The human fossil record is probably one of these least understood yet frequently discussed topics in the Christian church. I have neither the expertise nor the desire to attempt to resolve the debate over whether particular fossils represent human ancestors or not. I understand that human origins is a sensitive topic, especially within the conservative evangelical church... Continue Reading →
For some time I had been planning to write about the use of Psalm 104 in creationists circles as evidence for a physical description for tectonic events following a world-wide flood. Specifically, versus six through nine of Psalm 104 have been suggested to be not a reflection on creation, as is the traditional reading, but... Continue Reading →
Update Feb 2014: I have rewritten this article with updated information here: Fishing For Fossils in the North Sea: The Lost World of Doggerland You may have seen reports of the discovery of the "British Atlantis" circulating the web. Those stories seem to have been sparked by a new display of recent research at... Continue Reading →
On my trip to Kentucky this week to attend the PCA GA I took some time to do some geological sightseeing. I hope I can convince you that it was a lot more exciting that it might sound:-) Below are some pictures I took at two locations. The first are from the Falls of... Continue Reading →
The PCA (Presbyterian Church of America) General Assembly includes a number of seminars on a wide variety of topics each year. This year one talk received considerable attention prior to the meeting because of the subject matter and the presenter. I made the 6 hour drive to Louisville, KY to hear the talk as... Continue Reading →
There are millions of asteroids orbiting the solar system most of which are found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Studies of these asteroids, as part of an effort to assess the threats to earth, have allowed us to track and paths, sizes and rotational frequencies of over 1000 asteroids.
Not enough moon dust! It's the argument for a young earth that just won't die even though many YEC leaders have said it should. I was prompted to think about moon dust two days ago, after a 15 year break, when a colleague of mine stopped by my office and told me that she had... Continue Reading →
Dinosaur eggs are surprisingly (to the non-biologist) similar in size. Even the very largest dinosaurs laid eggs that were hardly any bigger than the largest eggs found today. These are observations from the fossil record and these observation make sense biologically even though all we see are fossilized eggs. Eggs are limited in the size they attain for several reasons but one of the most important is that the embryos in the eggs must have oxygen to grow.
I think it is safe to say that the average person has little appreciation for the diversity (eg. number of species) and the total numbers of whales in the world. What most people hear about whales is that there are some that are hunted to near extinction. This tends to create the impression that whales are rare animals. Yes, there are many rare and endangered species of whales but there there are many that are very abundant.
Recently I shared evidence of an ancient forest preserved in amazing detail in a thick layer of volcanic ash (An Ancient and Alien Forest Reconstructed: A challenge for young earth creationism). I raised a number of challenging questions that this spectacular fossil discovery raises for those that hold to a young-earth creationists (YEC) understanding of... Continue Reading →
A comment on another site captures the essence of where I think Christians who have been told the Bible teaches the earth must be young are putting their confidence. Their confidence is placed in the belief that experts in scientific fields have provided them with not only enough evidence but overwhelming evidence that earth is young. This person is putting his faith in experts which, he admits, have bolstered his faith in the Word of God.
The following image comes courtesy of Biologos.org which has created the easy to visualize summary of some of the most recent polling data regarding American's views of the origin of man. The questions posed by several national polling specialists are rather simple and many people clearly do not fit so easily into the boxes that... Continue Reading →
One way of looking at the origins debate is by looking at the publishing scene. I have observed elsewhere that the last 20 years have seen more books published on the topic than the prior 100 years combined. The creation science movement has pumped out an astounding number of books and seminary professors... Continue Reading →
Returning to John Walton and his recent contributions to the Genesis debate: Previously I mentioned that I had picked up Walton’s book “The Lost World of Genesis One” again. I also have read his more recent book which is a more academic follow-up to that book entitled “Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology.” There have... Continue Reading →
Recent studies of multiple intact fossilized forests provide a very detailed account of the presence of an seemingly alien forest that was found multiple locations across the entire globe at some point in the past. A forest completely devoid of the presence of any flowering plants such as oaks, maples and beech trees or even... Continue Reading →
Naturalis Historia 