In this issue:
Two Reviews:
1. Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the
Genome by Dr. John Sanford.
P.1-2
2.
The Case for a Creator DVD with
Lee Strobel p.4
Director’s
Remarks p.3
Resource
Picks & Holiday Meditation
green insert
Important
Enclosures:
1.
7Wonders Brochure
2.
Flyer to promote Case for a Creator
3. ICR helium diffusion article
Two Reviews:
·
Genetic
Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome –
·
a book by
John Sanford, p.1 &.2
·
The Case
for a Creator DVD by Lee Strobel, p.3
Director’s Remarks and Resource
Picks, p.4
Important Inserts
1. 7Wonders Brochure
2. Flyer for Stroble DVD promotion in
your church.
3. ICR helium diffusion article
|
|
Genetics Disproves Evolution
What Darwin did not know
by Lloyd Anderson, a book review
If evolution
occurred, genetics did it. Darwin
said life began with one-celled organisms and that small improvements over time
produced today’s life forms.
But Darwin did not know what
makes life work. Now scientists know all
life is dictated at the genetic level of the cell. This manual for life is called DNA. Every cell has a copy of it. Over the years scientists said beneficial
changes in the DNA called mutations cause evolution and that natural selection
chooses for them to make improvements.
Now
a successful geneticist says this is all wrong.
Dr. John C. Sanford of Cornell
University says, in effect, mutations
are invariably bad and will kill you unless a truck runs over you first. He says mutations are increasing at least 400
times faster than was thought just 50 years ago. If this is true Darwin
had it backwards. What is really
happening is small changes are collecting in the gene pool of every living
thing and sooner or later produce extinction.
Life is going downhill, not uphill.
Darwin’s
idea had philosophic implications. If
natural causes can explain all life, God is out of a job. But if life started out perfect and has been
going downhill, the implication is creation—that the Bible has it right. God made life perfect in the Garden of Eden
just thousands of years ago and it is rapidly winding down.
Just how successful is Dr. Sanford?
His achievements include the gene gun, 27 patents, 75 professional
papers, starting two genetic companies and 25 years teaching at Cornell. As he reached the golden years of
productivity he began to reflect on the help evolution had given his
science. He couldn’t think of any though
he had believed and taught evolution.
This led to a painful two-year review of his belief in evolution.
Here is how he described his journey in the prologue of his new book Genetic
Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome (202 pages, $16.96, 2005):
Modern
Darwinism is built, most fundamentally, upon what I will be calling “The Primary Axiom”. The Primary
Axiom is that man is merely the product of random mutations plus natural
selection. Within our society’s academia, the Primary
Axiom is universally taught, and almost universally accepted…. It is very difficult to find any professor on
any college campus who would even consider (or should I say – dare) to question
the Primary Axiom. It is for this reason that the overwhelming
majority of youth who start out with a belief that there is more to life than
mere chemistry – will lose that faith while at college. I believe that this is also the cause of the
widespread self-destructive and self-denigrating behavior we see throughout our
culture.
What if the Primary Axiom were wrong? If the Primary
Axiom could be shown to be wrong, it would profoundly affect our culture; and I
believe it would profoundly affect millions of individual lives. It could change the very way we think about
ourselves.
Late in my career, I did something which for a Cornell professor would seem
unthinkable. I began to question the
Primary Axiom. I did this with great
fear and trepidation. By doing this, I
knew I would be at odds with the most ‘sacred cow” of modern academia. Among other things, it might even result in
my expulsion from the academic
world. Although I had achieved
considerable success and notoriety within my own particular specialty (applied
genetics), it would mean I would have to be stepping out of the safety of my
own little niche. I would have to begin
to explore some very big things, including aspects of theoretical genetics
which I had always accepted by faith alone.
I felt compelled to do all this – but I must confess that I fully
expected to simply hit a brick wall. To
my own amazement, I gradually realized that the seemingly “great and
unassailable fortress” which has been built up around the Primary Axiom is
really a house of cards. The Primary
Axiom is actually an extremely vulnerable theory – in fact it is essentially
indefensible. Its apparent invincibility
derives largely from bluster, smoke, and mirrors. A larger part of what keeps the Axiom
standing is an almost mystical faith, which the true-believers have in the omnipotence of natural selection. Furthermore, I began to see that this
deep-seated faith in natural selection is typically coupled with a degree of
ideological commitment – which can only be described as religious. I started to realize (again with trepidation),
that I might be offending a lot of people’s religion!
To question the Primary Axiom required me to re-examine virtually everything I
thought I knew about genetics. This was
probably the most difficult intellectual endeavor of my life. Deeply entrenched thought patterns only
change very slowly (and I must add – painfully). What I eventually experienced was a complete
overthrow of my previous understandings.
Several years of personal struggle resulted in a new understanding, and
a very strong conviction that the Primary Axiom was most definitely wrong. More importantly, I became convinced that the
Axiom could be shown to be wrong to any reasonable and open-minded
individual. This realization was
exhilarating, but again – frightening. I
realized that I had a moral obligation to openly challenge the most sacred of
cows. In doing this, I realized I would
earn for myself the intense disdain of most of my colleagues within academia –
not to mention very intense opposition and anger from other high places.
What should I do? It has become
my conviction that the Primary Axiom is insidious on the highest level – having
catastrophic impact on countless human lives.
Furthermore, every form of objective analysis I have performed has
convinced me that the Axiom is clearly false.
So now, regardless of the consequences, I have to say it out loud: the Emperor has no clothes!
Sanford
begins his book by telling us what the genome is as well as how mutations occur
that destroy the information carried by it. The speed at which this happens is now
apparent and, disturbingly, little publicized. Then he takes on natural
selection which is supposed to solve the problems. He shows just how it has
never been any kind of an aid car and that other proposed rescue operations for
the genome, in reality, do not work either. Cloning, man’s attempt fails as
well. However, there is hope and Dr. Sanford provides that in the personal
postlude to the book.
Genetic entropy joins several hundred other geochronometers in
suggesting the earth is recent, not ancient. Geochronometers (geo-worldwide +
chronometer-clock) are worldwide processes suggesting an age for the earth. Sanford
says human fitness has declined between 78% and 95% in the 150 generations
since the worldwide flood.
Recommendation. Must reading for every biology student and
biologist. The main thrust of the book
is easy reading but it has enough technical material to show geneticists
Sanford knows his field. Dr. Vern Bissell of Portland State U says that
if the recent creation radio decay research is a nail in the coffin of
evolution, Sanford’s material is a
railroad spike. Sanford is a key
player in a major creation biology initiative due to be released in several
years.
Availability. The 7Wonders
Museum carries Sanford’s
book and sells it for $15. I would be happy to discuss this book over the
phone—as long as the sound is clear (cell phones usually are not). 360-274-5737. We
have unlimited US LD calling.
Director's Remarks—Looking Back/Forward
by Lloyd Anderson
Best Year Yet. With your
prayers and encouragement our 8th year, 2006, was a banner year:
2600 visitors, 44 field trips, $28,000 in sales, $15,500 in donations, 103
slide shows and various other talks. Volunteers assisted in keeping the Center
open 349 days (including 7 partial days). Doris and I had 34 meetings away from
the Center. We were in Texas for
17 days last January and February, at Manzanita OR in March, and Aberdeen
WA this fall.
Prayer
Focus for 2007. While 2006 was the year of the road trip, 2007
will be the year of Creation literature evangelism. We have purchased 500
copies of Lee Strobel’s The Case for a Creator which is a
persuasive DVD for Creation. Large numbers of Christian young people abandon
their faith in college due to the seamless message that science has proved
evolution. The implications of the message that man is just an advanced animal
and should do what makes him happy are devastating. The plan is to challenge
Creationists to place this DVD in the hands of receptive students. Our buying power allows us to offer this
$19.95 DVD for $18.00 for the first copy and just $11.00 for additional copies.
Please join us in praying that these DVD’s will reach the target audience and
not sit on the shelf.
Resubscribe to Verify Interest.
Except for board members, regular donors, repeat visitors, recent
subscribers, major creation ministries or other indications of interest, we are
asking you to assure us of your continuing desire to receive our newsletter by
resubscribing. The newsletter is free.
It does not ask for money. It is only sent when we have compelling creation
news and often includes helpful inserts, but interests, time and addresses
change. The last issue was sent 14 months ago. Good stewardship requires that we occasionally verify the
continuing interest of our newsletter recipients. Why not make your request now
while you are thinking about it? Call 360-274-5737, email mshcreationmuseum@yahoo.com, write or tell us at
the NW Creation conference in February. In the future we hope to check with
each addressee every few years. So please include your phone number.
Discussing
Recent Creation Findings.
I would enjoy discussing the amazing
recent creation discoveries with you—RATE, Genetic Entropy, Ice Age & Woolly
Mammoths, Intelligent Design, Missoula Flood. We have an unlimited continental U.S.
phone plan. Call me with your number and ask me to call you back.
(360-274-5737).
RATE. Radioisotope
dating was the strongest evidence secular science had for claiming the earth
was billions of years old. In 1997 seven Creation scientists began an eight
year study to learn if new science might shed another perspective on this “gold
standard” dating method. By God’s grace they made stunning new discoveries
showing this category of dating actually says the earth is only thousands of
years old. Doris and I attended the San Diego
conference where those findings were announced 11/05. In the current issue of Acts and Facts Dr.
Russell Humphreys clarifies the key finding—helium diffusion. In 2006 the
conference was repeated regionally three or four times. Would you be interested
in helping to bring this conference to metro Portland?
Mount St. Helens,
Current Activity. MSH has erupted for 26 straight months now, is
continuing to steam and eject a dump truck load of lava every 13 seconds.
Volcanologists term this "rebuilding." Record rainfall brought seven
inches November 6 & 7 in our area and an astonishing 30” near MSH. The
mountain is totally covered in snow. At seven this morning (12/18/06) I saw the rising sun paint
the lower side of vapor rising from MSH a beautiful pinkish hue. We are 27 air
miles west. Cutbacks in funding for Coldwater
Visitors Center
have reduced hours of operation so that it will be closed in January and be
open five days a week beginning February as weather permits. During
the off-season you can make our Museum a final destination. Study the Seven Wonders displays, search our
170 Creation bookstore resources, take some free Creation literature, enjoy a presentation of our PowerPoint talk. We do not charge for our services so all can
afford them. Field trips are booked in advance. Also now is the time to start planning for your
group to visit in 2007. See our web site for
tour information.
The Case for a Creator
with Lee Strobel
Lee Strobel's childhood curiosity led
to throwing his train on the floor to find out how it worked. This inborn quest
to get to the bottom of things eventually led him to become a graduate of Yale
Law School, an award-winning journalist for the Chicago Tribune and a prolific
author. You are bound to enjoy his most current DVD, The
Case
for a Creator.
Strobel's manner is sincere and
engaging as he interlocks his own faith adventure amidst interviews with key
scientists and scholars. Highlighted with spectacular computer animation, this
DVD is an important tool for helping friends and family see through the clouds
and dust of evolutionary dogma. They may well relate to this man who is a
classic example of how incorrect science can lead one to believe there is no
God.
As a high school freshman
Strobel was taught that Stanley Miller, at the University
of Chicago in 1953, created the
building blocks for life in a test tube. Miller sparked gases that were thought
to be present before life began and produced amino acids. Through this Strobel
became convinced that God did not exist; that only the hard, empirical evidence
of science could be trusted -- and it appeared to point to a universe created
by purely materialistic processes: time, chance, and Darwinian evolution.
(Little did he know that Miller's world-renown experiment would be completely
rejected by secular science years later).
Strobel is also a classic example
of how every sincere search for truth eventually hits pay dirt. After years
of writing that supported evolution, God entered the equation. Strobel's wife
converted to Christianity. He thought his marriage would be over, but to his
surprise he saw positive changes in her and eventually decided to put his
investigative skills to Christianity and to that scientific viewpoint that led
him to atheism. In 1981 he forsook atheism for Christ and went on to write the
best-selling books, The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith,
and the
Case for the Resurrection.
Strobel says, "My road to atheism was paved by science… but,
ironically, so was my later journey to God." His many interviews first led
him to find that Miller's experiment was based on faulty science. He also
learned that the tree of life illustration, the only illustration in Darwin’s
famous book, was wrong. There is no evolutionary chain from simple to complex
creatures in the fossil record. Eventually he found that one scientific
discipline after another actually pointed to God as Creator of all life, the
earth and the universe.
He concludes in
his DVD that "Today science is pointing much more directly and
conclusively to a Creator than at any other time in the history of the
world." The DVD explains mind-stretching discoveries in:
n
Cosmology
n
Cellular biology
n
DNA research
n
Astronomy
n
Physics
Although Christ Himself is not mentioned in the main portion of the DVD,
Strobel's books on Christ, Faith and the Resurrection appear in the bonus features.
A web site address is given which contains clips from his books. As a person is
convinced by the message of the DVD, he will very likely become confident that
Strobel's books are worth reading.
We have purchased a bulk supply of The Case for a Creator DVD and can
offer them to our readers at an excellent price. Why not purchase one for
yourself at $18.00 and buy one or two more to reach students or friends
confused by evolution. Additional copies to give away are available for $11.00
each.
