered a jar in a cave containing scrolls that had been hidden for nearly two thousand years. The term<em>Dead Sea Scrolls</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>became the standard designation for the fragmentary manuscripts discovered in the limestone caves around the Dead Sea. To the astonishment of biblical archaeologists, all the books of the Bible except the book of Esther are represented in the collection. Comparison with Old Testament manuscripts of a thousand years later shows little or no variation between them.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
Contained in the manuscripts was a copy of the oldest known Hebrew manuscript of the book of Isaiah. Strikingly, the document is extremely similar to the book of Isaiah found in today's Bibles.<br />
Of the 166 words in Isaiah 53, there are only seventeen letters in question. Ten of these letters are simply a matter of spelling, which does not affect the sense. Four more letters are minor stylistic changes, such as conjunctions. The remaining three letters comprise the word, "light," which is added in verse 11, and does not affect the meaning greatly. Furthermore, this word is supported by the LXX and IQ Is (one of the Isaiah scrolls found in the Dead Sea caves). Thus, in one chapter of 166 words, there is only one word (three letters) in question after a thousand years of transmission - and this word does not significantly change the meaning of the passage.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
Dr. Burrows concludes, "It is a matter of wonder that through something like a thousand years the text underwent so little alteration." The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls thoroughly discredits the charge that the original Old Testament has been lost because of numerous copies and translations. God certainly has protected His Word - for our benefit!</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Amazing Numerology Of The Bible</span></strong></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taken from details given by Bob Mitchell:</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a numerologiacl pattern throughout the bible that shows it is impossible to have been created by human minds.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also the Hebrew words in the text can have deeper meaning.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For instance Genesis 5 the geneology of Adam to Noah. When you look at the meaning of each name it reads out the gospel message.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am doing this from memory but basically Adam means "man" and so looking at the meaning of the names to Noah it reads:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Man / Appointed / Mortal sorrow /</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blessed God/ He who comes down/Is dedicated/ His death shall bring/ The despairing/ Rest and Comfort. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also if you look at the genalogy of Jesus in Matthew....</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#1. The number of words which are nouns is exactly 56, or 7 x 8.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#2. The Greek word "the" occurs most frequently in the passage: exactly 56 times, or 7 x 8.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#3. Also, the number of different forms in which the article "the" occurs is exactly 7.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#4. There are two main sections in the passage. In the first main section, the number of Greek vocabulary words used is 49, or 7 x 7.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#5. Of these 49 words, The number of those beginning with a vowel is 28, or 7 x 4.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#6. The number of words beginning with a consonant is 21, or 7 x 3.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#7. The total number of letters in these 49 words is exactly 266, or 7 x 38-exactly.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#8. The numbers of vowels among these 266 letters is 140, or 7 x 20.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#9. The number of consonants is 126, or 7 x 18-exactly.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#10. Of these 49 words, the number of words which occur more than once is 35, or 7 x 5.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#11. The number of words occurring only once is 14, or 7 x2.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#12. The number of words which occur in only one form is exactly 42, or 7 x 6.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#13. The number of words appearing in more than one form is also 7.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#14. The number of 49 Greek vocabulary words which are nouns is 42, or 7 x 6.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#15. The number of words which are not nouns is 7.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#16. Of the nouns, 35 are proper names, or 7 x 5.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#17. These 35 nouns are used 63 times, or 7 x 9.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#18. The number of male names is 28, or 7 x 4.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#19. These male names occur 56 times or 7 x 8.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#20. The number which are not male names is 7.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#21. Three women are mentioned-Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. The number of Greek letters in these three names is 14, or 7 x 2.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#22. The number of compound nouns is 7.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#23. The number of Greek letters in these 7 nouns is 49, or 7 x 7.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#24. Only one city is named in this passage, Babylon, which in Greek contains exactly 7 letters.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></strong><br />
<strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Testimony from Church</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">History</span></strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
We can also go to sources outside the biblical text to prove its reliability. In addition to the Bible's own claims, the early church fathers also supported the inerrancy of Scripture. The early church fathers are significant because many people consider them to be the successors to the original apostles of Jesus.<br />
Clement of Rome (A.D. 30-96), the third bishop of Rome and close associate of the apostle Paul (see Philippians 4:3), believed that the Scriptures were given through the Holy Spirit. Saint Augustine (A.D. 354-430), considered to be one of the most outstanding theologians in all of church history, believed in the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. Saint Gregory the Great (A.D. 540-604), known for his great influence on shaping the doctrine, organization, and rules of discipline of the early church wrote: "Most superfluous it is to inquire who wrote these things. We loyally believe the Holy Ghost to be the Author of the Book. He wrote it Who dictated it for writing; He wrote it Who inspired its execution."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.25pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The testimony of Scripture and the testimony of biblical scholars throughout the centuries is clear: The Bible is indeed reliable. The Bible is true because God is truth and cannot lie (see John 7:28). As a result, His Word is truth (see John 17:17). Now let us see how science affirms the Bible's trustworthiness.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><strong style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Bible Is Our Guide</span></strong><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
</span></b><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">These are just some of the many facts contained in the Bible, facts now supported by some prominent scientists. But why should anyone be surprised that the book that</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><em><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">is</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">truth would</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><em><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">contain</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">truth on these and many other subjects? The Bible has been proven to be reliable. No one has proven otherwise. If the Bible is reliable, then its words are true.</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<span class="apple-style-span">When we let God's Word be the standard for our lives, we won't be swayed by the world's reasoning or our own feelings. We can always search for the right way to think and act.</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<span class="apple-style-span">That's why it is so vital to understand the central message of the Bible. We can believe that the Bible is reliable, but until we know what it says, its trustworthiness will do us no good. If we do not allow the Bible to center our viewpoint, we will wander off course in our lives.</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<span class="apple-style-span">One way we can allow the Bible to guide our lives is to hide the Word in our hearts. Whenever we get into a situation in which we are tempted to do wrong or we don't know quite what God would want us to do, the Holy Spirit can bring an appropriate memorized passage to our mind. Then we can let God's Word guide us in that situation. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Or if we are in a crisis and need encouragement, help with fear, or strength of purpose, those verses we have learned will aid us.</span></div><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The best way to remember scripture is by <b>studying</b> and meditating on the chapter, passage and verses thoroughly - not just reading it but allowing time to digest what it is saying. Ask yourself questions about the passage and search for the answers (some examples: who is speaking? who was it written to?, why is it being said?, how do I apply it to myself?), and then comparing scripture with scripture. Using a concordance (ie Bible word search, my link to "Bible Gateway" is a great source) will help you to compare scripture with scripture.</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"></span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">For more on this, please click on the following shortcut link for an article written on how to study the Bible and why it is necessary</span></span></span></div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="color: #9e5205; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font: normal normal bold 160%/normal Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #9e5205; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://watchmanforjesus.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-study-bible-and-why-learn-how-to.html" style="color: #9e5205;">How To Study The Bible and Why. Learn How To Avoid Deception</a></span></span></span></h3><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">It is a certainty that when God speaks to you (personally and directly) through the Bible, you WILL remember those verses and what He said! This is what it means to hide God's Word in your heart. </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">I encourage you to begin today and watch how God will start moving in your life</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">.</span></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-58308182686690962972011-09-08T11:49:00.000+01:002011-09-08T11:49:50.546+01:00BBC Hardtalk Video. Strong Creationist Argument Against Evolution By John Mackay<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;">John Mackay (a creationist) was interviewed on the BBC News TV programme called HardTalk. This is a very watchable and enjoyable rebuttal against the biassed unscientific teachings of evolutionists. Evolutionists are unscientific because of their straitjacketed refusal to consider or properly examine the overwhelming evidence of creation and a young Earth. From my perspective, it appears that John Mackay gives a convincing rebuttal. Please let me know what you think. To watch the video please click on the following shortcut link:</span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/5321286.stm" style="color: #de7008;">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/5321286.stm</a></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;">Then within that website page click on the part that says: "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif';"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/progs/06/hardtalk/mackay06sep.ram" style="color: #1f527b; text-decoration: none;">Click here to watch</a> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif';"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/progs/06/hardtalk/mackay06sep.ram" style="color: #1f527b; text-decoration: none;">the full interview</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">". </span>Actually you may get the download if you click on that second link. If not, go there via the first link.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif'; font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif';">That video will then download to your computer (don't worry it is safe - at least was ok on my computer which has antivirus). Then go to your downloads and click on that video.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif';"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif';">Here is another excellent video from John Mackay</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"> <a name='more'></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif';">being interviewed by Richard Dawkins. It is part 1 of 2. The second part has been removed by Channel 4 (I wonder why?, could it be because Richard Dawkins argument has been exposed as very weak?). I managed to find the whole interview on just one video, but it is shown on an atheists blog, so I do not want to give the url here, thereby giving his blog exposure, but i have watched it and can say that it powerfully exposes false evolutionary theory. Anyway, here is the link to part 1, which (temporarily is still accessible:</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif';"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif';"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf1TpNSodDU" style="color: #de7008;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf1TpNSodDU</a></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif';"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif';">I would like to add something I have noticed. Answers In Genesis and John Mackay's creation organisation have received a lot of bad press. I believe this is because of their very strong arguments against the status quo of evolutionary thinking. As with all opponents, their tactic is always the same. If they can rubbish the person's character or ill behaviour, they feel they have destroyed the argument. To me that is complete nonsense. What if creationists used the same tactic and delved into the lives of evolutionists and exposed them as frauds and nasty characters with hidden agendas (which they do not do, as far as I am aware, because it is childish) would that (in itself) debunk evoultion? Of course not. However, this tends to be the approach used by opponents of our faith.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif';"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif';">The fact is that no human being is perfect "to err is human". Christians, also are not perfect. We are all sinners saved by grace, being gradually changed by the transforming work of the Holy Spirit (a lifetime work). Just because some may have erred in some way, does not nullify what they teach, if it is true and sound. Therefore, we should always ONLY debunk the argument (if it has flaws) and not debunk the presenter of the argument.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif';"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'MS sans serif';">If Creationists give solid evidence, then do not mock them but instead examine it for yourself</span></div></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-88764651772077645892011-09-08T11:47:00.003+01:002011-09-09T06:42:28.368+01:00Black Parents White Baby. Black/White Twins. Two Stories Which Give Further Evidences Bible Can Be Trusted<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<h3 id="one" style="color: #70993a; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 1.15em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.2em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 18px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsxaOJ1nX7M6lWcNXLM4qZu0zk5MMygH5AMY4GPbHZq9kP6uc1PW9JWmBWp9KcCDbDVU9KhP0RDX5uLnRagKTMp9qrqAUfNOgi941VjqaeKYfa90MkAC-ydx-hkLtQAig3x2CFxkq-6dE/s320/Beautiful+baby.jpg" /></h3><h3 id="one" style="color: #70993a; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 1.15em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0.2em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 18px;">1. BBC News: “<a class="linkExternal" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10697682" style="background-image: url(http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/layout/am/icon_external.gif); background-position: 100% 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #0083d7; display: inline-block; padding-right: 14px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Baby Tale Not Black and White</a>”</h3><div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Out of Britain comes more news that upsets the idea of “race.”</b></div><div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;"><a class="lay ajaxTip" href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/01/03/news-to-note-01032009#two" id="32151" style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Last January</a> "Answers In Genesis" covered news of British babies Leah and Miya Durrant: biological twins despite the fact that one had light brown skin, blue eyes, and red hair (like her mother) while the other had dark brown hair and skin (like her father). Along with two older siblings that also looked to be from different “races,” the family was a stark visual rebuttal to the idea that “race” is a meaningful term.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;"><div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.7em;">Although the story isn’t quite the same, another British couple has once again overturned casual assumptions about skin, hair, and eye color inheritance and shown race to be a specious concept. <i style="font-style: italic;">The Sun</i> <a class="linkExternal" href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3060907/Black-parents-give-birth-to-white-baby.html" style="background-image: url(http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/layout/am/icon_external.gif); background-position: 100% 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #0083d7; display: inline-block; padding-right: 14px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">reports</a> on Angela Ihegboro and her husband Ben, who, along with their son Chisom and daughter Dumebi, all have dark brown skin, hair, and eyes—reflecting their Nigerian heritage. But newly born daughter Nmachi has pale, sand-colored skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes—“white,” but not albino (as was confirmed by doctors). </div><a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-large; line-height: normal;">Angela explained that she was “speechless” when first seeing the baby, which was delivered via caesarean section. But she added, “She’s beautiful and I love her. Her colour doesn’t matter. She’s a miracle baby. But still, what on earth happened here?”</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;">Geneticists are puzzled with Nmachi’s appearance, because neither Ben nor Angela are aware of any ancestors with light hair or skin—although Ben’s (Nigerian) mother has blue eyes. Oxford University geneticist Bryan Sykes, who called the birth “extraordinary,” suggested an unknown mutation may be at work: “The rules of genetics are complex and we still don’t understand what happens in many cases.” Fox News <a class="linkExternal" href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,597164,00.html" style="background-image: url(http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/layout/am/icon_external.gif); background-position: 100% 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #0083d7; display: inline-block; padding-right: 14px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">reports</a> that the Ihegboros will work with geneticists who hope to determine the genetics behind Nmachi’s unexpected coloration.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;">As with the Durrant story and many others, the Ihegboros’ new daughter reminds us of the fluidity and inaccuracy of the idea that there are multiple human races, each with sharp boundaries such as hair or eye color. Even the idea that a “black” couple had a “white” baby falsely portrays human skin color, which in actuality is merely different shades of brown (determined by more or less melanin in the skin). We all belong to a single human race (<cite class="bibleref" style="font-style: normal;"><a class="lbsBibleRef" href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Acts%2017.26" style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Acts 17:26</a></cite>), with many types of superficial differences having arisen or become more pronounced since the dispersion at Babel.</div><div class="moreInfo" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><h3 style="color: #70993a; font-size: 1.15em; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0.2em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 18px;">For more information:</h3><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.7em; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 17px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="lay ajaxTip" href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n2/twins-black-and-white" id="19057" style="color: #8281cf; text-decoration: none;">It’s Not Just Black & White</a> (contents below)</li>
<li style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.7em; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 17px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="lay ajaxTip" href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/are-there-different-races" id="15627" style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Are There Really Different Races?</a></li>
</ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">The following took place before the news story above broke out:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">Ken Ham:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"></span></span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">I was taking questions on a live Christian radio talk show and had just answered one about the origin of the supposed human races. I listened as the host patched in the next caller, who blurted out: “I’ll believe we are all one race when you can show me two black people having a white baby (the above story answers that) and two white people having a black baby.”</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">I replied, “I can show you pictures of what are called ‘black and white twins’—one twin is very dark and the other very light.” (You can’t show pictures on radio, unfortunately, so all I could do was to describe the picture to the caller.)</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">“There is no way those two babies had the same father,” the caller responded. “That is impossible. White people and black people do not belong to the same race.”</span></span></span></div><div class="sidenote left" style="background-color: #dceefa; background-position: 100% 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-right-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: -40px; margin-right: 24px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 10px; width: 350px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><img alt="The Singerl twins" src="http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/images/articles/am/v3/n2/twins.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="350" /></span></span></span><br />
<div align="left" class="caption" style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">The Singerl twins (above) are just one example where one twin is very dark and the other is very light. This is a vivid reminder that we are all one race.</span></span></span></div></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">Such prejudice, as betrayed by this caller, still exists in certain Christian circles in America and around the world, to my amazement (and disgust).</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">But it is not just the Christian world where people find “black” and “white” twins incredible—it is also shocking to the secular world. They are surprised because they ignore the Bible’s account that we all came from one race (begun by the first man and woman, Adam and Eve) and dispersed as a result of the Tower of Babel, which led to the formation of people groups (Asians, Caucasians, etc.). They assume, instead, that human groups are deeply divided by significant variations over tens or hundreds of thousands of years and that different people groups originated from different “ancestral apes.”</span></span></span></div><h2 style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #818e1c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 24px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">Are There Really “Black and White Twins”?</span></span></span></h2><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">Over the last several decades, many examples of fraternal twins, where one is very dark (called “black”) and one very light (called “white”), have been documented. Fraternal twins usually occur when two different eggs are fertilized by two different sperm cells and implanted in the mother’s womb at the same time.</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">Documented examples of fraternal twins being “black” and “white” include:</span></span></span></div><ol style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">The Hodgson-Horder twin girls (Born April 2005 in England)<sup style="vertical-align: text-top;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n2/twins-black-and-white#fnList_1_1" name="fnMark_1_1_1" style="color: #5086d4; text-decoration: none;">1</a></sup></span></span></span></li>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">
<li style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Biggs twin girls (Born July 2006 in Australia)<sup style="vertical-align: text-top;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n2/twins-black-and-white#fnList_1_2" name="fnMark_1_2_1" style="color: #5086d4; text-decoration: none;">2</a></sup></li>
<li style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Richardson twin boys (Born July 2006 in England)<sup style="vertical-align: text-top;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n2/twins-black-and-white#fnList_1_3" name="fnMark_1_3_1" style="color: #5086d4; text-decoration: none;">3</a></sup></li>
<li style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Grant twin girls (Born 1983 in England)<sup style="vertical-align: text-top;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n2/twins-black-and-white#fnList_1_4" name="fnMark_1_4_1" style="color: #5086d4; text-decoration: none;">4</a></sup></li>
<li style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: decimal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Singerl twin girls (Born May 2006 in Australia)<sup style="vertical-align: text-top;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n2/twins-black-and-white#fnList_1_5" name="fnMark_1_5_1" style="color: #5086d4; text-decoration: none;">5</a></sup></li>
</span></span></span></ol><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">In reading over the various news reports on the above sets of twins, I noticed that one reporter called such occurrences “freak,” and others quoted scientists saying that the chance of “black” and “white” twins was a million to one.</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">Some of the parents of these sets of twins have shared that people stopped and stared when they saw the “black” and “white” children. Some pointed, and others commented that they couldn’t be from the same parents. Some even made racially prejudiced statements about one of the dark-skinned twins. Some believed the parents were lying about their being twins with the same father.</span></span></span></div><blockquote class="pull right" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-color: rgb(64, 180, 242); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: initial; border-top-color: rgb(64, 180, 242); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; clear: right; color: #40b4f2; display: inline; float: right; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 24px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 3px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: right; width: 156px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">According to the Bible’s history, only one biological race exists. The Human Genome Project came to the same conclusion.</span></span></span></blockquote><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">But in reality, such sets of twins are quite easy to explain and should not invoke such responses. So how can such “black” and “white” twins—though quite rare—be explained?</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">According to the Bible’s history, all humans are descendants of Adam and Eve—thus only one biological race exists. All humans in the world today are classified as <i>Homo sapiens sapiens</i> (same genus, species, and subspecies). When the Human Genome Project published a draft of their findings in 2000, the <i>New York Times</i>reported that “the researchers had unanimously declared there is only one race—the human race.”</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">To form different people groups with distinguishing characteristics, one would need to split up the human population and isolate groups from each other. The Tower of Babel, as recorded in<cite class="bibleref" style="font-style: normal;" title="Genesis 11"><a class="lbsBibleRef" href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Genesis%2011" style="color: #5086d4; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Genesis 11</a></cite>, provides the historical basis for the formation of such people groups. There is so much information in the human genome that zillions of combinations are possible.</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">Yet all humans basically have the same skin color—a brown pigment called <i>melanin</i>. Although there are a couple of forms of melanin and other pigments and factors playing minor roles in skin color, every human basically has a brown color.</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">Lots of brown is called <i>black</i>, and a little brown color is called <i>white</i>. In actuality, no human really is “black” and no human is “white.” There are not different colors but different shades of one basic color, brown.</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">While many factors are involved in determining skin color and the steps are very technical, basic genetics can help us understand the most important principles.</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">Assume dominant genes result in lots of melanin and recessive genes result in little melanin. Adam and Eve were most likely a middle brown color with both dominant and recessive genes for the pigment melanin in the skin. Children who received all the dominant genes would end up with a lot of the color and be very dark. Children who received all the recessive genes would end up with only a little color and be very light. Children with a mixture of the genes (both dominant and recessive) would be middle brown.</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">Of course, many combinations are possible. But provided that the parents have between them mixtures of the dominant and recessive genes, children could exhibit a large range of skin shade. With fraternal twins, one twin could inherit genes for lots of melanin while the other could inherit genes for little melanin.</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">So, it’s not just “black” and “white.” Bottom line: a person’s skin shade (what is on the outside) should in no way invoke any sort of prejudice or racist comments. What a difference we would see in our world if people reacted in accord with biblical principles, understanding all humans are equal before God, and all are sinners in need of salvation. All of us need to build our thinking on the absolute authority of the Word of God, judging all beliefs and attitudes against the clear teaching of what our Creator God teaches us.</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">God reminded Samuel of this when He said, “<span class="scripture">For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart</span>” (<cite class="bibleref" style="font-style: normal;"><a class="lbsBibleRef" href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/1%20Samuel%2016.7" style="color: #5086d4; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">1 Samuel 16:7</a></cite>).</span></span></span></div></div></div></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-86042565208205906302011-09-08T11:44:00.002+01:002011-09-08T11:44:58.573+01:00How Did Animals Spread All Over the World from Where the Ark Landed?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 7.5pt;"><span class="cap"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">A</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">n issue often used in an attempt to beat biblical creationists over the head is the worldwide distribution of animals. Such a distribution, say critics, proves that there could never have been a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/flood.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">global Flood</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>or an<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/noah.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Ark</span></a>.</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">If the Ark landed somewhere in the Middle East, then all the animals would have disembarked at that point, including animals that we do not find in the Middle East today, or in the fossil record in that area. How did kangaroos get to Australia, or kiwis to New Zealand? How did polar bears get to North America and penguins to Antarctica? Please read on for the answers</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"> <a name='more'></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px;"> Not a Science Textbook</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Skeptics often claim, “The Bible is not a science textbook.” This, of course, is true—because science textbooks change every year, whereas the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/bible.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Bible</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is the unchanging Word of God—the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/God.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">God</span></a>who cannot lie. Nevertheless, the Bible can be relied upon when it touches on every scientific issue, including ecology.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It is the Bible that gives us the big picture. Within this big picture, we can build scientific models that help us explain how past events may have come about. Such models should be held to lightly, but the Scripture to which they refer is inerrant. That is to say future research may cast doubt on an actual model, without casting doubt on Scripture.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">With this in mind, the question needs to be asked, “Is there a Bible-based model that we can use to help explain how animals might have migrated from where the Ark landed to where they live today?” The answer is yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><h3 style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></h3><h3 style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;">The Hard Facts<o:p></o:p></span></h3><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">A biblical model of animal migration obviously must start with the Bible. From Genesis we can glean the following pertinent facts:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">1) “</span><span class="scripture"><span style="color: #2a1d66; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">” (<cite><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Genesis%206.19%E2%80%9320" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Genesis 6:19–20</span></a></span></cite>).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The Bible is clear that representatives of all the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/kinds.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">kinds</span></a></i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>of air-breathing land animals and birds were present on the Ark.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">A technical term used by some creation scientists for these<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>kinds</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>baramin </i>— derived from the Hebrew words for<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>created kind</i>. Within these baramins is all the information necessary to produce all current species. For example, it is unlikely that the Ark contained two lions and two tigers. It is more likely that it contained two feline animals, from which lions, tigers, and other cat-like creatures have developed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">2) Another lesson from<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Genesis%206.20" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Genesis 6:20</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is that the animals came to Noah. He did not have to go and catch them. Therefore, this preservation of the world’s fauna was divinely controlled. It was God’s intention that the fauna be preserved. The animals’ recolonization of the land masses was therefore determined by God, and not left to chance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">3) “</span><span class="scripture"><span style="color: #2a1d66; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">” (<cite><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Genesis%208.4" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Genesis 8:4</span></a></span></cite>). The Bible is clear that the Ark landed in the region of Ararat, but much debate has ensued over whether this is the same region as the locality of the present-day mountain known as Ararat. This issue is of importance, as we shall see. The Bible uses the plural “mountains.” It is unlikely that the Ark rested on a point on the top of a mountain, in the manner often illustrated in children’s picture books. Rather, the landing would have been among the mountainous areas of eastern Turkey, where present-day Mount Ararat is located, and western Iran, where the range extends.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">4) It was God’s will that the earth be recolonized. “</span><span class="scripture"><span style="color: #2a1d66; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Then God spoke to Noah, saying, ‘Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.’ So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">” (<cite><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Genesis%208.15%E2%80%9319" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Genesis 8:15–19</span></a></span></cite>). The abundance and multiplication of the animals was also God’s will.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The biblical principles that we can establish then are that, after the Flood, God desired the ecological reconstruction of the world, including its vulnerable animal kinds, and the animals must have spread out from a mountainous region known as Ararat.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The construction of any biblical model of recolonization must include these principles. The model suggested on the following pages is constructed in good faith, to explain the observed facts through the “eyeglasses” of the Bible. The Bible is inspired, but our scientific models are not. If we subsequently find the model to be untenable, this would not shake our commitment to the absolute authority of Scripture.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The model uses the multiplication of dogs as an example of how animals could have quickly repopulated the earth. Two dogs came off Noah’s Ark and began breeding more dogs. Within a relatively short time period, there would be an incredible number of dogs of all sorts of different shapes and sizes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">These dogs then began to spread out from the Ararat region to all parts of the globe.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;">As these dogs spread around the world, variations within the dog kind led to many of the varieties we find today. But it is important to note that they are still dogs. This multiplication of variations within a kind is the same with the many other kinds of animals.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;">One final comment must be made in this section. As I have used the word recolonization several times, I must emphasize that I am not referring to the so-called<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i>Recolonization Theory</i>. This theory will be discussed later.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;">Modern Recolonizations</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">One accusation thrown at biblical creationists is that kangaroos could not have hopped to Australia, because there are no fossils of kangaroos on the way. But the expectation of such<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/fossils.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">fossils</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span>is a presuppositional error. Such an expectation is predicated on the assumption that fossils form gradually and inevitably from animal populations. In fact, fossilization is by no means inevitable. It usually requires sudden, rapid burial. Otherwise the bones would decompose before permineralization.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">One ought likewise to ask why it is that, despite the fact that millions of bison used to roam the prairies of North America, hardly any bison fossils are found there. Similarly, lion fossils are not found in Israel even though we know that lions once lived there.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;">Comparisons can be made with more modern recolonizations. For example, the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>has the following to say about Surtsey Island and Krakatoa and the multiplication of species.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">Six months after the eruption of a volcano on the island of Surtsey off the coast of Iceland in 1963, the island had been colonized by a few bacteria, molds, insects, and birds. Within about a year of the eruption of a volcano on the island of Krakatoa in the tropical Pacific in 1883, a few grass species, insects, and vertebrates had taken hold. On both Surtsey and Krakatoa, only a few decades had elapsed before hundreds of species reached the islands. Not all species are able to take hold and become permanently established, but eventually the island communities stabilize into a dynamic equilibrium.<sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_1" style="color: #de7008;">1</a></span></sup></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">There is little secret, therefore, how nonflying animals may have travelled to the outer parts of the world after the Flood. Many of them could have floated on vast floating logs, left-overs from the massive pre-Flood forests that were ripped up during the Flood and likely remained afloat for many decades on the world’s oceans, transported by world currents. Others could later have been taken by people. Savolainen et al., have suggested, for example, that all Australian dingoes are descended from a single female domesticated dog from Southeast Asia.<sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_2" style="color: #de7008;">2</a></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_2" style="color: #de7008;"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">A third explanation of possible later migration is that animals could have crossed land bridges. This is, after all, how it is supposed by evolutionists that many animals and people migrated from Asia to the Americas—over a land bridge at the Bering Straits. For such land bridges to have existed, we may need to assume that sea levels were lower in the post-Flood period—an assumption based on a biblical model of the Ice Age.</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><br />
</span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;">Ice Age</span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">As Michael Oard, a retired meteorologist and Ice Age researcher, has suggested in chapter 16, an Ice Age may have followed closely after the Flood. In his detailed analysis, Oard proposed a mechanism of how the rare conditions required to form an Ice Age may have been triggered by the Flood, and shows how this explains the field evidence for an<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/iceage.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">Ice Age</span></a>.<sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_3" style="color: #de7008;">3</a></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_3" style="color: #de7008;"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">Severe climatic changes could have been the catalyst that encouraged certain species to migrate in certain directions. These severe changes could also have accounted for some of the many extinctions that occurred. Additionally,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/m_oard.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">Oard’s studies</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span>provide a model for how land bridges could have developed.</span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">Oard has pointed out that certain observed features from the Ice Age cause problems for the evolutionist, not the creationist. Thus, a creationist explanation of the Ice Age better explains the facts. An example of such an issue is that of disharmonious associations of fossils—fossils of creatures normally associated with different conditions (such as creatures with a preference for hot and cold climates) being found in close proximity.</span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">One of the more puzzling problems for uniformitarian theories of the ice age is disharmonious associations of fossils, in which species from different climatic regimes are juxtaposed. For example, a hippopotamus fossil found together with a reindeer fossil.<sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_4" style="color: #de7008;">4</a></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_4" style="color: #de7008;"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">Oard suggests that even with present topography, a number of significant land bridges would have existed to facilitate migrations if the sea level were only 180 ft (55 m) below current levels. However, there is even evidence that the land in some places where land bridges would be necessary could have been higher still. Thus, land bridges facilitated by the Ice Age constitute a serious model to explain how some migrations could have been possible.</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">Some still remain skeptical about the idea of land bridges all the way to Australia. Nevertheless, by a combination of methods that we see today, including land bridges, there are rational explanations as to how animals may have reached the far corners of the world. Of course, we were not there at the time to witness how this migration may have happened, but those adhering to a biblical worldview can be certain that animals obviously did get to far places, and that there are rational ways in which it could have happened.</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">We should therefore have no problem accepting the Bible as true. Creationist scientific models of animal migration are equally as valid as evolutionary models, if not more so. The reason such models are rejected is that they do not fit in with the orthodox, secular<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/religion.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">evolutionary worldview</span></a>.</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">It is not a problem for us to rationalize why certain animals do not appear in certain parts of the world. Why, for example, does Australia have such an unusual fauna, including so many marsupials? Marsupials are, of course, known elsewhere in the world. For example, opossums are found in North and South America, and fossilized marsupials have been found elsewhere. But in many places, climatic changes and other factors could lead to their extinction.</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">The lack of great marsupials in other continents need be no more of a problem than the lack of dinosaurs. As with many species today, they just died out—a reminder of a sin-cursed world. One proposed theory is that marsupials—because they bore their young in pouches—were able to travel farther and faster than mammals that had to stop to care for their young. They were able to establish themselves in far-flung Australia before competitors reached the continent.</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">Similar statements could be made about the many unusual bird species in New Zealand, on islands from which mammals were absent until the arrival of European settlers.</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><br />
</span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;">Recolonization Theory</span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">The most logical interpretation of the biblical record of the Flood and its aftermath would seem to suggest that the animals disembarked and then recolonized the planet. Comparisons with modern migrations and incidents such as Surtsey have suggested that this recolonization need not have taken long. A plain reading of Scripture suggests that the Ark landed in the mountains of Ararat, most likely in the region of modern Turkey and Central Asia. It is also our contention that the significant quantity of death represented by the fossil record is best understood by reference to the Genesis Flood (i.e., the majority of fossils formed as a result of the Flood).</span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">More recently, a theory has developed among certain creationists in the UK and Europe which suggests that the fossil record is actually a record not of catastrophe but of processes occurring during recolonization. This theory is called the Recolonization Theory.<sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_5" style="color: #de7008;">5</a></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_5" style="color: #de7008;"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">Proponents of this theory suggest that the Flood completely obliterated the earth’s previous crust so that none of the present fossils were caused by it. To accommodate fossilization processes, Recolonization Theory suggests that the age of the earth be stretched by a few thousand years. Some advocates of this view suggest an age of about 8,000 years for the earth, while others suggest figures as high as 20,000 years.</span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">A detailed criticism of Recolonization Theory has previously been published by McIntosh, Edmondson, and Taylor<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_6" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">6</span></a></sup>, and another by Holt<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_7" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">7</span></a></sup>.</span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">The principal error of this view is that it starts from supposed scientific anomalies, such as the fossil record, rather than from Scripture. This has led to the proposals among some Recolonizers, but not all, that there must be gaps in the genealogies recorded in Genesis 5 and 11, even though there is no need for such gaps. Indeed the suggestion of gaps in these genealogies causes further doctrinal problems.<sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_8" style="color: #de7008;">8</a></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_8" style="color: #de7008;"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Even the views of those Recolonizers who do not expand the genealogies contain possible seeds of compromise. Because the Recolonizers accept the geologic column, and because the Middle East has a great deal of what is called Cretaceous rock, it follows that the Middle East would need to be submerged after the Flood, at the very time of the Tower of Babel events in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Genesis%2011" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Genesis 11</span></a></span></cite>.</span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">This has led some of the Recolonizers to speculate that the Ark actually landed in Africa, and therefore, that continent was the host to the events of Genesis 11 and 12. This would seem to be a very weak position exegetically and historically. Such exegetical weaknesses led Professor Andy McIntosh and his colleagues to comment, “Their science is driving their interpretation of Scripture, and not the other way round.”<sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_9" style="color: #de7008;">9</a></span></sup></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><br />
</span></span></sup></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_9" style="color: #de7008;"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;">Conclusions</span></span></sup></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">We must not be downhearted by<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/critics.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">critics</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span>and their frequent accusations against the Bible. We must not be surprised that so many people will believe all sorts of strange things, whatever the logic.</span></span></span></sup></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;">Starting from our presupposition that the Bible’s account is true, we have seen that scientific models can be developed to explain the post-Flood migration of animals. These models correspond to observed data and are consistent with the Bible’s account.</span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">It is notable that opponents of biblical creationism use similar models in their evolutionary explanations of animal migrations. While a model may eventually be superseded, it is important to note that such biblically consistent models exist. In any event, we have confidence in the scriptural account, finding it to be accurate and authoritative.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnList_1_10" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">10</span></a></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span>The fact of animal migration around the world is illustrative of the goodness and graciousness of God, who provided above and beyond our needs.</span></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;">Footnotes</span></span></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></span></span></span></sup></span></span></sup></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">1.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Encyclopædia Britannica</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-70601" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">www.britannica.com/eb/article-70601</span></a>.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnMark_1_1_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">2.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">P. Savolainen et al., A detailed picture of the origin of the Australian dingo, obtained from the study of mitochondrial DNA,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>PNAS</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America)<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>101</b>:12387–12390, August 2004.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnMark_1_2_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">3.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Oard has published many articles in journals and on the AiG and ICR websites on these issues. For a detailed account of his findings, see his book: M. Oard,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/store/10-3-004" style="color: #de7008;"><i><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">An Ice Age Caused by the Genesis Flood</span></i></a>, Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, California, 2002.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnMark_1_3_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">4.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Ibid, p. 80.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnMark_1_4_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">5.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Spelled “Recolonisation” in the UK, which is where the theory began.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnMark_1_5_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">6.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">A.C. McIntosh, T. Edmondson, and S. Taylor,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v14/i1/flood_models.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Flood Models: The need for an integrated approach</span></a>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>TJ</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>14</b>(1):52–59, April 2000; A.C. McIntosh, T. Edmondson, and S. Taylor,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v14/i1/catastrophe.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Genesis and Catastrophe</span></a>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>TJ</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>14</b>(1):101–109, April 2000. Recolonizers’ disagreements with these article were answered in A.C. McIntosh, T. Edmondson, and S. Taylor, McIntosh, Taylor, and Edmondson reply to Flood Models,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>TJ</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>14</b>(3):80–82, 2000, available online at<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v14/i3/flood_reply.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v14/i3/flood_reply.asp</span></a>.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnMark_1_6_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">7.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">R. Holt,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v10/i1/cainozoic.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Evidence for a Late Cainozoic Flood/post-Flood Boundary</span></a>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>TJ</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>10</b>(1):128–168, April 1996.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnMark_1_7_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">8.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">For more on this, see<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v1/n2/who-begat-whom" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v1/n2/who-begat-whom</span></a>.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnMark_1_8_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 1.5pt; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">9.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v14/i3/flood_reply.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">A.C. McIntosh, T. Edmondson, and S. Taylor, McIntosh, Taylor, and Edmondson reply to Flood Models</span></a>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>TJ</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>14</b>(3):80–82, 2000.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnMark_1_9_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">John Woodmorappe has documented various detailed scientific models pertaining to the Ark, pre-Flood, and post-Flood issues in his book<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/store/10-3-078" style="color: #de7008;"><i><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study</span></i></a>, Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, California, 1996.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/#fnMark_1_10_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Back</span></a></span></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-84463753925756432522011-09-08T11:41:00.000+01:002011-09-08T11:41:55.887+01:00Strong Evidence For a Global Noahic Flood As Shown By Rapidly Formed Rock Layers Spread Across Vast Areas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>Rapidly Deposited Sediment Layers Spread Across Vast Areas</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">On every continent are found layers of sedimentary rocks over vast areas. Many of these sediment layers can be traced all the way across continents, and even between continents. Furthermore, when geologists look closely at these rocks, they find evidence that the sediments were deposited rapidly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Consider the sedimentary rock layers exposed in the walls of the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona (Figure 2). This sequence of layers is not unique to that region of the USA. For more than 50 years geologists have recognized that these strata belong to six megasequences (very thick, distinctive sequences of sedimentary rock layers) that can be traced right across North America.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n3/#fnList_1_1" style="color: #de7008;">1</a><o:p></o:p></sup></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The lowermost sedimentary layers in Grand Canyon are the Tapeats Sandstone, belonging to the Sauk Megasequence. It and its equivalents (those layers comprised of the same materials) cover much of the USA (Figure 3).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">We can hardly imagine what forces were necessary to deposit such a vast, continent- wide series of deposits. Yet at the base of this sequence are huge boulders (Figure 4) and sand beds deposited by storms (Figure 5). Both are evidence that massive forces deposited these sediment layers rapidly and violently right across the entire USA. Slow-and-gradual (present-day uniformitarian) processes cannot account for this evidence, but the global catastrophic Genesis Flood surely can.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"> <a name='more'></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f9cb9c;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Please note (for the following pictures). Due to difficulties I was unable to show these pictures (directly) for the individual figures quoted. Can only show an empty box. However, within each figure or box there is an invisible link you can click on and then the pictures will appear. Just simply click anywhere within the box.</span></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Another layer in Grand Canyon is the Lower Carboniferous (Mississippian) Redwall Limestone. This belongs to the Kaskaskia Megasequence of North America. So the same limestones appear in many places across North America, as far as Tennessee and Pennsylvania. These limestones also appear in the exact same position in the strata sequences, and they have the exact same fossils and other features in them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Unfortunately, these limestones have been given different names in other locations because the geologists saw only what they were working on locally and didn’t realize that other geologists were studying essentially the same limestone beds in other places. Even more remarkable, the same Carboniferous limestone beds also appear thousands of miles east in England, containing the same fossils and other features.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/images/articles/am/v3/n3/chalk-cliffs.jpg" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5086d4;"><img alt="Chalk beds of southern England" border="0" height="133" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image001.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px;" v:shapes="_x0000_i1027" width="200" /></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Figure 1. The chalk beds of southern England (above) can be traced across France, Germany, and Poland, all the way to the Middle East.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Chalk Beds:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The Cretaceous chalk beds of southern England are well known because they appear as spectacular white cliffs along the coast (Figure 1). These chalk beds can be traced westward across England and appear again in Northern Ireland. In the opposite direction, these same chalk beds can be traced across France, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, southern Scandinavia, and other parts of Europe to Turkey, then to Israel and Egypt in the Middle East, and even as far as Kazakhstan.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n3/#fnList_1_2" style="color: #de7008;">2</a><o:p></o:p></sup></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Remarkably, the same chalk beds with the same fossils and the same distinctive strata above and below them are also found in the Midwest USA, from Nebraska in the north to Texas in the south. They also appear in the Perth Basin of Western Australia.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/images/articles/am/v3/n3/figures-2-5.jpg" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5086d4;"><img alt="Grand Canyon sedimentary rock, boulders, sand beds, and evidence of being laid down rapidly" border="0" height="280" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image002.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px;" v:shapes="_x0000_i1025" width="500" /></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/images/articles/am/v3/n3/figures-2-5.jpg" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><i>Click to enlarge.</i></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;">figs 2-5</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Coal Beds:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Consider another feature—coal beds. In the northern hemisphere, the Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) coal beds of the eastern and Midwest USA are the same coal beds, with the same plant fossils, as those in Britain and Europe. They stretch halfway around the globe, from Texas to the Donetz Basin north of the Caspian Sea in the former USSR.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n3/#fnList_1_3" style="color: #de7008;">3</a></sup> In the southern hemisphere, the same Permian coal beds are found in Australia, Antarctica, India, South Africa, and even South America! These beds share the same kind of plant fossils across the region (but they are different from those in the Pennsylvanian coal beds).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Evidence of Rapid Deposition<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Sloped Beds of Sandstone<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/images/articles/am/v3/n3/crossbeds-coconino.jpg" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5086d4;"><img alt="Coconino Sandstone layer" border="0" height="133" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image003.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px;" v:shapes="_x0000_i1026" width="200" /></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Figure 6. The Coconino Sandstone layer in Grand Canyon contains sloped layers of sandstone called cross beds. These beds are remnants of the sand waves produced by water currents during the Flood.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The buff-colored Coconino Sandstone is very distinctive in the walls of Grand Canyon. It has an average thickness of 315 feet (96 m) and covers an area of at least 200,000 square miles (518,000 km2) eastward across adjoining states.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n3/#fnList_1_4" style="color: #de7008;">4</a></sup> So the volume of sand in the Coconino Sandstone layer is at least 10,000 cubic miles (41,682 km3).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">This layer also contains physical features called cross beds. While the overall layer of sandstone is horizontal, these cross beds are clearly visible as sloped beds (Figure 6). These beds are remnants of the sand waves produced by the water currents that deposited the sand (like sand dunes, but underwater) (Figure 7).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">So it can be demonstrated that water, flowing at 3–5 miles per hour (4.8–8 km/h), deposited the Coconino Sandstone as massive sheets of sand, with sand waves up to 60 feet (18 m) high.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n3/#fnList_1_5" style="color: #de7008;">5</a></sup> At this rate, the whole Coconino Sandstone layer (all 10,000 cubic miles of sand) would have been deposited in just a few days!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/images/articles/am/v3/n3/figure-7a-1.jpg" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5086d4;"><img alt="Water depositing sand" border="0" height="84" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image004.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px;" v:shapes="_x0000_i1028" width="300" /></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Strong, fast-flowing water currents move sands across the ocean floor as sand waves or dunes (Figure 7a). As the sand grains are swept over the dune crests, they fall on the advancing dune faces to produce sloping sand beds, and on top of the trailing edges of the dunes in front. The dunes thus advance over one another, resulting in stacked sand layers (Figure 7b) with internal sloping beds (cross beds).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/images/articles/am/v3/n3/fig7b.gif" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5086d4;"><img alt="Water flow" border="0" height="107" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image005.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px;" v:shapes="_x0000_i1029" width="298" /></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Ayers Rock (or Uluru) in central Australia consists of coarse-grained sandstone beds that are almost vertical, tilted at about 80º (Figure 8). The total thickness of these sandstone beds, outcropping in Ayers Rock and found under the surrounding desert sands, is 18,000–20,000 feet (5,500–6,100 m).<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n3/#fnList_1_6" style="color: #de7008;">6</a></sup>The minerals in the sand grains are distinctive, and the closest source of them is at least 63 miles (101 km) away.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Under the microscope the sand grains appear jagged and are of different sizes (Figure 9). One of the minerals is called feldspar, and it appears to be still unusually fresh in the sandstone. These features imply rapid transport and deposition of all this sand, before the feldspar grains could disintegrate or the sand grains could be worn down into round pebbles or sorted by size.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n3/#fnList_1_7" style="color: #de7008;">7</a></sup><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Distinctive & Jagged Minerals within Sandstone<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/images/articles/am/v3/n3/vertical-sandstone-uluru.jpg" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5086d4;"><img alt="Ayers Rock (Uluru) in central Australia" border="0" height="133" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image006.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px;" v:shapes="_x0000_i1030" width="200" /></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Ayers Rock in central Australia (Figure 8 above) consists of coarse-grained sandstone beds that are almost vertical, tilted at about 80°.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The distinctive minerals in the sand grains appear jagged and are different sizes (Figure 9 below) when viewed under the microscope. These features imply rapid transportation and deposition of all this sand before it had time to be worn smooth.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/images/articles/am/v3/n3/uluru-sandstone.jpg" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5086d4;"><img alt="Uluru sandstone under microscope" border="0" height="133" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image007.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px;" v:shapes="_x0000_i1031" width="200" /></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">So soup-like slurries of sediment, known as turbidity currents, which travel at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour (113 km/h), must have transported all this sand, 18,000–20,000 feet thick, a distance of at least 63 miles and deposited it as the Uluru Sandstone beds in a matter of hours! This defies evolution ideology but fits with the Creation/Flood history of Genesis.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">God’s Judgment “Clearly Seen”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Sediment layers that spread across vast continents are evidence that water covered the continents in the past. Even more dramatic are the fossil-bearing sediment layers that were deposited rapidly right across many or most of the continents at the same time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">To catastrophically deposit such extensive sediment layers implies global flooding of the continents. This brief article describes just a few of the many examples of rapidly deposited sediment layers spread across vast areas.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n3/#fnList_1_8" style="color: #de7008;">8</a></sup><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">As Noah’s Flood catastrophically swept over all the continents to form a global ocean (described in <a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis7%E2%80%938&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 7–8</a>), we would expect the waters to deposit fossil-bearing sediment layers rapidly across vast areas around the globe. And that is exactly what we find—further evidence that the global cataclysmic Genesis Flood was an actual event in history, just as God has told us in His eyewitness account of earth’s history</span></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-92207422811884026312011-09-08T11:39:00.002+01:002011-09-08T11:39:57.285+01:00Evidence For The Creation Model and For Speedy Evolution Process<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">Is there evidence for the creation model?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">When God first created animals, he created them according to their kinds, with the ability to reproduce, and with instructions to increase in number and fill the earth (and seas; <a href="http://publish.pizzazzemail.com/t?r=1487&c=670252&l=32145&ctl=1402DFC:4278008C0266AC655C091A06AD990CB02E6A3F492853F022&" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 1:20–22, 24–28</a>). After the Flood, land animals and birds that had been preserved on the Ark again reproduced to fill the earth (<a href="http://publish.pizzazzemail.com/t?r=1487&c=670252&l=32145&ctl=1402DFD:4278008C0266AC655C091A06AD990CB02E6A3F492853F022&" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 8:15–19</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Historically, evolutionists have told us that changes in living things occur at a slow, deliberate pace. Yet the creation model clearly requires that significant changes be able to occur quite rapidly, if necessary, as animals multiply and fill the earth. Today we see animals that have adapted to a variety of different environments and niches. Is there any scientific evidence that animals can adapt so quickly? Indeed there is!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"> <a name='more'></a></span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Baraminologists (creation scientists who work to identify created kinds) have determined that many animals represented by a single breeding pair on the Ark have diversified so that today they are typically represented by a whole family.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">For example, the family Canidae is believed to be made up of animals from one baramin, a single created kind. This family includes dogs, wolves, coyotes, foxes, and jackals. It consists of 34 species from 14 genera that are widely distributed on every continent except Antarctica, confirming that they have indeed increased in number and multiplied on the earth (cf. <a href="http://publish.pizzazzemail.com/t?r=1487&c=670252&l=32145&ctl=1402DFE:4278008C0266AC655C091A06AD990CB02E6A3F492853F022&" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 8:17</a>). The Bible mentions dogs, foxes, wolves, and possibly jackals. Both dogs and wolves are first mentioned less than a millennium after the Flood, indicating that diversification occurred very rapidly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Historically, evolutionists have told us that changes in living things occur at a slow, deliberate pace. Yet the creation model clearly requires that significant changes be able to occur quite rapidly, if necessary, as animals multiply and fill the earth. Today we see animals that have adapted to a variety of different environments and niches. Is there any scientific evidence that animals can adapt so quickly? Indeed there is! One example in lizards appeared in the <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</i> earlier this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What They Found!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Off the coast of Croatia, in the Adriatic Sea, there are a number of islands. Near the island of Lastovo are several smaller islets. One islet, Pod Kopište, has long been home to a particular species of lizard,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Podarcis sicula</i>. In 1971, researchers moved five adult pairs of this species to a second islet, Pod Mrčaru. After some 36 years, researchers conducted a detailed study that indicated this introduced species had not only thrived, but had also undergone significant adaptive changes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">A Change in Diet and Head Shape<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The lizards on the second islet, Pod Mrčaru, had longer, wider, and taller heads. In addition to the increase in size, there were also distinct changes in head shape. An increase in bite force was associated with these changes, which appear necessary to allow the lizard to adapt to a diet that is significantly higher in plant matter. While the parent population on the first islet has a low level of plant consumption (7% of diet in spring; 4% summer), the lizards on Pod Mrčaru have a much higher level (34% and 61%). Roughly half of the plant matter consumed on Pod Mrčaru is of high cellulose content, such as leaves and stems.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">A Change in the Digestive Tract<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Animals don’t have the ability to digest cellulose by themselves. Herbivores rely on microorganisms in their digestive tract to digest cellulose and provide them with usable nutrients. In some animals the microorganisms ferment the food in the foregut (i.e., the beginning portion of the stomach, as in ruminants, kangaroos, wallabies, and leaf-eating monkeys), while many others are hindgut fermenters.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The lizards on Pod Mrčaru have a cecal valve which slows down food passage allowing the microorganisms time to ferment it in the hindgut. This structure is<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>not</em>present in the parent population from Pod Kopište or in a closely related species,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>P. melisellensis</i>, which had previously inhabited Pod Mrčaru but has since become extinct there. The cecal valve is present in other herbivorous lizards in this family (Lacertidae).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> This suggests that certain structures important to the survival of an animal in one environment may not be retained in the population if they move to a different environment and the structure is no longer useful. However, the structure may reappear if conditions change and it then becomes important to survival.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Nematodes were also found in the hindgut of the lizards on Pod Mrčaru, but not in the parent population from Pod Kopište. Nematodes are a fairly common find in herbivorous lizards.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnList_1_11" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">11</span></a></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>While normally they are recognized as parasites, there has been at least one case, in bullfrog tadpoles, where a mutualistic relationship with a nematode was identified.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnList_1_12" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">12</span></a></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>In this case, the presence of the nematode was associated with greater fermentation yields and accelerated development of the tadpoles. It remains to be seen if the nematodes in the lizards have a net positive, negative, or neutral effect.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">A Change in Population Density and Behavior<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The population density on Pod Mrčaru appears to be much greater, likely due to the larger, more predictable food base. The social structure also seems to have changed as the lizards no longer appear to defend territories. The changes in mode of food acquisition (i.e., browsing rather than pursuing prey) and social structure may have contributed to the shorter hind limbs and lower maximal sprint speed previously observed in these lizards compared to the parent population.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnList_1_13" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">13</span></a></sup><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Pondering the Source of the Changes<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Since the large heads and cecal valves were present in hatchlings and juveniles, the authors suspect genetic changes may underlie these differences.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnList_1_14" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">14</span></a></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>However, only mitochondrial DNA was sequenced, which was identical in both populations of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>P. sicula</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">One wonders what the source of such a genetic change might be; 36 years is hardly enough time to suspect that a beneficial random<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/mutations.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">mutation</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>might have occurred.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/selection.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Natural selection</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>can only be invoked<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>after</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>a genetic change has occurred; it doesn’t explain the appearance of a genetic change, but can explain why it becomes more or less common in the population.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The authors suggest that further studies should address other possible factors (i.e., phenotypic plasticity and maternal effects), which may account for this divergence between the two populations. Regardless of the final findings, this study clearly shows that animals can adapt rapidly, just as creationists would expect, given that God provides for His creation and intends the earth to be inhabited (<cite><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Psalm%20147.8" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Psalm 147:8</span></a>,</span></cite><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Psalm%20147.9" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7;">9</span></a>;<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Matthew%206.25%E2%80%9334" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Matthew 6:25–34</span></a>;</span></cite><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Isaiah%2045.18" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Isaiah 45:18</span></a></span></cite>).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Has Evolution Occurred?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">One of the most confusing aspects of the creation/evolution controversy is that there are several distinct definitions for the word<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>evolution</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>that evolutionists constantly blur together.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnList_1_15" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">15</span></a></sup>One definition involves change (presumably with a genetic basis) in a population over time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Given this definition, evolution has certainly taken place. Ironically, it is the creationist model that requires such changes to be able to occur relatively rapidly. There are a number of examples in the available literature that demonstrate rapid adaptive evolution when animals are introduced into a new environment or the environment changes.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnList_1_16" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">16</span></a></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>In fact, evolutionists have had to modify their model to accommodate these observations.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnList_1_9" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">9</span></a></sup><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">However, when most people think of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>evolution</i>, they think of the conjecture that all life on earth has arisen from a common ancestor over millions of years. Obviously no one has observed this.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The studies demonstrating adaptive evolution do not show one kind of animal transforming into another, yet evolutionists try to use them to support the common ancestry of all life. Furthermore, the concept that all biological life shares a common ancestor is based on a rejection of the biblical account of history and the possibility of a creator that has interaction with the real world.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnList_1_17" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">17</span></a></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Although it is claimed that this is a scientific view, in reality it is a philosophic view that excludes certain explanations without consideration.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Testimony of an Awesome Creator<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Christians should be encouraged by the increasing number of articles showing examples of rapid adaptive changes. As more detailed evidence is presented, it should be very interesting to watch evolutionists attempt to explain these changes in their naturalistic model.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">All we see in these examples of animals adapting rapidly to new environments confirms the Bible’s testimony that we truly do have an awesome Creator who created life to inhabit the earth.,</span><span class="author"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Dr. Jean K. Lightner</span></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">earned her undergraduate degree in animal science. After earning a D.V.M. and M.S., she worked for three years as a veterinary medical officer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Footnotes<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">T.C. Wood, “The Current Status of Baraminology,”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Creation Research Society Quarterly</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>43 no. 3 (2006):149–158.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_1_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">B. Fahey and P. Myers. 2000. “Canidae” Animal Diversity Web,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Canidae.html" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7;">http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Canidae.html</span></a>.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_2_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">כלב</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span>, keleb; used 32 times in the Old Testament; first mentioned in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Exodus%2011.7" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Exodus 11:7</span></a></span></cite>.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_3_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">שועל</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">shuw`al; used 7 times; in NIV translated as fox(es) 4 times and jackals 3 times; in the KJV it is always rendered fox(es); however the Strong’s defines the related proper name,<i>Shual</i>, as meaning jackal; first used in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Judges%2015.4" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Judges 15:4</span></a>,<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Judges%2015.5" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7;">5</span></a></span></cite>.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_4_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">זאב</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">ze’eb; used 7 times; first mentioned<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Genesis%2049.27" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Genesis 49:27</span></a></span></cite>.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_5_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">אח</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">'oach; used once in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><cite><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Isaiah%2013.21" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Isaiah 13:21</span></a></span></cite>; refers to howling animal, jackal or hyena. While the word “jackal(s)” appears 19 times in the NIV, it is usually a translation of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">תנין</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">tanniyn which is often translated “dragon” in the KJV.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_6_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">J.R. Kohlenberger and J.A. Swanson,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Hebrew-English Concordance to the Old Testament</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998); BibleWorks™ Copyright © 1992-2005 BibleWorks, LLC.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_7_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">If the Flood is considered to have taken place in the year 1656 Anni Mundi (AM; years since creation) and the Exodus occurred in 2513 AM, some 857 years later, then both wolves,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">זאב</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">ze'eb, and dogs,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">כלב</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">keleb, were distinct by then. Pierce, L., “<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v1/n1/world-born-4004-bc" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">The World: Born in 4004 BC?</span></a>”<i>Answers</i>, July–September 2006, pp. 25-27.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_8_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Understanding Evolution, “<a href="http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/misconceptions_faq.php#b7" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Misconceptions about Evolution and the Mechanisms of Evolution: Most Biologists Have Rejected Darwinism</span></a>.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_9_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back (1)</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_9_2" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back (2)</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">A. Herrel, K. Huyghe, B. Vanhooydonck, T. Backeljau, K. Breugelmans, I. Grbac, R. Van Damme, and D.J. Irschick, “Rapid Large-scale Evolutionary Divergence in Morphology and Performance Associated with Exploitation of a Different Dietary Resource,”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Proc Natl Acad Sci USA</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>105 no. 12 (2008):4792–4795.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_10_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">J.E. Martin, G.A. Llorente, V. Roca, M.A. Carretero, A. Montori, X. Santos, and R, Romeu, “Relationship Between Diet and Helminths in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Gallotia caesaris</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(Sauria: Lacertidae),”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Zoology</i>(Jena) 108 no. 2 (2005):121–130.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_11_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">G.S. Pryor and K.A. Bjorndal, “Effects of the Nematode<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Gyrinicola batrachiensis</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>on Development, Gut Morphology, and Fermentation in Bullfrog Tadpoles (<i>Rana catesbeiana</i>): A Novel Mutualism,”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>J Exp Zoolog A Comp Exp Biol</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>303 no. 8 (2005):704–712.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_12_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">B. Vervust, I. Grbac, R. Van Damme, “Differences in Morphology, Performance, and Behaviour Between Recently Diverged Populations of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Podarcis sicula</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Mirror Differences in Predation Pressure,”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Oikos</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>116 no. 8 (2007):1343–1352.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_13_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Ref 10, p. 4794.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_14_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Understanding Evolution, “<a href="http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/evo_02" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7;">An Introduction to Evolution</span></a>.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/#fnMark_1_15_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Back</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">K. Byrne and R.A. Nichols, “<i>Culex pipiens</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>in London Underground Tunnels: Differentiation Between Surface and Subterranean Populations,”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Heredity</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>82 Pt. 1 (1999):7–15; J.D. Arendt and D.N. Reznick, “Evolution of Juvenile Growth Rates in Female Guppies (<i>Poecilia reticulata</i>): Predator Regime or Resource Level?”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Proc Biol Sci</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>272 no. 1560 (2005):333–337; P.R. Grant B.R. and Grant, “Evolution of Character Displacement in Darwin’s Finches,”<i>Science</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>313 no. 5784 (2006):224–226.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> Understanding Evolution, “</span></div></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-70575094680011909442011-09-07T15:13:00.004+01:002011-09-08T07:58:01.548+01:00Exposing The Flaws Of Traditional (But Faulty) Evolutionary Teaching But Giving Strong Evidence For A Creator and Creational Evolution PART 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">First See part 1 re this shortcut link: </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #e5eebb; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="font: normal normal normal 30px/normal Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; position: relative;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #783f04; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><u><a href="http://lastdayschristianmessenger.blogspot.com/2011/09/exposing-flaws-of-traditional-but.html">Exposing The Flaws Of Traditional (But Faulty) Evolutionary Teaching But Giving Strong Evidence For A Creator and Creational Evolution PART 1</a></u></span></span></h3><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">for the beginning of this article.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">This article makes little sense until you have first read Part 1, which gives the background and strong evidence for the equal evidence that follows. Assuming you have read part 1, here is Part 2</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">PART 2</span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:15 Genetics: no friend of evolution,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Lester,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v20/i2/genetics.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v20/i2/genetics.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Mendel and Darwin were contemporaries whose theories were formulated in different ways and clashed with one another. Mendel used careful observations of traits and calculations to develop his theory of inheritance, while Darwin’s ideas were based on erroneous ideas about inheritance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Four factors can be considered in genetic variation: environment, recombination, mutation, and creation. It has long been known that environmental effects on individuals cannot be passed on to offspring as the information is not contained in the DNA. Mendel recognized the constancy of traits with variation, while Darwin, to some degree, accepted environmental influence on variation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This is evident from Darwin’s discussion of the giraffe’s neck becoming longer by “the inherited effects of the increased use of parts.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Mendel showed that traits are reorganized independently when they are passed on to offspring. The variation would not always be evident, but it would only reappear if the trait was present in a previous generation. The amount of variation is limited by the information in the parents. Darwin’s finches offer an example of this recombination of traits.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Mutations are rare in a given gene, and the cell has elaborate machinery to correct mistakes when they occur. Mutations, when they do occur, tend to be neutral but others are harmful. In the creation model, mistakes in the DNA would be expected to have harmful effects.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In evolution, these mistakes are supposed to increase information even though in over 3,000 known fruit fly mutations not one produces a fly that has a survival advantage.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Examples of mutations that are beneficial to the individual or population are shown to be a loss of information. Natural selection acts to preserve or eliminate traits that are beneficial or harmful, as the creation model would predict. Creation of organisms by a divine Creator is the only mechanism that is adequate to account for the variation seen in the world today. Each of the created kinds started with considerable genetic variability that has caused the variety of life we see today.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:16 Copying confusion,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Williams,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v25/i4/DNAduplication.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v25/i4/DNAduplication.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Molecules-to-man evolution requires the production of large amounts of new genetic information. In searching for possible mechanisms, evolutionists have sometimes pointed to the ability of cells to make, and retain, multiple copies of their DNA. If this were the source of evolution, one would expect to find a general increase in the amount of DNA as you move up the evolutionary tree of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This, however, is not the case. Humans are certainly more complex organisms than bacteria and plants, but they have less DNA in general. The organism with the most DNA is actually a bacterium (Epulopiscium fishelsoni) that has at least 25 times as much DNA as a human cell. There are also 85,000 copies of one of its genes per cell. If these extra copies of genes were indeed the raw material for evolutionary mechanisms to act on, this bacterium should be a hallmark of evolutionary adaptation—but it is still a bacterium.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:17 Man: the image of God,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Rendle-Short,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v4/i1/man.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v4/i1/man.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolutionists suggest that evolution is a meaningless, undirected process and that humans are a mere accident with no purpose or meaning in the universe. If humans evolved, then there is no eternal life and no God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This obviously flies in the face of Christian beliefs; we were created in the image of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This view of creation gives our life meaning and purpose. Without God, there is no foundation for morality and each person can do what seems right at the time with no real consequences regarding eternity— eternity does not exist. Man shares characteristics with both animals and God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Bible equates man and animals on a certain level, but the presence of a spirit and the ability to communicate ideas are attributes man shares with God. We also see God’s attributes in human creativity, reasoning, and the ability to express love and pursue the holiness that existed before sin entered the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The impulse to survive seen in every living thing cannot be described in biological terms; a divine Creator must have instilled this desire in each organism. Evolutionists suggest that the hope of an afterlife is a coping mechanism that has developed as a response to the bleakness of our existence, but God says it is a promise to all. Some will be in the presence of God and others will be cast into Hell.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:18 Evolution—atheism,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Provine,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/tools/Quotes/provine.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/tools/Quotes/provine.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear … . There are no gods, no purposes, no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end for me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning to life, and no free will for humans, either.” —Dr. William B. Provine, Professor of Biological Sciences, Cornell University<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:19 Natural selection,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">yes; evolution, no, Parker,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/ch2-mutations.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/ch2-mutations.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The definition of the “fittest” individuals makes the notion of natural selection true based on circular reasoning. The fittest are the ones that survive, and you can tell which are the fittest by seeing which ones survive. (The fact that survival of the fittest is based on circular reasoning does not necessarily mean that the idea is false.) Fitness is controlled by many factors that allow the organism to survive and reproduce.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The fastest zebra may be deaf and have a poor sense of smell. This combination would tend to eliminate his genes from a population. The only way to understand fitness is to study the first generation and then track the presence of those traits through time as successive generations are born.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Numerical values can be used to represent the fitness of individuals based on the ratio of individuals with different traits. These numbers can explain fitness, but they have no predictive power—you can only determine the fittest after they survive. Mice that hold still to avoid being seen by a soaring hawk are better able to survive, except when it is safer to run to their burrows to avoid being eaten—each may provide an advantage. If the fact that the survivors survived is used to prove evolution, the circular reasoning becomes a logic problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Another misconception is that the fittest variety must be increasing in number. Natural selection can still be acting on a population as its numbers are declining. There is no direction implied in natural selection—you can be the highest scorer (most fit) on the losing team. Competition happens between species (interspecific competition), but natural selection acts within species (intraspecific competition). The struggle for survival is not between lions and zebras, it is within the zebra population. This intraspecific struggle allows for change within kinds, but not from one kind to another.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">One shortcoming is that natural selection cannot plan ahead—an advantage one day may become a hindrance as the environment changes. This can ultimately lead to the extinction of a population despite its current success in the environment. Natural selection favors specialization into distinct niches; when the environment changes, the specialization becomes a disadvantage. It seems impossible that this process of undirected elimination could lead to an increase in variety and complexity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The complex system of proteins involved in the blood-clotting reaction makes up an “irreducibly complex” system. If any one of the pieces is missing, the system fails. Evolution cannot adequately explain how such systems could arise.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Adaptations are usually presented in a way that makes them seem like a natural extension of natural selection. There is limited evidence to suggest that natural selection can lead to new adaptations, but ample evidence shows that adaptations can lead to natural selection. An adaptation must appear before natural selection can act on it. Evolution cannot explain the appearance of these traits, but the Creator provided the variety needed in the original created kinds.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The presence of irreducible complexity in biological systems is another roadblock for naturalistic theories of evolution. It is hard to imagine how you could get to the top of the Empire State Building if you had to jump, but the task becomes easier when you learn that there are stairs. This slow and gradual idea is how evolutionists explain the molecules-to-man idea that once seemed impossible to imagine. This works if all of the steps can be used to build on one another, but what if this were not the case?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Darwin recognized this limit and acknowledged it in</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Origin of Species</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial;">. In his book</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Darwin’s Black Box</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial;">, Michael Behe describes the biochemical details of several systems that need all of their parts present to function. Since removing one of the proteins involved in blood-clotting causes catastrophic results, the system has irreducible complexity. This irreducible complexity is not only present within living organisms but also between them in ecological interactions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The interaction of fish and shrimp in cleaning symbiosis is one example. A large fish allows a small fish or shrimp to clean parasites from its mouth and then swims off without eating the cleaner. How could this relationship, and other irreducibly complex systems, have evolved one step at a time?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Even if Darwin’s ideas can explain the maintenance of traits and variation within a kind, they do not address the actual origin of the traits in the first place. Darwin used the phrase “from use and disuse, from the direct and indirect actions of the environment” to describe the origin of traits.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This is exactly the view held by Lamarck, who is often contrasted with Darwin. Using a trait does not mean it will be passed to the offspring in a different form (stretching giraffe necks is often used as an example). As science has gathered more information about heredity, the idea of use and disuse has been shown to be false.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The origin of this new information is thought by neo- Darwinists to occur by random mutation—random mutations are the raw material for evolution. The cases of fruit fly mutation and flu virus are often used as examples to support evolution. However, these mutations cannot explain the increase or origin of information in living systems. The creationist model—that information was created by the Supreme Designer—fits the observations much better than naturalistic evolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:20 Learning the right tricks about life’s origin,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v13/i4/tricks.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v13/i4/tricks.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Scientific American</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">article admits (way back in 1991) that the “chicken and egg” problem of DNA and proteins has not been solved by the RNA hypothesis. DNA requires proteins to function, and proteins are made from DNA. The actual laboratory observations are highly artificial with a “great deal of help from the scientists.” Miller’s and Fox’s experiments on the origin of proteins and proteinoids, which supposedly produced “protocells,” are essentially dead ends.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Clever attempts at producing life in the lab only demonstrate that life can be produced by intelligence. The stories of life originating in clay crystals and deep-ocean vents are just stories, with no observational data to confirm them. In all, much more research is needed to even begin to answer the question of the origin of life in a materialistic framework. Creationists need only accept that God has created life and study the changes that have occurred since the creation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:21 Startling plant discovery presents problems for evolution,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">DeWitt,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2005/0406mutation_fixing.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/docs2005/0406mutation_fixing.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">An amazing discovery in genetics has shown that a certain plant (Arabidopsis thaliana) can actually fix a mutation in a recessive allele even when it doesn’t have a copy of the correct sequence in its genome. In a well-designed study, the mutation was shown to be corrected in a “templatedirected process,” not by random mutations.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Organisms that have a better DNA correction system would have a survival advantage, but the irreducible complexity of the system makes it highly improbable that it evolved. This correction mechanism has never been seen before and seems to defy evolution by natural selection.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">How do you select for the ability to fix a mutation that you don’t have? This trait could easily be lost from the population by genetic drift or random mutation in organisms that lack the mutation (assuming it is a DNA-encoded trait). A system that fixes random mutations would stop, or at least slow down, the evolutionary process.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The authors of the study suggest stress induces the repair. Stress has been shown to change mutation rates in certain bacteria, but in the other direction—more mutations are produced to create a variant that can survive the stress. RNA is a candidate for the correction mechanism, but many properties of RNA make it improbable. The RNA may be acting with other proteins, but more research needs to be done.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolution is such a plastic theory that a “just so” story will probably come about as a result of this correction mechanism. The problem is that it would be just as likely to fix beneficial mutations as it would harmful ones. A creationist can accept this new mechanism as another way of maintaining the created kinds in light of genetic variability.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In order for DNA to be transcribed, many proteins must interact with the DNA. The problem is that DNA is needed to make the proteins that are used to transcribe the DNA—a classic example of the “chicken and the egg” dilemma. Evolution cannot explain how such a system could have evolved by random processes acting over time. DNA was created fully functional.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:22 Is bacterial resistance to antibiotics an appropriate example of evolutionary change?</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Anderson,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/link.asp?http://www.trueorigin.org/bacteria01.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.trueorigin.org/bacteria01.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">[Summary quoted directly from the actual paper] Resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobials is often claimed to be a clear demonstration of “evolution in a Petri dish.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">However, analysis of the genetic events causing this resistance reveals that they are not consistent with the genetic events necessary for evolution (defined as common “descent with modification”). Rather, resistance resulting from horizontal gene transfer merely provides a mechanism for transferring pre-existing resistance genes. Horizontal transfer does not provide a mechanism for the origin of those genes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Spontaneous mutation does provide a potential genetic mechanism for the origin of these genes, but such an origin has never been demonstrated. Instead, all known examples of antibiotic resistance via mutation are inconsistent with the genetic requirements of evolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">These mutations result in the loss of pre-existing cellular systems/activities, such as porins and other transport systems, regulatory systems, enzyme activity, and protein binding.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Antibiotic resistance may also impart some decrease of “relative fitness” (severe in a few cases), although for many mutants this is compensated by reversion. The real biological cost, though, is loss of pre-existing systems and activities. Such losses are never compensated, unless resistance is lost, and cannot validly be offered as examples of true evolutionary change.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:23 Can genetic mutations produce positive changes in living creatures?</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Demick,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/link.asp?http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/geneticmutations.html" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/geneticmutations.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It is important to note that antibiotic resistance selects for traits that are already present in the population. Since there is no new information generated, it cannot be claimed that evolution is occurring.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Richard Dawkins used the idea of a “blind watchmaker” to describe how genetics can create new features in organisms through evolutionary processes. Actual observations show that natural selection acts more like a “blind gunman” as mutations occur. Mutations occur when the genetic code of DNA changes and come in many different forms.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Only the mutations in the germ cells (eggs and sperm) can be considered in inherited diseases. In a large protein, a mutation at many positions in a gene may cause a defective protein to be formed. In one cholesterol disorder, 350 disease-producing mutations have been documented to cause various problems with cell membrane receptors.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by a group of mutations in an ion pump in the cell membrane. The protein consists of 1,480 amino acids and the deletion of three bases at codon 508 causes most cases of CF. Nearly 200 other mutations have been shown to cause CF as well. Cancer is another disease that demonstrates the danger that mutations can cause to organisms. Many types of germ-line and somatic (body) cell mutations cause the cells to grow without the normal regulations on size and cell division.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">If evolution has led from microbes to man, there should be some evidence that mutations can cause such an increase in information. Sickle-cell anemia is often used as an example to support Darwinian evolution<b>, but the mutation clearly causes a loss of normal function with no new ability or information</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Cancer cells are fitter than other cells around them but can hardly be considered as proof of evolution. The fact remains that observational science shows that mutations cause negative effects without a single example of a mutation that improves the function of a protein in support of evolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">If we start from the Bible, the effects of mutations and the continued decay of the human genome is a clear example of the Curse that resulted from Adam’s sin. The human genome will become increasingly corrupted as time passes. Christ’s return and the fact that He conquered death offers the world hope for the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:24 What does the fossil record teach us about evolution?</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Van Bebber and Taylor,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/link.asp?http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c006.html" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c006.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">When deciding if the fossil record actually supports the evolution of life on earth, many factors need to be considered. Animals and plants appear very abruptly in the fossil record. Evolution would predict the fossils we find should show a vast array of transitional forms—few if any are found. Despite the extensive number of fossils found, it is believed that few new fossil types will be discovered.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The lack of order in the geologic layers presents another challenge for evolutionists. The fossil record is much more consistent with the occurrence of a global Flood and special creation than with an evolutionary history.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:25 Evidence for a young world,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Humphreys,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/link.asp?http://www.icr.org/article/1842" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.icr.org/article/1842</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Many of the dating techniques that can be used to determine the age of the universe and the earth point to a maximum amount of time less than the billions of years required by naturalistic evolution. Galaxies wind themselves up much too fast to be billions of years old. There are too few visible supernova remnants.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Comets disintegrate too rapidly and have no mechanism to reform. There is too little sediment on the sea floor to account for erosion and not enough sodium in the sea to account for billions of years. The earth’s magnetic field is decaying too rapidly. Rock layers are bent to extreme degrees, suggesting they folded rapidly while still soft. DNA and other biologic materials should decay and not be found in fossils—bacteria alleged to be 250 million years old should have no intact DNA left, yet they were able to grow.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Radioactive halos present in rocks show a time of rapid radioactive decay in the past. Too much helium resides in minerals that are supposed to be very old. Carbon-14 is found in diamonds and coal that are supposed to be millions or billions of years old. There are too few skeletons of Stone Age humans to support the alleged 200,000-year timespan. Agriculture and historical writings have been around for too short a period. In combination, this short list demonstrates that many dating methods defy the billions of years needed to support evolution’s house of cards.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:26 Gallup poll on creationism,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/link.asp?http://poll.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci=18748" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">poll.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci=18748</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A poll conducted by the Gallup Organization in 2005 found that 29% of Americans believe that creationism (including life originating 6,000 years ago) is definitely true with respect to explaining the origin of life on earth. About 20% consider evolution definitely true, and only 8% believe intelligent design is definitely true. The results also indicate that many people still have mixed views on the compatibility of evolution and creation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">By 58% to 26%, a majority of Americans express their belief in creationism; by 55% to 34%, a majority also accept evolution. But 32% of Americans tend to reject intelligent design, while 31% say it is probably true. The statistics make it clear that many Americans are blending ideas of creation and evolution together in an attempt to make sense of the conflicting messages. (Standing on the authority of the Bible will lead to an acceptance of creationism as the only position consistent with Scripture.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:27 Natural selection,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Parker,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/ch2-selection.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/ch2-selection.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The peppered moths used as an example in many textbooks have actually been exposed as a fraud. Dead and sedated moths were placed on tree trunks where the moths were never observed to rest. Despite the fraud, this is a clear example of natural selection, not evolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Darwin based his idea of natural selection on the changes he observed in selective breeding by farmers and animal breeders. It can be observed that artificial selection can lead to the expression of hidden traits. Darwin suggested that if man can produce such changes in a short time, over millions of years natural selection could produce entirely new species. Darwin was right about the ability of natural selection to change populations, but he was wrong about the extent of change that could occur.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A popular example in textbooks is the case of the peppered moth. The proportion of moths of different color was shown to change as pollution changed the environment they lived in. It has also been recently revealed that the photos of moths showed dead or stunned moths glued to trees and that the moths do not land on the trunks. Despite the fraud, the concept still fails to prove evolution in the molecules-to-man sense.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:28 Mutation, yes; evolution, no,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Parker,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/ch2-means.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/ch2-means.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">There are three limits to accepting mutations as a mechanism for molecules-to-man evolution. First, there are mathematical limits to the probability of evolution occurring. Mutations occur once in every 10 million duplications of DNA, so it is very likely that every cell in your body contains at least one mutation since you were born. The problem for evolution is that you need multiple, related mutations to cause a change in a structure. If mutations occur at a rate of one in 107, the odds of getting two related mutations is 1014.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The likelihood of evolution quickly becomes unreasonable. In bacteria that are resistant to four different antibiotics, the probability would be 1 in 1028. It has been shown that the bacteria already had the information for resistance built into them—the trait was selected for, not created by mutations. Those bacteria that do become resistant by mutation are less fit and don’t survive outside relatively sterile environments. This is not evidence for evolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Second, mutations are moving in the wrong direction to support the advancement of complexity required by evolution. Almost every mutation we know of has been identified based on the disease it causes. Mutations explain the decline seen in genetic systems since the Fall of mankind in Adam. The time, chance, and random mutations simply serve to tear things apart. Shortly after creation, there would have been few genetic mistakes present in the human population, and marrying a close relative would not have been a problem. Today, the likelihood of a shared mutation causing a disease is too great a risk to allow close marriages.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The advantage of avoiding severe malaria symptoms by those with sickle-cell anemia is often given as evidence of beneficial mutations. The overall effect of the mutation is not beneficial to the human race, however, and will not lead to a more fit population.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Third, mutations can only act on genes that already exist. Natural selection cannot explain the origin of genes because there was no information for natural selection to act on. Mutation and natural selection simply produce variation within a kind—just as the biblical creation model suggests. No genetic mechanism can increase the amount of information that is needed to demonstrate evolution from particles to people. Mutations do not add information to an organism’s genome.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Thousands of mutations would need to add information to change even “simple” cells into more complex cells. Even when genes mutate, they still pair up with similar alleles and are controlled by the same regulators. Mutations may affect the degree of a trait, but they do not cause new traits.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It is not the amount of time or the number of mutations, but the direction of change and the origin of information that are the biggest stumbling blocks for evolution. All of the evidence continues to point to the design and information originally provided by the Creator.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:29 Scientific roadblocks to whale evolution,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Sherwin,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/link.asp?http://www.icr.org/article/433" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.icr.org/article/433</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">One of the popular stories of evolution tells of how land animals evolved into whales and their cousins. Darwin suggested that a race of bears became more and more aquatic until they were whales. Other stories are full of details that have no basis in any facts. To produce whales from small land mammals would require countless changes. These gradual changes are not preserved in the fossil record to any degree.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">There are many suggested ancestors to the whales, from wolf-like creatures to hippos. All require amazing changes that must have happened at an astonishing rate to fit the evolutionary timescale. Blubber, temperature regulation, special metabolism, countercurrent blood flow, and other functions would have to be present before natural selection could act on these traits.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The development of one- or two-holed breathing structures stretches the limits of the evidence in fossils. Whale tails move up and down, while the alleged ancestors did not have this ability. The pelvis would have to be minimized while the flukes were expanded.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The fossils to document these changes are absent.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The lack of consistency between molecular data and morphological data is a strike against evolution in general. The inconsistency is evident where certain proteins suggest whales and hippos should be grouped together, while the fossils suggest a carnivorous ancestor for whales. Neither natural selection nor mutations are sufficient to explain the alleged transformation from anything to a whale. The biblical model still provides the best explanation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:30 Camels—confirmation of creation,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Weston,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v19/i4/camels.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v19/i4/camels.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The actual fossils evidence is not presented as support for the drawings. When you see a picture like this, ask yourself, “What did the bones look like and where did the details come from?” The striped fur and the hump are drawn to give the impression of progress, but the fossils do not support the drawings. Keep in mind that the artist has an objective when they are drawing the pictures. This series seems to replace the once-popular horse series that was shown to be false.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Many features of the camel point to amazing design. The features include the ability to go without food and water for extended periods, to avoid sweating by increasing body temperature, and to consume large amounts of water to rehydrate. The alleged evolutionary series of the camel is only possible because we have living examples today.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">If assembling fossils in a sequence is like a puzzle, you need to know what the picture looks like before you start, or you are just randomly placing the pieces. The Camelops fossils of 3.5 million years ago are described as true camels, but even they haven’t changed much in the supposed expanse of time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The presence of similar structures in human and bird embryos are supposed to be evidence for a common ancestor. However, a common designer using certain design features to accomplish different functions is also a legitimate explanation. Many embryologists have abandoned the idea of “embryonic recapitulation, ” but it still remains in the textbooks as evidence for evolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:31 Fraud rediscovered,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Grigg,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Creation</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">20(2):49–51, 1998<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It is commonly asserted and taught that human embryos go through various evolutionary stages during the first few months of development. This idea has been presented for decades and used to justify abortion of the “fish” growing in the womb. This idea, called embryonic recapitulation, was developed by Haeckel in the 1860s. He produced fraudulent drawings to show the imaginary similarities between vertebrate embryos at a certain stage of development.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Most informed evolutionists in the past 80 years have realized that the recapitulation hypothesis is false. Despite this, the idea that embryos look similar is still used as evidence for evolution. The “common knowledge” of similarities rests on Haeckel’s fraudulent drawings.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A published study by Michael Richardson noted that no one had studied the similarities in detail. When the information was gathered in photographs, the stages shown by Haeckel are amazingly different from one another. The fraud of Haeckel has been exposed, but the idea is perpetuated in nearly every biology text produced. Is this continuation a fraud as well?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:32 Hox hype,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">DeWitt,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2002/0215hox_hype.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/docs2002/0215hox_hype.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Homeobox (hox) genes are the switches that control where and when a feature develops. Evolutionists use hox genes to describe how major evolutionary changes could have occurred—six-legged insects could have evolved from shrimp if the genes that control leg development were mutated. A reduction in the number of legs over time fits within the creationist framework of loss of information, but it does not explain the origin of the legs in the first place.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Hox gene mutations that cause flies to grow extra wings are not accompanied by the muscular and other changes needed to make those wings functional—the extra wings would actually hinder the fly from flying, and the defect would be eliminated from the population. No matter how dramatic the changes may seem, losing or misplacing parts cannot explain the gain of information needed for molecules- to-man evolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:33 Living light,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Sherwin,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/link.asp?http://www.icr.org/article/231" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.icr.org/article/231</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Those who have seen fireflies are familiar with bioluminescence— a phenomenon found throughout the biological world. The chemical reaction that produces this “living light” is found in algae, worms, insects, fungi, and genetically modified organisms. Evolutionists attempt to explain the broad array of living things that have this ability with convergent evolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This ability, which involves at least two chemical reactions and several compounds, would have had to evolve independently at least 30 different times to explain its existence in living things. The separate lines of descent would have to have undergone the same random changes at hundreds of genetic steps—statistically impossible. The convergence of this and other traits is solid evidence for a Creator who used a common design.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:34 Sickle-cell anemia does not prove evolution,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/go/sickle-cell" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/go/sickle-cell</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It is commonly believed that the abnormally high presence of sickle-cell anemia (SCA) in African populations is evidence of evolution. It is true that individuals with SCA do not suffer as severely when they contract malaria because the blood cells are not as suitable for the malaria pathogen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This does not mean that there are not other factors (marriage customs, diet, viral infections, and social factors) that influence the occurrence of SCA in these populations. Using natural selection alone ignores the other social implications and leads to a misunderstanding of the true nature of the disease.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Natural selection plays a part in the high frequency of those who carry the SCA gene, but it is not the only factor. Even though natural selection is shown to be a factor, it does not demonstrate the type of uphill evolution required to validate evolutionary theory.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The fact that sickle-cell anemia occurs at a higher rate in populations where malaria is common does not provide evidence for the type of changes required for molecules-to-man evolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:35 Vertebrates: animals with backbones,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Parker,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/ch3-vertebrates.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/ch3-vertebrates.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">If animals have evolved from a common ancestor, there should be a multitude of missing links to demonstrate the gradual changes. One commonly cited example is Archaeopteryx. Archaeopteryx appears to have a blend of reptilian and bird characteristics—exactly what evolution would predict.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The features of Archaeopteryx can be found in various birds, and the presence of wings and feathers doesn’t tell you how—or if—they evolved from other structures. These complex features appear suddenly and fully formed in the fossil record. Archaeopteryx is a true bird with odd features, not a missing link.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The fraudulent “feathered dinosaur” (Archaeoraptor) that was published in National Geographic is another example of a missing link that has been abandoned. Many of the other Chinese fossils that are supposed to be the ancestors of birds actually occur too high in the rock layers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">To be included as a transitional form, fossils must be in the right sequence and have intermediate features. Of the thousands upon thousands of transitional forms that must have existed, only a handful of fossils are possibilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Recognizing the failure of the fossil record to display the gradual nature of Darwinian evolution, Stephen J. Gould resurrected the idea of evolution in big jumps known as “punctuated equilibrium.” Major remodeling of body plans could occur if regulator genes caused multiple changes at once. This would explain gaps in the fossil record, but it is not supported by observational science.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Even if these creatures were born, what would they mate with? The exact mutations would have to occur simultaneously and in close proximity—a highly improbable situation. Those scientists who support this idea at least admit that the links are missing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Gradualists say that punctuated equilibrium is absurd and evolution cannot happen that fast. Punctuational evolutionists point to genetic limits and fossil gaps and say that evolution didn’t happen slowly. The creationist can simply agree that both are correct—life was designed by the Creator. The variation that we see within created kinds supports this notion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:36 Catching a kinkajou,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Catchpoole,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Creation</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">26(3):42–43, 2004<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The fruit bat has teeth that are designed for eating fruit, not meat. Evolution would say that the bat evolved from a meat-eating ancestor, but that is based on assumption. Many other animals that are predominantly herbivores have a similar tooth structure.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Vertebrates are classified as carnivores based on their skull and tooth structure. The problem with this classification is that many “carnivores” are not—they have diets of strictly or mainly plants.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The kinkajou (<i>Potus flavus</i>) is one such “carnivore.” Scientists tried to catch them in traps baited with chicken, assuming that they ate meat because of their tooth structure. Bananas were finally used and were successful. Kinkajous, as it was later found, are exclusively vegetarian, even with a vicious-looking set of teeth.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Many other animals (including fruit bats, grizzly bears, and pandas) have teeth that appear to be designed for eating meat but are actually used to eat mainly plants. So if we find a dinosaur, Velociraptor for instance, that has teeth that appear to be designed for eating flesh, it may be that they were used to rend the flesh of melons rather than the flesh of other dinosaurs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">We know that all animals were originally to eat only plants (<a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Gen.%201.29%E2%80%9330" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">Gen. 1:29–30</span></a>). The teeth that today, in our fallen world, are used to rip flesh may have once been used to strip leaves from branches or shred plants to be eaten.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:37 Virus “evolution” benefits mankind?</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Purdom,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2006/0222virus.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/docs2006/0222virus.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Humans have developed the technology to manipulate the genetic code of many different organisms, but is it evidence for evolution? The ability to change a virus used to deliver gene therapy was recently described as “directed evolution.” By selecting for viruses that could evade the immune system and then copying those with intentional mistakes, scientists produced a virus that avoided immune defenses.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Since the viruses already had the information to avoid the immune system, this cannot be considered evidence for molecules-to-man evolution—no new information was produced. The advantage provided by genetic mistakes in viruses in nature does not demonstrate that new information is added but that the preexisting information is selected for or against by the environmental conditions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This research did not rely in any way on evolutionary principles but the observed properties of genetic information that fits consistently in the creationist model of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:38 Genetic variance of influenza type A avian virus and its evolutionary implications,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Kitner,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v1/n1/has-it-evolved" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/go/bird-flu-evolving</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The bird flu, caused by a type A influenza virus, has been in the media, and many are afraid that it will “evolve” into a form that will cause a pandemic in humans. The virus that causes disease is made up of eight RNA segments which code for its protein components.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The bird flu spreads so rapidly because it is often present in migrating birds that show no symptoms. These birds pass the virus to domestic birds that do not have a natural immunity, which leads to outbreaks in the domestic populations. <b>The ability of the virus to constantly change its protein coat makes vaccination virtually useless.The genetic variation within the virus is observable, but it does not support evolution in the molecules- to-man sense.</b> The genes are simply slight variations that code for a protein that performs the same function. Viruses can change, but they cannot evolve to become anything other than viruses.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">18 Questions to Consider<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">1) What mechanisms do scientists use to explain how mutations can produce new information to make organisms more complex, when virtually all mutations cause a loss of information or no change at all?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">2) Since information cannot be created from matter by purely natural mechanisms and since it is not a part of the material universe, how did information originate? By what mechanism is new information added to genomes in evolutionary history? Can the information gain be demonstrated experimentally?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">3) What direct fossil evidence is there that fish could have evolved into amphibians? Could the alleged transitional fossils be interpreted in multiple ways?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">4) When two lines of evidence contradict each other (e.g., if DNA suggests one evolutionary relationship and anatomy suggests a different relationship), how do scientists decide which line of evidence is more compelling?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">5) Why is evolution the key to understanding biology?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">6) Why is it necessary to know where the eye evolved from to understand how it works and how to treat it when it has a disease?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">7) Why do examples of natural selection get equated with evolution when evolution is not observable and natural selection is?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">8) Why do biology textbooks include the photo of the peppered moth when scientists have shown it to be a fraud?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">9) Should we accept everything that the text tells us about evolution when the textbooks are constantly being changed and updated?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">10) If evolution is not directed by a purpose, would it be safe to say that human existence is purposeless?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">11) What is the basis for truth and morality if human life is a byproduct of evolutionary processes (random interactions of lifeless chemicals)?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">12) Are humans more special or important than any other organism if there is no such thing as higher and lower animals in an evolutionary framework?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">13) Is it possible to know the original function of an organ that is called vestigial, like the appendix, when most tissues are not preserved in fossils and the ancestor cannot be examined? It would seem that there are many assumptions involved in making such a claim.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">14) Does evolution predict stasis or progress?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">15) Why are so many “living fossils” found that have remained the same for hundreds of millions of years while other species have evolved relatively rapidly?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">16) There seem to be many different definitions of evolution; do all scientists agree on what evolution is? Which view of evolution is correct (punctuated equilibrium, neo-Darwinism, Darwinism, etc.)?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">17) Why do scientists consider homologous structures evidence of a common ancestor when they seem to fit the expected pattern, but scientists call them examples of convergent evolution when they don’t fit the pattern?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;">18) What types of evidence would evolutionists accept as evidence against evolution?</span></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-65385423016397088522011-09-07T15:11:00.004+01:002011-09-08T08:00:59.805+01:00Exposing The Flaws Of Traditional (But Faulty) Evolutionary Teaching But Giving Strong Evidence For A Creator and Creational Evolution PART 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>PART 1</b>. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">for continuation please see part 2 on this following shortcut link: </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #e5eebb; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="font: normal normal normal 30px/normal Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; position: relative;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #660000; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a href="http://lastdayschristianmessenger.blogspot.com/2011/09/exposing-flaws-of-traditional-but_07.html">Exposing The Flaws Of Traditional (But Faulty) Evolutionary Teaching But Giving Strong Evidence For A Creator and Creational Evolution PART 2</a></span></span></h3><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Let me start by quoting something given by: </span>Professor Jerome Lejeune, in a lecture given in Paris</div><div class="MsoBodyText">on March 17, 1985, translated by Peter Wilders</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“We have no acceptable theory of evolution at the present time. There is none; and I cannot accept the theory that I teach to my students each year. Let me explain. I teach the synthetic theory known as the neo-Darwinian one, for one reason only; not because it’s good, we know it is bad, but because there isn’t any other. Whilst waiting to find something better you are taught something which is known to be inexact, which is a first approximation …”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px;">What Is Being Taught., You Will Learn</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Textbooks present evolution in two different ways—small, observable changes (natural selection, speciation, adaptation) and large, unobservable changes (molecules-to-man evolution). They show evidence for the former and then conclude that this proves that the latter took place as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">As our understanding of genetics has improved, it has become increasingly clear that mutations + time + chance do not equal evolution. All observed mutations demonstrate a <b>loss of genetic information</b> from the genetic code, or they are neutral.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolution claims that the process has no direction or goal. If you look at the complexity of the “first” organism, it must be accepted that a massive amount of information has been produced to explain the variety of life we see today.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>Mutations cannot generate new genetic information</b>; so they cannot be used to explain how evolution has proceeded from a cell with less information than is present in </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">modern cells. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite the claims of evolution, the appearance of new species, antibiotic resistance in bacteria, pesticide resistance, and sickle-cell anemia are not evidence in favor of evolution. They do, however, demonstrate the principle of natural selection acting on existing traits—a concept that creationists and evolutionists agree on.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The creationist model of how life spread across the globe after the Flood of Genesis uses many of the same principles of natural selection and adaptive radiation that are used in the evolution model. One of the main differences is that the biblical creation model recognizes that one kind cannot change into another and that the changes are a result of variation within the created kinds—not descent from a single common ancestor.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">As a result of the Curse, genetic mutations, representing a loss of information, have been accumulating, but these do not cause new kinds to emerge. Accepting the idea of a single common ancestor denies the authority of God’s Word.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">What We Really Know about Natural Selection and Evolution<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The ideas of natural selection, speciation, adaptation, and evolution are often used interchangeably by secular scientists. All three of the textbooks reviewed use the terms in this way. When scientists and authors use evolution to mean both “change in features over time” and “the history of life on earth,” it is difficult to know which definition is being used in each instance. This is often used as a bait-and-switch technique (equivocation). When small changes that arise as a result of the loss of information are used as evidence for molecules-to-man evolution, the switch has occurred. Let’s define the terms and see where the switch is happening.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Natural Selection:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">the process by which individuals possessing a set of traits that confer a survival advantage in a given environment tend to leave more offspring on average that survive to reproduce in the next generation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Natural selection is an observable process that falls into the category of operational science. We have observed mosquitoes, birds, and many microorganisms undergoing change in relatively short periods of time. New species have been observed to arise.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Biblical creationists agree with evolutionists on most of the ideas associated with natural selection,</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"> except the idea that natural selection leads to molecules-to-man evolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Speciation</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">the process of change in a population that produces distinct populations which rarely naturally interbreed due to geographic isolation or other factors.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Speciation is observable and fits into the category of operational science. Speciation has never been observed to turn one kind of animal into another. Lions (Panthera leo) and tigers (Panthera tigris) are both members of the cat kind, but they are considered different species primarily due to their geographic isolation. However, it is possible to mate the two.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Ligers (male lion and female tiger) and tigons (male tigers and female lions) are produced (with varying degrees of fertility). These two species came from the original cat kind that would have been present on Noah’s Ark.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Adaptation</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">a physical trait or behavior due to inherited characteristics that gives an organism the ability to survive in a given environment.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolutionists often look at a characteristic of an organism and assume that it was produced through a gradual series of changes and call it an adaptation to a given environment.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">To an evolutionist, legs on tetrapods are an adaptation that arose as a fish’s fins became adapted to crawling in a shallow stream, providing some form of advantage. The fins with more bones were better adapted to a life partially lived on the land. Fins that developed bones attached to a pectoral girdle (another set of bones that had to develop) gave an advantage to those individuals that wandered onto land to find food or avoid predators. The problems with this scenario are in the amount of time such a change would require and the lack of a mechanism to cause the change.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolutionary biologists assume, based on geologic interpretations, that there have been billions of years for this process to occur. But if long ages did not exist, the hypothesis cannot be true.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The other requirement, a mechanism for change, is also assumed to exist—even though it has never been observed. We mentioned earlier that natural selection tends to delete information from the population. If natural selection is the mechanism that explains the successive adaptations in the fish fin example above, it must provide new genetic information.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">To produce the new bones in the fins requires an elaborate orchestration of biologic processes. The bones don’t just have to be present; they must develop at the right time in the embryo, have their shape and size predetermined by the DNA sequence, be attached to the correct tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels, attach to the bones of the pectoral girdle, and so on. The amount of information required for this seemingly simple transformation cannot be provided by a process that generally deletes information from the genome.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Biblical creationists consider major structures to be part of the original design provided by God. Modifications to those structures, adaptations, occur due to genetic recombination, random mutations, and natural selection. These structures do not arise from the modification of similar structures of another kind of animal. The beak of the woodpecker, for example, did not arise from the beak of a theropod dinosaur ancestor; it was an originally designed structure. The difference in beak shapes among woodpeckers fits with the idea of natural selection leading to changes within a population of woodpeckers—within the created kind.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Consider a woodpecker pair getting off the Ark. The pair may contain genes (information) for long and short beaks. As the birds spread out into the lush new world growing in the newly deposited soil, they produce offspring that contain both long-beak and shortbeak genes. (Although the actual control of beak growth is complex, we will assume that long is dominant over short for this simplistic example.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Areas populated by trees with thick, soft bark would tend to select for woodpeckers with longer beaks. Areas where the bark was thinner and harder would tend to be populated by woodpeckers with shorter beaks. Two new species, with slightly different adaptations, could arise if the two populations were geographically separated. The population of short-beaked woodpeckers would have lost the information for long beaks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">No more long-beaked woodpeckers would be produced without a significant addition of genetic information affecting the beak length. The long-beaked woodpeckers would still have the ability to produce short-beaked offspring, but they would be less able to compete, and those genes would tend to decrease in frequency in the population. Due to their isolation, two new species of woodpecker would develop, but within their kind.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Observational science supports this type of subtle change within a kind but not molecules-to-man evolution, as we will see in the next section.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolution: all life on earth has come about through descent with modification from a single common ancestor (a hypothetical, primitive, single-celled organism).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolution is generally assumed to happen as a natural consequence of natural selection.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">However, no direct observational evidence supports the concept of a fish turning, however gradually, into an amphibian. Evolutionists will argue that there has simply not been enough time to observe such changes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Man has only been recording information that would be useful for a short period of time relative to the immense amounts of time required by evolutionary theory. This raises the question, “Is evolution a valid scientific idea since <b>it cannot be observed</b> in experiments and repeated to show that the conclusions are valid?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">The fact that evolutionary processes, on the scale of millions of years, cannot be observed, tested, repeated, or falsified</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"> places them in the category of historical science.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In secular science, evaluating historical events is considered just as acceptable as conducting laboratory experiments when it comes to developing scientific theories. Since scientific theories are subject to change, it is acceptable to work within an admittedly deficient framework until a better or more reasonable framework can be found.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A major problem for evolution, as mentioned above, is the huge increase in information content of organisms through time. Evolutionary theory accepts additions and deletions of information as evidence of evolution of a population.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The problem is that through the imagined history of life on earth, the information content of the genomes of organisms must have increased dramatically. Beginning with the most primitive form of life, we have a relatively simple genome compared to the genomes that we see today. Mutations are said to provide the fuel for the evolutionary engine. Virtually all observed mutations result in a loss in the information content of a genome. There would need to be some way to consistently add information to the genome to arrive at palm trees and people from a simple single-celled organism—the hypothetical common ancestor of all life on earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolutionists have failed to answer the question, “<b>Where did all the new information come from</b> since mutations are known to reduce information?” You cannot expect evolution, which requires a net gain in information over millions of years, to occur as a result of mutation and natural selection.<b>Natural selection, evolution’s supposed mechanism, causes a loss of information</b> and can only act on traits that are already present! (The origin of the information is discussed in chapter 5.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Creationists agree with the idea of “descent with modification” but not with the notion of a single common ancestor. To accept a common ancestor for all life on earth requires a rejection of the biblical account of creation recorded in Genesis and corroborated by many other Scriptures. <b>The order of events of evolutionary history cannot be reconciled with the account recorded in Genesis 1, without compromising one or the other</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The philosophies of evolution and biblical Christianity are not compatible. The examples from the texts below and the articles and books will demonstrate this from a biblical creationist perspective.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Reference Articles<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:1 Natural selection and speciation,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Ham, Wieland, and Batten,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/OneBlood/chapter2.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/OneBlood/chapter2.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“We have observed the change in dogs over time, but that doesn’t mean that evolution has occurred. You can breed wolves to get to chihuahuas, but you can’t breed chihuahuas to get wolves—variation in the genetic information has been lost. Darwin used this type of change as evidence without an understanding of the limits of genetic change that are known today.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolutionists often set up straw man arguments which suggest that creationists believe life was created just as it is seen today. Evolutionists demonstrate that there are many examples of change over time in species and suggest they have disproved creationism.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This is an inaccurate description of the biblical creationist model of life on earth. Creationists accept change in animals over time—God didn’t create poodles—but within the boundaries of the created kinds according to Genesis 1.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Using the dog kind as an example, we can see the amazing variety that was programmed into the DNA from creation. Using basic genetic principles and operational science, we can understand how the great diversity seen in the dogs of the present world could have come from one pair of dogs on Noah’s Ark. Using the genes A, B, and C as examples of recessive/dominant traits in dogs, if an AaBbCc male were to mate with an AaBbCc female, there are 27 different combinations (AABBCC … aabbcc) possible in the offspring.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">If these three genes coded for fur characteristics, we would get dogs with many types of fur—from long and thick to short and thin. As these dogs migrated around the globe after the Flood, they encountered different climates. Those that were better suited to the environment of the cold North survived and passed on the genes for long, thick fur. The opposite was true in the warmer climates.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Natural selection is a key component of the explanation of events following the Flood that led to the world we now see.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This type of speciation has been observed to happen very rapidly and involves mixing and expression of the preexisting genetic variability. Not only does natural selection select from already existing information, it causes a loss of information since unfavorable genes are removed from the population. Mutations are not able to add new information to the genome. Not a single mutation has been observed to cause an increase in the amount of information in a genome.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The differences in groups of similar organisms that are isolated from one another may eventually become great enough so that the populations no longer interbreed in the wild. <b>This is how new species have formed since the Flood and why the straw man argument set up at the beginning is a false representation of creationist interpretations</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">No matter how hard evolutionists try, they cannot explain where the new information that is necessary to turn a reptile into a bird comes from. The typical neo-Darwinian mechanism of mutation, chance, and time cannot generate new information. The failure of evolutionary models to explain how a single cell could have evolved more complex information by additive mutations challenges the entire concept.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">If we start from the Bible, we begin with the idea of specially created organisms possessing large amounts of genetic variability. These original kinds have undergone mutations—which cause a loss of information—and have been changed into new species by natural selection. In this biblical framework, the history of life makes sense.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:2 Is evolution a “fact” of science?</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Thompson,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/link.asp?http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/1985" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.apologeticspress.org/articles/1985</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In the media, textbooks, and scientific literature the occurrence of evolution has become a “fact.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The definition of the word</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">evolution</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">has also taken on two different meanings that are not equal. Evolution can be used in the sense of change in a species by natural selection. This is often referred to <b>as microevolution and is accepted by evolutionists and creationists alike as good observational science.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This type of evolution allows change within groups but not between groups. The other meaning of evolution involves the idea that all organisms on earth share a common ancestor by descent with modification. This idea is commonly referred to as macroevolution. (AiG does not endorse using the terms “microevolution” and “macroevolution.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It is not the amount of change that is different, but the type and direction of change that is different. These terms do not clarify that difference.) The two definitions are often used interchangeably. Typically, textbooks show that new species can form—evolution has occurred—so they argue that it is obvious that evolution, in the molecules-to-man sense, must have occurred. The problem is that just because natural selection and speciation have occurred (and there is strong evidence to support such claims) the claim that all life has evolved from a common ancestor is based on many assumptions that cannot be ultimately proven.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">People believe the ideas of the evolutionary development of life on earth for many reasons: it is all that they have been taught and exposed to, they believe the evidence supports evolution, they do not want to be lumped with people who do not believe in evolution and are often considered to be less intelligent or “backward,” evolution has the stamp of approval from real scientists, and evolutionary history allows people to reject the idea of God and legitimize their own immorality</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evaluating the presuppositions behind belief in evolution makes for a much more productive discussion. Two intelligent people can arrive at different conclusions using the same evidence; <b>so their starting assumptions is the most important issue in discussing historical science.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">When we deal with the issue of origins, we must realize that no people were there to observe and record the events</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;">. When scientists discuss the origins of the universe, the earth, or life on earth, <b>we must realize that the discussion is based on assumptions</b>. These fallible assumptions make the conclusions of the discussion less valid than if the discussion were based on actual observation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Almost all biology books and textbooks written in the last two generations have been written as if these presuppositions were true.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Proponents of the evolutionary worldview expect everyone to accept evolution as fact. This is a difficult case to make when the how, why, when, and where of evolutionary history are sharply contested or unknown by the scientists who insist evolution is a fact.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolutionists often claim that creation is not scientific because of the unprovable assumptions that it is based on. The fact that evolution is based on its own set of unprovable, untestable, and unfalsifiable assumptions is recognized by many in the scientific community.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Within the scientific literature, the mathematical and chemical impossibilities of the origin of the universe and life on earth are recognized. Many notable scientists, including Sir Fred Hoyle and Sir Francis Crick, have gone so far as to suggest that life originated on other planets or was brought to earth by an intelligent being. These ideas are no less testable than special creation but avoid invoking God as our Creator.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:3 Darwin’s illegitimate brainchild,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Grigg,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Creation</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">26(2):39–41, 2004<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The idea of natural selection was published well before Darwin wrote</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Origin of Species</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial;">. Darwin was most likely exposed to the idea in his days as a student in Edinburgh, and those ideas were integrated with the information gathered on his</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Beagle</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">voyage. Several scholars have suggested that Darwin borrowed ideas from the works of many of his predecessors and contemporaries.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It is suggested that Darwin failed to give credit to Edward Blyth for seminal ideas because Blyth was a “special creationist” who viewed natural selection in light of selecting among preexisting Darwin developed traits. Darwin is credited with the idea of evolution by natural selection, but it remains impotent in light of modern genetic concepts of information.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Darwin developed his ideas over many years after his journey aboard the Beagle. <b>The idea of natural selection was recognized by creationists before Darwin used it to remove the glory from God.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:4 Design without a designer,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Parker,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/ch2-design.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/ch2-design.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Darwin grew up in an England that acknowledged a biblical worldview. When he wrote On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, he had witnessed a world full of death and disease. How could this be the world created by the God of the Bible?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolutionary ideas offered people an alternative to a supernatural Creator. Life may appear to be designed, but it is just a product of random changes over millions of years of earth history. This offered people a “scientific” means to reject God and believe in a naturalistic view of the universe. Michael Denton suggests that the chief impact of Darwin’s ideas was to make atheism possible and respectable in light of the evidence for a Designer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Darwin’s ideas fostered an environment where God was no longer needed—nature was all that was necessary. Darwin’s ideas ushered in a pagan era that is now reaching a critical point. The idea that the appearance of design suggests a designer became an invalid argument in the eyes of evolutionists.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:5 Did God create poodles?</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Ham,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/go/poodles" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/go/poodles</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Poodles and all other current breeds of dogs are descended from a dog kind that was created on Day 6 and was present on the Ark. The varieties of dogs that we see today, from wolves to coyotes to poodles, are all descendants of the dog kind that came off Noah’s Ark.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">As populations of wild dogs were spreading across the globe, the environment shaped their characteristics through natural selection. As humans began to domesticate dogs, they artificially selected the traits that they desired in populations. The breeds of modern domestic dogs are a result of the diversity that was programmed into the DNA of the original dog kind. All domestic dogs belong to the same species</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Canis familiaris</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">and can interbreed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Purebred dogs have many genetic problems that result from close breeding of individuals over time to concentrate desirable traits. Many breeds have hip dysplaysia, vision problems, and blood disorders. We know that these dogs could not have been in the Garden of Eden because God called His creation “very good” and He would not have included these genetic mutations in that description.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">We do know that all of the breeds did come from a very narrow gene pool, and this is confirmed by secular scientists. In the journal Science, November 22, 2002, researchers reported, “The origin of the domestic dog from wolves has been established… . We examined the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence variation among 654 domestic dogs representing all major dog populations worldwide, … suggesting a common origin from a single gene pool for all dog populations.” It is still important to remember that no new information exists in these mutant forms, only a loss of information from the population, resulting in distinct traits.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:6 Comparative similarities:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">homology, Parker,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/ch1-homology.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/ch1-homology.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolutionists use the idea of “descent from a common ancestor” to explain why the forearm bones of a penguin, bat, and human are so similar. This explanation works for traits in your family, but can it be applied to the history of life on earth? The fact that we use such characteristics to classify organisms into groups does not mean that they are related to a common ancestor. The equally valid alternative is that all of these organisms were created by a common Designer who used the same design principles to accomplish similar functions. Although either explanation may appear equally valid, some instances make the case for a Creator clear.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">When structures that appear to be similar to one another develop under the control of genes that are not related, the common ancestor idea fails. Evolution would predict that the structures would be formed from a derived gene that has undergone modification through mutation and natural selection. Frogs and humans supposedly share a common ancestor that would account for the similarity of the limb structures. The problem is that when a frog’s digits develop, they grow out from buds in the embryonic hand. In humans, the digits begin as a solid plate and then tissue is removed to form the digits. These entirely different mechanisms produce the same result, but they are not the result of the same genes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Another challenge to evolutionary explanations is when two structures appear to be homologous but evolutionists know they don’t share a common ancestor. Such cases are called “convergent evolution.” The eyes of squids and vertebrates are an example where the eyes would be called homologous, but there is no common ancestor to account for the similarities. The common designer argument can once again be used to more easily explain the similarities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The opposite occurs in “divergent” structures where organisms that appear to be evolutionary cousins have drastically different mechanisms that cannot be explained by a common ancestor. Different light-focusing methods in shrimp provide an example. These systems accomplish the same goal with different and intricate design features— more evidence of their Creator.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Abandoning proof of evolution based on the similarities in large structures, many now look to the similarity in molecular and genetic structure to support evolution. The sporadic presence of hemoglobin in the evolutionary branches of invertebrates is one example. If evolution had occurred, we would expect a predictable pattern—that pattern does not exist. The hemoglobin must have evolved, despite its intricacies, in each of these groups independently. The facts confirm the creationist model of created kinds with great genetic variety and deny evolution from a common ancestor.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The alleged 98% similarity of human and chimp DNA, for example, is often touted as proof of the evolutionary closeness of the two. The 2% difference actually translates into about 60 million base pair differences. The small differences in the genes are actually turned into a large difference in the proteins produced.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The evidence supports the idea of a matrix of specially created organisms with traits occurring where and when they are needed. Discovering the details of this predictive pattern may someday strengthen the validity of the creationist perspective in the minds of skeptics.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:7 Does homology provide evidence of evolutionary naturalism?</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Bergman,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v15/i1/homology.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v15/i1/homology.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolutionists commonly point to the amazing similarity of muscle, bone, and cell structure and function among living things as evidence that all life on earth evolved from a common protocell ancestor some 3.5 billion years ago. Connecting existing animals to the fossil record extends the comparison back to the alleged beginning of time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The idea of homology as proof for evolution is present in almost every high-school or college text on the subject. Evolutionists argue that the only naturalistic explanation for homology is that all of the organisms evolved from a common ancestor. Design arguments are dismissed in naturalistic/ materialistic scientific explanations—even though a common designer can explain the similarities as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Before Darwin, creationists used the idea of “ideal archetypes” as evidence for a common designer. The features of comparative anatomy were later reinterpreted by evolutionary biologists to argue for descent from a common ancestor. The real question is: “Does the similarity prove that one structure evolved into another?” Since the requirements are similar for living things, homologous structures would be predicted based on a common designer—structures appear similar because they were designed to accomplish the same task.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Tires on bicycles look like tires on motorcycles, with design modifications. Kidneys in a skunk look similar to kidneys in a human because they perform the same task and were designed by a common Designer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolutionists tend to accept homologies that fit within the evolutionary framework and set aside those that do not support their predictions; supporting structures are called “homologous,” while those that don’t fit the theory are called “analogous.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The existence of similar body plans in organisms that are not considered to be closely related in evolutionary terms is said to demonstrate convergent evolution. The body plan works, so it evolved independently in the two organisms. There are also many exceptions and there is no way to trace many components back to their alleged ancestors due to the incomplete nature of the fossil evidence. Homologous structures cannot exclude the idea of design.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The idea of convergent evolution of analogous structures has trouble explaining exactly how these structures have evolved at different times to be analogous. Wings are supposed to have evolved in at least four different groups as analogous structures. Another example of convergent evolution is the striking similarity between dogs and the Tasmanian tiger (a marsupial). Evolutionists must say that the two evolved independently of one another even though the homology indicates otherwise. Convergent evolution is used as a way to explain away homologies that appear in organisms that aren’t supposed to be closely related.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolutionists use embryological development, the presence of vestigial organs, and biochemical and genetic homologies to argue for descent from a common ancestor. Yet the patterns expected from the Darwinian model of evolution are not seen in most instances. On the other hand, homologies confirm the creationist model of a common Designer, the Creator God of the Bible.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:8 Cutting out a useless vestigial argument,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Wilkinson,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v26/i3/vestigial.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v26/i3/vestigial.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“The presence of homologous structures can actually be interpreted as evidence for a common designer. Contrary to the oversimplified claim in this figure, the forelimbs of vertebrates do not form in the same way. Specifically, in frogs the phalanges form as buds that grow outward and in humans they form from a ridge that develops furrows inward. The fact that the bones can be correlated does not mean that they are evidence of a single common ancestor.2<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The pelvic bone in whales serves as an important anchor for muscles of the reproductive organs. Contrary to the claim in this figure, a structure cannot “show structural change over time.” The change over time must be inferred from assumptions about the fossil record and evolution. To know if an organ is vestigial, you must know its ancestors and exactly how the organ was used by those ancestors</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 7.5pt;">.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The idea of vestigial organs has been passed on for over 100 years. Vestigial organs are said to be remnants of organs that were used by an organism’s ancestors but are no longer needed, or they function in a reduced capacity in the modern organism.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The human appendix is one of the most used, or misused, examples. Just because we do not understand the function of an organ doesn’t mean that it serves no function. The appendix was once thought to be an evolutionary leftover, but today we know it serves an important immunological function. Most of the organs that were once thought to be vestigial have been shown to have functions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:9 When is a whale a whale?</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Gish,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/link.asp?http://www.icr.org/article/379" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.icr.org/article/379</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolutionists predict the presence of billions of transitional life forms that have existed in earth’s history. Despite the presence of 250,000 fossil species, clear transitional forms, which would bolster evolutionary theory, are virtually absent.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The situation of transitional forms is glaringly obvious in the case of whales and other marine mammals. The gap in transitional forms was supposedly filled by a partial fossil specimen named</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Pakicetus inachus</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial;">. Even though the fossil was only a fraction of the skull and a few teeth, the media and scientists portrayed it as a whale-like transitional form. The fact that it was found in a deposit that was likely from a river area puts the interpretation of</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Pakicetus</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">in doubt. (More complete specimens have been found that show Pakicetus as a dog-like land animal.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Fossils of</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Ambulocetus natans</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">were later discovered, and this creature was considered to be a walking whale. Despite the lack of a pelvic girdle (a partial pelvis was found in later specimens),</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Ambulocetus</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">is described as having walked on land much as sea lions do and swimming with a combined motion much as otters and seals do. Why a whale would have hooves on its rear feet and be living near the seashore are questions that are not answered by the fossils.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The deposits containing Ambulocetus were found 400 feet higher than where</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Pakicetus</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">was found, but both are supposedly 52 million years old.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Pakicetus</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">is called the oldest whale (cetacean), but</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Ambulocetus</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">is supposed to display transitional features as land animals turned into whales. Based on teeth alone, several other wolf-like carnivores (mesonychids) are thought to be ancestors as well. The exact arrangement of these groups is disputed, and some consider the mesonychids to be a branch separate from whales.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This interpretation of scant fossil evidence is very imaginative and totally necessary to support the notion that whales evolved from land animals. Such imaginative claims of evolutionary history have been claimed in the past only to be shown false. Further evidence will certainly change the current thinking in drastic ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:10 Are mutations part of the “engine” of evolution?</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Hodge, available at<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/wow/are-mutations-the-engine" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/wow/are-mutations-the-engine</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“There is little agreement about the evolutionary ancestor of whales. Some believe it was an ancestor of hippos and pigs, while others believe it was a group known as mesonychids. The contrary nature of the evidence and the lack of transitional forms in the fossil record strengthen the case for distinct groups of created organisms.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This chapter of</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">War of the Worldviews</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">details the common mechanisms of genetic mutation and explains how the mechanisms actually provide examples of a loss of information rather than the creation of new information necessary to explain molecules-to-man evolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In evolutionary theory, mutations are described as the mechanism that fuels the engine of natural selection, creating new organisms as a result. However, the vast majority of mutations are either neutral or cause a loss of information in the genetic code of an individual.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Here is a model to illustrate a point.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The differences between Creationists and non creation evolutionists:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">DNA gives information:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Creationist says, this proves intelligence, God’s Word is truth<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Non creationist says evolutionary change and man decides what is truth<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Observational Science gives initial information:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Creationist says this proves intelligence, God’s Word is Truth<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Non Creationist says evolutionary change, man decides what is truth<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Observational Science confirms intelligent design and proves God’s Word is Truth<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">But does not confirm evolutionary change and shows man’s truth is fickle.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Recent advances in the mechanisms of genetics have made it even clearer that the complex information system found in every living cell must be the result of a Designer. Mutations cannot explain how new information can be formed over time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Evolution teaches that mutations have accumulated over millions of years to increase the complexity of organisms on the earth. The Bible teaches that, as a result of Adam’s sin, all of creation is in a downward slide—including the genetic information that is in every living cell.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The law against marrying close relations was not given to Israel until Leviticus 18. Up to this point, the accumulation of genetic mistakes was apparently not significant enough to cause genetic disorders in the offspring of close family members.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Today, with thousands of years of accumulated genetic mistakes in the human gene pool, intermarriage would be much more likely to produce children with genetic disorders. So it seems that the explanation of a genetic degradation since the Curse of Adam actually fits the evidence better than the evolution model of increasing complexity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:11 Does the beak of the finch prove Darwin was right?</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Morris,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/link.asp?http://www.icr.org/article/1135" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.icr.org/article/1135</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">While on his journey aboard the Beagle, Darwin had an extended stay in the Galapagos Islands. He observed a group of finches that were similar to ones he had seen on the mainland 600 miles away. Darwin concluded that these birds were related to the birds on the mainland but had developed unique traits suited to the islands. The structure of the beaks was one of the key characteristics he studied. This interpretation was contrary to some creationists of his day who believed species could not change.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Darwin’s conclusion concerning finches matches that of the modern creationist models and demonstrates the variation within a kind that is observed in nature—the finches are still finches. Studies by Drs. Peter and Rosemary Grant over the past decades have shown that the beak size of the finches changes with the climate of the islands they inhabit. Beaks got larger during droughts and smaller during wet periods. All the while, the birds were observed to interbreed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This cannot be considered evidence of evolution in the molecules-to-man sense because there was no net change in the population, even though rapid changes in beak size were observed. The Grants’ work is an example of a good study using the principles of operational science arriving at a faulty interpretation based on evolutionary presuppositions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Often cited as evidence for evolution, the finches of the Galapagos actually demonstrate variation within a kind and the limits of change. Note that the graph shows no net change in the beak size of the finch—it leaves off right where it started. This is certainly evidence that populations can change but not that they can change into new kinds.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:12 Reticulate evolution,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Cumming,</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/link.asp?http://www.icr.org/article/418" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.icr.org/article/418</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Grants began studying the finch population of the Galapagos Islands in 1973. They monitored breeding, feeding, and physical data in the birds. The finches’ beak shape and size are the main characteristics that are used in classifying them. Even this is difficult with the variability seen in the beaks. One of the biggest problems for the finch studies is the extensive hybridization that occurs between the alleged species. The fact that these hybrids also reproduced should suggest that the three interbreeding species are actually one species.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This conclusion was set aside to suggest that hybridization is essential for and accelerates the rate of evolutionary change. The standard species concept was rejected to promote evolution. The hybridization demonstrates the common gene pool that these finches all share and the high degree of variability that was present in the first birds on the islands.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The branches and stems in the finch tree of life seem to be more like a thicket with interconnecting lines (termed reticulate evolution). The range of explanations for the process of evolution—it is a “fact” that it has occurred— now includes rapid or gradual, directed or undirected, tree or thicket. The creationist model can still be said to accommodate the data in a much more complete way. Variation within the created kind is confirmed in Darwin’s finches.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:13 Change, yes; evolution, no,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Parker,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/ch2-mutations.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/ch2-mutations.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The most persuasive—and dangerous—definition for evolution is “change through time.” Just because organisms can be observed to change over a period of time does not mean that all life has a common ancestor. If we think of the classic peppered moth example, we started with light and dark moths (Biston betularia) and ended up with light— and dark—colored moths of the same species in different proportions. This exemplifies the creationist idea of variation within a kind.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The natural selection that produces the variety of living things we see today began after Adam rebelled against God. The concept of natural selection was published in a biblical context by Edward Blyth 24 years before Darwin published Origin of Species. Blyth is forgotten and Darwin is remembered because of the philosophic and religious implications of his idea, not the scientific applications.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Natural selection has been shown to change organisms but always within the boundaries of the created kinds. This type of change is often termed “microevolution,” and the hypothetical type of change that turns fish into philosophers is known as “macroevolution.” The large-scale changes through time are simply dramatic extrapolations of the observed phenomenon of natural selection. This degree of extrapolation has no basis in operational science.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">There are limits to the amount and type of genetic change that can occur—no matter what amount of time is allowed. As an illustration: if you can pedal a bicycle at 10 mph, how long would it take to reach the moon? Bicycles have limits that would make this goal impossible regardless of the time you have to accomplish it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3:14 Henry Zuill on biology,</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Ashton,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/isd/zuill.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/isd/zuill.asp</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">When we look at the world, we see a complex interaction between living things, from bacteria to grizzly bears; all life depends on other life around it. The complexities of relationships in the ecosystems that make up the earth are just as complex as those seen inside each living cell. Biodiversity and the relationships that it incorporates are a hallmark of the design of the Creator. The more diverse and complex an ecosystem is, the more stable it is. Each species in an ecosystem provides a service, but often providers of that service overlap and each species may perform several services. Removal of one of the species has an impact on all other species.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This interdependency is supposed to demonstrate how organisms have evolved alongside one another. But how did the first organism survive without the second, and vice versa?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Being created together is a simple explanation, and evolution has great difficulty explaining the many instances of species that absolutely depend on one another for their survival.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">When cells were described as simple blobs of jelly, it was easy to imagine that they arose spontaneously. Today, the complexity of a single cell defies an origin from simple matter. As we understand more about ecological interactions, it is apparent that the evolutionary relationships that were once assumed to be simplistic are now known to have many layers of complexity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The coevolution of complex symbiotic relationships required the existence of relationships. This provides no answer to the origin of the relationships. If the two organisms were created to coexist, a fine-tuning of the relationship would be expected in the creationist framework.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Predators and parasites developed in response to the degraded world after the Flood. The created kinds may have changed, but the general relationships present before the Fall probably remained intact to some degree. The relationships seen are a testament to the Creator who instilled order and flexibility into the system. Evolutionary views cannot adequately explain the symbiotic nature of all living things.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>Please continue reading this by clicking on the following shortcut link</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #e5eebb; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"></span></b></span><br />
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="font: normal normal normal 30px/normal Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; position: relative;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a href="http://lastdayschristianmessenger.blogspot.com/2011/09/exposing-flaws-of-traditional-but_07.html">Exposing The Flaws Of Traditional (But Faulty) Evolutionary Teaching But Giving Strong Evidence For A Creator and Creational Evolution PART 2</a></span></b></h3><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #e5eebb; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span></div></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-44447647641832095032011-09-07T15:06:00.000+01:002011-09-07T15:06:46.804+01:00Evidence That Global Conditions (After Noah's Flood) Led To Ice Age<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<h2 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ebebeb; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 2.5pt; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">What Was the Post-Flood World Like?<o:p></o:p></span></h2><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The Flood of Noah’s day was the greatest catastrophe in earth history, and it involved much more than rain. It reshaped the surface of the earth, spawning massive volcanoes and earthquakes that dwarf anything observed in modern times. Such a tremendous catastrophe would have radically altered the earth’s climate, resulting in an Ice Age.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">In general terms, an “ice age” is a time of extensive glacial activity that covers a relatively large area with ice. During the Ice Age, which ended a few thousand years ago, 30% of the land surface of the earth was covered by ice. In North America an ice sheet covered almost all of Canada and the northern United States.<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">Today, only 10% of the earth’s surface is covered by ice.</span></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">We know the extent of the Ice Age because the glaciers left features on the landscape similar to features we observe around glaciers today, such as lateral and terminal moraines. A “lateral moraine” is a mound of rocks of varying sizes deposited to the side of a moving glacier, and a “terminal” or “end” moraine is a mound of rocks dumped in front of the glacier.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Two particular aspects of the Flood were instrumental in causing the Ice Age: (1) extensive volcanic activity during and after the Flood, and (2) the warm oceans following the Flood. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">To learn more about<a name='more'></a> the cause and extent of the Ice Age, see <a href="http://publish.pizzazzemail.com/t?r=1487&c=672687&l=32145&ctl=140BF29:4278008C0266AC65008492A09444F3F22E6A3F492853F022&" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Setting the Stage for an Ice Age</a>.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoCaption" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;">The worldwide Flood would have caused upheavals and tremendous volcanic activity. As a result, a shroud of volcanic dust and aerosols (very small particles) would have been cast into the stratosphere (the layer of the atmosphere from 12 to 21 miles above the earth’s surface) and trapped there for several years following the Flood. These particles would have reflected some sunlight back to space and caused cooler summers, mainly over large landmasses.</span></div><div class="MsoCaption" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoCaption" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">The rapid Flood currents would mix the warm water so there would be no sea ice and there would be a much higher evaporation of the sea. The result would be heavy snow over the middle latitudes and polar regions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 22px; font-weight: bold;">The Flood-Caused Ice Age</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Two particular aspects of the Flood were instrumental in causing the Ice Age: (1) extensive volcanic activity during and after the Flood, and (2) the warm oceans following the Flood.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">The opening of the “<span class="scripture">fountains of the great deep</span>” and the resulting worldwide Flood would have caused upheavals and tremendous volcanic activity. A shroud of volcanic dust and aerosols (very small particles) would have been cast into the stratosphere and trapped there for several years following the Flood. These particles would have reflected some of the sunlight back to space and caused cooler summers, mainly over large landmasses.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Extensive volcanic activity would have continued for a number of years after the Flood and gradually declined as crustal magma solidified and crustal movements lessened. There is abundant evidence of extraordinary volcanic activity during the Ice Age, which would have replenished the dust and aerosols in the stratosphere. Ice cores taken from Greenland and Antarctica also show abundant volcanic particles and acids in the sections associated with the Ice Age.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">An Ice Age also requires huge amounts of water in the atmosphere, which then falls as snow. But where would the tremendous amounts of water necessary to saturate the atmosphere have come from? The Genesis account records that the “<span class="scripture">fountains of the great deep</span>” burst forth during the Flood (<a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis7:11&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 7:11</a>).</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Movements in the earth’s crust would have released high-pressure outflows of deep, hot water reservoirs, while huge volcanoes and large underwater lava flows would have added heat to the oceans (see “<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v2/n2/a-catastrophic-breakup" style="color: #de7008;">A Catastrophic Breakup</a>” on p. 44). The rapid Flood currents would mix the warm water, driving it from pole to pole.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Warm water would prevent the formation of ice in the sea. As a result, the warm ocean would have a much higher level of evaporation than that in the modern cool ocean. Under such conditions, most of the resulting snow would fall in the middle latitudes and polar regions. Warm water and cold continents are a recipe for powerful and continuous snowstorms, whose behavior can be estimated using basic weather principles.<o:p></o:p></span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 16.5pt;">The Rapid Ice Age<o:p></o:p></span></h2><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Based on what we know about atmospheric science, we can estimate where the warm water would evaporate, how deep the ice would become, and even how long the Ice Age would last. To answer these questions, we need to know how long the major volcanic activity lasted and how much time passed before the oceans cooled. Once the volcanoes waned and the oceans cooled, the ice sheets would have stopped growing and begun to melt.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">I have calculated that at the height of the Ice Age the average depth of ice over much of the Northern Hemisphere was approximately 2,300 ft (701 m) and that it took about 500 years to accumulate to that depth. This approximation was calculated by estimating the sources of water vapor, including evaporation from the warm ocean at mid- and high-latitude as it cooled, and transport from low latitudes to higher latitudes. Two-thirds of the cooling of the oceans is by evaporation of water.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">By estimating the initial and threshold average ocean temperature, I was also able to estimate the evaporation. I then calculated the approximate proportion of water vapor that would fall on the ice sheet. I used minimums and maximums for the variables and estimated the best value in the middle.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">If we apply the melt equation to ice sheet meltback (about 33 ft [10 m] per year along the edge, but slower in the interior), the gigantic glacial ice sheets (after the peak in accumulation) would have melted within 200 years. Of course, Greenland and Antarctica would have continued to grow because of their high latitude and altitude. Thus, the total time for the Ice Age is a maximum of only about 700 years (500 years to accumulate, 200 years to melt).<o:p></o:p></span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 16.5pt;">The Flood Solves Time Challenges<o:p></o:p></span></h2><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 10pt; margin-right: 1.65pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Based on what we know about the impact of the global Flood on the continents, sediments, and climate, it is clear that an ice age would not require hundreds of thousands to millions of years, as stipulated by evolutionary beliefs. Moreover, it is unnecessary to accept the current complicated evolutionary ideas of about 30 separate ice ages over the past 2.5 million years, with the most recent ones lasting 100,000 years and the earlier ones lasting 40,000 years. Instead, by starting with the Bible’s history of the Flood and then looking at the evidence from this biblical perspective, we can readily understand both how the Ice Age started and how long it lasted. </span></div></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-47751175626020457182011-09-07T15:04:00.003+01:002011-09-08T08:17:15.088+01:00Astronomical Evidence For Creation and a Young Universe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">More evidence against the atheistic evolutionists who are trying to put a blindfold on the world by distorting and hiding the actual truth or denying the facts. They make massive assumptions about evolution but ignore the evidence which suggests the evolutionary process could have been far different to how they present it. It is all a hoax led by satan to prevent people trusting in Jesus for the salvation of their souls. Please watch - very interesting!!!!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
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There is a series of videos. Please watch the first one and then follow instructions for watching the other 8, ie 9 videos. All very very good! Please click on this following shortcut link to watch the first video<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtFjGvf6QFg&feature=PlayList&p=00B9484F7C1D266B&index=0&playnext=1://"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtFjGvf6QFg&feature=PlayList&p=00B9484F7C1D266B&index=0&playnext=1://</span></a></div></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-83421968985757603172011-09-07T14:01:00.000+01:002011-09-07T14:01:51.490+01:00Evidence That Neandertal Men and Cavemen Lived In Bible Times and were human<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">I have included 3 articles here. 2 about Neandertal Man and one about cavemen. These articles give evidence and support that these men actually lived within Bible times during the ice-age, which followed shortly after</span> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">the global Noah’s flood. The Ice-age was probably caused by the flood and not as evolutionists tell us who base their calculations on theories and assumptions based on "seen" evidence and not scientifically proven through observing change.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">The ice-age would have occurred quite soon after the global Noah’s flood) when the dispersion took place of mankind throughout the Earth,after God divided the tongues at Babel.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">The articles are: “The Caring Neandertal”, “Neandertal Man, the changing picture” and "were cavemen really Primitive?". These were all found on Answers in Genesis website. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 28px;"><br />
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The caring Neandertal<a name='more'></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">by</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v18/i4/#author" style="color: #de7008;"><b><span style="color: #0083d7; font-size: 10pt;">A.J. Monty White</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">If we are ever asked to imagine what a Neandertal was like, most of us would think of some half-witted cretin. In fact, the word Neandertal is often used as a term of abuse. It generally signifies that the individual to whom reference is being made acts brutishly and has very little feeling for others. This is a pity, because the more we learn about the Neandertals, the more we are forced to conclude that although they may have looked brutish, they were very caring people, who looked after the sick and elderly members of their communities.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">The Neandertals are named after the Neander Valley, not far from Düsseldorf in Germany. The fossilized remains of a Neandertal man were first found there in a cave in 1857. Since then, remains of Neandertals have been found in western Europe, the Near East, and western Asia. Compared with modern Europeans, the Neandertal people were rather robust, and so for almost a century it was mistakenly believed that they<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">were half way between ape-like creatures and humans.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><u1:p></u1:p><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">The idea that the Neandertals were a link between apes and humans was reinforced by drawings which depicted them as stooping half-ape/half-human brutes ambling along on the outsides of their feet, like some oversized chimpanzee.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">This view persisted until the mid-1950s when a couple of American anatomists concluded that there was no valid reason for assuming that the Neandertal posture was different from that of modern humans. They went on to suggest that if a Neandertal man were bathed, shaved, and dressed in modern clothing he would probably pass unnoticed in a New York subway!<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">It has also been suggested that much of the brutish appearance of the Neandertals, such as their eyebrow ridges, is due to the enormous chewing stress on the skull imposed by their powerful jaws. And this was due to the common eating of tough food.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">They are now placed in the same species as modern-day humans, being put into the sub-species<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Homo sapiens neanderthalensis</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>(with us being in the sub-species<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Homo sapiens sapiens</i>). However, the bony differences between them and modern people may be the result of trivial genetic differences. Similarly, people of modern ‘races’ today look more different than they are at the genetic level. Some ‘Neandertal’ bony characteristics are found in some Europeans today.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">From their remains, it has been discovered that some of the Neandertal people suffered from rickets. Rickets is a disease of childhood resulting from a deficiency of Vitamin D. Because this vitamin helps the absorption of calcium from the food we eat, people suffering from rickets have soft bones which cause them to have swollen joints and distorted limbs—sometimes they are extremely bow-legged, but in more severe cases they are completely crippled and unable to walk.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Vitamin D is found in fish oils, milk, and dairy products. If your diet is deficient in these, you may develop rickets. The fact that some Neandertals suffered from rickets indicates that they had a diet which lacked these products. However, you can get Vitamin D another way—Vitamin D is made in the skin when it is exposed to sunlight. From this we are able to conclude that the Neandertal people who had rickets must have lived at a time when they would not have been exposed to much sunlight—such as during the Ice Age.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Some of the Neandertal people suffered from arthritis, while others sustained injuries during their lifetime - perhaps by falling over when hunting. Broken bones were not uncommon. Although such people were no longer productive members of their community, they were cared for by other members of their tribe. Their bones demonstrate that they kept on living long after the onset of their disability. This shows that these people had tender feelings for each other—sometimes apparently providing support for those they knew would<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>never</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>get better.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">From the evidence discovered, it can be deduced that the Neandertals were good hunters, making and using rather elegant stone tools effectively. They lived in huts which they sometimes located in caves. They kept warm with fires on which they burned bones—because it was the middle of an Ice Age, when there were not many trees growing in Europe.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">They cooked their food on fires, sometimes using stone hot plates. They wore clothes which they made by sewing animal skins together. In fact, far from being dull-witted brutes, these people were quite sophisticated—there is even evidence of a form of writing!<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">The Neandertal people also had a sense of the after-life—they buried their dead with ceremony and arranged flowers around the bodies of their dead. A pollen analysis of one grave from the Shanidar cave in the Zagros Mountains in Iraq has revealed the presence of yarrow, cornflower, St Barnaby’s thistle, ragwort, grape hyacinth, hollyhock, and woody horsetail. Most of these plants are known to have herbal and medicinal properties, so it appears that the Neandertals had some knowledge of medicine.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">None of this is surprising when we consider that they were not primitive evolutionary ‘links’. They were people, forced to live in harsh conditions, after the dispersal of humanity at Babel, during the great post-Flood Ice Age.<sup>3</sup><u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">A.J. Monty White, B.Sc., Ph.D., C.Chem., MRSC, is a well-known author and creation speaker in the United Kingdom. He is the author of the book<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Wonderfully Made</i>, which deals with the origin of people.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.5pt;"></span></div><div style="border-color: initial; border-width: initial;">References and notes<u1:p></u1:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">1. <span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>Anthropologist Marcellin Boule was responsible for much of the attribution of ‘subhuman’ characteristics to Neandertals. It seems that what really persuaded him about the truth of human evolution was the Piltdown skull, which later turned out to be a clever fraud. In turn, this conviction caused him to emphasize and exaggerate some characters in Neandertal bones to fit the ‘subhuman’ idea.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">2. <span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>John Reader,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Missing Links</i>, Book Club Associates, London, 1981, p. 36.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">3. <span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>See Life in the Great Ice Age, by Michael and Beverly Oard, Creation-Life Publishers, Inc., California, 1993.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.5pt;">Neandertal Man—the changing picture<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 24pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;">An overview of how this alleged ‘subhuman’ is being progressively rehabilitated, despite the evolutionary bias resisting the trend.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/m_oard.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><b><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Michael J. Oard</span></b></a><u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">17 February 2003<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">‘Neandertal man’ was the name given to bones found in 1856 in Germany’s Neander Valley (‘tal’, or ‘thal’ in old German spelling). The name Neander was a pseudonym of the 17<sup>th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>century minister Joachim Neumann, the Greek translation of his name (‘new man’).<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">A recent major PBS-TV series on evolution<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn1" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">1</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>depicted Neandertal Man as only half human and not very intelligent, one who lived a very inferior life compared to the alleged first humans, the Cro-Magnon people. Some scientists today believe he was ‘lacking the language skills, foresight, creativity, and other cognitive abilities of modern humans’.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn2" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">2</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>Neandertal Man is considered to be either a link leading to man or a dead end in human evolution from the supposed ape-like ancestor.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Biblical creationists, on the other hand, believe that there were no ‘subhumans’ at any time. Neandertal fossils are all post-Flood, so these bones are believed to represent just one more group of people which split off from other groups following the Babel dispersion.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">The evolutionary assumptions about the Neandertal Man began early this century. The first Neandertal was reconstructed as a ‘missing link’ by famous paleontologist Marcellin Boule (1861–1942).<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn3" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">3</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>He was called<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Homo neanderthalensis</i>, implying a primitive evolutionary link to modern man,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Homo sapiens</i>.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Forty-four years later, a reanalysis of Boule’s work showed his extreme evolutionary bias in the reconstruction of Neandertal Man. After the reanalysis, some scientists stated that if you dressed him up, gave him a shave and bath, and sent him into society, he would attract no more attention than some of the subway’s other denizens (see<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#box" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Recreating the faces of our Neandertal cousins</span></a>, below). Neandertal Man was then reclassified as<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Homo sapiens neanderthalensis</i>, just a particular type of modern man.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">It is interesting that, just as with Piltdown Man, Neandertal’s uplifted status was hailed as a ‘great moment in science’ in which errors are eventually corrected. But the clues to Neandertal Man’s human affinity were obvious at the time of Boule’s reconstruction, just as it should have been obvious that Piltdown Man was a fraud.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">The great pathologist Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902) claimed that the Neandertal specimen he examined had rickets and arthritis, which may have caused some of the unique Neandertal features, but his opinion was overlooked.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn4" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">4</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>It took 44 years for the highly misleading nature of the reconstructions to be revealed, indicative of the shared bias of the evolutionary community.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Even after the Neandertal reconstruction at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago was shown to be false and highly misleading, it took another 20 years for this renowned institution to correct its display!<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Although the image of Neandertal Man improved by the 1950s and 1960s, there still is considerable controversy within evolutionary circles over his status,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn5" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">5</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>with many still preferring the ‘missing link’ concept. Although his brain size is a little larger than modern man’s,<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Neandertal’s brain is said to be of ‘lesser quality.’ Some believe he had incredible physical strength and would fight large animals at close quarters, while others claim he was a scavenger or even a vegetarian. Evolutionists do not know where Neandertal Man came from or where he went.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">One faction of evolutionists believes modern man, Cro-Magnons, killed the Neandertals, while others believe Neandertal interbred with Cro-Magnon Man, eventually becoming modern man. Neandertal Man disappeared about 30,000 years ago in the evolutionary timescale—a more or less ‘absolute’ date, despite evidence of younger Neandertals.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn6" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">6</span></sup></a><u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Another difficulty for evolutionists is evidence that Neandertal Man lived at the same time as modern man and ‘archaic<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Homo sapiens</i>’, sometimes in the same area. This creates big problems for those professing Christians who, like Hugh Ross, generally accept secular dating methods.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Since they cannot date Adam back too far without stretching the genealogies beyond recognition, any human-type skeletons ‘dated’ earlier than a few tens of thousands of years ago have to be written off as pre-Adamic ‘soulless’ quasihumans. Biblical creationists believe Neandertal Man was just a unique variant of modern man who lived in Europe and adjacent Asia and North Africa after the Babel dispersion in the Ice Age (the aftermath of the Flood—<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn24" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">ref. 24</span></a>).<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Despite the PBS series on evolution, the status of Neandertal Man has been improving among evolutionists during the past 10 years. The series’ failure to mention any of the recent discoveries appears to be typical of its whole propagandistic thrust. The discovery of a human hyoid bone (related to the larynx or voice box) prompted many evolutionists to state that Neandertal Man had speech and language ability<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>equivalent</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>to modern man.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn7" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">7</span></sup></a><u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Trinkaus and Shipman<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn8" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">8</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>say:<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">‘Although no one had explicitly predicted what a Neandertal hyoid would look like, few were really surprised when it turned out to be a slightly enlarged version of a human hyoid and nothing like an ape hyoid ... . Many anthropologists came to believe that Neandertals could have spoken any modern human language, whatever their accent may have been.’<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Although the Neandertal hyoid bone was indistinguishable from those of modern humans, some still downplay its significance to speech ability. A later report based on further anatomical evidence concludes that language has been around for 400,000 years of evolutionary time, including the entire Neandertal period.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn9" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">9</span></sup></a><u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">The PBS series pointed out that Neandertal burials left little evidence of ritual as compared to those by later humans. Besides leaving me suspicious that their case was concocted, any difference may not mean much, since there are other ways to explain the scarcity of implements or other signs of ritual with Neandertal skeletons. Lately, more evidence of ritual has been showing up.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">A Neandertal baby was found buried in Israel with a red deer jawbone next to its hip indicating that Neandertal Man at least had the<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>capability for symbolic behavior</i>.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn10" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">10</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>A Neandertal toddler was unearthed in Syria at the bottom of a 1.5 m (5 ft) -deep pit, with a flint tool resting at about the spot where the infant’s heart had once beaten. This discovery is considered ‘the best evidence yet of Neandertal burial practices’.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn11" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">11</span></sup></a><u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Furthermore, pierced animal teeth, probably worn as pendants, and ivory rings were discovered with a Neandertal fossil in a French cave in 1996.<sup>2,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn12" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">12</span></a></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>Moreover, it is now known that Neandertals made their own, relatively sophisticated ornaments and tools.<sup>2</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>This suggests ‘a high degree of acculturation’.<sup>12</sup><u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">At one time archaeologists did not believe Neandertals used spears, but this idea has been given the shaft by the finding of aerodynamic wooden spears used by the supposed ancestors of Neandertals.<sup>2</sup><u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Furthermore, it has been discovered that Neandertals crafted a variety of stone tools and deadly, stone-tipped spears, showing an aptitude often attributed only to modern humans.<sup>2,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn13" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">13</span></a>,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn14" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">14</span></a></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> <u1:p></u1:p></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Some scientists had claimed that Neandertal Man was only capable of scavenging carcasses, but a new analysis of break and cut marks on animal bones in caves indicates that he butchered the animals, which is consistent with hunting.<sup>2</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>John Shea, who featured in the PBS series, states that this new information contradicts the idea that Neandertals were markedly inferior.<sup>2</sup><u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">A very recent report now finds that Neandertals used stone implements in more flexible ways than previously thought, which gave them access to a more varied diet of meat and plants.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn15" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">15</span></sup></a><sup>,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn16" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">16</span></a></sup>Based on microscopic evidence of use-wear and residues left on the stone tools in the Crimea,<sup>16</sup>the report suggests that those who used the tools, likely Neandertals, exploited a variety of woody and starchy plants and even hunted birds. Residues of bird feathers were found on some of the tools.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">It has recently been concluded that Neandertals lived side-by-side with modern humans in the Middle East for 100,000 years of evolutionary time and made virtually identical stone tools.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn17" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">17</span></sup></a>Hybrids of Neandertals and humans are known from a number of areas,<sup>8</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>including a recent find of a child in Portugal.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn18" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">18</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>It is not difficult to conclude that Neandertal Man was totally human, and that modern humans and Neandertals likely amalgamated in Europe.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">One report claimed that Neandertal Man’s DNA was quite different from modern humans, supposedly justifying the classification of them into a different species than modern man. But its author, the famed Svente Pääbo, claims that his paper has been misinterpreted.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn19" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">19</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>And mitochondrial DNA retrieved from an Australian<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Homo sapiens</i>, claimed to be 62,000 years old, also differs greatly from that of modern humans.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn20" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">20</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> <u1:p></u1:p></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">The team that made the DNA discovery believes this new result will usher Neandertal Man back into the human fold. This result also suggests that DNA studies are not very good for determining supposed evolutionary closeness.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">It has been suggested that Neandertal Man fashioned a bone flute, an obvious human accomplishment. This deduction is strongly disputed, claiming that the holes in a hollowed-out bear bone were punctured and gnawed by the teeth of an animal, possibly a wolf.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn21" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">21</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> <u1:p></u1:p></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">However, the two complete and two partial holes in the picture shown are<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>linear and very round</i>, making the carnivore theory suspect. Besides, there are about 30 partial bone flutes that have been found in Europe late in the Neandertal period and younger.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn22" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">22</span></sup></a><u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Those scientists that dispute Neandertal’s human affinity seem to forget that he lived during the Ice Age and was able to survive the cold and harsh weather.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn23" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">23</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>Neandertal Man had to have a human level of sophistication to survive.<sup>9<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: #0083d7;">,</span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn24" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">24</span></a></sup>)<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">A new article published in the journal<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Nature</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>now claims that Neandertals, or possibly modern humans, lived in northern Russia during the Ice Age.<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn25" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">25</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>It had been widely believed that no humans lived in this region until 14,000 years ago in evolutionary time. Based on a mammoth tusk bearing cut marks, likely made from stone tools, the earliest date of man living in this cold territory during the Ice Age was pushed back to 40,000 years.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">The significance of this is that ‘adaptation to northern climes requires high levels of technological and social organization’,<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftn26" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><sup><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">26</span></sup></a>strongly suggesting that Neandertal Man, if he was the tool user, was fully human.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Many of these reports of Neandertal’s total humanity are disputed by some scientists, seemingly motivated by a blind evolutionary bias. In one scene from the similarly biased PBS series, John Shea throws a Neandertal spear with a heavy head 23 or 24 m (80 ft), while he throws a later human spear 42 m (140 feet). This demonstration implied that Neandertals were inferior to modern people. But earlier in the Neandertal episode it was concluded that Neandertals were very strong: the body builders of the Paleolithic.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">It therefore stands to reason that Neandertal Man could throw his spear significantly farther than 24 m, and that the heavy, sharp stone tip would have been very effective in hunting. The spear that was thrown 42 m had a light antler head and was thrown with the aid of a spear thrower.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Despite all the prejudice towards including Neandertals into<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Homo sapiens</i>, many evolutionists have become impressed with the evidence for Neandertal’s humanity, as research casts a ‘more complimentary light on the older cousins. This emerging view depicts Neandertals as having a capacity for creative, flexible behavior somewhat like that of modern people’.<sup>2<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></sup>Thus, the evidence increasingly supports the Biblical position.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><hr align="center" size="3" width="100%" /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;">RECREATING THE FACES OF OUR NEANDERTAL COUSINS<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">From their skeletons, we know that the average Neandertal person had bony differences from the average person alive today, including a bigger braincase. So what did they look like?<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Bones cannot tell you about things like hairiness, nor the shape of the fleshy parts, like nose or ears. But computerized forensic science has come a long way in making educated ‘guesses’ at a person’s appearance from the shape of a skull. As reported in January 1996<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>National Geographic</i>, researchers at the University of Illinois used computer ‘morphing’ techniques to fit pictures of living people onto Neandertal’s skulls.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Unlike the artistic reconstructions of earlier times, this time nothing was imaginatively added based on evolutionary assumptions of ‘primitivity’. The results indicate that the bones of the skull would not preclude Neandertals from looking like people you would not greatly comment on (apart from hair and dress style) if they moved in next door to you today.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0083d7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">Were cavemen really primitive?<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What comes into your mind when you hear the word<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>cavemen</i>? We have been so evolutionized that the majority of people immediately think of hairy, brutish men usually dressed in animal skins who carry a big club, which they use to attract (well, clobber) a wife. We also think of them making grunting noises to each other because they have not yet learned to speak properly. And sadly, the terms<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>cavemen</i>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>primitive</i>, and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>prehistoric</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>tend to go together into the same sentence and then into our thought processes.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">In contrast, when we hear the words<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>the sixties</i>, we usually think of the Beatles, the assassination of JFK, and the Apollo moon landings. Would you ever think there could be a connection with these two apparently different worlds?<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">In a place called Kinver, near Stourbridge in the center of England, some rock houses, now owned by the National Trust, are a fascinating place to visit. These caves were the basis for eleven separate houses for many years. The last inhabitant was forced to leave in 1967 due to legislation which prohibited dwellings that were devoid of electricity, sanitation, and running water. Reluctantly, these cavemen of the sixties left their caves for normal houses.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">These cave-dwellers were far from primitive. The children went to school, the men worked in local industry, and the women took in laundry from the town below. They got water from a well and heated it on a full-sized cooking range, which was built into the rock wall in their living room. The hot water was then taken outside to a “dolly-tub” in a washhouse carved in another rock.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">These hardships could not have made for an easy life, but it was a life the inhabitants preferred to lead, rather than to rent a more conventional home. They even baked cakes on their range and sold them and other refreshments to curious visitors who would travel to catch sight of these cave-dwellers. Many of them also placed their family Bibles in a prominent place in their homes.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">In many parts of the world, people still live in caves; some even have electricity and television. Far from being brutish, cave-dwellers are no different from any of the rest of Adam’s fallen race, for whom the Saviour died. Caves make ideal homes and offer great protection from the elements. Incidentally would have been very useful during the ice-age (which would have occurred quite soon after the global Noah’s flood) when the dispersion took place of mankind throughout the Earth,after God divided the tongues at Babel </span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">It makes sense that people would utilise these provisions and turn them into homes. We need to eradicate primitive thoughts of these people from our minds and rather think of how sensible and enterprising cave-dwellers have been throughout the centuries.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">To see these modern day “cavemen” for yourself and to read more, visit</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://publish.pizzazzemail.com/t?r=1487&c=670590&l=32145&ctl=1404632:4278008C0266AC65FB474A367822691F2E6A3F492853F022&" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Kinver Caveman</a></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">on our site.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><br clear="all" /><u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"></span></span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><div style="border-color: initial; border-width: initial;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.5pt;">References<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref1" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[1]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>For more information on this topic, see our<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/Anthropology.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Get Answers: Anthropology and Apeman</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>section.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref2" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[2]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Brainard, J., Giving Neandertals their due—similarities with modern humans shift the image of the caveman brute,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Science News</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>154(5):72–74, 1998.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref3" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[3]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/m_lubenow.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Lubenow, M.L.</span></a>,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/onlinestore/gateway.asp?PageType=detail&UID=10-2-006" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Bones of contention—creationist assessment of human fossils</span></a></i>, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, pp. 36–39, 1992.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref4" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[4]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>It is not claimed here that all of the Neandertal bony features are the consequence of disease, the major cause of the variation is almost certainly genetic, as is the variation in external features among different groups of people today. In any case, not all Neandertals had these pathologies.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref5" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[5]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Ref. 3 , pp. 59–77.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref6" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[6]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Bower, B., Neandertals show staying power in Europe,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Science News</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>156(18):277, 1999.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref7" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[7]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Bower, B., Neandertals to investigators: can we talk?<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Science News</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>141(15):230, 1992.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref8" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[8]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Trinkus, E. and Shipman, P.,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>The Neandertals—changing the image of mankind</i>, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, p. 391, 1993.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref9" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[9]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Bower, B., Language origins may reside in skull canal,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Science News</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>153(18):276, 1998.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref10" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[10]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Bower, B., Neandertal tot enters human-origins debate,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Science News</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>145(1):5, 1994.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref11" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[11]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Bower, B., Child’s bones found in Neandertal burial,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Science News</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>148(17):261, 1995.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref12" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[12]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Hublin, J.J., Spoor, F., Braun, M., Zonneveld, F. and Condemi, S., A late Neanderthal associated with Upper Palaeolithic artifacts,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Nature</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>381(6579):224–226, 1996.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref13" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[13]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Bower, B., Neandertal hunters get to the point,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Science News</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>156(1):4, 1999.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref14" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[14]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Bower, B., Tool time in the Stone Age,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Science News</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>156(16):254, 1999.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref15" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[15]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Bower, B., Neandertals used tools with versatility,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Science News</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>160(12):187, 2001.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref16" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[16]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Hardy, B.L., Kay, M., Marks, A.E. and Monigal, K., Stone tool function at the paleolithic sites of Starosele and Buran Kaya III, Crimea: behavioral implications,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Science</i>98(19):10972–10977, 2001.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref17" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[17]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Bowers, B., Neandertals and humans each get a grip,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Science News</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>159(6):84, 2001.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref18" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[18]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Bower, B., Fossil may expose humanity’s hybrid roots,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Science News</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>155(19):295, 1999.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref19" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[19]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Despite that small section he analyzed differing from modern humans, he does not exclude the possibility that Neandertals and modern humans interbred, he claimed on a Nova TV program. See also Lubenow,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/magazines/technical.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">CEN</span></a></i><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/magazines/technical.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><i><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Tech. J.</span></i></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>12(1):87–97, 1998.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref20" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[20]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Bower, B., Gene, fossil data back diverse human roots,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Science News</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>159(2):21, 2001. Also <<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2001/0117mungo.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">www.answersingenesis.org/mungo</span></a>>.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref21" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[21]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Bowers, B., Doubts aired over Neandertal bone ‘flute’,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Science News</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>153(14):215, 1998.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref22" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[22]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Bowers, B., Chinese dig sound from ancient flute,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Science News</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>156(13):197, 1999.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref23" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[23]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Constable, G.,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>The Neanderthals</i>, Time-Life Books, New York, pp. 38–58, 1973.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref24" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[24]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>For a story of the interaction of Neandertals with modern humans, i.e. Cro-Magnons, during the Ice Age in Europe see Oard, M. and Oard, B<i>.,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/onlinestore/gateway.asp?PageType=detail&UID=10-1-024" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">Life in the Great Ice Age</span></a></i>, Master Books, Arkansas, 1993.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref25" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[25]<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>Pavlov, P., Svendsen, J.I. and Indrelid, S., Human presence in the European Arctic nearly 40,000 years ago,<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><i>Nature</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>413(6851):64–67, 2001.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/#_ftnref26" style="color: #de7008;" title=""><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;">[26]</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #0083d7; text-decoration: none;"> </span></span></a>Gowlett, J.A.J., Archaeology: out in the cold,</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Nature</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">413</span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">(6851):33–34, 2001.</span></span></div></span></span></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-49894103711123120072011-09-07T13:56:00.000+01:002011-09-07T13:56:14.047+01:00Evidence That Adam and Noah Really Did Live over 900 Years of Age<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">This article will show through many sources why it is reasonable and scientific to believe that Adam etc did really live for almost 1000 years.<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Did People Like Adam and Noah Really Live over 900 Years of Age?</span></b><br />
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Preview chapter from <i>The New Answers Book<br />
by Dr. David Menton and Dr. Georgia Purdom<br />
June 4, 2008</i><br />
<i><br />
“Methusaleh lived 900 years . . . but these stories you’re liable to read in the Bible, they ain’t necessarily so.”<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnList_1_1" style="color: #de7008;">1</a></sup></i><br />
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Along with American composer George Gershwin, many people find it difficult to believe that Methuselah lived to be 969 years old. <i> </i><br />
<i></i></span><br />
<div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><i><i><div style="display: inline !important;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Nevertheless, the Bible teaches quite plainly that the early patriarchs often lived to be nearly 1,000 years old and even had children when they were several hundred years old! Similar claims of long life spans are found in the secular literature of several ancient cultures (including the Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Indians, and Chinese). But even a life span of nearly 1,000 years is sadly abbreviated when we consider that God initially created us to live forever.</span></div></div></div></i></i></div></div><br />
<i><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><i><div style="display: inline !important;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><br />
According to the Bible, <a name='more'></a>God created the first humans—Adam and Eve—without sin and with the ability to live forever. God gave the first human couple everything they needed for their eternal health and happiness in the Garden of Eden; but He warned them not to eat fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or they would die, as indeed would all their descendants after them (<a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis2:16%E2%80%9317&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Genesis 2:16–17</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">).</span></div></div></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">When Satan’s deception prompted Eve to disobey this command and then Adam willfully disobeyed, their minds and bodies profoundly changed (</span><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis3&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Genesis 3</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">). Not only did they become subject to death, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><a href="" name="more" style="color: #de7008;"></a>but their firstborn child (Cain) became the world’s first murderer. Truly, the wages of sin is death, physically and spiritually. It is sobering to think that the Bible would have been only a few pages long—from creation to the fall into sin—were it not for the undeserved love of God who both promised and sent the Messiah to save us from sin and death (</span><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis3:15;Isaiah25:8;Psalm49:14%E2%80%9315;1John5:13&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 25:8; Psalm 49:14–15; 1 John 5:13</span></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span>For 1,500 years after creation, men lived such long lives that most were either contemporaries of the first man, Adam, or personally knew someone who was! The ten patriarchs (excluding Enoch) who preceded the Great Flood lived an average of 912 years. Lamech died the youngest at the age of 777, and Methuselah lived to be the oldest at 969.</div></div></i><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis3:15;Isaiah25:8;Psalm49:14%E2%80%9315;1John5:13&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><br />
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</div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Patriarch</b></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Age</b><b><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Bible Reference</b><b><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">1<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Adam<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">930<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis5:4&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 5:4</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">2<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Seth<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">912<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis5:8&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 5:8</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">3<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Enosh<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">905<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis5:11&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 5:11</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">4<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Cainan<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">910<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis5:14&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 5:14</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">5<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Mahalalel<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">895<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis5:17&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 5:17</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">6<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Jared<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">962<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis5:20&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 5:20</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">7<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Enoch<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">365 (translated)<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis5:23&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 5:23</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">8<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Methuselah<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">969<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis5:27&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 5:27</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">9<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Lamech<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">777<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis5:31&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 5:31</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">10<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Noah<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">950<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis9:29&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 9:29</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
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</div></a><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">During the 1,000 years following the Flood, however, the Bible records a progressive decline in the life span of the patriarchs, from Noah who lived to be 950 years old until Abraham at 175 (see figure 1 and table 2). In fact, Moses was unusually old for his time (120 years) because, when he reflected on the brevity of life, he said: “</span><span class="scripture"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">” </span>(<a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Psalm90:10&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Psalm 90:10</a>).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
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<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Patriarch</b><b><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Age</b><b><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Bible Reference</b><b><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">11<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Shem<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">600<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis11:10%E2%80%9311&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 11:10–11</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">12<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Arphaxad<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">438<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis11:12%E2%80%9313&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 11:12–13</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">13<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Shelah<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">433<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis11:14%E2%80%9315&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 11:14–15</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">14<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Eber<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">464<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis11:16%E2%80%9317&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 11:16–17</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">15<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Peleg<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">239<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis11:18%E2%80%9319&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 11:18–19</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">16<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Reu<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">239<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis11:20%E2%80%9321&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 11:20–21</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">17<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Serug<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">230<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis11:22%E2%80%9323&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 11:22–23</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">18<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Nahor<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">148<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis11:24%E2%80%9325&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 11:24–25</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">19<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Terah<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">205<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis11:32&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 11:32</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">20<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">Abraham<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal">175<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 0.75pt; padding-left: 0.75pt; padding-right: 0.75pt; padding-top: 0.75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis25:7&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 25:7</a><span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Extrabiblical evidence to support the long life spans of the people in Genesis is found in the Sumerian King List. This list mentions a flood and gives the length of the reigns of kings before and after a flood. There are many striking parallels between the Sumerian King List and Genesis, such as a flood event, numerical parallels between the pre-Flood biblical patriarchs and the antediluvial kings, and a substantial decrease in life span of people following the flood.</span><sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnList_1_2" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">2</span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">One author on this subject concludes, “It is highly unlikely that the biblical account was derived from the Sumerian in view of the differences of the two accounts, and the obvious superiority of the Genesis record both in numerical precision, realism, completion, and moral and spiritual qualities.”</span><sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnList_1_3" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">3</span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> It is more likely that the Sumerian King List was composed using Genesis for numerical information. Obviously, the Book of Genesis would only be used if the person writing the list believed it to be a true historical account containing accurate information.</span></div><div class="rule" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Today, man’s maximum life span is about 120 years,</span><sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnList_1_4" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">4</span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> and our average life expectancy is still only 70–80 years—just as it was when the 90th Psalm was written 3,400 years ago! The precipitous plunge in life spans after the Flood suggests that something changed at the time of the Flood, or shortly thereafter, that was responsible for this decline. An exponential decay rate is often called a “natural” decay rate because it is so often observed in nature.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">For example, this is the decay curve we see when living organisms are exposed to lethal doses of toxic substances or radiations. Since it is unlikely that people living in pre-Flood times were familiar with exponential decay curves, it is thus unlikely that these dates were fabricated.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">The </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/fossils.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">fossil record</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> reveals that prior to the Flood, most of the earth appears to have had a tropical type of environment. Following the Flood, there was clearly an environmental change resulting in an ice age that covered nearly 30 percent of the earth with ice (primarily in the northern latitudes). This, together with other changes following the Flood, could have adversely affected life spans.</span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Biological Causes of Aging</h2><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">What exactly causes this process of aging in our body? Although the mechanism of aging (and its prevention) has long been an object of biomedical research, science still has no definitive answer to this question. Around the turn of the century, it was believed that aging didn’t directly involve the living cells of our body but rather was an extracellular phenomenon.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">It was believed that our normal living cells, if properly nourished, could grow and divide indefinitely outside our body. In 1961, this idea was refuted by Leonard Hayflick, who grew human cells outside the body in covered glass dishes containing the necessary nutrients. Hayflick discovered that cells cultured in this way normally died after about 50 cell divisions (Hayflick’s limit). This suggests that even the individual cells of our body are mortal, apart from any other bodily influence.</span></div><h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Genetic Determinants</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Both aging and life span are processes that have genetic determinants that are overlapping and unique. Approximately 20–30 percent of factors affecting life span are thought to be heritable and thus genetic.</span><sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnList_1_5" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">5</span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> Life span varies greatly among individuals, indicating that while aging plays a role, other factors are also involved.</span></div><h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Mutations and Genetic Bottlenecks</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">A </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/mutations.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">mutation</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> is any change in the sequence of DNA.</span><sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnList_1_6" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">6</span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> All known mutations cause a loss of information. The rate at which all types of mutations occur per generation has been suggested to be greater than 1,000.</span><sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnList_1_7" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">7</span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> We inherit mutations from our parents and also develop mutations of our own; subsequently, we pass a proportion of those on to our children. So, it is conceivable in the many generations between Adam and Moses that a large number of mutations would have been present in any given individual.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Genetic bottlenecks (or population bottlenecks) occur when significant proportions of the population dies or proportions become isolated. Such a bottleneck occurred at the time of </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/flood.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Noah’s Flood</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> when the human population was reduced to eight people (</span><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis6%E2%80%939&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Genesis 6–9</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">). Other smaller bottlenecks occurred following the Tower of Babel dispersion (</span><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis11&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Genesis 11</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">). These events would have resulted in a major reduction of genetic variety.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">For every gene there are two or more versions called alleles. This is analogous to the color red (gene) but different shades of red—light and dark (alleles). It is possible for “good” (unmutated) alleles to mask or hide “bad” (mutated) alleles. However, in a smaller population with less allelic variation, this becomes more difficult to accomplish, and thus mutated alleles have a greater effect.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Although Noah lived 950 years, his father, Lamech, lived only 777 years (granted we do not know if he died from old age). In addition, we do not know how long Noah’s wife lived, but Noah’s son Shem only lived 600 years. Considering that the longest recorded life span of someone born after the Flood was Eber at 464 years, it would appear that both mutations and genetic bottlenecks had severe effects on aging and life span.</span></div><h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Examples of Genetic Determinants Affecting Aging and Life Span</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Although many genetic factors are suggested to affect aging and life span, these processes largely remain a mystery. Aging can be thought of as increased susceptibility to internal (i.e., agents that damage DNA) and external (i.e., disease-causing bacteria) stressors because of a decrease in the maintenance, repair, and defensive systems of the body.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">For example, DNA repair systems are needed to protect the genome (all our DNA) from mutation. Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is a genetic disorder caused by a deficient (due to mutations) DNA repair system that normally repairs mutations caused by ultraviolet light. Individuals with this disease must severely limit their exposure to sunlight. Outer surfaces of the body such as skin and lips commonly show signs of premature aging.</span><sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnList_1_8" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">8</span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">While this is an extreme example, any mutation that decreases the efficiency of our maintenance, repair, and defensive systems will likely lead to more rapid aging and decreased life span.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Telomeres, long, repetitive sequences of DNA at the ends of human chromosomes, are also thought to play an important role in aging. With each division of the cell, telomeres shorten due to the inability of the enzyme that copies the DNA to go all the way to the end of the chromosome.</span><sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnList_1_9" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">9</span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">When telomeres have become too short, the cell stops dividing. This limitation plausibly serves as a quality control mechanism. Older cells will have accumulated many mutations in their DNA, and their continued division may lead to diseases like cancer. Most body cells cannot replicate indefinitely, leading to aging and eventually death. Thus, telomeres are important in determining the life span of cell types that directly affect aging.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Genetic determinants of life span or longevity are difficult to pinpoint. Even if the genes are determined to be associated with people who live for many years, their actual role in increasing life span is unknown. Genetic studies of centarians (people who have lived more than 100 years) have produced several possible candidate longevity genes. The gene for apolipoprotein E (APOE), important in the regulation of cholesterol, has certain alleles that are more common among centarians.</span><sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnList_1_10" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">10</span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">This is also true for certain alleles of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), important in cell proliferation and cell death, and superoxide dismutases (SOD), important in the breakdown of agents that damage DNA.</span><sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnList_1_11" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">11</span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> Possibly the alleles associated with the centarians more closely reflect the genetic makeup of individuals with a long life span 6,000 years ago. Still, these alleles show the effects of the curse if the highest achievable age today is around 120 years!</span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Evolution and the Genetics of Aging and Life Span</span></h2><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Evolution has a difficult time explaining aging and life span. Aging is often viewed as a default. Genes are selected on the basis of how they benefit an individual in their young reproductive years, or the “ ‘warranty period’ [which] is the time required to fulfill the Darwinian purpose of life in terms of successful reproduction for the continuation of generations.”</span><sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnList_1_12" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">12</span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> However, these same genes may be harmful overall, leading to aging and eventually death.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">The problem for evolution is that longevity genes are selected for. To deal with this seeming dichotomy, some evolutionists have suggested that selection of longevity genes serves a purpose in that long-lived individuals can care for more of their descendants, known as the “grandmother effect.”</span><sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnList_1_13" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">13</span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> The problem is that any theory that is so flexible it can account for everything isn’t a very good theory.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Genes associated with aging and life span have been affected as a result of the Fall either directly through mutations or indirectly through genetic bottlenecks. Modern medicine and anti-aging therapies may slow the process of aging and extend our life span, but they will never eradicate the ultimate end—death. Only </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/Jesuschrist.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Jesus Christ</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">, who was victorious over death, can promise eternal life with Him to all who believe (</span><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Romans6:23,10:9&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Romans 6:23, 10:9</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">).</span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Physiological Determinants</span></h2><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">In one sense, most of the substance of our body really doesn’t continue to get older during our life: a great many of our body’s parts are constantly repairing and replacing themselves. The epidermal cells that cover the entire surface of our skin, for example, never get older than one month. New cells are continually produced (by cell division) deep in the epidermis, while the older ones continually slough off at the surface. Similarly, the cells lining our intestines completely replace themselves every four days; our red blood cells are entirely replaced about every 90 days; and our white blood cells are replaced about every week.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Even cells that never (or rarely) divide, such as cardiac muscle cells and brain cells, turn over molecule by molecule. It is believed that little or nothing in our body is more than about 10 years old. Thus, thanks to cell turnover and replacement, most of the organs in the body of a 90-year-old man are perhaps no older than those of a child. Indeed, you might say our body never actually grows older.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">It’s rather like the story about “grandpa’s ax.” It seems a man had an old ax that hung over his fireplace and which he claimed had been passed down in his family for five generations. When asked how old the ax was, he said he wasn’t sure because although his great-great-great-great grandfather bought the ax about 300 years ago, he also understood that over the years, the ax had 6 new heads and 12 new handles. Our bodies are something like grandpa’s ax in that we too are constantly replacing “heads and handles,” and in a sense we never get older.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">At this point we might be inclined to ask, why did Methuselah die so young? How, indeed, is it even possible for anyone to age and die if the body constantly repairs and replaces its parts? Surely, if our automobile could do this, we would expect it to last forever. Part of the answer may be that certain key parts of our body fail to repair or replace themselves. Our critically important heart muscle cells, for example, fail to multiply, repair, or replace themselves after birth (although, like all muscle cells, they can increase in size).</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">This is why any disruption in the blood supply to the heart muscle during a heart attack leads to permanent death of that part of the heart. The nerve cells of our brain—including those of our eye and inner ear—also fail to multiply or repair themselves. From the time of our birth to the end of our life, we lose thousands of nerve cells a minute from our central nervous system, and we can never replace them. As we get older, this causes a progressive loss of our ability to hear, see, smell, taste, and . . . ahh . . . something else, but I just can’t remember it!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">The important point is that science offers no hope for eternal life, or even for the significant lengthening of life. It has been estimated that if complete cures, or preventions, were found for the three major killers (cancer, stroke, and coronary artery disease), the maximum life span of man would still not increase (although more people would approach this maximum). And such long-lived people would still become progressively weaker with age, as critical components of their body continue to deteriorate.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">We may conclude that God’s Word, not science, has the complete solution to the problem of aging and death. The solution has been “</span><span class="scripture"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">” (</span><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=2Timothy1:10&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">2 Timothy 1:10</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">).</span></div><h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Footnotes</span></h3><ol start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">George Gershwin, “It Ain't Necessarily So,” Porgy & Bess, 1934. </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnMark_1_1_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Back</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Raul Lopez, “The Antediluvian Patriarchs and the Sumerian King List,” CEN Technical Journal 12, no. 3 (1998): p. 347–357. </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnMark_1_2_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Back</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Ibid. </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnMark_1_3_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Back</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">It should be noted that </span><a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Genesis6:3&version=NKJV" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Genesis 6:3</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> does not refer to God mandating a maximum life span for people of 120 years. If this is the case, then the Bible is in error, as many people have been recorded as living longer than 120 years. Rather, it refers to the amount of time from when God determined to destroy mankind to when God sent a global Flood. </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnMark_1_4_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Back</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">T. Perls and D. Terry, “Genetics of Exceptional Longevity,” Experimental Gerontology 38 (2003): 725–730. </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnMark_1_5_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Back</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">See chapter 2, which provides an overview of mutations. [See also </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/wow/are-mutations-the-engine" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Are mutations part of the “engine” of evolution?</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">] </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnMark_1_6_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Back</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">J. Sanford, </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/store/10-3-114" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Genetic Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> (New York: Ivan Press, 2005), p. 37. </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnMark_1_7_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Back</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">DermNet NZ, “Xeroderma pigmentosum,” </span><a href="http://dermnetnz.org/systemic/xeroderma-pigmentosum.html" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">http://dermnetnz.org/systemic/xeroderma-pigmentosum.html</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">. </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnMark_1_8_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Back</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">P. Monaghan and M. Haussmann, “Do Telomere Dynamics Link Lifestyle and Lifespan?” TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution 21 (2006): 47–53.</span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnMark_1_9_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Back</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">K. Christensen et al., “The Quest for Genetic Determinants of Human Longevity: Challenges and Insights,” Nature Reviews Genetics 7 (2006): 436–448. </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnMark_1_10_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Back</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Ibid. </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnMark_1_11_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Back</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">S. Rattan, “Theories of Biological Aging: Genes, Proteins, and Free Radicals,” Free Radical Research 41 (2006): 1230–1238. </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/06/04/#fnMark_1_12_1" style="color: #de7008;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Back</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">W. Browner et al., “The Genetics of Human Longevity,” The American Journal of Medicine 11 (2004): 851–860</span></li>
</ol></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-7218885369959194872011-09-07T13:47:00.000+01:002011-09-07T13:47:48.800+01:00Why Dinosaurs Do Not Disprove, But Actually Prove the Bible<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Taken from</div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/get-answers" style="color: #de7008;">http://www.answersingenesis.org/get-answers</a></div><span class="cap"><br />
</span><span class="cap">D</span>inosaurs are used more than almost anything else to indoctrinate children and adults in the idea of millions of years of earth history. However, the<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/bible.asp" style="color: #de7008;">Bible</a> gives us a framework for explaining dinosaurs in terms of thousands of years of history, including the mystery of when they lived and what happened to them. Two key texts are <cite>Genesis 1:24–25</cite> and <cite>Job 40:15–24</cite>.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold;">Are Dinosaurs a Mystery?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Many think that the existence of <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/dinosaurs.asp" style="color: #de7008;">dinosaurs</a> and their demise is shrouded in such mystery that we may never know the truth about where they came from, when they lived, and what happened to them. However, dinosaurs are only a mystery <em>if</em> you accept the evolutionary story of their history.<br />
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<b>According to evolutionists:</b> Dinosaurs first evolved around 235 million years ago, long before man evolved.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_1_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_1#fnList_1_1" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>1</sup></a> No human being ever lived with dinosaurs. Their history is recorded in the fossil layers on earth, which were deposited over millions of years. They were so successful as a group of animals that they eventually ruled the earth. However, around 65 million years ago, something happened to change all of this—the dinosaurs disappeared. Most evolutionists believe some sort of cataclysmic event, such as an asteroid impact, killed them. But many evolutionists claim that some dinosaurs evolved into birds, and thus they are not extinct but are flying around us even today.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_2_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_2#fnList_1_2" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>2</sup></a><br />
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<em>There is no mystery surrounding dinosaurs if you accept the Bible’s totally different account of dinosaur history.</em><br />
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<b>According to the Bible:</b> Dinosaurs first existed<br />
<a href="" name="more" style="color: #de7008;"></a>around 6,000 years ago.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_3_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_3#fnList_1_3" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>3</sup></a> God made the dinosaurs, along with the other land animals, on Day 6 of the Creation Week (<cite>Genesis 1:20–25, 31</cite>). Adam and Eve were also made on Day 6—so dinosaurs lived at the same time as people, not separated by eons of time.<br />
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Dinosaurs could not have died out before people appeared because<a name='more'></a> dinosaurs had not previously existed; and death, bloodshed, disease, and suffering are a <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/death_suffering.asp" style="color: #de7008;">result</a>of Adam’s sin (<cite>Genesis 1:29–30</cite>; <cite>Romans 5:12, 14</cite>; <cite>1 Corinthians 15:21–22</cite>).<br />
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Representatives of all the <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/kinds.asp" style="color: #de7008;">kinds</a> of air-breathing land animals, including the dinosaur kinds, went aboard <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/noah.asp" style="color: #de7008;">Noah’s Ark</a>. All those left outside the Ark died in the cataclysmic circumstances of the Flood, and many of their remains became fossils.<br />
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After the <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/flood.asp" style="color: #de7008;">Flood</a>, around 4,300 years ago, the remnant of the land animals, including dinosaurs, came off the Ark and lived in the present world, along with people. Because of sin, the judgments of the Curse and the Flood have greatly changed earth. Post-Flood climatic change, lack of food, disease, and man’s activities caused many types of animals to become extinct. The dinosaurs, like many other creatures, died out. Why the big mystery about dinosaurs?<br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Why Such Different Views?</h3>How can there be such totally different explanations for dinosaurs? Whether one is an evolutionist or accepts the Bible’s account of history, the evidence for dinosaurs is <em>the same</em>. All scientists have the same facts—they have the same world, the same <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/fossils.asp" style="color: #de7008;">fossils</a>, the same living creatures, the same universe.<br />
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If the “facts” are the same, then how can the explanations be so different? The reason is that scientists have only the present—dinosaur fossils exist only in the present—but scientists are trying to connect the fossils in the present to the past. They ask, “What happened in history to bring dinosaurs into existence, wipe them out, and leave many of them fossilized?”4<br />
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The <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/science.asp" style="color: #de7008;">science</a> that addresses such issues is known as <i>historical</i> or <i>origins science</i>, and it differs from the <i>operational science</i> that gives us computers, inexpensive food, space exploration, electricity, and the like. Origins science deals with the past, which is not accessible to direct experimentation, whereas operational science deals with how the world works in the here and now, which, of course, is open to repeatable experiments. Because of difficulties in reconstructing the past, those who study fossils (paleontologists) have diverse views on dinosaurs.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_5_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_5#fnList_1_5" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>5</sup></a> As has been said, “Paleontology (the study of fossils) is much like politics: passions run high, and it’s easy to draw very different conclusions from the same set of facts.”<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_6#fnList_1_6" style="color: #de7008;">6</a></sup><br />
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A paleontologist who believes the record in the Bible, which claims to be the Word of God,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_7_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_7#fnList_1_7" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>7</sup></a> will come to different conclusions than an atheist who rejects the Bible. Willful denial of God’s Word (<cite>2 Peter 3:3–7</cite>) lies at the root of many disputes over historical science.<br />
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Many people think the Bible is just a book about religion or salvation. It is much more than this. The Bible is the History Book of the Universe and tells us the future destiny of the universe as well. It gives us an account of when time began, the main events of history, such as the entrance of sin and death into the world, the time when the <em>whole</em> surface of the globe was destroyed by water, the giving of different languages at the Tower of Babel, the account of the <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/Jesuschrist.asp" style="color: #de7008;">Son of God</a> coming as a man, His death and Resurrection, and the new heavens and earth to come.<br />
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Ultimately, there are only two ways of thinking: starting with the revelation from God (the Bible) as foundational to <em>all</em> thinking (including biology, history, and geology), resulting in a <i>Christian worldview</i>; or starting with man’s beliefs (for example, the evolutionary story) as foundational to all thinking, resulting in a <i>secular worldview</i>.<br />
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Most Christians have been indoctrinated through the media and education system to think in a secular way. They tend to take secular thinking to the Bible, instead of using the Bible to <em>build</em> their thinking (<cite>Romans 12:1–2</cite>; <cite>Ephesians 4:20–24</cite>).<br />
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The Bible says, “<span class="scripture">The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge</span>” (<cite>Proverbs 1:7</cite>) and “<span class="scripture">the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom</span>” (<cite>Proverbs 9:10</cite>).<br />
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If one begins with an evolutionary view of <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/history.asp" style="color: #de7008;">history</a> (for which there were no witnesses or written record), then this way of thinking will be used to explain the evidence that exists in the present. Thus, we have the evolutionary explanation for dinosaurs above.<br />
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But if one begins with the biblical view of history from the written record of an eyewitness (God) to all events of history, then a totally different way of thinking, based on this, will be used to explain the <em>same</em> evidence. Thus, we have the biblical explanation given above.<br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Dinosaur History</h3>Fossil bones of dinosaurs are found around the world. Many of these finds consist of just fragments of bones, but some nearly complete skeletons have been found. Scientists have been able to describe many different types of dinosaurs based on distinctive characteristics, such as the structure of the skull and limbs.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_8_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_8#fnList_1_8" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>8</sup></a><br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Where Did Dinosaurs Come From?</h3>The Bible tells us that God created different kinds of land animals on Day 6 of Creation Week (<cite>Genesis 1:24–25</cite>). Because dinosaurs were land animals, this must have included the dinosaur kinds.<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_9#fnList_1_9" style="color: #de7008;">9</a></sup><br />
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Evolutionists claim that dinosaurs evolved from some reptile that had originally evolved from amphibians. But they cannot point to any clear transitional (in-between) forms to substantiate their argument. Dinosaur family trees in evolutionary books show many distinct types of dinosaurs, but only hypothetical lines join them up to some common ancestor. The lines are dotted because there is <em>no</em> fossil evidence. Evolutionists simply cannot prove their belief in a nondinosaur ancestor for dinosaurs.<br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">What Did Dinosaurs Look Like?</h3>Scientists generally do not dig up a dinosaur with all its flesh intact. Even if they found <em>all</em> the bones, they still would have less than 40 percent of the animal to work out what it originally looked like. The bones do not tell the color of the animal, for example, although some fossils of skin impressions have been found, indicating the skin texture. As there is some diversity of color among reptiles living today, dinosaurs may have varied greatly in color, skin texture, and so on.<br />
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When reconstructing dinosaurs from bony remains, scientists make all kinds of guesses and often disagree. For example, debate has raged about whether dinosaurs were warm- or cold-blooded. It is even difficult to tell whether a dinosaur was male or female from its bones. There is much speculation about such things.<br />
Sometimes scientists make mistakes in their reconstructions, which need correction when more bones are found. For instance, the famous<i>Brontosaurus</i> is not in newer dinosaur dictionaries. The original “discoverer” put the wrong head on a skeleton of a dinosaur that had already been named <i>Apatosaurus</i>.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_10_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_10#fnList_1_10" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>10</sup></a><br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Who Discovered Dinosaurs?</h3>Secular books would tell you that the first discovery of what later were called dinosaurs was in 1677 when Dr. Robert Plot found bones so big they were thought to belong to a giant elephant or a giant human.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_11_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_11#fnList_1_11" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>11</sup></a><br />
In 1822, Mary Anne Mantell went for a walk along a country road in Sussex, England. According to tradition, she found a stone that glittered in the sunlight and showed it to her fossil-collecting husband. Dr. Mantell, a physician, noticed that the stone contained a tooth similar to, but much larger than, that of modern reptiles. He concluded that it belonged to some extinct giant plant-eating reptile with teeth like an iguana. In 1825 he named the owner of the tooth <i>Iguanodon</i> (iguana tooth). It was Dr. Mantell who began to popularize the “age of reptiles.”<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_12#fnList_1_12" style="color: #de7008;">12</a></sup><br />
<sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_12#fnList_1_12" style="color: #de7008;"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">From a biblical perspective, however, the time of the above discoveries was actually the time when dinosaurs were<em>rediscovered</em>. Adam discovered dinosaurs when he first observed them.</span></sup><br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">When Did Dinosaurs Live?</h3>Evolutionists claim dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. But it is important to realize that when they dig up a dinosaur bone it does not have a label attached showing its date. Evolutionists obtain their dates by <em>indirect</em> dating methods that other scientists question, and there is much evidence against the millions of years.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_13_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_13#fnList_1_13" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>13</sup></a><br />
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Does God tell us when He made <i>Tyrannosaurus rex</i>? Many would say no. But the Bible states that God made all things in six normal days. He made the land animals, including dinosaurs, on Day 6 (<cite>Genesis 1:24–25</cite>), so they date from around 6,000 years ago—the approximate date of creation obtained by adding up the years in the Bible.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_14_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_14#fnList_1_14" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>14</sup></a> So, since <i>T. rex</i> was a land animal and God made all the land animals on Day 6, then God made <i>T. rex</i> on Day 6.<br />
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Furthermore, from the Bible we see that there was no death, bloodshed, disease, or suffering before sin.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_15_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_15#fnList_1_15" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>15</sup></a> If one approaches Genesis to Revelation consistently, interpreting Scripture with Scripture, then death and bloodshed of man and animals came into the world only <em>after</em> Adam sinned. The first death of an animal occurred when God shed an animal’s blood in the Garden of Eden and clothed Adam and Eve (<cite>Genesis 3:21</cite>). This was also a picture of the Atonement—foreshadowing Christ’s blood that was to be shed for us. Thus, there could <em>not</em> have been bones of dead animals before sin—this would undermine the <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/gospel.asp" style="color: #de7008;">gospel</a>.<br />
This means that the dinosaurs must have died after sin entered the world, not before. Dinosaur bones could <em>not</em> be millions of years old because Adam lived only thousands of years ago.<br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Does the Bible Mention Dinosaurs?</h3>If people saw dinosaurs, you would think that ancient historical writings, such as the Bible, should mention them. The King James Version was first translated in 1611.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_16_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_16#fnList_1_16" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>16</sup></a> Some people think that because the word “dinosaur” is not found in this or other translations, the Bible does not mention dinosaurs.<br />
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It was not until 1841, however, that the word “dinosaur” was invented.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_17_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_17#fnList_1_17" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>17</sup></a> Sir Richard Owen, a famous British anatomist and first superintendent of the British Museum (and a staunch anti-Darwinist), on viewing the bones of <i>Iguanodon</i> and <i>Megalosaurus</i>, realized these represented a unique group of reptiles that had not yet been Classified. He coined the term “dinosaur” from Greek words meaning “terrible lizard.”<sup><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_18#fnList_1_18" style="color: #de7008;">18</a></sup><br />
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Thus, one would not expect to find the word “dinosaur” in the King James Bible—the word did not exist when the translation was done.<br />
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Is there another word for “dinosaur”? There are <em>dragon</em> legends from around the world. Many dragon descriptions fit the characteristics of specific dinosaurs. Could these actually be accounts of encounters with what we now call dinosaurs?<br />
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Just as Flood legends are based on a real global Flood (Flood of Noah)— dragon legends are possibly based on actual encounters with real animals that today we call dinosaurs. Many of these land-dragon descriptions do fit with what we know about dinosaurs.<br />
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In <cite>Genesis 1:21</cite>, the Bible says, “<span class="scripture">And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind.</span>” The Hebrew word here for “sea monsters” (“whales” in KJV) is the word translated elsewhere as “dragon” (Hebrew: <i>tannin</i>). So, in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, God may be describing the great sea dragons (sea-dwelling, dinosaur-type animals) that He created.<br />
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There are other Bible passages about dragons that lived in the sea: “the dragons in the waters” (<cite>Psalm 74:13</cite>), “and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea” (<cite>Isaiah 27:1</cite>). Though the word “dinosaur” strictly refers to animals that lived on the land, the sea reptiles and flying reptiles are often grouped with the dinosaurs. The sea dragons could have included dinosaur-type animals such as the <i>Mosasaurus</i>.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_19_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_19#fnList_1_19" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>19</sup></a><br />
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<cite>Job 41</cite> describes a great animal that lived in the sea, Leviathan, that even breathed fire. This “dragon” may have been something like the mighty 40 ft. (12 m) <i>Sarcosuchus imperator</i> (Super Croc),<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_20_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_20#fnList_1_20" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>20</sup></a> or the 82 ft. (25 m) <i>Liopleurodon</i>.<br />
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There is also mention of a flying serpent in the Bible: the “fiery flying serpent” (<cite>Isaiah 30:6</cite>). This could be a reference to one of the pterodactyls, which are popularly thought of as flying dinosaurs, such as the <i>Pteranodon</i>, <i>Rhamphorhynchus</i>, or <i>Ornithocheirus</i>.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_21_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_21#fnList_1_21" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>21</sup></a><br />
Not long after the Flood, God was showing a man called Job how great He was as Creator, by reminding Job of the largest land animal He had made:<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; he eats grass like an ox. See now, his strength is in his hips, and his power is in his stomach muscles. He moves his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit. His bones are like beams of bronze, his ribs like bars of iron. He is the first of the ways of God; only He who made him can bring near His sword (<cite>Job 40:15–19</cite>).</div>The phrase “first of the ways of God” suggests this was the largest land animal God had made. So what kind of animal was “behemoth”?<br />
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Bible translators, not being sure what this beast was, often transliterated the Hebrew, and thus the word <i>behemoth</i> (e.g., KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV). However, in many Bible commentaries and Bible footnotes, “behemoth” is said to be “possibly the hippopotamus or elephant.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_22_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_22#fnList_1_22" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>22</sup></a> Some Bible versions actually translate “behemoth” this way.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_23_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_23#fnList_1_23" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>23</sup></a> Besides the fact that the elephant and hippo were <em>not</em> the largest land animals God made (some of the dinosaurs far eclipsed these), this description does not make sense, since the tail of behemoth is compared to the large cedar tree (<cite>Job 40:17</cite>).<br />
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Now an elephant’s tiny tail (or a hippo’s tail that looks like a flap of skin) is quite unlike a cedar tree. Clearly, the elephant and the hippo could not possibly be “behemoth.”<br />
No <em>living</em> creature comes close to this description. However, behemoth is very much like <i>Brachiosaurus</i>, one of the large dinosaurs.<br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Are There Other Ancient Records of Dinosaurs?</h3>In the film <i>The Great Dinosaur Mystery</i>,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_24_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_24#fnList_1_24" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>24</sup></a> a number of dragon accounts are presented:<br />
<ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal">A Sumerian story dating back to 2000 BC or earlier tells of a hero named Gilgamesh, who, when he went to fell cedars in a remote forest, encountered a huge vicious dragon that he slew, cutting off its head as a trophy.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">When Alexander the Great (c. 330 BC) and his soldiers marched into India, they found that the Indians worshipped huge hissing reptiles that they kept in caves.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">China is renowned for its dragon stories, and dragons are prominent on Chinese pottery, embroidery, and carvings.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">England and several other cultures retain the story of St. George, who slew a dragon that lived in a cave.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">There is the story of a tenth-century Irishman who wrote of his encounter with what appears to have been a <i>Stegosaurus</i>.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">In the 1500s, a European scientific book, <i>Historia Animalium</i>, listed several living animals that we would call dinosaurs. A well-known naturalist of the time, Ulysses Aldrovandus, recorded an encounter between a peasant named Baptista and a dragon whose description fits that of the small dinosaur <i>Tanystropheus</i>. The encounter was on May 13, 1572, near Bologna in Italy, and the peasant killed the dragon.</li>
</ul><i>Petroglyphs</i> (drawings carved on rock) of dinosaurlike creatures have also been found.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_25_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_25#fnList_1_25" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>25</sup></a><br />
In summary, people down through the ages have been very familiar with dragons. The descriptions of these animals fit with what we know about dinosaurs. The Bible mentions such creatures, even ones that lived in the sea and flew in the air. There is a tremendous amount of other historical evidence that such creatures have lived beside people.<br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">What Do the Bones Say?</h3>There is also physical evidence that dinosaur bones are not millions of years old. Scientists from Montana State University found <i>T. rex</i> bones that were not totally fossilized. Sections of the bones were like fresh bone and contained what seems to be blood cells and hemoglobin. If these bones really were tens of millions of years old, then the blood cells and hemoglobin would have totally disintegrated.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_26_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_26#fnList_1_26" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>26</sup></a> Also, there should not be “fresh” bones if they were really millions of years old.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_27_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_27#fnList_1_27" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>27</sup></a><br />
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A report by these scientists stated the following:<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">A thin slice of <i>T. rex</i> bone glowed amber beneath the lens of my microscope ... . The lab filled with murmurs of amazement, for I had focused on something inside the vessels that none of us had ever noticed before: tiny round objects, translucent red with a dark center ... . Red blood cells? The shape and location suggested them, but blood cells are mostly water and couldn’t possibly have stayed preserved in the 65-million-year-old<i>tyrannosaur</i> ... . The bone sample that had us so excited came from a beautiful, nearly complete specimen of <i>Tyrannosaurus rex</i> unearthed in 1990 ... . </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">When the team brought the dinosaur into the lab, we noticed that some parts deep inside the long bone of the leg had not completely fossilized ... . So far, we think that all of this evidence supports the notion that our slices of <i>T. rex</i> could contain preserved heme and hemoglobin fragments. But more work needs to be done before we are confident enough to come right out and say, “Yes, this <i>T. rex</i> has blood compounds left in its tissues.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_28_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_28#fnList_1_28" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>28</sup></a></div><br />
Unfossilized duck-billed dinosaur bones have been found on the North Slope in Alaska.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_29_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_29#fnList_1_29" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>29</sup></a> Also, creation scientists collected such (unfossilized) frozen dinosaur bones in Alaska.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_30_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_30#fnList_1_30" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>30</sup></a> Evolutionists would not say that these bones had stayed frozen for the many millions of years since these dinosaurs supposedly died out (according to evolutionary theory). Yet the bones could not have survived for the millions of years unmineralized. This is a puzzle to those who believe in an “age of dinosaurs” millions of years ago, but not to someone who builds his thinking on the Bible.<br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">What Did Dinosaurs Eat and How Did They Behave?</h3>Movies like <i>Jurassic Park</i> and <i>The Lost World</i> portray most dinosaurs as aggressive meat-eaters. But the mere presence of sharp teeth does <em>not</em> tell you how an animal behaved or necessarily what food it ate—only what kind of teeth it had (for ripping food and the like). However, by studying fossil dinosaur dung (coprolite), scientists have been able to determine the diet of some dinosaurs.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_31_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_31#fnList_1_31" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>31</sup></a><br />
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Originally, before sin, <em>all</em> animals, including the dinosaurs, were vegetarian. <cite>Genesis 1:30</cite> states, “<span class="scripture">And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to every thing that creeps upon the earth, which has life, I have given every green herb for food: and it was so.</span>”<br />
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This means that even <i>T. rex</i>, before sin entered the world, ate only plants. Some people object to this by pointing to the big teeth that a large <i>T. rex</i> had, insisting they must have been used for attacking animals. However, just because an animal has big, sharp teeth does not mean it eats meat. It just means it has big, sharp teeth!<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_32_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_32#fnList_1_32" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>32</sup></a><br />
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Many animals today have sharp teeth but are basically vegetarian. The giant panda has sharp teeth like a meat-eater’s, but it eats bamboo. Perhaps the panda’s teeth were beautifully designed to eat bamboo. To explain why a giant panda has teeth like a meat-eaters today, yet eats bamboo, evolutionists have to say that the giant panda evolved as a meat eater, and then switched to bamboo.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_33_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_33#fnList_1_33" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>33</sup></a><br />
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Different species of bats variously eat fruit, nectar, insects, small animals, and blood, but their teeth do not clearly indicate what they eat.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_34_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_34#fnList_1_34" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>34</sup></a> Bears have teeth with carnivore features, but some bears are vegetarian, and many, if not most, are mainly vegetarian.<br />
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Before sin, God described the world as “very good” (<cite>Genesis 1:31</cite>). Some cannot accept this concept of perfect harmony because of the food chain that they observe in today’s world. However, one cannot look at the sin-cursed world and the resultant death and struggle, and use this to reject the Genesis account of history. Everything has changed because of sin. That’s why Paul describes the present creation as “groaning” (<cite>Romans 8:22</cite>). One must look through the Bible’s “eyes” to understand the world.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_35_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_35#fnList_1_35" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>35</sup></a><br />
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Some argue that people or animals would have been hurt even in an ideal world. They contend that even before sin, Adam or an animal could have stood on small creatures or scratched himself on a branch. Now these sorts of situations are true of today’s fallen world—the present world is not perfect; it is suffering from the effects of the Curse (<cite>Romans 8:22</cite>). One cannot look at the Bible through the world’s eyes and insist that the world before sin was just like the world we see today. We do not know what a perfect world, continually restored and totally upheld by God’s power (<cite>Colossians 1:17</cite>; <cite>Hebrews 1:3</cite>), would have been like—we have never experienced perfection (only Adam and Eve did before sin).<br />
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We do get little glimpses from Scripture, however; in <cite>Deuteronomy 8:4, 29:5</cite> and <cite>Nehemiah 9:21</cite>, we are told that when the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years, their clothes and shoes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell. When God upholds things perfectly, wearing out or being hurt in any way is not even an option.<br />
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Think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (<cite>Daniel 3:26–27</cite>). They came out of the fire without even the smell of smoke on them. Again, when the Lord upholds perfectly, being hurt is not possible. In a perfect world, before sin and the Curse, God would have upheld everything, but in this cursed world, things run down. Many commentators believe the description in <cite>Isaiah 11:6–9</cite> of the wolf and lamb, and the lion that eats straw like an ox, is a picture of the new earth in the future restoration (<cite>Acts 3:21</cite>) when there will be no more curse or death (<cite>Revelation 21:1, 22:3</cite>). The animals described are living peacefully as vegetarians (this is also the description of the animal world before sin—<cite>Genesis 1:30</cite>). Today’s world has been changed dramatically because of sin and the Curse. The present food chain and animal behavior (which also changed after the Flood—<cite>Genesis 9:2–3</cite>) cannot be used as a basis for interpreting the Bible—the Bible explains why the world is the way it is.<br />
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In the beginning, God gave Adam and Eve dominion over the animals: “<span class="scripture">Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth’</span>” (<cite>Genesis 1:28</cite>). Looking at today’s world, we are reminded of <cite>Hebrews 2:8</cite>: “<span class="scripture">For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.</span>” Man’s relationship with all things changed because of sin—they are not “under him” as they were originally.<br />
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Most people, including most Christians, tend to observe the world as it is today, with all its death and suffering, and then take that observation to the Bible and interpret it in that light. But we are sinful, fallible human beings, observing a sin-cursed world (<cite>Romans 8:22</cite>); and thus, we need to start with divine revelation, the Bible, to begin to understand.<br />
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So how did fangs and claws come about? <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2006/0302morris.asp" style="color: #de7008;">Dr. Henry Morris</a>, a founding figure in the modern creation movement, states:<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">Whether such structures as fangs and claws were part of their original equipment, or were recessive features which only became dominant due to selection processes later, or were mutational features following the Curse, or exactly what, must await further research.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_36_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_36#fnList_1_36" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>36</sup></a></div><br />
After sin entered the world, everything changed. Maybe some animals started eating each other at this stage. By the time of Noah, God described what had happened this way: “<span class="scripture">So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth</span>” (<cite>Genesis 6:12</cite>).<br />
Also, after the Flood, God changed the behavior of animals. We read, “<span class="scripture">And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand</span>” (<cite>Genesis 9:2</cite>). Thus, man would find it much more difficult to carry out the dominion mandate given in <cite>Genesis 1:28</cite>.<br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Why Do We Find Dinosaur Fossils?</h3>Fossil formation requires a sudden burial. When an animal dies, it usually gets eaten or decays until there is nothing left. To form a fossil, unique conditions are required to preserve the animal and replace it with minerals, etc.<br />
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Evolutionists once claimed that the fossil record was formed slowly as animals died and were gradually covered by sediment. But they have acknowledged more recently that the fossil record must involve catastrophic processes.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_37_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_37#fnList_1_37" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>37</sup></a> To form the billions of fossils worldwide, in layers sometimes kilometers thick, the organisms, by and large, must have been buried quickly. Many evolutionists now say the fossil record formed quickly, in spurts interspersed by millions of years.<br />
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According to the Bible, as time went on, earth became full of wickedness, so God determined that He would send a global Flood “to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life” (<cite>Genesis 6:17</cite>).<br />
God commanded Noah to build a very large boat into which he would take his family and representatives of every kind of land-dwelling, air-breathing animal (that God Himself would choose and send to Noah, <cite>Genesis 6:20</cite>). This must have included two of each kind of dinosaur.<br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">How Did Dinosaurs Fit on the Ark?</h3>Many people think of dinosaurs as large creatures that would never have fit into the Ark.<br />
But the average size of a dinosaur, based on the skeletons found over the earth, is about the size of a sheep.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_38_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_38#fnList_1_38" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>38</sup></a> Indeed, many dinosaurs were relatively small. For instance, <i>Struthiomimus</i> was the size of an ostrich, and <i>Compsognathus</i> was no bigger than a rooster. Only a few dinosaurs grew to extremely large sizes (e.g., <i>Brachiosaurus</i> and <i>Apatosaurus</i>), but even they were not as large as the largest animal in the world today, the blue whale. (Reptiles have the potential to grow as long as they live. Thus, the large dinosaurs were probably very old ones.)<br />
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Dinosaurs laid eggs, and the biggest fossil dinosaur egg found is about the size of a football.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_39_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_39#fnList_1_39" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>39</sup></a> Even the largest dinosaurs were very small when first hatched. Remember that the animals that came off the boat were to repopulate the earth. Thus, it would have been necessary to choose young adults, which would soon be in the prime of their reproductive life, to go on the Ark. Recent research suggests that dinosaurs underwent rapid adolescent growth spurts.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_40_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_40#fnList_1_40" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>40</sup></a> So it is realistic to assume that God would have sent young adults to the Ark, not fully grown creatures.<br />
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Some might argue that the 600 or more named species of dinosaurs could not have fit on the Ark. But <cite>Genesis 6:20</cite> states that representative <i>kinds</i>of land animals boarded the Ark. The question then is, what is a “kind” (Hebrew: <i>min</i>)? Biblical creationists have pointed out that there can be many species descended from a kind. For example, there are many types of cats in the world, but all cat species probably came from only a few kinds of cats originally.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_41_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_41#fnList_1_41" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>41</sup></a> The cat varieties today have developed by natural and artificial selection acting on the original variation in the information (genes) of the original cats. This has produced different combinations and subsets of information, and thus different types of cats.<br />
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Mutations (errors in copying of the genes during reproduction) can also contribute to the variation, but the changes caused by mutations are “downhill,” causing loss of the original information.<br />
Even speciation could occur through these processes. This speciation is <em>not</em> “evolution,” since it is based on the created information <em>already present</em> and is thus a limited, downhill process, not involving an upward increase in complexity. Thus, only a few feline pairs would have been needed on Noah’s Ark.<br />
Dinosaur names have tended to proliferate, with new names being given to just a few pieces of bone, even if the skeleton looks similar to one that is a different size or found in a different country. There were probably fewer than 50 distinct groups or kinds of dinosaurs that had to be on the Ark.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_42_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_42#fnList_1_42" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>42</sup></a><br />
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Also, it must be remembered that Noah’s Ark was <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/really-a-flood-and-ark" style="color: #de7008;">extremely large</a> and quite capable of carrying the number of animals needed, including dinosaurs.<br />
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The land animals that were not on the Ark, including dinosaurs, drowned. Many were preserved in the layers formed by the Flood—thus the millions of fossils. Presumably, many of the dinosaur fossils were buried at this time, around 4,500 years ago. Also, after the Flood, there would have been considerable catastrophism, including such events as the Ice Age, resulting in some post-Flood formation of fossils, too.<br />
The contorted shapes of these animals preserved in the rocks, the massive numbers of them in fossil graveyards, their wide distribution, and some whole skeletons, all provide convincing evidence that they were buried rapidly, testifying to massive flooding.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_43_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_43#fnList_1_43" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>43</sup></a><br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Why Don’t We See Dinosaurs Today?</h3>At the end of the Flood, Noah, his family, and the animals came out of the Ark (<cite><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Genesis%208.15%E2%80%9317" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 8:15–17</a></cite>). The dinosaurs thus began a new life in a new world. Along with the other animals, the dinosaurs came out to breed and repopulate the earth. They would have left the landing place of the Ark and spread over the earth’s surface. The descendants of these dinosaurs gave rise to the dragon legends.<br />
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But the world they came out to repopulate differed from the one they knew before Noah’s Flood. The Flood had devastated it. It was now a much more difficult world in which to survive.<br />
After the Flood, God told Noah that from then on, the animals would fear man, and that animal flesh could be food for man (<cite><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Genesis%209.1%E2%80%937" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 9:1–7</a></cite>). Even for man, the world had become a harsher place. To survive, the once easily obtained plant nutrition would now have to be supplemented by animal sources.<br />
Both animals and man would find their ability to survive tested to the utmost. We can see from the fossil record, from the written history of man, and from experience over recent centuries, that many forms of life on this planet have not survived that test.<br />
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We need to remember that many plants and air-breathing, land-dwelling animals have become extinct <em>since</em> the Flood—either due to man’s action or competition with other species, or because of the harsher post-Flood environment. Many groups are still becoming extinct. Dinosaurs seem to be numbered among the extinct groups.<br />
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Why then are people so intrigued about dinosaurs and have little interest in the extinction of the fern <i>Cladophebius</i>, for example? It’s the dinosaurs’ appeal as monsters that excites and fascinates people.<br />
Evolutionists have capitalized on this fascination, and the world is awash with evolutionary propaganda centered on dinosaurs. As a result, evolutionary philosophy has permeated modern thinking, even among Christians.<br />
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If you were to ask the zoo why they have endangered species programs, you would probably get an answer something like this: “We’ve lost lots of animals from this earth. Animals are becoming extinct all the time. Look at all the animals that are gone forever. We need to act to save the animals.” If you then asked, “Why are animals becoming extinct?” you might get an answer like this: “It’s obvious! People killing them, lack of food, man destroying the environment, diseases, genetic problems, catastrophes like floods—there are lots of reasons.”<br />
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If you then asked, “Well, what happened to the dinosaurs?” the answer would probably be, “We don’t know! Scientists have suggested dozens of possible reasons, but it’s a mystery.”<br />
Maybe one of the reasons dinosaurs are extinct is that we did not start our endangered species programs early enough. The factors that cause extinction today, which came about because of man’s sin—the Curse, the aftermath of the Flood (a judgment), etc.—are the same factors that caused the dinosaurs to become extinct.<br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Are Dinosaurs Really Extinct?</h3>One cannot prove an organism is extinct without having knowledge of every part of the earth’s surface simultaneously. Experts have been embarrassed when, after having declared animals extinct, they were discovered alive and well. For example, in the 1990s explorers found elephants in Nepal that have many features of mammoths.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_44_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_44#fnList_1_44" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>44</sup></a><br />
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Scientists in Australia found some living trees that they thought had become extinct with the dinosaurs. One scientist said, “It was like finding a ‘live dinosaur.’”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_45_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_45#fnList_1_45" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>45</sup></a> When scientists find animals or plants that they thought were extinct long ago, they call them “<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/living_fossils.asp" style="color: #de7008;">living fossils</a>.” There are hundreds of living fossils, a big embarrassment for those who believe in millions of years of earth history.<br />
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Explorers and natives in Africa have reported sighting dinosaur-like creatures, even in the twentieth century.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_46_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_46#fnList_1_46" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>46</sup></a> These have usually been confined to out-of-the-way places such as lakes deep in the Congo jungles. Descriptions certainly fit those of dinosaurs.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_47_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_47#fnList_1_47" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>47</sup></a><br />
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Cave paintings by native Americans seem to depict a dinosaur.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_48_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_48#fnList_1_48" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>48</sup></a> Scientists accept the mammoth drawings in the cave, so why not the dinosaur drawings? Evolutionary indoctrination that man did not live at the same time as dinosaurs stops most scientists from even considering that the drawings are of dinosaurs.<br />
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It certainly would be no embarrassment to a creationist if someone discovered a dinosaur living in a jungle. However, this should embarrass evolutionists.<br />
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And no, we cannot clone a dinosaur, as in the movie <i>Jurassic Park</i>, even if we had dinosaur DNA. We would also need a living female dinosaur. Scientists have found that to clone an animal they need an egg of a living female, since “machinery” in the cytoplasm of her egg is necessary for the new creature to develop.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_49_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_49#fnList_1_49" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>49</sup></a><br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Birdosaurs?</h3>Many evolutionists do not really think dinosaurs are extinct anyway. In 1997, at the entrance to the bird exhibit at the zoo in Cincinnati, Ohio, we read the following on a sign:<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago—or did they? No, birds are essentially modern short-tailed feathered dinosaurs.</div><br />
In the mid-1960s, Dr. John Ostrom from Yale University began to popularize the idea that dinosaurs evolved into birds.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_50_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_50#fnList_1_50" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>50</sup></a> However, not all evolutionists agree with this. “It’s just a fantasy of theirs,” says Alan Feduccia, an ornithologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a leading critic of the dino-to-bird theory. “They so much want to see living dinosaurs that now they think they can study them vicariously at the backyard bird feeder.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_51_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_51#fnList_1_51" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>51</sup></a><br />
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There have been many attempts to indoctrinate the public to believe that modern birds are really dinosaurs. <i>Time</i> magazine, on April 26, 1993, had a front page cover of a “birdosaur,” now called <i>Mononykus</i>, with feathers (a supposed transitional form between dinosaurs and birds) based on a fossil find that had <em>no</em> feathers.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_52_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_52#fnList_1_52" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>52</sup></a> In the same month, <i>Science News</i> had an article suggesting this animal was a digging creature more like a mole.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_53_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_53#fnList_1_53" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>53</sup></a><br />
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In 1996, newspapers reported a find in China of a reptile fossil that supposedly had feathers.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_54_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_54#fnList_1_54" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>54</sup></a> Some of the media reports claimed that, if it were confirmed, it would be “irrefutable evidence that today’s birds evolved from dinosaurs.” One scientist stated, “You can’t come to any conclusion other than that they’re feathers.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_55_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_55#fnList_1_55" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>55</sup></a> However, in 1997 the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia sent four leading scientists to investigate this find. They concluded that they were <em>not</em> feathers. The media report stated, concerning one of the scientists, “He said he saw ‘hair-like’ structures—not hairs—that could have supported a frill, or crest, like those on iguanas.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_56_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_56#fnList_1_56" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>56</sup></a><br />
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No sooner had this report appeared than another media report claimed that 20 fragments of bones of a reptile found in South America showed that dinosaurs were related to birds.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_57_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_57#fnList_1_57" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>57</sup></a><br />
Birds are warm-blooded and reptiles are cold-blooded, but evolutionists who believe dinosaurs evolved into birds would like to see dinosaurs as warm-blooded to support their theory. But Dr. Larry Martin, of the University of Kansas, opposes this idea:<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">Recent research has shown the microscopic structure of dinosaur bones was “characteristic of cold-blooded animals,” Martin said. “So we’re back to cold-blooded dinosaurs.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_58_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_58#fnList_1_58" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>58</sup></a></div>Sadly, the secular media have become so blatant in their anti-Christian stand and pro-evolutionary propaganda that they are bold enough to make such ridiculous statements as, “Parrots and hummingbirds are also dinosaurs.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_59_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_59#fnList_1_59" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>59</sup></a><br />
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Several more recent reports have fueled the bird/dinosaur debate among evolutionists. One concerns research on the embryonic origins of the “fingers” of birds and dinosaurs, showing that birds could <em>not</em> have evolved from dinosaurs.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_60_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_60#fnList_1_60" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>60</sup></a> A study of the so-called feathered dinosaur from China revealed that the dinosaur had a distinctively reptilian lung and diaphragm, which is distinctly different from the avian lung.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_61_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_61#fnList_1_61" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>61</sup></a> Another report said that the frayed edges that some thought to be “feathers” on the Chinese fossil are similar to the collagen fibers found immediately beneath the skin of sea snakes.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_62_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_62#fnList_1_62" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>62</sup></a><br />
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There is <em>no</em> credible evidence that dinosaurs evolved into birds.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_63_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_63#fnList_1_63" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>63</sup></a> Dinosaurs have always been dinosaurs and birds have always been birds.<br />
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What if a dinosaur fossil <em>was</em> found with feathers on it? Would that prove that birds evolved from dinosaurs? No, a duck has a duck bill and webbed feet, as does a platypus, but nobody believes that this proves that platypuses evolved from ducks. The belief that reptiles or dinosarus evolved into birds requires reptilian scales on the way to becoming feathers, that is, transitional scales, not fully formed feathers. A dinosaur-like fossil with feathers would just be another curious mosaic, like the platypus, and part of the pattern of similarities placed in creatures to show the hand of the one true Creator God who made everything.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=3393527391140204018" name="fnMark_1_64_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/what-happened-to-the-dinosaurs#fnList_1_64#fnList_1_64" style="color: #de7008;"><sup>64</sup></a><br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Why Does It Matter?</h3>Although dinosaurs are fascinating, some readers may say, “Why are dinosaurs such a big deal? Surely there are many more important issues to deal with in today’s world, such as abortion, family breakdown, racism, promiscuity, dishonesty, homosexual behavior, euthanasia, suicide, lawlessness, pornography, and so on. In fact, we should be telling people about the gospel of Jesus Christ, not worrying about side issues like dinosaurs.”<br />
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Actually, the evolutionary teachings on dinosaurs that pervade society <em>do</em> have a great bearing on why many will not listen to the gospel, and thus why social problems abound today. If they don’t believe the history in the Bible, why would anyone trust its moral aspects and message of salvation?<br />
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If we accept the evolutionary teachings on dinosaurs, then we must accept that the Bible’s account of history is false. If the Bible is wrong in this area, then it is not the Word of God and we can ignore everything else it says that we find inconvenient.<br />
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If everything made itself through natural processes—without God—then God does not own us and has no right to tell us how to live. In fact, God does not really exist in this way of thinking, so there is no absolute basis for morality. Without God, anything goes—concepts of right and wrong are just a matter of opinion. And without a basis for morality, there is no such thing as sin. And no sin means that there is no need to fear God’s judgment and there is no need for the Savior, Jesus Christ. The history in the Bible is vital for properly understanding why one needs to accept Jesus Christ.<br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Millions of Years and the Gospel</h3>The teaching that dinosaurs lived and died millions of years before man directly attacks the foundations of the gospel in another way. The fossil record, of which dinosaurs form a part, documents death, disease, suffering, cruelty, and brutality. It is a very ugly record. Allowing for millions of years in the fossil layers means accepting death, bloodshed, disease, and suffering <em>before</em> Adam’s sin.<br />
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But the Bible makes it clear that death, bloodshed, disease, and suffering are a <em>consequence of sin</em>. As part of the Curse, God told Adam in <cite><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Genesis%203.19" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 3:19</a></cite> that he would return to the dust from which he was made, showing that the sentence of death was not only spiritual, but physical as well.<br />
After Adam disobeyed God, the Lord clothed Adam and Eve with “coats of skins” (<cite><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Genesis%203.21" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Genesis 3:21</a></cite>). To do this He must have killed and shed the blood of at least one animal. The reason for this can be summed up by <cite><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Hebrews%209.22" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Hebrews 9:22</a></cite>:<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.</div><br />
God required the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins. What happened in the Garden of Eden was a picture of what was to come in Jesus Christ, who shed His blood on the Cross as “<span class="scripture">the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world</span>” (<cite><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/John%201.29" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">John 1:29</a></cite>).<br />
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If the shedding of blood occurred before sin, as would have happened if the garden was sitting on a fossil record of dead things millions of years old, then the foundation of the Atonement would be destroyed.<br />
This big picture also fits with <cite><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Romans%208" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Romans 8</a></cite>, which says that the whole creation “groans” because of the effects of the Fall of Adam—it was not “groaning” with death and suffering before Adam sinned. Jesus Christ suffered physical death and shed His blood because death was the penalty for sin. Paul discusses this in detail in <cite><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Romans%205" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Romans 5</a></cite> and <cite><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/1%20Corinthians%2015" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">1 Corinthians 15</a></cite>.<br />
<cite><a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Rev%2021%E2%80%9322" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank">Rev 21–22</a></cite> make it clear that there will be a “new heaven and a new earth” one day where there will be “no more death” and “no more curse”—just as it was before sin changed everything. Obviously, if there are going to be animals in the new earth, they will not die or eat each other or eat the redeemed people.<br />
Thus, the teaching of millions of years of death, disease, and suffering before Adam sinned is a direct attack on the foundation of the message of the Cross.<br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Conclusion</h3>If we accept God’s Word, beginning with Genesis, as being true and authoritative, then we can explain dinosaurs and make sense of the evidence we observe in the world around us. In doing this, we are helping people see that Genesis is absolutely trustworthy and logically defensible, and is what it claims to be—the true account of the history of the universe and mankind. And what one believes concerning the book of Genesis will ultimately determine what one believes about the rest of the Bible. This, in turn, will affect how a person views himself or herself, fellow human beings, and what life is all about, including their need for salvation.</span></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-82622529448446325642011-09-07T13:44:00.000+01:002011-09-07T13:44:03.355+01:00How Carbon Dating Actually Prove Creation, A Young Earth and a Global Noah's Flood<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span class="cap"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">S</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">cientists use a technique called<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/dating.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">radiometric dating</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to estimate the ages of rocks, fossils, and the earth. Many people have been led to believe that radiometric dating methods have proved the earth to be billions of years old. This has caused many in the church to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/compromise.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">reevaluate</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>the biblical creation account, specifically the meaning of the word “day” in Genesis 1.</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">With our focus on one particular form of radiometric dating—carbon dating—we will see that carbon dating strongly supports a young earth and reinforces the bible as accurate and true. Note that, contrary to a popular misconception, carbon dating is not used to date rocks at millions of years old. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="" name="more" style="color: #de7008;"></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px;"><br />
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Basics</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #dceefa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><img alt="Carbon Atom" border="0" height="32" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image001.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1025" width="32" /><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Before we get into the details of how radiometric dating methods are used, we need to review some <a name='more'></a>preliminary concepts from chemistry. Recall that atoms are the basic building blocks of matter. Atoms are made up of much smaller particles called protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons and neutrons make up the center (nucleus) of the atom, and electrons form shells around the nucleus.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom determines the element. For example, all carbon atoms have 6 protons, all atoms of nitrogen have 7 protons, and all oxygen atoms have 8 protons. The number of neutrons in the nucleus can vary in any given type of atom. So, a carbon atom might have six neutrons, or seven, or possibly eight—but it would always have six protons. An “isotope” is any of several different forms of an element, each having different numbers of neutrons. The illustration below shows the three isotopes of carbon.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Some isotopes of certain elements are unstable; they can spontaneously change into another kind of atom in a process called “radioactive decay.” Since this process presently happens at a known measured rate, scientists attempt to use it like a “clock” to tell how long ago a rock or fossil formed. There are two main applications for radiometric dating. One is for potentially dating<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/fossils.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">fossils</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(once-living things) using carbon-14 dating, and the other is for dating rocks and the age of the earth using uranium, potassium and other radioactive atoms.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #dceefa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><img alt="Carbon atomic mass numbers" border="0" height="32" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image002.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1026" width="32" /><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="caption" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #dceefa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt;">The atomic number corresponds to the number of protons in an atom. Atomic mass is a combination of the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus. (The electrons are so much lighter that they do not contribute significantly to the mass of an atom.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span></h3><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;">Carbon-14 Dating</span></h3><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Carbon-14 (<sup>14</sup>C), also referred to as radiocarbon, is claimed to be a reliable dating method for determining the age of fossils up to 50,000 to 60,000 years. If this claim is true, the biblical account of a young earth (about 6,000 years) is in question, since<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C dates of tens of thousands of years are common.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=2441308394757430295" name="fnMark_1_1_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible#fnList_1_1#fnList_1_1" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">1</span></sup></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">When a scientist’s interpretation of data does not match the clear meaning of the text in the Bible, we should never reinterpret the Bible. God knows just what He meant to say, and His understanding of science is infallible, whereas ours is fallible. So we should never think it necessary to modify His Word. Genesis 1 defines the days of creation to be literal days (a number with the word “day” always means a normal day in the Old Testament, and the phrase “evening and morning” further defines the days as literal days). Since the Bible is the inspired Word of God, we should examine the validity of the standard interpretation of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C dating by asking several questions:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 30pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 30pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">1.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Is the explanation of the data derived from empirical, observational<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/science.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">science</span></a>, or an interpretation of past events (historical science)?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 30pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">2.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Are there any assumptions involved in the dating method?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 30pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">3.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Are the dates provided by<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C dating consistent with what we observe?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 30pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">4.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Do all scientists accept the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C dating method as reliable and accurate?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">All radiometric dating methods use scientific procedures in the present to interpret what has happened in the past. The procedures used are not necessarily in question. The interpretation of past events is in question. The secular (evolutionary) worldview interprets the universe and world to be billions of years old. The Bible teaches a young universe and earth. Which worldview does science support? Can carbon-14 dating help solve the mystery of which worldview is more accurate?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #dceefa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><img alt="Carbon Isotopes" border="0" height="32" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image003.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1027" width="32" /><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The use of carbon-14 dating is often misunderstood. Carbon-14 is mostly used to date once-living things (organic material). It cannot be used directly to date rocks; however, it can potentially be used to put time constraints on some inorganic material such as diamonds (diamonds could contain carbon-14). Because of the rapid rate of decay of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C, it can only give dates in the thousands-of-year range and not millions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">There are three different naturally occurring varieties (isotopes) of carbon:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>12</sup>C,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>13</sup>C, and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Carbon-14 is used for dating because it is unstable (radioactive), whereas<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>12</sup>C and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>13</sup>C are stable. Radioactive means that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C will decay (emit radiation) over time and become a different element. During this process (called “beta decay”) a neutron in the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C atom will be converted into a proton. By losing one neutron and gaining one proton,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C is changed into nitrogen-14 (<sup>14</sup>N = 7 protons and 7 neutrons).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #dceefa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><img alt="Cosmic rays bombard upper atmosphere" border="0" height="32" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image004.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1029" width="32" /><img alt="C-14 during life and after death" border="0" height="32" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image005.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1030" width="32" /><img alt="Total carbon" border="0" height="32" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image006.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1031" width="32" /><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">If<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C is constantly decaying, will the earth eventually run out of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C? The answer is no. Carbon-14 is constantly being added to the atmosphere. Cosmic rays from outer space, which contain high levels of energy, bombard the earth’s upper atmosphere. These cosmic rays collide with atoms in the atmosphere and can cause them to come apart. Neutrons that come from these fragmented atoms collide with<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>N atoms (the atmosphere is made mostly of nitrogen and oxygen) and convert them into<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C atoms (a proton changes into a neutron).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Once<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C is produced, it combines with oxygen in the atmosphere (<sup>12</sup>C behaves like<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C and also combines with oxygen) to form carbon dioxide (CO<sup>2</sup>). Because CO<sub>2</sub><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>gets incorporated into plants (which means the food we eat contains<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>12</sup>C), all living things should have the same ratio of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>12</sup>C in them as in the air we breathe.<o:p></o:p></span></div><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span></h3><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;">How the Carbon-14 Dating Process Works<o:p></o:p></span></h3><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Once a living thing dies, the dating process begins. As long as an organism is alive it will continue to take in<sup>14</sup>C; however, when it dies, it will stop. Since<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C is radioactive (decays into<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>N), the amount of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C in a dead organism gets less and less over time. Therefore, part of the dating process involves measuring the amount of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C that remains after some has been lost (decayed). Scientists now use a device called an “Accelerator Mass Spectrometer” (AMS) to determine the ratio of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>12</sup>C, which increases the assumed accuracy to about 80,000 years. In order to actually do the dating, other things need to be known. Two such things include the following questions:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 30pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">1.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">How fast does<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C decay?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 30pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">2.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What was the starting amount of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C in the creature when it died?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The decay rate of radioactive elements is described in terms of half-life. The half-life of an atom is </span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">the amount of time it takes for half of the atoms in a sample to decay. The half-life of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C is 5,730 years. For example, a jar starting with all<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C atoms at time zero will contain half<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C atoms and half<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>N atoms at the end of 5,730 years (one half-life). At the end of 11,460 years (two half-lives) the jar will contain one-quarter<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C atoms and three-quarter<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>N atoms.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Since the half-life of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C is known (how fast it decays), the only part left to determine is the starting amount of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C in a fossil. If scientists know the original amount of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C in a creature when it died, they can measure the current amount and then calculate how many half-lives have passed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #dceefa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><img alt="Number of Half Lives" border="0" height="32" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image007.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1028" width="32" /><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Since no one was there to measure the amount of<sup>14</sup>C when a creature died, scientists need to find a method to determine how much<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C has decayed. To do this, scientists use the main isotope of carbon, called carbon-12 (<sup>12</sup>C). Because<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>12</sup>C is a stable isotope of carbon, it will remain constant; however, the amount of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C will decrease after a creature dies. All living things take in carbon (<sup>14</sup>C and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>12</sup>C) from eating and breathing. Therefore, the ratio of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>12</sup>C in living creatures will be the same as in the atmosphere. This ratio turns out to be about one<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C atom for every 1 trillion<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>12</sup>C atoms. Scientists can use this ratio to help determine the starting amount of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">When an organism dies, this ratio (1 to 1 trillion) will begin to change. The amount of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>12</sup>C will remain constant, but the amount of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C will become less and less. The smaller the ratio, the longer the organism has been dead. The following illustration demonstrates how the age is estimated using this ratio.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><table bgcolor="#f5fafd" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f5fafd; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cfe7f8; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="bottom"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.5pt;">Percent<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C Remaining<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cfe7f8; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="bottom"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.5pt;">Percent<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>12</sup>C Remaining<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cfe7f8; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="bottom"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.5pt;">Ratio<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cfe7f8; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="bottom"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.5pt;">Number of Half-Lives<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cfe7f8; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="bottom"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.5pt;">Years Dead(Age of Fossil)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">100<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">100<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">1 to 1T<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">0<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">0<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">50<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">100<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">1 to 2T<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">1<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">5,730<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">25<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">100<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">1 to 4T<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">2<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">11,460<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">12.5<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">100<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">1 to 8T<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">3<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">17,190<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">6.25<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">100<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">1 to 16T<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">4<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">22,920<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">3.125<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">100<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">1 to 32T<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">5<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="padding-bottom: 2.25pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 4.5pt; padding-top: 2.25pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">28,650<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">T = Trillion<o:p></o:p></span></div><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span></h3><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;">A Critical Assumption<o:p></o:p></span></h3><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">A critical assumption used in carbon-14 dating has to do with this ratio. It is assumed that the ratio of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>12</sup>C in the atmosphere has always been the same as it is today (1 to 1 trillion). If this assumption is true, then the AMS<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C dating method is valid up to about 80,000 years. Beyond this number, the instruments scientists use would not be able to detect enough remaining<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C to be useful in age estimates.</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">This is a critical assumption in the dating process. If this assumption is not true, then the method will give incorrect dates. What could cause this ratio to change? If the production rate of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C in the atmosphere is not equal to the removal rate (mostly through decay), this ratio will change. In other words, the amount of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C being produced in the atmosphere must equal the amount being removed to be in a steady state (also called “equilibrium”). If this is not true, the ratio of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>12</sup>C is not a constant, which would make knowing the starting amount of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C in a specimen difficult or impossible to accurately determine.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Dr. Willard Libby, the founder of the carbon-14 dating method, assumed this ratio to be constant. His reasoning was based on a belief in evolution, which assumes the earth must be billions of years old. Assumptions in the scientific community are extremely important. If the starting assumption is false, all the calculations based on that assumption might be correct but still give a wrong conclusion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In Dr. Libby’s original work, he noted that the atmosphere did not appear to be in equilibrium. This was a troubling idea for Dr. Libby since he believed the world was billions of years old and enough time had passed to achieve equilibrium. Dr. Libby’s calculations showed that if the earth started with no<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C in the atmosphere, it would take up to 30,000 years to build up to a steady state (equilibrium).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">If the cosmic radiation has remained at its present intensity for 20,000 or 30,000 years, and if the carbon reservoir has not changed appreciably in this time, then there exists at the present time a complete balance between the rate of disintegration of radiocarbon atoms and the rate of assimilation of new radiocarbon atoms for all material in the life-cycle.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=2441308394757430295" name="fnMark_1_2_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible#fnList_1_2#fnList_1_2" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">2</span></sup></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Dr. Libby chose to ignore this discrepancy (nonequilibrium state), and he attributed it to experimental error. However, the discrepancy has turned out to be very real. The ratio of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C /<sup>12</sup>C is not constant.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The Specific Production Rate (SPR) of C-14 is known to be 18.8 atoms per gram of total carbon per minute. The Specific Decay Rate (SDR) is known to be only 16.1 disintegrations per gram per minute.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=2441308394757430295" name="fnMark_1_3_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible#fnList_1_3#fnList_1_3" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">3</span></sup></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What does this mean? If it takes about 30,000 years to reach equilibrium and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C is still out of equilibrium, then maybe the earth is not very old.<o:p></o:p></span></div><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span></h3><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;">Magnetic Field of the Earth<o:p></o:p></span></h3><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Other factors can affect the production rate of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C in the atmosphere. The earth has a magnetic field around it which helps protect us from harmful radiation from outer space. This magnetic field is decaying (getting weaker). The stronger the field is around the earth, the fewer the number of cosmic rays that are able to reach the atmosphere. This would result in a smaller production of<sup>14</sup>C in the atmosphere in earth’s past.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The cause for the long term variation of the C-14 level is not known. The variation is certainly partially the result of a change in the cosmic ray production rate of radiocarbon. The cosmic-ray flux, and hence the production rate of C-14, is a function not only of the solar activity but also of the magnetic dipole moment of the Earth.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=2441308394757430295" name="fnMark_1_4_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible#fnList_1_4#fnList_1_4" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">4</span></sup></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Though complex, this history of the earth’s magnetic field agrees with Barnes’ basic hypothesis, that the field has always freely decayed.... The field has always been losing energy despite its variations, so it cannot be more than 10,000 years old.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=2441308394757430295" name="fnMark_1_5_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible#fnList_1_5#fnList_1_5" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">5</span></sup></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Earth’s magnetic field is fading. Today it is about 10 percent weaker than it was when German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss started keeping tabs on it in 1845, scientists say.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=2441308394757430295" name="fnMark_1_6_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible#fnList_1_6#fnList_1_6" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">6</span></sup></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">If the production rate of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C in the atmosphere was less in the past, dates given using the carbon-14 method would incorrectly assume that more<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C had decayed out of a specimen than what has actually occurred. This would result in giving older dates than the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/young.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">true age</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span></h3><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;">Genesis Flood</span></h3><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What role might the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/flood.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Genesis Flood</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>have played in the amount of carbon? The Flood would have buried large amounts of carbon from living organisms (plant and animal) to form today’s fossil fuels (coal, oil, etc.). The amount of fossil fuels indicates there must have been a vastly larger quantity of vegetation in existence prior to the Flood than exists today. This means that the biosphere just prior to the Flood might have had 500 times more carbon in living organisms than today. This would further dilute the amount of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C and cause the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C/<sup>12</sup>C ratio to be much smaller than today.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">If that were the case, and this C-14 were distributed uniformly throughout the biosphere, and the total amount of biosphere C were, for example, 500 times that of today’s world, the resulting C-14/C-12 ratio would be 1/500 of today’s level....<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=2441308394757430295" name="fnMark_1_7_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible#fnList_1_7#fnList_1_7" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">7</span></sup></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">When the Flood is taken into account along with the decay of the magnetic field, it is reasonable to believe that the assumption of equilibrium is a false assumption.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Because of this false assumption, any age estimates using<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C prior to the Flood will give much older dates than the true age. Pre-Flood material would be dated at perhaps ten times the true age.<o:p></o:p></span></div><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span></h3><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;">The RATE Group Findings<o:p></o:p></span></h3><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In 1997 an eight-year research project was started to investigate the age of the earth. The group was called the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://icr.org/rate/" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7;">RATE group</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(Radioisotopes and the Age of The Earth). The team of scientists included:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/isd/vardiman.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Larry Vardiman</span></a>, PhD Atmospheric Science<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/r_humphreys.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Russell Humphreys</span></a>, PhD Physics<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/319.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Eugene Chaffin</span></a>, PhD Physics<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/j_baumgardner.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">John Baumgardner</span></a>, PhD Geophysics<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/d_deyoung.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Donald DeYoung</span></a>, PhD Physics<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/s_austin.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Steven Austin</span></a>, PhD Geology<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/a_snelling.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Andrew Snelling</span></a>, PhD Geology<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Steven Boyd, PhD Hebraic and Cognate Studies<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The objective was to gather data commonly ignored or censored by evolutionary standards of dating. The scientists reviewed the assumptions and procedures used in estimating the ages of rocks and fossils. The results of the carbon-14 dating demonstrated serious problems for long geologic ages. For example, a series of fossilized wood samples that conventionally have been dated according to their host strata to be from Tertiary to Permian (40-250 million years old) all yielded significant, detectable levels of carbon-14 that would conventionally equate to only 30,000-45,000 years “ages” for the original trees.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=2441308394757430295" name="fnMark_1_8_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible#fnList_1_8#fnList_1_8" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">8</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Similarly, a survey of the conventional radiocarbon journals resulted in more than forty examples of supposedly ancient organic materials, including limestones, that contained carbon-14, as reported by leading laboratories.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=2441308394757430295" name="fnMark_1_9_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible#fnList_1_9#fnList_1_9" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">9</span></sup></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Samples were then taken from ten different coal layers that, according to evolutionists, represent different time periods in the geologic column (Cenozoic, Mesozoic, and Paleozoic). The RATE group obtained these ten coal samples from the U.S. Department of Energy Coal Sample Bank, from samples collected from major coalfields across the United States. The chosen coal samples, which dated millions to hundreds of millions of years old based on standard evolution time estimates, all contained measurable amounts of 14C. In all cases, careful precautions were taken to eliminate any possibility of contamination from other sources.</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Samples, in all three “time periods”, displayed significant amounts of 14C. This is a significant discovery. Since the half-life of 14C is relatively short (5,730 years), there should be no detectable 14C left after about 100,000 years. The average 14C estimated age for all the layers from these three time periods was approximately 50,000 years. However, using a more realistic pre-Flood 14C /12C ratio reduces that age to about 5,000 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #dceefa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><img alt="Diamonds" border="0" height="32" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/JMADEL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image008.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1032" width="32" /><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">These results indicate that the entire geologic column is less than 100,000 years old—and could be much younger. This confirms the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/bible.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Bible</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and challenges the evolutionary idea of long geologic ages.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Because the lifetime of C-14 is so brief, these AMS [Accelerator Mass Spectrometer] measurements pose an obvious challenge to the standard geological timescale that assigns millions to hundreds of millions of years to this part of the rock layer.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=2441308394757430295" name="fnMark_1_10_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible#fnList_1_10#fnList_1_10" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">10</span></sup></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Another noteworthy observation from the RATE group was the amount of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C found in diamonds. Secular scientists have estimated the ages of diamonds to be millions to billions of years old using other radiometric dating methods. These methods are also based on questionable assumptions and are discussed elsewhere<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=2441308394757430295" name="fnMark_1_11_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible#fnList_1_11#fnList_1_11" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">11</span></sup></a>. Because of their hardness, diamonds (the hardest known substance) are extremely resistant to contamination through chemical exchange. Since diamonds are considered to be so old by evolutionary standards, finding any<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C in them would be strong support for a recent creation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The RATE group analyzed twelve diamond samples for possible carbon-14 content. Similar to the coal results, all twelve diamond samples contained detectable, but lower levels of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C. These findings are powerful evidence that coal and diamonds cannot be the millions or billions of years old that evolutionists claim. Indeed, these RATE findings of detectable<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup>14</sup>C in diamonds have been confirmed independently.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=2441308394757430295" name="fnMark_1_12_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible#fnList_1_12#fnList_1_12" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">12</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Carbon-14 found in fossils at all layers of the geologic column, in coal and in diamonds, is evidence which confirms the biblical timescale of thousands of years and not billions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Because of C-14’s short half-life, such a finding would argue that carbon and probably the entire physical earth as well must have a recent origin.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=2441308394757430295" name="fnMark_1_13_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible#fnList_1_13#fnList_1_13" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">13</span></sup></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span></h3><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></h3><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">All radiometric dating methods are based on assumptions about events that happened in the past. If the assumptions are accepted as true (as is typically done in the evolutionary dating processes), results can be biased toward a desired age. In the reported ages given in textbooks and other journals, these evolutionary assumptions have not been questioned, while results inconsistent with long ages have been censored. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">When the assumptions were evaluated and shown faulty, the results supported the biblical account of a global Flood and young earth.</span> Christians should not be afraid of radiometric dating methods. Carbon-14 dating is really the friend of Christians, and it supports a young earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;">The RATE scientists are convinced that the popular idea attributed to geologist Charles Lyell from nearly two centuries ago, “The present is the key to the past,” is simply not valid for an earth history of millions or billions of years. An alternative interpretation of the carbon-14 data is that the earth experienced a global flood catastrophe which laid down most of the rock strata and fossils.... Whatever the source of the carbon-14, its presence in nearly every sample tested worldwide is a strong challenge to an ancient age. Carbon-14 data is now firmly on the side of the young-earth view of history.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=2441308394757430295" name="fnMark_1_14_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible#fnList_1_14#fnList_1_14" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">14</span></sup></a></span></div></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048433958407189852.post-91937119836573629722011-09-07T13:39:00.000+01:002011-09-07T13:39:34.590+01:00Evidence To Disprove the Evolution of Dinosaurs into Birds<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Birds did not evolve from dinosaurs: what creationists have been pointing out for years is now buttressed by new research.</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The notion that theropod dinosaurs evolved into birds has almost certainly become one of the most widely accepted “facts” of evolution. The question for many evolutionary researchers had transitioned from “if” to “how.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=8919053155655752132" name="fnMark_1_1_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/06/12/birds-did-not-evolve#fnList_1_1#fnList_1_1" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">1</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Even artists’ depictions of some dinosaurs (such as velociraptors) began to include feathers.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=8919053155655752132" name="fnMark_1_2_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/06/12/birds-did-not-evolve#fnList_1_2#fnList_1_2" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">2</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Except for a few notable critics, such as University of North Carolina paleobiologist Alan Feduccia, evolutionists seem to have all but agreed on birds’ dinosaurian origins.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Now, a new paper in the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Journal of Morphology</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>presents the research of two Oregon State University scientists who don’t agree with the evolutionary dogma on bird origins.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=8919053155655752132" name="fnMark_1_3_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/06/12/birds-did-not-evolve#fnList_1_3#fnList_1_3" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">3</span></sup></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Doctoral student Devon Quick conducted the investigation into bird breathing and its connection with dinosaur-to-bird evolution as part her dissertation. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="" name="more" style="color: #de7008;"></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;">Background<a name='more'></a></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The research hinges—almost literally—on the femur (upper leg bone) of birds. Unlike other walking creatures, a bird’s femur does not move significantly, and birds instead articulate the lower portion of their leg to walk or run. Quick’s surprising discovery is that this “knee running” anatomy, with nearly fixed femur bones and musculature, is crucial in preventing birds’ air-sac lung from collapsing whenever the bird takes a breath.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Quick explained, “This is fundamental to bird physiology. It’s really strange that no one realized this before. The position of the thigh bone and muscles in birds is critical to their lung function, which in turn is what gives them enough lung capacity for flight.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Dinosaurs lack this fixed femur, however, and that includes the theropod dinosaurs from which birds supposedly evolved. Oregon State zoologist John Ruben, a coauthor on the paper, commented, “Theropod dinosaurs had a moving femur and therefore could not have had a lung that worked like that in birds. Their abdominal air sac, if they had one, would have collapsed. That undercuts a critical piece of supporting evidence for the dinosaur-bird link.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">He continued, “It’s really kind of amazing that after centuries of studying birds and flight we still didn’t understand a basic aspect of bird biology.” Ruben added that the appearance of birds<em>before</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>dinosaurs in the fossil record is a “serious problem” that is ignored by those who advocate dinosaur-to-bird evolution (see also<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n4/early-bird" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">The Early Bird Catches the Dinosaur</span></a>).<o:p></o:p></span></div><h2 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: -15pt; margin-right: -37.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">What Does it Mean?<o:p></o:p></span></h2><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The conclusion is so revealing—especially considering that it comes straight from evolutionist researchers—that we borrow it directly from the Oregon State press release<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1842260823875796403&postID=8919053155655752132" name="fnMark_1_4_1" style="color: #de7008;"></a><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/06/12/birds-did-not-evolve#fnList_1_4#fnList_1_4" style="color: #de7008;"><sup><span style="color: #0083d7;">4</span></sup></a>:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">OSU research on avian biology and physiology was among the first in the nation to begin calling into question the dinosaur-bird link since the 1990s. Other findings have been made since then, at OSU and other institutions, which also raise doubts. But old theories die hard, Ruben said, especially when it comes to some of the most distinctive and romanticized animal species in world history.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">“Frankly, there’s a lot of museum politics involved in this, a lot of careers committed to a particular point of view even if new scientific evidence raises questions,” Ruben said. In some museum displays, he said, the birds-descended-from-dinosaurs evolutionary theory has been portrayed as a largely accepted fact, with an asterisk pointing out in small type that “some scientists disagree.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Our work at OSU used to be pretty much the only asterisk they were talking about,” Ruben said. “But now there are more asterisks all the time. That’s part of the process of science.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In the research, the scientists also noted other “specialized features” of bird anatomy which allow the substantial oxygen intake required for flight, as well as features present in both birds and mammals but not dinosaurs (the researchers believed these features evolved independently, as evolutionists do not consider birds and mammals closely related).<o:p></o:p></span></div><h2 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: -15pt; margin-right: -37.5pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></h2><h4 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #dceefa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #aa0033; line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">An Anatomist’s Thoughts<o:p></o:p></span></h4><div class="caption" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #dceefa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/d_menton.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Dr. David Menton</span></a>, an award-winning anatomist, had this to say about the new research:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="caption" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #dceefa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt;">So certain are most evolutionists that birds evolved from dinosaurs that birds are now widely regarded as being, in fact, Coelurosaurian dinosaurs. Still, the growing lines of evidence coming from “dinosaurs as birds” skeptics like Ruben and Feduccia are eroding this confidence. This new study by Quick and her mentor Ruben presents compelling evidence from an anatomical feature of birds that was previously ignored—the bird’s femur. Unlike all mammals and reptiles (including dinosaurs), bird femurs are tucked up into the body, and thus the visible part of a bird’s leg is from the knee on down. This curious arrangement was once alluded to in a humorous book title:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Do Penguins Have Knees?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="caption" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #dceefa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt;">The importance of the bird femur to avian respiration has not been appreciated until now. Quick and Ruben point out that the avian style air-sac system of breathing requires support from the uniquely positioned femurs of birds to keep their abdominal air-sacs from collapsing during inspiration. They conclude that “the likely absence of bird-like pulmonary function in theropods is inconsistent with suggestions of cardiovascular anatomy more sophisticated than that of modern crocodilians.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="caption" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #dceefa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 7.5pt;">One hopes that this new evidence will now prompt evolutionists to reconsider their claimed evidence for “feathers” in dinosaurs. No other cutaneous appendages are as strikingly different in their development, structure, function, and mode of replacement as scales and feathers. It appears that both feathers and the avian mode of breathing are unique to birds. But will all of this have any impact on the current birds-are-dinosaurs dogma? I think not: experience has shown that evolutionary dogma, once established, dies hard.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What do the researchers conclude about bird evolution, then? “This discovery probably means that birds evolved on a parallel path alongside dinosaurs, starting that process before most dinosaur species even existed,” Ruben noted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">“That’s quite possible and is routinely found in evolution. It just seems pretty clear now that birds were evolving all along on their own and did not descend directly from the theropod dinosaurs, which lived many millions of years later,” said Quick.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The scientists believe the similarities between birds and dinosaurs show that they possibly shared a common ancestor that eventually gave rise to not only birds and dinosaurs, but also crocodilians. However, their research reported that the lung structure and physiology of dinosaurs was likely much more similar to crocodilians than to birds.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Creationists should keep in mind several important points regarding this research:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Once again, the evolutionary “facts” have been challenged. What scientists believe about the evidence frequently changes, even while their presupposed belief in evolution is held constant. Don’t be fooled by the “facts” that evolutionists themselves may doubt tomorrow!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We may well hear a sharp response from other evolutionists attacking this research or, at least, emphasizing that birds still evolved, even if only from an unknown ancestor. Alternatively, we may hear virtually nothing if evolutionists hope the story goes unnoticed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Whenever evolutionists demonstrate that specialized features originated separately (i.e., the evolutionary branches are farther apart), it multiplies the number of miraculous mutations that would have had to occur to produce the specialized anatomy in organisms on both branches.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The “overlap” between bird anatomy and mammal anatomy, and between bird anatomy and reptile anatomy—along with the plentiful uniqueness of bird anatomy—all shouts “design.” Evolution can only explain such recurring anatomical elements with the fanciful justification of “convergent evolution” (i.e., concluding that two similar features evolved separately because the organisms are on different evolutionary branches). Creationists instead have the common-sense understanding that the Creator chose for each organism whatever designs best suited its purpose, and sometimes He reused the best designs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Perhaps most importantly, this research identifies an incredible, previously unknown element of bird biology—a sophisticated design that enables bird flight and reflects on the ingenuity of the Creator.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Taking aim at the traditional evolutionary view, Ruben quipped, “A velociraptor did not just sprout feathers at some point and fly off into the sunset.” Sadly, that romanticized view seems to prevail among evolutionists, who have abundant faith—even without scientific justification—that all the biodiversity and incredible “design” we see in nature today is merely a product of natural processes acting on accidents. So, even adding one more “miracle” to evolution—as this new research does—is unlikely to shake their faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div><h3 style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #70993a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt;">For more information:<o:p></o:p></span></h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/did-dinosaurs-turn-into-birds" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #8281cf;">Did Dinosaurs Turn Into Birds?</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v2/n4/birds-under-fire" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Birds Under Fire</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v17/i1/bird.asp" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Bird evolution: discontinuities and reversals</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://trueorigin.org/birdevo.asp" style="color: #de7008;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0083d7;">On the Alleged Dinosaurian Ancestry of Birds</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Get Answers:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/get-answers/topic/dinosaurs" style="color: #de7008;"><span style="color: #0083d7;">Dinosaurs</span></a></span></div>John Chingfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584062097138586039noreply@blogger.com0