GOOD OLD CO2
Matthew 5:45
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Carbon dioxide is a wonderful gas. It occurs in the atmosphere at an average concentration of 404 parts per million by volume (ppm). Plants need carbon dioxide to grow. This is the principle source from which plants derive the carbon compounds that they require. Green plants use chlorophyll to catalyze a reaction between carbon dioxide and water vapor that produces sugars and also some free oxygen. Greater concentrations of carbon dioxide will cause faster growth in plants. For example, large greenhouses in Britain used to pump in extra carbon dioxide to help tomato plants grow. The optimum concentration of carbon dioxide for plant growth is 2,000 ppm – 5 times greater than normal concentrations. Yet, climate change advocates claim that even the 400 ppm that we have is too high. So the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has declared that carbon dioxide is a pollutant.
The IPCC has determined that human-generated carbon dioxide – generated by industrial processes – is causing the Earth to get warmer. That there is a continuous increase in global temperature is by no means certain. Nevertheless, 20th century data does indeed suggest a correlation between carbon dioxide concentration and average global temperature. Could this be a case of cause and effect?
Increase in concentration of carbon dioxide actually follows temperature rises rather than the reverse. If there is any cause and effect, it would appear that it is the temperature rises which causes the increase in carbon dioxide – possibly by warmer oceans dissolving less CO2.
Perhaps it is time to celebrate rather than denigrate this strange and wonderful gas.
Father God, You continue to be in control in this world. We trust Your mighty power to keep this planet on which we live safe. Amen.
Ref: Moore, P. (2015), Should We Celebrate Carbon Dioxide, (London: The Global Warming Policy Foundation). Image: License: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Matthew 5:45
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Carbon dioxide is a wonderful gas. It occurs in the atmosphere at an average concentration of 404 parts per million by volume (ppm). Plants need carbon dioxide to grow. This is the principle source from which plants derive the carbon compounds that they require. Green plants use chlorophyll to catalyze a reaction between carbon dioxide and water vapor that produces sugars and also some free oxygen. Greater concentrations of carbon dioxide will cause faster growth in plants. For example, large greenhouses in Britain used to pump in extra carbon dioxide to help tomato plants grow. The optimum concentration of carbon dioxide for plant growth is 2,000 ppm – 5 times greater than normal concentrations. Yet, climate change advocates claim that even the 400 ppm that we have is too high. So the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has declared that carbon dioxide is a pollutant.
The IPCC has determined that human-generated carbon dioxide – generated by industrial processes – is causing the Earth to get warmer. That there is a continuous increase in global temperature is by no means certain. Nevertheless, 20th century data does indeed suggest a correlation between carbon dioxide concentration and average global temperature. Could this be a case of cause and effect?
Increase in concentration of carbon dioxide actually follows temperature rises rather than the reverse. If there is any cause and effect, it would appear that it is the temperature rises which causes the increase in carbon dioxide – possibly by warmer oceans dissolving less CO2.
Perhaps it is time to celebrate rather than denigrate this strange and wonderful gas.
Father God, You continue to be in control in this world. We trust Your mighty power to keep this planet on which we live safe. Amen.
Ref: Moore, P. (2015), Should We Celebrate Carbon Dioxide, (London: The Global Warming Policy Foundation). Image: License: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
FRANKINCENSE
Matthew 2:11
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
As a child, I was told that frankincense had been brought to Europe by the Frankish people � ancestors of the modern French. This turned out not to be the case. Instead, the prefix frank refers to this incense being of particular high quality or purity.
Frankincense is a resin produced by trees of the boswellia genus. Incisions are made into the bark, and a milky liquid appears. This liquid hardens with exposure to the air and becomes the aromatic resin with which we are familiar.
Frankincense is mentioned frequently in the Pentateuch as one of the important incenses used in Tabernacle, and later Temple, worship. In Exodus 30:34, God gave Moses a recipe for the incense to be burned on the incense altar.
Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part)
Incense was frequently used in conjunction with sacrifices. For example, in Leviticus 2, we read:
He shall take from it [the sacrifice] a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. (Leviticus 2:2)
It appears that incense was symbolic of prayers going up to the Lord. Therefore, our prayers are like a pleasing aroma to the Lord. That is one reason why frankincense was such a fitting gift for the Wise Men to bring to the child Jesus.
May our prayers, Lord God, be as a pleasing aroma to You. Amen.
Matthew 2:11
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
As a child, I was told that frankincense had been brought to Europe by the Frankish people � ancestors of the modern French. This turned out not to be the case. Instead, the prefix frank refers to this incense being of particular high quality or purity.
Frankincense is a resin produced by trees of the boswellia genus. Incisions are made into the bark, and a milky liquid appears. This liquid hardens with exposure to the air and becomes the aromatic resin with which we are familiar.
Frankincense is mentioned frequently in the Pentateuch as one of the important incenses used in Tabernacle, and later Temple, worship. In Exodus 30:34, God gave Moses a recipe for the incense to be burned on the incense altar.
Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part)
Incense was frequently used in conjunction with sacrifices. For example, in Leviticus 2, we read:
He shall take from it [the sacrifice] a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. (Leviticus 2:2)
It appears that incense was symbolic of prayers going up to the Lord. Therefore, our prayers are like a pleasing aroma to the Lord. That is one reason why frankincense was such a fitting gift for the Wise Men to bring to the child Jesus.
May our prayers, Lord God, be as a pleasing aroma to You. Amen.
JAMES USSHER’S EDUCATION
Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it
James Ussher is famous, or infamous, depending on your point of view, for his work on creation. It was Ussher who calculated that the Earth was created at 6 pm on the evening before October 23rd 4004 BC. Because of his exactness in choosing this date, he has been criticized and held up for ridicule in recent years. Some of his strongest critics have been Christians who maintain that it is not important to believe Genesis 1 to be literal. I have seen so-called Christian literature illustrate Ussher with derogatory comments, fitting him with a dunce’s cap. The implication is that Ussher was ignorant or stupid.
In fact, he was neither. Ussher was born in Dublin, in Ireland, which was then part of Britain and under English control. Young James was just seven years old when the Spanish Armada was destroyed. When he was eight, he attended the City of Dublin Free School, whose alumni include John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. By the age of 10, he had read Augustine’s Confessions, and had read most of the early church fathers by 12. Also aged 12, he entered the new Trinity College, Dublin – one of the earliest “new” universities to spring up in the Kingdom. By the age of 14, he had already begun his mammoth work, the Annals of the World. He was 17 years old when he published his first major theological work.
This history of his childhood should be enough to convince the listener that James Ussher was neither ignorant nor stupid. Instead, his great intellect and vast knowledge of the Bible is the context behind his date for creation.
We know, Lord God, that You have never left Your people without witness. Thank You for great men and women of old who held fast to the truth of Scripture and left us a godly legacy. Amen.
Ref: Carr, J. (new edition 2012), The Life and Times of James Ussher, (Forgotten Books). Image: Public Domain.
Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it
James Ussher is famous, or infamous, depending on your point of view, for his work on creation. It was Ussher who calculated that the Earth was created at 6 pm on the evening before October 23rd 4004 BC. Because of his exactness in choosing this date, he has been criticized and held up for ridicule in recent years. Some of his strongest critics have been Christians who maintain that it is not important to believe Genesis 1 to be literal. I have seen so-called Christian literature illustrate Ussher with derogatory comments, fitting him with a dunce’s cap. The implication is that Ussher was ignorant or stupid.
In fact, he was neither. Ussher was born in Dublin, in Ireland, which was then part of Britain and under English control. Young James was just seven years old when the Spanish Armada was destroyed. When he was eight, he attended the City of Dublin Free School, whose alumni include John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. By the age of 10, he had read Augustine’s Confessions, and had read most of the early church fathers by 12. Also aged 12, he entered the new Trinity College, Dublin – one of the earliest “new” universities to spring up in the Kingdom. By the age of 14, he had already begun his mammoth work, the Annals of the World. He was 17 years old when he published his first major theological work.
This history of his childhood should be enough to convince the listener that James Ussher was neither ignorant nor stupid. Instead, his great intellect and vast knowledge of the Bible is the context behind his date for creation.
We know, Lord God, that You have never left Your people without witness. Thank You for great men and women of old who held fast to the truth of Scripture and left us a godly legacy. Amen.
Ref: Carr, J. (new edition 2012), The Life and Times of James Ussher, (Forgotten Books). Image: Public Domain.
JAMES USSHER�S LEGACY
2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
The years between 1639 and 1651 were times of great turbulence in the British Isles as a series of deadly conflicts were played out. James Ussher was right in the middle of these events, being born, as he was, in Dublin in 1581. In a previous Creation Moment, we related Ussher�s precocious childhood, that led to his famous calculation of the date of creation as 4004 BC.
Ussher became a minister in the Anglican Church of Ireland, eventually becoming Archbishop of Armagh in 1625 � a post he held for 15 years. The Book of Kells � an illuminated manuscript of the Gospels � had been discovered in Kells, Ireland, in 1621, leading to a renaissance in interest in the Scriptures. Ussher traveled to England to study in 1640, and, while he was there, the Confederate War broke out in Ireland. Ussher�s house was plundered, so he never returned to the Emerald Isle. As war loomed in England also, Ussher made clear his loyalty to King Charles I. Therefore, his life could have been in danger, as he found himself studying in London in 1649 at the time of the execution of the King, which brought the English Civil War to an end. However, the Lord Protector of the English Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell, favored Ussher. When Ussher died in 1656, Cromwell gave him a state funeral.
Ussher�s mammoth work, the Annals of the World, had been published in 1654. It is a huge book, replete with detailed scholarship, and was a lifetime�s work for the scholar, having taken him 59 years to complete. This is the background to the famous creation date calculation.
Thank You for the learned people from times past. Help us to learn from those who have walked in truth before us. Most especially, keep our eyes fixed on Your word, Lord. Amen.
Ref: Ref: Carr, J. (new edition 2012), The Life and Times of James Ussher, (Forgotten Books). Image: Armagh Cathedral, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.
2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
The years between 1639 and 1651 were times of great turbulence in the British Isles as a series of deadly conflicts were played out. James Ussher was right in the middle of these events, being born, as he was, in Dublin in 1581. In a previous Creation Moment, we related Ussher�s precocious childhood, that led to his famous calculation of the date of creation as 4004 BC.
Ussher became a minister in the Anglican Church of Ireland, eventually becoming Archbishop of Armagh in 1625 � a post he held for 15 years. The Book of Kells � an illuminated manuscript of the Gospels � had been discovered in Kells, Ireland, in 1621, leading to a renaissance in interest in the Scriptures. Ussher traveled to England to study in 1640, and, while he was there, the Confederate War broke out in Ireland. Ussher�s house was plundered, so he never returned to the Emerald Isle. As war loomed in England also, Ussher made clear his loyalty to King Charles I. Therefore, his life could have been in danger, as he found himself studying in London in 1649 at the time of the execution of the King, which brought the English Civil War to an end. However, the Lord Protector of the English Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell, favored Ussher. When Ussher died in 1656, Cromwell gave him a state funeral.
Ussher�s mammoth work, the Annals of the World, had been published in 1654. It is a huge book, replete with detailed scholarship, and was a lifetime�s work for the scholar, having taken him 59 years to complete. This is the background to the famous creation date calculation.
Thank You for the learned people from times past. Help us to learn from those who have walked in truth before us. Most especially, keep our eyes fixed on Your word, Lord. Amen.
Ref: Ref: Carr, J. (new edition 2012), The Life and Times of James Ussher, (Forgotten Books). Image: Armagh Cathedral, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.
JAMES USSHER�S LEGACY
2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
The years between 1639 and 1651 were times of great turbulence in the British Isles as a series of deadly conflicts were played out. James Ussher was right in the middle of these events, being born, as he was, in Dublin in 1581. In a previous Creation Moment, we related Ussher�s precocious childhood, that led to his famous calculation of the date of creation as 4004 BC.
Ussher became a minister in the Anglican Church of Ireland, eventually becoming Archbishop of Armagh in 1625 � a post he held for 15 years. The Book of Kells � an illuminated manuscript of the Gospels � had been discovered in Kells, Ireland, in 1621, leading to a renaissance in interest in the Scriptures. Ussher traveled to England to study in 1640, and, while he was there, the Confederate War broke out in Ireland. Ussher�s house was plundered, so he never returned to the Emerald Isle. As war loomed in England also, Ussher made clear his loyalty to King Charles I. Therefore, his life could have been in danger, as he found himself studying in London in 1649 at the time of the execution of the King, which brought the English Civil War to an end. However, the Lord Protector of the English Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell, favored Ussher. When Ussher died in 1656, Cromwell gave him a state funeral.
Ussher�s mammoth work, the Annals of the World, had been published in 1654. It is a huge book, replete with detailed scholarship, and was a lifetime�s work for the scholar, having taken him 59 years to complete. This is the background to the famous creation date calculation.
Thank You for the learned people from times past. Help us to learn from those who have walked in truth before us. Most especially, keep our eyes fixed on Your word, Lord. Amen.
Ref: Ref: Carr, J. (new edition 2012), The Life and Times of James Ussher, (Forgotten Books). Image: Armagh Cathedral, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.
2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
The years between 1639 and 1651 were times of great turbulence in the British Isles as a series of deadly conflicts were played out. James Ussher was right in the middle of these events, being born, as he was, in Dublin in 1581. In a previous Creation Moment, we related Ussher�s precocious childhood, that led to his famous calculation of the date of creation as 4004 BC.
Ussher became a minister in the Anglican Church of Ireland, eventually becoming Archbishop of Armagh in 1625 � a post he held for 15 years. The Book of Kells � an illuminated manuscript of the Gospels � had been discovered in Kells, Ireland, in 1621, leading to a renaissance in interest in the Scriptures. Ussher traveled to England to study in 1640, and, while he was there, the Confederate War broke out in Ireland. Ussher�s house was plundered, so he never returned to the Emerald Isle. As war loomed in England also, Ussher made clear his loyalty to King Charles I. Therefore, his life could have been in danger, as he found himself studying in London in 1649 at the time of the execution of the King, which brought the English Civil War to an end. However, the Lord Protector of the English Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell, favored Ussher. When Ussher died in 1656, Cromwell gave him a state funeral.
Ussher�s mammoth work, the Annals of the World, had been published in 1654. It is a huge book, replete with detailed scholarship, and was a lifetime�s work for the scholar, having taken him 59 years to complete. This is the background to the famous creation date calculation.
Thank You for the learned people from times past. Help us to learn from those who have walked in truth before us. Most especially, keep our eyes fixed on Your word, Lord. Amen.
Ref: Ref: Carr, J. (new edition 2012), The Life and Times of James Ussher, (Forgotten Books). Image: Armagh Cathedral, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.
WHY DO WE GET NEW SPECIES?
Genesis 1:24-25
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
We know that Noah did not have to fit two of every species of animal on the Ark. The Ark sheltered two of every kind of land and flying vertebrate, not two of every species. For example, modern species like lions and tigers would have developed from the pair from the cat family that were on the Ark. Over time, different species of cats have developed from this pair.
It is easy to see how this happened. Environmental conditions favor certain genes over others, so that these features are selected in the offspring. A simplistic example is that creatures with longer hair or fur have developed in colder areas of the world. This has involved no new genetic information; there has simply been selection from existing genetic information.
But why did God make this speciation possible? God knew the different conditions that would arise in different parts of the world. Because Scripture shows us that God actively sustains life, it is possible that He included this ability to diversify in creatures in order to help their offspring to survive in radically different conditions � especially the vastly changed conditions in the aftermath of the Flood.
Thank You, Lord, because we read that You give the beasts their food. You own the cattle on a thousand hills, and You look after Your creation with wisdom. Amen.
Ref: Lightner, J.K. (2016), Toward a Creationary View of Why Speciation Occurs, Journal of Creation 30(1):70�75, April 2016. Image: Adobe Stock Photo, licensed to author.
Genesis 1:24-25
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
We know that Noah did not have to fit two of every species of animal on the Ark. The Ark sheltered two of every kind of land and flying vertebrate, not two of every species. For example, modern species like lions and tigers would have developed from the pair from the cat family that were on the Ark. Over time, different species of cats have developed from this pair.
It is easy to see how this happened. Environmental conditions favor certain genes over others, so that these features are selected in the offspring. A simplistic example is that creatures with longer hair or fur have developed in colder areas of the world. This has involved no new genetic information; there has simply been selection from existing genetic information.
But why did God make this speciation possible? God knew the different conditions that would arise in different parts of the world. Because Scripture shows us that God actively sustains life, it is possible that He included this ability to diversify in creatures in order to help their offspring to survive in radically different conditions � especially the vastly changed conditions in the aftermath of the Flood.
Thank You, Lord, because we read that You give the beasts their food. You own the cattle on a thousand hills, and You look after Your creation with wisdom. Amen.
Ref: Lightner, J.K. (2016), Toward a Creationary View of Why Speciation Occurs, Journal of Creation 30(1):70�75, April 2016. Image: Adobe Stock Photo, licensed to author.
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