Creation
All posts tagged Creation
| MEGASHARK GETS MORE MEGA, according to Science Alert and SciTechDaily 9 June 2021, and Palaeontologia Electronica DOI: 10.26879/1140. The size of the extinct giant fossil shark now named Otodus megalodon (used to be Carcharodon) has been re-estimated using the size of its teeth compared with teeth from the living Great White shark, then using the Great White’s body proportions as a guideline. Over the years a formula has been developed using the height of a fossil tooth to calculate the size of the shark it came from. Estimates based on this formula have ranged from 15 to 18 metres, but when Victor Perez of the Florida Museum of Natural History got school students to measure Megalodon teeth and use the formula they came up with wildly differing estimates. Part of the problem is that shark teeth vary in height according to where in the jaw they are located. So, it is necessary to know where in the jaw the tooth comes from. After studying a near complete set of megalodon teeth in the Florida Museum of Natural History, along with teeth and jaws of living sharks, palaeontologists have come up with a new formula based on the width of the teeth. The researchers now consider this a more accurate indicator as the width of the teeth is related to the width of the jaw, which is related to the overall size of the shark. Using the new formula the scientists have increased megalodon’s size to an estimated body length of 20 metres (65ft). There are still some limits to how accurate this new formula can be as there is no way to know whether Megalodon’s teeth had gaps between them or overlapped, as seen in some living sharks. Victor Perez of Florida Museum of Natural History, one of the researchers, commented: “Even though this potentially advances our understanding, we haven’t really settled the question of how big megalodon was. There’s still more that could be done, but that would probably require finding a complete skeleton at this point”. He still uses the shark teeth and the formula as a school lesson. He explained: “Since then, we’ve used the lesson to talk about the nature of science – the fact that we don’t know everything. There are still unanswered questions”. Links: Science Alert, SciTechDaily ED. COM. It is important for students to understand the nature of science, including its strengths and limitations. In this example the size of teeth can be accurately measured, but as the scientists admit they are not able to observe the precise arrangement of teeth in the megalodon jaw, so they must make assumptions based on living sharks. There is nothing wrong with this, but it is important to acknowledge what is actually observed vs what is assumed. Whatever the real size of Megalodon sharks, they were certainly a lot bigger than any shark observed in the present-day oceans. This should lead scientists to ask why the change? However, they will not find the answer just by studying present day sharks or fossil shark teeth. They need to know the real history of the world, i.e. that it started out very good, and therefore could support giant animals, but has since been degraded due to human sin and God’s judgement. Science will not reveal this. Only the written record of the Creator and Judge can reveal this, and scientists should be humble enough to admit it, and then use it to better understand the results of their study of the present-day world. |
| MORE ON why change shark species names, as well as estimating the size of fossil sharks in our report How Big is a Mega Shark? |
‘Imagine that you are the child of the famous painter, Michelangelo. You grew up watching your father paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Each stroke of the brush revealed his love, creative genius, and masterful perfection.
Years later as you’re walking beneath your father’s great work, a guide enters leading a group of tourists. As they stand in awe under the grandeur of the artistic work, you hear the tour guide boldly state that the ceiling occurred by naturalistic processes over countless years as water leaked through the roof and stained the plaster. The people are told by their expert guide that what appears as an intentionally designed work of beauty is strictly a chance occurrence.
Would you not, as Michelangelo’s child, rise up in righteous indignation at the telling of such a flagrant lie? If the guide said that your father had used the random procedure of dripping water through the plaster to create the masterpiece, would that lie have been any more palatable?
The modern “tour guides” of our world are evolutionists who would have us believe that all of the purpose, eloquent design, and astronomical complexity of life just happened as chance naturalistic processes (such as mutations) formed life over billions of years. Liberal theologians would have us believe that God used such a process to make things.
Should not Christians boldly proclaim the truth so that more people may come to know the true Master Artist and come to trust His written revelation to mankind (the Bible)?’http://www.searchforthetruth.net/
‘The 1/50-inch-long ice plant scale is the scourge of a common landscaping plant. Since this creature is wingless, it was thought to spread from plant to plant by contact. This idea has turned out to be totally incorrect. Biologists have discovered that the ice plant scale sails the wind from plant to plant. This insect not only has the ability to accurately sense wind velocity and direction but can turn itself into a tiny bug-shaped parasail.
Once the insect senses a wind velocity of 10 miles per hour, it determines the wind direction with its antennae. It then proceeds to turn its back to the breeze, rear up on its hind legs, and extend its antennae and legs. This doubles the ice plant scale’s surface area and makes it possible for the insect to be lifted and carried by the wind. In essence, the scale makes a parasail out of its body. Scientists found that even one-day-old insects are knowledgeable about flight and ready to migrate. Both the intricate design and instincts within the smallest creatures testify to programming by their Creator.’http://www.searchforthetruth.net/
Other than the Scriptures this is just another reason why I am an independent Baptist!
‘In what is shaping up to be a historic annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, this month, the denomination’s Resolution 9 acknowledging critical race theory as a useful tool to explain how race has and continues to function in society is the target of multiple resolutions seeking to strip it of its power.
Denny Burk, professor of biblical studies at Boyce College, the undergraduate school of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, revealed in a blog post Friday that he was aware of nearly 60 resolutions being submitted to the Resolutions Committee asking SBC messengers to condemn critical race theory.
“I am aware that a number of people have submitted resolutions relating to CRT. I know of at least three that are opposed to CRT (here, here, and here) and one that is in favor of CRT (here). As I write this, it looks like there are about 57 people submitting the exact same resolution as Mike Stone’s proposed resolution,” Burk wrote.
Mike Stone, the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Georgia, and one of three nominees vying to become the next president of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, recently proposed a resolution asking the denomination to condemn the theory.
The proposed resolution also seeks to affirm the controversial portion of the November 2020 statement from the Council of Seminary Presidents that states, “affirmation of Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality and any version of Critical Theory is incompatible with the Baptist Faith & Message.”
“And these are just the ones I know about because they’ve been publicized on the internet,” Burk added.
“I have heard through the grapevine that there are other proposals that haven’t been publicized and that we won’t know about until the Resolutions Committee reports on them at the convention. This means that the committee is not going to be able to please all sides and likely won’t try to. It also means that they have their work cut out for them.”
Regardless of what happens, Burk expressed confidence that SBC messengers “won’t leave Nashville without a strong resolution against critical race theory.”
“I have heard of at least one effort to rescind 2019’s Resolution 9. If that came to the floor of the convention, I would support it, but I’m not sure if it’s possible under the rules (someone else who knows more about Robert’s Rules can weigh-in),” he wrote.
“But I’m also not sure that it’s even necessary. If the convention passes a strong resolution against CRT, it would serve as a de facto rescinding of Resolution 9 (sort of like subsequent resolutions became a de facto repudiation of the SBC’s infamous pro-choice resolution of 1971). For me, the priority is getting a strong statement against CRT. That is the main thing.”
The professor expressed support for a resolution proposed by Stephen Feinstein, a pastor at Sovereign Way Christian Church in Hesperia, California, and a chaplain in the United States Army Reserve.
“What I like about this is that it defines ‘institutional racism’ not as CRT does, but in terms of willful discrimination,” Burk explained.
“In CRT, no human agency is required at all for racism to be present in a given institution or system (as I have written about here). CRT says that racism is everywhere all the time and that all white people are racists whether they choose to be or not. Any racially disparate outcome is racism even if no one willfully discriminated against anyone.”
Burk argues that such an argument is “completely incompatible with what scripture teaches about sin and judgment, but this resolution fixes that.”
“It recognizes that sinful partiality can affect institutions and systems while not alleging that all institutions and systems are racist by default (as in CRT),” he wrote.
Any member of a cooperating Southern Baptist church can propose a resolution for adoption by the SBC.
However, the SBC Committee on Resolutions may decline to recommend properly submitted resolutions to the convention for adoption.
Prominent Southern Baptist Pastor Dwight McKissic, who founded and leads Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, warned earlier this year that if Resolution 9 is rescinded, he would leave the SBC.
His threat came after he quit the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention after leaders adopted a “strongly worded, anti-CRT policy that denounces all aspects of critical race theory.”
McKissic’s declaration also came amid an exodus of prominent black Southern Baptist pastors, such as Ralph West and Charlie Dates, over the Council of Seminary Presidents’ renouncing critical race theory and intersectionality.
The 2021 annual gathering of the Southern Baptist Convention is set to take place in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 15 and June 16. More than 13,000 messengers have pre-registered for the event, according to Ronnie Floyd, president of the SBC Executive Committee.
Only four other conventions have attracted at least 10,000 messengers since 2000, he said.
“This could be one of our largest gatherings since 1995 in Atlanta, when we had 20,654 messengers,” he recently noted.’https://www.christianpost.com/news/critical-race-theory-sparks-flurry-of-resolutions-for-sbc-meeting.html?uid=d3769f0ce2&utm_source=The+Christian+Post+List&utm_campaign=CP-Newsletter&utm_medium=email
‘You may have heard of this concept in the media. Certainly it has become popular in universities and schools in recent years.It is part of the Left-wing drive to embed ‘post-modernism’ in our society: a belief that everything is fluid, that everything we know about ourselves, our identity, our gender, our history, even science, has been manipulated by the capitalist system to deceive us. Critical Race Theory (CRT) argues that racism is embedded in all parts of Australian society, in every person and every institution. Anyone who thinks otherwise is simply suffering from ‘unconscious bias’ – an inability to understand their own views and inherent bias against ‘people of colour’. Why has the Left popularised CRT now? The old Marxist view was that capitalism oppresses the workers to the point of revolution. But this fell over with the Soviet Union and fall of the Berlin Wall. So the new theory is that capitalism oppresses citizens as social beings. And the only way of ridding society of racism, they argue, is to rid it of capitalism itself. So CRT is just a replacement form of revolution theory, given that the last one (based on economics) failed.In truth, CRT distracts from the real challenge in race relations: ending Aboriginal poverty in places that these theorists never visit of even know about. This is the point Jacinta Price consistently makes. The first, overwhelming priority should be addressing Indigenous welfare dependency, family violence, drug and alcohol abuse and school truancy, especially in remote areas.Australia is NOT a racist nation. A series of international surveys have shown Australia to be one of the most racially tolerant places on Earth. Plus, millions of migrants wanting to come here hardly see us as racist against them.The tragedy for the Left is they had a valid, broadly agreed upon position on race that was accepted in society: the Martin Luther King ethos of looking through skin colour and focusing on a person’s character and innate worth. They have blown that way for the radical divisiveness of CRT, unsupported by evidence and public opinion.The true purpose of CRT is revolutionary. It’s a political propaganda exercise that must be driven out of classrooms before it poisons the minds of our young people.’https://www.facebook.com/MarkLathamsOutsiders/?ref=page_internal
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.”
‘Have you ever thought what a strange material water actually is? A water molecule comprises of three atoms – two hydrogens and one oxygen. Oxygen is an element in Group VI of the Periodic Table; Group VI also contains the elements sulfur, selenium, and tellurium, in increasing order of size (oxygen is the smallest. Hydrogen can also form compounds with these elements: H2S, H2Se, H2Te. These have the boiling points -60.7, -41.5, and -2.2deg Celcius. Therefore, all these compounds are gases at room temperature. If we were following the size of the Group VI atom only, then water should have a boiling point considerably lower than that of H2S. But it doesn’t. In fact, the boiling point of water is higher than all those other compounds, at 100 deg C (or 212 deg F).
This, of course, is not the only anomalous property of water. The solid form of water – ice – floats on liquid water. So what, you might say. Well, the solid form of every other liquid there is always sinks in its liquid. If you have ever allowed molten candle wax to cool down, for example, you will notice it freezes from the bottom up. Nearly all liquids behave that way – except water! In short, the most common liquid in the world – the one that we require most for life – behaves like no other liquid. It is almost as if it were specially designed! God designed the Earth – including water – for us to inhabit.’https://creationmoments.com/sermons/strange-water/?mc_cid=20fe537290&mc_eid=00c1dcff3c
Presently in our Bible teaching we are in Genesis 6 and heading to the chapter on the flood. Let me tell you when Noah built the Ark according to the instructions the Creator gave him he was precise in his maths for his family’s lives were at stake. Anyway, now days did you know ‘…mathematics could be racist, and that there is such a thing as ‘white math’? A claim is being made in some US academic circles that to insist that there is a correct answer to a statement like ‘2 + 2 = x’, is inherently racist, and that mathematics needs to be made antiracist. An organization1 funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has published a document entitled, “A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction“2. The document’s Letter to Reader states, “The framework for deconstructing racism in mathematics offers essential characteristics of antiracist math educators and critical approaches to dismantling white supremacy in math classrooms by visualizing the toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture … with respect to math.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) a prominent anti-Christian philosopher and mathematician,3 a professed atheist,4 and Sergiu Klainerman, a professor of mathematics at Princeton University,5 among others, would disagree with the premise that mathematics is inherently racist. From a Christian perspective, we can add the fact that the basic principles of logic and mathematics cannot be racist nor are they in any way subjective human constructs, because they come from the perfect (Psalm 18:30) and holy (1 Samuel 2:2; Revelation 4:8) mind of God. Let us explore the reality that mathematics comes from the mind of God.
In Genesis 1–2, the narrator (God) uses concepts of mathematics embedded within the account without expounding the conceptual depth which underlies these concepts. For example, the enumeration of the days of Creation Week in Genesis 1 and 2 (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; Genesis 2:2) may appear to be rather routine. After all, we count from our earliest days—a child counts the number of days until his or her birthday. Some writers have observed that the use of the ordinal adjective (‘second’, ‘third’, etc.) with the word ‘day’ indicates that God is speaking of standard 24-hour days, and that the use of the cardinal (‘one’) and ordinals to number the days of creation demands a sequential chronological reading of the text. However, while this is true, they often fail to observe that the use of the ordinals indicates that the enumeration of the creation days is of fundamental importance. In addition, Genesis 5 implicitly uses addition, such as in the statement, “When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.” (Genesis 5:6–8)—i.e., 105 + 807 = 912.
Another use of a fundamental mathematical concept in Genesis 1 is the inclusion of entities in sets (e.g., six days of creative activity and “two great lights” [Genesis 1:16]). Sets are based on the abstract concept that assumes the existence of universals and not merely particulars by which each entity is viewed as independent from all others. A universal is the grouping of instances by their consistent characteristics or qualities. For example, when God later spoke to Adam and told him that he could eat from every tree in the garden, but one (Genesis 2:16–17), he used a universal to describe a set and Adam would have understood the concept to include grapes from vines, berries from bushes, and pears and nuts from trees. Universals are usually grouped into three classes: types or kinds (e.g., boats, birds, or chairs), properties (e.g., heavy, big, or small), and relations (e.g., parent, higher, colder). Since we use universals all the time, we may not understand an inherent difficulty with their existence. The problem of universals has perplexed philosophers from the earliest days.6 The challenge is how to account for their existence: Are they real? Do they exist independent of particulars? Can they exist if the universe is merely the product of random events in a material universe? Are they purely constructs of language?
The correspondence between abstractions—mathematical concepts such as ordinal counting and sets—and phenomena in nature is difficult for materialistic naturalists to explain. If mathematics is purely an invention of human minds, then it is a challenge to explain the correspondence between a mathematical equation and what happens in the natural realm.7
The efficacy of mathematics is astounding. With calculations, men and women guided the Apollo missions to the moon, can triangulate on signals generated by ‘black’ boxes to find a lost airplane at the bottom of the ocean, and can synchronize computers 20,000 kilometers apart so that they receive e-mail messages correctly. A materialistic naturalist cannot explain why pure abstractions—e.g., trigonometric equations, can have such an effect on the physical universe.
The existence of counting and mathematics is evidence that the universe was created by an intelligent designer—the God of the Bible. The laws of mathematics (e.g., commutative, associative, and distributive) come from God’s mind. Mathematics is one form of God’s thought—others include descriptive (Genesis 1), naming (Genesis 1:5), animating (Genesis 2:7), visualizing (Exodus 25:40; Exodus 26:30), and logical (Isaiah 1:18). The laws of mathematics exist in God’s mind and were not affected by the Fall of man into sin. The laws of mathematics are therefore perfect (Psalm 19:7) and can be derived without error. Of course, this does not mean that accountants and engineers (and others), affected by the Curse (Genesis 3:17–19), will always perform their arithmetical calculations without error.
Unbelievers can use the mechanics of mathematics without being able to explain what counting is or provide a logically consistent reason for why mathematics works, particularly when applied to natural systems. The problem is that their worldview claims that the universe came into existence by chance and has no non-material dimension (e.g., everlasting human souls). The fact that materialistic naturalists count and use complex mathematics to accomplish amazing things illustrates that they live in practical terms as if there is a God behind the universe, while denying His existence (Romans 1:18).8
When we examine the laws of nature (e.g., the Law of Gravitation or Coulomb’s Law of Electric Charge), we quickly discover that they are based on mathematics and that they model how God has chosen ordinarily to govern the universe; not how He must govern it—the laws of nature are descriptive, not prescriptive. The fact that nature can be described mathematically has been a continuing surprise to those who cannot think beyond their presuppositions of materialistic naturalism. They have difficulty explaining why there is a connection between physical reality and abstract mathematics. The fact that there is, indicates that the universe is more than the sum of its parts and is the product of intelligent thought.’ For the entire article go to https://creation.com/mathematics-from-the-mind-of-god?utm_campaign=infobytes_au&utm_content=Math+isn%27t+racist%2C+it%27s+Divine%21&utm_medium=email&utm_source=mailing.creation.com&utm_term=Fortnightly+Digest+-+2021.05.28
‘For over a century, communist influence has worked to foment division and subvert democratic freedoms as well as Biblical Christianity around the globe. These days, that influence has found a different tack for sowing bitterness between “oppressed” peoples and their “oppressors”.
Classic Marxist Grievance: Proletariat (workers) vs. Bourgeoisie (capitalist/professional class).
Revised Neo-Marxist Grievance: “People of Color” vs. “White Supremacy”.
In communist ideology, God is a threat to the unrivaled power of the State. Godless thinking has already achieved a great deal of control over much of the education system. For example, creation science has been censored for years, while evolutionism – with all its flawed and debunked arguments, including its racialized divisions of mankind – has been taught as fact.
Marxist strategy is to subvert the foundations of decency and freedom in civilization – if not by revolutionary fervor, then by a steady chipping away. Undermine the current institutions, and you can set things up for a new Tower of Babel – a new one-world elite-party rule. A consequence of Marxist influence in education is that America is often described as an evil nation whose every advance came at the expense of “people of color”. Yet, the truth is that America has advanced the ideas of freedom and equality more than most any other nation in history!
The ideals of “freedom under God” derive, of course, from the Bible, which has been observed accurately to be the main source for public good in civilization as we know it. From the Bible we get that man has been endowed with “God-given rights” of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. From the Bible we understand that “the rule of law” transcends any one person or party. From the Bible we understand man’s inherently flawed and sinful nature so that for good government, we need checks and balances to prevent the accumulation of power. And from the Bible we can see why the Scientific Revolution took place in Christian Europe, not elsewhere, right on the heels of the Protestant Reformation.
In a biblical worldview, God was and is the great covenant-making, principle-giving, law-giving Creator. Therefore, His created works and the Bible can be studied directly, objectively, and literally – and they are expected to be dependable! There’s no need to impose a filter of outside philosophies, traditions or authorities. This is why western man came up with the Scientific Method which led to modern science.
In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses for reform of the Catholic Church on the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral. The moveable metal type printing press had already enabled high-volume printing for 70 years since Johannes Gutenberg in the 1440s and print shops were spreading over Europe. From
Luther and other reformers, printed tracts and pamphlets about the grand ideas of faith and freedom in Christ, the authority and blessing of the Bible, and the sacred scriptures themselves were able to flow into the hands of people throughout Europe and then the world. They stimulated a lot of thinking. Per the biblical “dominion mandate”, people realized that it is our privilege and honor “to search out a matter” established by our Creator (Proverbs 25:2).
By 1620, Francis Bacon had formalized the Scientific Method as a way to “study God’s works”. Isaac Newton (1642-1726) – still considered to be history’s most world-impacting physicist and mathematician – demonstrated the influence of the Reformation as did so many of the early scientific greats. His contemporaries considered him a very insightful and erudite theologian. And he wrote many religious tracts dealing with the literal interpretation of the Bible!
In effect, “the Christian base gave people faith in the possibility of science”, as described by Alfred North Whitehead, the famous philosopher of science. Even if individual scientists in the West were not Christian, they were living within the thought forms brought by Christianity. Indeed, when we look at history, Chinese science and Arab science, for example, faltered and fell far short of the achievements of Western Civilization.
History reveals the advantages of holding to a biblical worldview. It reveals that the solution to racism is not more racism, as with the reverse-racism of Marxist Critical Race Theory. Believing and living according to the Word of God, being energized by its infusing Spirit and the personification of that Word in Jesus Christ are the key. All peoples can equally benefit from adopting a biblical worldview and throwing aside pagan ideas, false religions and godless philosophies.
Once again, we can go back to Genesis and reading it as the true historical narrative that it is, we can note some historical foreknowledge of people-group differences currently being exploited by Marxist propaganda. Shortly after the Ark of Noah came to rest in the “mountains of Ararat”, Noah, having been found in the shameful aftermath of drunkenness, was essentially mocked by his youngest son Ham. But he was treated very honorably and with an act of restoration by his two other sons, Shem and Japheth. The Bible records that Noah then spoke in response to that treatment in prophetic foreknowledge. He said that the descendants of Japheth (progenitor of European people groups) would be “enlarged” and would “dwell in the tents of Shem” (Genesis 9:27). Shem was, of course, the ancestral line of Abraham who “believed God” and with whom God covenanted to become the spiritual father to all who would believe the gospel and be “counted righteous” such that in him “all nations shall be blessed.”
Blessings of all kinds, now and especially in eternity, follow from faith and fidelity to the truth of God’s written and living Word. This accrues to any and all “people groups”, all of whom are flawed and in need of the Savior. All are of one blood through Noah and Adam.
As science and history continue to play catch-up to the Bible, we are finding more and more reason to believe it literally. Five months ago, we discussed in these newsletters how the Bible is incredibly accurate in its presentation of God as creator of time, matter and space. The God of the Bible transcends time and space – which we now know to be another example of biblical foreknowledge since time and space are linked together as the time-space continuum. In fact, the more we learn about space, the more we understand that the Bible is literally true, even in its opening portions.’https://creationmoments.com/newsletter/how-biblical-is-critical-race-theory/?mc_cid=f683507e58&mc_eid=00c1dcff3c
‘In order to have evolution, you must first have life. Both sides of the evolution-creation debate agree that the chance of all the correct biomolecules coming together by chance to form even the simplest cell is virtually impossible. Fred Hoyle1 (an atheist) estimated the probability as one chance in 1040,000. He compared the likelihood of life originating on Earth to that of a tornado going through a junkyard and assembling a 747 airplane. Even if this improbability actually happened, one would have an inert, non-operating 747 in a junkyard rut. To operate it (bring it to “life”), its engines would have to be jumpstarted, its electronics activated, and a pilot provided to operate it.
Some evolutionists argue that life must have originated spontaneously because life exists. So, what would happen if a “tornado” actually whipped through a biological junkyard and assembled a simple cell? The answer is simple: absolutely nothing. Another “highly improbable” event is required for life to exist—the inert assemblage molecule must be elevated into a higher state.
This was shown by Nobel Prize-winning chemist and evolutionist Ilya Prigogine.2 He is famous for pointing out two aspects of life: it is dissipative and far from equilibrium. All living organisms are dissipative (constantly decaying to a lower state per the Second Law of Thermodynamics) and need a constant supply of energy to repair the decay and operate, just like a 747 needs a constant flow of fuel to fly.3
If a system at equilibrium is disturbed, physics tells us it simply decays back to equilibrium.4 A small displacement from equilibrium is not sufficient to change its state. Give a small push to a vehicle in a rut (at equilibrium), and it simply rolls back into the rut. Life needs a really big push for it to exist far from equilibrium—another near impossibility if we wait for this to happen by chance.
How impossible? Before life existed, the probability of assembling molecules into a life configuration was virtually impossible. But now, life exists everywhere! All the correct molecules are assembled in the correct order. When the living thing dies, all the required molecules are still there in the correct order, just without operating—there’s no life. If life occurred spontaneously, shouldn’t dead creatures just spontaneously spring back to life? No, because life is far from equilibrium! Many trillions of creatures have died, remained dead, and decayed.
In conclusion, life is not just the correct assemblage of molecules; life requires being in an elevated state of existence. It requires the “spark” of life, or the “breath” of life, to make the lifeless molecules operate. Otherwise, nothing happens except decay.
The next logical question is, where does the breath of life come from? Interestingly enough, Genesis, written nearly 3,500 years ago, got this right! After God performed the impossible task of forming man from the dust of the ground, man did not spontaneously spring to life. God needed to perform another impossible task: breathing life into him to make him a living being.5 The short answer is that the breath of life came, and comes, from God.
References
1. Posted on http://www.azquotes.com/author/6972-Fred_Hoyle. Accessed April 30, 2021.
2. Quotes from Ilya Prigogine are found in Morris, Henry M. 1977. The Scientific Case for Creation. Creation-Life Publishers, 21-22.
3. A 2,000-calorie diet for humans is equivalent to 100 watts. Much of this is required just to maintain life—repairing organs, replacing cells that are constantly dying, maintaining body functions like breathing, etc.; e.g., WBCs live only 13 days and RBCs 120 days.
4. Perturbation from equilibrium causes a damped oscillation (Cf. a plucked violin string).
5. Genesis 2:7.’https://www.icr.org/article/life-is-more-than-biomolecules/
