Shuswap Creation Youth Group

     Our world is amazing. And when you think about how everything is made up of tiny invisible atoms, it almost blows your mind! And then you think about how atoms are made up of electrons, protons, and neutrons... Wow. So let's talk a little bit about the atom, and what it is.
    When you think of an atom, you probably thing of this, the Bohr Model.
 It's a ball, with swirling things on the outside, that have spheres on them too. Well, it's quite a bit more than that.
    The centre ball, is called the nucleus. It's made up of positively charged protons, and neutral neutrons. [Their name makes it pretty obvious that they're neutral.] So the tiny red balls would be protons, and the blue ones would be neutrons. Now the spheres that are swirling around this all are called electrons, they're negatively charged. The orbital lines just represent the different energy layers.
    What happens when you change the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons in an atom? Well, it changes into a different element. I'm sure you've heard of the periodic table, which shows all the different elements that everything is made up of. Elements are the different materials which things are made of. For example oxygen is a element, and hydrogen, and when you hook one oxygen and two hydrogens together you get H2O which is water! So back to atoms.
    We cannot see atoms, because their wavelengths are thousands of times smaller than the wavelengths of light (which is what we can see). Yeah, they're really tiny, to put it in perspective, one piece of hair is a million carbon atoms wide. Isn't it amazing how we can know so much about them, when we can't even see them? Oh did I mention, we also know some rules they have!
       There are different layers that electrons rest on. The first layer can only have two electrons on it, and the rest of the layers can only have eight on them. That's just one of the basic rules.
      It turns out that the model we think of when we hear atom, isn't so accurate as we thought. We of course cannot be 100% sure what an atom looks like, because we can't see them, but there is a new model of an atom. This new model is called the electron cloud model. This is pictured above.

    There is a new device called a Quantum microscope, which scientists have now been using to take pictures of atoms. So although you and I cannot see atoms, not with our eyes anyway, and probably not with the microscope because we don't have one. Well, I don't have one, and you probably don't either. But we have for the first time ever, been able to see a picture of this mysterious, amazing atom.
  Isn't it amazing? Everything we see is made up of this tiny thing? Our Creator sure had an amazing way of designing everything. Everything is orderly, and perfect. Doesn't seem like something that evolved out of chaos to me?
    Did the Bible tell us about atoms, long before we even had any idea about them? Hebrews 11:3 seem to say that everything is made out of atoms.

By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. Hebrews 11:3

   Our God is an amazing God, who created the world out of these tiny particles. He made everything orderly, and perfect, and the more we learn about creation, the more we see this. Atoms are just another example of this. With the advance of scientific equipment we can finally see these particles, which were mentioned hundred of years ago in the Bible, Atoms: God's fingerprints.

"For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:16-17).

        For years vestigial body parts have been used as proof of evolution, and still today they're used as arguments to prove it. How do they prove it? Well, they're useless, left-over parts from the ancestors we 'evolved' from. Sounds like good proof right? Useless parts left in our body from our long past relatives, using up valuable energy to develop.
    Wait a minute. Are they use-less, really? Let's take a closer look.
     




One of the most common vestigial organs is the appendix. It  has been said for years the appendix is vestigial, once used by our 'ancestors' to digest tough foods they ate (maybe tree bark).
    In recent years it has been discovered that our appendix isn't really so use-less. It is a 'safe-haven' for good bacteria. After a bout of cholera, or even a bad round of diarrhea, it helps 'reboot' the system. Gut bacteria is essential for digestion, and without the appendix in a case of one of these sickness we could be in real trouble.
 

   The spleen is an organ also once thought to be vestigial, but now proven to be useful. It is the largest organ in the lymphatic system. It is important, to keep body fluids  balanced. It also acts as a blood filter, controlling the amount of red blood cells in the body. The spleen helps fight infections too! If it senses dangerous bacteria or viruses, it works with the lymph nodes to create white blood cells which will fight off the viruses.
    A studied showed that veterans who had lost their spleens, were twice as likely than those who had not, to die from heart disease and pneumonia. All in all the spleen is certainly not a useless organ.
       

     The coccyx or 'tailbone' is still considered a 'left-over' organ, though it does have a few uses. The coccyx is used as an attachment spot for ligaments, muscles, and tendons. It also functions as an insertion point of some of the muscles of the pelvic floor. It also supports and stabilizes a person who is in a sitting position.}



    Wisdom teeth are also thought to be vestigial. They certainly do seem useless, and they have to be surgically removed many times. So do they or can they serve any purpose? Yes, they could. The problem was shown in a study done by Dr. Safarti
  

Dr. Safarti reminds the reader that modern dentistry has identified the problem with wisdom teeth as being primarily linked to the diet in modern cultures.  In non-technological cultures, impacted wisdom teeth are extremely rare as their tougher diet exercises their jaw muscles properly during chewing, thus helping the jaw to develop properly. The grittier diet also results in tooth wear, and the normal compensation for this loss of tooth surfaces is mesial migration (tooth movement towards the front of the mouth) making more room for the back molars. The modern diet fails both to provide the same jaw exercise, so the jaw doesn’t develop to full size, and to provide tooth wear that would enable them to avoid crowding (Bergman 1998). - See more at: http://www.creationstudies.org/Education/vestigal_organs.html#Muscles

  
There are many other supposed vestigial body parts, but I think we'll save them for another day. God truly didn't create us with 'useless' organs.
       

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. ~ Psalms 139:12

Painting by Lewis Lavoie

Evolutionary scientists tell us that over 65 million years ago dinosaurs walked the earth but only 829 years ago a stegosaurus dinosaur was carved on an ancient Cambodian temple column.

The idea that humans and dinosaurs lived together fits perfectly with the biblical description.

Two well-known rock experts have mentioned this painting stating that it “bears a startling resemblance to a dinosaur, specifically a brontosaurus” (Frances Barnes an evolutionist) “one of the most curious designs is a petroglyph that resembles a dinosaur” (Dennis Slifer)

How could the ancient peoples of Acambaro have known of dinosaurs if they had been extinct of millions of years already? How could they know if humans had ‘evolved’ after their extinction?

 I'm sure you've heard of Lucy, one of the most famous supposed 'missing link'. She was found in Ethiopia by a scientist named Donald Johanson in 1974. Although only 47 out of 207 bones were found {that's more than most finds} 'she' was considered to be the 'missing link' between human & ape. Her scientific name is Australopithecus afaranesis. She was name 'Lucy' because Donald was listening to Lucy in the sky with diamonds by the Beatles after finding her.

   

Have you ever heard of the coelacanths (see-la-kanths)? For decades evolutionists taught that they became extinct about the same time dinosaurs did (supposedly 65 million years ago). It was said that these fish gradually developed legs and began to live on land, later becoming extinct. These were the 'missing link' between certain water & land animals! Evolutionists used coelacanths were used as part of their 'index fossil' system, meaning that any rocks containing their fossils were considered to be at least 65 million years old, and other fossils in those rocks assumed to be at least that old as well.

 
     Until 1938, evolutionists believed that men and coelacanths could not possibly have lived at the same time. On December 24, 1938, the scientific world was "rocked" when an unidentified fish, 5 ft long, 100 lbs was brought to shore in South Africa. It was caught in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar. The fisherman called it the great sea lizard because its pectoral fins looked more like fringed little legs. Once scientists examined the fish they found out it was a coelacanth.
 One evolutionist said that he could not have been more surprised if he had come across a living dinosaur. According to their theory coelacanths evolved before dinosaurs did.
     
     What makes the evolutionary idea about coelacanths being a missing link even more outrageous is that these fish live near the ocean floor. They are deep water fish that rarely come within less than 500 ft. of the surface.
     
   This fossil of this fish looks exactly the same as the living fish. That shouldn't surprise us at all, as the Bible says animals produce "after their kind." This fish has surely made the evolutionary dating method look very silly.

Archaeopteryx

   Among our many thousands of birds of the world, there is amazing variation. Some birds are tiny (like hummingbirds), others are very large (like ostriches). While some birds fly thousands of miles ever
y year (like arctic terns), others can't fly at all ( like kiwi bird).
 
    One of the strangest extinct birds is the Archaeopteryx, who had teeth in its beak, and claws on its wings. Because of these strange features it is considered among some evolutionists to be the 'missing link' between reptiles and birds. Actually, these characteristics do not prove it was the missing link.

Touraco

   Some modern birds have claws on their wings, but they aren't considered the missing link. The ostrich was three claws on each wing that it can used when attacked. The Hoatzin of South America has claws when it is young, which it uses to climb trees. Also the touraco of Africa has claws on its wings.

Fossil studies have shown that other true birds, which are now extinct, also had teeth. Thus just because archaeopteryx had teeth doesn't mean he was a dinosaur- bird link. It also had fully formed feathers. It didn't have half scales/ half feathers.


  Scientists have found fossilized birds in layer s of rock that they date as being older than Archaeopteryx! One evolutionist has admitted:

Hoatzin

 "Palaeontologists have tried to turn Archaeopteryx into an earth bound, feathered dinosaur. But it's not. IT is a bird, a perching bird."

   Even with all this evidence showing that Archaeopteryx is not a missing link, it still is taught in science textbooks to be one!

   God certainly has created so many different types of birds, let's take the time to thank Him for them!

       Did you know that there are four laws that the Big Bang theory and evolution break? Here, let me show you what they are.  

     The Law of Cause & Effect, says that every material effect must have an adequate cause that happens before the effect. So far as we know natural laws have no exceptions, and this is certainly true of the law of Cause & effect.
      Causes never occur after the effect, and effects never come before a cause. In addition the effect never is greater than the cause. Some examples would be that a book did not fall from the table because a fruit fly landed on it, or an entire river didn't become muddy because you stuck your muddy boot in it.
      We can see about 3,000 stars with our eyes, and with a simple telescope we can see over 100,000 stars. We cannot count how many stars there are, but it is suggested that our Universe alone has over 25,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in it. To go across our own galaxy you would have to travel 587 quadrillion miles!
       The big bang couldn't have caused this. Scientists haven't ever seen any type of matter that could be so dense, and then explode from a teeny ball into a Universe like ours. The theory of the big bang goes against the scientific Law of Cause and Effect.
      What about Biblical Creation? Does it follow this law? God is an adequate cause, since He is all-powerful. He existed before this material world, thus fulfilling the criterion that cause has to come before the effect.

      The First Law of Thermodynamics says that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed in nature. So how is this a problem for the evolutionary theory? If there is no natural process that can create matter or energy, how did the material universe get here in the first place? Evolutionists don't have an answer for this. But Creationists do! If God is supernatural, (above and beyond nature), then He could create matter and energy out of nothing. Belief in God is the only idea that fits in with this law.

     The Second Law of Thermodynamics says that when matter and energy do change form, they become less usable. Does this sound like it fits in with the evolutionary theory? No. Evolution says that the Universe has gotten more orderly. Life started with a single-celled amoeba and progressed over 'millions and billions' of years. That means that things aren't getting worse, but better.
     Now evolutionist may say that the Second Law only applies to "closed systems" where no energy comes from an outside source. Our Earth is an "open system" since heat energy from the Sun  hits our Earth all the time.  Every system ever studied in nature has energy going out of it and into it, and the Second Law works on every system we have ever seen. Is it true that simply by adding energy things get more complex and orderly? No.
   This law fits in perfectly with Creationism. In the beginning God said that everything was very good.

 Hebrews 1:10-11, "You Lord, in  the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands; they will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment."

   The Law of Biogenesis says two things. One; that living things always come from living things, and two; that living things produce only more living things like themselves. Evolution is in disagreement with this law. It tells us that living things in nature came from nonliving matter. They also tell us that one kind of animal gave rise to a different kind of animal.
             Creationism fits in perfectly with this law. In Genesis 1:20-25 we read that God made things in kinds. God certainly knew what He was doing when He created the earth.

   "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind;' and it was so."

          



Wernher Von Braun

    Have you ever heard of Wernher Von Braun? One of the top space scientists, he was a director for NASA for many years. He and his team helped invent and make a four-stage Jupiter rocket that launched the first US satellite! In another of his projects Saturn V rocket was made, sending the 1st astronauts on the Moon!
        He won many important honors and awards, and who do you think he gave credit for his achievements? God! He believed in the concept of creation in Genesis 1; he didn't believe in evolution. He said that science & religion work so well together they should be considered as "sisters"!
 


Louis Pasteur

        Louis Pasteur is known today as the "father of bacteriology." He discovered that many deseases are the result of dangerous germs invading the body. He also showed that the idea of "spontaneous generation" is incorrect. Spontaneous generation means that life can come from something nonliving, with evolutionists have to believe.
        Dr. Pasteur had a firm belief in God, and said that the more he learned from science the stronger is faith in God became! He is said to be "one of the greatest scientist in history."
   

George Washington Carver

           Does the name George Washington Carver sound familiar? He was an inventor, he found 118 different ways to use a sweet potato. He also found over 300 products using peanuts! He was a very intelligent man, and he was an amazing inventor. Guess what, he also believed in God! He taught Bible class at Tuskegee, he once said he studied the peanut so he could figure out why God had made it.


Sir Isaac Newton


        Recognized as one of the most influential scientists in history, Sir Isaac Newton was a genius. He invented calculus, he explained how gravity holds the planets in place, he invented the reflecting telescope. He also removed the last doubts about a heliocentric model of the solar system.
       Newton once said,  "...God is a living, intelligent, and powerful Being ... He is supreme and most perfect." Newton believed the Universe most certainly had a designer and creator.



Raymond Damadian

      Galileo, the "Father of modern science", Johannes Kepler an astronomer, and Michael Faraday also believed in a supernatural Creator.


 Raymond Damadian, invented the medical procedure know as MRI. He believes in creation.
     



Sir David Brewster

"What can the highest intellect on Earth do but bow to God's Word?" Sir David Brewster

Compare Sir David Brewster's words to what Dawkin said below.

 "It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid, or insane (or wicked, but I'd rather not consider that." Richard Dawkins

   
  Mr. Dawkins is certainly wrong, and next time you are ridiculed for your faith in God, remember the amazing men we have just read about who weren't afraid to stand up for their faith.

    Painting by William Rowbottom