Creation Moments

Jonathan Cotton: In the beginning, God created. Welcome to Creation Moments. I'm Jonathan Cotton. Today, we'll look at five thought-provoking topics on science and the reliability of God's word. Our topics today include the great wall in space, the bare bone facts, the body's fleeting workers, whales write songs, and smart heart. Listen and discover the evidence for our creator that is all around us. Then, after our program, visit creationmoments.com for articles, videos, FAQs, Bible studies, and so much more. First up, the great wall in space. Some Christians believe that God's word in Genesis chapter 1 verse 3, let there be light, are biblical description of the Big Bang that some scientists say created the universe.

But perhaps we Christians should be a little more careful about assuming that modern science knows very much about the origin of the universe. Astronomers announced that they had discovered the largest structure yet to be found in the universe. They described the structure as a great wall made up of high concentrations of galaxies. Just to get our perspective, the average galaxy contains over 1 billion stars. The great wall contains concentrated clumps of galaxies. This discovery delivers two apparently fatal blows to the Big Bang theory. If the universe was the result of the Big Bang, scientists would expect to find stars evenly distributed in space, not clumped together, and certainly not built into giant structures.

Second, the clumps of galaxies they found are very precisely and evenly spaced, not the kind of order that results from an explosion. One of the researchers said, it is safe to say that we understand less than zero about the early universe. There's another good reason for Christians not to try to find the Big Bang in Genesis. According to the Bible, it is the end of the world and the universe, not its beginning that could more accurately be described as a Big Bang. Christ himself has completed your preparations for that day. Are you ready? Isaiah chapter 34 verse 4.

All the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll. All their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine and as fruit falling from a fig tree. Would you pray with me? Dear Lord, I cling to your saving work for my preparation for the end of the world. Be with me now and prepare me to spend eternity with you. Amen. Our next topic is the bare bone facts. When an engineer builds a building, a bridge, or some other structure, he must build it so that it can withstand both stretching and compressing forces.

In designing the structure to withstand both kinds of these forces, he must anticipate how much of each force the structure might face in its lifetime. Some materials like cast iron and concrete are very good at withstanding compression forces, but very poor in handling stretching forces. Using one of these materials to build a structure that undergoes tensile or stretching forces could lead to disaster. Now, let's apply our basic engineering information to the problem of building a frame or a skeleton for a living creature. Although you may weigh only 130 lbs, your long leg bone will very likely have to be prepared to deal with more than 1,000 lbs of compression and hundreds of pounds of tension from the muscles that are anchored to it.

It's a good thing then that normal bone is three times as strong as good solid wood and nearly as strong as iron. Tests have shown that the tensile strength of bone is 35,000 lbs per square inch, while iron is 40,000 lbs per square inch. But bone material is better than iron because it is three times lighter and much more flexible. The structure of your bones is too carefully engineered to have been an accident. If life was the result of impersonal evolution, evolution would still be trying to engineer the best material for skeletons, and there would be an awful lot of jellyfish around.

Psalm chapter 139 verses 13 through 14. For you have formed my inward parts. You have covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. Let's pray together. Dear Father in heaven, help me to remember that you also care about the spiritual stresses in my life, and that as your redeemed child in Christ, you are present to help me if I will but take my needs to you. Thank you for being there when I need you. Help me to need you always.

In Jesus' name, amen. And now, the body's fleeting workers. Inside your body, there's a large and amazing family of chemical workers who, although they usually last less than a minute, make life possible. There are so many different kinds of chemicals called prostaglandins that science is just beginning to learn how important they are to life. Prostaglandins are made by just about every tissue in your body. They are made by tissue cells from stored fatty acids. When triggered, fatty acids swarm out of the cell walls and are quickly changed into the necessary prostaglandin. Prostaglandins are involved in regulating reproduction and breathing and circulation among other things.

Prostaglandins made by the cells lining our blood vessels relax the muscles around them so that more blood can flow through them. And blood platelets also produce another prostaglandin. When triggered, it enables the blood to clot and seal wounds. In the lungs, prostaglandins regulate the openings of air passages. They help protect the inside of your stomach. It is because aspirin inhibits prostaglandin production that it helps headaches and can cause stomach problems in some people. Prostaglandins have been implicated in the swollen, painful joints caused by arthritis. The human body is literally a symphony of thousands of carefully designed systems, each one playing in harmony with the other and all of them working together.

This fact alone leaves no justification for the claim that we are designed by genetic accidents. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 18 says, but now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as he pleased. Please join me in prayer. Lord, I thank you that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I understand that it is because of sin that sometimes our systems don't work as you design them. According to your will, grant me healing in those cases, but let me always be aware of your love and presence in my life. Amen.

Next up, whales write songs. Most of us have heard recordings of whales singing. Scientists have not yet learned to understand the whale's language, but they have identified individual verses in whale song. Now, they are more convinced than ever that whale song is a sophisticated language. Whale song is made up of complex and stylized compositions, many of them longer than the longest of human symphonies. A single whale song can last up to 22 hours. Scientists have learned that humpback whale songs change a lot from year to year. Yet each humpback in an entire ocean will always sing the same song as the others.

Scientists wondered how whales could keep the verses straight since the song changes so often. Researchers have concluded that whales, like human beings, use rhyme to help remember their songs. Biologists studying whale song report that they have identified the same subphrases turning up in the same positions in verses that are next to each other. Whales apparently compose their long songs with rhymes, making them possibly the greatest poets on Earth. Evolutionists tell us that language is such an advanced development that even the first human beings could do no more than grunt and growl. And yet the whale not only has a sophisticated language, but also creates poetry.

Christians can comfortably put evolution aside to realize that the Bible is right when it says that the whole creation praises God. And whales make it very clear that the creator himself is the author of language, not some caveman. Psalm chapter 148 verse 7 says, praise the Lord from the Earth, you great sea creatures and all the depths. Let's pray. Dear Lord, one of your greatest gifts to us is language because through it we learn of your love for us and sending your son Jesus Christ to save us from sin, death, and the devil. With that in mind, help me to be a good steward of the gift of language and praise and witness to you.

Amen. Last but not least, smart heart. People sometimes wonder why with all the marvels science can design and build, it cannot build a good replacement for the heart. As medical science learns more about the heart, it becomes clear that replacing this complex mass of muscles is more difficult than might be imagined. Your heart is about the size of your fist, really surprisingly small for the job it does. The heart is a pump with valves, tubing, and an electrical system. Its four chambers are carefully designed to make sure that used blood goes to your lungs for oxygen and that blood from your lungs takes that oxygen to the rest of your body.

In order to do this, your heart must pump 2,000 gallons of blood through more than 60,000 miles of soft tubing every day. But the heart is much more than a pump. Researchers describe it as an incredibly intelligent organ. The heart is smarter than we are. When you need more circulation, it senses this and speeds its pumping action. It doesn't matter whether the need for more pumping action comes from increased exercise or something you thought about that might require more heart action. The heart responds. Even when transplanted, the heart is able to respond to its new environment.

Like everything else God has created, the heart is not a simple organ limited to only one job. The heart is custom designed to do many jobs well. And to this day, doctors cannot tell you why one apparently healthy heart stops beating and another does not. Life itself is more than an organ. It is a gift from our creator to each of us. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 10 says, for it was fitting for him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Would you pray with me again? Dear Father in heaven, I thank you for the gift of life. Take my life and let it be consecrated to you in Jesus' name. Amen. The genetic language of DNA with precise instructions for heredity and function is read by proteins and enzymes as they attach, disengage, and reattach themselves to the DNA of each cell in your body. And this happens thousands of times every single minute. The amount of information conveyed on such a microscopic level is absolutely enormous. Biological organization and the high-speed reading of a complex language and information system require tremendous design and intelligent programming.

A simple SOS signal of distress is attributed to intelligence. Yet evolutionists do not attribute the complex function and code of DNA to an author or programmer. It would seem that there's more than a little bias and irrationality here when it comes to our origins, not true science. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 20 says, to avoid profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science falsely so called. In other words, there are sciences which are sound and sciences which are incorrect. Because of the sin of mankind, there are many false philosophies and false religions which compete for our attention.

So, how does one find the truth? Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. The power that saves us from the lies of this world is not found in our own understanding, but in the God of the Bible. We can try our best to explain a world without him. We can try to find peace without him, hope without him, meaning, purpose, and joy without him. But in the end, it all falls short because it's not the full truth. The Earth is the Lord's and everything in it.

Every cell, every complex strand of DNA in your body was designed with loving purpose. If you feel trapped, tired, or stuck in your sinful habits, cry out to Jesus. Ask him to speak to you and study his word. By doing so, you'll find real truth. And the truth will set you free. Thank you for listening. If you'd like to learn more about creation science and biblical worldview issues, visit creationmoments.com or download the Creation Moments app to access a library of great resources. I'm Jonathan Cotton. Be sure to join me next time for more Creation Moments proclaiming evidence God's truth.