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Evidence
Let’s start here …
Water, water…
There are many different features of our earth that show design and purpose which evolutionary models do not have explanations for, but there are two more features worth discussing: water – lots of it! And the earths magnetic field.
If we were to flatten out all the mountains, and lift up all the valleys, the earth would be covered 1 ½ miles deep with water. We all know that water is essential for life, and scientists have spent many decades looking in vain for planets like ours in other parts of the universe, in the hope that maybe, hopefully there is another planet out there somewhere that could support life such as we have on earth. (this of course would back up their theories on the evolution of planets, no need of God, etc) NOAA says that Earth is the only known planet (or moon) to have consistent, stable bodies of liquid water on its surface. While some peer into their telescopes trying to figure out why there isn’t any other water filled planet, others try to figure why we have any water at all!
Here’s an idea. The Bible first mentions water (“the deep”) on Earth in Genesis 1:2. God separated water above and below on Day Two, and dry land appears on Day Three. The Bible says there was always water on earth. 2 Peter 3:5 states “...the earth was formed out of water, and through water by the word of God..” There is the “divine foot in the door again”!
Another amazing aspect of earth is it’s magnetic field.
Our magnetic field deflects the harmful radiation from the sun and protects us from harmful particles in the solar wind. Without the magnetic field around the Earth, life could not exist on the planet. Solar radiation would strip away our atmosphere.
Evolutionary models can’t explain how the earth could possibly have a magnetic field, or where is comes from. Here’s a neat quote from the National Geometric initiative: “The mechanism for generating the geomagnetic field remains one of the central unsolved problems in geoscience”. S.R Taylor said “magnetism is about as much of a puzzle now as it was … in 1600”
We will eventually be getting into discussions of origins, but for now, here is something to think on. We all “know” the earth is 4.5 billion years old, right, because that’s what scientists say. But operational science has been measuring the earth’s weakening magnetic field since 1845. What we have discovered is that the earth’s magnetic field was twice as strong 1,400 years ago; 4 times as strong 2,800 years ago. There is a physical limit to how far back this could have kept going - it was calculated that the current could not have been decaying for more than 10,000 years; otherwise its starting strength would have been sufficient to melt the earth. Hmmm.
Reason
What do you think?
Do other planets have water?
Our immediate discussion then is to think on water and where it came from. Secular scientists will always have answers that lead us to think that the riddle has been solved, and that there is no need to invoke God.
You see, according to secular models, the earth had to be created dry, so we shouldn’t even have water. The planets supposedly formed out of a disk of material left over from the sun’s formation 4.6 billion years ago. The planets would have formed gradually from tiny dust particles, and being this close to the sun how did it not evaporated? And why so much?
A common view was that comets (lots of them) collided with the earth in distant times past. Since comets are known to be composed of ice, that was at least an idea. However, this view has been challenged by recent studies of the type of water that comets contain, and that has been discarded. These comets supposedly came from the Kuiper belt.
Now the fashionable theory is that asteroids, from the Oort cloud, did the trick. Only problem is that the Oort cloud is a mythical place, a fairy tale. It has never been seen or observed, so I suppose it could be capable of doing anything!
Meanwhile, in the search for other planets that contain water, there was a recent post saying “A team led by researchers at the University of Montreal has found evidence that two exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf star are "water worlds," where water makes up a large fraction of the entire planet”. That solves it, I guess. However, actually reading it we find “ Water wasn't directly detected at Kepler-138 c and d, but by comparing the sizes and masses of the planets to models, astronomers conclude that a significant fraction of their volume – up to half of it – should be made of materials that are lighter than rock.” No detection. Comparing to models. Should be. This is not observable fact.
Faith
Something else to consider ...
“Belief is the driver of actions”
We will be returning to certain themes over and over in this blog on apologetics, and the “prestige” of science is one of them.
Last time we mentioned that “science” doesn’t say anything, but scientists do. Digging deeper, lets look at the 2 different kinds of science.
One is operational science, and the one we are most familiar (and impressed) with. This is defined as “a systematic approach to understanding that uses observable, testable, repeatable, and falsifiable experimentation to understand how nature commonly behaves”. This kind of science gives us cell phones, cars and satellites.
The other type of science is historical, or origins, science. This is defined as “interpreting evidence from past events based on a presupposed philosophical point of view”. This is because past events are not testable. You can’t observe them, or repeat them in a lab. This is theory – but is often presented as fact.
What we saw from the above section is presenting a theory about water on other planets as an observed fact, when reading later, find out it is just a guess.
As Theists, religious believers, Christians, etc. we believe that the account given in Gen 1:1 is a reliable explanation from Someone who claims to have been there in the beginning. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”. Isa 45:18 says “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,” In Neh 9:6 we read “Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee”.
Naturalist will accuse us of believing in fairy tales, but lets ask them about their theories about how life first started (seeded from outer space) or why is the universe so fine tuned for life (we are part of the – unobserved – multiverse) These and other fairy tales we will examine in later blogs.
We often read that atheists claim if God were to write a message to them across the sky, they would believe in Him. What if the message was Job 38:4,5 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know!”
Thanks for stopping by!