Natural Insect Repellent

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Natural Insect Repellent

April 11, 2024 • Ian Taylor

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Genesis 11:1

"Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth'; and it was so."

One interesting way in which to help young people gain an appreciation for God's creation is to ask them to solve certain problems that the Creator Himself had to solve.

Let's use the examples of seeds. Plants need seeds to produce the next generation. But what about all the insects that feed on seeds? As Creator, one could decide that insects will not eat seeds. But what will insects eat? Can we get rid of insects? If we do, what will we create to do all the important jobs that insects perform in the ecology? The conclusion must be that we need insects, and they need to eat something. Seeds are a convenient food for them. So how do we design seeds so that both plants and insects can benefit?

Left to their own to work out this problem, perhaps in small groups, young people are likely to propose two popular solutions. A plant can be designed to make so many seeds that insects could not possibly eat them all. Or some plants could be designed that produce seeds that have a natural insect repellent.

And both of these solutions to the problem are commonly found among seeds. Studies show that plants that produce so many seeds that insects could not possibly eat them all generally do not produce seeds that are poisonous to insects. But plants that produce fewer and larger seeds often produce seeds laced with natural insect repellents. As a result, insects get to eat and plants are allowed to produce the next generation.

Prayer: Dear Father in heaven; I don't always appreciate everything You have made often because I don't know what Your purposes are in making them. Help me to see Your purposes in my life in the faith that Your will is always good for me. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

REF.: Science 84, April 1984, p. 65. Image: Sunflower Seed (PD)

Does the Lion's Tooth Bite Your Lawn?

May 2, 2024 • Ian Taylor

Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose." As spring comes to the temperate areas of the northern hemisphere, one of the first signs of spring is the blossom of the Lion's Tooth. This bright yellow flower is also called the Irish daisy, priest's crown, peasant's cloak and yellow gowan. Its other name appears on the sides of bags of lawn care chemicals – the dandelion. The millions of homeowners who wage unrelenting war on the dandelion will probably not be pleased to hear anything good said about the plant. But the dandelion actually has a very interesting history. It was first brought to North America from Europe because of its beautiful flower. As late as the early 20th century, seed companies were still selling packets of dandelion seeds for home flower gardens. Up to 1957, more than 100,000 pounds of dandelion roots were imported annually to the United States for pharmaceutical use. In spring, the dandelion contains mannitol, which is used as a base for pills, a treatment for hypertension and coronary insufficiency, as well as in manufacturing radio condensers and percussion caps. And many people enjoy a salad that includes young dandelion leaves freshly picked in the spring. While you may not like dandelions in your lawn, the dandelion illustrates that God has not made anything that is without use. It is up to us to put what He has given each of us to use for His purposes. Prayer: Dear Lord, forgive me for the times that I have not appreciated the good purpose for which You have brought some experience or event into my life. Through Jesus Christ fill me with the conviction that my life can fulfill Your purpose if I follow You. In His Name. Amen. Notes: "A weed by any other name." Science 83, Apr. 1983. p. 82. Image: Dandelion (PD) © 2024 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

A 4,000 Year Old Computer Language

May 1, 2024 • Ian Taylor

John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The language is so logical and precisely structured that it is being used to create a programming language that a computer can understand. Unlike most languages of the world, this language has few irregular verbs, no prepositions and almost no exceptions to strict grammatical rules. What would take a long sentence to say in most languages can be said in only a few words in this language. One would think that we are talking about a new language, carefully designed and crafted by modern scientists. But this language, called Aymara, has been spoken by peasants in the Andes for 4,000 years! Because of its highly logical structure, Aymara is being used as a bridge language that enables computers to translate one language to another. Since 1986, a computer has been using Aymara to translate Spanish technical and legal documents into English in the office of the Panama Canal Commission. This amazing computer can translate a 60,000word document with 80 percent accuracy in only an hour. The final product must then be reviewed by a translator. Generally speaking, modern languages are less logically structured and more irregular and often cannot express as many shades of meaning as can ancient languages. In other words, as we go back in time, languages are not less structured and less expressive; they are more highly structured and more expressive than today's languages. This is powerful evidence that language has not come from grunting cavemen, but from the Creator Himself! Prayer: Lord, I thank You for the gift of language. Help me to be faithful to You in my use of language, not only in speaking the truth in love and avoiding falsehoods, but also in telling others what You have done for them in Your death and resurrection. Amen. Ref: "Computer application helps save an ancient language." Minneapolis Star Tribune, Feb. 24, 1990. p. 9A. Photo: Literacy class in El Alto, Bolivia.(PD) © 2024 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Population and the Age of the Earth

April 30, 2024 • Ian Taylor

Genesis 6:8 "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." How long have people been living on Earth? The evolutionist says millions of years. Biblebelieving Christians generally say only about 6,000 years. But the answer to this question is amazingly simple. If we start with only two people, and they have four children who live to have their own children, the second generation now has twice as many people – four. Now, allowing for infant mortality and other human problems that keep population down, we still find that on the average it only takes about 130 years to double the Earth's population. This figure fits into known historical records. And if anything, it's a conservative number. If human history is 2 million years, as the evolutionists say, the Earth ought to have a lot more people than it does now. Alternatively, if we accept the 2 million years, then it must have taken 125,000 years to double the population in order to finish with today's world population. But that doesn't make any sense at all, especially since human historical records show that the doubling time is about 1,000 times less! But if we start with eight people and reckon that the population doubles every 130 years, we find that it takes only about 4,000 to 4,500 years to get a population of 1 billion. And that was the Earth's population in the year 1800 – just about 4,200 years after the Flood, through which only eight people were saved to repopulate the Earth! Prayer: Lord, even the growth of human population testifies to the truth of Your Word! Help me to remember that to You humanity is not a mass of people. Even though it numbers in the billions, each is an individual whom You are seeking with Your Word. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Ref: Weigand, Cleone H. 1985. "Morality remains the best way to stem population growth." Milwaukee Journal, Apr. 14. Map: World map (http://pixabay.com) © 2024 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.