COULD POISON FROGS POISON THEMSELVES?
Ecclesiastes 3:21
“Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?”
Why are poison frogs poisonous? Clearly their toxins are very harmful indeed to predators. For this reason, evolutionists would assume that those frogs which produce toxins are likely to be fitter to survive in the process of natural selection.
"Being toxic can be good for your survival – it gives you an edge over predators," comments one of the scientists in a new research report published by the University of Texas at Austin. The researcher continues: "Why aren't more animals toxic? Our work is showing that a big constraint is whether organisms can evolve resistance to their own toxins. We found evolution has hit upon this same exact change in three different groups of frogs, and that, to me, is quite beautiful."
The problem, simply stated, is this: a poisonous frog could easily poison itself, so would be unlikely to have descendants. So the study suggests that a mechanism evolves that prevents the frogs poisoning themselves. However, the research article does not address why such a mechanism would evolve. What evolutionary advantage would a non-poisonous frog have in developing resistance to a toxin, the production of which has not itself evolved?
Of course, the article ignores this seemingly obvious problem by the logical fallacy known as reification – the personification of an abstract concept. The researcher stated that "evolution has hit upon" the answer, but evolution is an abstract concept and cannot be said to hit upon anything. The whole point about a belief in evolution is that it is impersonal and unguided. Evolutionists are inconsistent when they ascribe attributes of design to evolution, while ignoring the obvious evidence for the design of animals by God.
All of creation points to You, Lord – but does not convince those who have refused to acknowledge You as God. Please open the spiritually dead eyes of those who follow the blindness known as evolution. Amen.
Ecclesiastes 3:21
“Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?”
Why are poison frogs poisonous? Clearly their toxins are very harmful indeed to predators. For this reason, evolutionists would assume that those frogs which produce toxins are likely to be fitter to survive in the process of natural selection.
"Being toxic can be good for your survival – it gives you an edge over predators," comments one of the scientists in a new research report published by the University of Texas at Austin. The researcher continues: "Why aren't more animals toxic? Our work is showing that a big constraint is whether organisms can evolve resistance to their own toxins. We found evolution has hit upon this same exact change in three different groups of frogs, and that, to me, is quite beautiful."
The problem, simply stated, is this: a poisonous frog could easily poison itself, so would be unlikely to have descendants. So the study suggests that a mechanism evolves that prevents the frogs poisoning themselves. However, the research article does not address why such a mechanism would evolve. What evolutionary advantage would a non-poisonous frog have in developing resistance to a toxin, the production of which has not itself evolved?
Of course, the article ignores this seemingly obvious problem by the logical fallacy known as reification – the personification of an abstract concept. The researcher stated that "evolution has hit upon" the answer, but evolution is an abstract concept and cannot be said to hit upon anything. The whole point about a belief in evolution is that it is impersonal and unguided. Evolutionists are inconsistent when they ascribe attributes of design to evolution, while ignoring the obvious evidence for the design of animals by God.
All of creation points to You, Lord – but does not convince those who have refused to acknowledge You as God. Please open the spiritually dead eyes of those who follow the blindness known as evolution. Amen.
O BLUE EYES
1 Corinthians 15:48-49
“As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”
It was singer Frank Sinatra who was known as Ol' Blue Eyes, because of the piercing color of his irises. But now evolutionary scientists are suggesting that those, who, like me, share Sinatra's eye color, might also share a common ancestor. Frank might be my cousin!
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen – where a lot of the local students probably have blue eyes – have suggested that the gene that causes blue eyes originated with a single individual between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.
"Originally, we all had brown eyes," said Professor Hans Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. "But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a 'switch,' which literally 'turned off' the ability to produce brown eyes."
Blue eyes have small amounts of melanin in them, whereas brown eyes are caused by larger amounts of the pigment. As a former high school teacher, I used eye color as a model to explain genetics; in particular, the difference between dominant and recessive genes, because the brown eye gene is dominant over the blue eye gene, so that someone with both genes will have brown eyes, not blue.
How these researchers have determined the timescale for this supposed mutation is not clear. And at least the researchers have not claimed that the change in eye color is any sort of evolutionary advance. From a biblical point of view, however, the timescale makes sense, except that we would say that all humans, of all eye colors, share a
common ancestor about 6,000 years ago, and that ancestor is Adam.
Your ways, Lord, are so much higher than our ways. Please give us the wisdom to follow Your word rather than the words of men. Amen.
1 Corinthians 15:48-49
“As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”
It was singer Frank Sinatra who was known as Ol' Blue Eyes, because of the piercing color of his irises. But now evolutionary scientists are suggesting that those, who, like me, share Sinatra's eye color, might also share a common ancestor. Frank might be my cousin!
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen – where a lot of the local students probably have blue eyes – have suggested that the gene that causes blue eyes originated with a single individual between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.
"Originally, we all had brown eyes," said Professor Hans Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. "But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a 'switch,' which literally 'turned off' the ability to produce brown eyes."
Blue eyes have small amounts of melanin in them, whereas brown eyes are caused by larger amounts of the pigment. As a former high school teacher, I used eye color as a model to explain genetics; in particular, the difference between dominant and recessive genes, because the brown eye gene is dominant over the blue eye gene, so that someone with both genes will have brown eyes, not blue.
How these researchers have determined the timescale for this supposed mutation is not clear. And at least the researchers have not claimed that the change in eye color is any sort of evolutionary advance. From a biblical point of view, however, the timescale makes sense, except that we would say that all humans, of all eye colors, share a
common ancestor about 6,000 years ago, and that ancestor is Adam.
Your ways, Lord, are so much higher than our ways. Please give us the wisdom to follow Your word rather than the words of men. Amen.
LIFE ON EARTH FROM METEORITES
Isaiah 45:18
"For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else."
Life on Earth began somewhere between 3.7 and 4.5 billion years ago, after meteorites splashed down and leached essential elements into warm little ponds, say scientists.
These scientists, from McMaster University, have run probability calculations and reckon that Earth life could have begun as ponds on Earth took in long-chain compounds from meteorites to form a sort of broth from which life could emerge.
This is really a new twist on the panspermia model. Panspermia is the idea that life on Earth was seeded from space, and the idea of molecules on meteorites has been a popular supposition for some time. In the current model, these scientists are not suggesting that the meteorites housed living cells, but rather that they added the right ingredient mix to the primordial soup of ancient Earth.
This research acknowledges that "DNA is too complex to have been the first aspect of life to emerge. It had to start with something else, and that is RNA."
Many scientists have begun to acknowledge the impossibility of evolution on Earth. But imagining that there was some sort of seeding from space, however vague, merely pushes the problem to another realm. How would the proposed long-chain molecules have developed on these meteorites? Or did the meteorites come from another source, such as Mars?
As is so often the case, research papers like these simply point out the fact that evolution has no answer to the problem of where life came from. In contrast, the Bible has a very clear answer.
Praise You, Lord, that You confound the wisdom of the world. True wisdom is only found in Your wonderful word. Amen.
Isaiah 45:18
"For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else."
Life on Earth began somewhere between 3.7 and 4.5 billion years ago, after meteorites splashed down and leached essential elements into warm little ponds, say scientists.
These scientists, from McMaster University, have run probability calculations and reckon that Earth life could have begun as ponds on Earth took in long-chain compounds from meteorites to form a sort of broth from which life could emerge.
This is really a new twist on the panspermia model. Panspermia is the idea that life on Earth was seeded from space, and the idea of molecules on meteorites has been a popular supposition for some time. In the current model, these scientists are not suggesting that the meteorites housed living cells, but rather that they added the right ingredient mix to the primordial soup of ancient Earth.
This research acknowledges that "DNA is too complex to have been the first aspect of life to emerge. It had to start with something else, and that is RNA."
Many scientists have begun to acknowledge the impossibility of evolution on Earth. But imagining that there was some sort of seeding from space, however vague, merely pushes the problem to another realm. How would the proposed long-chain molecules have developed on these meteorites? Or did the meteorites come from another source, such as Mars?
As is so often the case, research papers like these simply point out the fact that evolution has no answer to the problem of where life came from. In contrast, the Bible has a very clear answer.
Praise You, Lord, that You confound the wisdom of the world. True wisdom is only found in Your wonderful word. Amen.
NOT-SO-SMART IRRITATION
Psalm 119:11
“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
I am completely relaxed. I have my work under control. I have a cup of coffee with me. And Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony is playing in the background.
Then there is an ugly sound. It is a pinging sound, and it comes from my smartphone. It is a notification.
Now, I have gone to great trouble to turn off most of the notifications on my smartphone because they are irritating. But it could still be a message from SMS or Facebook Messenger. Of course, it might be welcome – it could be from one of my adult children and, therefore, will make me smile. But more than likely it is an irritant; somebody who wants a piece of my time. To be fair, they have no idea that I have tried to relax.
It seems I am not alone. Researchers at Nottingham Trent University in England have discovered that 32 percent of all smartphone notifications cause negative reactions to the recipients. How has this happened? Smartphones are supposed to make our lives easier. Why have they caused such stress to people?
Other notifications in our lives appear to come from above. These, too, sometimes cause us stress. God may be prompting us that our words to our spouses this morning were harsh and we need to repent, or maybe, as a father, I have exasperated my son.
There may be notifications from another place that I want to ignore, but I do not want to ignore what is from God – and the only way to know what is from God is to know what He says in Scripture.
Help us to store Your word in our hearts, Lord, that we might not sin against You. Keep us in Your path by causing us to follow Your word always. Amen.
Psalm 119:11
“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
I am completely relaxed. I have my work under control. I have a cup of coffee with me. And Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony is playing in the background.
Then there is an ugly sound. It is a pinging sound, and it comes from my smartphone. It is a notification.
Now, I have gone to great trouble to turn off most of the notifications on my smartphone because they are irritating. But it could still be a message from SMS or Facebook Messenger. Of course, it might be welcome – it could be from one of my adult children and, therefore, will make me smile. But more than likely it is an irritant; somebody who wants a piece of my time. To be fair, they have no idea that I have tried to relax.
It seems I am not alone. Researchers at Nottingham Trent University in England have discovered that 32 percent of all smartphone notifications cause negative reactions to the recipients. How has this happened? Smartphones are supposed to make our lives easier. Why have they caused such stress to people?
Other notifications in our lives appear to come from above. These, too, sometimes cause us stress. God may be prompting us that our words to our spouses this morning were harsh and we need to repent, or maybe, as a father, I have exasperated my son.
There may be notifications from another place that I want to ignore, but I do not want to ignore what is from God – and the only way to know what is from God is to know what He says in Scripture.
Help us to store Your word in our hearts, Lord, that we might not sin against You. Keep us in Your path by causing us to follow Your word always. Amen.
LIFE UNDER THE SUN
Ecclesiastes 12:1-2
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain.”
The Book of Ecclesiastes keeps on referencing the world "under the Sun". What does the writer mean by this?
The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes is referred to in Hebrew as Qohelet. This word describes an office rather than a name and refers to one who addresses a gathering, assembly, or congregation. Therefore, Qohelet is often roughly translated as teacher or preacher.
Qohelet is usually thought to be King Solomon because he describes himself as being the "son of David" and also places great emphasis on the use of wisdom. But in Ecclesiastes, he sometimes seems to despise wisdom. There is a reason for this. It is to do with the oft-repeated phrase "under the Sun". By this phrase, Qohelet is referring to life as it appears without reference to God. The implication is that we should not be living our lives "under the Sun". We should, instead, reference everything by God. When we fail to do so, simply trying to make our own way in the world, everything that we attempt is worthless – a vanity of vanities, or a grasping after the wind.
Qohelet pursues a series of arguments to show that every human endeavor "under the Sun" ends up being worthless. This is why he ends his book by urging "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth". It is when we understand that God is the Creator that we realize we should involve Him in every aspect of our lives. Then our lives have meaning and substance.
We know, Lord, that unbelievers do not acknowledge You as Sovereign. Forgive us when our attitude can be similar. We pray that You enable us to give You full control of our lives. Amen.
Ecclesiastes 12:1-2
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain.”
The Book of Ecclesiastes keeps on referencing the world "under the Sun". What does the writer mean by this?
The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes is referred to in Hebrew as Qohelet. This word describes an office rather than a name and refers to one who addresses a gathering, assembly, or congregation. Therefore, Qohelet is often roughly translated as teacher or preacher.
Qohelet is usually thought to be King Solomon because he describes himself as being the "son of David" and also places great emphasis on the use of wisdom. But in Ecclesiastes, he sometimes seems to despise wisdom. There is a reason for this. It is to do with the oft-repeated phrase "under the Sun". By this phrase, Qohelet is referring to life as it appears without reference to God. The implication is that we should not be living our lives "under the Sun". We should, instead, reference everything by God. When we fail to do so, simply trying to make our own way in the world, everything that we attempt is worthless – a vanity of vanities, or a grasping after the wind.
Qohelet pursues a series of arguments to show that every human endeavor "under the Sun" ends up being worthless. This is why he ends his book by urging "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth". It is when we understand that God is the Creator that we realize we should involve Him in every aspect of our lives. Then our lives have meaning and substance.
We know, Lord, that unbelievers do not acknowledge You as Sovereign. Forgive us when our attitude can be similar. We pray that You enable us to give You full control of our lives. Amen.
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