Creation Science
All posts tagged Creation Science
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
‘Genesis 2:7 states that man became a “living soul” (Hebrew nephesh chayyâh) when God breathed into him “the breath of life.”1 Therefore, naturalism cannot be true. If it were, then humans would instead have inexplicably acquired some kind of nephesh through a gradual evolutionary descent from our alleged ancestors.
Since Scripture informs us so clearly that life originated with the Creator rather than through random natural processes, we can confidently examine evolutionary claims and find them insufficient to doubt our Creator’s Word. For instance, look at the osteostracans, bizarre fish-like creatures with about 200 species. They have a jawless head covered by a bony shield, the nature of which “is still unclear.”2 Not surprisingly, they suddenly appear in the fossil record as fully developed Osteostraci.
The origin of the Osteostraci is much more mysterious than their disappearance. An investigator who seeks to know the steps by which these forms come into existence finds himself confronting one of the most perplexing problems in the study of vertebrate evolution.3
There is nothing simple about these sophisticated creatures—their morphology (form or appearance) is described as “remarkable,”2 and they have a “sophisticated nervous system.”4 With their secular worldview, however, evolutionists say this creature was the predecessor of humans. A recent article describing the ecological diversity of Osteostraci states no fewer than five times that these aquatic animals were our ancient ancestors5 (as if repetition can turn something into a scientific fact).
If anything, the article inadvertently supports the creation model. It overturns the classical evolutionary tale of jawed vertebrates “driving their jawless relatives (osteostracans) to extinction.”5 It instead describes—using computer simulations—how osteostracans were designed to interact with currents of water in a remarkable way.
These experiments revealed the bizarre spikes and spines that ornamented the heads of these jawless vertebrates were actually hydrodynamic adaptations, passively generating lift from water currents flowing over the body. The varying head shapes of different species allowed them to adapt to different positions, some high, others low, within the water. Our ancient ancestors were already ecologically diverse, long before the evolution of their jawed vertebrate relatives.5
Creationists maintain that all diversities of jawed and jawless aquatic creatures lived together, occupying different ecological niches. Jawless animals never evolved into a jawed condition. In the face of juxtaposing evidence, secular scientists are required to concede that the theory of such a strange transition “is more complex than previously thought.”5
In addition, Dr. Carlos Martínez-Pérez, a researcher from the University of Valencia in Spain, states:
Our simulations reveal that the different species of osteostracans show equally different hydrodynamic efficiencies. Some of them performed better when moving close to the sea floor or riverbed while others performed better when swimming freely in the water.5
Like Tiktaalik,6 God designed the osteostracans to move into and fill specific ecological niches: “The different species’ body shapes are adapted to different environments, revealing distinct lifestyles among these groups of jawless early vertebrates.”5
Instead of the osteostracans being “our ancient ancestors,” we can conclude that these fascinating creatures were well-designed by God for a place in the aquatic ecosystem of the pre-Flood world. Human life, as Genesis states, was directly God’s creation.
References
- Although animals possess both “breath” (Hebrew rûach, Genesis 7:15) and “life” (Hebrew nephesh, Genesis 1:20), the life and breath (Hebrew rûach, same word as “spirit”) of man were directly conveyed to him by God.
- Janvier, P. 2002. Early Vertebrates. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 113.
- Stahl, B. J. 1985. Vertebrate History: Problems in Evolution. New York: Dover Publications, 29-30.
- Hickman, C. P. et al. 2020. Integrated Principles of Zoology, 18th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 520.
- Mud-slurping chinless ancestors had all the moves. University of Bristol news release. Posted on bristol.ac.uk October 1, 2020, accessed October 6, 2020. See also Dial, K. P., N. Shubin, and E. L. Brainerd, eds. 2015. Great Transformations in Vertebrate Evolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 11.
- Sherwin, F. Banner Fossil for Evolution Is Demoted. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org January 27, 2010, accessed October 5, 2020.
* Mr. Sherwin is Research Associate at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his M.A. in zoology from the University of Northern Colorado.
Cite this article: Frank Sherwin, M.A. 2020. Osteostracans Aren’t Ancestors. Acts & Facts. 49 (12).’https://www.icr.org/article/osteostracans-arent-ancestors/
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.”
‘The sun sets in the Serengeti – that fabulous, rich ecosystem in Northern Tanzania, described as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Trees are silhouetted on the horizon against the deep orange sky. But some of those trees appear to be walking! They aren’t trees after all – they are giraffes.
The reason they are so distinctive, even in silhouette, is the neck. It has to prompt the question “why?” Evolutionists attempt to answer the question by assuming that the giraffe neck started shorter and that a process of elongation took place. Darwinists are horrified at the thought that we might accuse them of a “Just So” style story of giraffe evolution as they stretched upwards to eat ever-higher leaves. But they still assume that natural selection selected offspring with the longer necks so that they could exploit this aerial food source. I have always found that mechanism one of the weakest of all evolutionary ideas. There are a lot of trees and bushes that are well below their head height, yet still form major portions of the giraffe’s diet. Did Darwinian natural selection get over-enthusiastic? And even if they do feed from higher places, why evolve a longer neck rather than the ability to climb the tree?
When viewed from a biblical perspective, we see them so differently. Giraffes are beautiful. God is glorified by these magnificent creatures, so different from anything else. Let’s thank Him for the sheer variety of His creation.’https://creationmoments.com/sermons/the-giraffes-long-neck/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-giraffes-long-neck&mc_cid=ff815afafa&mc_eid=00c1dcff3c
Psalm 5:8 “Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.”
‘You’re driving down the road and all of a sudden traffic slows to a crawl. Finally, you get to the cause of the slowdown – a big pothole in the road that causes people to slow down and drive around.
Some ants have the same problem. A species of army ant found in Brazil sends out hunters every morning. They travel, several ants wide, looking for other ants – even things as large as scorpions – to attack and return to home base. However, paths in the Brazilian jungle can be rough and even have potholes. When the ants encounter an ant-sized pothole in their road, one choice might be to slow down and narrow their path to get around it. Researchers say that such slowdowns can cut the amount of food delivered home by thirty percent. So, instead, the first ant to encounter such a pothole measures it. If the hole is his size, he fills the pothole with his own body. If the pothole is small, a full grown ant will leave it for a smaller ant to fill.
While God gave these army ants this ability to efficiently overcome obstacles in their path, He has done far more for us. When Scripture talks about making our ways straight before the Lord, it is speaking of Christ’s righteousness which is ours by grace through faith.’https://creationmoments.com/sermons/the-ants-road-department-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-ants-road-department-2&mc_cid=0d794b19a7&mc_eid=00c1dcff3c
This is from Creation magazine Vol. 42, No. 2 2020.
Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
‘According to secular scientists, the Moon is roughly 4.5 billion years old. It supposedly formed right after the Solar System did. But there’s a growing body of evidence that this old-age assessment is incorrect.
(Of course, this isn’t the only problem for secular ideas of the Moon’s formation. The “giant impact” model is known to be wrong. It is still being taught today anyway, but only because secular scientists don’t have any better ideas.)
The Moon’s supposed age of billions of years was never correct, of course. But it was easier for secular scientists to make that claim a few decades ago—back when we didn’t know as much about the Moon as we do now.
The challenges arise from simple, well-understood physics:
- Hot things cool off.
- Small hot things cool off more quickly than large hot things. (Small objects have a high surface-area-to-volume ratio. Thus, they lose heat more quickly.)
The Moon is a small object. According to secular theories, it should have cooled from its formation long ago. A small, cold body would have no source of energy for geological activity. (Although there are tidal interactions between the Moon and Earth, these don’t supply significant amounts of energy.)
Therefore, the Moon’s geological activity also should have ceased long ago.
But apparently it didn’t. Here are three indicators of recent tectonic activity within the Moon:
- Volcanic eruptions
- TLP (Transient Lunar Phenomena)
- Seismic activity (moonquakes)
Here’s why these discoveries are interesting.
If the Moon is (or recently was) geologically active, this activity indicates that it’s still hot inside. And if it’s still hot inside, it hasn’t cooled off yet.
And if it hasn’t cooled off yet, then it isn’t billions of years old.’ https://www.creationastronomy.com/articles/
It seems that the world (whatever that word might mean to you) has pretty much taken over every possible area of thinking. For instance, many people today accept evolution as a fact and that we must be told quite often that it is true. Well here is an article that just might dispel that.
‘Take the word “evolutionary” out of most science articles. It serves no purpose but to twist data and mislead readers.
What has Darwin done for you lately? Probably very little, and possibly a lot of harm. Science writers and researchers have a bad habit of inserting “evolutionary” into their writing. It’s not history; it’s evolutionary history. She’s not a biologist; she’s an evolutionary biologist. It’s not paleontology, it’s evolutionary paleontology. Enough already! Show some actual value that evolution has contributed to the writing, or else delete the word.
New evolutionary insights into the early development of songbirds (Science Daily). People want insights, but why “evolutionary insights”? The sophoxymoronic phrase is a contradiction in terms. If it’s evolutionary, it’s not insight. If it’s insight, it’s not evolutionary, otherwise it would be blind and unguided insight, which is not insight at all. The work was done by “evolutionary biologists.” Why not just biologists? They talked about germline restricted chromosomes (GRCs) in birds, which are important for preventing “somatic cells from possible negative effects.” So why must they desire to speculate about the “evolutionary history” of GRCs? The moment they insert the useless word, the perhapsimaybecouldness index rises as the scientific value falls.
Divers of the past: Plesiosaur research reveals rapid increase of blood cell size (Phys.org). Plesiosaurs appear in the fossil record as capable swimmers and hunters in a variety of forms, without ancestors. Looking for an evolutionary tale to spin, German researchers from Duisburg-Essen University analyzed thin sections of bone from plesiosaurs and think they found slight increases in blood cell size over time. They say,
From an evolutionary perspective, this change is obviously still useful. Today`s whales, seals and penguins also have unusually large red blood cells, but their close relatives on land and in freshwater do not. “This supports our assumption that this is a significant adaption of warm-blooded marine life,” says Kai Caspar.
From a “biological perspective” is adequate. Better, “from a design perspective.” Evolution had nothing to do with it. The data are too ambiguous, for one thing, and Caspar did not rule out other, more plausible reasons for the inferred cell diameters than the Stuff Happens Law. He certainly did not trace chance mutations that might have gotten selected blindly. That would clearly be difficult or impossible. The word “evolutionary,” therefore, serves no purpose. It’s distracting and misleading.’ https://crev.info/2019/12/evolutionary-a-useless-adjective/
A good question for all of us to ask is ‘Did the eye evolve from a simple layer of photo-sensitive cells into the eyes that we have today? Darwin remarked that … “several facts make me suspect that any sensitive nerve may be rendered sensitive to light” … but how do photo-sensitive cells work? Is the invertebrate eye really wired the wrong way round? Dr George Marshall an expert in anatomy, who specialised in the human eye for several years answers these questions and many more.’ This video is from http://edinburghcreationgroup.org/video/12 which has many more excellent videos that declare the glorious work of our Creator.
In this broadcast ‘Dr. Don Clark of Creation Moments, along with Jim, David and the Morning Show audience, discusses an article from Breakpoint and The Colson Center revealing the intricacies and amazing efficiency of ATP synthase, a nano-sized energy conversion machine we all depend on.’ https://brokenroadradio.com/?p=6819&mc_cid=955653d980&mc_eid=00c1dcff3c
