A 2,000 Year Old Electric Battery

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A 2,000 Year Old Electric Battery

April 12, 2024 • Ian Taylor

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Genesis 4:22a

"And as for Zilah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron."

While evolutionary historians refer to the ages of humanity before the birth of Christ with terms like the Stone, Bronze and Iron ages, it seems that human metalworking technology was much more sophisticated than these names suggest. And that fits with what Genesis 4 tells us about human history.

An example of this was reported in the April 1957 issue of Science Digest. In the 1930s archaeologists were digging in a small ruin on the outskirts of Baghdad when they uncovered something that looked very much like a modern drycell battery. The object was analyzed, and a model was built by an engineer at General Electric's High Voltage Laboratory.

The device turned out to be a wetcell battery that packed enough power to gold plate jewelry—history's first recorded industrial use of electricity. The battery was built and used by Baghdad silversmiths from 250224 B.C. It was about the size of two modern flashlight batteries and was made of materials similar to those in use today and common in the ancient world, including copper and 60/40 tinlead alloy solder.

These discoveries make it nearly impossible to dismiss the early chapters of Genesis as mythical. The picture they present of a creative and intelligent humanity rings true. And the Bible's message of humanity's need for salvation in Jesus Christ rings true as well.

Prayer: Dear Lord; in trying to escape from You, man pictures himself as a well advanced animal and nothing more. I am surrounded by people who think that this scientific fact. Help me to be a witness to the truth revealed in Your Word so that those who have been misled may be led to Christ. In His Name. Amen.

Notes: Illustration: Drawing of Baghdad battery parts by Ironie CC BY SA 2.5

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.

The Crafty Flea

April 29, 2024 • Ian Taylor

1 Peter 5:6-7 "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." The water flea fills one of the lowest spots on the food chain. What this means is that even though the water flea is concerned about little else than going about his business, just about everyone else in the pond is interested in eating him. Not much larger than a grain of rice, the water flea has been given such a clever defense against predators that even scientists were fooled for a while. Adult water fleas, or Daphnia, are eggshaped except for their legs and are easy to swallow. Newly hatched water fleas are usually eggshaped, too, making them a tender, easy-to-swallow lunch. But as the number of predators in the pond or stream grows, hatchlings begin to develop an odd array of sharp projections on their bodies. Some look so different from their parents that at first scientists misidentified them as a different species. The water fleas' strategy involves more than just trying to look like something different from a traditional water flea lunch. The sharp projections make them hard to swallow. Anyone would rather swallow an egg than a porcupine! Research shows that these projections reduce mortality of young water fleas by 50 percent. If the Creator takes this personalized care of water fleas, how much more He wishes to take this kind of personalized care of you! None of us need ever feel alone or uncared for. Your Creator seeks a personal relationship with you through His Son, Jesus Christ! Prayer: Father, I thank You that You have not left me alone and without hope. Renew and strengthen me in a closer relationship to You by means of Your loving invitation in Your Word, the Bible. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Ref: Fellman, Bruce. "Quickchange flea." Science 84. p. 76. Image: Evadne spinifera (PD) © 2024 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.