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Showing posts from December, 2023

Fossilized Stingrays in Wyoming

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Interesting how so many fossils contain critters that are recognizable, or extinct species of their living counterparts. As emphasized many times, more and more detailed fossils are being discovered. Also, such great detail requires rapid burial. Many fossils are found in the wrong place . Of course, believers in deep time and universal common descent will  evosplain those things away. Some challenges cannot be easily dismissed. Consider marine creatures such as whales in the desert or today's subject, fossilized stingrays in Wyoming. Stingray fossil, Wikimedia Commons / Bob Richmond ( CC BY 2.0 ) (cropped) Some folks assume that if creatures were fossilized together, they must have been neighbors. Out-of-place fossils put that notion to rest. In addition to great detail, the fact that delicate creatures are fossilized at all point to rapid burial. That these things have happened in so many different places, the evidence is part of the greater testimony to the global Genesis Flo...

The Evolution You Know is Wrong

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For people who are knowledgeable about origins science, it may strike them as ironic when creationists are ridiculed by Darwin's disciples. On social(ist) media, it is not uncommon for an evolutionist to berate a creationist who knows more about evolution than he does. Creationists are stupid for not believing science, they claim. But study on it a spell. There are frequent reports coming out of the secular science industry where something happened "earlier than believed" and a new discovery causes a rethink. There are no unchanging and demonstrable laws in evolutionary science. Some believers in evolution admit that there have been quite a few challenges to their beliefs over the years. These seem to be happening more frequently. Unfortunately, "studies" and "research" deserve "scare quotes" because they raise numerous questions on their topics, and frequently do little more than produce propaganda. Secularists often seem oblivious to the fa...

Ancient Amazon Cities Illustrate Biblical Truth

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If you saddle up and ride down Bolivia way, mayhaps to finally solve the mystery of the demise of Butch and Sundance , you will notice lots of rainforest. There are satellite images, but the overgrowth is mighty thick. Legends of lost cities of the Amazon have some truth. A few days ago, we discussed sonar . It uses sound waves to detect and examine things unseen. Light detection and ranging — lidar — uses laser to (in this case) obtain images beneath the overgrowth using a helicopter. What was revealed is startling. Cloud forest habitat in Bolivia, Flickr / US Fish & Wildlife Service ( CC BY 2.0 ) (usage does not imply endorsement) Believers in particles-to-pilot evolution consider early humans to be stupid because they have not evolved much in the way of intelligence or cognition. Then they get surprised to see that those people were far more intelligent than the evolution narrative requires, and they are not teaching from empirical evidence. The Bible tells us that mankind was ...

Crying Tears — a Blessing?

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Tears are actually very important, always present in healthy eyes. There is a system to drain them off. They help keep eyeballs clean when dust or something intrudes. When tears are brought on by emotions, creationists and evolutionists have very different speculations. Some animals mourn the loss of a mate or one of their group (crows recognize faces and may seek vengeance), but they do not shed tears like humans. Emotional crying is unique and quite puzzling. Cowboy Bob Sorensen, tough guy crying, mirror selfie modified at PhotoFunia Yes, I mentioned speculation on both our parts. Similarly, blushing is a problem for evolutionists, but it may have a specific purpose given by our Creator. When we have tears of sorrow, a sympathetic person may say, "That's right. Let it all out." Well, it's not like draining a reservoir; tears replenish. However, "let it out" is psychologically and medically valid! They run down our face (as shown in my left eye, above) whe...

Fundamentally Flawed Secular Cosmology

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Mistakes are made in various fields of science, which is to be expected by realistic people. Scientists try to correct them, but some try to cover them up or invent rescuing devices. In historical sciences like biological and cosmic evolution, scientists tend to wrong quite frequently. Regular readers have seen examples of failed predictions in cosmology and unexpected signs of youth  in the universe. There are a few secularists who admit their problems — even the big ones — to their lapdog press. Nebula W51, NASA / JPL-Caltech (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) Materialists deny the Creator and formulate their own creation mythology; it's who they are and what they do. Many scientists get mighty uppity and pretend they have things figured out. It's rather startling when they admit to being wrong. (They've not been humbled enough to give God credit, but it's a start.) Some admit that observations of galaxies make them think that the standard model of ...

Evolutionists go Batty about Echolocation

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Humans are proud of sonar, which uses sound waves to locate objects. Waves are transmitted, strike an object, and people can calculate its size, shape, and location. Good stuff, Maynard! Sonar in animals is called echolocation , used by dolphins, bats, and others. They do it with far more sophistication than human inventions. Lazy Darwinists are content to call the same property in different critters convergent evolution , but have not demonstrated any  evolution. In fact, there is no sign of evolution in fossilized bats at all, even after supposed millions of years. Batman Lego in egg, Pixabay / Andrew Martin (not implying endorsement of anything by anybody) Better fossil specimens of all sorts of things are being found. Science and technology are advancing. This gives paleontologists the ability to study something and get a great deal of detail. It was thought at one time that echolocation in bats evolved after they had been around a while, but a recent finding shows that they h...

The Wonder and Why of Christmas

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Some folks get jaded with Christmas, reading or hearing readings of the birth of Jesus, the arrival of the Magi, the census taken while Quirinius was governor, and more. Same old thing every year, right? Some of us terribly miss the "same old" that we will never have again... If we slow down and pay attention, there is a great deal to give us a sense of wonder. Hundreds of years before, Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be born of a virgin . Micah 5:2 prophesied where. Ironically, some prophesies were fulfilled by unbelievers. Nativity of Jesus figurines, Pexels / Susanne Jutzeler We can also find out that there are many misconceptions surrounding Christmas (especially that "Christmas is pagan and you can't celebrate it" nonsense ). That bad old innkeeper who turned Mary and Joseph away, but his kindhearted wife attended to the delivery — never happened. The Magi were powerful king makers, and there was probably an entourage, not just three (three gifts  are me...

Isaiah and the Virgin Birth Prophecy

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It may come as a shock to some folks, but biblical prophets did not necessarily  foretell future events. They spoke the words of God and admonished wayward people. However, some prophesied noteworthy events — such as Isaiah and the virgin birth of Jesus. Atheists cannot handle prophecy and try to denigrate it by saying people who came later got creative and fabricated the foretelling. (They assert but never provide evidence.) Isaiah 7:14 reads, ". . .the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son. . ." Disputes exist if she is a virgin or only a young woman. Isaiah , Ernest Meissonier, 1838 There are several problems with this passage. If the girl was just a young woman, the prophecy is no big deal. Also, the word translated as young woman or virgin can legitimately be translated either way. Context is important, as are historical events. We learn, to the dismay of misotheists, that it was indeed a virgin that conceived according to prophecy. Isaiah is a beloved book of the...

Eyes, and Evolution Falsified Again

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Believers in universal common descent evolution appear to have cognitive difficulties, or mayhaps it is bravado. I say this because when faced with data they cannot explain, deep-time anomalies, theories shown to be false, they pretend to receive good news and something important about evolution has been learned. Indeed, fundamentalist evolutionists may shuffle the deck and deal again, but they do not question if the deck is valid in the first place — the deck being evolution. They need to cowboy up and question evolution itself. Fighter pilot with nice eyes wearing an oxygen mask, Flickr / Aviatrix (public domain) In their determination to give praise to Papa Darwin, some of his disciples compared the eyes of mammals with those of cephalopods. Interesting that people and critters have two eyes, but many like birds and cuttlefish use each eye independently — but some cuttlefish occasionally use stereoscopic vision. The differences in eyes also means the organisms with them need to hav...

Animals and Communication

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Interesting and even surprising studies have been made about how animals communicate with one another, and some of their interchanges are surprisingly detailed. Inter-species connection seems rare and very limited; blue jays sounding the alarm in the woods, for instance. The 1956 children's novel  The Hundred and One Dalmatians has a rather extensive canine conversation network with messages relayed through barking. Despite their intelligence, they never developed a system to communicate with humans. Interestingly, there are videos of animals seeking out humans and making known their needs for help. Barking corgi, Flickr / xan latta ( CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 ) Animals can make themselves understood to each other to some extent, but a bonobo and a chimpanzee will never discuss the physics of coconut spinning. The Creator gave many animals the ability to communicate for their survival. There are studies of communication between animals and humans. Notice that it has to be initiated by peop...

Two Living Things that Give Off Salt

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There are words with phile  or similar in them that often mean a love of something, such as philosophy (love or wisdom or learning). The word structure can also make it seem like an organism has a fondness for something, actually meaning that it thrives in a certain environment. A thermophile  lives in extremely hot areas such as the thermal vents on the ocean floor. Want to take a crack at halophyte ? That one is a bit tricky, but it uses the word for salt. There are plants that thrive in saline conditions inhospitable to many other plants. Athel Tamarisk, iNaturalist / Xochitl Zambrano ( CC BY 4.0 ) Athel tamarisk is one of those stubborn plants that lives in deserts and is found in many parts of the world. One of its handels is the Athel pine, and it does resemble pine in some ways. It is also useful as a windbreak, and since it doesn't burn easily, it can be used to hinder fire. When it lives in saline conditions, it actually gives off salt! Athel tamarisk was designed by...

Giant Exoplanet Discredits Secular Theories

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About planet formation, that is. Actually, those secular theories have already been discredited. The nebular hypothesis of planetary formation has accretion: Planets form because the stuff sticks together. Secularists know that this has problems  even in our own solar system. Also,  disk instability  is a failed rescuing device. Believers in the Big Bang and cosmic evolution apply their ideas of star and solar system formation to exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars). Problems with secular theories are seen in our own backyard ( consider axial tilt ), and are extremely apparent with exoplanets like LHS 3154b. Large planet orbiting a small star, AI graphic made at  Img2Go This maverick should not exist, and the secular science industry is in a tizzy. Interestingly, secularists frantically try to shoot down anything that threatens a prevailing viewpoint. LHS 3154b was measured by one method and nobody (including the lapdog science reporters) raised questi...

Those Enigmatic Philistines

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When reading history in the Bible and seeing the word Philistines , one might want to heave a sigh and mutter about troublemakers. The most famous passages about them are probably with David and Goliath (who was probably a mercenary), Samson beating up on them, and when Philistines took the Ark of the Covenant. They are mentioned numerous times throughout the Old Testament. More often than not, they were indeed troublemakers. They cause problems today for Bible scholars and historians who want to know who they were in the first place. Pottery Votive Gift to Philistine Shrine, 9th Century BC, Flickr / Gary Todd (Public Domain) Philistines lived in several areas, and seem to have come from Crete. The Bible seems to conflict with other historical accounts and archaeology. However, there are several things that need to be considered, including that the name itself seems to have been used loosely — and retroactively. The Philistines are a problematic people group in the Bible. Scholars arg...

The Human Brain is Amazing and Baffling

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So many thing that have been studied, possibly even considered to have been fully understood, became disunderstood later on. Some models of the atom were proposed in seemingly rapid succession, Schrödinger's quantum model being the current favorite. Genetics was begun by Gregor Mendel (peas be upon him) and continues to be developed — and challenging to scientists. Both of these testify to the genius of the Creator. Something else that when scientists are understanding it, theories become frustrated is: The human brain. X-ray-style image of skull and brain, Freeimages / Miranda Knox In A. Conan Doyle's "The Blue Carbuncle," Sherlock Holmes stated the myth that people with larger skulls are more intelligent . People who are analytical use the left side of their brains more, and intuitive people use the right side. But that notion is disputed, and sometimes the brain rewires itself. There are people who live their lives not knowing that significant portions of their bra...

The Beneficent Mystery of Sleep

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Sleep is something we may take for granted or even resent its intrusion. Others find it a way to escape from the troubles of daily life for a while. Sometimes it simply feels good. While it is considered a restful state, there is a great deal of unconscious activity happening. There are many studies of what happens during sleep and that it or something similar is vital to most creatures. One evolutionist said that sleep is our default state, and that we evolved wakefulness. No science there, just narrative-friendly speculation. Sleeping jaguar, Pixabay / edmondlafoto Getting the proper amount of sleep on a regular basis is essential, and we feel the effects when deprived. Sluggishness, dull thinking, irritability, and so on. My experience is pertinent here. Since my beloved Charlene was stricken and died shortly afterward, I have one of many results of acute grief: poor sleep. This affects decision making, coherence, writing, and so much more. A good night's sleep is rare for me. F...

Evolution Narrative Drives Bird Tracks in Dinosaur Strata Story

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The story is that the geologic column shows fossils in an orderly progression from simple to complex, and the fossil record is complete, without gaps. Russell Watchtower and his Ministry of Truth at the Darwin Ranch up near Deception Pass have been successfully convincing folks that the preceding is a true story. In reality, there are fossils out of order. If people had healthy skepticism and dared to question evolution, they would know about fossil placement problems. A new report on fossilized bird footprints sparked a rescuing device. It did not go well. One of the birdlike footprints from Maphutseng, Lesotho (left), and a false colour depth map of the print (right) PLOS ONE 2023 / Abrahams et al. 2023 (CC-BY 4.0) via New Scientist There must be quite a few stupid people buying the malarkey that evolutionists put out. The predominant narrative dictates that dinosaurs evolved into birds despite no actual evidence. Instead of questioning the story, some other critters came around and...

Sunflower Motion — More Complex than Thought

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Sunflowers are one of the easiest flowers to identify, what with those big yellow heads loaded with sometimes 2,000 seeds and such. They are also a provision of the Creator for our benefit, grown and harvested for oil and the seeds, which are healthy — and may be a substitute for people with nut allergies . Of course, a famous characteristic is how young sunflowers track the sun from east to west. It was thought that this was a kind of phototropism, which is when plants and fungi grow toward (or away from) a light source. Sunflowers, Pixnio / Bruce Fritz It has been learned that this ability of young sunflowers to follow the sun across the sky (even on cloudy days) is heliotropism . It is not fully understood and is very complex. Plants adapt to changes in conditions, and different genes are expressed in response to certain conditions. This is yet another example of the Master Engineer at work. Botanists have long wondered how heliotropism works to allow this amazing plant to track th...

The Axial Tilt of Earth is Vital

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My prospector friend Stormie Waters, her fiancé Roland Meadows, and I met up in town after getting our supplies. Stormie works the earth but ponders the skies, and asked Roland about seasonal changes. I simply sat back and listened to his good explanation. Many folks have a basic understanding of how Earth rotates once a day, moves around the sun in a year, and its tilt affects summer and winter. Digging a bit deeper shows that the axial tilt of Earth and other planets testify of design, and also trouble secular origins ideas. Earth's axial tilt and the solstice, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (usage does not imply endorsement) The Nebular Hypothesis includes a story about how all the planets and moons formed from the same stuff. Naturally, these objects should show some amount of uniformity in many areas, including how they tilt. Cosmic evolution fails, and expectations of secularists are not met. (Venus and Uranus don't even bother to rotate in the same way as the ot...

Hunting and the Providence of God

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First of all, let me state the obvious: In any sport, hobby, profession, or anything else, there are pinheads. Hunting has been tainted by those who are careless with weapons, break laws, and do other foolish things. Yet there are men and women who hunt responsibly and with skill. Believers in descent with modifications evolution believe that the urge to hunt nowadays is a holdover from our stupid ancestors who had to hunt. What if I told you that such an idea is hooey? Hunting, Pixabay / jackmac34 (Jacqueline Macou) The above words come from someone who has never hunted and detests the idea of killing for the sake of trophies. Those jaspers do it for pride, often leaving the meat to rot. I wonder how that kind of killing fits into the idea of hunting being an urge of our inner primitive caveman? Here is something that was a bit startling to me, and it may be for you as well, but consider that hunting is a means God gave us to survive in this fallen world. After Adam sinned, death cam...

Jesus and the Miracle of Sight

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The greatest miracle of Jesus...there are many ideas about what that may be, and those are probably influenced by personal preference or knowledge. John 11:43-44 records how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and there were others as well. Those are pretty impressive. Jesus is the Creator (John 1:3, Col. 1:16, Heb. 1:2), so making the earth, life, entire universe — a substantial miracle. Calming a storm by speaking to it (he created everything by speaking), healing people, walking on water. An eye surgeon believes giving sight to the man born blind is a huge miracle. Healing the man born blind by Jesus Christ , Vasily Surikov, 1888 As a side note, in John 9:2, his disciples asked, "...who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?" How could he have sinned if he was born that way? Someone pointed out that the disciples were talking about reincarnation, and Jesus dismissed the idea. This child wonders if they were also toying with the idea of karma. Eithe...

Mammoth Antibodies and Radiocarbon Dating

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Antibodies are an important part of the immune system. They are proteins that circulate in the bloodstream looking for harmful antigens. Those are enemy bacteria, viruses, and such. Each antibody is unique, defending against specific antigens. So how do they last in mammoths for assumed millions of years? A study showed that antibodies in mammoths were still able to do their jobs — but antibodies break down over time like other biological things. To support deep time, researchers assumed deep time, which was circular reasoning. They also ignored essential biology. Mammoths, Wikimedia Commons / Honymand / ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) We recently saw that dating methods on human fossils are unreliable , and similar problems occur in radiocarbon dating here. Consider that Carbon-14 dating of Viking burials in England were at odds with historical records . It is known that radiocarbon dating is increasingly less trustworthy with greater age. To claim that antibodies in these mammoths are of great ant...

Creation, Speciation, and Galápagos Finches

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A famous icon for evolution is referred to as Darwin's finches, even though he did not know what they were when he saw them on the Galápagos islands. For someone seeking an exotic bird, look elsewhere because these are rather plain. These finches demonstrate rapid speciation. According to Darwin and other purveyors of evoporn, evolution is supposed to be random and over long periods of time. Exceptions to those rules are seen frequently. Evolutionists are so determined to keep away from the Creator, they cling to irrational science. Galapagos ground finch, Flickr / Judy Gallagher ( CC BY 2.0 ) Poster effect at PhotoFunia and cropped Rapid speciation...depending on the definition of species, of course. Scientists frequently slap leather over whether or not some critters are a separate species. Interestingly, there are some parts of the genome that simply will not modify. Others do have random changes. The Master Engineer designed creatures to survive and thrive, and frontloaded ce...

Unreliable Dating of Human Fossils

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First, a bit of something that grinds my gears. Many articles and videos (including the one featured below) are titled in the form of a question, and some folks seem compelled to reply without dealing with the material. News flash: Writers are not asking for opinions, they are answering the question in the title. You savvy? There are people who want to know if the dating methods used on human fossils can be trusted, and what kinds of problems such vast numbers of years present for the Bible. Those used on human fossils have problems. Homo naledi skeletal specimens, Wiki Comm / Lee Roger Berger research team ( CC BY 4.0 ) I reckon it's easy to get the idea that the dates assigned to fossils of humans, apes, and alleged humans are correct. After all, these are knowledgeable people who speak with authority and tell us the dating methods used. They can even go into the details of the processes if we ask nicely. But not only are there problems with the processes, all dating methods re...

Fantasyland and Scientism Speculations

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As people who have studied apologetics or even simply observed the way atheists treat Christians see, atheists have a penchant for playing word games. For example, when something was posted about scientism, a tinhorn lied and said we were against science . Wrong-o! Scientism essentially fits the definitions of a religion, being a way of life and a kind of salvation. People with that worldview act like science is the only way to knowledge. Ironically, it does not make them the intellectually elite — scientism is self-refuting . Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing , William Blake, 1786 (Darwin's watching face added, obviously) As noted several times, the secular science industry supports leftist causes ( here is a recent report ). In return, those politicians give tax money. Secularists have a materialistic belief system that provides a dubious foundation for morality . It is indeed unfortunate that many people have faith in an unrealistic view of what they consider to be ...