Abstract Radiometric rock dating, the methodology of determining the date of formation of a rock sample by the well-established rate of decay of the isotopes contained, depends on accurately determination of the starting points, the original concentrations of the isotopes. Many methods of estimating these beginning concentrations have been proposed, but all rest on tenuous assumptions which have limited their acceptance. This paper attempts to show that the Isochron-Diagram method contains a logical flaw that invalidates it. This most accepted of all methods has two variations, the mineral isochron and the whole-rock isochron. The logically-sound authenticating mechanism of the mineral isochron is applied to the whole-rock isochron, where it is invalid. The long-term stability of the whole-rock is applied to the mineral, where it is inappropriate. When the isochron data are the result of the rock being a blend of two original species, the diagram is called a mixing line, having no time significance. This paper shows that all whole-rock isochrons are necessarily mixing lines. It is noted that by analogy the mixing-line logic casts strong suspicion on the mineral isochron as well. Since only whole-rock isochrons play a significant role in the dating game anyway, isotopic geochronology can be rather generally discredited. Keywords: Age Geochronology Isochron Isotope Old-earth Radiometric Young-earth Introduction: Thanks mainly to the fact that they appear to be so constant, the decay rates of radioactive materials have become the primary mechanism for attempting to discover the age of rocks.[5,16] In addition to a constant rate of variation, however, any timing mechanism must also have a calibrated beginning point. A number of methods have been tried to calibrate the "radiometric clock". But they have all required unprovable and apparently unwarranted assumptions. Faure, in his textbook [9] refers to all of them as "assumed values" except for those obtained by the "isochron", or similar linear method. The linear methods are several, and have in common the reduction of the data to a set which can yield a straight-line plot. Many exceedingly detailed descriptions of these methods are available.[1,2,5,16] A summary description of the Rb-Sr isochron is included below. Arndts and Overn alerted the creationist community to the fact that in spite of the mathematical rigor of the isochron, it also has unwarranted assumptions, and the data carefully gathered and processed to indicate immense ages can more appropriately be dismissed as indicating the recent mixing of two or more magmas.[1,2,3] Dalrymple[6] challenged our analysis with five points, all of which were promptly and thoroughly refuted.[4] In Dalrymple's latest book [7] he ignores the entire issue of the whole-rock isochron, only defending the mineral isochron. There is sound logic supporting the mineral isochron, but another fatal flaw. Individual mineral crystals are not closed systems. Even over the few thousands of years available in the young-earth paradigm, they are insufficiently stable to give acceptable data to the geochronologists. The Rb-Sr Isochron Method Rubidium and strontium occur as trace elements in many common rock types. Rubidium has two isotopes. ⁸⁵Rb (stable, abundance 72%) and ⁸⁷Rb (radioactive). ⁸⁷Rb decays to ⁸⁷Sr with a half-life of (approximately) 48.8 billion years. Strontium is stable in all natural forms, and in addition to the radiogenic ⁸⁷Sr (7%), has isotopes ⁸⁸Sr (82%), ⁸⁶Sr (10%), and ⁸⁴Sr (<1%). The general method of dating is to take several samples of the rock, to determine the ratios of the Rb-Sr isotopes in each, and by simultaneous equations determine the probable beginning points for each, from which the age may be determined.[16] For the sake of compatibility with the available laboratory instruments, the specific ratios chosen are ⁸⁷Rb-⁸⁶Sr and ⁸⁷Sr-⁸⁶Sr. The algebra is equivalent to a simple straight-line diagram as in Figure 1. where points a, b, and c represent the samples. Here is graphically represented the fact that the amount of daughter isotope increases as the amount of parent increases in the sample. The magnitude of that increase (i.e. the slope of the line) depends on the time allowed for the decay process to transpire, or the age of the rock. If we extrapolate down the line to the zero intercept, we have a representation of a sample with no parent isotope to contribute to the daughter concentration. This must represent the initial daughter concentration. The slope is the age and the intercept is the initial daughter ratio. The scheme is mathematically sound. We must examine the assumptions. For a problem to be solvable by simultaneous equations there must be as many independent equations as there are unknowns. The unknowns are the original ⁸⁷Sr-⁸⁶Sr ratio for each sample and the age of each sample. Each sample gives one equation, but introduces two additional unknowns. Regardless of the number of samples, there are never enough equations to cover all the unknowns.[16] These problems must be resolved by the assumptions. The same age It is assumed that all samples analyzed together are the same age. The word "isochron" (from the Greek "same time") symbolizes that. We do not dispute this assumption. The same initial strontium ratio If all initial ⁸⁷Sr-⁸⁶Sr ratios in the system are assumed to be the same, the scheme can be made to work, as the unknowns are reduced to two, the common age, and the common strontium ratio. Any two samples may now introduce the required two equations, and any more beyond that will simply improve the accuracy and the confidence level. This assumption is outside the experience based on field data, however, where the general case is that every sample has its own unique ratio. However, it can be rationally assumed that each sample we find has its own age and its particular rubidium concentration, which over time may have imparted a unique portion of daughter isotope. The assumed uniform strontium ratios should certainly be valid when applied to a rock system solidifying from a uniform homogenized melt. We must emphasize, however, that this enabling assumption must fail in the absence of an initial homogenized melt. A "closed" system If isotopes have migrated in or out of the sample during the aging period, the resulting data have no time significance. Isochrons are thought to be self checking in this regard, since with several samples an open system with random migration should scatter the points off of the straight line. Indeed, it often happens that there is a scatter of data, rendering the isochron worthless. But there are many occurrences of isochrons having acceptably straight-line form that are also rejected. Often "metamorphism" is cited as the probable cause, the system having opened, either partially or completely resetting the clock. [11,19] In order to assure an acceptably closed system, samples as large as 1 meter cubes have been suggested.[20] The assumption of a closed system for many of the isochrons, if they have not been questioned by the geochronologists, will not be challenged here. We note that these are generally obtained on the samples of larger dimensions, that is the whole-rock isochrons. Independent equations If the equations are not independent, the problem cannot be solved. This would be the case where all samples on the diagram plot on a single point. Although the single point on the diagram is valid, there is no way of finding a slope or intercept. If the melt were initially homogeneous and remained closed, it could be expected still to be homogeneous, and yield that single-point isochron. This should be the general case of the whole-rock isochron. The need is to find samples with a variety of initial rubidium content but still having initial strontium ratios that are known to be uniform. The assumed initial homogeneous melt cannot be expected to give whole-rock samples with variable rubidium, but the assumed uniform ⁸⁷Sr-⁸⁶Sr ratios demand such an initial homogeneous melt. The mineral isochron solves the dilemma. The mineral crystals have done the job in an elegant way. Crystals naturally form around a specific chemical composition, each atom occupying its naturally-assigned site. Foreign atoms just don't fit, either electrochemically or physically, and are strongly rejected. Depending on its concentration in the melt, a foreign element may have more or less acceptance in a crystal, based on its chemical and physical resemblance to one or another of the normal host elements. As the crystals form, each different mineral type accepts a different trace level of rubidium and of strontium. Because of their individual unique chemistry they each extract a different amount of rubidium and of strontium from the melt. The crystals of the individual minerals are used as the rock samples in the mineral isochrons. Mixing Often an isochron yields an unacceptable slope, indicating an age much too young or much too old to be compatible with the accepted model. [19] Frequently the slope is negative.[18,14] A common explanation for these cases is "mixing". It has always been recognized that the same straight-line plot as the isochron can be achieved if the original melt were a mixture of two original homogenized pools.[12] Figure 1. may also be used to illustrate this case. If points a and c are the compositions of the two original pools that partially merged to form the melt, any sample from the melt will occupy a place on a straight line between them, such as point b. No sample will be found above a or below c. Such a "mixing line" has no time significance, and the textbook warns to be wary of accepting such mixing as a true isochron. Faure's text also proposes a test for mixing. [13] If a plot of ⁸⁷Sr-⁸⁶Sr vs 1/Sr (the concentration of strontium) shows a linear relationship, then mixing is indicated. A brief study conducted in 1981 showed a high degree of correlation to this mixing test in the isochrons being published.[3] A subsequent public dialog between Dalrymple[6] and Arndts & Overn [4] concluded that although the mixing test is strongly indicative of mixing, there are circumstances under which mixing would not be detected by such a test, and others wherein the test could give a false indication of mixing. The caution for the geochronologist would be to suspect any isochron, since there is no way to rule out mixing. It is now clear, however, that there is at least one positive test for mixing. It is the whole-rock isochron itself. If the whole rock yields samples that give a linear plot, whether the slope is positive or negative, or whether the slope signifies an age that fits a preconceived model or not, there is no other known mechanism outside of mixing to which the data may be rationally ascribed. Discussion Mixing is an unfortunate misnomer that has become popular for describing rocks formed from two or more original melts, or from a melt becoming contaminated by isolated incorporation of local rock. Understand it to mean partial mixing, with resulting heterogeneity. Complete mixing would result in homogeneity, and would give only a single point to plot. No curve of any kind, nor even a scattering of points would occur. This homogeneity is the assumed starting point in the history of the rock being dated. It then solidifies. But now, years later, we dig up 6 adjacent meter cubes of the rock, and discover that the normalized ratio of the parent (and incidentally of the daughter) is different in each cube, sufficient to plot as an "isochron". How can we rationally accept the assumed initial homogeneity? We can not. What is needed but missing in the whole rock isochron is a mechanism to establish initial homogeneity, and then to extract heterogeneous samples. The mineral crystals do the job in an elegant way. Each type accepts a different level of contamination of the parent isotope, chemically determined. One cannot rationally extend this process back to the whole rock. It has been tried, but there is a fallacy . [5,20] As we stated in 1986: [5] The whole-rock isochron is justified on the basis that migration of the isotopes in a metamorphic event may be confined to distances of perhaps 1 cm. This is much larger than the average crystal size. Thus the original constituents of each crystal will lie nearby. By taking samples of 100-cm dimensions, one could assure that the entire content of the original crystals are well represented by the sample, with very small error. However, this matrix is the original melt that was theorized to be homogeneous. The ability to find differences in the rubidium content among the samples violates the assumption of original homogeneity. Original inhomogeneity is the only possible explanation: in other words, mixing. This method of justifying the whole-rock isochron on the basis of the mineral is logically unsound. Within the larger matrix the tiny crystals may incorporate discrete trace elements and return them over time. But they are powerless to alter the composition of the whole-rock matrix. It is claimed that fractional crystallization of magmas and separation of crystals from the remaining liquid result in suites of comagmatic rocks of differing composition. [10]. This may be true, but there is no experimental evidence that this can generally be applied to trace elements that are foreign to the crystals. Add the fact that trace elements are not securely held by crystals until temperatures are well below the melting points, and this postulate falls far short of explaining the variation in rubidium in whole-rock isochrons. Mixing is much preferred, particularly when it is noted that many data sets have negative slope, where mixing is always the accepted explanation. Often the negative-slope data pertain to large formations that particularly fit the hypothesis of slow cooling from a melt. [15,18] In the case of the mineral isochrons the scheme postulates an initial homogeneous melt, represented by a single point on the diagram. As the crystals form, their differential solubility will move their individual points on the diagram horizontally , different distances. (Only horizontally, since the vertical is a ratio of two isotopes of the same element). The large volume of whole-rock isochrons, however, shows the general case to be an initial heterogeneous melt represented by the kind of diagram published as an isochron, and which we conclude is actually a mixing line. Any point in the melt can be represented as a point on the straight line. When mineral crystals form, each crystal will move its point off the straight line in one or the other horizontal directions. The result is a scattering of the points. The geochronologist discards it as one of the following: A three or more part mixture, Subsequent metamorphosis, Not a closed system: In this case he recognizes that crystals really cannot be expected to be a closed system. They tend to continue to reject contaminants long after formation, the mobilities of foreign elements in crystals being a whole school of scientific study. The retention of trace elements in crystals is so inadequate that it has been possible to construct "Isochrons" from various parts of the same crystal.[17] It is common that when the mineral isochron fails, the geochronologist then produces a whole-rock isochron from the same formation. The ability to obtain a whole-rock diagram, straight-line or not, can be considered proof that the data represent a "mixing line" rather than an "isochron". If mixing has not occurred, and the system has remained closed, then the whole-rock data must all lie on a single point. In fact, even if the whole-rock data show scatter, either mixing is indicated -- but of a complex nature, with more than two components -- or there have been subsequent alterations described as the system being open, or both. Has any legitimate isochron ever been formed? It is improbable. There is ample evidence for mixing. Any "isochron" could be mixing. There is no way to rule it out. All whole-rock "isochrons" are mixing, and they are approximately 90% of all published. Many of the remaining (mineral) "isochrons" have a whole-rock point located close enough to the straight line to discredit them. Why should we expect any of the others to be "true isochrons", since mixing has the strongest probability? If one possesses a strong faith in the antiquity of the rocks, one could rationally expect that an occasional mineral isochron is legitimate. But it would also require the whole-rock diagram to be concentrated in a single point. (Neither a straight line or scattered). Often a whole rock point is put on a mineral diagram. That does not meet the criterion. Several whole-rock samples must be obtained, using the same techniques required for the whole-rock method. Their individual data points must be identical, i.e. superimposed on the diagram. At that point mixing would not have been ruled out, but all available tests requiring mixing would have been eliminated. In the dialog with Dalrymple [4] it was noted that he is unwilling to defend the whole-rock isochron. In his latest book [7] on the age of the earth he has included a section that describes the elegant process with which crystals (minerals) give the necessary heterogeneity to make the system work. He also shows why the mineral isochron cannot be relied upon for dating, but does not state that conclusion. He carefully avoids describing the whole-rock method, which leads the casual reader to conclude that it is validated by the same processes as is the mineral method. Nothing could be farther from the case. Dalrymple has seen our initial critique of the whole- rock method, [5] and is obviously reluctant to forthrightly claim any scientific merit for it. He has clearly sidestepped the issue. Dalrymple [7] does not depend directly on isochron dating of rocks to date the earth, but rather on the lead- isotope ratios. He must be commended for his carefully pointing out the many assumptions involved. However, he finally ignores them and claims that the age has been determined within a very narrow margin. His ultimate method is to take the radiometric ages of lead ores (Circa 2.6-3.5 Ga) and correct to the beginning. Again I point out that the "isochrons" used to date the ores, as well as those of the meteorites, that add so much to Dalrymple's confidence in the method, are most probably mixing. Note tables 7.4 and 7.5, [Ref 7] which give many meteorite ages. Almost all are whole-rock. Additionally note that with all his enthusiasm for the isochron, Dalrymple characterizes the method as a "first approximation" [8] As has been pointed out many times before, all radiometric methods including the linear-plot techniques have been effectively "calibrated" to the fossil dates by selecting among the discordant data those that fit the accepted stratigraphic model. [16] Since the proponents of the isochrons don't take them at face value, others should by equally wary. See also: " Still No Proof For Ancient Age -A Response " by W. M. Overn and Russell T. Arndts A technical analysis of "Isochrons" as defended by Dalrymple against creationist criticism, showing that despite mathematical sophistication, they are unreliable and are calibrated to "known ages" using the geologic column. For Exciting New Work On Radiometric Dating Showing a Young Earth, Click HERE BIBLIOGRAPHY [1] Arndts, R. & Overn, W. 1981 "Pseudo Concordance in U-Pb Dating" Bible-Science Newsletter 19(2):1. [2] Arndts, R. & Overn, W. 1981 "Isochrons" Bible-Science Newsletter 19(4):5-6. [3] Arndts, R., Kramer, M. & Overn, W. 1981 "Proof of the Validity of the Mixing Model" Bible-Science Newsletter 19(8):1. [4] Arndts, R. & Overn, W. Proceedings of 1985 Creation Conference North Coast Bible-Science Association, Cleveland, Ohio. [5] Arndts, R. & Overn, W. 1986 "Radiometric Dating -- An unconvincing Art" Proceedings of the First International Conference on Creationism Vol 2, Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pp 167- 173. [6] Dalrymple, G. B. 1984 "How Old is the Earth? A Reply to {at}Scientific Creationism' " Proceedings of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Pacific Division AAAS 1(3):84-86 [7] Dalrymple, G. B. 1992 The Age of the Earth [8] Ibid p. 402. [9] Faure, L. 1977 Principles of Isotope Geology John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, New York. p.78 [10] Ibid p. 79. [11] Ibid p. 83-87. [12] Ibid p. 97-105. [13] Ibid p. 101. [14] Jager, E. & Hunziker, J. C., eds, 1979 Lectures in Isotope Geology Springer-Verlaug, Berlin, Heidelberg and New York, p. 36 [15] Ibid p. 142-144 [16] Overn, W. 1986 "The Truth About Radiometric Dating" Proceedings of the First International Conference on Creationism Vol 1, Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pp 101-104. [17] Scharer, V. & Allegre, C. 1982 "Uranium - Lead System in Fragments of a Single Zircon Grain" Nature 295 (Feb.): 585 [18] Tilton, G. R. & Barreio, B. A. 1979 "Origin of Lead in Andean Calc-Alkaline Lavas, Southern Peru" Science 210, 1245-1247 [19] Woodmorappe, John 1979 "Radiometric Geochronology Reappraised" Creation Research Quarterly 16, 102-129 [20] York, D. & Farquhar, R. M. 1972 The Earth's Age and Geochronology Pergamon Press, New York, pp. 80 ff.

July 11 is the 10th anniversary of the publication of theistic evolutionist Francis Collins’ The Language of God , which became a New York Times bestseller largely because of Collins’ reputation as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. That book, in turn, helped Collins gain new fans and a nomination from Barack Obama to head the National Institutes of Health. Confirmed by the Senate, Collins has been in that position ever since, and I’m glad he’s there. But his book, and a talk about it I heard Collins give in New York, also displayed what Collins now admits was arrogance. Collins claimed on page 136 that huge chunks of our genome are “littered” with ancient repetitive elements (AREs), so that “roughly 45 percent of the human genome [is] made up of such genetic flotsam and jetsam.” In his talk he claimed the existence of “junk DNA” was proof that man and mice had a common ancestor, because God would not have created man with useless genes. Last year, though, speaking at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, Collins threw in the towel: “In terms of junk DNA, we don’t use that term anymore because I think it was pretty much a case of hubris to imagine that we could dispense with any part of the genome, as if we knew enough to say it wasn’t functional. … Most of the genome that we used to think was there for spacer turns out to be doing stuff.” Good for Collins—and maybe he’ll go on to deal with other times scientists feel sorry for God as they look at His purportedly poor design. For example, evolutionists use the retina of the eye as evidence against creation, because nerve endings are at the front rather than at the back, which at first glance seems better placement. Yet, as Lee Spetner explains in The Evolution Revolution (Judaica Press, 2014), physicists now see front placement as the best one for “ingeniously designed light collectors.” The list of needed retractions should include what you probably learned in high school about apparently purposeless human vestigial organs. Robert Wiedersheim’s 1895 list of 86 has shrunk, as almost all of them have proved to have functions. For example, the most famous vestigial organ—the vermiform appendix—is a crucial storage place for benign bacteria that repopulate the gut when diarrhea strikes. The appendix can be a life-saver. I haven’t seen Richard Dawkins recant his 2009 statement: “What pseudogenes [often labeled as junk DNA] are useful for is embarrassing creationists. It stretches even their creative ingenuity to make up a convincing reason why an intelligent designer should have created a pseudogene—a gene that does absolutely nothing and gives every appearance of being a superannuated version of a gene that used to do something.” Why? Maybe so when we look at the work of God’s fingers, from the moon and stars to the way He has knit together our inward parts, we bow our heads in awe. Maybe to embarrass evolutionists. Bookmarks Cristóbal Krusen’s They Were Christians (Baker, 2016) has readable chapter biographies of notables including Dag Hammarskjöld, Frederick Douglass, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky; and P hilosophy in Seven Sentences by Douglas Groothuis (IVP, 2016) introduces readers to seven philosophers. The war against Darwin dissenters continues, as Jerry Bergman documents in Silencing the Darwin Skeptics (Leafcutter, 2016). Thomas Frank’s Listen, Liberal (Henry Holt, 2016) attacks the Democratic Party from the left. If your high-school student says he’s a socialist, Gerald Grafe’s The Root of All Money (CreateSpace, 2015) could serve as an antidote. —M.O. Reprinted with permission. Olasky, M. (June 24, 2016). Admission of function: Junking slurs about 'junk DNA.' WORLD Magazine. https://wng.org/articles/admission-of-function-1620609700

Really! God does not believe in atheists. Sure, He knows there are those who claim there is no God. But first of all, He calls them fools. ( Psalm 14:1 ) Then He says that deep down inside, they actually know He is there. They did not get to where they are by way of intellectually honest inquiry but are rather practicing suppression of the truth. And because of this, they are not only without excuse but objects of His extreme anger. ( Romans 1:18-21 ) Further, Scripture predicts that eventually every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ( Philippians 2:9-11 ) Some will bow in grateful praise for forgiveness and a future eternity with Him. ( Revelation 21:1-7 ) Some will bow with gritted teeth, in dread and remorse for wasted life and opportunities, recognizing that they have been willing victims of the master deceiver and will share his fate. ( Revelation 20:10-15 ) Ross Olson

There are all sorts of different reasons for believing in God, and here I will mention only one. It is this. Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen for physical or chemical reasons to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true? It is like upsetting a milk-jug and hoping that the way the splash arranges itself will give you a map of London. But if I cannot trust my own thinking, of course I cannot trust the arguments leading to atheism and therefore the reason to be an atheist, or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I cannot believe in thought or anything else: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God. C. S. Lewis

The talk to the Jewish Community Relations Council today at noon was very interesting. Although there was not much visible agreement with my position, I pray that the seeds which were planted will germinate in a few hearts. I thanked them for having me and did tell them at the end to keep an open mind. It had taken me a long time to even consider the evidence when I was first confronted it because there tends to be an emotional reaction to things that oppose what we have accepted for a long time. I spoke first and had been given special permission to go for 12 minutes because the other three were all opposed to intelligent design and that was the length of my PowerPoint presentation. The early guidelines said 5 - 10 minutes and at the event, the moderator said 8 minutes. The others had also been given a copy of a previous version of my talk by the coordinator of the event -- attached to an e-mail giving the ground rules. I think it was inadvertent and she had not given much thought to it, just including all the information she had at hand. No one else had submitted a transcript ahead of time so I did not get to preview their arguments, but of course, they were predictable. I e-mailed the group after that and told them that "since the element of surprise was lost ;-) I attached the current version of the talk." I said I hoped that it would improve the discussion. There were about 20 people there. ID advocate and author Walter Remine had heard about it and came. Otherwise it was all members of the Jewish Council or other interested Jews, mostly older people (meaning my age). By a straw vote they took at the end, of those voting 15 wanted a policy forbidding intelligent design in Jewish schools and only 2 did not. The other speakers talked a lot about separation of church and state. They all believed that science and religion were in separate realms and did not intersect. They said that ID was "only a Trojan Horse for Creation." They reiterated that one did not need to have explanations of mechanisms in order to continue accepting evolution. They were all cordial but simply could not accept any of my arguments. The biologist mentioned as evidence for evolution controlling genes that may cause an antenna to grow where an eye should be -- but of course this is in fruit flies whose genome knows how to make antennae. The comments and questions from the audience included many of the familiar themes. One elderly gentleman asked to be able to read an article from the New York Times about "evolution in action -- the mutating avian influenza virus." I responded that this was a very important question because it represented the usual proof of evolution cited by most evolutionists -- micro evolution -- and explained that we see it in dog breeds and Darwin's finches but that macro evolution needs the development of new features, new information. But the unique part of the response of this group was the emotional underpinning of much of their reaction. They were upset about my statement that there is truth. They take this as a threat by Christianity against Judaism. I tried to point out that first of all, saying that there is a correct answer and knowing what the answer is are two different things. But although it sounds humane to say that everybody is right, it ends up meaning that nobody is right and that religion, relegated to its own realm, is only a psychological crutch and tool to encourage moral behavior. The morality of evolution is survival and producing the most progeny in the next generation even though most evolutionists borrow their morality from a better source. And my closing comments about the intellectual support that evolution gives to eugenics and genocide were met with anger and offense. Most evolutionists, they said, are moral people. They could not accept the connection. I said that most people do not live in complete harmony with their underlying assumptions but that evolution at its root accepts the idea that some are more highly evolved than others, and that there is no clear dividing line that makes human life qualitatively different. The extreme is Dr. Peter Singer, ethicist at Princeton who believes that there ought to be mechanisms for killing defective humans and that some animals are more valuable than some people. Some of the comments from the audience -- and the anti ID comments from the other panelists -- went on for a long time touching on a dozen topics so that it was impossible to follow most trains of thought. I did suggest that all of us might need to join the support group for people who talk to much called "On-and-on." Walter said that in exchange for a monopoly in the classroom, evolutionists should engage ID advocates in debates and discussions -- in writing and available for people to review. He held up his book and said that although it proposed an alternative to evolution it has not been reviewed by an evolutionist. One man said that when the environment was deteriorating and resources being used up, it was tragic that we spend so much time on this issue. He implied that it was trivial and also said that the same arguments keep coming up again and again. (Of course, if an argument has not been answered, it will not just go away.) I responded that it was a more basic issue than he realized because evolution amounted to training in illogical thinking. Certain conclusions were declared out of bounds by fiat and it was not possible to follow the evidence where ever it went. In discussion afterwards, one man insisted that religion, especially religion that thinks there are right answers, is the source of evil and persecution. I did not deny that wrong has been done in the name of religion, but in the case of Christianity, it is against the principles that Christians claim to follow. But in the case of evolutionists, it is completely consistent with underlying beliefs to eliminate the negative influences on evolution. His wife is a convert to Judaism and he has "fundamentalist" in-laws. He says he has a cordial relationship but they stay clear of certain topics. He asked if Jews, Christians and Muslims worship the same God and I said that Christians worship the same God as Jews but the character of Allah does not seem consistent with the God of the Bible. The only point that seemed to make him pause was the idea that in a naturalistic world, there is no mechanism for free will. One woman, who seemed to be genuinely interested in learning, talked for a while afterwards. She is a devout Jew and was troubled by the implications of the idea that there were right answers and whether as humans we could ever expect to understand God. I said that a 2 year old cannot completely understand what mommy and daddy do at work, but can understand those incomplete but true things that mommy and daddy tell. I pointed out that God wants us to believe the right things, not just anything. Moses believed God on the basis of the facts -- the burning bush and the miracles. Moses told the people to test the prophets and not follow those whose wonders did not come to pass nor those who told them to follow another God. I also said that I believe that if someone recognizes the hand of God in creation and seeks in humility, God will reveal more. Ross For the talk on which these responses are based, click on www.tccsa.tc/articles/id_jcrc.pdf

I am honored to be invited to present an unpopular side to a very explosive issue. To protect those who extended the invitation, let me mention that I was not their first choice. But, rushing in where angels fear to tread, I will do my best to justify their confidence and make further investigation for many of you at least interesting if not imperative. This is a huge topic involving science, philosophy and law. I am not an academic in any of these subjects but a pediatrician, trained at the University of Minnesota and indoctrinated to believe that evolution was proven beyond any doubt. But about 30 years ago I began to question that premise, to research the subject and discuss it with people of all opinions. In the process, I discovered that much of the disagreement is philosophical. Let me try to give a quick overview. But first, I want to commend you for attending today, because by your presence at a conference like this you indicate a belief that there is more than one view on the subject and that hearing those views has value in making a rational decision. Second, I commend you for considering a topic that some might feel has already been decided by Judge John Jones of Pennsylvania. Indeed, you are taking an opportunity that Judge Jones feels should be denied to public school students on constitutional grounds. But in case you think that judicial decisions are the last word on any subject, let me take you back about 150 years ago to the 1857 Dred Scott decision of the US Supreme Court, when the Court threw out the case of a slave who had lived in free territories (actually Fort Snelling) and was suing for his freedom. They ruled that a slave is property and not entitled to the rights of a citizen. It was "the law of the land!" Is anyone here willing to say that the Supreme Court of 1857 had the final word on that subject? (Be careful because you may be implying that you are judging by a standard higher than the Supreme Court!) The Dred Scott decision galvanized the abolition movement — which sought to end slavery — and eventually hastened the bloody Civil War. It was a very controversial subject, with the power and prestige of the government apparently on the side of slavery. Also, most of the abolitionists had a religious motivation — they believed that all people really were created equal. That would have caused them to fail the so called "Lemon Test" used by courts today to determine if a point of view affecting public policy or judicial decisions violates the constitutional provision against "establishing religion." But, of course, it can be fairly stated that the Court of 1857 was a creature of its age, and I agree. I maintain that it is the same today. Abolitionists of that day knew that they were right and the Court was wrong. I claim that the Court of today is wrong again and its errors need to be exposed. You might say though, it is not just judges who reject Intelligent Design (ID) but scientists, who really ought to know. Yet the opposition I have seen from scientists is most often based on exclusion of the supernatural from science by definition. So you can see that the problem rests on definitions. What is science? What is the establishment of religion? What is education? And those definitions flow out of their underlying philosophies. Science in its root meaning is knowledge, and has come to mean that kind of knowledge gained by observation and repeatable experimentation, which, by the way, does not apply to past non- repeatable events, like origins. Methodological naturalism is the idea that science looks for natural mechanisms to answer its questions, which is reasonable. But philosophical naturalism goes far beyond that to say that natural mechanisms are all there are! Now first of all, that is not a scientific statement but a philosophical assumption. And it is not even logical. Actually to say it with assurance, a person would have to be omniscient — knowing everything — otherwise the supernatural could exist outside of his or her knowledge. (That person would thus be God and we would have the strange situation of God being an atheist.) When there is no natural explanation and not even a plausible natural explanation anywhere on the horizon, is it permissible to postulate a supernatural one? For example, if a certifiably dead person came alive again and this was confirmed with rigorous assurance, is it not logical to suppose that a miracle had taken place? Or must one say that the only acceptable explanation is that physiological processes just might reverse themselves by chance? And if the structure of living things is found to be so complex and interrelated that no plausible natural mechanism can be found to explain it, is it not permissible to state that, at least as a working hypothesis an Intelligent Designer was involved? What are some typical objections to the concept of ID? One is that the argument from design is invalid and we only recognize design when we know of the designer. But I maintain that if you were a visitor from some distant galaxy you would still recognize even a low tech object like an arrowhead as being designed and be able to pick it out of a pile of pebbles. We do this by comparing what we see with what we know happens naturally and can tell the difference. Think about it, if the letters in your alphabet soup began arranging themselves to scroll the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, you would suspect that something was messing with your soup — or with your mind. And by the way, if to recognize design we must know of concrete examples, look at computerized information storage and retrieval systems. We DO know that intelligent human beings can design hardware and software to do this. And the DNA system is far more miniaturized and sophisticated than anything that humans have designed! Secondly, some think that it is a false dichotomy to say that a weakness of evolution is a point for ID. But let's look at logic for a moment. Either there is a natural mechanism for something or there is not. If there is no natural mechanism, then the mechanism must be outside of nature — supernatural. You might say you want to keep looking for natural mechanisms and that is fine, but at the moment, you have to admit that the working hypothesis is a supernatural one. Thirdly, some say that ID has no predictive value. Of course they have already rejected, with a wave of the hand, the significance of finding irreducibly complex structures — ones that cannot be made by adding pieces one at a time. Yet living things are full of them. Evolutionists have come up with all sorts of very speculative solutions to this problem the parts could have been used for some other purpose in the cell before coming together in the new structure, or the conditions were different in the past or there was some sort of "simpler" life form in which this was all possible. They do not do the math on any of these proposals, however, because if they did, it would be obvious that the chance of any favorable mutation is vanishingly small, even over billions of years. These fanciful and highly speculative solutions are only plausible if you already believe that evolution must have taken place. But ID also predicts that structures of unknown significance will be found to have functions, and this has come true. A century ago there was a long list of "vestigial organs" which evolution predicted were junk left over from the evolutionary past, useless structures "on the way out." Even though some textbooks still list them, they are all scientifically known to be useful. The same thing is happening with so called "junk DNA." Evolutionists thought that DNA that does not code for genes was debris from ruined genes and only useful as a pile of spare parts that might mutate into something useful. Yet new functions are being discovered constantly, including embryological development and regulation. Does ID "stop science" as some claim? No, in fact it is evolution that has sometimes slowed the search for functions. And also, many of the great names in science could be labeled as ID advocates, such as Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell and Louis Pasteur. But, you might say, if all this is so obvious, why do not more scientists accept it? Why are the refereed journals not full of it? Can you believe that there could be persecution? Investigate what happened to Dr. Dean Kenyon, distinguished professor at San Francisco State University, removed from teaching introductory biology when he expressed doubts about Darwin. Or consider Forrest Mims, science writer of impeccable credentials, fired after being hired to write "The Amateur Scientist" column for Scientific American when it was discovered that he did not accept evolution, even though that concept never came up in the columns. Thomas Kuhn got at part of the reason for this sort of behavior in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions . A ruling paradigm tends to oppose change. In addition, there is a tremendous herd instinct in science. You don't get tenure and grant money by disproving your department chairman's life work. And, for the sake of illustration, let us suppose that there really is an Intelligent Designer and that there really are features of life that cannot be explained naturally. The people who refuse to consider supernatural causes will never be able to discover the truth! They will continue to propose mechanisms and patiently wait for what they consider confirmation. But because they are desperate, they accept things such as finding some parts of one molecular machine — little literal machines that fill living cells  — used in another. That is no proof of evolution because even human designers do that. And if evolutionists are so confident of their case, why do they oppose airing it out for all to see? Why do they so rarely debate Intelligent Design advocates? Why do they not let the evidence for both sides be available to students so they can learn to think critically? Why have they consistently opposed the very minimal step of allowing the weaknesses in evolutionary theory to be taught? Why do they use character assassination and intimidation as weapons? For example, Dr. P.Z. Myers proposed "firing and public humiliation" for advocates of ID. Rather than education, evolutionists seem to want indoctrination. Actually, abiogenesis, the origin of the first living things would require so many incredibly improbable events, that most evolutionists no longer even claim to have a theory on the topic. Origin of life would have to happen without the benefit of natural selection to weed out the losers  — since natural selection only works with a living, reproducing organism. There is actually not enough matter and time in the universe to come up with one simple protein molecule, much less a living cell. And they then pretend that they do not need a theory and will just patiently wait for science to come up with some new law that creates information out of chaos. This turns science on its head, wit h theory trumping evidence! It essentially calls for a naturalistic miracle! If you want to do a calculation you can try to construct a 100 unit protein molecule from a primordial soup of the 20 different amino acids used in life. Even if you allow them to all be the left handed isomers instead of the mixture that would occur naturally, there is only one chance in 10¹³⁰ of getting it right. And there are only about 10⁸⁰ atoms in the universe and 10¹⁸ seconds in 30 billion years. An d the simplest cell needs at least 230 proteins with their controlling DNA, all put together in the proper configuration to function. It is an incredible assumption to say that it could all happen by natural mechanisms. And deceptively, evolutionists try to pretend that natural selection somehow reduces the odds when the truth is that natural selection only selects, it does not create and the creating in evolution must be done by random mechanisms. But what of "establishing religion?" This subject would take another hour to develop but let me try to whet your appetite. I think the Founders of this nation would be flabbergasted at the spin put on that phrase — without precedent — by our courts beginning about the middle of the last century. Think about it, the whole structure of the government from chaplains in the legislature to the Ten Commandments on the wall of the Supreme Court building and the use of the Bible in taking oaths all give very strong clues that religion, specifically the Judeo-Christian religion, was understood to be foundational. Looking at the writings of the Founders, something rarely done today, confirms this. They did not, however, want to have a national church as so many European nations did. They wanted the people to be free to practice any or no religion, which is what the Constitution said. Yet even a conservative judge, a church-going man, such as Judge Jones, in his decision mentioned "the Constitutional separation of church and state." Actually that phrase is not in the Constitution but in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Baptist Association of Danbury stating that the government would not interfere in the affairs of the church. Yet the current view grows naturally out of a philosophical assumption that religion is a matter of personal preference, like taste in art, for which there is no right or wrong answer. If so, it has no place in public policy. Yet if there is objective evidence for the existence of a Supreme Being, to whom we may all be responsible, this will be very confusing and disturbing to people who thought they had isolated religion to the private life of believers. And look at the rational rabbit hole you fall down if you accept the current take on the subject. Even if there is evidence for an Intelligent Designer, it could not be taught in the public schools, certainly not by people who believe it, because it might cause the students to believe in God, which would establish religion and thus be unconstitutional. Incredibly, Judge Jones even said it was unconstitutional for teachers to tell students that they could research the topic in the library, presumably because of a book that might be there! Is there a religious side to this issue? Indeed there is — on both sides. As Richard Dawkins said, "Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist." It is true, atheism cannot live without evolution, or some other natural mechanism to account for life — and indeed, the entire universe. Religion can live with evolution, to be sure. But if the evidence says that evolution could not have happened, then atheism changes from a dispassionate search for truth to a rebellion against the conclusion. A person will necessarily bring his or her own religious bias to public issues, whether it is belief in a supreme being, a belief in no supreme being, or the belief that religion should not influence "real life." And many evolutionists have an anti-religious bias, such as Dr. P. Z. Myers who has stated that he wishes he could go back in a time machine and assassinate Abraham, or Dr. Richard Dawkins who says religion is like smallpox, but harder to eradicate. In summary, there is a strong intellectual case for Intelligent Design. It cannot be excluded from science by philosophical fiat and to withhold the evidence from students is a betrayal of education. I agree with the Discovery Institute that Intelligent Design should not be mandated, but as a start it should at least be permitted. Certainly teachers who do discuss it should not be punished. And finally, the current understanding of "establishment of religion" needs to be re-examined by going back to where the Supreme Court got off the constitutional track. Otherwise it leads to the absurdity of denying potential truth, and because by forbidding everything else, the courts have now established atheism as the national religion. I am very impressed with the activities of Justice Squared and Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas that I found described on your websites. I see at the root of everything that you do one underlying principle, the intrinsic value of each human being. I hope you can see that within a naturalistic evolutionary world view, there is no logical basis for that claim. For if we are all the results of generations of mindless competition in the struggle for survival, then there are some individuals that are more valuable than others and some may even be declared less than human. This opens the door to intellectual justification of the horrors of racism, eugenics and genocide. And when our young people are told that they are merely animals, glorified primordial slime with no ultimate meaning, no wonder they walk dazed into their self esteem class. Yet if they believe that they are the handiwork of an Intelligent Designer, even in a world that seems to have gone sour, they are free to investigate what that Designer might require of them and that there may be a purpose greater than their own and their species' survival. Resources: On the Founders: WallBuilders www.wallbuilders.org On Intelligent Design: Discovery Institute www.discovery.org I am very happy to discuss these matters in further detail ross@rossolson.org For the responses of the group that heard the talk on "Intelligent Design And The Jewish Schools" click on www.tccsa.tc/articles/jcrc_responses.pdf

Carlsbad Cavern Nation Park https://www.icr.org/article/carlsbad-caverns-national-park-fast-formations Waco Mammoth National Monument https://www.icr.org/content/waco-mammoth-national-monument

Origins is like forensic science. There are no controlled experiments on the origin of life as it actually happened. Stanley Miller was able to produce simple organic molecules using the presumed “primitive atmosphere” of the earth, electric sparks and a trap. But he was no closer to life than finding a block shaped rock is to finding a spontaneously formed Taj Mahal. The secular scientist avoids considering creation by defining science as the search for natural explanations, -- which is reasonable -- but then subtly implying that only the natural exists. This is a philosophical assumption, not science and not logic. When no plausible natural cause can be found, is it not logical to consider something outside of natural causes? For example, we recognize an arrowhead as a product of intelligent manipulation, even though it is theoretically possible that erosion might form one. A living cell is as complex as a city and the human brain is as complex as the internet and no natural process produces things like the Encyclopedia Britannica. In fact time and chance degrade information. Why is it so hard to postulate an intelligent source? Romans 1 gives us a clue. There is active suppression of the truth going on to avoid an uncomfortable conclusion that we are responsible to our Creator. But what of the Christian who says, “Couldn’t God have used evolution to create?” The answer, of course, is, “Yes, but did He?” I will summarize some of the scientific points. Firstly, there is design in life that cannot be accounted for by chance or any other natural process. Darwin had no idea of the intricate design of living matter and since he was much more honest and frank than his latter day disciples, I think that today he would admit that his hypothesis has been falsified. The mathematical odds of forming a single protein molecule from its component parts can be shown to be so unlikely that it could not have happened anywhere in the known universe in 30 billion years, much less be combined with the hundreds of other components to form a living cell.¹ Even staunch evolutionists now say that they “have no theory” for the origin of life, but refuse to admit that if there is no natural explanation, then their working hypothesis needs to be a supernatural one. Theistic evolutionists will respond that God manipulated nature over billions of years, or intervened at intervals to produce the beginning and progression of life. This means that they accept the “other evidences” of evolution. Let me briefly summarize the problems with those. Similarity of form does not prove common ancestry but can also mean common design. (Let me add that young earth creationists believe that the original Genesis kinds were capable of great diversification, similar to what we have seen with the breeds of dogs.) The fossil record is actually evidence against gradualistic evolution with millions of missing links, and the “punctuated equilibrium” theory is really a grasping at straws, only superficially plausible. And fundamentally, fossils require rapid burial. Closed clams, seen all over the world, were covered before they could open in death. And when interacting with an unbeliever, theistic evolution, long age creation, and intelligent design that does not refer to Biblical data, are all open to the criticism that the designer seems incompetent and clumsy. Atheists point to poorly designed features or broken processes and ask why a creator had to keep tinkering. (Now, some of so-called “design flaws” have actually been shown to be superior engineering, such as the inverted retina in mammals with the blood supply in front, critical for cooling and in no way interfering with vision because of the wavelengths of light passing through it.) But only the Biblical creationist can speak of a perfect creation forever changed by the Fall and the Curse. The problems are not part of God’s original design, but even so He can use them to draw people to Himself as they come to the end of their own resources. As to the age of the earth, this seems to be the most formidable barrier to accepting Biblical creation and requires more technical knowledge. Let me cite a few examples that point out the weakness of the arguments for old age and the increasing scientific respectability of a young earth view. Firstly, the geologic column, such as exposed in the Grand Canyon, is said to be the result of slow deposition of material over tens to hundreds of millions of years. Yet there are sharp distinctions between the layers as if something suddenly changed. Further, there is great difficulty in accounting for the sinking and rising of the continents, regardless of how many eons of time are postulated. And in the case of the Grand Canyon, there is a 200 million year gap in the sequence, between the Cambrian and the Mississippian. The Ordovician and Silurian periods are missing and there is blending and interbedding at the junction. The lower layer would have had to remain soft for 200 million years, not below the water lever (or there would be deposits) and not above (or there would be erosion) waiting for the next geologic epoch. It is much easier to see it as the result of a truly worldwide flood, with massive erosive forces caused by tidal waves sweeping over the entire globe, depositing their loads in twice daily low tides.² Formations such as the very pure St Peter Sandstone, require rapid current to sort and move it, usually attributed to river deltas. Yet it covers an area from Minnesota to Missouri, Illinois to Nebraska, to a depth of 100 to 300 feet. The flood model also can explain the presence of huge deposits of pure uncontaminated salt and gypsum as chemical deposition of mixed brines, not as the remnants of evaporated seas.³ The source of the water and the mechanism of a worldwide flood are worked out in competing models with scientific and Biblical credibility by such creation scientists as Walter Brown⁴ and John Baumgardner⁵ among others. But the fact remains that the uniformitarian origin of the layers is not credible, as shown by polystrate fossils, such as 30 – 50 foot tree trunks standing upright. Obviously they could not wait for thousands much less millions of years to be covered and fossilized or they would have rotted.⁶ And the ocean would be like the Dead Sea if it had been taking in salt for billions of years.⁷ The Grand Canyon also contains pollen in the Pre-Cambrian layers when only single celled organisms were supposed to be alive. This was supposedly discredited by a scientist who used a different method of extraction. But Creation Research Society duplicated the original data and found pollen of extinct species of modern types of trees, so that modern contamination could not be a possible explanation.⁸ Radiometric dating has been used to support long ages, but dating of lava samples from volcano eruptions of known ages has given erroneous ages in the millions. Recently the project called RATE has shown that rocks contain too much helium to be millions of years old⁹ and also there is measurable carbon 14 in all fossils, oil, coal and even diamonds when it ought to be totally gone, implying a young and similar age for all those materials.¹⁰ Evidence of coexistence of humans and dinosaurs is vigorously opposed by the evolutionary establishment but is actually quite convincing. Human and dinosaur tracks have been found in the same strata and have been uncovered on film to prove that they were not manufactured.¹¹ In Ica, Peru¹² and Acambara, Mexico,¹³artifacts over 2000 years old have been found that depict humans and dinosaurs together, some showing apparent domestication. What about the astronomical data that implies we are seeing light from stars that has been travelling for billions of years before it reaches us and events such as supernova that seem to have occurred more than 6000 years ago? First of all, the challenges of astronomy do not negate any of the powerful evidences for a young earth that I have given. Secondly, there are many assumptions in determining the distance of astronomical objects. And thirdly, having been convinced of the accuracy of the Bible, I am not going to discard it when one particular answer is not yet clear. And there are clues. One is Russell Humphreys’ time distortion with a universe aging rapidly during a short time on earth.¹⁴ Also there is a credible argument that the speed of light might be decaying because, after all, light does change speeds in media of different density and space may have changed from a perfect vacuum to its present near-vacuum state.¹⁵ Further, the Scripture repeatedly states that God “stretched out the heavens,” which may well have something to do with what we are seeing. Recently a T Rex bone was found that contained blood vessels, cells and collagen fibers in the marrow cavity. Rather than admit that this specimen could not be 65 million years old, the response was to claim that we need to rethink how soft tissue is preserved for long ages. In a demonstration of the incredible power of professional peer pressure, the discoverer, self proclaimed evangelical Christian, Mary Schweitzer, claimed that young earth creationists were “hijacking” her data.¹⁶ But bucking peer pressure, plant geneticist J.C.Sanford, at the peak of his illustrious career decided to ask the question, “Can natural selection improve the human genome.” The result is in his book, Genetic Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome .¹⁷The Conclusion? Natural selection can not improve the human genome. It cannot even prevent steady deterioration. There are at least 100 new deleterious mutations in each individual with each generation. The overall fitness of the human race is decreasing by about 1 - 2% per generation. He concludes that we are headed for extinction as a race and that the human genome cannot yet be a thousand generations old or we would already be extinct. This, of course, is contrary to evolution but fits completely with the Biblical account of a perfect creation, spoiled by sin and a world that will some day -- perhaps very soon,-- come to an end. Much more can be found on www.tccsa.tc  and in the over 140 links to other websites. ___________________________ ¹ www.tccsa.tc/articles/is_evolution_reasonable.html   ² www.tccsa.tc/articles/grand_canyon_missing_strata.pdf  (Creation Research Society Quarterly, Vol. 23, March 1987, pp 160 –167.) ³ www.tccsa.tc/articles/Saltville.pdf (Creation Research Society Quarterly, Vol. 40 No. 2 pp 72-84 September 2003) ⁴ www.creationscience.com/ ⁵ www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/tectonics.asp   ⁶ www.creationresearch.org/crsq/articles/43/43_4/polystrate_fossils.htm  (Creation Research Society Quarterly, Vol. 43 No. 3 pp 232-240 March 2007) ⁷ tccsa.tc/articles/ocean_sodium.html  From "Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Creationism," Pittsburgh, 1990, vol.2, pp. 17 - 33. ⁸ www.tccsa.tc/articles/grand_canyon_3.pdf  (Creation Research Society Quarterly, Vol. 24, March 1988, pp 173 – 182.) ⁹ www.icr.org/article/114/ ¹⁰ www.icr.org/article/117/ ¹¹  Texas Track and Artifacts by Bob Helfinstine and Jerry Roth, available from the author. See www.tccsa.tc/index.html#texas_tracks ¹² www.mondovista.com/dinostone.ica2.html  and  www.mtblanco.com/ForSale/2006/ICAStones.html ¹³ Mystery in Acambaro by Charles Hapgood, Adventures Unlimited Press, Kempton IL, 1973 www.wexclub.com/aup   ¹⁴ www.icr.org/article/446/ ¹⁵ creationontheweb.com/content/view/2551/ ¹⁶ www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/dinosaur.html  and http://www.icr.org/article/4130/ ¹⁷ Genetic Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome , FMS Publications, Waterloo New York, 2005.

When I first presented these talks on young earth creation it was to be along with speakers for theistic evolution and old earth creation and that we each had only 10 minutes. When I told my prayer partners about this opportunity, one of them said, “At least you only have to cover a few thousand years.” I think that a straightforward reading of Scripture would lead to a young earth creation view if it were not for the conviction that science has proven immense ages or that evolution is an undisputable fact. I understand those feelings because I had them after completing my medical education in 1967. I was essentially a “fully competent creation” believer, considering that God threw out the first matter and knew it would spontaneously organize itself up to life and human beings, only needing the extra intervention of God adding a soul. And I was a sincere believer. In fact I was a missionary with the Evangelical Free Church in Hong Kong.  I became convinced of intelligent design in the 1970’s by A. E. Wilder-Smith’s book, The Creation of Life , ¹ with his clear demonstration that information does not occur by chance and that long periods of time actually degrade information. But it was only some time later that I began to also see the scientific evidence for a young earth. I then personally evolved into a young earth creationist. Views on origins are not essential to salvation or spiritual growth. Wecan be wrong about many things and still be warm-hearted, Spirit-filled workers in God’s Kingdom. Yet if our faith is illogical, the next theological generation may think it through and walk away. So my second talk is crucial, showing the scientific evidence for both creation and a young earth. But there is precedent for sticking with a clear reading of the Bible even when science seems to contradict it. For decades, archaeology seemed to have proven that there was no Jericho at the time of Joshua, implying that the story of the walls coming down was just a good story. But those who held to the historicity of the account were not idiots or ignoramuses. They were actually right, because when the data were properly analyzed, it was all as the Bible states it to be. ² What does the Bible say? First of all, there is the description of the first day of creation, followed by the statement, “And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” This formula is repeated at the end of the description of each day. Now it is commonly stated that the Hebrew “yom,” like the English “day” can also refer to a longer period of time, such as “in the day of the pioneers,” but the mention of evening and morning as well as the ordinal designation, “first, “second,” etc. clarifies that the meaning is an ordinary day. And appealing to 2 Peter 3:8, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day,” is not really to the point because although God does not see time as we do, the real issue is not the length of the days but the whole fabric of Scripture. Exodus 20:11 indicates that God took a whole day for each phase, not because He needed the time but as an example for us in our sub-creating. “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”  Some insist that a young earth view is a modern invention and the ancients believed in long ages. Certainly many of the Greeks and Romans held evolutionary views including an eternally existent universe, which is why Paul’s creation evangelism of the Athenians produced such a startled reaction. The rabbis in the Talmudic literature never question creation in six normal days. Of the church fathers, only Origen and Clement of Alexandria believed in long ages and they were allegorizers of all Scripture. Irenacus and Justin Martyr did not believe in a “Day-Age” theory but only proposed that as creation took 6 days, human history would take six thousand years, with the Millenium beginning about the year 2000. ³ But the most serious defect with both theistic evolution and long age creation is the damage to the authority of Scripture and the nature of God. Interspersed through the whole creation account is the phrase, “And God saw that it was good.” The only exception is the comment in Genesis 2, "It is not good for the man to be alone.” But after creation is complete, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Yet if Adam and Eve were standing on thousands of feet of sedimentary rock recording disease, predation, and death, what does God mean by “very good?” Further, Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men...” And Romans 8:22 states that everything changed with human sin. “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” But what of the objection that Romans 5:12 refers only to spiritual death? Of course Adam and Eve lived over 900 years after their sin, but the dying process began with sin and the curse pronounced by God indicated that indeed, things had changed. All through the Bible, death is treated as an intruder, not, “just part of life.” Jews were unclean if they touched a dead human body. Animal sacrifices, beginning with the animals that God slew to make the first garments for Adam and Eve when they became ashamed of their nakedness, were necessary for the covering of sin. Even the symbolism of a burnt offering demonstrates the destructive power of sin, as the blood is drained out of a wonderfully complex living being and its intricate structures are utterly destroyed by fire. And most important of all, Jesus had to suffer and die physically to atone forever for our sins. Of course a person can be a believer with incorrect or missing theology, such as the thief on the cross, but errors lead to problems transmitting the faith. Can the Bible be trusted? Is God a poor communicator? Genesis 1:30 states, “And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." All animals were vegetarian! But what of the fossils of predation if they came before Adam’s sin? And, by the way, tooth structure does not determine diet. Think of fruit bats and Panda bears. Were there “soulless hominids” living at the time of Adam? If so, I suspect that Adam, when naming the animals, being a man, might have said, “Hey God! She looks good to me. A soul is optional.” By the way, would it have taken too long for Adam to name the beasts in a morning? Remember that it was a limited selection of the created life forms, “the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air.” Also, even now we know that the original Genesis kinds were capable of great diversification, for instance all the cats seem to be related and all dog-like creatures. Adam, also, was very bright, with a perfect body and brain. All long age scenarios have to minimize the account of the flood because they attribute the geologic column to periodic rising and falling of the land over millions of years and a worldwide flood would obliterate their strata while creating its own. Does the Biblical  description fit with a local flood? Genesis 6:19, “And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.” Even with lower hills than today’s mountains, since water runs down, it would not stay local. And why did Noah spend 100 years building an ark if he only had to move? Incidentally, in Job 40 and 41, as demonstrations of His power, God describes two creatures–as if Job had seen them alive, that sure sound like a long neck dinosaur and some fearsome marine reptile. Most damaged by these long age visions of history is our view of the nature of God. Is He really cruel enough to use competition, predation, disease and death to create? Does He take millions of years of tinkering to arrive at the crown of His creation, human beings created in His image? Is this the same God who parted the Red Sea, raised Jesus from the dead and will come back in a blink of the eye to suddenly destroy the forces of evil and create a new heavens and a new earth? If the new creation is “very good,” is that reassuring?  Finally, does the Bible allow for long ages after the creation of man. Do the genealogies have gaps? Certainly passages such as Matthew may skip some names, but we have specific numbers attached to the original records. Genesis 5:6 is a typical example, “And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos…” Whether it means that Seth was the father, grandfather or great-grandfather of Enos, we know that he was 105 when it happened. The numbers really can be added up and although partial years may add or subtract a little, there is no room for 2 million or even 200,000 years from the beginning of the human race. Some warn that the lesson of Galileo is to never mix science and theology, but the truth is surprising. The Catholic Church had actually adopted a non-Biblical Aristotelian science, with a perfect unchangeable heavens in circular motion around the earth. The warning is actually for those who have tied their faith to a fallible theory such as the Big Bang. ⁴ After I became a young earth creationist, I discussed it with several of my old professors, both Christians and non-Christians, and discovered a powerful reason why some resisted even considering it. Of course there is human pride and the unwillingness to say, “I was wrong,” but for those in academic positions, to oppose the ruling paradigm can be a career-ending move. I found that many warm-hearted Christians took on “protective coloration” and essentially said to their secular colleagues, “I believe everything you do, I just think God did it.” To which the colleague may silently think, “I see no need for the God part.” Yet Romans 1:20 states clearly, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” See the website for Twin Cities Creation Science Association www.tccsa.tc   ___________________________ ¹ The Creation of Life , Harold Shaw Publishers, 1970 ² http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2008/05/Did-the-Israelites-Conquer-Jericho-A-New-Look-at-the-Archaeological-Evidence.aspx ³ http://www.icr.org/article/164/ ⁴ http://christiananswers.net/q-eden/galileo.html?zoom_highlight=galileo

There are basically two possible explanations for our origin. Either we are a product of natural processes, an accidental result of mindless and purposeless laws of nature and random events, or we are the product of a designer. Either our existence can be totally explained by nature – what we might call natural law – or by something beyond nature – what we might call supernatural. There are really only these two possibilities. I finished my medical education with the impression that evolution was a logical conclusion stemming from fair evaluation of all the relevant scientific data. Further, I was told that no intelligent people doubted its truth, although there were a few intellectually primitive Neanderthals who also continued to believe that the earth was flat, and that dragons caused eclipses. It was not until I was given a book on creation by one of my brothers, who is a science teacher, that I even considered looking at the basis for these impressions. I left the book alone for over a year before I even opened it, finding myself revolted by the thought of reading material by someone who was so far from the scientific mainstream.  When I began to read The Creation of Life by the late A. E. Wilder-Smith, I was amazed and astounded by what I discovered. The author had three PhD's and was a brilliant biochemist. In his book, he pointed out that there is design in life which cannot be accounted for by chance. In fact, design always requires a designer and does not occur naturally. Natural processes produce order, but it is of a different sort from the effects of intelligence. The sorting of pebbles and sand on the beach is easily explained by the action of wind and waves. The piling up of cut stones, cementing them together and forming them into a house with windows and doors, roofs and floors, is the result of planning and work and is not innate in the nature of the materials or the natural forces acting on them. We can tell the difference and would not normally confuse a rock pile with a house on the beach. Nor would we attribute the presence of a house to the action of the wind and waves, but would assume that someone built it, even if we did not see the builder or know who it was. I think this would be true even if we had never seen a house before.  Attempts to explain away this distinction generally appeal to long ages of time and say that eventually, the unlikely becomes inevitable and the impossible becomes likely. In real life, however, we all know that time will not help to produce this kind of order. Given many years of exposure to the forces of nature, a beach house will not transform  itself into a 400-room castle, nor will a rock pile become a beach house. No, in time, both the castle and the house will be reduced to a rock pile and will blend in with all the other rocks along the beach. In the case of living things, the degree of order is so incredibly complex that the chance of it coming about by natural means is essentially zero.  For those familiar with molecular biology, the next few thoughts will be understandable. For those who are not, I only ask that you just try to appreciate how intricate and interrelated the factors have to be for it all to work properly. Scientist Fred Hoyle put it this way, "For life to occur by natural processes would be like a Boeing 747 assembling itself by means of an explosion in the junk yard." The simplest living cell must have many functioning parts to be alive - that is to respond to its environment, to extract energy, to protect itself, and to reproduce. There must be coded information, usually stored in long molecules called DNA. This information must be retrieved and transferred when necessary to perform a function. This is generally done within cells by the manufacture of protein molecules, which catalyze chemical reactions and guide construction of structural parts of the cell.  All this must be organized in space for it to work. An auto parts store may have all the pieces needed to build a car, but until they are put together, you cannot drive it. Even one minor problem with the construction, such as a disconnected wire, may make the whole thing inoperable, and random changes in the parts or connections are not going to make it better. For those who think that "maybe we just got lucky," let me put a few numbers behind those ideas. Proteins are the basic building blocks for the function of living cells, and are essentially long chains of individual amino-acid molecules. They fold and assume various globular shapes, depending on which amino acids occupy which positions, and their function is determined by the shape, atomic affinity and electrical charge at various points on their surfaces.  There are 20 different amino acids which are used by living systems to make proteins. A few of these amino acids may occur naturally, but they exist in a mixture of "d" and "l" forms, which are like mirror images of each other. Only the "l" forms are used in living systems. A protein molecule of 100 component parts would be a small part of a living cell. There would have to be, it is estimated, at least 230 very specific proteins, some as large as 10,000 amino-acids long, each coded by a gene, to complete the most simple, basic living cell. There would also have to be the coded information in the DNA for manufacturing that protein and the mechanisms for retrieving and transferring the information when the cell needed the function which that protein performed.  For the sake of illustration, let us look at the probability of putting that small protein molecule together from a "primordial soup" of individual amino acids, setting aside other difficulties such as the fact that long chains tend to fall apart. Let us forget about the need to select only "l" form, and the problem that amino acids, even if they do occur in nature, tend to deteriorate over time. Since the chance of selecting the correct amino acid for the first position from an equal mixture of 20 possibilities is about one in 20 (1/20), and the chance of selecting the second position correctly is also 1/20, the chance of getting both correctly is (1/20) ²  or 1/400. Therefore, the chance of getting all 100 positions correct is (1/20) ¹⁰⁰ which is (1/10) ¹³⁰  or 10 ˉ ¹³⁰ . On the average, therefore, 10 ¹³⁰ different chains of 100 amino acids would have to be tried before it is likely that one of them would be the correct configuration to do that particular job for the cell.  This is an incredible number which we can only begin to understand. The probability of this protein coming together is far beyond the bounds of possibility. There are only 10 ⁴⁷ molecules of water in the oceans, about 10 ⁸⁰ atoms in the entire universe and about 10 ¹⁸ seconds in 30 billion years. Therefore, the evolutionist will run out of time and matter before even getting close to the order of magnitude needed to make it probable. But suppose, what if someplace in the universe, some chain of molecules got lucky on this one protein? Still, the DNA for controlling that protein would need to "just happen" as well. Then, in order to have life, the other 229 different proteins and their DNA would also have to be put together by chance, some of them 10,000-amino-acids long.   And this is just to produce the simplest living cell. What about improving it by random changes into all the life forms that exist, each with its own incredible complexity? For instance, we human beings have more than one billion bytes of information in each cell, forming thousands of genes, each coding the information for making a specific protein. The human brain contains a hundred-billion neurons and a hundred-trillion connections, more complex than the internet.  A 2006 book by geneticist J.C. Sanford Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome shows that with each human generation there are 100 to 1000 deleterious mutations per individual and that the human race is headed for extinction. This translates into decreased fitness of 1 – 2% per generation and explains the increasing rates of both congenital diseases and deterioration that comes with age. We are living longer only because of modern medicine that controls diabetes and allows cancer patients to survive. But this all means that we had to have been created --perfect or near perfect --less than 1000 generations ago or we would already be extinct as a race. "Well," you might say, "If it is so obvious, why do so many fail to see it?" That is a reasonable question and moves us from the physics to the psychology of evolution. After I had studied these matters, I returned to some of my professors to discuss what I had found. One responded, "That does not impress me." "Yes," I replied, "But what do you do with the argument?" "It just does not impress me," he persisted. Now, of course, anyone may take leave of reason whenever he wants to and escape into irrationality, but that does not make reason go away. When a person is not impressed by something that ought to impress him, we wonder about his mental condition. For example, if a person, walking down the middle of a busy road, sees a large truck coming his way but responds by saying, "It doesn't impress me," he may still be run over. I have since discovered that those who do not accept evolution are often given failing grades in science classes. Their degrees may be denied. Their papers may be withheld from publication. Tenure may be refused. They will be rejected and ostracized by their peers. Therefore, it becomes a matter of professional survival to accept evolution. If it is accepted irrationally, it will be defended irrationally. Nevertheless, it may be defended passionately since otherwise, a person would have to acknowledge his dishonesty or lack of courage. Another professor, when I asked him if he had any interest in the evidence against evolution, responded by saying, "No." When I offered him books and articles, he became angry. "I know where you are headed," he shouted. "You are going to talk about God and Jesus and I have no place for them in my life! And... I don't think you can talk about this on a public university campus!" I was astonished! But he was indeed correct that if evolution is not true, the only other possibility is creation, which means there is a God. And if there is a God Who created us, then we are answerable to Him and ought to find out all we can about what He expects of us. Theologian John Warwick Montgomery once said, "When you get on a train of thought, check your ticket." The idea is to see where a certain way of thinking is taking us. This professor did, and refused to get on board. Naturally, it did not change the truth, only his chance of learning it. There are some basic philosophical problems with the evolutionary position, but they enter in a circuitous manner. First, the scope of science is limited to natural explanations. That is a reasonable limitation to set, so that we do not postulate miracles or magic as the explanation for everything. For example, did the eclipse of the sun end because we beat our drums or was there another factor operating? By being persistent, natural explanations can be found to many, if not most, phenomena. But can we say, then, that there must be a natural explanation for everything? Science cannot prove that miracles do not exist. It can only admit its inability to deal with them. Yet many scientists confuse the scope of science with the totality of reality. Actually, there are many assumptions made by the scientist before he even starts to look at data. Firstly, he assumes that he, himself, exists. Now, of course, that is a good place to start. Conversely, if you start with the assumption that you do not exist, why bother with anything? Also, however, a scientist must assume: that the world exists and that his senses give accurate data about it; that he can manipulate that data with his mind and come up with true conclusions; that he can communicate true information with other people who are seeing the same world; and that the whole universe will not suddenly change tomorrow so that apples fall up instead of down.  It is interesting in this regard to note that science has flourished under a Biblical/Christian world view, which sees the Universe, including natural laws, as a rational creation of a rational God. It is also assumed from this view that God made us rational beings capable, to a certain extent, of learning about His creation. It is further assumed that because it is His nature to be unchanging, He will not capriciously change everything; yet that He also occasionally intervenes miraculously. From the naturalistic point of view, the human brain is just an accidental organ, whose evolutionary purpose is supposedly for improved survival. It was designed and programmed by chance and there is no guarantee that it can come up with truth any more than randomly generated letters will come up with meaningful ideas. If lies have survival value, natural selection will favor them. There is also no real mechanism for free will in a naturalistic world. The way the brain works, sensory input activates electrical-chemical pathways -- predetermined by the present random state of the brain and the pathways taken by previous impulses -- and produces a response. In other words, past experience and present happenstance determine what comes out. The person cannot help what he thinks or says. It was just the molecules bouncing around.  When the evolutionist says he knows his brain evolved, he really has to admit that he could not help but say that. His brain is giving him essentially randomly processed data, naturally selected. Thus, he cannot trust the mind that led him to the conclusion. Anybody confused? On the other hand, when the evidence for creation is acknowledged, and the psychological and philosophical reasons for its rejection are unmasked, one is free to look objectively at all the data. It is then possible to even see that a great deal of “forbidden science” is actually credible and to discover that the scientific information contained in the Bible is both accurate and reliable. More important, the case against evolution removes the illusion that atheism is intellectually respectable and throws one back to the most important decision any person ever makes: specifically, realizing that there is indeed an incredibly intelligent and powerful Creator who made us and all that exists, how will we respond to Him?  Reason only brings us so far, for we see a creation that is not only intricately designed and beautiful, we also see evil and suffering. Only the revelation God Himself provided and accredited with miracles and prophecies, the Bible, can fill in those gaps in our understanding. The Biblical Creationist believes that the existence of God is not only true but terribly important and that the only loving thing to do is to spread the news. This includes the good news as well as the bad news, because it is the bad news that makes the good news so good. We were given free will by our Creator so that we might choose to love and serve Him. But we have tragically chosen to go our own way, what the Bible calls sin. In the process, we have caused the whole of creation to fall into disarray and evil to fall even on the relatively innocent. Yet the Creator took the initiative to restore all things by becoming human, in Jesus Christ, and taking on Himself the penalty of our sin.  Individually, we can return to the state He intended by humbling ourselves before Him and accepting the forgiveness He offers. Eventually, the great Creator who spoke the whole universe into existence, will bring it to an end, and judge all things. He will re-create what was originally intended to be, but hold each person responsible for the choices made, in response to the knowledge given. This is what it means when the Scripture says: "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." (Romans 1:18-21) Those are words that do not pass the tests of political correctness, sensitivity or tolerance. Yet they claim to be inspired by God Himself. And if that is true, they need to be taken very seriously indeed. The argument about origins is not a game. It is not even an academic exercise. It is a sober test of intellectual honesty and humility with eternal consequences. God has arranged it so that finding Him does not depend on intelligence or education, but on open spiritual eyes. Those who accept the evidence and acknowledge God as their rightful ruler include people from both ends of the intellectual spectrum. Likewise for those who reject. And it is also not a question that we should leave to "the experts" because we each will be held responsible for the decision that we make. (January 26, 2008 Revision)

Review of The Dark Side of Charles Darwin: A Critical Analysis of an Icon of Science by Jerry Bergman Master Books, Green Forest AK, 2011, 270 pages , $13.99 When Jerry Bergman debated arch-evolutionist P.Z. Myers in November 2009, the most dramatic  reaction of the ideologically mixed crowd of about 500 came when Dr. Bergman suggested a connection  between Darwin and Hitler. The reaction was a sustained growling noise. Further interactions on that  topic in e-mails and on Dr. Myers famous blog www.scienceblogs.com/pharyngula – a sort of literary  “Jerry Springer Show” – indicated that no amount of data would allow such a sacrilegious conclusion  among the faithful.  Jerry Bergman, with his characteristic thoroughness, has systematically dismantled the glowing  reputation of the man often cited as the most important scientist of all time. But, of course, it will not  be enough to sway those whose powers of yarn-spinning are regularly exercised in the defense of  evolution itself. In fact, in an uncanny manner, evolutionary thinking has taken on the form of  Aristotelian science that was challenged by Francis Bacon when he argued for deductive reasoning from  the data instead of inductive conclusions from authority. Now Darwin is the authority and since  “evolution is true,” any apparent discrepancies must eventually and inevitably be solved. Also as  Galileo’s descriptions of craters on the moon – in the perfect heavenly sphere – were unthinkable to  that cosmology, any faults in the author of On The Origin of Species or the application of his ideas  cannot be true.  The fact that Darwin could be described as a “nice person” although with idiosyncrasies, makes his ideas  all the more dangerous than if he were a demonstrable psychopath. Yet Bergman’s book lays out the  data showing Darwin’s clear religious motivation, unable to accept a God who allowed injustice – putting it in the most stark terms, to “kill God.” Still, there is a great deal of ambivalence in Darwin’s writing, best explained as an attempt to avoid offending his cultural peers and his believing wife.  Darwin’s psychological and psychosomatic illnesses are clearly elucidated but it is also shown that  although this diminished his public defense of his theory – which he left to energetic followers, like  Huxley – he was able to carry out an extensive correspondence with the aim of making converts, not to  mention to continue his writing.  It is well known that much if not all of Darwin’s theory was borrowed – even plagiarized – from many  who came before him and he had great trouble in acknowledging this, even when grudgingly forced to  do so. But the sloppiness of his scholarship, from failing to label specimens to changing the content of  old papers to reflect later thinking would today be considered worthy of censure.   Also, although unlike his latter day disciples, he clearly saw the need for an adequate explanation of the  variation on which natural selection works, what he leaped to was pangenesis, a form of inheritance of  acquired characteristics by the movement of “gemmules” from all parts of the body to the gametes. He had previously rejected this Lamarckian idea but when no other mechanism was viable, he returned to it  and stuck with it despite experimental evidence to the contrary. Darwin’s alteration of photographs in a study intended to show the animal origins of facial expression shows a disregard for the facts when a  point needs to be proved. In these ways, he served as a role model for all who have followed in his  footsteps.   Darwin’s clear opinion that some races are inferior and his support of at least “passive” eugenics are  clear from what he has written. The typical defense that he opposed slavery is clarified in that he also  opposed cruelty to animals – although his was not the case when as a younger man he enjoyed killing to  a degree far beyond the typical hunter mentality. He was convinced that the higher races would eliminate the lower and even used the word “exterminate” although he shied away from actual killing in  favor of preventing reproduction of the less fit. Also, Darwin’s documented conviction that women  were evolutionarily inferior to men and more like children did not, of course, lead him to the conclusion  that they should be eliminated!  To be sure, Darwin’s ideas were taken in many directions in which he did not directly participate. But  the danger to morality and social stability, not to mention compassion, were probably part of the reason  for Darwin’s mental distress. The Darwin-Hitler deniers want a smoking gun – a secret conversation  that, of course, could not have been possible – and fail to admit that they understand the power of ideas  in history. Hitler’s programs were completely consistent with Darwin’s ideas and just added the political  will to stop being passive and get on with it. The fact that racism and sexism predated Darwin does not  invalidate the observation that he allowed proponents of those “isms” to become “intellectually fulfilled  scientists.”  Each chapter is a unit unto itself with a “Chapter Synopsis” at the beginning and “Conclusions” at the  end. Because of the format, some anecdotes and quotations are repeated in subsequent chapters. I  would have liked to see something about whether Darwin really had access to Mendel’s book before  publishing his. An index would have been helpful as well. There are some typos, probably untamed “spell check” additions, like “Ernest” instead of “Ernst” Haeckel on page 26, “psychic” for “psychiatric”  on page 97 and “micro” for “macro” evolution on page 268.   This is a valuable book and a reminder of the strong delusion that pervades academia.  Reviewed by   Ross S. Olson MD  Dr. Olson is a retired pediatrician who lives in Minneapolis Minnesota

I am now a board member and webmaster for Twin Cities Creation Science Association and a thoroughly convinced young earth creationist. I was a theistic evolutionist going through my medical training. I was told that science had proved evolution and although for quite a while it shook my faith because it seemed to make God unnecessary, I finally decided that God must have set up the universe so it spontaneously organized itself. This view is sometimes called the "fully competent creation" and is considered by its backers to be a magnificent demonstration of God's power. It seemed to me that if that were the case, God must have done something special in the case of man to give him "the image of God" but that otherwise it had to be all automatic and imbedded in the basic constituents of the universe. I continued to hold this position, mostly because I had never really looked at the data in detail, even as a missionary in Hong Kong with the Evangelical Free Church. While there, my brother, who is a science teacher, sent me two books by Biochemist A.E.Wilder-Smith who showed that order does not arise spontaneously. Dr. Wilder-Smith also included pictures of polystrate fossils, tree trunks 50 feet tall, fossilized standing up, that obviously could not have been buried at the rate hypothesized by uniformitarian geology because they would have rotted before they were covered. It took me a year to even open them because I was emotionally revolted by what seemed to be so far out of the scientific mainstream. Dr. Wilder-Smith showed that the whole idea of a code requires intelligence and the information carried by a code does not arise spontaneously. Long periods of time do not help because time degrades information. Random changes in a complex system do not improve it but deteriorate or completely destroy it I was astounded and wondered why this point of view had never come up in my science classes. When I returned to Minnesota for a year of further training, I looked up some of my professors. The Christian advisor to the Christian Medical Society Student Chapter was a theistic evolutionist. I showed him this data and asked what he thought of it. He said it did not impress him. But I asked again how he answered it and he repeated the same answer. I got a mental picture of a person standing on the freeway with a Mack truck bearing down on him saying, "It doesn't impress me." He then gave me an application form for American Scientific Affiliation, an organization of theistic evolutionists, essentially using the junior high tactic of saying, "everybody is doing it." Then another professor made passing reference to evolution in a lecture on hypertension, saying that the kidney evolved in an environment of low salt and when the sodium levels rise, it cannot compensate and by hormonal means raises the blood pressure. After the lecture I asked him if the kidney evolved into this amazing machine that keeps so many things in balance, knowing what to keep and what to toss, why could it not make a minor adjustment? He said that it was the time frame. I said that there was other evidence against evolution and asked if he would like to look at it. Without a moments hesitation he said, "No!" in a tone that implied that it was a stupid question. Either naively because I did not see the storm brewing or with characteristic courage, I continued by saying that I could leave him some books and papers. He stopped me in mid sentence with, "I know where you are headed with this. You are going to talk about God and Jesus and I have no place for them in my life!" Then turning, he shot back over his shoulder, "And I don't think you can talk about this on a public university campus." I was flabbergasted. Here was a faculty member of a major medical school who was unwilling to even talk about what may be the most important scientific question possible, namely "Where did we come from." He was not responding intellectually but emotionally. On the question of evolution, I had not been educated but indoctrinated. And I also saw clearly that the Christian in academic science, making his living in a hostile intellectual environment had apparently taken on "protective coloration" saying essentially, "I believe just like all you other guys do, but I say God did it." (This is no threat to the secular scientific community because they can say, "That's fine for you if you need a crutch, but we don't.") Then having made that decision without supporting data, the compromising Christian would be forced to defend it emotionally and without evidence or else admit to either dishonesty or cowardice. I was radicalized, realizing that there were very smart, highly educated people who were completely out to lunch on this issue. There were even warm hearted spiritually alive Christians who were sincerely wrong, and even thought they were protecting the gospel from potential rejection by non-Christians on scientific grounds. Yet in the process they were eroding the authority of Scripture -- if God did it that way, why didn't He just tell us? To say that early man was primitive begs the question by assuming evolution. Adam and Eve were created perfect with powerful intelligence according to the Scripture. Early man invented all sorts of technology and art very quickly. Also, if God used a wasteful, destructive, cruel method of creating -- struggle for existence, competition for resources, predation, and death -- then at the moment He said, "It is very good," Adam and Eve were standing on top of thousands of feet of fossilized remains of that sordid history. And if it were true, physical death did not result from humans in but is God's method of creation. Is that the picture of the God who is personally and intimately involved in the lives of His people? Does a God who takes billions of years to create consistent with the God who will wrap up history in the twinkling of an eye? Is ruthless competition and survival of the fittest consistent with Jesus teaching and example of self-sacrifice and exhortation to care for "the least of these"? If death before sin is true, why did Jesus die physically on the cross and rise again to conquer death and take the penalty for our sins at the some time? I became first an intelligent design advocate and slowly also saw that there was also a powerful case for a young earth. In fact, the fossil record is much more consistent with rapid burial in a worldwide flood than in slow sedimentation over millions of years of a land mass that slowly rises and falls. For one thing, fossils don't form unless the creature is covered before it rots. Clams all over the world are fossilized closed. There are 50 foot tree trunks that surely would not wait to be covered up at 1 millimeter a year. There are many "out of place" fossils and in the grand canyon such as pollen in the pre-Cambrian layer where no such plants should have existed. Also, there are 200 million "missing" years and the layers are blended at their interface, as if for those 200 million years absolutely nothing happened, neither deposition nor erosion, and the bottom lay stayed soft waiting for the next. See http://tccsa.tc/articles/index.html#pollen A summary of the physical evidence against evolution, the philosophical assumptions used to support it and the psychological reasons why academia marches in lockstep against any challenge to its ruling paradigm can be seen at  http://tccsa.tc/articles/evaluating_evolution.html . The way the courts have entangled themselves and confused the issue is discussed in  http://tccsa.tc/articles/id_in_schools.pdf  .  Ross S. Olson MD