science

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Part Two: Do we Avoid Questions on Faith


     When we’re confronted with something that questions what we believe, how do we react? Sometimes the questions are subconscious, sometimes a friend, or maybe something we see or read. Often we push the thought aside or let political correction (PC) filter into our thoughts toning down or completely stopping what we deep inside wanted to say. Being politically correct or practicing apologetic’s can gloss over an issue or a topic, causing you to miss a chance to make a difference. It often disappears as fast as it presented itself. Your chance to make an impact on yourself or others diminishes and disappears. However, taking a chance and opening up to questions will better prepare each of us. It’s part of being able to express one’s thoughts in a manner that can be understood even when the listener disagrees with you.

     One thing that is common among all people is that we acknowledge there is good and evil in this world. What is often missed is how we are born with this instinct, this internal understanding. Just as a newborn baby knows it must eat, it also knows its mother and shows love to her. You may have heard the term, “The love of a newborn.” Evolution would have us believe that this just happens over time after we are born. That we are nothing before our birth. Where do our instinct’s originate from?

     So I propose we accept a challenge. The name of this blog is called “The Think Tank.” Often I try to give examples but don’t always ask a question. So today I will make several statements and ask the question, “Where do you place your faith and why?” With an open mind, question yourself how you feel about my following statements.

  • I believe that God exists.
  • I believe that God created everything at the beginning of time.
  • I believe in micro-evolution, but totally disagree with macro-evolution.
  • I believe that it takes faith to believe in God.
  • I believe that it takes faith to believe that we just evolved.
  • I believe that the God of the Bible is the only God, the original God.
  • I believe that other beliefs have been defined/created by man for man’s purpose.
  • I believe that many want proof, scientific evidence that we were created by God before they will believe He is real.
  • I believe that those wanting this evidence fail to recognize that they have placed their faith in evolution, that God doesn’t exists, just as those that believe in God have placed their faith in Him and that He does exist.
  • I believe our men and women that explore each of our scientific fields and their statement, “That evolution is a ‘theory’ of how everything started.”

     I could continue telling you what I believe, going deeper into my journey of life, my investigation, but what should be important to each of us is the question of our faith. Where do we place it? It’s an important part of our life. Do we place it in God, some other god, or evolution/no god? To recognize and accept the fact that it takes faith is the first step to understanding who we are. When peeling back the layers, we need to push past the desires and influences of others. Taking up the quest to question your faith, to recognize you have placed it on something, to not let your current desires and what you want to believe as true sidetrack you, and you will be on the best journey of discovery you will ever take.

“Where do you place your faith and why?”

“My faith is in God”

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“Part one: Is God Real?”


What do the numbers tell us?

     There are many references to population growth rates. Some show that the world population is growing faster today than in the past, but will slow as we move into the years ahead. Different countries have different rates. It can get confusing. However, the best over time average reference that I have found that fits the past growth rate is .456. The intent is to find approximately when the population on Earth first began.

     If we take into account today’s global population and utilize this growth rate, we find that approximately 4500 years ago there would have only been two people living. The Bible tells us that 4365 years ago that would have been eight. Noah, his wife and their three sons and their wives.

     The Bible tells us that the earth, at least what is important to mankind going back to Adam and Eve, is approximately 6021 years old. What happened to all the people that lived those first 1656 years?

     This brings up the question, what is wrong with the mathematical formula? However, science tells us it is correct based on all factors including wars and catastrophic events. Is our knowledge of the current global population wrong? I don’t think so.  

     Using this population growth formula that points back 4500 years, to the flood of Noah’s time, we should be able to assume that the Bible timeline is correct. Can you imagine, Noah must have been a visionary, or he was truly directed by God. Noah spent 100 years building that great big boat. The level of scorn and embarrassment he would have faced would have been immense. The Bible tells us that up until the flood, it had never rained, that the plants and trees were watered from below and from the dew above. So why build a boat that large, spend 100 years of your life doing it, and put up with the ridicule of those that watched if God didn’t direct you to build it? Was Noah crazy, or did he believe everything God told him?

     Some will tell us that this information was written by man and there is no way to prove the accuracy or authenticity of it. However, in research, we find that one of Noah’s sons, Shem, later to be called Melchizedek, was the High Priest to Abraham. Shem would have known not just Abraham, but Issac and Jacob and possibly Levi. Moses, the supposed author of Genesis, would have been well informed about all the events leading up to the flood as well as the events after.

     For one to discredit the biblical writings, it is important to utilize everything in our science tool bag, take into account what is written in the Bible, and then determine where to place our faith. The population numbers point toward a truthful Bible. So is God real? Science continues to find that something or someone started it all. Is God the one that science keeps pointing towards that started everything in motion?

Is God real? Where should one choose to place their faith?

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What are the Chances


     Just what are the odds of some event happening somewhere back in time setting in motion everything we see? The plants, animals, fish, birds and even the insects and of course us humans came from something or someplace. Something started it.

     The scientifically accepted law of probability which is called Borel’s law of probability, states that the odds of anything happening would have to be better than 1 out of 10 to the 50th power. That is a lot of zeros. However, one might think anything is possible if it is just one point below this. It is stated by some of the very influential evolutionist that for things to evolve from some random something happening would be most difficult. Dr. Carl Sagan of Cornell stated the odds would be 1 in 10 to the 2,000,000 power. One now believing creationist – Dr. Harold Morowitz a biophysics from Yale – states the chances of evolution happening as we are taught in our schools is 1 chance out of 10 to the 340,000,000.

     Putting this in simple words. Based on scientific numbers, the odd’s of evolution happening all by itself, no help, no one starting it, is impossible based on the odds given by the scientific world.

The question we should ask is:

It’s not what started everything, it’s who started everything?

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Numbers, Numbers, Numbers


     When we look at numbers, we expect them to represent something that is factual, or in some cases prove something is incorrect. It could be the price, maybe the size, the quantity, a date or maybe a weight. How many times have we all looked at our weight and said, “something is wrong?” However, when math is correctly applied, numbers tell us something. It’s how we react to the result that is important.

     We would all agree that 1+1=2, 2+2=4, 10+10=20. We would say that 2+4+20=26. What would be the answer if we write 1+10×2=? Would the answer be 22 or 21? We always do the multiplication first then addition so the answer would be 21. But if it is solved in the order it is written, the order that it happened, how it is written down, it is 22.

     As long as we do our math the way we learned at school, the resulting answer is true. It is what we believe we understand that we should take a long hard look at. What if at the beginning of all time, before there was anything, our number 1 actually represented something less than 1 or possibly something just less than 2. Using today’s math to solve the science behind the beginning of everything, our results would be different today than what really happened in the beginning. The point is that we don’t know what things were like when it all began. Like how long was a day? A day could not exist until there was light and darkness. Generally, we take our best shot at it using today’s environment as the benchmark.

     We build math models and run experiments to prove that a math equation is correct. If the result fits the math model, then the math/theory is correct, based on performing the experiment under conditions as we understand them. In the area of dating methods, it isn’t which dating method we use, it’s the influential conditions during the formation of the item we are dating. The question we should be asking is; were the conditions on earth always like they are today? The sun is needed for radiation to take place. If conditions were different on earth or within earths general location in space, how would this affect these dating methods? While our method’s of dating things do work mathematically, they are based on the Sun’s influence as far as radiometric dating goes.

     So where are we going with this? If something is assumed, but not known, the number possibly rounded up or down before the calculation is done, then the outcome is not completely true. Just knowing the percent of error can make a big difference in how we comprehend what we see, how positive we feel about what we learn.

      Let’s look at time, which by the way is the fourth dimension. The first three in science are length, width, and height. Actually, science calls out up to ten dimensions as they strive to find answers to how everything began. We won’t go into them here, but if we were to take a look at String Theory, the Black Hole, and even the theory of Quantum Physics, we would find that these dimensions play a big role. Without time, nothing would be here, including each of us. We can dig deeper into this at a later date.

     The point behind this is that if we were not there in the beginning, then we don’t know, we just set up the criteria as best we can based on what we have learned. The solutions we search for are a theory just because we do not know what conditions were like, especially when we start out with the assumption that there was nothing to begin with. If there was something in the beginning, then where did it come from? The logical argument is; it was something or someone that started it all. Science tells us that we must have a logical solution. Just like in science where someone puts the experiment together and hits the start button. Maybe we should recognize that someone hit the start button that started it all, not something. If it was just something then it was there and how did it get there from nothing.

     In conclusion, the question; why does “science” continue to argue against creation, the information written in the Bible, the one by God. It really needs to be answered. What is the reasoning behind it, if it was really God who started it all? If it was God, then he has to be the Greatest Scientist of all time that we should be happy to take guidance from.

The key point to remember is:

It takes “Faith” to believe in evolution just like it takes “Faith” to believe in God. It’s where we choose to place our “Faith” that is important.

 

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“Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff”


     How often have you heard the statement, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff?” There have been books written on this subject. Many of us already ignore the small stuff. Let’s face it, we all have a busy life. We have work, family, home repairs, hobbies, our education, homework, not to mention the little bit of downtime we each need. We may live in a region of the world that just staying alive is the daily objective. So why sweat the small stuff. What difference will it make anyway?

     What if some of that small stuff plays a role in who we really are, or maybe we could say, who we become? Some of that small stuff can have a major impact on our lives. Sometimes the small stuff becomes the foundation behind larger stuff. When was the last time you heard the statement: “It started out small, and then it just snowballed?” At this point, we just remember the snowball, not the snowflake.

     Exploring the thoughts we often contemplate, who am I and why am I here, we find some of the influences that have had a major impact on each of us. We find that around the mid-1800, the influences of a small group of men, did just that. Charles Darwin was a trained theologian, believed in God, while at the same time questioned how everything got its start. After struggling with his health, and the loss of two of his children at a very young age, it appears that Charles became embittered with God. After this, his friends, along with a strong influence from his grandfather, Darwin convinced himself to publish the ‘Origin of Species,’ to go public with his theory. Some might say this is small stuff. Just one book. However, this was the small stuff that started the evolutionary train moving.

     While this was just one book, the floodgates opened for those not wanting to believe in God. Those that wanted to push forward the sciences in the evolutionary direction attempting to disprove that God exists. Darwin was not the first, a few others produced theories for the last 1000 years, but Darwin was the first to push it over the edge, which earned him the name of, “Father of Evolution.” As time moved on, we have others such as Albert Einstein in the early 1900’s who founded the theory of ‘Special and General Relativity.’ Then in the late 1960’s, we find George Ellis, Stephen Hawking, and Roger Penrose pushing the theory of ‘Space-Time Theorem.’ Then around 1993, we have Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor providing the theory of ‘Second Dimension of Time.’ Now we have ‘String theory,’ and ‘M theory.’

     We continue to see theories designed to enable science to work toward answering the question about life. These theories are designed as true at the time they are considered. Then the effort to disprove them begins. However, this can set the foundation for the theory of evolution to be accepted as reality. If we aren’t careful, we find ourselves totally submerged into the indoctrination of how we all evolved. That there was a big bang that started everything. It is taught in our schools as the only way, not just one of the ways. While we don’t think this is important, it plays a serious role in who we become, how we think, and how we influence others after us.

     This may seem small to us because we have a life to live and we are all very busy living it. But the theory of evolution is one side of the story. Why should we not be given both? Why are there those that only want us to think one way?

    My challenge to each of us is to question why ‘science’ is not also used in disproving what is written in the Bible? The theory that ‘there was a creator.’ The theory that ‘earth is approximately 6500 years old?’ Why not teach this available information in our schools. Why are these theories excluded? Why not allow each of us to determine for ourselves what we would like to wrap our arm’s around, what theory to place our faith in?

     As we work down this list of possibilities as presented at the beginning of the Bible, using available science, and scientific findings, then defining key models around these understandings, we will try to see the other side of the understood but not often told story.

“to be continued”

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Science and God – Compatible or Not?


       So much can be said on this topic. I also find many times it’s hard to find the truth. So often we feel we have spent serious time investigating and doing research, especially in the science world, and because of this, we have an opinion that we feel is factual. But is it? Most or at least many people believe that science if the process of proving something as true. When in reality, it is the process of proving a theory as false. If we explore what science really is, we can find the following written explanation.

  • The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.
  • All scientific knowledge is tentative and provisional, and nothing is final. There is no such thing as a final proven knowledge in The currently accepted theory of phenomenon is simply the best explanation for it among all available alternatives.

       The first observation we can make is that to study the systematic structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment, we are limited to what we have to work from. Our knowledge is based on what we learn from others, and also what we learn from our own efforts. It is based on what we have to start with or what we presuppose were the conditions. We have our earth which we can make determinations firsthand, the universe which we can make some determinations firsthand, but much of it is strictly a possible observation. Using the scientific word, a ‘Theory.’

       What could have been different back at the beginning of everything? If we really want to gain an understanding of this, we should take into account all information available to us. We also need to recognize observation number two above: ‘all scientific knowledge is tentative and provisional’

       If we take both observations into consideration, we could realize that when things all got their start, that everything was different than what we see and understand today. Some scientists tell us that everything started from nothing. However, I know of nothing observed coming from nothing. This leaves this as strictly a theory and should never be accepted as an absolute fact. We hear from the science world that a ‘Big Boom’ is responsible. There is the ‘String Theory’ and other theories that are based on something from nothing, but each needs something to be a viable theory. So where did this something come from?

       Maybe if we took into account what was told to us in the first few words of the Bible, we could find possible answers to many things observed. This would change how our dating of things found on earth are not correct. This is also supported by every scientific theory presented, that everything observed today was different in the past. Why would we use today’s atmospheric conditions to date things we assume are millions of years old. The conditions were different. If we utilize any of the aging processes, it is based on the half-year analogy, and this is based on conditions we observe today.

       The question I would propose to everyone is what is the motivation to exclude God as a possible creator, the one that set everything in motion? Sometimes I think that people are so detailed in their thinking that they accept only what they can see and understand. So many don’t like the idea of someone being greater than themselves. Therefore, the exploration of the idea/theory that God is real, utilizing science, is generally not put to the test, except by a few. However, to my knowledge science has never disproved a theory that God is the creator. In reality, the theory of the ‘Big Boom or String Theory,’ still requires that someone or something put these thing in motion.

       This leaves us at a point today that if you cannot disprove it, it should be observed as a fact until someone else can disprove it. This is my understanding of “Evolution’ and why it is believed by so many as the explanation to how everything began. But wait, if I cannot disprove evolution, and I cannot disprove God, then both are true. Maybe God did start everything and utilized forms of evolution over the years as part of His plan. My opinion is that God is the greatest Scientist of all time, and in so many ways, science continues to prove this. Because no one has seen God, and no one has observed the Big Bang happening all by itself. Then I believe that this drives the following conclusion. It takes faith to accept either. I guess it is a question of:

“Where do I place my Faith?”

Mine is in God!
Continue reading →

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What is “Truth”


     In the world of Science, Faith, and Religion, we can find ourselves facing the monumental task of determining what the real “Truth” is. To take a real objective view of the question, “what is the truth,” we need to identify what we understand each stands for.

Question one: What is Religion?

      It is the belief in God, a god, or in a group of gods. It is the organization of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship God, a god or group of gods. It is an interest, belief, or activity that is very important to a person or a group of people.

Question Two: What is Faith?

     It is a strong belief or Trust in someone or something. It is a belief in the existence of God or a strong religious feeling of our beliefs. It is a system of religious beliefs.

Question three: What is Science?

     It is knowledge about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observations. It is a particular area of study, such as biology, physics, chemistry, or any particular branch of science. It is a subject that is formally studied in school, college, and universities.

     Breaking down the key three elements that play such a significant role in who we are, what we become, how we believe, and how we react to situations in life, we find that they all cross what we might call “boundaries of life.” Science plays such a critical role in our lives. It has advanced the medical world to levels one sometimes stands in amazement of. The automation world, and most important to most of us, the communications world. The advancement of the phones, smartphones, computers, including the internet, has changed lives. We google a location and trust that we will arrive at that place if we follow the map provided. We choose to place our faith in that search we initiated. If you have had happened to you what I have, it has sometimes been misguided, and I ended up someplace different than planned. However, as these applications advance, they get better at guiding us where they believe you are planning to go based on what you were searching for.

     We have defined a simple way of how science and faith work together, but how does religion fit into this. If religion is a form of interest, belief, or activity that is important to us, then science and faith become a religion by definition. If one believes that a specific area of science is factual, or that a specific application is perfect, then by placing our faith in it, it becomes a form of religious belief. I’m not trying to push the envelope here, I’m just using how each of the three elements of life is defined.

     What is most interesting is that we have so many “Religious” beliefs in this world, it becomes hard to define which of them hold the “Truth.” We have so many advancements, findings (both supporting and negating), and discoveries in the science world, especially in the areas of who we are and how everything began, which of them do we hold as “Truth.” This put’s “Religion” as defined right in the middle. This brings us back to the question, what is “TRUTH?”

     Where do we place our faith? Is it in God, or some other defined definition of god, or in our science’s and how they are defined and taught? It takes faith to believe in God, or any god, just as it takes faith to believe in only what is proven by science.

     If we look at little deeper at science, we find that it is a process of defining a theory and then using scientific experimentation to prove the theory wrong. It is not an attempt to prove it correct. If it cannot be proven wrong, it can then be seen as true with no proof behind it until someone comes along and proves it wrong. Faith now becomes a strong ingredient in science. With “Faith” as an ingredient in science, it becomes a way of believing and becomes a “Religion.”

     What is more important, is the foundation of this short discussion. How do we know what to believe, where to place our faith, what religious belief we will follow? Just what is true, what can we hang our hat on, what can we stake our life’s beliefs on?

“What is Truth”

     I hope you will follow me down this road of discovery as we attempt to utilize science to evaluate and define who we are and how this all could have begun.

 

“To be continued.”

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Where Does Faith in Science Stop and Faith in God Begin – It’s a Choice


True story: A man visits his Doctor and after some test he is diagnosed with cancer. Surgery is scheduled and during the surgery the Doctor find that he is full of cancer, much worse that they had anticipated and they can do nothing. They sew him back up and after a short stop in the recovery room, the Doctors give him the results of what they found explaining to him and his family that he has only a short time to live. They tell him to go home and call them if he feels things are progressing or if he has any additional issues but that he should return in one month and they should be able to tell how fast the cancer is spreading and how much time he has left.

The man goes home and together with his family they begin to pray for his health to return.

The man returns one month later and when the Doctors checked him out they look at each other not believing what they are finding. They run more test and finally return to tell the man they cannot find any cancer. They have no explanation. One of the Doctors added; I have seen this happen once before. I cannot explain it. First it is there and then it is gone. The other Doctor added; I know what we saw when we had you opened up. There is just no medical or scientific answer to how this could have happened.

” I know such a man that this happened too. No explanation outside of his prayer asking to be healed. No pills, no drugs, just prayer to God.”

The question is: If we as a human population rely so heavily on Science and stand so firm on the idea that for ever action there is a reaction, that all things can be proven by Science and only after proven will we believe something is true, then what did this just prove? Science tells us he should have died of cancer, but he didn’t. So can Science be wrong at times?

Conclusion: if Science tells us one thing but something else happens then it is a Miracle and yes God exist! However, if one chooses to not believe in the existence of God, that the miracle just happened for what ever reason, then we are still choosing to place our faith in something without a proven explanation. So it does take faith one way or the other.

The follow-up question: how deep have you looked into the possibilities that some of what you have been told may not have real scientific proof behind it? In the doctors case they had the proof that he had cancer and that he would only live a short time. Case after case people died with this type of cancer. But how did it go away? If you dig deep enough you will find other cases where science is defied as something else is the final result.