JOSHUA'S LONG ECLIPSE?
Joshua 10:13
“And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.”
One passage of the Bible that a lot of people stumble over is found in Joshua 10. The Israelites were engaged in a battle with Adonizedek, King of Jerusalem. In order to gain success, Joshua prayed to the Lord, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon.” As a result of this prayer, the sun stayed in the sky for a whole day. In other words, sunset to sunset lasted 48 hours instead of the normal 24.
Those who want to criticize the Bible maintain that this could not possibly have happened, posing problems such as people and objects flying off the Earth by inertia.
These problems are not really valid. The Earth would not have had to stop rotating. Perhaps it could have slowed to half its rotation speed, with a decent deceleration of a few minutes – though that is only speculation on my part.
Recently, a science news article has suggested that the account might refer to an eclipse rather than a change of movement. Scientists at Cambridge University point to an Annular Eclipse of the Sun on October 30, 1207 BC. However, this does not explain the length of the day. Moreover, Archbishop Ussher, careful researcher that he was, dates the event at 1451 BC, nearly 250 years earlier. While Ussher does allow for margin of error, he is unlikely to have been so far off.
Whatever the truth is, the Bible records the sun standing still as a real event. We can accept that truth even if we do not yet know how it happened.
Lord, we know that You are capable of all things. Nothing is impossible for You. Therefore, we know that what You have caused to be in the Bible must have happened just as You said that it did. Amen
Joshua 10:13
“And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.”
One passage of the Bible that a lot of people stumble over is found in Joshua 10. The Israelites were engaged in a battle with Adonizedek, King of Jerusalem. In order to gain success, Joshua prayed to the Lord, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon.” As a result of this prayer, the sun stayed in the sky for a whole day. In other words, sunset to sunset lasted 48 hours instead of the normal 24.
Those who want to criticize the Bible maintain that this could not possibly have happened, posing problems such as people and objects flying off the Earth by inertia.
These problems are not really valid. The Earth would not have had to stop rotating. Perhaps it could have slowed to half its rotation speed, with a decent deceleration of a few minutes – though that is only speculation on my part.
Recently, a science news article has suggested that the account might refer to an eclipse rather than a change of movement. Scientists at Cambridge University point to an Annular Eclipse of the Sun on October 30, 1207 BC. However, this does not explain the length of the day. Moreover, Archbishop Ussher, careful researcher that he was, dates the event at 1451 BC, nearly 250 years earlier. While Ussher does allow for margin of error, he is unlikely to have been so far off.
Whatever the truth is, the Bible records the sun standing still as a real event. We can accept that truth even if we do not yet know how it happened.
Lord, we know that You are capable of all things. Nothing is impossible for You. Therefore, we know that what You have caused to be in the Bible must have happened just as You said that it did. Amen
WATER INTO WINE
John 2:11
“This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.”
John records in his Gospel that the first miracle of Jesus was performed at the wedding at Cana in Galilee. During the course of the celebrations, they were found to have run out of wine. Jesus instructed the servants to fill six 20-gallon stone jars with water, and He turned this 120 gallons of water into wine.
I have watched people carry out conjuring tricks, where a glass of water is stirred with a wand, on which has been glued a crystal of potassium permanganate, which colors the water a deep red. Jesus did not do anything like this, because the wine was tasted, and found to be just that – wine.
Today’s wines might be just over 10% ethanol. Even if we allow that wines in biblical times were weaker, we can still assume that more than 5% of the water was turned into ethanol. That would be 6 gallons of ethanol.
Molecules of water are very different from molecules of the alcohol ethanol. Jesus had turned H2O into C2H5OH. This shows Jesus’ creative power. He must have made the carbon atoms in the wine from nothing. But then, He did create the whole universe at the beginning!
But there is more. The master of the feast declared that this was good wine. Good wine is that which has aged. The aging process involves some ethanol reacting with organic acids from the fruit to form delicately flavored and fragrant compounds called esters. But this process of esterification takes time; often several years. So Jesus was also showing that He is in control of the timing of things as well as their actual creation.
We know that all things were created by Jesus, through Jesus, for Jesus. We praise You for Your great creative power – that You are in control of everything. Amen.
John 2:11
“This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.”
John records in his Gospel that the first miracle of Jesus was performed at the wedding at Cana in Galilee. During the course of the celebrations, they were found to have run out of wine. Jesus instructed the servants to fill six 20-gallon stone jars with water, and He turned this 120 gallons of water into wine.
I have watched people carry out conjuring tricks, where a glass of water is stirred with a wand, on which has been glued a crystal of potassium permanganate, which colors the water a deep red. Jesus did not do anything like this, because the wine was tasted, and found to be just that – wine.
Today’s wines might be just over 10% ethanol. Even if we allow that wines in biblical times were weaker, we can still assume that more than 5% of the water was turned into ethanol. That would be 6 gallons of ethanol.
Molecules of water are very different from molecules of the alcohol ethanol. Jesus had turned H2O into C2H5OH. This shows Jesus’ creative power. He must have made the carbon atoms in the wine from nothing. But then, He did create the whole universe at the beginning!
But there is more. The master of the feast declared that this was good wine. Good wine is that which has aged. The aging process involves some ethanol reacting with organic acids from the fruit to form delicately flavored and fragrant compounds called esters. But this process of esterification takes time; often several years. So Jesus was also showing that He is in control of the timing of things as well as their actual creation.
We know that all things were created by Jesus, through Jesus, for Jesus. We praise You for Your great creative power – that You are in control of everything. Amen.
WILD DOGS OF AUSTRALIA
Genesis 1:25
“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.”
Most mammals in Australia are marsupials. That is one of the things that makes Australia so special to those of us elsewhere in the world who may never have been there. Think of Australia, and most of us think of kangaroos, koalas, and wombats. Placentals, like rats and rabbits, are normally pests, introduced in colonial times.
Yet, there is one placental mammal that is associated with Australia, as a typical wild animal. That is the wild dog known as the dingo. Dingoes are widespread across the continent. There are not many competitors to the dingo, as carnivores. Dingoes can, therefore, be a problem for livestock but are also considered useful in their depredation on rabbits.
It appears genetically that dingoes contain the mDNA haplotype A29. MDNA refers to mitochondrial DNA, always inherited from the mother, while a haplotype indicates a group of genes inherited from a single parent. Therefore, it can be assumed that all dingoes are descended from a single female. Of course, we know that, biblically, this will apply to all kinds of animals, but in the case of dingoes, this would appear to be a good deal more recent, generationally, than the animals which emerged from the Ark. This first dingo probably came from SE Asia, and was likely brought to Australia with human migration because the same haplotype is found in 70% of domestic dogs.
This makes dingoes a case study in miniature of how populations of animals could quickly migrate and establish their place in eco-systems after the Flood.
We are amazed at the wide variety of flora and fauna that You have placed in this world, Lord. We are grateful and thankful for Your abundant creativity. Amen.
Genesis 1:25
“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.”
Most mammals in Australia are marsupials. That is one of the things that makes Australia so special to those of us elsewhere in the world who may never have been there. Think of Australia, and most of us think of kangaroos, koalas, and wombats. Placentals, like rats and rabbits, are normally pests, introduced in colonial times.
Yet, there is one placental mammal that is associated with Australia, as a typical wild animal. That is the wild dog known as the dingo. Dingoes are widespread across the continent. There are not many competitors to the dingo, as carnivores. Dingoes can, therefore, be a problem for livestock but are also considered useful in their depredation on rabbits.
It appears genetically that dingoes contain the mDNA haplotype A29. MDNA refers to mitochondrial DNA, always inherited from the mother, while a haplotype indicates a group of genes inherited from a single parent. Therefore, it can be assumed that all dingoes are descended from a single female. Of course, we know that, biblically, this will apply to all kinds of animals, but in the case of dingoes, this would appear to be a good deal more recent, generationally, than the animals which emerged from the Ark. This first dingo probably came from SE Asia, and was likely brought to Australia with human migration because the same haplotype is found in 70% of domestic dogs.
This makes dingoes a case study in miniature of how populations of animals could quickly migrate and establish their place in eco-systems after the Flood.
We are amazed at the wide variety of flora and fauna that You have placed in this world, Lord. We are grateful and thankful for Your abundant creativity. Amen.
HOW FAST DO STALACTITES GROW?
Genesis 7:11a
"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up…"
For generations cave guides have been telling cave visitors that the stalagmites and stalactites that they see around them grow at incredibly low rates. The figure that is usually given is one inch per century for stalactites (they are the ones that hang down). That estimate, however, was not based on any scientific research. Even in the 1970s, the growth of these formations was not fully understood.
Now a group of scientists who believe in young Earth creationism has studied the chemistry of stalagmite and stalactite formation in actual cave conditions. They discovered that there are many variables in the growth of these formations. How much carbon dioxide dissolves in the water depends on temperature and pressure. The amount of carbon dioxide in the water can vary by a factor of five. The dissolved carbon dioxide turns the water acidic, causing it to dissolve calcium carbonate, that is, limestone. More turbulent water can dissolve more calcium carbonate. The same water under pressure can dissolve even more. Once the water seeps out of the cave ceiling, the pressure is relieved, the water evaporates, and the calcium carbonate begins to deposit to form the stalactite. Actual growth rates in actual caves have been observed as high as one inch every seven and a half days!
The violence and high pressures developed during the Genesis Flood would have provided the ideal conditions for producing a great deal of underground water supersaturated with calcium carbonate.
Dear Father, prosper true and right knowledge among us. Amen.
Genesis 7:11a
"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up…"
For generations cave guides have been telling cave visitors that the stalagmites and stalactites that they see around them grow at incredibly low rates. The figure that is usually given is one inch per century for stalactites (they are the ones that hang down). That estimate, however, was not based on any scientific research. Even in the 1970s, the growth of these formations was not fully understood.
Now a group of scientists who believe in young Earth creationism has studied the chemistry of stalagmite and stalactite formation in actual cave conditions. They discovered that there are many variables in the growth of these formations. How much carbon dioxide dissolves in the water depends on temperature and pressure. The amount of carbon dioxide in the water can vary by a factor of five. The dissolved carbon dioxide turns the water acidic, causing it to dissolve calcium carbonate, that is, limestone. More turbulent water can dissolve more calcium carbonate. The same water under pressure can dissolve even more. Once the water seeps out of the cave ceiling, the pressure is relieved, the water evaporates, and the calcium carbonate begins to deposit to form the stalactite. Actual growth rates in actual caves have been observed as high as one inch every seven and a half days!
The violence and high pressures developed during the Genesis Flood would have provided the ideal conditions for producing a great deal of underground water supersaturated with calcium carbonate.
Dear Father, prosper true and right knowledge among us. Amen.
SURVIVAL OF THE MOST COOPERATIVE
Hebrews 13:6
“So we may boldly say: 'The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
"Survival of the fittest" is an essential principle of evolution. This principle has not only been applied to animals, but also to human beings, as a social theory.
Scientists, however, are learning that cooperation among animals is more often the rule. Researchers studied seven pairs of unrelated capuchin monkeys in the lab to see if they would cooperate. The monkey pairs were then placed in an enclosure, one on each side of a mesh screen. Two clear bowls of apple slices were placed on trays designed to be accessible to the monkeys when they pulled on a bar.
However, the acquired food would be given only to one of the monkeys. When the bar was set so that both monkeys had to pull on it to get the food, the monkey that received the food shared with his helper. When the bar was set so that one monkey could access the apple slices, he generally didn't share. Clearly, the monkey who came into control of the food with help, felt that it was his duty to reward his helper. Instead of talking about "survival of the fittest," one researcher spoke about the "deep evolutionary roots of cooperation." Unfortunately for evolutionary scientists, real science very often gives good evidence that contradicts the theory of evolution, but we seldom hear of this.
God has designed the creation so that we sometimes need help, or have the opportunity to help others. He did this to remind us that He is our ultimate Helper.
Dear Father, I trust You to help me even when I don't know I need help. Amen.
Hebrews 13:6
“So we may boldly say: 'The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
"Survival of the fittest" is an essential principle of evolution. This principle has not only been applied to animals, but also to human beings, as a social theory.
Scientists, however, are learning that cooperation among animals is more often the rule. Researchers studied seven pairs of unrelated capuchin monkeys in the lab to see if they would cooperate. The monkey pairs were then placed in an enclosure, one on each side of a mesh screen. Two clear bowls of apple slices were placed on trays designed to be accessible to the monkeys when they pulled on a bar.
However, the acquired food would be given only to one of the monkeys. When the bar was set so that both monkeys had to pull on it to get the food, the monkey that received the food shared with his helper. When the bar was set so that one monkey could access the apple slices, he generally didn't share. Clearly, the monkey who came into control of the food with help, felt that it was his duty to reward his helper. Instead of talking about "survival of the fittest," one researcher spoke about the "deep evolutionary roots of cooperation." Unfortunately for evolutionary scientists, real science very often gives good evidence that contradicts the theory of evolution, but we seldom hear of this.
God has designed the creation so that we sometimes need help, or have the opportunity to help others. He did this to remind us that He is our ultimate Helper.
Dear Father, I trust You to help me even when I don't know I need help. Amen.
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