A Matter of Life or Death

Creation Moments

A Matter of Life or Death

December 3, 2024 • Ian Taylor

According to the Bible, God created the heavens and the earth in a perfect condition – without disease or death. However, when man did his own will instead of God’s will, death became a reality, just as God had warned. On the other hand, evolution says that death has nothing to do with man’s disobedience to his Creator. Evolution also says that our genetic information has developed over the years to help us survive. Can these opposite claims be tested?

Biologists have discovered that living cells have a built-in suicide gene. The suicide gene remains dormant until it is necessary for the cell to die. For example, as a tadpole turns into a toad, its tail is no longer needed. As a result, the suicide genes in the tail cells instruct them to die.

In other words, living cells have a gene in them that prevents the death of the cell until its appointed time.

So in a sense, we can test the Bible’s and evolution’s conflicting claims about life and death. Why would evolution develop genes that order death? By definition, such a gene would not aid survival. However, God told our first parents that the day that they sinned, they would die. It was obviously the curse of sin that created the genetic instructions for cell death, on the very day that they sinned. What biologists are learning about the cell’s workings fits much better with Scripture than with evolutionary claims.

Genesis 3:2-3

“And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

Prayer: I thank You, dear Father, that You have provided a remedy and cure for my death through the forgiveness of my sins in Jesus Christ. By Your Holy Spirit, help me to live the new life You have given me to Your glory. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Photo: Tadpole of pelophylax frog, Envato.

A Fish Story

December 11, 2024 • Ian Taylor

School biology textbooks offer students good facts but often bad interpretation of those facts. For example, when explaining how fish evolved into air-breathing land animals, students are usually offered a great deal of misinformation about living and extinct fish. It is not true that lungfish are an odd class of fish and that no other fish have lungs – many do, and some have lungs as well as gills. The textbook explanation says that all early fish had air-filled swim bladders, as most fish do today. The textbooks go on to say that the bladders in some of these fish eventually evolved into lungs. Then, as these fish spent more time on land, some of them gradually lost their gills and developed from amphibians into reptiles. The facts are shown in the fossil record where, according to evolutionists’ own inflated system of dating, lungs actually appeared in fish before swim bladders! A logical evolutionist would have to conclude that the fish’s air bladder evolved from lungs. The problem for evolutionists is that this is precisely opposite of what they need for the theory. If we telescope the evolutionary years into historical years, however, the fossil record agrees with Scripture. In other words, fish with lungs and fish with swim-bladders both appeared on day five of creation. The lesson for us here is that when science tells the truth, it actually confirms those seemingly simple statements found in the Bible. Genesis 1:20 “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.” Prayer: Dear Lord, I thank You that among the din of man’s mistaken opinions, I have trustworthy knowledge available in Your Word. Increase my resolve to learn and apply Your Word so that I am not so easily misled by man’s mistaken opinions. Amen. Notes: Joachim Vetter. “Something fishy about lungs.” Creation ExNihilo, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 46-47. Photo: Fossil of fish, Envato.

Jungle Fungus Fighter

December 10, 2024 • Ian Taylor

Throughout the open markets of Kenya, shopkeepers sell leaves and strips of bark from the warburgia bush. The leaves and bark are used to relieve toothaches, fevers, constipation, and the taste of meat gone slightly sour. Medical researchers have been examining extracts from the bush for use with antibiotics. The immune system of a healthy person will keep fungal infections under control quite easily. When the immune system has been weakened by illness, however, heavy doses of antibiotics, chemotherapy are needed because fungal infections can be life-threatening. Researchers discovered that two extracts from the warburgia bush can boost the effects of antibiotics. One of the extracts, coupled with an antibiotic used against yeast cells, resulted in a treatment that was 16 times more powerful than the antibiotic alone. Warburgia extracts also boosted antibiotics’ effects against various fungal infections, including the fungus that causes athlete’s foot. How many medicines has our Creator hidden in the plants of the earth for us to discover? We can thank Him that, in His mercy, He has provided so many earthly remedies for the disease that has resulted because of sin. What is more important, however, is that we can thank Him for the forgiveness of sins that was won by Christ for us in His suffering and death. Matthew 16:26 “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Prayer: Thank You, Father, for Your generous gifts that have helped us reverse some of the earthly effects of sin. Bless our researchers as they continue to search for more medicines. However, help me always remember to look to Christ for the ultimate, permanent solution to my sin. In His Name. Amen. Notes: Photo: Streets of Africa, Envato.

Moth Talk

December 9, 2024 • Ian Taylor

Scientists are learning that there is much more going on among those moths that flutter around your yard light than they ever expected. Scientists have long known that moths communicate with each other, using hormones called pheromones. A female moth who is ready to mate will send a pheromone into the air. Males who sense the pheromone will seek out the female. Research now shows that the moths’ system is much more elegant than this. The female who wants to contact a male doesn’t simply send out a scented invitation. Rather, she releases her pheromones in a series of pulses. These pulses are released at the rate of from one to more than two pulses per second. Scientists used powder to study the pulses. To their surprise, they discovered that the pulses can be propelled for up to a meter. That’s equivalent to you being able to blow out a candle from 60 feet away! These pulses had researchers puzzled. Then they realized that the pulses would help male moths locate a female as they were drawn near by the scent of the pheromone. This seems to be confirmed by the fact that the male’s antennae send a signal to its brain that has the same frequency as the female’s pulses. The creation shows much more than design. Each of the details of the creation have the elegant intricacy of a master Designer. This is, in part, what St. Paul refers to when he writes that the very Godhead of the Creator can be seen in the creation. 1 Corinthians 15:28 “And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” Prayer: Father in heaven, I admire and thank You for the excellence of Your workmanship in the creation. As I do my daily tasks, help me to take care to put the best workmanship into my work so that You will be glorified in everything I do. In Jesus’ Name. Amen. Notes: “Smoke Puffs for Sexual Communication.” Science News, Vol 25, #25, June 23, p. 393. Photo: Eyed hawk moth, Envato.