Why Laugh at Creationists?

Browsing the Internet can be an interesting experience whenever something totally unexpected comes up on the YouTube dashboard. Such is the title of a whole series of videos bearing the one title, Why do people laugh at Creationists? 

Laugh at Creationists? That's new! I thought we Creationists are ignored. Like good old Alfred Wegener. This son of a clergyman theorised that rather than remaining permanently fixed, the continents of our globe are on the move. Yet he was totally ignored by all the geologists of his day. Moving continents? How ridiculous could he get? He was ignored, maybe even laughed at. That was because Wegener was not a geologist, but a meteorologist who had an interest in geology from an amateur's perspective. According to contemporary geologists, anyone who is not in their profession should not stick his oar in. It took quite a bit of persuasion and thorough research before realising that Plate Tectonics is to accepted as valid science.

Or the case of one young doctor who, in the 1840s, was put in charge of a maternity ward at one of the top teaching hospitals in Vienna, Allegemeine Krakenaus. Here, this medic was very disturbed by the rate of mortality taking place on a regular basis - one out of every six women died, as was the case of all other hospitals of the day. Then this doctor, Ignaz Semmelweis by name, believed that some invisible agent or element was passed around from patient to patient.*

He thought up the idea that after each patient was examined, whether it was an autopsy carried out on a dead patient or checking out a living patient, the medic must wash his hands before examining the next patient. Immediately, the death rate dropped significantly from one out of every six to one out of 84.

But poor Semmelweis didn't get the praise he so richly deserved. Instead, it was scorned and belittled by lazy and prejudiced colleagues and jealous superiors. Perhaps they believed that Semmelweis had some supernatural power or that there is something magic about this constant washing, washing, washing which does not tie with science. Had he wrote and published a book on his discoveries, chances were that such a book wouldn't sell well, if at all, in the medical profession. After all, invisible element? Mythology has no place in the hard realities of science.

After such hostile treatment, Semmelweis lost his contract, and after watching the mortality rate rise again, he lost his mind and he was committed to an institution where he ended his days with a mental breakdown. Who would have ever thought that with the linking of bacteria, discovered in mould growth as early as 1676, with infection and disease could be the cause of such a high mortality rate? And Alfred Wegener, who was also ignored by his contemporaries, such life was not made easy for him either. What a ridiculous theory, this nonsense of moving continents!

Going back to YouTube. As already mentioned, there is a whole series of videos, looking to be as many as 45 of them altogether, themed Why do people laugh at Creationists? Checking the author's stats, at this time of writing, he has 276,621,362 views and 960,000 subscribers, his field also covers a much wider range of topics including his support for the UK to remain in the European Union. 

Indeed, his first video featured a student who used three false arguments to support his view of favouring Creationism. One was that the spherical orbit of the Earth around the Sun was within the Goldilocks zone, the second was that the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River was cut in just five minutes, and his third argument was that water is unique to our planet only, and does not exist elsewhere. As such, together with Flat-Earthers, we Creationists deserve to be laughed at. But on a more serious note, if I were to write a paper supporting Divine Creation which would satisfy the demands of Creation Research, then submit the paper to a team of secular scientists, one or two might give some time to answer, the rest would just ignore it altogether.

It was the student's "Grand Canyon in five minutes" theory which caught my attention and decided to answer in the comment forum. But it was not only to "prove myself" but also use this opportunity to confess my allegiance with Creationism, just as I would freely confess Jesus Christ as my Saviour. No matter, this video alone has 2,508,131 views. Therefore, I felt it was worth giving it a go if Creationism is to gain any creditability.

How wonderful it is for YouTube to allow quite a large margin to comment without being cut off. Because I had quite a bit to say. 

Firstly, I explained that the Earth's orbit around the Sun is not spherical at all, but follows the edge of a slightly elliptical plane, with the Sun not quite at the centre. Therefore, where one side of the orbit is at the Perihelion, that is, nearer to the Sun, it's winter in the UK and summer in Australia. At the other side of the orbit, known as the Aphelion, our planet is further away from the Sun during the UK summer. 

Whether this is a work of a Designer or just mere chance, I left for them to decide. But since the Southern hemisphere is mostly ocean which takes longer to warm up than the landmasses of the Northern hemisphere, if this slight eccentricity did not exist and the orbit was perfectly circular, then it's likely that much of the Southern hemisphere would be covered with a permanent ice sheet, very much like the one which covered the Northern hemisphere during the Ice Age. This could have a big impact on the existence of life, particularly with the oxygen output from the oceans.

Then, together with my hikes into the Grand Canyon and thus, my observation of the rock strata resting comfortably on granite bedrock, I concluded that these layers of limestone and sandstone were laid down by the waters of a long-gone ocean, and put forward the idea of the Noachian Flood, along with the theory that the Canyon was cut in months, possibly years, as the floodwaters drained off the rising continent, and not in five minutes. As for extraterrestrial waters, I reminded the student that since boyhood, I was aware of frozen water polar ice caps on Mars and elsewhere, and after conversion, hadn't changed my mind on this.

At the Grand Canyon, 1995.

Then about three weeks later someone contributed, asking me how vast limestones rock layers form, considering that limestone is formed out of calcite, a material gotten from the shells of marine life, if not taking millions, or even billions of years to accumulate into such rock layers.

Here I have always found this to be a problem, to be honest. Here in England, one particular type of limestone, chalk, is very common here. This stone makes up the rolling hillsides and downs of, for example, the Chilterns, the South Downs, the White Cliffs of Dover, and the rolling coastal hills which includes Ballard Down in Dorset and the Isle of Wight. I have always thought that during antediluvian days, the oceans must have had a tremendously vast population of such marine life to form such landscapes. Not forgetting the chalk seabed under the English Channel which makes the cutting and maintenance of the Channel Tunnel viable. And I haven't even included hard limestones such as Portland Stone, often used for construction.

How much easier it must be to assume such huge formations must take multiple millions of years for such rock layers to build up than for it to rapidly form under the intense pressure of a fast-moving global flood. But a Flood-based origin I'm willing to accept, whichever way it happened. To believe in the historicity of the Bible does involve swimming hard against the current of Charles Lyell's uniformitarian geology and Darwin's organic evolution which remains universally acceptable.

I'm one of a small number of Creationists who is willing to stick my neck out. Indeed, I might just be ignored, teased, laughed at, or to be made to look ridiculous but to be honest, I'll rather be a fool for the glory of God than be wise in the eyes of the world. Even in my own church, I'm not taken as seriously as a brother who is a graduate, especially in the realm of leadership or even delivering a preach. Or maybe there is this train of thinking going around among those who know me well - the "he's not capable" or "I don't think he can do that" or "I doubt he'll be successful". The reason for this is straightforward. I don't come across as one who is articulate or well educated. Fair enough.

But "in Christ, I can do all things" (Philippians 4:13.) Yea, I hold on to that. One example of this occurred back in 1980. Just a year before I was made redundant as a semi-skilled machinist in an aircraft factory (British Aircraft Corporation, which was later renamed British Aerospace) and I had trouble looking for suitable work until someone suggested going self-employed. Indeed, one or two of the Elders did not believe I could manage that, but I went ahead anyway and formed my own window-cleaning business. Yes, it was difficult at first. I struggled to make ends meet. I upset a few of my clientele. I was on the verge of throwing in the towel. I even applied for another job. When I didn't get that job and instead returned to my business, I decided to keep on persevering.

Eventually, it paid off. Throughout those 35 years, I managed to make enough not only to live reasonably well, but I was able to save up for travel. Flying to destinations such as to Israel in 1993, and then to New York in 1995 to backpack across the USA to Los Angeles, and then in less than two years later, to fly to Singapore, and then onward to Cairns in Queensland, then after backpacking the Pacific Coast with its glorious Great Barrier Reef, on to Sydney, then from there direct to Los Angeles, before returning to London on a Round-the-World experience in 1997. It was those glorious days, the explosive climax of my bachelorhood before I met and married Alex. Those days when I didn't claim a penny in benefit or low-income allowances. It pays to persevere against the odds and not throw it all in.

Another area where starting up was difficult and discouraging, and it's writing for this Blogger page! Indeed, at first, viewer numbers remained low, and it was very discouraging to see all other bloggers captivating readers by the thousands while I only picked up around 20-30 each week. Indeed, I thought, what's the use? I was even tempted to throw in the towel in this area too. After all, I'm a labourer who failed at school. Who am I, pretending to be someone I'm not?

Yet I enjoy writing, and I have always enjoyed writing since boyhood. Later, the advance of the Internet has open doors which before I could only dream about. Therefore, something of addiction grew within, until every Saturday afternoon is Blogging day. As for readership, at this moment of writing, I have more than 150,000 views. This I consider this to be a respectable number and its growing by the hundreds each week.

And now I have launched into something very new. It began while I was sitting at a Costa Coffee bar in Bracknell Town Centre with a croissant and a cappuccino coffee. There, I thought about opening a YouTube account and making videos of easy walks which older people would appreciate. And so, at Bournemouth and Swanage, I shot my first two videos. When they came out, I knew that I have a lot to learn! My camera was shaking, I got my fingers in front of the lens, I breathed heavily after climbing a hill, and maybe the video was rather monotonous, filming the same scene all the time. To a professional, these were rubbish and I knew it. But I still published them to see what happens.

The exact camera I use for YouTube Videos

Lessons learned from the past taught me not to throw in the towel. If I fail, I fail. If absolutely nobody clicks onto my channel, well, at least I gave it a go! I've tried it. Indeed, right now I can visualise with clarity all my church Elders and brothers shaking their heads in their plea to give it up now to save myself from getting hurt. This was the discouragement I have received from other church members for many years. 

But no, instead, I will carry on making videos and publish them. And as I make each one, I learn from my mistakes. And with learning and experience, real enjoyment will also bud and blossom into a beautiful flower.

Perseverance is hard. It's difficult. It can get very discouraging. But eventually, it can pay off. The same goes with my conviction that Divine Creation as recorded in Genesis will eventually pay off, despite being ignored or laughed at present. My vindication will await me in Heaven. 

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* S.I. McMillen, None of These Diseases, 1963, 1980, Lakeland Publishers.

Looking Ahead - Good or Bad?

I have heard that this decade is already referred to as the Roaring Twenties - and that despite at this time of writing, we're only four days into it! The original Roaring Twenties was the decade between 1920-1929, nicely slotted in between two World Wars, and it was a time of economic growth and construction prosperity following the ravishes of the Great War. This time, however, rather than recover from global warfare, we are about to experience "oceans of opportunities as one invigorated nation with optimistic promises of a Golden Age of economic prosperity" post-Brexit, after four decades chained to Brussels, that cruel and wicked master of the European Union which was guilty of robbing the English of its sovereignty, identity and independence.

We pray for success? Will Brexit deliver?

Although from 1930 onwards, there was still eight-to-nine years of peace before World War II broke out in 1939. During those years, Adolf Hitler was already rising to power, becoming Chancellor from 1933 until becoming Fuhrer just a year later, in 1934. But it was from 1921 onwards that he became the leader of the Nazi Party, still in its fledgeling stage back then. Thus it can be said that during the Roaring Twenties, rumbling earthquakes were heard and felt which eventually climaxed in an explosive volcanic eruption in the form of the second great war breaking out.

While I write this, Brexit hasn't yet occurred. It's still more than three weeks away - if our current Prime Minister keeps his promise to "Get Brexit Done" by the end of January 2020, as he assured us during his election manifesto. Yet the earth is already shaking and rumbles of thunder already can be heard, so the newspapers like to forewarn us. I'm referring to the missile strike under the orders of US President Donald Trump to annihilate General Qassem Soleimani, Iran's chief military commander, while in his car exiting Bagdad Airport after a flight from Syria. An incident which took place successfully within the last couple of days.

Fearing retaliation from Iran, an online heading from The Daily Mail of Friday, January 3rd, warned of the "likelihood of World War Three," as Iran's revenge attacks on the West could involve Israel, Russia and China as well as Europe and the States. Oh, dear! It doesn't look as if there is an intermission period to enjoy the promised "oceans of opportunities" in the same way as The Roaring Twenties did a hundred years earlier. Instead, it's time to hide in the bunkers. Hatchets down! The Third Rock from the Sun is about to fry! So much for Boris Johnson's optimism!

This "snowflake generation" must have squealed loud enough for the newspaper to modify its output by the day after, as I read the actual paper itself whilst sipping at a Starbucks Cappucino this morning. Perhaps the reporters had to modify after a long forum of complaint trailed the original article, basically calling the journalist a scaremongering idiot. And the forum had an occasional contribution in words such as:- Don't worry, snowflakes. World War Three isn't going to happen. As today's paper has put it, there is no evidence that China or Russia will get involved, although Israel could still turn on Iran if the latter aimed its weaponry towards this tiny Jewish nation.

Therefore, rather than being a global conflict forewarned only yesterday, this time the national newspaper assured us that Iran's retaliation - if it decides to retaliate - will result in a local conflict, very much like that of the Falklands War of the eighties or the Gulf War of the nineties. This time, British troops may not be involved in this latest conflict between Iran and the USA.

Whew! That's a relief! Thank you, Daily Mail. At last, we can savour the "oceans of opportunities" post-Brexit. As one who voted to remain in the European Union, and having to endure nonsense words such as Remoaner and Remainiac as well, (I'm surprised that no one has thought about Remidiot also, but still, someone might already have done) - I have arrived at the expectation that the English majority will prove me wrong, and end up sailing, or even swimming, in the "oceans of opportunities" and enjoying all the benefits. Indeed, if I was proved wrong all this time, I will admit it.

And so here we are, with our Christmas decorations still up albeit they will come down tomorrow (Sunday 5th) unless I feel lazy, as I usually do on a typical Sunday afternoon, stuffed with roast chicken thighs and vegetables, after a four-mile cycling trip to Ascot Life Church and back. Indeed, I'll be glad when this silly season is over. Glum office staff journeying to work, congested roads, cancelled and delayed trains, bins filled with thrown-out Christmas trees, cold weather, all shops open and trading, ditto with the banks, and the kids back at school. And oh yes, as I would forget: the opening of Parliament, with Brexit being on the top of the agenda. What a couple of weeks this has been.

And television. Funny in a way, that all programme schedules go so awry during public holidays. Yet there have been some enjoyable movies such as the adult version of Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol, shown in three parts, each evening leading up to and including Christmas Eve. And Eastenders? I know, to some of the more "spiritual" Christians around, only the "worldly" would sink low enough to watch such a soap. Never mind that the soap is bereft of swear words usually spoken among the real-world working classes, on Christmas Day we watched the explosive rage of a jealous husband of his wife who was impregnated by a handsome young man eight months previously. Indeed, lessons can be learned here on why God had commanded not to commit adultery. By honouring this commandment with obedience would have saved everyone involved from tons of anger, heartache and fear.

Then the three nature documentaries, Earth's Tropical Islands, narrated by actor David Harewood. Each covered three islands close to the Equator: Madagascar, Borneo and Hawaii. To me, this was a fascinating series depicting the vast array of species not found on any of the continents or islands outside the Tropical zone. But there were two inclusions which I found to be very sad, distressing, really. The first one covers about the last 10-15 minutes of the hour-long episode and details the precious rainforest being decimated for palm-oil farming, with vast areas of rainforest gone, along with the extinction of species and climate change. The sort of documentary put out by the BBC pierces exactly where it hurts, bringing up anger or sadness against these greedy capitalists who put profit before the natural environment and the welfare of its inhabitants.

The second source of distress came from the words evolution, evolutionary and evolved. Harewood used these words very frequently throughout his narration, without a chance for Creationism to even find a niche in the hour-long discourse. And so the English population watching these programmes lap it all up, without giving a moment's thought. It's interesting too, that it was at the same time when The Daily Mail newspaper had published a pie graph of the increase of Islam here in England alone and a decline of Christianity. There is an estimated 3,092,000 Muslims in England during 2016, which makes up 5.6% of the population (against 4.7% in 2011.) Jews, Buddhists and Shieks share 2.9% of the population while those who profess to be Christian makes up 56.6% (59.6% in 2011). This leaves 34.9% of English people who says they have no religion or any faith at all.

Of course, there is a big difference between professing to be Christians and being a true believer in the Death, Burial and bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ which engenders trust in Him for salvation. According to one survey done more than twenty years ago, the percentage of true believers here in England could be as little as 2%, although that might have changed since then.

Committed Creationists are convinced that the knowledge of Evolution destroys the faith of the potential believer in Jesus Christ. They believe that higher education, whether at university or college, has the potential to destroy the faith of many when Evolution is directly taught or even referred to positively. The reason for this is quite straightforward. If a six-day supernatural Creation had not taken place, then the Crucifixion either had no power to save and it's completely meaningless, or that if Adam and Eve were descendants of apelike ancestors who all died, then death was not caused by Adam's sin and therefore the Crucifixion and Resurrection would have been entirely bereft of any saving power. In fact, if Evolution, involving death before Adam is true, then there would be no risen Jesus Christ and no salvation.

I wish that more and more people are saved. And as such, Creationism plays a big role in evangelism. One good example of this was when Paul the apostle approached a group of Greeks in Athens. He says:
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not dwell in temples built by hands...From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
Acts 17:24, 26.

Paul knew that the six-day Creation is true and that Adam is the father of all men, and hence because Adam sinned, we are all sinners and subject to death because of sin, Christ, by rising physically from the dead, has defeated death and became the Firstfruit of the Resurrection. Because we are born naturally in Adam, we will die. But every believer who is in Christ, then he will live forever because of the Resurrection of Christ three days after his crucifixion. Creation and the Gospel are intrinsically linked. One cannot be true without the other.

That is why I long for a literal six-day Creation to be taught by a guest speaker at our Sunday services at Ascot Life Church. I was told by one Elder that Creation is not relevant for our church. But I disagree. Strongly disagree. Creation is not only relevant but an absolute necessity for the divine life which our fellowship is so committed to. And to believe in a six-day literal creation as narrated in the first chapter of Genesis nullifies an ancient Babylonian document, the Emuna Elish from being on the same level of authority as the Biblical record, as advocated at our church in the Summer of 2018, or the reason for the neutralisation of Theistic Evolution, embraced by most, if not all, university graduates filling most English churches.

One good friend of mine, Dave and his wife will be settling in Canada later in the Spring. Their mission will be to set up churches at a particular location. This is where I would strongly encourage the truth about a divine six-day Creation, the Fall, and Noah's Deluge to be taught as historical fact and how such Biblical truths makes up the foundation stone on which the Gospel can be verified as historical fact. One can't do without the other.

Will you feel embarrassed to advocate such truths as history in a modern, science-oriented world? Do you feel afraid to be cast aside, ignored, or even teased? Are you afraid that preaching Divine Creation will put people off from receiving the Gospel? Then this is worthy of consideration: At Athens, back then the capital of the academic world and the ancient equivalent of the present Oxbridge, Paul included Creation with his Gospel message. But he drew only a few followers. He wasn't very successful. Apparently, the response in Athens to Paul's revelation of Creation was so poor, that he wasn't even able to set up a church there, so it seems.

Jesus himself, he endorsed the historicity of Genesis (for example, Matthew 19:4-5, 24:37-39, Luke 17:28-32). But he came unto his own, and his own received him not. John 1:11. He might have endorsed the truth of Genesis, but that was no guarantee of wide acceptance.

Who knows, there might well be World War Three. But most likely not, at least not on a global scale. But in deciding for the coming decade, I do believe that reliable speakers from Creation Ministries International should be invited into our church as a guest speaker, along with the Kerith Centre receiving such a guest speaker to enforce the truth of the Biblical record to those sitting on the fence.

An Academic Conflict at Oxford.

As one born of the Baby Boom generation (ie, born between the years 1946-1964) I was taken back by the news of three suicides committed by students at Bristol University, each within a short proximity of each other. According to one source, in 2015, 134 university students took their own lives* whilst another source gives 146 for the year 2016.** Therefore I would not be too surprised if the stats topped 150 for 2017.

And they weren't even the Millennials as we know them, as their agreed birth years were between 1980-1994, but more likely from Generation Z, who were born from 1995 onward. As I tried to work out in my mind why on earth there is such a high rate of mental disorder among students. It was then my wife Alex immediately gave the answer which eluded me - finance.

Of course, why didn't I think of that? With University courses costing around £9,000 a year, a debt of  £27,000 for a three year course does not bode well for the peace of mind every student would wish for. Instead, such a debt would hang over his head for a good spell of his lifetime. Such a situation for an individual is a vivid contrast with a student from the Baby Boomer generation, the one I was born into. Very few would have entered University in the first place. Those who did would have been a student at either Oxford or Cambridge, and then be given a grant from the Government - an income to live on during studies which had no need to be paid back.

Back then, to graduate and to hold a degree was really worth something. He was virtually a god, with any employer scrambling to have such a person, normally a male back then, on their staff roll. A doctor's authority was looked upon as on equal footing as the Gospel itself. And there is no other such vivid demonstration of this than in my schooldays. It was at the boys changing room for P.E., in the gym or for Games at the sports pitch. If a pupil fails to bring his kit, then the punishment was between one to five strokes of the slipper across the buttocks administered by the master, depending on the age of the boy. But if the student hands over a letter written by his GP, then the master would honour the pupil's abstinence from the lesson with a degree of reverence. Indeed, during the sixties, a GP was apparently credited with divine attributes, at least that how it seemed to the rest of us. By mentioning of holding a degree, this would bring out all the ooh's and the aah's, especially from the females. And that I do know. I actually saw this happening in my former church during the seventies.

And so this reverence for knowledge, and the universal desire to possess such knowledge, must be high on the minds of our present-day students who, contrary to the Baby-boomer graduates, I have found to be the targets of vitriol whenever some administration failure occurs, especially in the area of information technology. It is quite a vivid contrast to my day as school leavers. If an adolescent left school without any qualifications, he usually ended up as a dogsbody at a factory, workshop, garage, or anywhere where manual labour was held as a permanent vocation. This sort of thing was not uncommon. Yet I hardly heard of any cases of mental illness, let alone suicide among us younger set. Instead, we took everything in our stride, including scoldings and vitriol, which I, for one, saw more as character-building rather than mentally and emotionally destructive.

Therefore little surprise on why I found our present student's mental disorder statistics difficult to grasp. My wife had a sharper sense of discernment. I was still in the 1960's train of thinking. Putting it all together, I could not help but see for myself why having such level of knowledge can be contrary to Biblical faith. Of course, I'm referring to the age-old conflict between Divine Creation and Uniformitarian Geology.  

Just this morning I attended an annual men's conference at a local church (not my home church). The theme for this year was whether we as believers have the courage to take risks for the glory of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Later in the session we all split into small groups. It was during one of these small-group discussion and prayer when I felt God speak to me. I was made aware of this by God by means of a feeling of relief and joy over the revelation. I am to stand up for the truthfulness of Divine Creation as opposed to Uniformitarian Geology and Darwinism, which is believed in and accepted as scientific fact, not only by the secular world but by many Christians as well. God would not allow me to compromise. There's never been a "halfway house" with me when it comes to accepting Theistic Evolution. I either had to accept a literal 6 x 24-hour creation day, recorded in Scripture, or accept Darwinism in its purest form of secular standing. I resolve always to accept exactly what the Bible teaches.

And that may cause conflict. And my conviction did bring clashes, especially against my own father, who was a devout evolutionist. He was even too embarrassed to admit to others that he had a son who actually believe in this kid's story of Creation and the Flood. And in the factory where I worked, to believe in this raised issues for discussion with my colleagues on the shop floor, and apathy among those who were working in the office. Yet the idea of Divine Creation is very important to me. And very important to every Christian believer alive with us.

It was a gorgeously warm and sunny Bank Holiday Monday when my wife Alex and I, along with my PhD holder and Creationist friend Andrew, all made a trip to Oxford to visit the University Museum of Natural History. Considerably smaller than the sister museum in London where we had recently visited, but actually more educating in the true spirit of Oxford, I allowed Andrew to take care of Alex in her wheelchair, whilst I paid special attention to a row of cabinets on one side of the gallery.

University Museum of Natural History, Oxford.

These cabinets each housed a selection of fossils, and arranged in chronological order, from Cambrian to Cretaceous - at the most, about 475,000,000 years apart in geologic age. Unfortunately, I only took photos of the Jurassic cabinet and the Cretaceous cabinet, the two periods being next to each other on the geologic time scale, but one collection of marine fossils going back to the maximum of 201,000,000 years. The other cabinet holding the more recent Cretaceous marine fossils dating between 66,000,000 and 145,000,000 years of geologic age. Therefore, any observer would accept the vast age difference of these rocks simply because it tells him on the title label at the upper corner of each cabinet. Nearby was a display of a fair sized limestone slab, probably 18" x 12" 46 cm x 30 cm which was overlaid with scaled fish, similar to carp, if that wasn't carp. Unfortunately, I did not record or snap a picture of this particular display, and because of that, I did have plans to return to Oxford on my own to fulfil this purpose before writing this blog, had Alex been happy with the proposal!

But the point is, that anyone studying these displays would have walked away convinced of the evidence for Uniformitarian Geology and Darwinism - simply by observing the labels displayed at each cabinet. But nearly all these fossil-bearing rocks look remarkably similar, as if all these marine organisms were entombed and preserved all at the same time. All these, along with the fish on the slab.

Which presented quite an anomaly. Because whenever fish die, it hardly ever settles on the seafloor. Instead it becomes food for the scavengers. This together with the food chain, it's very seldom for a fish to die a natural death. The vast majority becomes prey for the high population of predators. But here we see fish entombed en-masse in stone, as if all perished at once and immediately preserved. And it looks as if this applied to all the fossilised organism on display, regardless of age. Basically they all looked the same, as if all died and were preserved at just one occasion. And there's supposed to have been up to 475,000,000 years in age difference between them!

Display cabinet containing fossils from the Jurassic Period.

Fossils from the Cretaceous Period, all taken May 2018.

And that is why believing in Creation and the Deluge, I think, is so vital for the Christian faith and to every believer. Because if fossilisation was meant to preserve a record of Evolution, that means one of two ideas: 

1. That Adam and Eve had never existed, but we are all evolved from primates, as secular Darwinism insists. And if our first parents had never existed, then neither the Fall had taken place and death is merely a natural phenomenon, both for human and animal alike. If death plays an essential role in the process of Natural Selection and Evolutionary process, then sin has no part except as a biological quirk developing late in the process, and therefore totally eliminates the need for an Atonement.

2. Adam and Eve existed, but each had a father and mother, all mortal. This, I believe, is a central tenet for Theistic Evolution. The problem is: Were Adam's parents human or sub-human? Or Eve's parents? If they were fully human, did they remain immortal, even after the Fall? But if they were sub-human, then how apelike did they look? And if mortal, then death was already at work in the world before the Fall, therefore making non-effect the Atonement of Christ.

Indeed, there are more questions than answers. But just by departing from the literal truth presented in the Scriptures resulting in such devastating theological concepts, including the study of Christology. But it is the denial of the truthfulness of Holy Scripture which leaves the academic community with little to go by except to make great efforts to prove that these rocks are much older than what Holy Scripture allows, and to pass this on to the rest of us.

Knowledge in itself is a wonderful quality to have, a very wonderful quality. Indeed, mental illness and even suicide is out of a potential failure to acquire this quality, and then to face the extortionate debt to pay afterwards. Little wonder many present-day students are suffering from excess stress. And I believe even my friend Andrew might have felt concern as I delved into these fossil cabinets. Concern that I may be "converted" from being a Creationist to becoming an Evolutionist, and with a possibility of heading down the road towards atheism. All by reading labels with a growing conviction that these scientists might have been right after all.

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*The Guardian Newspaper, 2 September, 2017.

**The BBC.

What Aliens Would See...

There has been a stir of excitement across the media lately! What I find incredible is the sense of optimism that we may not be alone in the Universe after all. And this is not from a group of pseudoscience crackpots who are devotees of author Erich von Daniken, but instead, this sense of optimism has arisen from a team of accredited academics - four I can think of straight away, because their names appeared in the Press in direct association and support for this latest phenomenon - a passing meteor, comet or asteroid resembling a spaceship. Not that this alien space-travellers belief is just a passing fancy, or a momentary fad. Rather, I had already observed as far back in 1997, that just about every other shop at Santa Barbara in California displayed these inflatable alien dolls for sale, with their characteristic large heads, large featureless eyes, a small nose and a tiny mouth, all held by a long thin neck joining the head to a slender and rather puny torso, with flailing arms and legs. In short, these creatures sporting a rather large cranium had evolved into super-intelligent beings whose bodies had gradually allowed their alimentary canal to degrade until all but obsolete - hence no longer the need to eat and drink for daily sustenance.

  

And these scientists had to contain their excitement until hard evidence for extraterrestrial life contained in this passing object is verified. These four scientists were the most prominent among others who held an optimistic view over the likelihood of the existence of alien spacemen. They are Stephen Hawking CH CBE FRS FRSA, English Theoretical Physicist and Cosmologist of Cambridge University, Professor Avi Loeb, an Astrophysicist at Harvard University, Dr. Andrew Siemion of SETI, California, and Dr. Jason Wright of Penn State University who, in all seriousness, believes that the spaceship - which recently passed so close to our planet and caused such widespread excitement - has broken down engines, hence causing it to tumble through space at 196,000 miles an hour. And so this four hundred metre-long cigar-shaped structure pays a visit to our Solar system, its course gets deflected by the gravity force of our Sun, and skims past the Earth before spiralling away towards outer space. This object, because of its unusual shape, conforms to intelligent design and engineering specifically to travel through outer space with the minimal risk of strikes by meteorites and space dust, hence their belief in it's artificial origin. By contrast, it was always observed that any other natural space rock is normally spheroid, including potato-shaped.

The object was given an affectionate name Oumuamua, an Hawaiian name to mean A messenger from afar arriving first. So here, assuming that it is a spaceship manned by rather handsome-looking humanoids with enormous heads in relation with their slim, rather weak and emaciated-looking bodies, I'll make a daring assumption on the conversation which took place among the crew as the ship passes over our planet, translated from silent telepathy into verbal English.

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Captain Ziglad stood, looking at the large crystal in front of him. The crystal itself, being nearly a metre in diameter, was quite an imposing piece of alien equipment. Then by telepathic will, he was able to zoom in on the image to see a city bustling with people, with streets crammed with slow-moving vehicles. What appears to be a river cutting through the middle of the metropolis, making it into two distinct halves, yet still connected to each other by a series of road bridges. The captain sighed, shaking his head.

His Lieutenant asked, "What's the problem, sir?"

"These primitive-looking tribes inhabiting this planet! They actually use fuel-consuming motors to propel their mode of transport. No surprise that their atmospheric consistence doesn't look very good. And furthermore, there looks to be a huge maggot crawling along - several of them, in fact."

The Lieutenant looked closely. "Third rock from its star?"

"Yes, that's right." The captain answered, just as the Lieutenant's young son runs into the large cockpit chamber from another part of the ship. "I'm focusing on what looks to be an odd-shaped island just off a huge continent to the south of it. The island is located off the far north west of the continent by a narrow strip of ocean, and looks to be heavily populated."

A third crew member, Jor-El, who was also looking closely at the crystal, chipped in. "You mention several large maggots? I believe that they are not giant insect larvae, in fact, they aren't even organic, but instead they are a form of public transportation. It does look as though they run on distinct tracks, separate from the smaller vehicles."

"Well," the captain concluded. "This planet was first visited by our sister ship The Nostromo, some time ago."

"When?" the boy asked rather excitedly.

"Well, going by our calculations, it's only a few months back." Jor-El answered. "But according to their calculations, it was more than two thousand solar years ago."

"Solar years? What's that, sir?"

The Lieutenant chipped in, "Ziggy, every planet travels on a path circling its star. This is known as an orbit. When the planet completes its orbit, that is, finishing at the same point where it started, we call that a complete "year". Since we call this particular star Solaris, we say one solar year. The Nostromo hovered over this planet just over two thousand solar years ago. To the inhabitants of this planet, the Nostromo shone for a while as a very bright star hovering in the sky."

"Wow!" Ziggy exclaimed.

"And furthermore - " Jor-El contributed, "Our unusual star was shining down on this planet about two thousand solar years after The Nostromo was launched from our home site. And according to what my instincts seems to be telling me, the timing of the launch itself seems to indicate some kind of promise our God Yahweh had made to them. Hmm, could it be that God had actually visited these inhabitants in person at a time coinciding with our Nostromo's visit? A very interesting speculation indeed! Especially when considering no divine visits were ever made to us." Jor-El was speaking more to himself than to Ziggy or to the other two in the cockpit.

"Surely these inhabitants cannot know the same God who created us!" Ziggy exclaimed, shocked with surprise.

"And why not?" Jor-El asked. "There is only one God, and if he had created us, he must have created these inhabitants as well. And fairly recently, as with us. Furthermore, I venture to say that his divine name Yahweh is known by these people too."

Both the Captain and his Lieutenant studied the live image within the crystal with single concentration. It was Jor-El, apparently the most outspoken member of the crew, who remarked, "This is rather like one of our scientists examining microbes swarming within a single drop of water. In God's name, every vehicle, every ship, even their airships, are all powered by fuel-burning engines!"

Then the Captain added, "How very much unlike the rather large telepathy-monitored crystal located within the rear of our ship Oumuamua, with no need for any fuel whatsoever, yet capable of powering our spaceship up to close to the speed of light. And furthermore, its velocity remains in full control of my own will. No doubt, down there they must have some physical, hand-controlled gadget, or even a set of gadgets, to monitor their mode of travel."

Then by zooming further into the image, again it was Jor-El who remarked, "The anatomy of these people consisting of a smaller head in relation to body size. Not only does this indicate almost an entire lack of telepathic powers and the possibility of lower intelligence, but their stronger, more muscly torso, legs and arms indicates the use of heavy labour as a daily necessity."

"But it's their behaviour which bothers me." the Lieutenant responded. "They all seem to be rushing about, without real peace within themselves, and looks to be prone to committing violence against each other. Furthermore, they are all clothed, and not naked as we all are. Do you think this matter of clothing might had something to do with their relationship with their divine Creator?"

"A strong possibility!" Both Captain Ziglad and Jor-El answered in unison. Jor-El continued, "Chances that sometime in their history they, or their ancestor, had disobeyed God. Considering that all the other creatures we had seen inhabiting this planet are not clothed yet able to survive well, indicates that clothing has to do with their standing with God rather than coping with the cold."

"I doubt whether their clothing has much to do with mere atmospheric conditions." Captain Ziglad agreed. "A little earlier I took a look at the planet's equatorial area and I saw several cities in that region with everyone wearing clothes. Lighter dressed, as this region is considerably warmer than where we have been observing, but still the need for clothing. This shows that it's little to do with the climate. Rather it has a much deeper meaning."

Just then Amor-El, the Lieutenant's wife and Ziggy's mother, walks into the cockpit. "It's time for your protein pills." she announced. Everyone present held out his hand to receive from her a small and easy-to-swallow pill which suited their tiny mouths. They all knew that this pill is enough to sustain them for a long while. And there were plenty more in stock.

After this the party withdrew from the crystal to sit at a lounge adjoining the cockpit chamber. Captain Ziglad waved his weak arms as if to indicate a conclusion to the whole matter. "We believe that these inhabitants were created by God to enjoy his love and friendship, just as we were. But unlike us, somewhere along the line, they disobeyed some command God had given them, and therefore in need of reconciliation. How that was accomplished I cannot say, but I believe that it involves at least two, if not three stages. The first is the need for them to cover their nakedness, the second is a visitation from God himself, perhaps in the form of an incarnation - for God to become one of them and to identify himself with them, and thirdly to atone on their behalf, one way or another, for we don't know how. This is only a speculation, for all this is mysterious to us."

Ziggy then piped in. "But if God became one of them, then who would take care of heaven? His angels?"

Jor-El answered, "The knowledge of our Creator God is a mystery to us, but somehow I don't believe heaven was vacated. There is a connection between all this and God's omnipresence."

The captain then announced, "We shall inform the rest of the crew on this ship, all seventy of them, that we have accomplished our mission, and we shall divert this ship for the course home."

The actual course of  Oumuamua, was deflected by the Sun.

"But were we originally meant to land on this planet of Solaris?" Jor-El asked.

"This was considered," the Captain answered. "But there were two issues which came up on the crystal. The first was the question of whether our compatibility with its atmosphere would have sustained us, or whether our incompatibility would have killed us from asphyxiation. And that would be the very first death among our species. As I studied the crystal image, it was not difficult for me to analyse the atmosphere, and I was able to conclude that we would have survived only for a short while before passing out."

"That sounds serious!" Jor-El gasped.

"Yes it is." Ziglad agreed. "But had we landed, we would have been a shock to the population, and going by the crystal images, they have a quarantine system, which means we would have been in custody for heaven knows how long for."

"So you, Lieutenant, and you too, Jor-El, back to your posts. We are setting our ship home bound."

Having crossed the orbit of Mars, the spaceship Oumuamua began to accelerate rapidly without a sound as it sped towards the outer Solar system towards home.

Clever? That's All Right Then!

Something came up on the Media this week which, I have to admit, had made me feel very apprehensive! It was a case of a female medical student, Lavinia Woodward, of Christchurch College in Oxford, a very middle class cocaine addict, who was spared an immediate jail term by a judge, because having such a conviction recorded on her CV would destroy all her hopes of becoming a cardiac surgeon. The day after reading the article, I posted a message on Facebook saying that as a patient, I would not want her within a mile of the theatre whilst holding a scalpel.

Did she merely receive a parking ticket? No, it was much worse than that. Rather, she was guilty of grievous bodily harm, or GBH. During a disagreement with her boyfriend, a student from Cambridge, she stabbed his leg with a knife, threw a laptop at him, and also a glass, whilst together at a pub. Not that this was the first incident she was involved in. Despite the judge concluding that this was a one-off incident, fellow students at the college accommodation unit has testified of her violent behaviour occurring several times in the past, with one male student becoming frightened of her, and another female student asking the college authorities for a relocation of her residence, which was immediately granted.

Christchurch College, Oxford.

And so her sentencing was postponed, "for further investigation" by the Court, with a high probability that she would be spared jail in order for her to complete her studies and afterwards pursue her career as a cardiac surgeon. Imagine that. A cocaine addict with a scalpel, to whom you entrust your life and hope to come through the procedure with a healthily beating heart and everything else all hunky-dory. All because of her wealthy, middle-class background (her father also attended Oxford) and her brilliant learning abilities, there is a high chance of a reprieve. And that despite the universal opinion, by both Media and public alike, that had she been a shelf-stacker at Tesco's, then she would without doubt be inside already. The same applies if she had been male.  

Among my regular readers who are familiar with my lashing out at our Englishness, I hope this case will drive the nail into the coffin once and for all. It is nothing more than class favouritism, an attitude condemned by the Apostle James in his letter. I find it rather incredulous that despite calling our nation a Christian country, or at least one with a Constitution based on Christian principles, the vast majority holds the Bible as an ancient, obsolete book filled with myths and legends, even if regarded with a degree of respect, but no longer applicable to us on a day-to-day basis, especially in the realm of Science.

The reverence shown to academics and to successful professionals has made me think just where our priorities lie. Is education and career success the be-all-and-end-all of reverence and respect? Let's make a fictional illustration here. A middle class couple raises their son who successfully makes it into university. Then after graduation, and now in the world of work, he starts on the low rung of the ladder as a clerical assistant at a local office, but then rises rapidly into a managerial position, and eventually ends up among the Board of Directors, all within less than a space of twenty years. It can be said that this is Evolution symbolised in a miniature, personal scale. However, not long after leaving university, he marries his sweetheart he had met at college. But within their first decade after their wedding day, their marriage falls apart. Yet despite this, his parents beam with pride with their son's professional achievement, and even boasting about this to their peers, while at the same moment they brush aside the failure of his son's marriage as just one of those things which didn't work out, and therefore considered as barely relevant.

So what is the point of the story? Mainly this: Really, our culture, respected by many British church-goers, has turned God's priority on its head. Where all human accomplishments, including success in the office, will one day be destroyed by God himself. In turn, a healthy marriage has eternal implications, especially among Christian believers. Marriage between man and wife was instituted by God himself at the dawn of history when he married Eve to Adam, and sanctioned it. Unfortunately, now living in a fallen world as a result of Adam's transgression, marriage is something which takes effort to work out, rather like steering a ship through stormy waters, an endeavour, figuratively speaking, taking the efforts of two people. Really, by our experience of being one of a married couple, robustness of marriage is attained by a 100% commitment to each other. That is, for example, for me no longer living for myself, but to live for my wife's best welfare and interests. Because our God is love (1 John 4:8) - I believe in the importance of relationships way above career achievements, and no finer illustration is used in the Bible as comparing the love between husband and wife to that of Jesus Christ and his Church. This is, I believe is the most important lesson which people such as Lavinia Woodward must learn. Unfortunately for her, despite her high intelligence and learning, she is totally lacking in godly wisdom which her future profession will require from her.

Oh yes, the mention of Adam and Eve brings me back to the subject of Divine Creationism, now held to ridicule by all unbelievers, and even diluted to the level of Theistic Evolution by academic Christians. At present, at my daily Bible reading, I'm going through Revelation of St John, the last book in the Bible. At least in three places it is stated specifically that everything we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell are all created specifically by God. The first reference is found in Revelation 3:14 where the Lord addresses the church at Laodicea. The second reference if found in Revelation 10:5-6, when a mighty angel, with one foot on land and the other in the sea, has a private conversation with John, revealing an oath to God who made the heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything on it, and the seas with everything in them. And then, in Revelation 13:6-13, there is the threefold testimony from three angels who literally fly around the skies, apparently fully visible to all mankind. It's the first angel who exhorts the human race to worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the seas, and springs of water. 

I love it when revelations of God's truth often comes in threes. Three Scripture references, the three tiers of Creation - heaven (that is, the Universe), earth (meaning land rather than the whole planet) and the seas. The three angels flying across the sky proclaiming the everlasting Gospel, and then in addition to heaven, it's the earth, seas, and springs of water. The revelation of the number three seems to endorse the source of all life as the one God of three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

As I see it, these Scriptures speaks volumes! Because such events such as 144,000 Jews called to preach the Gospel to the whole world - chapter 7, the slaughter of the two witnesses and their physical resurrection three days later, in the sight of the entire human population - chapter 11, as well as the rise of the two beasts (these are men of great power and therefore not actual animals) - chapter 13. None of these events had ever occurred so far in history. And so accepting that these future events will occur during the last days of human history just prior to the Second Advent indicates a thorough rejection of the record of Divine Creation worldwide. So much so, that it takes an angel from heaven to declare the truth of it, giving all mankind an opportunity to repent (Greek, metaneo - to change their minds about Creation and the truth of Jesus being the risen Christ and Creator). Such is the grace of God - something Lavinia Woodward needs to learn about, along with every scientist and advocate of Evolution.

Whether because I am a believer of the risen Christ, or whether it's instilled in the mind of every human being, I cannot but help recognise the awesome power of God whenever I see scenes of natural beauty. Deciding on the three favourite beauty spots I have visited both within the United Kingdom and worldwide wasn't easy, as there are plenty of candidates. Within the United Kingdom, I would place - in no significant order: In England, the Dorset Heritage Coast, the Lake District National Park, and Duncansby Stacks on the northern tip of Scotland. Worldwide, again in no significant order, I would place the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and the Great Barrier Reef as top places visited. Other potential candidates would include Mt. Etna in Sicily, where I stood on the rim of its active crater, Blue Mountains National Park near Sydney, and the Red Sea coral reefs at Eilat, Israel. In the UK, other sites of natural beauty which I visited would include Loch Ness in Scotland, and the Rhossili coastline in Wales.

Duncansby Stacks, Scotland.

The Evolutionist loves the Grand Canyon! To him, the cutting through of the Colorado Plateau by the river of the same name has exposed a near perfect evidence of the Geological Column consisting of sedimentary rocks laid one upon another in sequence by water. Never mind that a billion years of sedimentary strata is missing at the Unconformity Zone, where a more recent stratum is resting comfortably on metamorphic and granite bedrock, without showing any evidence of erosion that was meant to have taken place before the rest of the upper strata were laid down - yet the uniformitarian geologist will still use this fascinating natural beauty as proof that the truth of Divine Creation is safely debunked. Rather, whilst I was there in 1995, standing on Tonto Plateau halfway down inside the Canyon, I could not help notice the raised beaches with which the plateau consists, separating the rim of the Inner Gorge from the base of the cliffs defining the Outer Gorge. If these are raised beaches, then how much more powerful must the River have been in ancient times, compared to the under-fit river system we see at present?

Rhossili Beach and Worms Head, Wales.

Tonto Plateau inside Grand Canyon. Raised beaches?

These areas of natural beauty tells of the awesome power of God, as Paul testifies in his letter to the Romans (1:18-20). The Apostle could not be more accurate when he wrote that although creation testify the truth of God, men prefer to push away the truth. This is a crying shame. Because the truth of God is replaced by a knowledge which constitutes to be a lie. Gain a degree, or better still, a doctorate on this kind of knowledge, and he will be highly esteemed by the world. And even if he, or in this case, she, commits a formidable crime to the victim's hurt, the defendant's academic greatness will reprieve any punishment justly due, which would have been bestowed on everyone else with less wealth, brains and learning skills.

New Church Venue!

This morning we saw a significant change in the life of our church. Mainly two innovations: First we moved our Sunday morning services from our original building tucked away at a housing estate, to the world famous Ascot Racecourse and secondly, with the move, we changed our name from Ascot Baptist church to Ascot Life Church, a name based on John 10:10:

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they have it more abundantly.

The move was the final outcome from a question put to one of our Elders some time ago by a visiting preacher: "Have you considered becoming involved with the Ascot Racecourse?"

Ascot Racecourse- We don't take up the whole Grandstand - yet!

The move to the Paddock Restaurant was the result of our church growing in numbers until the Sunday morning congregation became too large for our original building. This is the grace of God working in our area, bringing new people in - not only from our local area but also from nearby Holloway College, of the University of London. Furthermore, we attract people from abroad, and for some reason, South Africa seems to be a reliable source for the Ascot congregation. And oh yes, I must add this: Unlike at major horse racing tournaments such as Ascot Week where suit and tie is compulsory for all male visitors and punters, casual dress is still permitted for us at our new venue. Phew!

Our move to the Racecourse is certainly good news for church life. Here in the UK where atheism is taking hold, together with a decline of national morality which was once founded on Judeo/Christian heritage, it is simply great to see people turning to Jesus Christ for salvation, the forgiveness of sins and a relationship with God which is a lot better than merely practising religion. In my heart I wish to see many, many more people turning to Jesus Christ by faith. This, and this alone, can change both society and the Economy in a way that no Government can achieve.

But on the national scale I wonder if we are winning the battle. We see and hear about dwindling congregations within the Church of England while its elders bicker over homosexual leaders and of the ordination of women bishops. At present, the C.of E. is campaigning against massive bonuses awarded to senior executives and bankers, protesting over such greed by quoting parts of Scripture, where Jesus said that one cannot serve both God and mammon, which we interpret as money today. This along with Paul's famous quote, that the love of money is the root of all evil. These are good maxims, but alone they fail to regenerate the heart, rather such maxims used in such context are liable to raise hostility against our present Tory Party in Government, thought by many as "the Party for the rich."

It is also worth noting that our change of venue is just under a week after the double bombing close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon, in the American state of Massachusetts. Such an occasion brought up in my mind the issue of suffering. Sad to say, my own brother remains an atheist by this fact alone. His analysis on the existence of God reflects an experience I had way back in 1978.

I was sitting alone in a works canteen at what was then British Aerospace Precision Engineering at Weybridge, Surrey. There was a time when this fully staffed restaurant serving hot, cooked dinners was reserved only for office staff, or if you like, men in suits. The manual workers, regardless of their skills, were confined to the adjoining canteen with only vending machines serving drinks and snacks, and one was encouraged to bring their own packed lunch. Then the Union debated with senior management over the rights of use of the restaurant for manual workers, and the Union won the debate, allowing blue-collar workers to share the restaurant with the white-collar staff.

However, it was natural for white-collar to sit with white-collar and blue-collar with blue-collar at separate tables, but on this occasion I sat alone at this particular table. A short while afterwards a group of office workers found where I was sitting, and took their remaining places. This goes to show that popularity could override class prejudice, especially where faith in Christ had something to do with it.

During dinner, one of them sitting with me then asked:

If God really exists, then why does he allow such suffering in the world?

To which I replied by asking him a question:

Do you believe that God himself had ever suffered?

The guy in the suit was stunned. The reason he was not able to answer was that he knew that I was referring to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the cross. He visualised those nails piercing through his hands and his feet as he remained fastened to two beams of wood. He hung there to atone for our sins. Now as believers we are reconciled to the Father and we can even call him Abba, Father - which in today's terms means "Daddy!" Because of the atonement made on the cross, forgiveness of sin is available to all who believe, and judicial acquittal, a verdict of "not guilty" is declared by God the Judge to all who has faith. This is tremendous news and such news is the power that lies at the base of why we moved to a larger venue - to accommodate more people who have also found Christ through faith and share our worship experience together.

But we also need to face reality. At this very moment I'm typing this blog, the BBC had just announced the start of a documentary about Evolution on the next channel. Indeed, while the news of us moving to larger accommodation is good tidings, the vast majority of our nation sit back to absorb that which is the most subtle, therefore the most dangerous enemy of the Gospel. The snag with Evolution is that it is accepted by many Christians - believers who attend church at a regular basis, mostly graduates, who are often selected for leadership for various church departments, particularly among children of adult members.

The Gospel encourages the love of Jesus Christ for everyone across the board - nationality, race and social class. I think Evolution result in the opposite. National, race and class superiority brings hatred and division. I was able to see that in Weybridge back in the 1970s. I personally believe that the Christian defence against evil is greatly weakened by Darwinism, and as a Creationist myself, I tend to feel embarrassed if I testify to an unbeliever of a young Earth which was Divinely Created. The reason for this embarrassment is that Divine Creationism is looked upon as silly and addle-minded by the academic and the better educated. Yet I feel that if Divine Creation, the Fall of Man and the Noachian Deluge were all fairy tales and untrue to fact, then the crucifixion, death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ must also be untrue, and the Atonement non-effective, as all of these are inextricably linked.

With the walls of Christian apologetics crumbling, atheists gloat over religion as a whole as Muslim terrorists disrupts the Boston Marathon. But even this is minute compared to the 9/11 atrocity at New York and Washington DC alike, taking the lives of thousands.

So as it looks to me, with no real belief in the Bible, we have no defence against the rage of the Muslims, while professors such as Richard Dawkins wins the respect of the nation, as with anyone who has a higher level of education are looked up upon with a greater respect than those who don't have a higher education. I for one, believe in Divine Creation, a young Earth, the Fall of man, the Flood, Israel, the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ, his death, resurrection and ascension into Heaven, and judicial acquittal for all who believe and trusts in him.

I believe that our move as a congregation to larger accommodation is a testimony of the power of God in us as a church. I would like to see it grow, not just in numbers but also in spiritual maturity in each believer. Although I have joked above about taking over the whole of the Ascot Racecourse grandstand, who knows, some years away we may need to move into one of the larger rooms within the grandstand itself. After all, nothing is impossible with God. But we take one step at a time. Now we meet at the Paddock Restaurant, separate from the grandstand. I am hoping that we will be meeting there for a good few years to come.

But outside, people die without knowing God all the time, thanks largely to Darwinism shaping our society. It is tragic! Maybe we all need to cry out to God to pour out his mercy around our location, to our nation, and to the world.

God bless.

Evolution, Panspermia and Creationism.

Before I discuss further in this series, I first feel obliged to thank one of our commentators, Bryce, for his input. Having received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, he is a qualified scientist, who, I realise, would know much more about the working of the cell than I would, as discussed in the last blog. Therefore, where credit is due, he is to be commended for spending time discussing these issues with a commoner such as myself, here on this website.

I was not accusing Bryce of being a subscriber of the ancient astronaut theory, especially of the sort expounded by Erich von Daniken. Instead I was discussing that the idea of all life having an extraterrestial origin, such as the case of the Murchison Meteorite having amino acid molecules, as being taken seriously by some evolutionists. That does not mean that Bryce must also believe that that was how life must have originated. But the idea of Panspermia, as this branch of science is called, does hold a lifeline for the theory of Evolution, and then at its very beginning. As Bryce himself admitted, he and his colleagues are still in the dark on the very beginnings of the theory, namely, the evolution of the cell itself.

Bryce was also surprised that I did not bring up the "Tornado creating a Boeing 747 while passing through a metal scrapyard" argument. Personally, I think such a way of reasoning used for discrediting Evolution to be rather childish, therefore unworthy of any discussion here. Yet it was Fred Hoyle himself who had invented the "Boeing 747" theory. And even though Hoyle denied that the cell could have ever evolved by chance due to mathematical impossibility, yet he remained an atheist who embraced Darwinian Evolution once it got underway.

Let us re-cap on what Fred Hoyle believed. He was a Darwinian, but rejected any possibility of the single amoeba-type cell evolving on its own by chance. He then calculated that the chance of just the enzymes evolving by chance is one out of one, followed by 40,000 zeros! First, let us give a practical demonstration of what this means:

There are 60 seconds in a minute, in one hour - 3,600 seconds. In 24 hours - 86,400. In one year, i.e. 365.25 days - approximately 31,557,600 seconds. Bryce talks about the beginning of evolution taking place some 2,000,000,000, or two billion years ago. By multiplying two billion with 31,557,600 - which is the approximate number of seconds in a year - we get 63,115,200,000,000,000. Now this is way, way short of the 40,000 digit number calculated by Hoyle. We can go further with the microsecond, the nanosecond and even the picosecond, but this won't be necessary, as such results would still fall short of the 40,000-digit figure.
(Here the American billion is used.)

Therefore it would not have been possible for the vastly complex structure of a whole cell to have evolved by itself. There isn't simply enough time throughout the entire age of the Universe for the cell to have evolved without outside influences. That is why the idea of amino acid molecules in the Murchison Meteorite, and even a fossil imprint of a fully evolved bacteria, such as found in the ALH84001 Meteorite discovered in Antarctica, 1984, has been a kind of "saviour" to the theory of Evolution. Scientists such as Dr. Richard Hoover embraces the idea that what was discovered was a fossilised imprint of an alien bacteria.

An image of how an alien bacteria found on the ALH84001 Meteorite may have looked.

The possibility of such organisms traveling through space, then reproducing and starting the process of evolution when the environment is right - in our case the Earth's primeval oceans - is known as Panspermia. After examining the facts connected with this theory, I get the impression that it is not unlike a spore, too small to be seen with the naked eye, settling on a piece of sliced bread left in a warm, moist environment. After a short time, from this spore, a large area of green mould has spread across the slice. In the evolutionary sense, it is grasping on straws in a desperate attempt to save the theory from its impending doom. If the theory cannot be saved, then the possibility of Intelligent Design would be the only alternative, unless the theory of Panspermia can be proven as fact. Although Fred Hoyle was a strong believer and supporter of such a theory of living cells traveling through space, many other scientists, including those in the field of Paleobiology, rejected such a theory as pseudoscience, and put it aside as a lunatic fringe together with von Daniken's Ancient Astronaut theories.

If Intelligent Design is not acknowledged, and at the same time, the theory of Panspermia is also rejected, this leaves one in a bit of a dire situation when it comes to solving the issues of Evolution, particularly the functions within the cell, as given in my last blog. To quote a couple of examples from Michael J. Behe:

A single flaw in the cell's labyrinthine protein-transport pathway is fatal. Unless the entire system is entirely in place, our ancestors would have [died]...Attempts at a gradual evolution of the protein transport system are a recipe for extinction...
At some point this complex machine had to come into existence, and it would not have done so in step-by-step fashion...as Darwinian evolution would have it.
Source: Michael J. Behe, Black Box, P. 114-115.

The cumulative [evidence] shows with piercing clarity that life is based on machines - machines made of molecules...[which are] enormously complex...The complexity of life's foundation has paralyzed science's attempt to account for it....Faced with such complexity with even simple phenomena, Darwin's theory falls silent.
Source: Michael J. Behe, Black Box, p. 4-5, 97.

Bryce, in his last comment, then challenged me to bring proof of Creation by Intelligent Design. I was surprised to read such a statement at this stage, as surely, by giving a description of the genome system within a cell's nucleus, and the mRNA, the Ribosome and the extreme complexity of the resulting polypeptide, one of in a protein chain, I would have thought that this was good evidence of intelligent design. In fact, the very idea of needing a "saviour" in the form of Panspermia, or cosmic cells splashing into our primeval oceans while riding on meteorites billions of years ago - even this testifies that for the cell to exist in the first place, it must have came fully evolved, or else no life would exist in the present day!

Such a concept gives rise to another, I would think, a very serious problem, that of Infinite Regress. That is, to ask: If Darwinian Evolution took place due to the arrival of traveling cosmic cells into our oceans, then how did they evolve? What were the cells which sparked life into them, and so on ad infinitum? Hoyle, who saw this as a problem, attempted to solve it by suggesting various chemicals, such as hydrogen, helium and other materials in the newborn stars of the young Universe giving rise to amino acids, the building blocks for protein. In other words, the basis of all life began with the formation of the stars themselves. This is a fascinating interpretation on the origins of a fully functional, highly complex living organism. It has really goes to show how far in one's determination one can go to push away the screaming obvious - intelligent design! As Paul the Apostle wrote, that their minds have become darkened until futile - see Romans 1:18-23, especially verse 20.

But Fred Hoyle was an atheist and a supporter of Darwinism, and to utterly reject any concept of Divine Creation, he gave full support to the theory of Panspermia. To note, Hoyle was an astrophysicist and brilliant mathematician who was also a professor at Cambridge University. So he was no fool, and unlike von Daniken, he did not attempt to use a degree of dishonesty to propound his theories, as mentioned in my last blog.

But to turn to the Bible for proof of Intelligent design, this would require faith. This is because of what we are really doing is turning to a written record of past events and allowing ourselves to be told how these events transpired without visual proof on how these events took place.

The narrative of the six-day Creation of Genesis chapter one provides a good example. Here we are told on a Hebrew day-by-day process of Creation by intelligent design. The "evening and morning" of day one, two, three and so on up to day six depicts the new day beginning at sunset, as in the Hebrew clock to this day. Then on the seventh day, so the narrative goes, that God rested from the work of Creation, and hallowed the 7th day, which became the reason for the 4th Commandment given in Exodus 20:8-11, that the 7th day of the week must be kept holy by the children of Israel, to whom it was delivered.

Bryce was right when he commented that the weekend was likely to be around before any of the Bible was written. It was divinely introduced at the very birth of history. But on the scientific side, the 7th day of rest testifies that the forces that were at work during the Creation Week are not in operation now. As another commentator has pointed out, the material world at present is subject to decay, starting from a high order of things and slowly declining towards disorder, a fact known as the Second Law of Thermodynamics. In other words, nothing lasts for ever. One good example is this very computer I'm using to write this blog. There will be a day that I'll be needing to replace it. As for myself, soon to enter the 7th decade of life, (my sixties) I would not be surprised at the slow decline of body defence mechanisms which are vital for sustaining good health.

But the idea of a Limited Evolution is not denied by us Creationists. The number of animals in the Ark of Noah does shed some light on this issue. Take a look at the Canine family. Here some species are listed along with their chromosome numbers. (As a yardstick, humans have 46 Chromosomes in the nucleus of each cell.)

African Wild Dog....78 Chromosomes
Dingo...............78
Domestic............78
Coyote..............78
Golden Jackal.......78
Hyena...............40
Wolf................78

With the exception of the Hyena, every species of the Canine has 78 chromosomes. Closely related to the Dog is the Fox, of the related Vulpos family. However, there is a greater variation of chromosome count as listed here:

Ferret Fox...........64
Grey Fox.............66
Red Fox..............34
Tibetian Sand Fox....36
Bengel Fox...........36

Although there is a variation of Chromosome count here, there is a belief among Creationists that all of these species could have evolved from just one pair - a male and female. On the other hand, the Vulpos family of the Fox could have had its own ancestor. Whatever may be, it is not impossible that evolution within its own kind has taken place and is taking place at present. It is also noteworthy that the domestic cat, the lion and the tiger all have 38 Chromosomes, which lends to a rather fascinating idea that the Feline family began as a single pair, but here the separate species within this family could not be more diverse. On the other hand, in the Primate family the Gorilla, the Chimpanzee and the Orangutan all have 48 Chromosomes, just two more than us.

Further listing say, of the Equine family would include the Horse, Quagga, Zebra, Zebroid (a cross between a Horse and Zebra), Onager, Kiang, Ass and the Kianger (a cross between a Kiang and Onager).

Bryce believes that the the Ark of Noah is so nonsense that he rates ancient astronauts and cosmic cells as being more plausible than the Biblical account. Yet I have listed up to 26 species from as little as four different families or kinds. The idea that 26 species (and not all were named, particularly in the Primate and Feline groups) came from just four pairs not only makes Noah and the Flood more plausible than Panspermia, but it also looks at the high chance that the Bible is friendly toward a limited form of Evolution within the confines of each separate kind.

This is the kind of limited Evolution Bryce and his colleagues use as evidence to support the impossible theory of Darwinism.