Dimitrovgrad Russia, May 15, 2006
Genesis / Creation Seminar
Part II - The Scientific Facts

Whenever I talk about the Bible I hear several objections. Hasn't science proved that many parts of the Bible are not true? What about the fossils? What about radiographic dating? What about the layers of sediment? What about all the evidence that proves the earth is billions of years old? We'll talk about it, and we'll see which belief is a better match for reality… evolutionism or creationism.

One of those is the right answer… evolutionism or creationism.
Does one side have more facts supporting its position than the other side?

You know what I found out? Those who believe in creationism and those who believe in evolutionism both have the same science. The same physical evidence is available to everybody. We all have the same fossils. We all have the same geology. We all have the same biology. We have the same dinosaur skeletons. We have the same world. We all have the same facts. There is no disagreement over the facts. This is not a discussion about facts. It's a discussion about the interpretation of the facts. The discussion is about the bias, or sometimes it's called a "world view", but it means our preconceived notions that we apply to the facts.

No matter what the subject, everyone has a starting point for what they believe. In other words, everyone is biased. Scientists are biased. Just as everyone else does, they use their existing beliefs as their starting point.

Why is it necessary to have a bias? Here is a diagram. The circle shows all possible knowledge. This dot inside the circle represents my knowledge. If it was a real size dot it would be so tiny you could not see it. I had to exaggerate the dot just so you could see it. I know that I don't know very much. But that dot is my starting point. That dot represents my existing knowledge and beliefs. Whenever I investigate new areas of knowledge I am starting from that limited starting point of knowledge and beliefs. That means I am biased based on my existing knowledge and beliefs. The only way I wouldn't have a biased starting point is if I knew it all. Does anybody here know it all? No.

We all have a starting point that makes us biased.

We all have the same facts, yet there are two very different explanations of where we came from, evolutionism and creationism. How is it possible to look at the same evidence, the same facts, and come up with two entirely different explanations? Let's try an experiment that involves you. I'm going to show the same factual evidence to everyone here. I want you to look at this picture and remember what you see. I am going to show the same picture to everyone. I'll walk around so you can get a good, close look at the picture.

What did you see? How many people saw an old lady? How many people saw a young princess?

This is very simple. I showed the same picture to everybody. All of you have the same facts. But we seem to be split into two groups. Why do we have a difference in opinion about what you saw?

Because I gave you a bias. The bias for this group was that the proper way to look at the picture is with the black bar on the bottom. The bias for this group was that the proper way to look at the picture is with the black bar on the top.

You both looked at the same evidence but had different answers because you had different biases.

So how do we find out what the truth is? We need to check things with reality.

We first must recognize that all explanations have a bias as their starting point. So we need to check those explanations with reality. That's what we'll be doing this evening.

There is one last point I'd like to clear up before we start. Does creationism oppose science? Must you ignore science to believe in the Bible and creationism? No. Science is a systematic method for investigating the created universe. There is nothing wrong with that. It is wonderful and exciting to have our understanding of God's creation grow. But when science comes to a conclusion, scientists should always ask the question, does it agree with reality?

When it comes to the origin of the world and where we came from, we all have the same evidence, the same facts. But we come to strikingly different conclusions.

How do we know which is right? Ask the question, does it agree with reality?

That's what we're going to do.

We have creationism and evolutionism. What would I expect of each of these so I can compare my expectations of each and see which one agrees with reality?

The first difference I notice is that evolutionism says that life evolved slowly over a long period of time. Creationism says that life was created at a point in time, and has not changed.

I should explain what is meant when the Bible says life has not changed. This means that each kind of animal, bird or fish only reproduces the same kind of animal, bird or fish. For example, dogs always make more dogs. We can have different types of dogs… collies, German shepherds, wolves and poodles… but they are always dogs. Dogs never breed and produce horses, sheep or chickens. The dog kind of animal always and only makes more dog kind of animals. Horse kinds of animals always and only make more horse kind of animals.

Yes, there is change within the various kinds of animals. For example, there are hundreds of kinds of chickens, but there is never a change in which one kind of animal becomes another different kind of animal.

As I said, evolutionism says that life evolved slowly over a long period of time. Creationism says that life was created at a point in time, and the different kinds of life that were created have not changed, it's static. This is a big difference. Sudden creation and no change vs. slow gradual change over millions of years. We should be able to easily see this type of difference when we look at reality.

So what do we see when we look at the fossil record?

What is this a fossil of?

A fish. That's pretty easy. We can recognize it is a fish because it looks like a fish. It's called a Phareodus Encaustus and is one of the more "primitive" fossil fish. This fossil fish is said to have lived about 50 million years ago.
My point is, this fish fossil looks like fish. We can tell it is a fish because it looks exactly like fish we've seen. What we are seeing is the same thing we see throughout the fossil record. Stasis. No change within types of animals, fish and birds. Fish look like fish and have always looked like fish. Dogs never breed to produce horses, they always produce more dogs. We never have seen any evidence of one type of animal changing into another type of animal. The observable evidence is that of no change.

When we look at the fossil record, when dig down to the very oldest layers of sediment, what we see is single cell life such as bacteria, plankton and even some simple multiple cell life such as algae. Then there is a tremendous burst of life in which all the kinds of plants, animals, fish and birds suddenly appear. This sudden appearance of life is called the "Cambrian explosion." It supposedly took place 530-570 million years ago. Since the Cambrian explosion there is nothing in the fossil record that shows one kind of life changing to form another, new kind of life. Some kinds of life became extinct, so we lose some kinds of life. But nothing new has developed. What the fossil record shows us is no life, then life, and then stasis-no changes.
Which belief does this best match? Evolutionism, which says life changed gradually over a long period of time? Or creationism, which says life was created all at one time and then did not change?

In this case reality seems to match the description of creation given in the Bible, all life was created at one time. But still, we do have the fossil record that shows small, simple forms of life buried in rock layers beneath the Cambrian explosion.

Let's look at this in a little more detail. What if there was a world wide flood, just as the Bible says? What could we expect to see? First there would already be some sediment that had collected during the 1,500 years the world had existed. Just as we see today, this sediment would have small organisms, bacteria and algae. Then the flood started.

Remember, the flood is described as the "fountains of the deep bursting forth". It was a violent cataclysm with huge amounts of water carrying massive amounts of sediment.

As the flooding grew and the water rose, small animals and fish would be trapped in the sediment. Larger animals, for awhile at least, could walk to higher ground fast enough to stay ahead of the rising water. But, eventually those larger animals would also be drowned or caught and buried in sediment. So, if the Biblical description of history is true, what we would see is small, simple organisms in the lower layers of sediment, and larger, more complex animals in the upper layers of sediment. That's exactly what we do see.

The next question that is usually asked is: why don't we see fossils of human's along with the dinosaur fossils? We do. This fossilized human skeleton was found in the Lower Cretaceous layer, supposedly 140 million years old, in a sediment layer known for its dinosaur fossils. Over 4,000 human fossils have been found in sediment layers dated to be millions of years old. Keep in mind that as the flood water rose, people would have climbed to higher ground. Humans are much less likely to be buried in sediment and fossilized because they would more likely have died near the surface of the water where their bodies would have disintegrated in the water.

Let's look at evolutionism in a little more detail. If evolutionism is true, what would we expect to see for fossils?

I showed you a fossil of a fish. Fish fossils are very common. There are millions of them. Lots of fish have been fossilized all over the world.
Under normal circumstances, what happens when a fish dies? Does it become a fossil? No. This illustration shows what usually happens to fish when they die. In most instances, when fish die, they tend to float. Although before they get to the surface they have already been attacked by scavengers. Eventually they will sink, but before they do there is little left and anything that is left has begun decaying. Before they can be covered by sediment, there's either not much left of them, or they are greatly deformed. This is a fact, which we all can observe.

This next illustration shows what evolutionism says must have happened to fish in order for it to be fossilized. When a fish dies, it slowly sinks to the bottom; it is slowly covered by sediment; and then it turns into a fossil. Based on what is easily observed, this is 'fiction.' It does not explain how millions and millions of fish fossils, all around the world, have been perfectly preserved. If evolutionism is true, there should be few fish fossils.

To form the millions of fish fossils we see all over the world, we would need a catastrophic event--like a worldwide flood. Sediment had to be dumped on them very, very quickly, before they could swim away. This illustration shows what had to have happened. We have a fish swimming along and then lots of sediment being dumped on it. The next illustration (below) shows the fish buried under sediment and turning into a fossil, perfectly preserved. The result is a normal looking fish fossil just like the fossil I have here.

In this case reality agrees with creationism, and evolutionism does not agree with reality.

So let's look at a different form of evidence.

The Bible says God created everything. The Bible says in the book of John (1:1) that EVERYTHING was made by God. All things were made by Him.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."

That means we were designed by God. Design means there was a plan for how something is put together and works. In other words, there is information. If there is a designer, the evidence will indicate an intelligent designer who provided the information for the design. If the Bible is not true then I would expect life from chance… random processes… no design… no information. So I think we should able to see design vs. randomness. Information vs. no information. There should be enough of a difference so that we can see that difference.

God has given us the natural ability to see intelligent design. Even small children can tell the difference between something that was formed naturally and something that was designed.

How was this arch formed? By natural processes. Wind and water eroded away the rock until this arch was left. (At the seminar a smalchild was able to immediately identify this arch as having been formed naturally.)

Here is another rock formation. How was this formed? Obviously by intelligent design. You don't get four faces carved in the side of a mountain by natural processes. We can recognize intelligent design.

Let's approach this systematically. What are my biased options? I can see that I have two. The Bible is true. The Bible is not true. If the Bible is true, that would lead to a belief in origins by intelligent design. And that view is called, creationism. If the Bible is not true, that would lead to origins by natural processes and that belief is called, evolutionism. Those are the options. Now, what would I expect of each of these options. I can then compare each with reality to see if one fits.

Something that fascinates me is how life is put together. Life has proteins in it, that are made from amino acids. Each amino acid comes in one of two varieties… left handed and right handed. This slide shows a model of the chemical structure of an amino acid. Just as you can't superimpose your left hand on your right hand, you can not superimpose a left handed amino acid on a right handed amino acid. Chemically they are the same, but they are mirror images. This is what I'm talking about.

In nature we have 50% left handed and 50% right handed amino acids. They are evenly divided when proteins are synthesized. If life got started in the oceans from a primitive goo, as I was taught, and then their amino acids should have proteins in which there was a 50/50 chance an amino acid would be left or right handed, If you make a protein out of a 50/50 mixture the protein has equal amounts of left and right handed amino acids. This makes sense, doesn't it?

You know what? When proteins are made in all living things, the proteins only have left handed amino acids.

That means life is 100% left handed amino acids. If something is does not have 100% left handed amino acids, then it is dead. When you die you will gradually change from 100% left handed amino acids to 50% left handed amino acids and 50% right handed amino acids.

If amino acids form outside of life you always get 50/50 left and right handed amino acids. That means it takes an intelligent designer to create a system--life--that makes and uses just left handed amino acids. There is only one way you can have consistently left handed amino acids, and that is by having a plan that says to only use left handed amino acids.

We now know that DNA provides the information used to assemble the proteins of life from amino acids. What is DNA? Each living cell contains DNA that provides the instructions--that's information--used for creating proteins and more living cells.

Dr. Lee Spetner is the world's leading scientific expert on chance. He wrote a book called "Not By Chance". Scientists come from all over the world to consult with Dr. Spetner because he is the world expect on chance. Dr. Spetner said, "Chance does not lead to life, because you have to have information to select for the left handedness."

So information in living things confirms intelligent design.

If you were walking through the woods and you saw a rock with the words "Pavel Loves Maria" on it, what would you say? Wow! The wind and rain must have eroded that rock preferentially to create those words through random natural processes. Wow! Chance is amazing!

A fact that scientists have observed is that the only place where information is seen is when there is intelligent design. (Dr. Behe, "Darwin's Black Box")
In addition to the DNA in our cells we also have Mitochondrial DNA that is specifically only inherited through the mother. Mitochondrial DNA is like a serial number. It's unique for every person. Because of that characteristic scientists can trace back through our genetic history to find out where we came from.

And what did they find out?

In January 1988 [January 11, 1988 Newsweek magazine, "The Search For Adam and Eve"] it was announced that all human beings on earth today all go back to one original woman.

Also we know that Mitochondrial DNA is like a clock. In 1988 we did not know how fast that clock ticked. If we had known, we could have also determined when that first woman lived. In 1988 they made some assumptions and came up with what they though was the slowest possible tick rate for Mitochondrial DNA. Using these slow clock rate assumptions they came up with an estimate of when the original woman lived. The furthest back she could have lived would be 200,000 years. That's a long way from millions of years. This dates the origin of human life at no more than 200,000 years ago.

That was 1988. What has happened since?

In 1995 scientists took a section of the "Y" chromosome, which is only passed on from father to son. They found out that we all go back to one original man. What was even more interesting is that, again based on very conservative assumptions, the original man lived on the earth at about the same time as the original woman.

What has happened since?

In 1998 scientists here in Russia measured the tick rate of Mitochondrial DNA. How fast does Mitochondrial DNA tick? In 1918 Czar Nicholas II, some of his family and some servants were killed and the nine bodies were buried in a common grave. There was a question as to whether it was really Nicholas II buried in the grave. In 1998 they dug up the remains in the grave and measured the Mitochondrial DNA. There are still living relatives of the Czar, so now scientists had Mitochondrial DNA from 1918 and Mitochondrial DNA from 1998. That's an 80 year time span. This allowed them to measure the clock rate.

So how fast does the Mitochondrial DNA clock tick?

Using the information from the Czar's Mitochondrial DNA they determined how long ago that first woman lived on earth. It came out to be 6,000 years ago, exactly what the Bible says. Once again the evidence supports the creationism.

I invite you to think about this. If you were created, you are not a random collection of chemicals. You are special. In Genesis 1:26-27 God says, "Let us make man in our image." God created man in His own image. You are the image of the creator of the universe. Think about this. If you were created you are special. Nobody is like you. Nobody in the past or in the future is like you. You are special. Even identical twins have different memories and different eye scans. The Bible says you are God's special treasure. You are very important to God, and you are part of God's plan for humanity.
This evening we have been looking at evolutionism and creationism to see which one fits the reality we observe.

The Bible tells us that we can know which is true from things that are made. God has put the evidence all around us. In chapter one of the book of Romans, starting in verse 19, God tells us, "because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."

Yes, you can see the evidence that says we are created all around you. We'll be looking at more of that evidence tomorrow evening, such as radiographic dating, radio halos and the artwork of early humans.

Why did our creator give us such a massive amount of evidence for creation? I believe it reflects His love for us. His love is recorded in theGospel of John, Chapter 3 verse 16 through 18:

"For God so loved he world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish [and perish means to be punished for all you've done wrong, so this is talking about Jesus being punished in your place], but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son [Jesus] into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already. because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Are you disobeying God as Adam and Eve did? Have you ever lied, stolen or used the name of God in vain? That means you have disobeyed God. But, as we just heard, God loves you so much that He sent His son to take your punishment in your place. All you need to do is believe this is true and accept this wonderful gift God has given you.

God does not force his truth on anyone. If someone is not comfortable in the presence of God, then when that person leaves this life the creator will not force that person to be in His presence. There is a special place prepared for people who are not comfortable in the creator's presence. It's called hell. But there's another place, far more beautiful than we can know in your fondest dreams and it is called heaven. Those who accept what God has done for them, when you trust that Jesus has paid your penalty for all you've done wrong, you can know for sure that when you die you will join God in heaven. Say yes to Jesus now. Say, yes Jesus I trust you to bring me into heaven.

Our Prayer - "Lord we thank you for all the evidence for your creation that you have given us. And we thank for the time you've given us this evening to study your creation. I pray that you will bless everyone here with your saving grace making known to them the wonders of your love. Amen"

Part I - Introduction, Creationism & Evolutionism
Part II - The Scientific Facts
Part III - Evidence Support Evolution & Dinosaurs Lived With Man?
Part IV - Dinosaurs In The Bible & Radioisotope Dating