Creation and Science Chronicle

Victory Over the Wicked, Acts & Facts, Feb. 2012

February 1, 2012 Comments Off

Acts & Facts, Vol. 41, No. 2, February 2012, monthly, free. 24 pages.

Executive editor: Lawrence E. Ford.

Institute for Creation Research, PO Box 59029, Dallas, TX 75229. Website.

As we’ve previously said, Acts & Facts continues to improve. Of particular note in this issue is Randy Guliuzza’ response to his recent series on natural selection. Guliuzza deals with a variety of concerns and questions over four pages. Most Acts & Facts run one to two pages, very ocassionally three. Also, Jeffrey Tomkins reports on ICR’s research regarding “Internal Telemere Sequences.” Larry Vardiman reports on the SETI radio telescope going back online. Apparently the reason it’s been taken out of mothballs is the growing discovery of planets discovered by the space telescope Kepler. (Note: Answers in Genesis’s planetarium program, The Created Cosmos, was recently updated (and into Blu-ray!) to display the many hundreds of planets found by the Kepler telescope.)

Table of contents
From the Editor: Victory in Jesus by Lawrence E. Ford. p. 3.
Victory Over the Wicked by Henry M. Morris III. p. 4.
Research: Internal Telomere Sequences: Accidents of Evolution or Features of Functional Design? by Jeffrey Tomkins. p. 6.
Events. p. 7.
Hidden in Plain View: Evolution’s Counterfeit History Is Everywhere by James J. S. Johnson. p. 8
SETI Radio Telescope Goes Back Online by Larry Vardiman. p.10
Impact: Darwin’s Sacred Imposter: Answering Questions about the Fallacy of Natural Selection by Randy J. Guliuzza. p. 12.
Back to Genesis: Gaps in the Geologic Column by John D. Morris. p. 16.
Back to Genesis: Arithmetic and the Genetic Code by Frank Sherwin. p. 17.
Back to Genesis: The Genetic Decline of Humanity by Brian Thomas. p. 18.
SOBA Graduate Profile: Seth Trotman by Christine Dao. p. 19.
Letters to the Editor. p. 20.
Stewardship: Enlarging the Tent by Henry M. Morris IV. p. 21
Love and the Heart by Henry M. Morris. p. 22.

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From: Creation & Science Chronicle.

“Geotheory”: Past and Present

November 7, 2011 Comments Off

by John K. Reed and Peter Klevberg.
CRS Quarterly, Volume 48, Number 1
Summer 2011, pp. 20-32.

Abstract:

The closing decades of the eighteenth century saw the beginnings of modern geohistory. Recent work by historians of science have broken through the persistent mythology of Hutton-Playfair-Lyell, and many lessons have been drawn from a better understanding of the early fusion of secularized science and secularized history. But one lesson that has received little attention is the inhibitive role played by “geotheory,” a genre of scientific writing popular in the last half of the eighteenth century. Geotheories were broad systematic attempts to scientifically explain Earth in its totality. They proved a barrier to the development of geology because of (1) their unrealistic scope, (2) unrealistic expectations, and (3) an unrealistic adherence to the hypothetico-deductive method of Newtonian physics, which in turn was related to serious misunderstandings of the limits of science and the nature of history. Numerous geotheories were published, each attempting to build a comprehensive explanation of Earth. By 1800, geotheory had fallen out of favor, replaced by inductive, limited, self-consciously historical investigations. Yet since geotheory reflects an innate drive in the human psyche for comprehensive understanding, it never really died. Our view of science and its disciplines is much different now, but facets of geotheory still exist—evolution being a secular example and grand “Flood models” a creationist manifestation.

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Ark Encounter Back in the News

August 23, 2011 Comments Off

Just one of over a hundred news items and blog postings about Answers in Genesis’ newest project, the Ark Encounter.

Noah’s Ark focus of theme park
Las Vegas Review-Journal, page 8B.
by Dylan T. Lovan
August 20, 2011

Tucked away in a nondescript office park in northern Kentucky, Noah’s followers are rebuilding his ark. The biblical wooden ship built to weather a worldwide flood was 500 feet long and about 80 feet high, according to Answers in Genesis, a Christian ministry devoted to a literal telling of the Old Testament.

This modern ark, to be nestled on a plot of 800 acres of rolling Kentucky farmland, isn’t designed to rescue the world’s creatures from a coming deluge. It’s to tell the world that the Bible’s legendary flood story was not a fable, but a part of human history.

“The message here is, God’s word is true,” said Mike Zovath, project manager of the ark. “There’s a lot of doubt: ‘Could Noah have built a boat this big, could he have put all the animals on the boat?’ Those are questions people all over the country ask.”

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Balaam’s Error and Today’s Evangelicals, Acts & Facts, Aug. 2011

August 10, 2011 Comments Off

Acts & Facts, Vol. 40, No. 8, August 2011, monthly, free. 24 pages.

Executive editor: Lawrence E. Ford.

Institute for Creation Research, PO Box 59029, Dallas, TX 75229. Website.

This issue of Acts & Facts takes a rather strong stand against compromising evangelicals! Henry Morris III in particular comes down hard on Peter Enns, Bruce Waltke and the BioLogos crowd. James Johnson follows up with a critique of the Intelligent Design Movement. John Morris covers the gap theory and theistic evolution as being particularly fatal to the Gospel because these interpretations place death before sin. Of additional note is Jeanson’s on-going examination of purported human-chimp genetic similarity. Vardiman, Sherwin, Thomas, and Forlow each round out this issue with short articles. Overall, another good issue of Acts & Facts!

Table of contents
From the Editor: The Donkey Strategy by Lawrence E. Ford. p. 3.
Balaam’s Error and Today’s Evangelicals by Henry M. Morris III. p. 4.
Events. p. 7.
Research: Human-Chimp Genetic Similarity: Refuting the Appeal to Human Genetic Testing by Nathaniel T. Jeanson. p. 8.
The Failed Apologetic of the Wedge Strategy : How the Intelligent Design Movement Treats the Bible as Irrelevant by James J. S. Johnson. p. 10.
Impact: Both Argon and Helium Diffusion Rates Indicate a Young Earth by Larry Vardiman. p. 12.
Back to Genesis: Doubt Versus Unbelief by John D. Morris. p. 15.
Back to Genesis: Fishy Evolutionary Explanations by Frank Sherwin. p. 16.
Back to Genesis: Fit for Flight by Brian Thomas. p. 17.
Education: Creation Expo VBS Reaches Thousands by Rhonda Forlow. p. 18.
Letters to the Editor. p. 20.
Stewardship: Can I Get a Witness? by Henry M. Morris IV. p. 21.
True Learning by Henry M. Morris. p. 22.

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From: Creation & Science Chronicle.

Origin of Trees

August 10, 2011 Comments Off

by Tom Hennigan and Jerry Bergman
CRS Quarterly, Volume 47, Number 4
Spring 2011, pp. 260-270.

Abstract:

According to Genesis, trees were created on the third day of the Creation Week. Within a Biblical worldview, this suggests that they are discontinuous with other plant forms. Naturalists posit that trees arose by random processes from simpler photosynthetic organisms. Fossil evidence for tree evolution from putative non-tree precursors is evaluated. It is concluded that the fossil record does not support an evolutionary origin for trees from non-tree plant forms. The earliest trees found in the fossil record were well developed, and no plausible explanation exists to overcome the enormous odds against their evolutionary origins from single-celled ancestors. It is concluded that when the fossil record, tree ecology, global Flood, and complex biochemical systems are analyzed within a Biblical worldview, the data are consistent with the Genesis account that God directly created trees.

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Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Decaying Steadily— with a Little Rhythm

August 10, 2011 Comments Off

by D. Russell Humphreys
CRS Quarterly, Volume 47, Number 3
Winter 2011, pp. 193-201.

Abstract:

A new curve fit to a new compilation of data shows with new clarity that from 1900 to 2010, the main “dipole” part of the earth’s magnetic field decayed exponentially (constant percent loss per year) with a small sine-wave variation. The time constant of the exponential part is 1611 (± 10) years. The sinusoidal part has a period of 66.1 (± 1.3) years and an amplitude of 0.29 (± 0.02) % of the main part today. The fit is very good, with most points within 0.05% of the curve. The distinctness of the exponential part gives new strength to the creationary model of the field, that losses in the earth’s core today are steadily decreasing the electric current producing the dipole field, thus supporting a young earth. A simple electric circuit clarifies the decay model. The small sine-wave part, apparently not noticed in the dipole moment data before now, may be due to an east-west torsional oscillation between core and mantle. This corresponds to an approximately 60-year cycle observed in the rate of earth’s rotation.

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Rise and Fall of the Orthogenesis Non-Darwinian Theory of Evolution

August 10, 2011 Comments Off

by Jerry Bergman
CRS Quarterly, Volume 47, Number 2
Fall 2010, pp. 139-145.

Abstract:

Orthogenesis is the theory that evolution occurs in a straight line, not branching, and is internally goal-directed. The theory was an attempt to explain the source of new genetic information in biological evolution. Although the theory boasted a number of prominent supporters, it did not survive scientific scrutiny and is now effectively moribund. The main problem with orthogenesis was that no plausible mechanism to drive straight-line evolution was ever demonstrated, and all of the examples used to support orthogenesis could be explained by other theories. Today the most widely accepted theory concerning the source of new genetic information is gene mutations. But mutation is regarded by some prominent biologists as an inadequate source of genetic novelty. It is important to study the doctrine of orthogenetic evolution because it prepares us to understand what may very well happen to the mutation-based evolutionary theory in the future.

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Evaluation of the Ar/Ar Dating Process

August 10, 2011 Comments Off

by Richard L. Overman
CRS Quarterly, Volume 47, Number 1
Summer 2010, pp. 23-30.

Abstract:

Abstract During the last half of the twentieth century, the argon-argon method of dating geologic rocks and formations became very popular. This method replaced K/Ar as the method of choice for many types of rocks. This paper explores the fundamental mathematics of the argon-argon dating method and evaluates the impact of the assumed date of the “standard sample” on the calculated argon-argon date. A method for testing the validity of an argon-argon date is proposed with example evaluations. The analysis in this paper shows that when the results of dating studies are validated against the foundational equations upon which the argon-argon dating method is based, the “older” the standard sample the greater the results differ from the foundational equations. This seems to indicate that the assumed age of the standard sample has an effect on the calculated age of the unknown sample. The paper proposes a way to further investigate and quantify the effect of the assumed age of the standard sample.

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