THESE PARROTS AREN'T JUST PARROTING
Psalm 94:10
"He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?"
Researchers at Purdue University are demonstrating that parrots are capable of intelligent communication. Their carefully designed experiments have convinced even skeptics that the two parrots under study are not just giving conditioned responses. Their results are challenging the accepted scientific knowledge about animal intelligence and the evolutionary claim that intelligence is one of the traits that separate us from animals.
The parrots' names are Griffin and Alex. Researchers can show Alex two triangles, one red and one green. They ask what's different about them. Alex will answer, "Color." When asked what's similar about them, he will answer, "Shape." If there is nothing similar, Alex even understands the concept of nothing. Asked what's similar about the shapes, he will answer, "None." Researchers say that about five percent of the time someone will mistakenly tell Alex that he has given a wrong answer when he has not. Alex, however, insists that his answer is right until the questioner discovers the mistake.
Both parrots can identify a wide range of objects. Both parrots are even picking up words they have not been systematically taught and are using them correctly. Once, when Griffin was having trouble pronouncing a new word, Alex turned to him and said, "Speak clearly."
Evolutionists are now having to rethink the idea that intelligence separates us from animals. The fact that we were created in God's image to have a relationship with Him is what really separates us from the animals.
I rejoice, dear Lord, that I can have a relationship with You. Amen.
Discover, 1/00, "Polly Want a PhD?" Photo: Alex participating in a numerical cognition experiment. (Fair Use)
Psalm 94:10
"He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?"
Researchers at Purdue University are demonstrating that parrots are capable of intelligent communication. Their carefully designed experiments have convinced even skeptics that the two parrots under study are not just giving conditioned responses. Their results are challenging the accepted scientific knowledge about animal intelligence and the evolutionary claim that intelligence is one of the traits that separate us from animals.
The parrots' names are Griffin and Alex. Researchers can show Alex two triangles, one red and one green. They ask what's different about them. Alex will answer, "Color." When asked what's similar about them, he will answer, "Shape." If there is nothing similar, Alex even understands the concept of nothing. Asked what's similar about the shapes, he will answer, "None." Researchers say that about five percent of the time someone will mistakenly tell Alex that he has given a wrong answer when he has not. Alex, however, insists that his answer is right until the questioner discovers the mistake.
Both parrots can identify a wide range of objects. Both parrots are even picking up words they have not been systematically taught and are using them correctly. Once, when Griffin was having trouble pronouncing a new word, Alex turned to him and said, "Speak clearly."
Evolutionists are now having to rethink the idea that intelligence separates us from animals. The fact that we were created in God's image to have a relationship with Him is what really separates us from the animals.
I rejoice, dear Lord, that I can have a relationship with You. Amen.
Discover, 1/00, "Polly Want a PhD?" Photo: Alex participating in a numerical cognition experiment. (Fair Use)
DID THE ICE MAN USE ACUPUNCTURE?
Jeremiah 17:14
"Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise."
You may remember the "ice man" discovered in a glacier in the Alps in 1991. His frozen body had been preserved in the ice for thousands of years. Even his hair, beard and skin were largely intact. While there is some debate about when he lived, he is easily dated, in the biblical framework, to within several centuries after the Flood.
Researchers at the University of Graz in Austria have been studying his body in hope of learning more about life in the distant past. They found that the ice man has 15 groups of tattooed lines on his body. They could find no reasonable explanations for the tattooed lines until they compared the tattoos to the traditional acupuncture points. The ice man's tattoos corresponded to the acupuncture points used to treat stomach upset and backache. X-rays of the ice man's body showed that though he was only middle-aged, he did indeed have arthritis in his hips, knees, ankles and spine that would produce backache. Further study showed that he had a high level of parasites called whipworms in his intestines! The ice man lived 2,000 years before any known use of acupuncture by the Chinese. Could it be that acupuncture is ancient knowledge that came into use today by way of Noah himself?
Any medical treatment that works is a blessing in this life. However, only the healing provided by the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring true spiritual health now and in eternity.
I praise You, dear Lord, for the healing You have given me. Amen.
Discover, 2/00, p. 61, "The Ice Man Healeth." Photo: Ötzi the Iceman on a sheet-covered autopsy table. © South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. (Fair Use)
Jeremiah 17:14
"Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise."
You may remember the "ice man" discovered in a glacier in the Alps in 1991. His frozen body had been preserved in the ice for thousands of years. Even his hair, beard and skin were largely intact. While there is some debate about when he lived, he is easily dated, in the biblical framework, to within several centuries after the Flood.
Researchers at the University of Graz in Austria have been studying his body in hope of learning more about life in the distant past. They found that the ice man has 15 groups of tattooed lines on his body. They could find no reasonable explanations for the tattooed lines until they compared the tattoos to the traditional acupuncture points. The ice man's tattoos corresponded to the acupuncture points used to treat stomach upset and backache. X-rays of the ice man's body showed that though he was only middle-aged, he did indeed have arthritis in his hips, knees, ankles and spine that would produce backache. Further study showed that he had a high level of parasites called whipworms in his intestines! The ice man lived 2,000 years before any known use of acupuncture by the Chinese. Could it be that acupuncture is ancient knowledge that came into use today by way of Noah himself?
Any medical treatment that works is a blessing in this life. However, only the healing provided by the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring true spiritual health now and in eternity.
I praise You, dear Lord, for the healing You have given me. Amen.
Discover, 2/00, p. 61, "The Ice Man Healeth." Photo: Ötzi the Iceman on a sheet-covered autopsy table. © South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. (Fair Use)
EGYPTIAN DISCOVERIES ENLIGHTEN, SUPPORT THE BIBLE
Exodus 3:7
"And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;"
The Bible tells us that at the beginning of the Israelites' 430-year stay in Egypt, they were well respected for Joseph's sake. Later, when the Egyptian leadership forgot how Joseph saved Egypt, it began making their lives difficult.
One of the most enlightening archaeological finds from the period of Israel's captivity is a settlement called The Village of the Place of Truth. Excavators at the city have found homes, letters, notes, court records, work diaries and wills dating from this period. The village was home to those who built the royal tombs. While there is no evidence that the Israelites ever lived in the village, what has been found has revealed much about life in Egypt when Israel was there. We learn that Egypt had a tradition in which every citizen put in at least one year of service to the government. Those out of favor could be forced into years or even a lifetime of forced labor. However, it was considered an honor to work on the royal tombs, and it seems unlikely that the Israelites had much to do with them. The Bible tells us that the Israelites did, however, make bricks. That could include the very bricks that built the Village of the Place of Truth. Finally we learn that pigs were a staple among such workers, which certainly would be repugnant to the Israelites.
Archaeologists have concluded that the biblical record of Israel's stay in Egypt has too many accurate details about Egypt to be nothing more than a legend.
I thank You, Lord, for knowing my sorrows and bringing me salvation. Amen.
Biblical Archaeology Review, 1/2/99, pp. 36 45, "Pharaoh's Workers." Photo: Ruins of Deir el-Medina (Village of the Place of Truth). Courtesy of Steve Cameron. (CC-BY 3.0)
Exodus 3:7
"And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;"
The Bible tells us that at the beginning of the Israelites' 430-year stay in Egypt, they were well respected for Joseph's sake. Later, when the Egyptian leadership forgot how Joseph saved Egypt, it began making their lives difficult.
One of the most enlightening archaeological finds from the period of Israel's captivity is a settlement called The Village of the Place of Truth. Excavators at the city have found homes, letters, notes, court records, work diaries and wills dating from this period. The village was home to those who built the royal tombs. While there is no evidence that the Israelites ever lived in the village, what has been found has revealed much about life in Egypt when Israel was there. We learn that Egypt had a tradition in which every citizen put in at least one year of service to the government. Those out of favor could be forced into years or even a lifetime of forced labor. However, it was considered an honor to work on the royal tombs, and it seems unlikely that the Israelites had much to do with them. The Bible tells us that the Israelites did, however, make bricks. That could include the very bricks that built the Village of the Place of Truth. Finally we learn that pigs were a staple among such workers, which certainly would be repugnant to the Israelites.
Archaeologists have concluded that the biblical record of Israel's stay in Egypt has too many accurate details about Egypt to be nothing more than a legend.
I thank You, Lord, for knowing my sorrows and bringing me salvation. Amen.
Biblical Archaeology Review, 1/2/99, pp. 36 45, "Pharaoh's Workers." Photo: Ruins of Deir el-Medina (Village of the Place of Truth). Courtesy of Steve Cameron. (CC-BY 3.0)
CARBON DATING SUPPORTS NOAH'S FLOOD
Genesis 8:2
"The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained."
Did you know that radiocarbon dating may offer supporting evidence for Noah's Flood? Many think that carbon dating provides evidence that the Earth is millions of years old, but this is not true. Radiocarbon dating can only reliably date things that are less than 3,000 years old.
Let's say that you are a frog in a pond. High above your head, cosmic rays are striking nitrogen-14 atoms and changing them into radioactive carbon-14 atoms. That carbon eventually finds its way into your food and becomes part of you. Throughout your life it continues to accumulate in you. When you die, it stops accumulating. Being unstable, carbon-14 decays over time. Researchers measure the carbon-14 that remains in something that was once alive to determine how old it is. To do so, however, they must assume that the Earth is over 50,000 years old. That's how long it would take for the amount of carbon-14 being produced to equal the rate of carbon-14 decay. But we now know that there is more carbon-14 being produced than is decaying, meaning that the Earth must be less than 30,000 years old! In addition, the processes at work during Noah's Flood would have lowered the availability of carbon-14 to living things, which would also help account for the shortage of carbon-14.
In short, carbon dating cannot possibly tell us anything contrary to the Bible, and it seems to support the Bible's account of Earth's history.
Lord, You are my Rock of Ages now and into eternity. Thank You. Amen.
Back to Genesis [ICR], 7/98, p. d, "Doesn't Carbon Dating Prove the Earth Is Old?" Photo: Venetian mosaic depiction of Noah sending out the dove. (PD)
Genesis 8:2
"The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained."
Did you know that radiocarbon dating may offer supporting evidence for Noah's Flood? Many think that carbon dating provides evidence that the Earth is millions of years old, but this is not true. Radiocarbon dating can only reliably date things that are less than 3,000 years old.
Let's say that you are a frog in a pond. High above your head, cosmic rays are striking nitrogen-14 atoms and changing them into radioactive carbon-14 atoms. That carbon eventually finds its way into your food and becomes part of you. Throughout your life it continues to accumulate in you. When you die, it stops accumulating. Being unstable, carbon-14 decays over time. Researchers measure the carbon-14 that remains in something that was once alive to determine how old it is. To do so, however, they must assume that the Earth is over 50,000 years old. That's how long it would take for the amount of carbon-14 being produced to equal the rate of carbon-14 decay. But we now know that there is more carbon-14 being produced than is decaying, meaning that the Earth must be less than 30,000 years old! In addition, the processes at work during Noah's Flood would have lowered the availability of carbon-14 to living things, which would also help account for the shortage of carbon-14.
In short, carbon dating cannot possibly tell us anything contrary to the Bible, and it seems to support the Bible's account of Earth's history.
Lord, You are my Rock of Ages now and into eternity. Thank You. Amen.
Back to Genesis [ICR], 7/98, p. d, "Doesn't Carbon Dating Prove the Earth Is Old?" Photo: Venetian mosaic depiction of Noah sending out the dove. (PD)
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