For those who have not read my previous post regarding the existence of God & why I disagree evolution is the origin of life, you can find the link here. I believe that science, just like history and archeology if properly studied (without any biasness) should compliment the Bible. Written below are facts (Scientifically known and regarded) that the scientific community believes in and what the Bible says.
Note: I still stand by my point regarding Evolution not being the source of modern day life as we know it. Rather, I'm letting people know what the scientific community has concluded regarding the sequence on how life has appeared.
I give credit to Professor Andrew Parker, from whom I read a book detailing this information. More information can be found at the end of this post.
Scientific History of the Earth
The formation of the sun (~5 Billion years ago)
-God said: "Let there be light"
The formation of the seas and the separation of land areas (~4.2 Billion years ago)
-God said: " Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dryland appear"
The beginning of life, including single-celled, photosynthetic organisms (Plants) (~3.9 Billion years ago)
- "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed" (Vegetation/Plants)
The first image forming eye evolved and the visual information used. The lights were turned on for animal behaviour and evolution (~521 Million years ago)
- "Let there be lights... to divide the day from night"
The Cambrian explosion (A.k.a Evolution's Big Bang) (~520 Million years ago)
- "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life"
Life was exclusively marine at this time. It was during this period that all animal phyla that exist today evolved into what they are. *
- God created the great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind...
All animals adapted to the vision of predators, except for birds simply because they can escape predation through flight and thus generally avoid camouflage colours. It is also interesting to note how both sea creatures and birds are singled out as they are (respectively) the main characters and exceptions in life's history book
- ... and every winged fowl after his kind.
I obtained this information from a book titled "The Genesis Enigma" written by Professor Andrew Parker. He has also written the book titled "In the Blink of an Eye" which talks about his "light switch theory" that holds on to the fact that the sudden introduction of vision in the earth triggered the Cambrian explosion. Till this day, this theory has not only held strong but has been considered as the "Last man standing" in the critiques of experts in the field (E.g. the 2007 review by Harvard Professor Charles Marshall). I strongly recommend people interested in understanding the scientific accuracy of the Bible to get a copy.
Note: I am not pushing a book but rather letting people know where I obtained this information due to copyright issues (thought I highly doubt they would actually find this blog and ask me to pull it down)
*These facts are not common knowledge, only an experienced biologist would know about this.
As mentioned in all my post, I'm open to all discussions, advice, questions and encouragements.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
The Logic of the very existance of God
Every now and then, I get questions regarding my faith & beliefs which in turn results in various questions such as "Does God really exist?" (has para-phrased most of them which normally are: What makes you think there is a God?). In most cases, the topic of creation and evolution lights up to which I normally give 2 respectable answers to the question regarding the existance of a God. I hope that these 2 answers may be useful to people who truly believe in God but do not know how to answer their friends and those who are geniunely looking for an answer to the existance of a God.
1 Peter 3:15
... Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
Probability - Bringing Chaos to order
It is completely almost impossible for evolution to be the source of life today. This is simply common sense. There has to be an order or rather something in control that guided the path to the life forms we see today. Many people still believe "There is a chance regardless and thus what we see now is that seemingly impossible probability that resulted in modern day life". This is somewhat nonsensical when you think of it. Lets say, just outside my aparment there is a corridor/hallway which can perhaps fit an estimated 700 people uncomfortably at one time (meaning that its really jammed packed). Now the possibility or probability of this happening is always there, there is always a chance that the hallway might just some day have 700 people trying their best to squeeze into it. However, for the past 4 years that I've been staying in this apartment, I've yet to see it reach 100 people at a given moment. Not because there is no chance of it ever happening or that its impossible in that sense but rather because it is too unlikely to ever happen. Now, the typical response to this answer that I've heard is "But I could just call 700 people up to stand in the hallway in order to fill it up". That my friend, is precisely my point. It is so unlikely that 700 people at a given time will cram into the hallway that I can deem it impossible for it to ever happen unless there is someone or something that helps to gather everyone together. There has to be someone that designated not just this opportunity (as all 700 people will have different shedules to complete this task) but has purposefully willed and created this moment where the hallway will be filled with 700 people. If not for this, it will never be possible for the hallway to be completely filled for nothing. This applies exactly to the theory of creation. Many say that through probability, life as we know it has came around through evolution, however it is impossible for it to happen UNLESS there is someone (a God) to control and will it into existance.
Inanimacy - Primordial Soup
The theory of how life came about through evolution can be traced back to the Primordial Soup. Thus the chain would be a Human evolving from a Monkey which evolved from something else which in turn is traced back all the way to bacteria and right before that, the Primordial Soup. For those who are unclear what the "Primordial soup" is, I'll only give a brief explanation. For more information regarding: Primordial Soup, please go into the local bookstore to buy a biology book regarding evolution or simply google it. Primordial Soup is simply a combination of chemicals from the air / atmosphere (with the addition of energy) that created the basic building blocks of life that in turn resulted in the evolution of all species. It is IMPOSSIBLE for anything inanimate to come alive. No matter how many centuries or eons, a stone on the ground will NEVER develop 2 legs and some internal organs for it to function like any living creature. I've often pointed out that my bag, no matter how many centuries, will never ever come alive. It will not breath, it will not die (cause it was never alive), it will not have any metabolism nor will it be having thought processes. It may become another object e.g. a cloth through someone else cutting it and sewing it into one but it will never ever (even after the addition of energy) become a new creature by itself.
Conclusion - God Exist
It is thus concludable that there has to be someone out there that created life as we know it. It is impossible for life to just happen (from an inanimate to animate) and for things to just fall into place (the changing of a monkey into humans, a fish into a monkey etc). The bombardier beetle for example releases a 100 degree celcius spray to any threat it perceives (not to mention it is a complex system with different chemicals produced in the body of the insect). The bombardier beetle is a classic example simply because of 2 reasons. Firstly had a slight mistake gone wrong in its ancestry, this beetle would have just burned itself out due to it internally stored chemicals. Secondly, the various components needed for the defence mechanisms to work would not have existed if it was through conventional evolution simply because the components have no other benefit to the beetle. Thus it has to be created all at once.
Life (Humans, animals & Plants), as any reputable biologist or scientist will know, it a very very VERY complex system that up to this day is being studied and experimented. The minute details and the things that happen within our body that we are not consciously aware of (e.g. Mitosis and Meiosis) are just simply amazing. Something as complex as a human body cannot "just been evolved" from a pond of Primordial Soup. It is similar to saying by waiting 120,000 years, an iPhone would just be made with no external guidance and help (basically humans). Similarly, no matter how many times one may throw a pig in the air, the pig will not grow wings and fly (even after many generations). If its anything, it would either be a happy pig due to the joy we are bringing to it or it may be a stressed pig resulting in an early death. Of course, I've heard from one that throwing a pig in the air simply does not give it any necessity to fly because it does not require to fly at all unlike a fish whose pond is strinking thus requiring it to move to land. In any case, throwing a pig down a cliff would result in a dead pig and less bacon to bring home. It would not make it fly even though it is necessary for it to fly. By all evidence shown, if a pond is diminishing, the fish does not climb out of the pond and start becoming another animal but it just sadly dies. Even across many generations. The requirement to survive does not in any case result in the creation of a totally new species e.g. monkeys and humans or fish and monkeys.
I really hope these 2 points above were helpful to those who are interested in the existance of a God or looking for an answer to their inquirers. I would like to add (again) 2 things before I end. Firstly I do not have any problem with evolution or the people who believe in evolution but I disagree with evolution being the source of creation/life. Secondly, I do not have all the answers to life though I am willing to share as much as I know and I'm also willing to have a proper discussion.
As mentioned in all post, I welcome all sincere corrections, advice, questions and encouragements.
Pls post under comments and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
1 Peter 3:15
... Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
Probability - Bringing Chaos to order
It is completely almost impossible for evolution to be the source of life today. This is simply common sense. There has to be an order or rather something in control that guided the path to the life forms we see today. Many people still believe "There is a chance regardless and thus what we see now is that seemingly impossible probability that resulted in modern day life". This is somewhat nonsensical when you think of it. Lets say, just outside my aparment there is a corridor/hallway which can perhaps fit an estimated 700 people uncomfortably at one time (meaning that its really jammed packed). Now the possibility or probability of this happening is always there, there is always a chance that the hallway might just some day have 700 people trying their best to squeeze into it. However, for the past 4 years that I've been staying in this apartment, I've yet to see it reach 100 people at a given moment. Not because there is no chance of it ever happening or that its impossible in that sense but rather because it is too unlikely to ever happen. Now, the typical response to this answer that I've heard is "But I could just call 700 people up to stand in the hallway in order to fill it up". That my friend, is precisely my point. It is so unlikely that 700 people at a given time will cram into the hallway that I can deem it impossible for it to ever happen unless there is someone or something that helps to gather everyone together. There has to be someone that designated not just this opportunity (as all 700 people will have different shedules to complete this task) but has purposefully willed and created this moment where the hallway will be filled with 700 people. If not for this, it will never be possible for the hallway to be completely filled for nothing. This applies exactly to the theory of creation. Many say that through probability, life as we know it has came around through evolution, however it is impossible for it to happen UNLESS there is someone (a God) to control and will it into existance.
Inanimacy - Primordial Soup
The theory of how life came about through evolution can be traced back to the Primordial Soup. Thus the chain would be a Human evolving from a Monkey which evolved from something else which in turn is traced back all the way to bacteria and right before that, the Primordial Soup. For those who are unclear what the "Primordial soup" is, I'll only give a brief explanation. For more information regarding: Primordial Soup, please go into the local bookstore to buy a biology book regarding evolution or simply google it. Primordial Soup is simply a combination of chemicals from the air / atmosphere (with the addition of energy) that created the basic building blocks of life that in turn resulted in the evolution of all species. It is IMPOSSIBLE for anything inanimate to come alive. No matter how many centuries or eons, a stone on the ground will NEVER develop 2 legs and some internal organs for it to function like any living creature. I've often pointed out that my bag, no matter how many centuries, will never ever come alive. It will not breath, it will not die (cause it was never alive), it will not have any metabolism nor will it be having thought processes. It may become another object e.g. a cloth through someone else cutting it and sewing it into one but it will never ever (even after the addition of energy) become a new creature by itself.
Conclusion - God Exist
It is thus concludable that there has to be someone out there that created life as we know it. It is impossible for life to just happen (from an inanimate to animate) and for things to just fall into place (the changing of a monkey into humans, a fish into a monkey etc). The bombardier beetle for example releases a 100 degree celcius spray to any threat it perceives (not to mention it is a complex system with different chemicals produced in the body of the insect). The bombardier beetle is a classic example simply because of 2 reasons. Firstly had a slight mistake gone wrong in its ancestry, this beetle would have just burned itself out due to it internally stored chemicals. Secondly, the various components needed for the defence mechanisms to work would not have existed if it was through conventional evolution simply because the components have no other benefit to the beetle. Thus it has to be created all at once.
Life (Humans, animals & Plants), as any reputable biologist or scientist will know, it a very very VERY complex system that up to this day is being studied and experimented. The minute details and the things that happen within our body that we are not consciously aware of (e.g. Mitosis and Meiosis) are just simply amazing. Something as complex as a human body cannot "just been evolved" from a pond of Primordial Soup. It is similar to saying by waiting 120,000 years, an iPhone would just be made with no external guidance and help (basically humans). Similarly, no matter how many times one may throw a pig in the air, the pig will not grow wings and fly (even after many generations). If its anything, it would either be a happy pig due to the joy we are bringing to it or it may be a stressed pig resulting in an early death. Of course, I've heard from one that throwing a pig in the air simply does not give it any necessity to fly because it does not require to fly at all unlike a fish whose pond is strinking thus requiring it to move to land. In any case, throwing a pig down a cliff would result in a dead pig and less bacon to bring home. It would not make it fly even though it is necessary for it to fly. By all evidence shown, if a pond is diminishing, the fish does not climb out of the pond and start becoming another animal but it just sadly dies. Even across many generations. The requirement to survive does not in any case result in the creation of a totally new species e.g. monkeys and humans or fish and monkeys.
I really hope these 2 points above were helpful to those who are interested in the existance of a God or looking for an answer to their inquirers. I would like to add (again) 2 things before I end. Firstly I do not have any problem with evolution or the people who believe in evolution but I disagree with evolution being the source of creation/life. Secondly, I do not have all the answers to life though I am willing to share as much as I know and I'm also willing to have a proper discussion.
As mentioned in all post, I welcome all sincere corrections, advice, questions and encouragements.
Pls post under comments and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
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