Selected Essays And Book Reviews

Most Important Notes from APOL 290 {4,353 words}

XVII. Lesson 17 - Evolution - The Age of the Earth

A. The topics for this class have been and are: (1) Facts of science, (2) evidences for evolution, (3) the age of the earth.

B. Carbon-14 dating cannot date beyond 55,000 years into the past because there would not have been much carbon to detect. Radiometric dating is based on radioactive materials, and some of them are carbon-14 to 55,000 years, potassium argon can date into the millions of years (Lucy is an example), and uranium-lead where uranium decays into lead in 4.5 billion years. Uranium-lead was used to date the earth. Carbon-14 is an isotope, which means that it is radioactive, heavier, and of a different chemical structure. Carbon-12 is the normal carbon, and it is not radioactive. Carbon-14 atoms are produced when nitrogen atoms (65% of the atmosphere) are transmutated by cosmic atoms. The carbon-14 atom will decay back into nitrogen. Carbon-12 to Carbon-14 in the earth is 1:765,000. Carbon combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide. Some of that is absorbed into green plants and then into animals that eat the plants. Every 5,770 years, half of the carbon-14 decays back into nitrogen. As an example, suppose that a living thing had 32 units of carbon-14, and when it is found, it has only 2-units. The half-life cycles would be 32 to 16 to 8 to 4 to 2, and that is 4 cycles times 5,750 years or 23,080 years old. This process assumes that the cosmic ray deterioration has always been the same and that all the processes of nature are the same as now. It assumes that the carbon-12 to carbon-14 ratio is the same. It assumes that carbon-14 has not been contaminated by any other sources over the time. It assumes that the carbon-14 deterioration was remained constant at 16 grams per minute.

C. The dates have shown as much as a 30% error.

1. A musk was dated 2,300 years old while it was still alive.

2. A musk's head was 7,000 years older than its legs.

D. A piece of petrified wood was dated at 10,090 years. A Neanderthal man was found at 32,000 years, from Iraq at 50,000 years. Petrification is supposed to take millions of years, and Neanderthal man is supposed to be over 100,000 years. Radioactive carbon dating is not reliable, and it is based on 13th century alchemy.

E. It is known that the magnetic field is losing its strength at a known rate, and that would have impacted the cosmic rays of the past. The magnetic field would have shielded more of the cosmic radiatation in the past, and that would have led to less initial carbon-14 in living things. That would make things look artifically older than they really are.

F. The canopy vapor theory would have been associated with the magnetic field, and that would have allowed long-wave radiation and deflect short-wave radiation. That means that living creatures would not have had any carbon-14 in them, and they would again appear much older than they are. The canopy would have collapsed in the Great Flood. From the Bible literally, then Noah's Flood would have been about 23,050BC, and that corresponds to the Bob Whitelaw's corrected radioactive carbon-14 dating back to a mass destruction about 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. The canopy would have prevented the production of carbon-14, and when it was gone, the carbon-14 started to show up.

XVIII. Lesson 18 - Evolution - Evidence for a Young Earth

A. Romans 5:12 and Revelation 21:1 shows that the Gap theory (a civilization between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2) is not true. The decay of the earth's magnetic field around the earth indicates that the earth is less than 10,000 years old. The magnetic field has a half-life of about 1,400 years. Gauss determined in 1835 that the magnetic field had decayed. A constant decay began about 500AD. Extrapolating backwards says that 10,000 years before the magnetic field would have been at 100%. Back to 20,000 years and the magnetic field would have been intense enough to destroy the earth. This would have also affected the carbon-14 deterioration.

B. Cosmic radiation deteriorates deterium. The result is helium-3 is too plentiful unless there had been a vapor canopy over the early earth. The evolutionists had thought that the Apollo-11 Spacecraft would find deep depths of dust on the moon, but it was not thick, at all. It was powdery and smooth. The astronauts had trouble pounding the flag into the moon's surface because the depth of the dust was so small. They had expected fifty to a hundred feet deep dust that had accumulated over millions of years. Instead, the depth was less than an inch.

C. Stalagtites and stalagmites are supposed to form at one inch in one hundred years, but evidence exists to show much more rapid development.

D. Based on rates of erosion, the Mississippi Delta shows to be only about 4,000 years old.

E. VERY IMPORTANT. Polonium is produced from Uranium-238. Polonium-210 has a half-life of 138 days. Polonium-218 has a half-life of 3 minutes, and Polonium-214 has a half-life of 164 microseconds. If the earth took millions of years to solidify, all of the Polonium would be decayed away and no target zeroes would have been found. An MIT physicist, not a Creationist, says that his data suggests that the earth was created in one second. Another estimate is less than 3 minutes. This finding is the best evidence for a young earth. A study of helium from uranium decay from an old earth would have left no helium, but much helium was found.

F. The evidence of nature supports Creation, but none of the evidence supports evolution.

XIX. Lesson 19 - Know for Test 3 and IMPORTANT BIBLE VERSES

A. Evidences for Evolution - (1) similarities (vestigial orders, proteins, and so forth), (2) genetics, (3) geographical distribution of animals, and (4) paleontology.

B. Facts of Science (1) Laws of Thermodynamics and (2) fossil records.

C. Evidences for Creation - (1) age of the earth and (2) other geologic evidences

D. Origin of Man - Ramapithecus, Neanderthal, Peking Man, Java Man, Nebraska Man, Used in Scope's Trial, Australiapithecus (Homohabilus to Homoerectus to Neanderthal), Homosapien, Lucy. These were flaws and not what originally purported.

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E. VERY IMPORTANT - A Look at the Scriptures - the Creation Model (Genesis, Chapters 1-11) - Can the Bible be taken literally and seriously (II Timothy 3:15-17)? The writers were writing the best science of their day. The Bible is truly a superior Book. Science textbooks are regularly re-written, but the Bible has stood firm.

1. Isaiah 40:22 (circle of earth) says, "He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in." The Hebrew word for circle means roundness. The author knew the earth was round even though scientists were saying that it was flat. How did Isaiah know that?

2. Genesis 2:1-3 (first law of thermodynamics) says, "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." The eight past tense verbs all say that Creation was completed. Energy was not being created or destroyed. How did Moses know that it was finished?.

3. Jeremiah 33:22 (stars innumerable) says, "I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore." The host of heaven being innumerable was written by Jeremiah in about 600BC, before astronomers knew that they were innumerable. Ptolemy said that there were 1,155 stars. Kepler counted 1,005. How did Jeremiah get that information?

4. Job 26:7 (earth supported on nothing) says, "He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing." The most ancient of all books, probably written right after the Flood (around 2000BC). Astronomers have found an empty place in the galaxy towards the north. How did Job know that the earth was suspended on its axis?

5. Job 36:27-29 (oceans never full) says, "He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams; the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind. Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds, how he thunders from his pavilion?" Water is dumped into the sea every year, but the waters do not increase. This is the water cycle discovered in the 18th century, and Job seemed to know about it. A passage in Ecclesiastes also talks about the same thing in about 950BC. Two different authors knew about the water cycle well before scientists did.

6. I Corinthians 15:39 (kinds of flesh) says "All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another." Paul knew about different kinds of flesh and about blood even though scientists did not. In the 1940s and 1950s, the electron microscope helped scientists confirm what the Bible said. Where did Paul get the information that all flesh is not the same flesh? If all flesh came from a common ancestor, then all the cells should be similar and so would the flesh.

7. Proverbs 8:26 (dust in space) says, "before he made the earth or its fields or any of the dust of the world." Solomon knew about the dust high above the earth. The knowledge about dust came through the Space Program technology. The dust came from outer Space and percolated down to earth, and Solomon knew that. How did he know it then, and scientists did not know it until the 1960s?

8. Deuteronomy 23:12-14 (sewage disposal) says, "Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you." Written by Moses about 1450BC, he was describing a military latrine and proper waste disposal in the field. They were in the desert for forty years, they had to deal with that problem. The Israelites had a clear understanding of cleanliness. Also see Leviticus, Chapter 11 about clean and unclean meats. They were not even supposed to get near a dead animal. That information was given long before clear germ knowledge was known. Many major diseases, like the bubonic plague, spread because of the people's lack of knowledge about germs. But not with the Israelites.

XX. Lesson 20 - Evolution- Doctrine of Scientific Creationism

A. Doctrine of Scientific Creationism is in harmony with the Scriptures.

B. More Scriptures.

1. Leviticus 13:45 (prevention of infection) says, "The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, `Unclean! Unclean!'." The person was told to put a mask on when around someone with leprosy. Leprosy is now known to be caused by a very dangerous bacteria, but they did not know that back then.

2. II Peter 3:10-12 (atomic reaction) says, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat." Talking about the Flood. The elements (low level chemicals) shall melt with fervent heat, and this would have had to be by a nuclear atomic explosion. The Greek word in verse ten for melt is "luo", which means to loosen. In verse twelve, the Greek work for melt is different ("teko"). It means to liquify. This is an example of what modern atomic reaction would be, in the exact order.

3. Isaiah 40:31 (eagles' wings) says, "But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." The implication is that eagles can soar all day without getting tired, and people can do this, too. It is interesting that Isaiah chose an eagle from among all the creatures. The eagle has six slotted features for wingtips, and those wingtips create a unique force that lets him glide all day. Scientists only discovered this fact about eagles in the 1970s, but Isaiah already knew.

4. Genesis 1:24-25 (kind) says, "And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good." Kind means to portion out (a zonkey, a liger - there are genes in the horse kind that would produce the zebra and the donkey and everything in between. The same is true of all such combinations, and this would have also reduced the number of animals on the Ark.). Moses correctly used the concepts of genetics.

5. Genesis 17:12 (circumcision on eighth day) says, "For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner--those who are not your offspring." Modern medicine has determined that the best day to do circumcision without any antithetic is the eighth day. A certain internal chemical is at its lifetime maximum on the eighth day of a child's life. Failure to circumcise leads to higher rates of penile cancer and urinary tract infections. Circumcision has tremendous health benefits, and that was not known until the twentieth century.

6. Psalm 139:14-16 (embryo development) says, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." The Hebrew word "golem" in verse sixteen means unformed man, and from Biology, this shows embryonic development. Verse sixteen says that the human life without a bodily form, and this was not known until the latter 1700s with the development of microscopes. Jeremiah 1:5 supports this early life, too, and these verses show that life begins at conception.

7. Psalm 8:8 (ocean) says, "The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas." (Not discussed in class)

8. Jonah 2:6 (mountains in the seas) says, "To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God." (Not discussed in class)

9. Leviticus 17:11 (blood, the life of the flesh) says, "For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life." (Not discussed in class)

XXI. Lesson 21 - Evolution

A. Based on all the data, Genesis 1:1 accurately chronicles the beginning. The big bang could not have happened, either, because the chemistry and the physics do not match. Data for Creation supports 6,000 to 10,000 years and maybe 12,000 years at the most. John 1:3 credits Jesus with having been the Creator. Ephesians 3:9 says that God created all things by Christ Jesus. In Colossians 1:16-17, Christ is identified as the Creator, and He was said to have created all things. In the Gospels, His miracles give a glimpse of Jesus in action.

1. The Gap Theory - time between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 (the earth was without form and darkness was upon the face of the deep). This theory was postulated by the church as a response to Darwin in the 1800s. The theory maintains that the earth was destroyed by Lucifer during that time. Revelation 21:1 talks about a new heaven and a new earth and the passing away of the first heaven and earth. If the Gap Theory were true, then that verse would have to say that the second heaven and earth were passing away.

2. In Genesis 1:1, the earth came into existence first, before the planets and the stars. This is contrary to the Big Bang Theory. The Hebrew word, "Yom", is translated as a 24-hour day. In Genesis, each day is closed in by a night. This is not consistent with the idea of millions of years. Exodus 20:11 says that the Lord did everything in six days, and the seventh day would have been really messed up if it was supposed to mean millions of years. This usage supports the idea of a 24-hour day. From a scientific point of view, why make the days long just to accomodate the evolutionists. Note that plants were created on day three and the sun on day four. If the days were millions of years, the plants would have died without sunlight. Birds were created in day five and fish on day six. These would have been reversed for evolution.

B. The days of Creation

1. Day One of Creation - light was created but not sunlight (Genesis 1:3-5 and Isaiah 60:19-20 (the Lord is light in the Millennial Period))

2. Day Two of Creation (the Canopy Theory) - God made a firmament. He did not make anything new, and He did not say that it was very good. Firmament means a space. The heaven spoken about is not the abode of God. This is the first heaven, and God is in the third heaven. This day can explain why man initially lived so long and the existence of insects in the fossil record and large creatures and so forth. The body of water supports the idea of a canopy of water vapor suspended above the first heaven. The canopy would filter out the harmful cosmic radiation and the ultra violet radiation that can mutate DNA and hurt us. The absence of this canopy would help explain aging. The canopy would lead to more Helium-3, shielding from cosmic radiation, would have provided enough water for the Great Flood caued by forty days and forty nights continuous rain. The geological strata support the Canopy Theory because warm weather life fossils have been found in the Polar Ice Cap. How did they get there? The canopy model would predict longevity in life forms. The canopy would have collapsed about 4,000 years ago and would have led to the Great Flood.

XXII. Lesson 22 - Evolution

A. Day 3 of Creation (Genesis 1:9-13) - Attention is focused on the waters under the heavens. The time period would be pre-Cambrian. "After his kind" - The fruit tree was already there and had been created with the appearance of age.

B. Day 4 of Creation (Genesis 1:14-15) - sun and moon.

C. Elohim is plural and suggests the three Person Trinity.

D. Day-Age Period tries to accommodate theistic evolution.

E. Romans 8:22 refers to the ground that God cursed. This especially applied before man had equipment to help him work the fields. Everything in nature had to be changed so that the direction of the universe could be changed after the curse. Nature had to suddenly provide ways for man to die.

F. Creation brought in the First Law of Thermodynamics, the Fall brought in the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and then, the Flood. These were earth-changing events.

G. The canopy is also consistent with "no rain" and "no seasons."

H. Genesis 1:29-30 shows that man had a vegetable diet before the Flood. Isaiah 65:25 says that the Millennial Kingdom shows that the animals will be eating a vegetarian diet. After the Flood, men ate meat (Genesis 9:3). In Genesis 5:28-29 (the birth of Noah), the stage is set before the Flood.

I. Coal and oil were formed during the Flood. Evidence exists to show that this can happen. Conditions before the Flood were very harsh. Noah was a type of deliverer. The average age of the patriarchs was 912 years. This is consistent with the idea of a canopy.

XXIII. Lesson 23 - The Flood (Part 1)

A. II Peter 3:3-7 summarizes two great catastrophes, one past (the Flood) and one future. Science supports the Creation model but not the Evolution model. Science also supports the Bible and a literal flood. There are six reasons why a literal Flood is reasonable.

1. the design of the Ark agrees with engineering science. Moses could not have dreamed up the dimensions of the Ark (Genesis 6:15). One cubit was 17.5 inches long. The length was 437.5 feet, 72.9 feet was the width, and 43.75 feet was the height. It was in the shape of a barge, and it had three decks. The ratio of length to width is 6:1. The ratio of height to length is 1:10. Those are the same ratios that are used by modern shipbuilders for the ideal dimensions of a sturdy cargo ship. The deck area was able the size of 20 college basketball courts. The gross tonage was 15,960 tons. This would have been comparable to some of the largest seagoing vessels of today. In high seas, the crests between high waves is about 437 feet. Genesis 7:19-21 talks about the flood and shows that Moses knew what had happened. Fossils have been found on all mountains, so that supports the submerged mountains. The waters were 15 cubits higher than the highest mountains, and the Ark was 30 cubits high. Fully loaded, the Ark would have sunk 15 cubits and not hit the top of any of the submerged mountains.

2. the caring of the animals was very sophistocated for so many and so long. Two of each "kind" went to Noah into the Ark. Noah did not go looking for them. Kinds would have greatly reduced the number of animals on the Ark. Sixty percent of all animals live in the water, and seventy percent of the remaining are insects. There would have been enough room. The entire fossil record probably came from the Flood.

3. the uplift of the oceans from beneath.

4. the release of the canopy from above.

5. the formation of the current ocean contour.

6. the formation of the continents.

B. The sons of God and the daughters of men (Genesis 6:4). The teacher thinks that they are angels, but I do not agree (click to bring up paper written for Genesis class (BIBL 410)). I think they were the sons of Seth. II Peter 2:4-5 says that God does not spare the wicked angels that opposed God. Genesis 6:2-4 talks about the wicked union. Genesis 6:7 says that all air-breathers were to be destroyed. Marine life was not destroyed. Genesis 6:3 and Genesis 6:12-13 talks "about" all flesh was corrupted. Man and the animal all made the earth very violent, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. His family and he were the only righteous, and the devil was trying to destroy the godly line.

C. Dr. Steve Austin found that the eruption of Mount St. Helens created 600 feet of strata in a matter of hours, and the Flood could have done that, too. Some of the discovered strata were 25 feet deep. A canyon was carved out in just one day. The Flood could have easily done the same things. Also, trees were uprooted and settled in full and buried in layers of strata. They were fossilized vertically, and those are the types of things that geologists typically say took millions of years.

XIV. Lesson 24 - The Flood (Part 2)

A. A different Creation model - (Genesis 7:11-12) - prior to Flood was a body of water, 5/8 mile deep, under the crust of the earth (the crust would have been about 6 miles deep). It would have been salty and hot. Beneath that would be molten lava (about 5 to 6 miles deep). The lava would have been besault, and it would have created a mountainous ridge beneath the ocean. During the Flood, the mountainous ridges spread apart into the continents. These are all assumptions. This model makes many things explainable, but this is only a theory, too.

B. Genesis 8:1 - God remembered Noah in the same way that Jesus remembered the thief on the cross. The animals went in two-by-two, and they came out two-by-two. They were probably hibernating or sleeping during the Flood because animals taken out of their natural habitat usually sleep.

					Tom of Bethany

"He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 
(I John 5:12)


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