April 1964

PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF AN EXCHANGE OF IDEAS BY THOSE WHO ARE CONCERNED WITH SCIENCE DEVELOPED FROM A FRAMEWORK IN HARMONY WITH A CONSERVATIVE VIEW OF THE BIBLE

This Newsletter is being mailed from Caldwell, Idaho. There is no subscription price. Contributions for expenses are welcome. It is our desire to distribute this Newsletter to whomever it will be helpful.

    TWO THOUSAND COPIES
This was the number of copies for the last Newsletter and only about 75 copies are left. Distribution was made at District Conventions of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod meeting after Easter (Northern California, Southern California, Oklahoma, Texas and Florida-Georgia) Returns from these distributions are encouraging. Dr. Arthur Nitz, one of the vice-presidents of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, wrote commending the work of the Bible-Science Newsletter, President Behrends of the Oklahoma District favored the distribution. We thank the Rev. R. Goetjen for distributing the Newsletter in the Southern California convention, the Rev. Haak in the Northern California convention, the Rev. Oesch in Texas and the Rev. Frerking in the Florida-Georgia District. Our mailing list is now about 600 and growing rapidly.

The Rev. John Zornan, president of the Slovak Zion Lutheran Synod, gave us the names of all pastors in that body, and Newsletters were sent to them.

Jack W. Andrews, a dentist in Costa Mesa, California sent a list of about 50 names for our mailing list.

The Rev. A. Hoeman of Banning, California wrote that a layman of his congregation had received a copy of the Newsletter at the Southern California District convention and wanted 20 copies for Bible class use.

Professor Wilbert Rusch, treasurer of the Creation Research Society, suggested the Newsletter be mailed to officers of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and to all its District presidents. He feels this would help them see it is possible to hold the line on Creationism and it is not necessary to vacillate with regard to Darwinian evolution.

John Byrd, teacher in a Christian elementary school in Hayward, California, asked for the Newsletter and is using it in his classes.

Dr. E.G. Bragg, vice president of Trinity College in Clearwater, Florida, uses the Newsletter at this school.
Michigan Lutheran Seminary at Saginaw, Michigan requested the Newsletter for its library. Herman W. Schaars,  retired Christian day school teacher now in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was generous in his praise of the Newsletter and sent names and addresses for mailing. Dr. and Mrs. Ed. Harri of Dayton, Washington have shown interest and support. The Rev. Melvin Teske of Tacoma, Washington asked for the Newsletter and distributed copies to pastors of the Wisconsin Synod Lutheran Church in the Northwest.

    SUPPORT ABROAD
Anders Wigholm of Sweden sent a contribution for the Newsletter and a Bible-League magazine in Swedish.

Harold Armstrong, physics instructor at Queens College, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, has given financial support and indicates a deep, theological understanding of the Bible. He stated his opinions on "in the beginning" in Genesis 1:1, in the 430 years from Jacob to the Exodus, on Daniel's seventy weeks, and on Joshua's long day.

Armstrong has this to say about Cainan in Luke 3:36:

"I would suggest that the fact that this name is not in either the Massoretic or the Samaritan text would seem to be strong evidence that it does not belong in the original. It seems to be that all that St. Luke 3:23-38 says is something like,  'Jesus ... was a descendant (as was supposed) of Joseph, Heli ... Adam, and God.' But there is nothing in the genealogy in the Greek to say that all these names are to be considered as father and son, and, in any event, we should not insist that this is a list of fathers and sons, when St. Matthew, which apparently is, is different. Incidentally, this would not say that Adam was the son of God, a thing which, as as far as I can recall, is found nowhere else in the Scripture. So I am inclined to accept the geneologies of Genesis 11 as they stand, for if they are not complete, what was the use of giving them at all? It cannot be said that it was to indicate some famous name of the past, for as far as I know there is nothing known of any of these men from Noah to Terah, and there is no evidence that anything more was known in Moses' time.

"I grant that the time between the Flood and Abraham was small, but we may find that the whole world was not by any means populated in Abraham's time. Besides, consider how the population spread in North American between 1750 and 1850, or how modern transportation has much to do with that. Another point, it seems to be assumed sometimes that the affair at Babel was in Peleg's time  (I think that the book of Jubilee teaches that), but there is definite statement of it otherwise. I find it difficult to believe that there is any great gap, for it is strange to think God would let thousands of years go by without doing anything.  ...  There could be a miraculous scattering in Peleg's time.  Genesis 11:8-9.  Genesis 10:25 ... Maybe the dividing of the earth was to prevent them from reuniting."

    CREATION RESEARCH SOCIETY'S ANNUAL
We had hoped to have a review of this Annual for this issue, but we have not yet received a copy.
The Creation Research Society is now open to sustaining memberships at $5.00 a year.  This entitles one to receiving the Annual and the Quarterlies, Send membership fees to Wilbert Rusch, treasurer, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Presently about 125 top scientists are voting members of this society. They are working on research and textbook writing.

Dr. Walter Lammerts, president of the society and an outstanding geneticist, is retiring in June from work with the Germain Seed Company. He plans to devote more time to the work of the society. In May he will leave for a five-month plant safari to Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Polynesia, Philippine Islands, Hawaii, returning the latter part of October. He feels this safari will also help in the promotion of Creationism.

Regarding the so-called universality of the Darwinian type of evolution, Dr. Lammerts has this to say:  "Actually we do question this.  ... many eminent scientists are in total disagreement with it. They should also point out that these scientists have achieved a high degree of success in their various fields and have every right to speak with as much authority as those who have assumed the right to speak for all scientists on this matter. As a matter of fact, many of us believe the theory of evolution has outworn its usefulness as a spur to further research. It is all too easy to investigate a group of plants or animals now-a-days, state the various intricate relationships found, and then make a statement that these fit in with the general idea of evolution by natural selection. Almost anything can thus be fitted in provided one is not perceptive enough to see that this sort of thing has no real explanation."

Wm. Tinkle,  secretary of this society, informs us of letters written to a community in south Africa helping those who oppose an exhibit showing the development of man from animals. Museums often display one kind of plaster cast of skulls and not the kind which contradicts the Darwinian theory of evolution. When a museum exhibits theories rather than discoveries, it limits people's search for facts rather than stimulating such search.

    HELP FOR ESSAYS
People are writing to the Newsletter editor for help in preparing essays.

John Ellingsen of Madison, Wisconsin requested a list of books in three classifications, for an essay he was instructed to write. Classifications were evolutionary, compromise between evolution and creation, and favoring Creationism. We were able to send him a lengthy list.

A girl at Valparaiso asked for help with an essay against Darwinian evolution, because of problems in her biology class.

Suggestions for writing such essays are given in another section of this Newsletter by Dr. John Howell.

    WHAT OTHERS SAY
Dr. P. Phillips, pastor at the Bible Presbyterian Church in Wilmington Manor, Delaware says:

"I was a research chemist before my conversion and (as you say) I find myself almost desperate sometimes for Christian literature that accepts the Word of God as perspicuous, with the necessity for interpreting science by the Word (and not vice versa).

"I personally have never yet found any advantage in running around trying to find ways the Bible can be bent to fit the latest 'scientific' fads or theories. This is the curse of our modern efforts to 'reconcile science and the Bible'. There has never been any need to 'reconcile' the facts and science - only the theories of spiritually blind scientists.

"Dr. Theodore N. Tahmisian of the Argonne National Laboratory, says he has never found one fact of science that would lead him not to take the first two chapters of Genesis in their simple, grammatical, unforced meaning. If this is the view of one of our most enlightened Geneticists, how much more should it be the view of our ministers of the Bible ...

"My feeling is what Christians need most desperately today is adequate textbooks for secondary schools written by Christian scholars ... In the meantime, we need lists of those already in print that are the least offensive."

Charles A. Bachman, chief nutrionist for Lancaster County Research Farms in Pennsylvania writes, indicating strong, creationist trust in the Bible.

    CREATIONIST CHURCH HISTORY VIEW
Dr. Albert Hyma is historian at Michigan University. He has published a ten-volume history on World Civilization which is being adopted by many colleges and universities. It is a scholarly survey of history and may be ordered from Desert Laboratories, in Tucson, Arizona - five volumes $9.00.

The text is divided into three major divisions of history:  the Ancient World, the Medieval World, and the Modern World. The author covers these areas well and shows the role of religion throughout history. It is not a history of religion, but history written by a religious man. Today it is more acceptable to debunk religious history than to explore its contributions honestly, and it is to the

credit of this author that he has been honest. Dr. Hyma possesses the ability to whet the reader's appetite for history.  This is done by including interesting sidelights without clouding the main issues.

    VANISHING FEAR OF SIN
In "Christianity Today" (September 14, 1962) Dr. Hyma wrote "Darwinism or Christianity". His theme was that we must make a choice between Christianity and Darwinism.

He says:  "The moment you accept evolution as a fact you strike a mortal blow at the Christian religion and momentarily at least lose all fear of the consequences when you break a divine law ... In nearly all books devoted to applied psychology the devil is equated with evil thoughts. Adam and Eve never existed, and naturally there is no longer the need felt of a divine Savior. But those who are familiar with the course of ancient civilization know that the first human beings were created in God's image, not only on the Physical plane (their bodies) but also on the spiritual level. The original sin of Adam and Eve, as Luther so well indicated in his lectures on Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and as all enlightened Roman and Greek Catholic scholars have attested, resulted in a process of degradation.  The most serious aspect of this fall of man has been the vanishing fear of sin."

    RELIGION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The founders of our great republic knew that in some of the thirteen states the Episcopal Church was the state church, while in others the Congregational Church had that honor.  In the Dutch Republic, whose government was being imitated in the United States to some extent, the Reformed Church was the established church. Moreover, Sweden had a constitution which declared that the Lutheran Church was the state church.  (Many of the early settlers came from Netherlands and Sweden) ... In all the European countries we have mentioned Christian or parochial schools were subsidized by the civil government. Luther himself in 1524 had issued a pamphlet addressed to all municipal governments in the Holy Roman Empire in which he demanded that in every city there must be at least one Christian school.

    POSITION OF THE EARLY DUTCH
    REFORMED ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS
Illuminating are the statements by the leading clergymen in the General Synod of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in American during the month of June 1853.  On p. 360 of the printed minutes we read this about the Dutch settlers in Western Michigan, who had founded some parochial schools there:  'The system of common schools at present prevailing in our country, and in which the Bible is read and our common Christianity acknowledged, is productive of incalculable good; and your Committee are persuaded that the establishment of parochial schools throughout the churches would essentially, if not fatally, interfere with it.'  A few years later many of the devout members of the denomination left it to found the Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their descendants have continued to follow the example set by the founders of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

    THE POWER OF NEGATIVE THINKING
During the past fifty years it has become ever more praiseworthy to emphasize the power of positive thinking and to deride the need for negative thinking.  Those who led the movement known as progressive education reasoned that young people must never be ordered to do anything that they disliked. They should always concentrate on positive thought for fear, anger, jealousy, etc. were poisonous, which was correct in itself. But the authors of books dealing with positive thinking overlooked the very simple fact that the famous Ten Commandments were nearly all cast into a negative form.

The Bible contains many admonitions concerning the nature of sin and evil. Christ and His apostles constantly urged their followers to bear in mind the result of disobedience on the part of Adam and Eve.  The Fall of Man started with Satan's argument to the effect that God had been unreasonable to insist on the commandment not to eat of the tree which would produce degradation. It is indeed unnatural for man to enjoy life of obedience and righteous living, although it has always been obvious to any thinker that wholesome ways of living in harmony with God's orders would result in good health and serene temperament. It would be a wonderful thing if we could have a new book entitled, THE POWER OF DYNAMIC THINKING, with the following chapters in it: 1.  The Power of Negative Thinking,  2. The Power of Positive Thinking, 3. The Control of Physical Appetites, 4.  The Proper Application of Prayer, 5.  The Imitation of Christ, 6, The Power of True Faith.

    CALIFORNIA!
No wonder that the Attorney-General of California has ordered all citizens in his state to withdraw their objections to the teaching of evolution as a fact, rather than a mere theory. If anybody should become so bold as to ask him what had become of religious freedom in California, he would no doubt come up with an evasive answer.

    SECULARIZATION OF STATE UNIVERSITIES
"The present writer (Hyma) has taught in five state universities and has lectured in six European universities. Everywhere he has observed the secularization of Western Christendom, to which subject he devoted an article in THE TWENTIETH CENTURY ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE. In the same encyclopedia Professor Gerhard Ritter published an article entitled, "Protestantism", indicating that during the period from 1525 to 1700 the Lutherans and the Calvinists developed state churches instead of the separation of State and Church  ...  The University of Michigan, with which the present writer has been closely associated for 49 years, was founded in 1817 by a Roman Catholic priest and a Presbyterian pastor. When in 1837 this state university was removed from Detroit to Ann Arbor, the two sole professors were both Protestant pastors.

They had never heard about the ridiculous theory concerning the stupendous wall created by the Constitution between Church and State ... Since the middle of the nineteenth century our state universities have undergone remarkable transformations. Gradually the chapel services have disappeared, while the pastors have been deprived of their positions as professors. Moreover, the courses dealing with theology have been scrapped, for has not our Constitution demanded this change? Woe upon those professors who still dare to support the Christian faith in our state universities! And if any of then should still be using a textbook that does not undermine the Christian religion, they will soon enough be ordered to remove the naive books from their classrooms.

The undermining of the Christian faith must of course be done in a subtle and indirect manner, for that is the choice system used by Satan ... You must not say that Adam and Eve never existed, for that would be too clumsy an operation. You must also be careful not to attack the Bible directly.  There are much better ways than that. Whereas in the field of science the students can easily be shown what is wrong with the textbooks that treat evolution as a well-proved fact, the books dealing with the history of civilization are much more difficult to screen. All sorts of insinuations and hypotheses are presented.

Although this controversy took place in I960, it is interesting and helpful today.  The main individual in this controversy was John S. Howell who is now teaching at Ridgefield High School near Olympia, Washington.

We have a number of letters from him and a fine scrapbook of the controversy.

Dr. Howell was a missionary in South America for the Seventh Day Adventist Church. He then attended the University of Nebraska where he received his doctorate.  Following this he spent nearly four years as Director of Curriculum materials in the State of Washington.

    LETTER TO GRETCHEN WILLIAMS
Gretchen Williams was an eighteen year old freshman at the Methodist University of Puget Sound in Tacoma. She wrote to John Howell for help on evolution.  She also wrote to five other state directors who did not reply.

This letter was attached to her English theme. Her English professor, Harold P. Simonson, showed it to another professor, David B. Jacobson who was advisor for the campus newspaper, who in turn gave it to Sally Riewald, managing editor. She then gave the letter to the editor, Randall W. Smith who published it in the college newspaper, Puget Sound Trail.  A Seattle newspaper published Howell's disbelief in evolution quoting parts of the letter.  The Democratic Central Committee of Washington moved in fast with statements from educators attacking Howell who was relieved of his job. His supervisor, Lloyd Andrews, State Superintendent of Instruction, was running for Governor on the Republican ticket.

In this letter Howell said:

"Darwinian Evolution is one matter taken up in science that is entirely unscientific ...  it isn't even honored with the status of being a theory - it is still a hypothesis  .. Did you read in the Reader's Digest about two years ago about the Piltdown Man Hoax?  ... It is very enlightening to see how far men will go in trying to deceive themselves and the public with their pet theories!

"If Darwinian Evolution is true, then the Bible is untrue, and I prefer to hold by the Old Book rather than to accept a worthless theory ...  The story is told of a missionary in Africa who told his native members that this and that part of the Bible was not to be taken at face value  ...  One morning, a. native came to his house with the question as to what he should do with his Bible.  The preacher took the book and found that all there was left were the covers, the blank pages and the Index. He exclaimed, 'But my good man, what have you done with your Bible!'  'Well,' said the native, 'as you preached, indicating what parts of the Bible were myths, or untruths, I cut them out and this is what I have left.'  I think, Miss Williams, that this denial of the Bible in a land where the Bible has done the most good, is responsible for the decline in morality and the increase of crime and especially juvenile delinquency. We have shut God out of our nation and we have no defense.

"Now, of course, no one really believes the Darwinian theory.  They present it as a possible way the world may have been created, but they present it in such a way that the boy or girl in school feels that they certainly would be 'back numbers' if they believed anything else. It is most damaging to the minds of growing boys and girls to have such untruths taught to them by men and women, paid by public funds, and who should tell them the truth, or at least guide them into the discovery of real, scientific truth.

"At the time of the Scopes' trial, a professor in the State of Nebraska, digging in his garden, came upon some teeth. He looked at them and decided that they were the teeth of the 'missing link' and wrote a pamphlet entitled, 'The Earth Speaks to Bryan', and, after giving circulation to the pamphlet, went back to digging in his garden. He found a whole lower jaw with the same teeth - not the lower jaw of anything that he would like to propose as the 'missing link' but that of a type of pig that used to flourish in the Middle West. I searched through several libraries in Nebraska trying to get a copy of 'The Earth Speaks to Bryan', but the gentleman had evidently done a thorough job of pick-ing up the copies issued and I could find none.

"You see, Miss Williams, someone finds a bone, (even a piece of bone, at times) or a few bones together in some cave or in some diggings, and, looking at them, decides they are of such and such an animal. He allows his imagination to take over and then, out of plaster of Paris, constructs other bones that he presumes the animal had, or ought to have had, and soon we have a prehistoric monster that is quite something to behold. One time in South America, I had to bury the baby of a couple of my friends.  The burial place was small and had been used many times. We paid to go down six feet; in going down we pulled out some five skeletons, and finally at four and one-half feet hit a coffin and decided to place the baby's coffin on top of that and call it a deal. I had not noticed the boys of the community, who, while we were digging, had taken the bones of the five skeletons, and by selecting among them, had made a man that was well over seven feet tall. I'm sure no such man had ever been buried there. If you let your imagination loose you can come up with many interesting, if not alarming, conclusions.

"I can never forget a plank that was discovered when I was a boy. It was petrified and they had sent it to the university to see how long it had been petrified. One university declared that it had been petri-fied for six million years.  While they were tapping around on the plank a square metal nail drooped out, and they cleaned it up and were surprised to find the word 'Pittsburgh' on the side of that nail -quite something, wasn't it? - A nail made in a city then less than 100 years old, inside a plank that had been petrified 6,000,000 years.

"Again, one day, I was looking at a petrified tree in the city of Concordia, Argentina.  They had railroad irons around the tree to keep the people from breaking the branches off for souvenirs. While I was looking at it, a man behind me said, 'Do you see those initials about seven feet up? I carved them there when I was a boy about sixteen.  That tree then was a green, growing tree and has petrified in about half of my life time.' I'm sure the evolutionists would have thought the tree several thousand, if not several million years old.  Some atmospheric conditions produce petrification more rapidly than others  ...

"Miss Williams, if you will believe three things:
(1) Creation as God tells you it took place in the book of Genesis,
(2) the debilitating effects of wrong doing over the years, the effects of sin, if you please, and
(3) the world flood which devastated everything (see Genesis 7:11), if you will believe these three things, you will find no lack of harmony between the Bible and true science ...

"We had a well drilled in Florida, Down more than 300 feet we struck solid rock and had to go through 12 feet of it. Right under that rock there was any number of fish skeletons of very rare kinds. Then we went down through another 100 feet of rock and dirt before we hit water. Only the world flood could have buried those fish skeletons under 12 feet of solid rock ...

"Miss Williams, the Darwinian Evolutionary theory is unacceptable on several counts:
(1) it is based on guess work and not on fact, and therefore it is unscientific,
(2) the suppositions are materially unrealistic - even biologically impossible,
(3) it undermines the Bible that we know is true, and
(4) it takes God away from the people and leaves them to determine for themselves what is right and what is wrong, thus opening the doors to this deluge of crime that we are witnessing."

    HOWELL'S LETTER TO MUECKLER
The Rev. Edwin Mueckler of Onekama, Michigan had once written to Dr. Howell for assistance in writing a dissertation. In January while Dr. Paul Zimmerman was in Caldwell, Idaho, he showed the answer of Dr. Howell to this letter. Following correspondence with both parties, we have obtained permission to quote from this letter as well as other letters by Dr. Howell. We believe it shows what a Creationist can do when confronted by prevailing Darwinian Evolution in the schools.

    EXPERIENCE WITH A NEBRASKA
    UNIVERSITY TEACHER
(Dr. Howell wrote) "When I returned from South America where my wife and I had spent 22 years in mission service, to further the interests of my work, I had decided to take some classes in the University of Nebraska. All went well during the first semester, but, near the close of that semester, one of the men, a city school superintendent, asked me if I were going to enroll in education #278. I replied that I had already enrolled in that class. He said, 'The teacher of that class is a blatant atheist and we want you to stand up for God and the Bible.'  I said, 'Alone?' He replied, 'Undoubtedly you will be alone, but stand up; we want you to.'

"In the very first class period this professor turned to the board and put the outline of the theory of evolution on. I sat on the front row of seats, and I could just feel 32 pairs of eyes resting on my back, so the professor turned around to the class. I asked, 'Isn't it easier to believe the story of Creation than to believe that?' He turned on me in a very vicious manner, and the class broke up in a scream on the part of the professor. As I left the classroom, I thought, 'I've gotten into this mess, maybe I'd better learn to keep my mouth shut.' I went to a restroom on another building, and just as I opened the door, I heard one of the young men say to another 'You know, we're distinctly indebted to this fellow from South America for some of the best discussions we have in our classes,' I didn't open the door fully, but turned back, saying to myself, 'I'm not going to keep still.'

"The next class period, the professor, feeling that he had lost prestige, said, 'I've been doing a lot of thinking since last class period, and I've decided that we university professors ought to be very careful about the faith we destroy, especially if we don't have anything better to put in its place.'  The next class period, still feeling his loss of prestige, he said, 'You know my brother, living on a farm in Kansas, believes there is a God in heaven: now, just honestly he does. And my old mother, a faithful Methodist, who lives at my house, believes that if she asks God for something He is apt to give it to her. I'd give everything I have in the world if I could have confidence in something like that. Maybe my education has cost too much.'

"As the classes went on from day to day we got into some very interesting discussions.  One time, he said, 'You know, when God the Old Fellow gave the ten commandments, He didn't say much; they're all negatives; but when God, the Young Guy, gave the sermon on the mount, He said a mouth full.'  I said, 'Did it ever occur to you, Doctor, that God the Old Fellow, as you call Him, and God, the Young Guy, as you call Him, was one and the same person?' He answered, 'No, of course not.'  'Well,' I said, 'they were,' and reaching down into my case, I took my Bible and read him a portion of Nehemiah 9 and 1 Corinthians 10:4. He said, 'Well, what do you think of that?'

    The Professor's Conversion
"Little by little, I saw that man change from an atheist to a very fervent Christian man. He became my major professor before I finished my doctorate. Just before graduation, I called his wife, a younger woman he had married after the death of his first wife, and asked, 'What would Doctor want as a graduation present? You know it is customary for people getting their advanced degrees to give their major professor something pretty nice.' She said, 'Oh, he loves chocolate candy.' I replied, 'I know he does, but chocolate candy is gone so quickly; I'd like to give him something he'd remember for a long time. What would you think if I gave him a Bible?'  She replied, "There's nothing my husband could receive from your hand he'd appreciate more than a Bible.' So, I bought him a nicely bound Bible at a cost (then) of $12.00  ...

"After the ceremonies, he took his wife, my wife and I for a luncheon. During the luncheon, I handed him the Bible, nicely gift wrapped. He took it, removed the wrapping, and stroked the book on both sides, and a tear trickled down one cheek. He opened the Bible, and stroked the pages, and another tear trickled down the other cheek. He said, 'Howell, there's nothing you could have given me that I appreciate as much as this.'  I saw him several years later, and he said, 'You know, I've taken that Bible with me to every class I've given since you gave it to me; the source of some of the best discussions we've ever had in my classes.'

    Howell's Curriculum Work in Washington
"I came out here and became curriculum director for the State. As my chief had campaigned, he had promised the people that as soon as he became superintendent of public instruction, he would see to it that teaching guides were made for the teachers, and that job fell to my lot. I chose the best teachers from all over the state and brought them in to the Capitol city and we made the guides. The first summer I had 38 teachers working with me for five weeks, on the elementary subjects; the second summer I had 62 people with me working on the junior high grades, and the third summer, I had 46 people working with me on the senior high subjects ...

"I refused to allow the theory of evolution (that is the Darwin theory) to be placed in the guides. I offered to let them be put in if we could put in the Bible story along with it, but they said that would not be possible because that was against the laws of the State. So, the guides went out without the Darwin theory in them. The ninth grade science, as it came to me, was fantastic:

'50 million years ago, the earth's surface cracked in what is now Washington State, and up came an abundance of lava, making a lava mass of many thousands of feet high. Then a. glacier broke loose up about Alaska and came down, dividing at about the State line and half of it came down the eastern side, making the Columbia Basin, and the other half came down on the western side, making the Puget Sound area, pushing the lava up, making the Cascades.'

"These committees were very much divided in their reaction to my stand, some praising it, and some thinking that, indeed, I was a fossil from some pore-historic day Petrified Logs in Oregon "Down here in Oregon, there are some petrified logs in the woods back of the fields. The university men came to look at those logs.  The old 72-year-old farmer took them back to where they were. He stood there whittling on a stick while these learned men examined the logs, and they announced that the logs were about 3,000,000 years old. He said, 'That's about right, about right: my father and I came back here when I was about 17 and cut those logs and put them where they are.'  That rather put a damper on the 3,000,000 year theory and nothing has been heard of these logs since ...

"They talk about carbon-l4 dating. You will note that the dating is pretty correct up to about the time of the Flood and then it goes 'haywire.'  If you will take a niece of something that dates, say 4,000 years and soak it in water for six months or more, and then let it dry, you will find that, again, it goes 'haywire' , making fantastic dates  ...
"Now, boys and girls from the first grade up are taught that there really isn't any God in heaven - just a force that sets things in motion and out of that motion has come what we see and know in this world, and that, undoubtedly, after many more millions of years, things will be greatly bettered and the universe will be in a much better condition ...

    How to Meet Evolution in Schools
"Now, as to some specific help for you. May I say that if you are going to write your doctoral dissertation on this subject, you are probably in for a real 'ride' from the professors who will sit in on your examination. When they asked me if I believed in Evolution, I replied, 'That depends on the kind of evolution you are talking about.' When they asked me questions that had to be answered with Darwinian theory, I would reply, 'You want me to say' and then I'd tell them the Darwinian conception, and then say, 'but the truth of the matter is' and then I'd give them the other side, and, since they could not controvert what I had given them, I got along just fine. In fact, when I took my orals, I sat through three hours of bombardment: the first hour was tense, the second hour was easy, and the third hour was fun. At the close of the third hour, the major professor said, 'The candidate always retires when his fate is up for decision.'  I withdrew and hadn't walked thirty feet down the hall, until I heard, 'Doctor Howell, Doctor Howell', I retraced my steps and asked 'So soon?' and they replied, 'Not one dissenting vote.'  ...

"A religion should tell three things:
  (1) where one comes from
  (2) why he is here, and
  (3) where he is going.

The Darwinian theory comes as near to answering those three characteristics as any other form of religion, it seems to me. Religion is a way of life, and Darwinian evolution is certainly a way of life ...

"It is held that the creation theory is backed by the bigotry of religion. I hold that the Darwinian theory is backed by the arrogance of a false science.

"If the teaching of religion is banned by law or constitutional provision, then the teaching of the theory of evolution as taught by Darwin must also be banned by the same consideration."  (End of Dr. Howell & State of WA.)

    ZINJANTHROPUS
The Rev. Curtis Ewing of Los Angeles, California keeps us informed on creation-ary and evolutionary news. He sent us a clipping from the Los Angeles Herald on some of the new discoveries of the Leakeys in the Olduvai Gorge, Tananyika, Africa. Earlier they had claimed to have found a man at first supposed to be 600,000 years old. Later this was jumped to 1,750,000 years as the result of supposed argon dating.  Now they claim to have found the remains of an eleven-year-old child, an elderly woman, a girl 20-21 years old, whom they named "Cinderella". These are supposed to be two million years old and of an entirely different classification. Zinjanthropus was classified as "homo erectus", and these new pigmies are classified "homo habilis" because supposedly they had ability to use tools.

In "The High Way", a periodical of the Evolution Protest Movement, (January -March 1963 issue) L.V. Cleveland insists that Zinjanthropus is nothing but an ape.

He has taken drawings from the National Geographic Society's article on Zinjanthropus, supplied by the Leakeys, to show how Leakey took a few crushed bones and reconstructed the skull, and added wax to make it look more human and less ape.

In this connection it is interesting to note that Leakeys now say Zinjanthropus is not an ancestor to man; that he went on to a dead end; that he was different from man, chunky and squat, massive jaw, teeth designed to chew roots and brow ridges formidable. Leakey now states that "homo habilis" is more likely the ancestor of man.

Many of the books previously mentioned in the Newsletter will be reviewed in preparation for a tract entitled "The Creationist's Library". This is being done in order to give our readers another opportunity to make suggestions for this tract before publication. At the same time it gives a comprehensive view of books and booklets now on the market, written from the creationist viewpoint. These books may be ordered direct from the publishers or through the Newsletter, including the tapes and filmstrips.

    VELIKOVSKY'S CATASTROPHISM
In 1950 Immanuel Velikovsky wrote "Worlds in Collision" in which he attempts to prove the following; that Venus broke from Jupiter as a comet and collided with the world and this was responsible for the ten plagues in Egypt, the long day of Joshua, the falling rocks which destroyed Israel's enemies in Joshua's time. He further claims this reversed the poles of the world and was responsible for much of the destruction generally associated with the Noachian Flood.

Until recently his findings have found little acceptance either by theologians or scientists. His use of Bible texts leaves much to be desired.  Theologians wonder about his use of the many legends he quotes.

Upon rereading this book, one is impressed with the mass of legendary evidence presented to prove that Venus was formed in the days of Joshua and that in the days of Hezekiah the world's year was increased from 360 days to 365. He indicates that all astronomers before Joshua's time knew of only four planets. After Joshua's time astronomers mention five. With the aid of modern telescopes astronomers now speak of nine. He further indicates that all ancients before Hezekiah's time spoke of 360 days in a year; after his time they indicate 365 days in a year.

Recently John Moore of the University of Michigan, a Newsletter correspondent, sent material indicating that scientists are taking another look at Velikovsky's theories. Quoted is an article by Eric Larrabee in HARPER'S MAGAZINE, August -1963, "Scientists in Collision: Was Velikovsky Right?"

Velikovsky claimed that according to his theory Venus must be hot whereas most scientists believed it to be cold. As a result of his theory also he claimed that Jupiter should emit radio impulses.  This was in 1953. In 1956 he issued a memorandum to the American Committee for International Geophysical Year that the earth's magnetic field might be stronger above the Ionosphere and have effects as far as the moon.

Through the findings of our space vehicle Mariner II which passed within 22,000 miles of Venus last December it was learned that Venus is hot, 800 degrees over its entire surface, light and dark side alike. Further, it is shrouded in hydrocarbon clouds up to at least fifteen miles. Velikovsky also predicted this cloud cover.

In 1955 two scientists from Carnegie Institute announced the discovery of radio emissions from Jupiter, substantiating Velikovsky's prediction of 1953.

The discovery of the magnetosphere made in 1958 by James A. Van Allen proved there are magnetic fields in space, beyond the earth, as Velikovsky predicted. These are now called the Van Allen belts of radiation.

Professor Valentine Bargmann of the Princeton Department of Physics and Professor Lloyd Motz of the Columbia Department of Astronomy now state:  "Although we disagree with Velikovsky's theories, we feel impelled ...  to urge, in view of these ... prognostications, that his other conclusions be objectively re-examined."

    VELIKOVSKY'S DOCTRINE OF CATASTROPHISM:
1. "That the earth has undergone repeated catastrophes which have shaken its entire fabric, contorting its crust and displacing the seas, decimating the human and animal population and on occasion interrupting the earth's orderly rotation, reversing its poles and lengthening its orbit, changing the direction of cardinal points, and the duration of the day and of the year.

2. "That several of these catastrophes have taken place within the memory of mankind and are described and reflected in its legends and historical texts.

3. "That one of the most devastating catastrophes occurred in the second mil-lennium B.C. when Venus — newly born by expulsion from the planet Jupiter, trailing meteorites and gases, and moving on an eccentric orbit — twice passed close to earth.

4. "That only later, after repeated encounters with other planets during the first millenium, did Venus settle down to its present position among them; and

5. "that a full accounting of this theory's consequences must revolutionize nearly every field of human knowledge, overturning principles long considered to be axiomatic, negating the work of generations of dedicated scientists, and fundamentally revising man's conception of his origins and fate.

"And his theory had been confirmed in numerous separate items, such as:
(1) the sun does have an electric charge
(2) retardation and recuperation of earth's rotation
(3) Venus is hot, and
(4) Jupiter emits radio impulses.

As Larrabee (1963) says: 'I can only reassert that Velikovsky's essential propositions, when put to the test of physical fact have repeatedly been verified.' "
 
 

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