by “You may find it hard to believe that God could make everything out of nothing, but the alternative is that nothing turned itself into everything. Which takes more faith to believe?”
I took the above quote out of the highly believable and thought-provoking book I’m currently reading: One Heartbeat Away, Your Journey Into Eternity by Mark Cahill. Though this book is not solely about Evolution, it is about finding answers. Cahill does an excellent job countering arguments for the culture’s most common complaints about God and the Bible. Consider a visit to his website, get a copy of his book(s) and get to reading/witnessing! His enthusiasm and compassion for God and the lost is contagious…
A few more quotes taken from One Heartbeat Away:
“You will never hear of a tornado ripping through a junk yard and leaving a fully formed 747 jet, a Mercedes, and a skyscraper in its wake. Why? Blind chance cannot do that.” p. 23
“If you placed all the pieces of a watch into a shoe box and shook it for ten minutes, do you believe it would shake into a functioning watch? Of course not. What if you shook it for a year?” Would a functioning box then come out of the box? Say you were able to shake it for five billion years; would you then have a functioning watch? There is no possible way for that to happen.
And if it couldn’t happen by chance to something relatively simple like a watch, it most certainly couldn’t happen by chance to our magnificently complex universe.” p. 23
It amazes me what the evolutionary theory proposes about birds for instance. Take this on macroevolution from Wikipedia:
“An example of macro evolution is the appearance of feathers during the evolution of birds from one group of dinosaurs.”
This has always astounded me, the claim that birds evolved from dinosaurs. That reptilian scales evolved into feathers. Are there records of fossil scales that even partially resemble a feather? Not to mention that my girls and I recently revisited information from our science textbook showing that birds have four chambers in their hearts, while reptiles have only three. That’s quite a feat. What are the scientific odds?
If the fossil record is where the major evidence supporting evolution lies, then forget about “one missing link”–there must be thousands of missing links. Shouldn’t there be fossils galore of species in transition on their way to becoming new species? I’m not a scientist, but to my way of thinking, if this earth is billions of years old, then there should be millions of creature fossils that are halfway evolved. Part-bird, part-reptile, etc. Where are they?
Mark Cahill explains God’s design as seen in nature so eloquently,
“Every time we look at something built by man–a house for example–we know it had a builder, someone who assembled it. When we see something that has design, like a watch, we know it had a designer who planned it. When we see artwork, like a painting, we know there is an artist who painted it. When we observe order–say twenty Coke cups lined up in a row–we know there was an ‘orderer’ who set them up that way. When we look around the universe at things not made by man, what do we see? We see creation, design, art, and order. So if everything man-made has a Creator, designer, artist, and orderer behind it, why would we not think that there is a Creator, designer, artist, and orderer behind the universe?” pgs. 15-16
Cahill proceeds to tell of a street conversation he had with a self-proclaimed atheist, in which he asked the man to prove that a nearby skyscraper had a builder.
“The man answered, ‘That’s easy. The building itself is proof that there is a builder.’
He was 100 percent correct. We know that you don’t just gather some concrete, pipes, windows, paint, wires, etc., then turn around and look back to suddenly find a building. A building requires a builder.
I said, ‘Exactly. The building requires a builder.’ I then added, ‘The sun, the moon, the stars, the oceans, the sand, each unique snowflake, the three billion pieces of your DNA that are different from mine, are absolute proof that there had to be a Creator of this universe.'”
A few sentences later he continued,
“Just because you can’t see, touch, taste, smell or hear the builder of a skyscraper doesn’t mean that such a person doesn’t exist. You don’t need any amazing faith to believe there was a builder of a building you can see; you just need to look at the evidence and make an informed decision. And the best piece of evidence is the work that builder left behind.” p. 18
One Heartbeat Away is a resource we all need to own. If you visit Mark Cahill’s website, you’ll see his heart for God even extends to making this resource available for free to those who can’t afford it. That speaks volumes to me about his motivation for the lost. For more about his books and discs–this book is available as an MP3 Audio Book CD as well–visit http://www.markcahill.org.
And remember, Evolution isn’t the basis of this book, it’s just the topic I zeroed in on for this blog post. Mark also covers:
- New Age issues, among other religious beliefs
- How historical, archaeological, and scientific evidence supports the Bible
- Testimonies of people who have seen Heaven and Hell
- How the Ten Commandments are necessary and for our benefit
- The expensive cost of sin, and how we are all guilty
- Why Jesus is the perfect sacrifice that pays for our sin once and for all
- The how-to’s and importance of repentance, belief, commitment, and evangelism
- What God says about you as a Christian
- How to let your light shine for Him
Please pass the word along, and be encouraged!
Printed with permission from Mark Cahill
Wow, Mary, thanks for posting about this!
I especially love the reference to the watch in a box. Actually, I love all the references. I am going to go to Mark’s site and check this out for myself! It always amazes me to find people who think we just appeared out of nothing or that we started as apes. It makes perfect sense that we have a Creator!
Be blessed!
Julie’s last blog post..My Hubby
I’m continually impressed at how many books you’re able to read! Great post.
You’re both welcome! I hope you get the book and catch the vision Mark has…he has an ability to relate to people in a non-threatening, matter-of-fact way…this book is a great tool to reach the lost!
And Colleen, I read really fast! Plus my copy was on loan from a friend…so I was wanting to get it back to her.
People think birds evolved from dinosaurs? I never heard that one before. Seriously it always amazes me how evolutionists think the earth came from a big bang or one cell started it all or whatever. To me, God has such an amazing imagination – each thing we have here on earth or in the universe has it’s own function and unique way of living and growing. It just blows me away!
Amy’s last blog post..Gardening with Moosey
I wish I was faster with reading! I tend to read EVERY word! Glad you enjoyed the book and got it back to your friend!
Amy, I know, the first time I heard that theory–of birds evolving from reptiles, all I could picture was a little lizard running flapping his arms really hard until eventually they grew wings! Not really a lightbulb moment. Creation blows me away too, there are so many fascinating creatures, and really there are scientific scriptures in the Old Testament talking about how the earth is round, and relating the speed of light to the way sound is carried. That is AWESOME and amazing stuff.
Colleen, this book was so enjoyable the words just flew by!
Time is definitely the crutch a lot of Evolutionists use. Because of time and missing evidence they can claim just about anything because there really isn’t concrete proof to say that they’re wrong either.
It really comes down to what you believe about the world rather than evidence. I’m glad to see another Christian talking about this, though!
Good point on there being no concrete proof either way, MIn. But it seems if this earth really is millions of years old…there would be plenty of evolutional evidence by now. I’m excited about the movie coming out in a week: Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Finally someone voicing the outrageous silencing of Creation Scientists in our nations colleges and universities, etc. I doubt it comes to our small town, but we can hope!
“People think birds evolved from dinosaurs?”
Yes. And the recent NOVA program about the four-winged dinosaur was very interesting.
“there really isn’t concrete proof to say that they’re wrong either.”
Correct. The fossil record shows that evolution is obviously true. But the genetic evidence is even stronger. It’s hard to find “concrete proof” against something that is so obviously true. Human tracks right beside dinosaur tracks? Elephant bones in the Cambrian? Chimpanzee genes that are 50% different from human genes? And they did predict Tiktaalik.
“It really comes down to what you believe about the world rather than evidence.”
Yes. Either you believe in religion or you believe in science. But science is about evidence and reality and religion is about non-reality. Do you want scientists or priests to make medical advances?
“outrageous silencing of Creation Scientists”
Yes, it’s really hard to understand why the scientists don’t want religion taught in their biology classrooms.
And with their books, articles, blogs, and a movie, they are almost completely silent except for all the silly noise they are making.
Hi ONEIN6BILLION,
Sorry I didn’t have time to respond earlier, but I appreciate your comments. We can say what we want to about “religion”…there are many religions out there, but I’m referring to Biblical Christianity, which to Christians, is more of a relationship than a religion.
The Bible is the basis of our faith, and it’s overflowing with historically accurate details, details that are are being proven by archaeological finds, fossil records, etc. And yes, passages in scripture unfold scientific details about our universe, details that for many years weren’t “scientifically proven” by the popular science culture…facts about the countless number of stars in the sky, the earth being round and hanging in space, verses comparing the speed of light to radio waves–all of this from a book written 2,000+ years ago. And it’s the only “religious book” claimed to be written by God speaking to men. As many as 24,000 ancient copies of the New Testament have been found…the next closest on record is 643 copies of Homer’s Iliad.
To say science and the Bible don’t mix is a false statement. To say that the fossil record shows evolution as being obviously true is also a false statement. There is nothing obvious about the evidence pointing to evolution.
Consider the incredible evidence for Intelligent Design, taken from Mark Cahill’s book, One Heartbeat Away (and available for free on his website!):
*the earth is positioned at just the right distance from the sun so that we receive exactly the proper amount of heat to support life. The other planets of our solar system are either too close to the sun (too hot) or else too far (too cold) to sustain life.
*any appreciable change in the rate of rotation of the earth would make life impossible. Fore example, if the earth were to rotate at 1/10th its present rate, all plant life would either be burned to a crisp during the day or frozen at night.
*temperature variations are kept within reasonable limits due to the nearly circular orbit of the earth around the sun.
*the moon revolves around the earth at a distance of about 240,000 miles, causing harmless tides on the earth. If the moon were located 1/5th of this distance away, the continents would be completely submerged twice a day!
*The thickness of the earth’s crust and the depth of the oceans appear to be carefully designed. Increases in thickness or depth of only a few feet would so drastically alter the absorption of free oxygen and carbon dioxide that plant and animal life could not exist.
*the earth’s axis is tilted 23 degrees from the perpendicular to the plane of its orbit. This tilting, combined with the earth’s revolution around the sun, causes our seasons, which are absolutely essential for the raising of food supplies.
*the earth’s atmosphere (especially the ozone layer) serves as a protective shield from lethal solar ultraviolet radiation, which would otherwise destroy all life.
*the earth’s atmosphere also serves to protect the earth by burning up approximately twenty million meteors each day that enter it at speeds of about 30 miles per second! Without this crucial protection, the danger to life would be immense.
*the two primary constituents of the earth’s atmosphere are nitrogen (78%)and oxygen (20%). This delicate and critical ratio is essential to all life forms.
*the earth’s magnetic field provides important protection from harmful cosmic radiation.
NASA Astronomers, astrophysicists, Nobel prize winners in the physics arena, Einstein and others have been quoted saying that a universe like ours could not have evolved by chance.
Then there are all the Evolution-defying creatures! There is a series of three DVDs available at Wal-Mart called Creatures that Defy Evolution…amazing creatures like the Bombardier Beetle, the Giraffe, ticks and many more. Their design, what they are capable of points to a designer-Creator. If nothing else, check the Bombardier Beetle out, it’s so amazing that scientists are learning from it: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401170543.htm
I could go on all day about this subject, but if you’re truly interested, get a copy of Mark Cahill’s book, the one I recommended and linked to in the above post. He thoroughly covers any possible argument to Creation/God in a conversational read that is unparalleled. I know you’re sold on evolution, but get the book anyway and test it yourself for whether it stands on logical facts or on “religion”.
No matter what, follow the evidence! 🙂
“it’s overflowing with historically accurate details”
Well, I’m sorry – I do not own a time machine and the currently known laws of physics indicate that creating a time machine would be impossible. So pardon me if I disregard a silly old book of stories. It just doesn’t seem to come up to my standards of “scientific evidence”.
“a copy of Mark Cahill’s book”
No, thanks. My time of this Earth is limited and I do not choose to waste any of it reading this nonsense.
“whether it stands on logical facts or on “religion”.”
I can tell from what you have quoted that it stands on neither. It is obviously true that this Earth is suitable for life and there is life on this Earth. If this Earth were not suitable for life, we would not be wasting energy talking about it. So his “arguments”, like those of The Privileged Planet that Gonzalez wasted his time on (when he should have been doing astronomy in an attempt to gain tenure) mean nothing.
“Consider the incredible evidence for Intelligent Design”
Nonsense. Consider our incredible good fortune to be here at this time instead of two centuries ago or two centuries from now. So what? You can’t look around you and say “I’m so lucky” and claim that proves “intelligent design”. Maybe you’re just lucky. A certain sperm met a certain egg and nothing went too terribly wrong and here you are. And due to modern medicine you lived through that traffic accident or life-threatening disease? So what?
“This delicate and critical ratio is essential to all life forms.”
Oopsie – there were quite a few life forms on this planet before that N/O ratio was achieved. They had to evolve in order to survive. Evolution is obvious.
And there are life forms at the bottom of the sea that live on H2S. The N/O ratio is good for animals, but plants don’t really care all that much. Something about CO2?
“the earth’s magnetic field provides important protection from harmful cosmic radiation.”
Maybe so, but it’s “gone to zero” many times in the past and it’s getting weaker at present, so it’s likely to go to zero in another few thousand years.
“Then there are all the Evolution-defying creatures!”
ROTFLOL You accept such silly creationist lies.
“Bombardier Beetle”
God so loved beetles that he made 100,000 different species of them alone! Well, many of those species will survive long after homo sapiens is extinct (or has evolved into something a lot more intelligent than Ben Stein I hope).
Well, if nothing else, I enjoyed your humorous take on my facts, One-in-Six. I see that you’re as convinced for evolution as I am for creation, yet you’re not providing any facts as evidence that make sense as I’ve been trying to do. Rather, you’re throwing in time machines (who said anything about time machines?) and *luck* and totally disregarding anything scientific that I’ve mentioned because you don’t want to admit that there’s anything to it. That’s your prerogative. It seems a pretty hopeless stand to me, to think that we’re here for whatever we can squeeze out of each moment never knowing when it will all come to a screeching halt or where the evolutionary process will take the human race. What if you’re wrong? That’s a BIG what if. IF there is a place called hell for those that don’t *buy* into Intelligent Design, is it going to go away if you choose to ignore it being a possibility? If there isn’t a heaven or hell, and this earth is a huge marvelous accident evolving its way around the universe, then no big deal.
I’m not basing my faith in Christ on the Bible alone, or historical/scientific evidence alone, though these are key factors backed up by significant discoveries in recent years…I know God is real because of what He’s done actively in my life that could not be a matter of chance. I don’t expect you to understand, and fully expect your derisive comebacks…none of that matters to me as much as knowing that you’ve made your choice, and are fiercely guarding your position…seemingly without weighing the evidence on both sides fairly. That’s a lot of faith in pure chance, my friend.
“you’re not providing any facts”
Google “talk origins” and go read the facts.
“scientific that I’ve mentioned”
I don’t think you mentioned anything scientific.
“IF there is a place called hell”
Silly anti-science nonsense.
“then no big deal.”
Yep – I’m just one more out of 6 billion or so.
“That’s a lot of faith in pure chance”
Another typical nonsense statement.
We obviously disagree on what is or is not considered scientific. To say the least.
One of the most striking bits of logic that I’ve read recently followed this line of thought. What is it that keeps the Universe uniform? In a Christian Worldview, we believe that God has promised to keep the Earth uniform in its seasons, to keep everything consistent. But what is there in Evolution theory to promise that that which happened yesterday and today will continue to behave the same tomorrow?
Why, oneinsixbillion, should we assume that yesterday and today will be the same as tomorrow? On what basis if not Genesis?
You cannot say “because it always has”, because that’s circular reasoning. You’d be trying to prove something by using an assumption based on what you’re trying to prove.
You could try to say that it was a property of the Universe– but that’s flawed on a couple of grounds. First, perhaps it is, but that’s not the question. The question is why. Second, the best you could possibly do is to say that the Universe has seemed to be uniform in the past, but that says nothing about the future. Many things about nature change, how can we assume that the laws of nature will not?
So how do you make sense of uniformity? Obviously Creationists have a reason, but all the Evolutionist has is “this is the way that it has always been.” It’s irrational.
In this case, Evolution is actually the anti-science, because science actually is based on a uniformity that is irrational in an Evolutionist worldview because evolution has no reason by which to assume that the Universe will continue to be uniform.
Thanks for presenting these thoughts, MIn, what a rational and well-presented argument. And I checked out the theaters near us, several are playing Expelled! Can’t imagine us having the time to get to a showing in the next week (before it fades away!) but here’s hoping!
“What is it that keeps the Universe uniform?”
Of course this is a really stupid “why” question. “Why” is the universe “uniform” instead of “non-uniform”? How many “non-uniform” universes have you observed? Why should anything be required to “keep” this universe “uniform”?
“Why should we assume that yesterday and today will be the same as tomorrow?”
Because all of our actual observations are consistent with this assumption. For example, the astronomical observations of evolving stars and galaxies over the last 14 billion years are consistent with unchanging laws of physics during that time.
“On what basis if not Genesis?”
Of course “Genesis” is irrelevant. If it agrees with observations, it is irrelevant. If it disagrees, it is wrong.
“The question is why.”
Unfortunately, even though humans have some compulsion to ask “why”, there are many questions for which there will never be a good answer. “Why” does this universe even exist? “Why” is the force of gravity just so? You are welcome to choose a silly religious answer, but that does not mean that that answer has any scientific or philosophical significance.
“how can we assume that the laws of nature will not?”
I’m ready to make a wager over the next 12 months. How would we determine if I’ve won or lost? If the sun goes out? If all the earth satellites fly off into space? If electro-magnetic motors stop working? If photo-synthesis stops? If hot things get hotter and cold things get colder? If gasoline fails to explode? Seems like there are a lot of ways I could lose. LOL
“It’s irrational.”
ROTFLOL Look who’s calling something irrational.
“evolution has no reason by which to assume that the Universe will continue to be uniform.”
It would certainly seem to be irrational to base this fundamental scientific assumption on a silly religious book. If we don’t “believe” your book, we are not allowed to use this assumption? LOL
“showing in the next week”
As of May 17, it’s gone and the total revenues for 4 weeks were about 1/2 of what they were hoping for for the opening weekend.
“And if it couldn’t happen by chance to something relatively simple like a watch, it most certainly couldn’t happen by chance to our magnificently complex universe.”
He puts such nonsense in a book and you think this is intelligent? You have been bamboozled.
“We obviously disagree on what is or is not considered scientific.”
I do not think that you know what you are trying to talk about.
“I’m not a scientist, but … blah blah blah”
Suspicion confirmed.
“why would we not think that there is a Creator, designer, artist, and orderer behind the universe?”
Why indeed? Humans have obviously evolved to be superstitious and this is a really good example. Gods cause thunder and lightning. Gods cause the weather – let’s pray for rain (like a Georgia governor). Gods cause sickness – let’s pray for recovery.
Such “common sense” thinking that has evolved over the last 50,000 years is silly nonsense. Just because you “think” there is a god “behind” the universe does not make it so. “Appearance” of design is in the eye of the beholder, not reality.
“I appreciate your comments.”
Why do you “appreciate” someone pointing out your denial of reality?
One in Six Billion,
I’m sorry, but it’s obvious that this viewpoint of yours is going nowhere on my site. If anything, it’s allowed me to see how relying on sarcasm and unfounded attacks to prove your theory really doesn’t help a person come across as credible. We’ve tried to keep this a civil conversation, but you will have none of it.
I’m going to have to ask that we close this topic for now.