I Believe in Evolution (There is a God pt 5)

‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.   Acts 17:28-29

My thoughts:
Truth is truth, and fact is fact.  Our role is to determine what is truth and fact vs. what is hypothesis and fallacy.  This is why we ask questions when faced with challenges to our faith.  Over the last few weeks we’ve looked at a few different examples of how to address certain challenges that continuously attempt to disprove the existence of God.  This week, I am looking at another area, which I learned from supporting RDOF Ministries (www.facebook.com/rdof ) and that is the area of evolution.

Evolution is a fact.  We can all say that with confidence, yet everyone of us are afraid of the word itself, because we believe it implies that the human evolved from an ape.  What you need to realize is that there are many types of evolution, and although the 21^st century education system will try to lump it all into that belief, the reality is that things do evolve.  Daryl Youngblood has taught us that there are at least 4 basic types of evolution:  Micro-evolution, Microbial-evolution, Chemical-evolution and Macro-evolution.

Micro-evolution: variation within a species over a period of time, generally to adapt to it’s environment.  Examples might include moths, bird beaks, salamander spots or even guppies adapting to .  There is common acceptance across all sectors (religious or science) that Micro-evolution is indeed a fact, but does NOT create a new species.

Microbial-evolution: genetically driven changes that occur in microorganisms and that are retained over time.  Examples might include viruses, bacteria and parasites.  This is well-known in the pharmaceutical industry and is indeed a fact, but it does NOT create a new type of micro-organism it simply changes an existing one.

That brings us to Chemical-evolution: also know as Abiogenesis (as I discussed last week)- the unproven theory that non-living chemicals can create life.  There is no factual evidence of this type of evolution and therefore we must say that it is false.

Finally, we have Macro-evolution: the gradual transformation of one species into another (example: apes to man, dinosaurs into birds and wolves into whales.  This has never been observed, but is at the heart of the Atheist’s argument, based on the Darwin book “Origin of the Species” theory of Natural Selection.  It is presented as a fact in most of their dialogues, yet there is no evidence or observable proof to substantiate it.

So, as you can see it is okay to agree with evolution, but it is important to carry the conversation on to the next level.  What type of evolution are you referring to?  If one says Macro-evolution or Chemical-evolution; then it begs a deeper discussion.

If we are to be convinced that indeed our genetic code, through Natural Selection, has caused us to evolve there are several things that must happen (from a scientific perspective).  In the Natural Selection process, every change must provide a unique and beneficial advantage over the previous design in order to be retained in all future generations.  If it actually happened that we evolved from apes, or whales from wolves, then where are the failed, older designs that natural selection refused.  Are we to assume that this genetic process of natural selection can see into the future and adapt something unknown, in it’s complete, detailed and perfect function on the first try?  If we evolved from apes to mankind, why are there still apes?  They would have been discarded by Natural Selection as an inferior representation.  Also, think about the bone structure differences and eye differences, nose, brain cavity, heart cavity, etc. that all must have evolved over time.  Which one evolved first, and what was the benefit of the first phase of that evolution?  Every change must represent a benefit or it is discarded by natural selection.

These simple questions to dig a little deeper usually finds the antagonist searching for answers and questioning their own understanding.  You see, they will claim that you must prove God exists, when in reality, they should be proving that He doesn’t.  The only way all of these complex animals and life forms could exist at the same time is because they were created by intelligent design, not by randomness.

Feel free to check out Daryl’s teachings on http://www.rdof.org .  I highly recommend watching the video Evolution & God: Fossils, Fallacies and Facts.  God Bless.
     

Be Blessed,

Rich

 

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Don’t Forget to Live (pt 4 of 7)

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
Psalm 139:13-14

My thoughts:
Over the last week or so I’ve been trying to help you understand that we don’t have to argue with Atheists when confronted, but rather simply ask questions that allow them to see things from a different light.  This brings to the forefront how science and God are not at odds with each other, but perfectly in line, when honest and openly thought through.

Take a moment and do this simple trick for me as you read this. 
Stop breathing….stop…hold on…keep holding your breath…watch the seconds tick by.   How long could you hold your breath, before your brain forced you to inhale again?  Why?  Where did that instruction come from?  Did you have to think about breathing or did your body just force you to do it?
You see, we must breath in order to survive.  The cells of our body require Oxygen, and when it is absent negative consequences begin destroying cells in brain, which can then lead to stroke or an aneurism.  The red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body, which result in healthy organs, circulation, muscle motion and cell regeneration.   So, if it is completely through evolution that this all became real, where did the original design and purpose come from?  How frequently do you tell yourself to breath?  If you are like 99.9% of the world’s population, it is never.

Now, intentionally focus on how many times you blink while you read the rest of this blog.  Your nervous system is telling your eyelids to close over your eyeball for multiple reasons.  Most of us are correct to think it is to help hydrate our eyes, but it’s so much more than just that.  We do need moisture in our eye sockets for your eyeball to move up/down and side to side.  The blinking of eyes will help distribute that liquid evenly over the surface and protect the eye from dust, debris and irritation.  But, did you realize it is also a way for your brain to regain focus, to stimulate an internal timer, to capture and relay a snapshot of a given moment, to calm one’s emotions or to simply allow one’s brain to rest for a 100 milliseconds or so?  Every time you blink, all of these things take place.  Yet, I’ll bet you never once in your entire life told yourself to blink.  Even on those really windy days, where dust is flying; you instinctively squint your eyes, and even close them for a longer period of time than a normal blink.  You didn’t have to think about doing it, it just happens. 

“Tell your heart to beat again.” was the line from a song a few years back from Christian artist and American Idol winner, Danny Gokey (written by Bernie Herms, Randy Phillips and Matthew West).  It tells the story that when we are heartbroken, we sometimes have to remind our heart to beat again and that it will be okay.  It helps us focus on the fact that God has carried us through troubles in our life and will continue to carry forward in our life.  It also reminds me that my heart gives me life.  It is the engine, the driver of function for the rest of my body.  Blood flows through my body, because my heart beats 72 times a minute (or so).  It increases the blood flow automatically when I am stressed or working out, and slows it down when I’m sleeping.  I’m not ever telling it to pump blood, it just does it.  There is no life unless blood is pumping through the brain, the cells, the nervous system, the lymph nodes, the organs, etc. etc.   You can be brain dead and still be alive, but when the heart stops, everything else stops with it.

This simple test was to help you realize, that you are not in control of your own bodily functions; and it’s not through a random formation of cells and molecules that these three simple functions came into fruition.  They were designed to work perfectly for a given purpose – to sustain life.  You are an amazingly complex creation that required an intelligent design, not an act of random, happenchance circumstance.  If indeed, the Atheist continues to believe that all of this evolved randomly over time to become this perfect, intricate design; we need simply ask them how did our predecessors survive during this evolutionary process?  How did the blood flow through their bodies before the heart existed?  How did the lungs draw in the exact amount of oxygen for sustainable life and exhale out the exact amount of carbon dioxide without the brain instinctively giving the instructions?  How did our earliest evolutionary ancestors see and keep their eyes from drying in socket?

We were created by an intelligent, purposeful maker, known to most as God, the Father.  If someone wants to say there is no proof of that, ask them, where is the proof of life sustainability before the heart, brain, lungs and eyes evolved.  There is none.  Every animal has some form of these organs which help sustain their life.  At some point they were created.  For even if they evolved; and hypothetically we evolved from them; the same problem existed.  Even the earliest evolved form of life had to survive before it could evolve.  Help them understand how little proof there is for any of their hypothesis on the evolution of life.

Be Blessed,

Rich

 

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Is There a God (pt 1 of 7)

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made”   Genesis 2:1-2

My thoughts:

The age old question that has stumped mankind for 100’s if not thousands of years.  Which came first the chicken or the egg?  If you do not believe in a divine creator that made all things, there is no way to answer this question.  For you see, if the egg came first, then how was the egg created?  If the chicken came first, how did it come to be?  This simple illustration helps us better understand that something must have created the final product (in this case a chicken) from nothing.  Now the question is, can something be created by nothing?

In the RDOF ministry we are learning to ask questions when facing the debate on is there an intelligent designer (God) or are we simply random compilation of cells and molecules that function perfectly together?  Daryl Youngblood, leads this ministry, and teaches that God and Science can co-exist and actually God is a huge part of science.  Scientists and Atheists will debate that there is no God, because there is no evidence of God.

If we are honest with ourselves and not reacting on an emotional level, we must look around and see all that has been created.  The Bible tells us that God created the world in 6 days and then rested on the 7^th day, saying “the heavens and earth were finished”, rested from creation.  In these 6 days He created atoms, molecules, cells, natural elements, life, water, land, blood, DNA and how all of these interact with each other.  He created the heart, the lungs, the liver, kidneys, neural network, blood cells, arteries, veins, plasma, bone, bone marrow, toe nails, hair, eyes, lips, tongues, tastebuds, ears, skin cells, nerve endings, reproductive organs, intestines, bladder, uterus, ovaries, mammory glands, oxygen, carbon dioxide and water to sustain the life he created.  Seriously, think about it.  All of these things must require on the other in order to function, so how could they evolve from nothing. 

For if an eye evolved into an organ for vision, how did we see before it evolved, and how did we know we needed to be able to see?  Which came first the heart or the arteries and capillaries?  Just like the chicken and egg – if the heart evolved first, then what was it’s purpose if the arteries, veins and capillaries didn’t exist.  But if the arteries came first, what was their purpose if there was no heart to pump the blood through the arteries.  Did the entire cardiac system evolve in an instant?  For if it did it over time, how was life sustained during that process? 

You see, we are taught to ask questions.  Don’t ridicule the science community or atheist community for their choice to deny the obvious, but pose questions to let them come to an understanding of how their logic is flawed.  Over the next week I will be on vacation, but taking time to probe on some of these deeper thoughts.  I hope you find them useful in your walk with the Lord.  We ought not shy away from atheists, but enter into conversation with respect and the truth.  You are an ambassador for the Lord, now’s the time to serve His purpose.  I strongly suggest you take a look at WWW.RDOF.ORG  for additional methods of defending the faith and questioning the critics.

Be Blessed,

Rich

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The Apathetic World Around Us

Apathy – lack of interest in or concern for things that others find moving or exciting

Would you say that there is a feeling of apathy toward God in the world today?  I have seen an increasing feeling of ambivalence and apathy regarding the deep spiritual meaning of life.  “I don’t care if there is heaven and hell.”, “I’m living for today and what’s in it for me.”, “This is all there is, if there is something after this life, I don’t have any control of that, so it is what it is.”  These are all statements from individuals when posed with the simple question, “Do you believe in Heaven?” 

What is happening to cause individuals to disregard their eternal presence as the most important decision they have to make?  The world view has a tendency to discredit anything that cannot be proven within the infinitely small perspective that we as humans have of what is really happening around us.  According to an Albert Einstein quote, we humans use less than 10% of our brain’s capacity.  Hollywood made a movie last year called “Lucy”, which expanded on this very topic.  I am not promoting this movie, nor condoning it’s message, but simply stating that we are led to believe that we are brilliant, genius and scientifically advanced enough to answer life’s most complex questions.  When actually, we are extremely shallow in our knowledge and wisdom of what is really happening around us, by our inability to use the fullness of “grey matter” provided by our Creator.

If indeed we are incapable of using the fullness of our brain’s power, than how can we even begin to believe we can interpret the true complexities of this world.  Where does water originate from?  Who formed the first grain of sand?  What force began the world spinning endlessly upon it’s axis and holds it perfectly in place in the vast universe?  Who taught the ant to reproduce?  These are just a few of the questions that mankind has no intelligent, defendable answers for.  Therefore we say it just happened during a massive energy explosion billions of years ago.  By stating this, they have determined themselves that it is beyond our limited knowledge, so it must have been a random chaotic event that started it all.

Doesn’t it take an enormous amount of faith in the unknown to believe this tale?  Part of the world’s apathy toward God and eternal things is their inability to know, without complete evidence, that it is truthful. Because it takes significant faith to trust that God is real and that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins, so we may join Him in Heaven one day; when there is no physical evidence one can see with our eyes.  Many need that 100% confirmation before they can believe, and without it have chosen to believe in something so extraordinary and unexplainable as the Big Bang and theory of evolution from primordial soup. 

Do you not see that it requires extreme faith to believe the human body, muscle structure, bones, nervous system, senses, hair follicles, brain matter, organs, etc are all by chance and evolved from organisms in the slime following the so-called Big Bang.  Seriously.  Where did that original super-organism that could evolve into life come from?  Did it evolve from something else?  If so, where did that come from? And so on and so on.  There must have been an originating intelligent life form or an explanation on how a living organism came from nothing.  Who is really stretching the faith spectrum farther – the person who believes in a single Creator of all things (albeit an unseen Creator); or the randomness of a living organism coming from nothing and then evolving into an extremely complex system of neurons, muscle, bone, tissue and emotions.  The world will say there is fact for the latter and therefore it is believable, and will avoid the essential question of how it actually came into being.

Much of the world has an apathetic opinion toward God today, because they do not like being told to conform to the set of rules and guidelines as prescribed in the scriptures.  They choose to reject the God of the Universe in the hope that the Scriptures aren’t truth.  Many people no longer fear the God of the Bible, but try to conform God to meet their choice of lifestyle and sinful actions.  They accept the worldly view of origin and evolution because it requires nothing from them to live righteously.  It says in Romans 3:14-18:
¹⁴ “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;
¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their paths,
¹⁷ And the path of peace they have not known.”
¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

The scriptures tell us to repent from our sins and turn toward the way of Jesus Christ and be redeemed for our unrighteousness.  There will be a judgement day and we all will stand before the Lord to defend our actions.  Please stop believing in what the world tells you is okay, and read for yourselves the truth that is found in His Word.  I care for each of you and ask that you take this as your number one priority in life.