Archive for the ‘Intelligent Design’ category

Universe Is Closer to the End Than Expected

February 10th, 2010

Study Shows the Universe Is Closer to the End Than Expected

by Brian Thomas, M.S. *

Every known system degenerates. Metal rusts, food rots, and flowers wither. Even something as large as the universe will eventually run down. How much usable and still-ordered energy remains in the universe?

Australian researchers have generated a new estimate, one that includes the energy-destroying effects of “supermassive black holes.” Their computations indicate that the universe is perhaps 30 times more run down than similar estimates published just last year.

After adding in “the contributions of black holes 100 times larger than those considered in previous budgets,” co-authors Chas Egan and Charles Lineweaver reported in the Astrophysical Journal that the universe is at least an order of magnitude more run down than secular astronomers once thought.1

The largest contributor by far to universal entropy (a measure of usable energy) is generated by supermassive black holes, according to the published study. Evidence of these, as well as the smaller “stellar” black holes, has been found mostly in galactic cores. Black holes rapidly randomize ordered forms of energy and matter, turning them into heat that then dissipates.

Though some of the assumptions used in the Egan and Lineweaver study rely on aspects of Big Bang cosmology, a large portion of the computed entropy was derived from temperature and volume measurements or estimates. A host of other observations has demolished the Big Bang theory,2 but the very fact that the universe is slowing down is both counter to evolutionary assumptions and supportive of biblical creation.

Lineweaver said in an Australian National University press release, “Contrary to common opinion, the maintenance of all the complicated structures we see around us―galaxies, stars, hurricanes and kangaroos―have the net effect of increasing the disorder and entropy of the universe.”3 The longstanding scientific observation of continually decreasing order in all systems contradicts the evolutionary doctrine that order has spontaneously increased.4 But evolution’s simple-to-complex story has been so uncritically accepted that it isn’t surprising that the science of entropy, which calls that story into question, is not as well known.

Since the universe is currently unwinding through natural processes, it stands to reason that at some point it was intentionally “wound up” by something outside of the universe. This corresponds well with the Bible’s assertion that “in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”5

In fact, the culmination of the heavens wearing down was mentioned in the book of Isaiah, to whom God said, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.”6

Egan and Lineweaver suggested that future research could use their new numbers to recalculate how much time the universe has left. But failing to consider revelation from the God of creation must lead to confusion over the ultimate questions of origin and destiny. Whereas evolutionary scientists can be sure that the universe is running down—though unsure about when it started or how it will end—God states that “all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll,”7 “and the stars shall fall from heaven,”8 so that He can establish “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”9 This present universal economy will be supernaturally restructured long before it fizzles out.

References:

1.   Egan, C. A., and C. H. Lineweaver. A Larger Estimate of the Entropy of the Universe. Astrophysical Journal. 710 (2): 1825-1834.

2.   Gish, D. 1991. The Big Bang Theory Collapses. Acts & Facts. 20 (6).

3.   Astronomers: The end is nigher than we expected. Australian National University press release, January 25, 2010.

4.   Morris, H. 1985. Does Entropy Contradict Evolution? Acts & Facts. 14 (3).

5.   Genesis 1:1.

6.   Isaiah 51:6.

7.   Isaiah 34:4.

8.  Matthew 24:29. 2

9.   Peter 3:13.

Image credit: NASA

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research (ICR).

Article posted on February 9, 2010 in the Science Update published by ICR

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Posted in Astronomy, Bible, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Physics, Scientists, Solar System

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Are Humans as Close to Chickens as They Are to Chimps?

January 27th, 2010

y_chromosome_wide Written by :  Brian Thomas, MS *

A recent comprehensive analysis compared the human Y chromosome with the chimpanzee Y chromosome, and the researchers found that they were “remarkably divergent.”1

The Y chromosome is found only in males and contains many genes that specify male features, as well as genetic and regulatory information that is expressed throughout the whole body. In a study published in the January issue of Nature, a large team of scientists encountered so many unforeseen differences in the DNA sequences of the human and chimp Y chromosomes that the research took much longer than they had originally anticipated. Among their discoveries were interesting features unique to certain “sequence classes” within each chromosome.

Most of their findings do not fit well with the often-repeated erroneous statement that humans and chimps are 98 percent similar, nor with the more general hypothesis that they share a common ancestor.2 One sequence class within the chimpanzee Y chromosome had less than 10 percent similarity with the same class in the human Y chromosome, and vice versa. Another large class shared only half the similarities of the other species, and vice versa. And one whole class on the human Y chromosome “has no counterpart in the chimpanzee MSY [male-specific Y chromosome].”1

Under evolutionary assumptions of long and gradual genetic changes, the Y chromosome structures, layouts, genes, and other sequences should be much the same in both species, given the relatively short—according to the evolutionary timeline—six-million-year time span since chimpanzees and humans supposedly diverged from a common ancestor. Instead, the differences between the chromosomes are marked. R. Scott Hawley, a genetics researcher at the Stowers Institute in Kansas City who wasn’t involved in the research, told the Associated Press, “That result is astounding.”3

The Nature paper expressed the mismatch between this data and standard evolutionary interpretations in a more muted tone: “Indeed, at 6 million years of separation, the difference in MSY gene content in chimpanzee and human is more comparable to the difference in autosomal gene content in chicken and human, at 310 million years of separation.”1 Autosomes are the chromosomes other than the X and Y.

So, the human Y chromosome looks just as different from a chimp’s as the other human chromosomes do from a chicken’s. And to explain where all these differences between humans and chimps came from, believers in big-picture evolution are forced to invent stories of rapid wholesale rearrangements, and rapid generation of both new gene-containing and regulatory DNA.

But since each respective Y chromosome appears fully integrated and interdependent with its host organism, the most logical conclusion is that humans and chimpanzees were each specially created as distinct creatures.

References:

1.  Hughes, J. F. et al. Chimpanzee and human Y chromosomes are remarkably divergent in structure and gene content. Nature. Published online January 13, 2010.

2.  Tomkins, J. 2009. Human-Chimp Similarities: Common Ancestry of Flawed Research? Acts & Facts. 38 (6): 12.

3.  Borenstein, S. Men more evolved? Y chromosome study stirs debate. Associated Press, January 13, 2010. *

Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

The entire article above was taken from The Institute For Creation Research.

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Posted in Biology, Evolution, Intelligent Design

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Evidence From Astronomy

December 25th, 2009

solar-system

Contrary to popular opinion, planets should not form from the mutual gravitational attraction of particles orbiting the sun. Orbiting particles are much more likely to be scattered or expelled by their gravitational interactions than they are to be pulled together. Experiments have shown that colliding particles almost always fragment rather than stick together. Similar difficulties relate to a moon forming from particles orbiting a planet.

Despite these problems, let us assume that pebble-size to moon-size particles somehow evolved. Growing a planet by many small collisions will produce an almost nonspinning planet, because a spin imparted by impacts will be largely self-canceling. Yet all planets spin, some much more than others.

The more we explore and understand our solar system, the more reasons we have to acknowledge that it did not evolve, but was created.

The above document was taken from In the Beginning, 7th Ed., p.22 and quoted in A Closer Look At The Evidence by Richard & Tina Kleiss.

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host. (Psalm 33:6 NASV)

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Posted in Astronomy, Intelligent Design, Physics, Solar System

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The Amazing Leaf Miner

November 4th, 2009

Leaf Miner-2

If you live in a climate where fall brings colors to the leaves before they fall, you’ve probably noticed something strange. Once the leaves start to fall, the ground is littered with their color. But among all those fading leaves, you might find a perfectly healthy looking green leaf. That green leaf is probably the work of one of God’s more amazing tiny insects.
Leaf MinerSeveral species of beetles, flies and moths go through a larval stage in which the larvae burrow into leaves. These leaf miners gain their nutrition from the leaf. But when fall comes, and the leaves lose their green chlorophyll, they stop making food for the larvae. So the larvae secrete a hormone that prevents the leaf from losing its chlorophyll and shutting down to die. This hormone enables a leaf to stay green and produce food for the larvae even long after the leaf would normally have turned color and dried up on the ground.

Leaf miners present several problems for those who think that mindless evolution produced the variety of life that we see around us today. How did the larvae learn to make just the right hormone to preserve the leaf on which it depends? Are we to believe that these larvae kept evolving from something else until one of them figured out the chemistry of the leaf? And finally, are we to believe that this unlikely evolutionary event happened in several species?
Just as the sprouting of new leaves in the spring means that summer is near, so the cleverness of the leaf miner should tell us that the hand of God created this insect. And we can reliably conclude that God made the entire creation.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near. (Mark 13:28)

This article was originally written by  Joachim Scheven, “Green Islands,” Origins, June 1999 as quoted in Creation Moments, Nov 4, 2009

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Posted in Biology, Chemistry, Evolution, Insects, Intelligent Design

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Evidence From The Worldwide Flood

September 13th, 2009

turtle

Hundreds of giant fossils have been discovered over the years. These include ten-foot turtles, dragonflies with a two foot wingspan, and 50-foot-long crocodiles. Could the size of these creatures be the result of long lives and/or a more protective atmosphere? It is interesting to note that some reptiles today never stop growing, but continue to get larger as long as they live. The large size for prehistoric (i.e., pre-flood) reptiles, including dinosaurs, probably indicates very long lives. Even today, scientists do not fully understand what causes us to age and die. Given more ideal conditions and fewer genetic problems before the Flood, it is not hard to believe that pre-flood man could have lived 10 times longer than modern man.

Most likely the cause of the longer life expectancy before the flood was fewer genetic problems. Contrary to what evolutionists would have us believe, with every passing century the number of mistakes and problems on our genes increases. There is also an intriguing possibility that the original earth was protected by a water-canopy above the atmosphere. This protective canopy would have shielded living things from the harmful radiation which shortens life. This may help account for both early man’s long life span and larger animals. Josephus (a Jewish historian in 100 A.D.) records that the historians from nine other nations report people living up to 1,000 years old before the great Flood.

The above was quoted from Myths and Miracles, p.76 TJ Journal, 8(2):138-141, 1994 as depicted in A Closer Look At The Evidence by Richard & Tina Kleiss.

Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died. (Genesis 5:5)

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Posted in Astronomy, Bible, Biology, Evolution, Fossils, Geology, Intelligent Design, Marine creatures, Physics

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Evidence From Anatomy

September 13th, 2009

Eye2The eye is an incredibly complex organ that moves 100,000 times in an average day. Numerous muscles and tear ducts are in place to keep the eye constantly moist, protected, and functional. Our eyes process 1.5 million bits of information simultaneously and provide 80% of the sensory stimulation sent to the brain. They receive light images traveling at 186,000 miles per second through the iris, which opens or closes to let in just the right amount of light. These images travel through a lens, made of transparent cells, which focuses them on the retina at the back of the eyeball. The retina covers less than one square inch of surface, yet this square inch contains approximately 137 million light-sensitive receptor  cells. Approximately 130 million are rod cells (designed specifically to see in black and white), and 7 million are cone cells (allowing color vision). Finally, the image is sent at a rate of 300 miles per hour to the brain for processing. How could all of this have come about by some step-by-step, random-chance evolutionary process?

Mankind has designed and patterned the camera after the eye. It is only reasonable to acknowledge that the eye, which is an infinitely more complex instrument, was also designed by intelligence.

The above was quoted from The Human Body: Accident or Design?, p.56-58 as depicted in A Closer Look At The Evidence by Richard & Tina Kleiss.

Ears that hear and eyes that see—the LORD has made them both. (Proverbs 20:12)

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Posted in Biology, Intelligent Design, Mathematics

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