Origins-Evidence for a Young Earth! Russell Humphreys
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Become a Little Child - Link to audio
Here's an interesting sermon by Rev. Timothy J. Keller
Turtles Fossilized While Mating!
Living Fossils—Evolution: The Grand Experiment Vol-2
by Dr Carl Werner
Evolution: The Grand Experiment (Episode 2 Living Fossils) DVD
presented by Dr Carl Werner
by David Catchpoole
Published: 21 June 2012 (GMT+10)
‘Excitement’ doesn’t even begin to describe it. The news media heralded the ‘mating turtles’ fossils even before theBiology Letters research paper1 was officially available online. The famous fossil-filled shale deposits at the Messel Pit in Germany have yielded multiple fossil treasures with great fanfare before. But this announcement of the world’s first-ever discovery of copulating vertebrates fossilized “in flagrante delicto” (as bothNature journal2 and Science magazine3put it) was a news editor’s dream.4 Even the dour (?) BBC didn’t hold back, headlining: “Turtles fossilised in sex embrace”.5
Note that it wasn’t just one aquatic turtle pair that had been found, but nine of them.6
From an evolutionary perspective, one can understand the scientists’ and media’s animation. That’s because, from their paradigm, it’s remarkable that any such fossils would be found—let alone nine. As lead researcher Walter Joyce, a fossil turtle expert at the University of Tübingen in Germany, mused, “there really is no reason to enter the fossil record while you are mating.”6
He’s right—but that’s if the traditional evolutionary millions-of-years uniformitarian paradigm is correct. As Joyce told LiveScience, “the chances of both partners dying while mating are extremely low, and the chances of both partners being preserved as fossils afterward even lower.”4 (To Discovery News Joyce said that “the chances of both partners dying at the same time is highly unlikely and the chances of both partners being preserved afterwards even less likely.”6 (Emphasis added.)
On the other hand, as we’ve pointed out on this website and in our other published works for many years, the evidence makes much better sense in light of the Bible’s account of history. These nine pairs of fossilized turtles are much better understood as a legacy of rapid burial in the global Flood of Noah’s day.
First, note their having been described as very well preserved: “incredible fossil specimens”,6 “truly exceptional fossils”,4 just like all the other “thousands of exquisitely preserved fossil creatures pulled from Messel Pit”5—fossils renowned for being “extraordinarily well preserved … [e.g.] insects and feathers that still have hints of their original colors.”3
‘There really is no reason to enter the fossil record while you are mating.’—Paleontologist Walter Joyce, University of Tübingen, Germany, 20 June 2012.
Second, note that these turtles, indentified as Allaeochelys crassesculpta, in the words of lead researcher Walter Joyce “would have looked very similar to their closest living relative, the pig-nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta) from New Guinea and Australia, just much smaller.”4 That is precisely what we wrote earlier in this Creation magazine article about turtles. In other words, despite supposedly 47 million years having elapsed since the fossilization of these turtle pairs,7 they’re just the same as turtles today—no evolution. In fact, the actual time elapsed since these turtles were rapidly buried under water-borne sediment is only about 4,500 years—i.e. dating from the time of the Genesis Flood.
Third, despite paleontologists’ protestations that “it is rare for any animal to die and be fossilized while engaged in a behavior”,6 their own documentation is replete with such examples. E.g., “fish that choked on large prey items and were later found fossilized in that moment. Certain dinosaurs died fighting or while brooding over their nests.”6
No wonder that paleontologists have increasingly moved away from true uniformitarianism (‘the present is the key to the past’), and begun invoking more catastrophic scenarios. (Under no circumstances, however, must it be allowed to resemble the worldwide Genesis Flood.)
In the case of these turtles, the scenario favoured by Joyce and his colleagues is that the turtles were preserved in a volcanic lake. “The mating turtles tell us that the surface waters of Messel Lake were hospitable enough to allow turtles to live and mate, but that animals would die accidentally when they sank during mating into relatively shallow, poisonous subsurface layers,” said Joyce.2 “Many animals enter a trance-like state when mating or laying eggs, and it is possible that these turtles simply did not notice that they were entering poisonous waters before it was too late.”2
That’s beautifully creative storytelling, but there’s a fatal flaw in the story, as Nature reported:
“Edwin Cadena, a doctoral student in palaeontology at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, agrees that the study shows ‘strong evidence to consider this the first case of coupling captured in the fossil record of vertebrates’. More controversial, he says, is the interpretation of what the Messel lake was like. The notion of a stratified lake works as an explanation for the turtles’ fate, Cadena says, ‘but not so well for other fossils found at Messel, for example bats or birds or even other small mammals’. If the upper layers of the lake were inhabitable, Cadena asks, then what caused the death of airborne and terrestrial animals? The turtles are just part of an ongoing fossil mystery.”2
Actually, it doesn’t even work that well for the turtles, i.e. if the same mysterious set of events befell all nine of these allegedly entranced turtle couples, but that all of them were later mysteriously protected from decay and predation.
The ‘ongoing fossil mystery’ is, however, much easier to explain when one views Genesis as straightforward history. The evidence for the year-long planetary cataclysm it describes is all around us and under our feet. The best explanation for not only these turtles, but the many other beautifully preserved creatures in the Messel Shale Pit, is rapid burial in one of the many catastrophic sedimentary events occurring during that Genesis Flood. What a pity that so many either don’t know, or won’t know.
by Dr Carl Werner
Evolution: The Grand Experiment (Episode 2 Living Fossils) DVD
presented by Dr Carl Werner
Turtles fossilized while mating!
by David Catchpoole
Published: 21 June 2012 (GMT+10)
‘Excitement’ doesn’t even begin to describe it. The news media heralded the ‘mating turtles’ fossils even before theBiology Letters research paper1 was officially available online. The famous fossil-filled shale deposits at the Messel Pit in Germany have yielded multiple fossil treasures with great fanfare before. But this announcement of the world’s first-ever discovery of copulating vertebrates fossilized “in flagrante delicto” (as bothNature journal2 and Science magazine3put it) was a news editor’s dream.4 Even the dour (?) BBC didn’t hold back, headlining: “Turtles fossilised in sex embrace”.5
Note that it wasn’t just one aquatic turtle pair that had been found, but nine of them.6
From an evolutionary perspective, one can understand the scientists’ and media’s animation. That’s because, from their paradigm, it’s remarkable that any such fossils would be found—let alone nine. As lead researcher Walter Joyce, a fossil turtle expert at the University of Tübingen in Germany, mused, “there really is no reason to enter the fossil record while you are mating.”6
He’s right—but that’s if the traditional evolutionary millions-of-years uniformitarian paradigm is correct. As Joyce told LiveScience, “the chances of both partners dying while mating are extremely low, and the chances of both partners being preserved as fossils afterward even lower.”4 (To Discovery News Joyce said that “the chances of both partners dying at the same time is highly unlikely and the chances of both partners being preserved afterwards even less likely.”6 (Emphasis added.)
On the other hand, as we’ve pointed out on this website and in our other published works for many years, the evidence makes much better sense in light of the Bible’s account of history. These nine pairs of fossilized turtles are much better understood as a legacy of rapid burial in the global Flood of Noah’s day.
First, note their having been described as very well preserved: “incredible fossil specimens”,6 “truly exceptional fossils”,4 just like all the other “thousands of exquisitely preserved fossil creatures pulled from Messel Pit”5—fossils renowned for being “extraordinarily well preserved … [e.g.] insects and feathers that still have hints of their original colors.”3
‘There really is no reason to enter the fossil record while you are mating.’—Paleontologist Walter Joyce, University of Tübingen, Germany, 20 June 2012.
Second, note that these turtles, indentified as Allaeochelys crassesculpta, in the words of lead researcher Walter Joyce “would have looked very similar to their closest living relative, the pig-nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta) from New Guinea and Australia, just much smaller.”4 That is precisely what we wrote earlier in this Creation magazine article about turtles. In other words, despite supposedly 47 million years having elapsed since the fossilization of these turtle pairs,7 they’re just the same as turtles today—no evolution. In fact, the actual time elapsed since these turtles were rapidly buried under water-borne sediment is only about 4,500 years—i.e. dating from the time of the Genesis Flood.
Third, despite paleontologists’ protestations that “it is rare for any animal to die and be fossilized while engaged in a behavior”,6 their own documentation is replete with such examples. E.g., “fish that choked on large prey items and were later found fossilized in that moment. Certain dinosaurs died fighting or while brooding over their nests.”6
No wonder that paleontologists have increasingly moved away from true uniformitarianism (‘the present is the key to the past’), and begun invoking more catastrophic scenarios. (Under no circumstances, however, must it be allowed to resemble the worldwide Genesis Flood.)
In the case of these turtles, the scenario favoured by Joyce and his colleagues is that the turtles were preserved in a volcanic lake. “The mating turtles tell us that the surface waters of Messel Lake were hospitable enough to allow turtles to live and mate, but that animals would die accidentally when they sank during mating into relatively shallow, poisonous subsurface layers,” said Joyce.2 “Many animals enter a trance-like state when mating or laying eggs, and it is possible that these turtles simply did not notice that they were entering poisonous waters before it was too late.”2
That’s beautifully creative storytelling, but there’s a fatal flaw in the story, as Nature reported:
“Edwin Cadena, a doctoral student in palaeontology at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, agrees that the study shows ‘strong evidence to consider this the first case of coupling captured in the fossil record of vertebrates’. More controversial, he says, is the interpretation of what the Messel lake was like. The notion of a stratified lake works as an explanation for the turtles’ fate, Cadena says, ‘but not so well for other fossils found at Messel, for example bats or birds or even other small mammals’. If the upper layers of the lake were inhabitable, Cadena asks, then what caused the death of airborne and terrestrial animals? The turtles are just part of an ongoing fossil mystery.”2
Actually, it doesn’t even work that well for the turtles, i.e. if the same mysterious set of events befell all nine of these allegedly entranced turtle couples, but that all of them were later mysteriously protected from decay and predation.
The ‘ongoing fossil mystery’ is, however, much easier to explain when one views Genesis as straightforward history. The evidence for the year-long planetary cataclysm it describes is all around us and under our feet. The best explanation for not only these turtles, but the many other beautifully preserved creatures in the Messel Shale Pit, is rapid burial in one of the many catastrophic sedimentary events occurring during that Genesis Flood. What a pity that so many either don’t know, or won’t know.
Disabled Children- A Blessing or a Curse!
Disabled Children—Not a Statistic!
Posted: 28 Jun 2012
My friend Stacia wrote a blog the other day titled “Not Just A Statistic” that I wanted to share with my blog readers. She has a tremendous ability of sharing her thoughts in writing and really making me think! I’ve shared her blogs before (see here and here), and she has written an article on our website that is a must-read. Stacia also gave a presentation at our Answers for Women conference in April concerning the sovereignty of God and her son Kieran who has a genetic disorder called
Williams Syndrome.
The God of the Bible is a God of order. He created the universe in an orderly fashion and endowed it with laws to follow (laws of life, laws of chemistry, laws of physics, laws of mathematics . . .) so that it all works together for His glory and our good. As His image-bearers, we reflect Him in our attempts to order and classify things. In the math problems we solve. In the probabilities and statistics that we put together.
One of the questions people often ask after hearing about Kieran’s diagnosis of Williams syndrome is, “What are the chances that your next baby will be born with WS?”
The standard answer is, “Because WS occurs from a spontaneous mutation on one of the gametes (i.e., neither Seth nor I are “carriers” of the disorder), we have the same chance of having another baby with WS as we did with Kieran—about 1 in 10,000.”
We like to toss numbers like this around—one in ten thousand babies are born with Williams syndrome, one in one hundred babies born to older women will be born with Down Syndrome. Or, to put it another way, Kieran is one of about 30,000 people in America living with WS today.
And yet, it can become easy to forget about the One who created so that 2+2 always equals 4 when we’re in the middle of figuring out the answer to questions like these.
I was reminded of this when I read this testimony of a pastor who found out his son would be born with spina bifida. (If you haven’t already, take the time to read his testimony or watch the video—you will be blessed. And you will need a tissue.) In his letter to his unborn son, Pastor Josh says, “You are not a statistic.”
The reality is that each child is created by God just the way He wants him or her to be. As the Lord reminded Moses, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” (Exodus 4:11)
And when Jesus answered His disciples’ question about the reason a man was born blind, He didn’tsay, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; instead, he’s just that one in a thousand [or whatever the "statistics" are] who are born blind.” Instead, Jesus said the reason was “so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9)
You are not a statistic. Kieran is not a statistic. Cael is not a statistic of “healthy” children. Seth’s sister Mimi, who was born with Down syndrome, is not the one in one hundred statistic. They are each the result of the handiwork of God, who created them to bring glory to Himself and for our good. To display His good works.
It seems to me that there’s a danger in relegating children with disabilities to being the result of a “statistic” in that we then go on to classify their lives according to statistics—there’s a high probability that he will have significant learning disabilities, that life will be difficult for her, that he will live in pain for his whole life. And we no longer see each baby born as an individual created by God with the potential to be full of His giftings.
And, I would think, the even greater danger with the “statistic mentality” is that it then becomes easier to take the lives of these “statistics” while they are still in the safest place possible for them—their mother’s womb. And we end up with even sadder statistics like this one: more than 90% of children with Down syndrome are killed before they are born. Because their parent didn’t want a statistic.
So how should I answer when people ask the question above? Maybe something more along the lines of this . . . “Kieran is not a statistic. He is a blessing to us from God who created him just the way He wanted him to be. If God chose to give us another child with Williams syndrome, we would receive him or her with thanksgiving, just as we would a healthy child.”
Thank you, Stacia, for giving us a window into your life and how God is using Kieran for His glory in helping us understand more about the character of God and how we relate to others. Stacia wrote a book for children entitled, Why is Keiko Sick? dealing with the issue of understanding death and suffering in the world as it relates to the authority and truthfulness of God’s Word. I highly recommend it!
Keep fighting the good fight of the faith!
A Tale of Two Museums- Ken Ham
Around the World with Ken Ham
A Tale of Two Museums
Posted: 28 Jun 2012 09:22 AM PDT
This is exciting. Each year, and traveling over 1,500 miles round trip, Grace Church in Eden Prairie (near Minneapolis), Minnesota, brings its freshman class to our Creation Museum where they learn to defend the Genesis account and also to think correctly about science (e.g., the difference between observational science and historical science). Then the teachers and pastors take them to the Field Museum in Chicago on the way home. This is the report they sent me about their visit to these two very different museums. This report will encourage you, and I also pray it will stimulate other churches and Christian schools to consider doing something similar. The leaders of this group have also developed a study guide to be used by the students to help them as they go through the secular, evolution-filled Chicago Field Museum. Here is the report:
We are writing to tell you of our Freshman Foundations trip to both the Creation Museum and the Chicago Field Museum on June 11 – 15. It was an impactful trip for our students and one that has shaped their worldview and strengthened their faith. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us twice while we visited the Creation Museum. It was helpful to get your insights and it meant a lot to us and the students – especially after hearing you speak at our church in April! …
Speaking to our group at the Creation Museum.
We desired to create a basis by which these students could understand and articulate the need for a Biblical worldview. It is for this reason that we started our trip by spending a day at the Creation Museum. Our students left with a very important understanding that if you neglect to use God’s authoritative Word as the source of truth, then you are left with human reasoning and that will cause you tomiss the mark completely. This lesson proved to be invaluable for what we would experience later on the trip. Our students were equipped, challenged and encouraged by our time at the Creation Museum.
Going to the Field Museum two days after the Creation Museum was quite a contrast. This year, we decided to try a guided tour through the “Evolving Planet” with groups of 10 – 15 students which proved to be helpful. This tour was led by one of our teachers, Shyla Allard, and the students filled out their booklet (you have a copy) with questions about the exhibit as they went. They were also asked to record in their booklets instances of observational science and historical science found thrughout the exhibit. The booklet and guided tour helped to contrast the conflicting worldviews, provided scientific information that supports the Biblical worldview and encouraged students to think critically about what they observe. The goal was to help them to stand firm in what they know to be truth from God’s Word.
Students used our booklet to contrast the exhibit with their Biblical worldview.
There were several “ah ha” moments for the students as they studied the claims in the “Evolving Planet.” Here are some of the highlights.
The exhibit begins by laying the foundation of billions and millions of years. One of the first placards also claims that life (organic compounds) may have come from extraterrestrial sources. Many students noted believing in that idea takes a lot more faith than believing the Bible.
One of the favorite stops in the “Evolving Planet” was the video and display on radio isotope dating of rocks. The students learned about the evolutionary assumptions made (using historical science) when scientists date rocks. Students were also struck by the extremely large ranges of dates given for the rocks on display with some of the ranges being billions of years. Someone noted they would never be allowed to be that imprecise on one of their math tests.
You don't see many of these t-shirts in the "Evolving Planet" exhibit.
There were many points in the exhibit where our students could see the effects of a worldwide global flood. This was especially true in the many fossil displays and in a video on “how to make a fossil.” Students were especially amused by a sign that read, “Scientists aren’t sure what trigged a mass extinction that killed almost all animal life on earth,” knowing that we have a record of what happened and why in the Bible.”
Here we are at the "How to Make a Fossil" station. Two words come to mind – Global Flood.
The largest area of the Evolving Planet exhibit is the dinosaur fossil display. We read out loud the Job 40 description of the behemoth at the Sauropod display and noted that even the Field Museum exhibit admitted these dinosaurs seemed uniquely engineered for size (contrary to random chance).
Reading Job 40:15-24
The most striking contrast between the Creation Museum and the Field Museum was the Lucy exhibit. In the Field Museum’s human evolution display, students were able to get a poignant example of how worldview and historical evidence can shape the evidence.
The students were most struck by how, in the Field Museum, Lucy was made to stand upright and her face, hands and feet were made to look very human. They could easily see the creative license taken since the hands and feet were not found among the bones and so little of the scull exists as well. They appreciated seeing the Creation Museum Lucy exhibit first to help them understand how to look critically at the evidence and interpret it from a Biblical standpoint.
Looking critically at the Field Museum Lucy.
Despite a very long and exhausting day at the Field Museum, the most rewarding part of the day for the leaders was the evening debrief. After dinner, the group took time to review what they learned and share the answers they recorded in their booklets. What they shared clearly indicated the depth of their understanding and how the Spirit of God was at work among them. Although we expected a short debrief so they could quickly adjourn to their pool and social time in the hotel, the hands kept going up to share their thoughts on what they’d learned. Some students even stayed after the debrief to continue to ask questions.
Students at the debrief session
There was no doubt these freshman students were impacted by this trip and they are better equipped to defend the authority of God’s Word. For this, we praise the Lord and give Him all the glory! Pastor Jason Barthelemy Senior High Pastor Grace Church, Eden Prairie (http://www.atgrace.com/)
The Freshman Foundations Class 2012 from Grace Church at the Creation Museum
What a blessing to receive this report. This is just another example of how the Creation Museum and AiG ministry are impacting this generation of young people to be able to contend for the faith.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying.
Ken Ham
