THOROUGHLY MODERN LAMPREY
Genesis 1:20a
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life.
Lampreys are very odd creatures. They are fish, and hence are vertebrates. However, they have no jaw, so many species of lamprey are parasitic, burrowing into the flesh of other fish, with their toothed, tunnel-like mouths, in order to suck their blood. A recent article on the Science Daily website said this about them:
While many would be repulsed by these creatures, lamprey are exciting to biologists because they are so primitive, retaining many characteristics similar to their ancient ancestors and thus offering answers to some of life's biggest evolutionary questions.
What evolutionary questions do they think that lampreys answer? Apparently the neurons in their gut are significantly different from those in “modern” vertebrates, so these materials, as well as the jaw, must have evolved from the types found in the lamprey. The work reported in the Science Daily article appears to have that frequent combination of careful, well-executed observational science, coupled with false presuppositions from an evolutionary paradigm. Exemplary experimental work shows how the lamprey manufacture their neurons from the precursor cells. However, the evolutionary assumptions are easily challenged, because fossil lamprey have been discovered in rocks, which are considered by evolutionists to be 360 million years old.
As creationists, we have no problem with accurate and careful observational and experimental science. However, what we see, in the reporting of this research, is the desire to interpret all results according to evolutionary and deep-time narratives, although such re-interpretation is not required by the evidence.
Lord God, Your control over Your creation is such that you found pennies in the mouth of a fish to pay tax! Thank You, Lord, that You have made everything well, and that nothing has happened by chance. Amen.
California Institute of Technology. "Parasitic fish offer evolutionary insights: Vertebrates once might have relied on a different mechanism for developing neurons in the gut." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 20 March 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170320143828.htm> . Gess, R.W., Coates, M.I. and Rubidge, B.S., A lamprey from the Devonian period of South Africa, Nature 443:981–984, 2006. Image: The mouth of a lamprey, Drow Male, license: Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 Unported.
Genesis 1:20a
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life.
Lampreys are very odd creatures. They are fish, and hence are vertebrates. However, they have no jaw, so many species of lamprey are parasitic, burrowing into the flesh of other fish, with their toothed, tunnel-like mouths, in order to suck their blood. A recent article on the Science Daily website said this about them:
While many would be repulsed by these creatures, lamprey are exciting to biologists because they are so primitive, retaining many characteristics similar to their ancient ancestors and thus offering answers to some of life's biggest evolutionary questions.
What evolutionary questions do they think that lampreys answer? Apparently the neurons in their gut are significantly different from those in “modern” vertebrates, so these materials, as well as the jaw, must have evolved from the types found in the lamprey. The work reported in the Science Daily article appears to have that frequent combination of careful, well-executed observational science, coupled with false presuppositions from an evolutionary paradigm. Exemplary experimental work shows how the lamprey manufacture their neurons from the precursor cells. However, the evolutionary assumptions are easily challenged, because fossil lamprey have been discovered in rocks, which are considered by evolutionists to be 360 million years old.
As creationists, we have no problem with accurate and careful observational and experimental science. However, what we see, in the reporting of this research, is the desire to interpret all results according to evolutionary and deep-time narratives, although such re-interpretation is not required by the evidence.
Lord God, Your control over Your creation is such that you found pennies in the mouth of a fish to pay tax! Thank You, Lord, that You have made everything well, and that nothing has happened by chance. Amen.
California Institute of Technology. "Parasitic fish offer evolutionary insights: Vertebrates once might have relied on a different mechanism for developing neurons in the gut." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 20 March 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170320143828.htm> . Gess, R.W., Coates, M.I. and Rubidge, B.S., A lamprey from the Devonian period of South Africa, Nature 443:981–984, 2006. Image: The mouth of a lamprey, Drow Male, license: Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 Unported.
THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE
Genesis 8:22
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
The Northwest Passage is, in many ways, the stuff of legend. It is the idea that there could be a shipping route around the North Coast of Canada. This would provide a much quicker route, than existing routes, for ships to get, for example, from Europe to India and China. For centuries, explorers have tried to find this route. For example, during Elizabethan times, English privateer Sir Martin Frobisher undertook three voyages to try to find it.
The reason that such explorers could not sail around the north of North America is because of the ice covering most of the Arctic Ocean. However, in recent years, there have been a couple of occasions – notably in 2007 and 2008, when the passage has been open to shipping, as ice has melted. For Climate Change Alarmists, this causes mixed feelings. On the negative side, they are concerned that the Arctic Ice has melted, because of carbon dioxide, produced by human industrial activity – the so-called Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW). On the positive side, they recognize that the commercial exploitation of such a route would considerably shorten many of the world’s shipping routes, and save large amounts of the fossil fuels which most concern these Alarmists.
Perhaps the desire to find this fabled route was fueled by a real history of earlier navigators actually using the route. Such a history would be difficult for Alarmists to accept, but would make sense to biblical scholars, convinced that there are natural cycles of warming and cooling, as God maintains the world in which we live.
Thank You, Lord, for the provision that You have given us in this world. Help us to use wisely the resources, which You have put under our control. Amen.
Roach, J. (2007), Arctic Melt Opens Northwest Passage, National Geographic, < http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070917-northwest-passage.html >, retrieved 3/21/2017
Image: aerial photograph of NW Passage, 2016, Jeff Schmaltz for NASA, Public Domain
DID APES EVOLVE TO EAT MORE FRUIT?
Genesis 2:16-17
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Britain�s Telegraph newspaper carried a fascinating article, recently, with a new spin on the myth of the evolution of human beings: that apes evolved into humans, by eating lots of fruit.
The NYU scientists� report, published in Nature, is entitled �Primate brain size is predicted by diet but not sociality�. Previous evolutionary models suggested that development of apes� brains was caused by their social interaction. As they picked fleas off one another, they needed to think more deeply about abstract concepts. However, the NYU researchers have noticed that there is a correlation between the amount of fruit eaten, and the sizes of the brains of non-human primates.
The team have studied over 140 species, and were careful to study any correlation between social behavior and brain size�but no such correlation was apparent. Yet, when they compared brain size to diet, it was found that the primates that eat fruit had brains 25% larger than those that ate other plant material.
The problem with such reports is the attempt to fit observations into a mythological evolutionary paradigm. There is no justification from the research to suggest that primates evolved into humans, by eating a few more apples. Yet the Telegraph cannot resist jumping on this factor, with this headline: �Would you Adam & Eve it? Fruit may have been the making of mankind�. Mankind did indeed become what he is today, by eating a fruit, which God had commanded them not to eat. But that was not evolution. That was sin!
We thank You, Lord God, for making so many diverse animals, including these beautiful apes. We also thank You for gifting men and women to be able to study these animals, to find out more about Your creation. Amen.
Genesis 8:22
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
The Northwest Passage is, in many ways, the stuff of legend. It is the idea that there could be a shipping route around the North Coast of Canada. This would provide a much quicker route, than existing routes, for ships to get, for example, from Europe to India and China. For centuries, explorers have tried to find this route. For example, during Elizabethan times, English privateer Sir Martin Frobisher undertook three voyages to try to find it.
The reason that such explorers could not sail around the north of North America is because of the ice covering most of the Arctic Ocean. However, in recent years, there have been a couple of occasions – notably in 2007 and 2008, when the passage has been open to shipping, as ice has melted. For Climate Change Alarmists, this causes mixed feelings. On the negative side, they are concerned that the Arctic Ice has melted, because of carbon dioxide, produced by human industrial activity – the so-called Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW). On the positive side, they recognize that the commercial exploitation of such a route would considerably shorten many of the world’s shipping routes, and save large amounts of the fossil fuels which most concern these Alarmists.
Perhaps the desire to find this fabled route was fueled by a real history of earlier navigators actually using the route. Such a history would be difficult for Alarmists to accept, but would make sense to biblical scholars, convinced that there are natural cycles of warming and cooling, as God maintains the world in which we live.
Thank You, Lord, for the provision that You have given us in this world. Help us to use wisely the resources, which You have put under our control. Amen.
Roach, J. (2007), Arctic Melt Opens Northwest Passage, National Geographic, < http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070917-northwest-passage.html >, retrieved 3/21/2017
Image: aerial photograph of NW Passage, 2016, Jeff Schmaltz for NASA, Public Domain
DID APES EVOLVE TO EAT MORE FRUIT?
Genesis 2:16-17
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Britain�s Telegraph newspaper carried a fascinating article, recently, with a new spin on the myth of the evolution of human beings: that apes evolved into humans, by eating lots of fruit.
The NYU scientists� report, published in Nature, is entitled �Primate brain size is predicted by diet but not sociality�. Previous evolutionary models suggested that development of apes� brains was caused by their social interaction. As they picked fleas off one another, they needed to think more deeply about abstract concepts. However, the NYU researchers have noticed that there is a correlation between the amount of fruit eaten, and the sizes of the brains of non-human primates.
The team have studied over 140 species, and were careful to study any correlation between social behavior and brain size�but no such correlation was apparent. Yet, when they compared brain size to diet, it was found that the primates that eat fruit had brains 25% larger than those that ate other plant material.
The problem with such reports is the attempt to fit observations into a mythological evolutionary paradigm. There is no justification from the research to suggest that primates evolved into humans, by eating a few more apples. Yet the Telegraph cannot resist jumping on this factor, with this headline: �Would you Adam & Eve it? Fruit may have been the making of mankind�. Mankind did indeed become what he is today, by eating a fruit, which God had commanded them not to eat. But that was not evolution. That was sin!
We thank You, Lord God, for making so many diverse animals, including these beautiful apes. We also thank You for gifting men and women to be able to study these animals, to find out more about Your creation. Amen.
SOMETHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
Ecclesiastes 1:9
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
There are some who think that the book of Ecclesiastes is a depressing book. The writer�an old man, called Qohelet (the Preacher)�seems to be musing on a life of achievement, that he now thinks is meaningless.
The key to understanding where Qohelet is coming from is his oft-repeated phrase �under the sun�. By using the phrase �under the sun�, Qohelet deliberately creates a hypothetical, human-centered world, where God is not in control. Over and over again, throughout the book, he shows logically that a world without God, �under the sun�, cannot explain what he already knows. In argument after argument, he shows that the obvious consequence of a world without reference to God is absurd. Then, in just one place, in chapter 1:9, he states that there is nothing new under the Sun. Yet, his whole argumentation, from a worldly, godless viewpoint, is, I submit, designed to lead us to consider that there is something new under the Sun. There is, in fact, a breakthrough, to what must be �over the Sun� � that is the realm of God. By showing that there is no meaning to a world without God, Qohelet implicitly informs us that true meaning is found only by referencing everything in our lives with God.
For this reason, he concludes his book, by twice reminding us to �Remember your Creator�. In a book, reminiscent of any guidebook on Presuppositional Apologetics, Qohelet is insisting that by reference to the Creator everything around us makes complete sense.
Thank You, Father, that You are in complete control of this world. Forgive me for the times, when I have lived my life, as if You were not there. Help me to make You central to all that I do. Amen.
Image: Adobe Stock Photo, licensed to author
Ecclesiastes 1:9
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
There are some who think that the book of Ecclesiastes is a depressing book. The writer�an old man, called Qohelet (the Preacher)�seems to be musing on a life of achievement, that he now thinks is meaningless.
The key to understanding where Qohelet is coming from is his oft-repeated phrase �under the sun�. By using the phrase �under the sun�, Qohelet deliberately creates a hypothetical, human-centered world, where God is not in control. Over and over again, throughout the book, he shows logically that a world without God, �under the sun�, cannot explain what he already knows. In argument after argument, he shows that the obvious consequence of a world without reference to God is absurd. Then, in just one place, in chapter 1:9, he states that there is nothing new under the Sun. Yet, his whole argumentation, from a worldly, godless viewpoint, is, I submit, designed to lead us to consider that there is something new under the Sun. There is, in fact, a breakthrough, to what must be �over the Sun� � that is the realm of God. By showing that there is no meaning to a world without God, Qohelet implicitly informs us that true meaning is found only by referencing everything in our lives with God.
For this reason, he concludes his book, by twice reminding us to �Remember your Creator�. In a book, reminiscent of any guidebook on Presuppositional Apologetics, Qohelet is insisting that by reference to the Creator everything around us makes complete sense.
Thank You, Father, that You are in complete control of this world. Forgive me for the times, when I have lived my life, as if You were not there. Help me to make You central to all that I do. Amen.
Image: Adobe Stock Photo, licensed to author
FOCUS ON THIS
Proverbs 20:12
The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them.
I need to wear my glasses for distance vision. I read books just with my eyes, but I cannot see things far away clearly.
Inside your eye, there is a lens, which focuses the light from images onto a focal point on the retina�a black surface at the back of the eye. Unlike the lens in a camera, this lens is squashy. It is attached to tiny muscles, that stretch or squash the lens. Presumably, the muscles in my eye are not capable, any longer, of stretching the lens to its thinnest widths. This, like every other deterioration in our bodies, is a product of the Fall. But the working of the eye is something fascinating to us, when we start from a biblical presupposition.
God tells us in Proverbs 20:12 that He made both the hearing ear and the seeing eye. For an eye to see, several mechanisms have to work together. The lens focuses the light on to the retina. As we have discussed, there are muscles to change the shape of the lens, to view objects at different distances. The iris and pupil allow different amounts of light into the eye. Light sensors respond to the light, which falls on them, and the optic nerve transmits this information to the brain. There would have been no purpose in the lens mechanism evolving, if there were no retina, on which to focus the light, or nerve to transmit the signal. But the Bible makes clear that God designed the eye to see, and He did this, with all the myriad important mechanisms required. We are indeed �fearfully and wonderfully made� by God.
We have read, Lord, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. The more we find out about how You put us together, the more we stand in awe at Your might, and praise Your Name. Amen.
Image: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
Proverbs 20:12
The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them.
I need to wear my glasses for distance vision. I read books just with my eyes, but I cannot see things far away clearly.
Inside your eye, there is a lens, which focuses the light from images onto a focal point on the retina�a black surface at the back of the eye. Unlike the lens in a camera, this lens is squashy. It is attached to tiny muscles, that stretch or squash the lens. Presumably, the muscles in my eye are not capable, any longer, of stretching the lens to its thinnest widths. This, like every other deterioration in our bodies, is a product of the Fall. But the working of the eye is something fascinating to us, when we start from a biblical presupposition.
God tells us in Proverbs 20:12 that He made both the hearing ear and the seeing eye. For an eye to see, several mechanisms have to work together. The lens focuses the light on to the retina. As we have discussed, there are muscles to change the shape of the lens, to view objects at different distances. The iris and pupil allow different amounts of light into the eye. Light sensors respond to the light, which falls on them, and the optic nerve transmits this information to the brain. There would have been no purpose in the lens mechanism evolving, if there were no retina, on which to focus the light, or nerve to transmit the signal. But the Bible makes clear that God designed the eye to see, and He did this, with all the myriad important mechanisms required. We are indeed �fearfully and wonderfully made� by God.
We have read, Lord, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. The more we find out about how You put us together, the more we stand in awe at Your might, and praise Your Name. Amen.
Image: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
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