Millionth Guest Visits Creation Museum

The one-millionth guest visited the world -renowned creation musuem of Answers in Genesis in Petersburg, Ky. this morning. The number of guests it received since opening day in May 2007 has far exceeded their expectations. For more details, click here.

Without a Reason

Jason Lisle has a very interesting article on his blog. He explains in this article about his experience of a dialogue with a thiestic evolutionist. The person he was talking to was being very irrational. For example, consider this piece of the article:

"I then asked if he understood what I had explained (not if he agreed, but rather if he understood).....He said, 'No.' I asked him what he meant, and he said that he 'denied that evidence' which struck me as a very illogical response."

The last statement in the article says this:

"Can one believe in billions of years and be consistently rational? No."

I highly advise you to check this article out.

Barna Group - Unchurched Adults

The Barna Group has an interesting article on their website entitled "Millions of Unchurched Adults are Christians Hurt by Churches but can be Healed of the Pain."

"One of the biggest surprises to some people, however, is that a large majority of the nation’s unchurched population is drawn from the sector comprised of people who consider themselves to be Christian. In the United States, 83% of all adults label themselves 'Christian.'

Other interesting insights into the self-identified Christians who have distanced themselves from a conventional church relate to their beliefs. Two-thirds (68%) hold a biblical view of God – that is, He is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the universe and He still rules that universe today. However, only one-third (35%) agree to any extent that the Bible is totally accurate in all the principles it teaches. Only one in seven (15%) claim that their religious faith is very important in their life. One out of five (22%) contends that the ultimate purpose of life is to love God with all their heart, mind, strength and soul. A mere one in seven (14%) claims to have a clear sense of the meaning and purpose of their life."

Stephen Manfield wrote a book entitled Rechurched describing his painful journey from and back to the local church. It might be worth a look. You can purchase it here

Deadly Disclosures

Answers in Genesis put a new book into their online store. The just-released book Deadly Disclosures is a fiction mystery novel which was written by Australian Julie Cave. Ken Ham has read it and said that he couldn't put it down. On his blog, he explained what the book is about:

"Thomas Whitfield, proud Secretary of the Smithsonian and gatekeeper for its extensive scientific influence, has disappeared and foul play is suspected. Dinah Harris, an FBI agent struggling with alcohol and depression, is seeking answers amidst the fallout of her own personal crisis. Whitfield is eventually found dead, and other people connected to him begin dying as well, ultimately exposing a broad conspiracy linked to Whitfield’s recent conversion to Christ. His promotion of a biblical worldview is diametrically opposed to the hostile academic environment of government-funded grants and philosophies. Will Dinah recognize her need of the redemptive power of Christ before it’s too late? Or will the ominous danger stalking her investigation claim another victim? Includes an ongoing “debate” about creation that informs as it entertains. This is the first book in an exciting new fiction trilogy inspired by the exposure of academic bias against ID/creation in Ben Stein’s riveting documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed!"

He also said this about it as well:

"...it is all interspersed throughout this captivating murder mystery at the Smithsonian centered around intolerance/bias against the biblical creation position (just as we saw documented in the Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed documentary a couple of year ago).

So if you have any extra money on you, just jump over to their online store and buy a copy.

Adversarial System in Science - Young-age Creationism

Creation Ministries International (CMI) posted an article on the website entitled "Why young-age creationism is good for science". It explains how young-age creationism (YAC) can bring about information that would not have been brought forth if it hadn't been for the the conviction of biblical creationists of a young age for the universe.

This can be brought out by the adversarial system. CMI's article says this about this system:

"The US legal system is a good example for how science should, and could, work. US criminal trials operate on the adversarial system, in which two lawyers face off, one unequivocally in defense of the defendant, and one unequivocally prosecuting the defendant. If any lawyer seems to lose a case on purpose, even if it is because the plaintiff decided that the defendant really was innocent, that lawyer can lose his or her license. This system, though it is often abused, is actually ideal for ensuring justice in the majority of cases."

It goes on to describe the Salem Witch Trials in The Crucible which illistrates the unjust trials of the witch. They then said that the "YACs are the ‘witches’ of contemporary science, and scientific scholarship is proceeding roughly like Miller’s version of the Salem Witch Trials." They also quoted T.C. Chamberlin on multiple working hypotheses:

"As an illustration, it is only necessary to cite the phenomenal influence which the Darwinian hypothesis has exerted upon the investigation of the past two decades. But a single working hypothesis may lead investigation along a given line to the neglect of others equally important; and thus, while inquiry is promoted in certain quarters, the investigation lacks in completeness. But if all rational hypotheses relating to a subject are worked co-equally, thoroughness is the presumptive result, in the very nature of the case."

They then give several examples of the adversarial system in science by the young-age creationists. One example is that of Paleontologist Leonard Brand and the Coconino Sandstone in northern Arizona.

"At least since 1933, the standard interpretation of the Coconino Sandstone has been that it formed from wind-blown sand dunes in a desert climate. The many fossilized vertebrate footprints in the lower half of the deposit had been interpreted as having been made on dry sand, even though, before Brand, no one had conducted rigorous laboratory experiments to determine whether the prints really looked more like underwater prints or prints made in dry sand. The wind-deposited model seemed satisfactory to old-earth geologists, so it is unlikely that anyone would have sought to reinterpret the fossil footprints any time soon. However, because his biblical Flood model for geology implies that the Coconino Sandstone was more likely laid down underwater, Brand set out to discover whether the fossil footprints really fit the Flood model or a desert deposit model better."

This was the result:

"Brand set up meticulous lab simulations of underwater, partially underwater, slightly moistened, and dry sand environments and observed the footprints made by a variety of reptiles and amphibians in those differing environments. After carefully comparing the experimental footprints with the fossilized footprints, Brand found that the tracks made underwater were the best match for those recorded in the fossil record."

This would have made more sense underwater when the Flood of Noah's day covered the entire earth than it would have if uniformitarian processes have shaped the earth. The article goes on further about the works of Russell Humphreys, Steve Austin, John Baumgardner, Werner Gitt, and John Sanford. The article then said this:

"If one recognizes the benefits that YAC has to offer science—increased accountability and rigour through an adversarial system and fruitful original research flowing from uniquely young-age hypotheses—one may yet have a grave reservation about accepting YACs as legitimate speculative scientists."