tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-239391392024-03-14T05:38:04.228-04:00uMarko.blogspot.comBiblical Creation Science,<br>the Persecuted Church,<br>Missions, Devotions,<br>Social Commentary, IT, and more...Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.comBlogger505125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-73219407477138085172013-01-26T12:03:00.000-05:002013-01-26T12:03:52.261-05:00Blessings that come to Muslims who turn to JesusIn 2007, a group of senior Christian outreach staff were gathered for a strategy meeting in a mountainous retreat, when a call came from the field with a remarkable story. <strong>Several Muslim leaders had surrounded the leaders of one of our key ministry partners while they were having midday prayers</strong>. That team had been seeing breathtaking breakthroughs among highly resistant Muslim peoples, so they had anticipated that something like this might happen. The team was justifiably fearful, but they kept praying. Surprisingly, the Muslims just stood around them observing the proceedings and making no signs of hostile intentions.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QYSCGldd_YI/UHGWbAx3ryI/AAAAAAAAB5E/QyAtuzuJI4Q/s1600/MM_bookcover-300x480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QYSCGldd_YI/UHGWbAx3ryI/AAAAAAAAB5E/QyAtuzuJI4Q/s320/MM_bookcover-300x480.jpg" width="200" /></a>When the Christian leaders finished praying, the group surrounding them approached, They turned out to be a delegation of Muslim civic leaders from a distant region, and they had come with their imam and with a request. “Please,” they said, “<strong>we have not come to harm you</strong>. But we have a request: <strong>please send us the storytellers!</strong>”<br />
<br />
The Muslim leaders from this community had observed other communities in their area that had become Christian, and they had noticed a dramatic change in people’s lives—broken families now in unity, a sense of love and compassion among the people, and a breaking of old hostilities and vendettas—and they wanted the same thing in their community. <br />
<br />
Events like these would be repeated again and again, or that we would see entire mosques come to faith in Christ! <strong>Muslims are jealous to have the gospel because their neighbors had been blessed by it</strong>, yet that, in a nutshell, is just what continues to happen. Indeed, Paul wrote, “to provoke them [Israel] to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles” (Romans 11:11).<br />
<br />
The powerful testimony of transformation so resonates with <strong>the discouragement and disillusionment inside Islam </strong>that it is the single most significant reason <strong>for rapid multiplication of churches among Muslims today</strong>. When transformation happens, there is always evidence. These are some of the most common changes seen among Muslim individuals and communities who accept Christ:<br />
<em></em><br />
<li><em><strong>Healed Families</strong>.</em> Wife beating becomes no longer acceptable. Children are given permission to attend schools. Polygamy is no longer the choice of Christian men, and prostitution dies out.</li>
<li><em><strong>A Spirit of Freedom</strong></em>. People find release from fatalism.</li>
<li><em><strong>A Spirit of Love</strong>.</em> Many Muslim people report that God puts new compassion in their hearts for fellow Muslims who are still in the mosque.</li>
<li><em><strong>Diminished Violence</strong>.</em> Former Muslims refuse to participate in ongoing ethnic warfare. </li>
<li><em><strong>Less Addiction</strong></em>. The levels of addiction to alcohol, and khat are greatly diminished.</li>
<li><em><strong>Redemption and Hope</strong></em>. Lost people have new energy and initiative, and become more productive people. </li>
<li><em><strong>Evidences of Divine Favor</strong>.</em> Many new Christians share with joy how, after they became followers of Jesus, and during a time of prolonged drought, the Lord caused it to rain on their farms or on the pasture where their livestock was, but not on their neighbors’ land. Farmers have begun praying over their fields and have ceased using Muslim or spiritist blessings on their land.</li>
<li><em><strong>Grace in Persecution</strong>. </em>Many new Christians in Muslim areas face harsh persecution. Forgiveness in the face of persecution can be the way that God gets into a persecutor’s heart to transform it as well. </li>
<li><em><strong>Freedom from Demonic Oppression</strong></em>. When Muslims repent of sins and receive Jesus as Lord, demonic powers are successfully cast out. </li>
<li><em><strong>The Power of Individual Prayer</strong>.</em> Common people discover that they can pray and God moves. Even the Muslims see this and thank God for the changes in the communities, as many who used to disturb them are now peaceful Christians.</li>
<em></em><br />
<em>(excerpted from Jerry Trousdale, </em><a href="http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/simple-churches"><em>Simple Churches: Dramatic Transformations, Rapid Replication</em></a><em>, Mission Frontiers, Sep/Oct 2012, and Chapter 7 of the book </em><a href="http://miraculousmovements.com/products-page/">Miraculous Movements</a> <em>by Jerry Trousdale, 2012, Thomas Nelson Inc. Nashville, Tennessee)</em><br />
<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Subscribe</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">)</span></i></b></span></i>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-15257607984958733562013-01-24T20:18:00.000-05:002013-01-24T20:18:16.580-05:00The evolution of the evolutionary tree diagram<span style="color: #660000;">Don't be fooled by <strong>the "Tree of Life" diagram </strong>from your standard evolutionary textbook. Real evolutionary scientists know that <strong>is just to get you started</strong>, <strong>they now have any number of diagrams to choose from </strong>that don't look like trees at all.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">It's <strong>much better to get the truth about life not from any diagram, but from the Bible </strong>- given to us by the Creator Himself. He created all living kinds to be similar in some ways, different in others!</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><em><span style="color: black;"></span></em></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><em><span style="color: black;">(excerpts from David Coppedge, Convergence Convenience, </span></em></span><span style="color: #660000;"><em><span style="color: black;">published in Creation Matters, a publication of Creation Research Society, Volume 17, Number 5, September/October 2012, to appear at </span></em><a href="http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2012/CM17%2005%20low%20res.pdf"><em>http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2012/CM17%2005%20low%20res.pdf</em></a></span><span style="color: black;"><em>)</em></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KG-94wMDUCM/UN3-ZN9unTI/AAAAAAAACtc/CwnV9u3gUFY/s1600/Darwin.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KG-94wMDUCM/UN3-ZN9unTI/AAAAAAAACtc/CwnV9u3gUFY/s200/Darwin.png" title="image from http://www.godsmonsters.com/Features/secular-humanist-pantheon/" width="199" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Darwin's tree diagram was<br />
based on "homologous" traits.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In <strong>Charles Darwin's original tree diagram </strong><span style="color: #660000;">(1837)</span>, animals with similar structures on the same branch are said to have <strong>“homologous” traits</strong>, because they <strong>derive from the same common ancestor</strong>. <br />
<br />
<strong>But the living world is filled with traits that resemble each other on different branches.</strong><br />
<br />
What caused that? <strong>Ah</strong>, the evolutionist replies, <strong>those traits are due to “convergent evolution.” The similarities are “analogous” traits</strong>, because they do not derive from the same common ancestor. With this classification scheme, evolution explains everything: if similar animals are related, they evolved; if they are unrelated, they evolved.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Let's consider some of many recent examples in the evolutionist storytelling:</span><br />
<br />
<strong><em>Jellyfish and Birds. </em></strong>PhysOrg<sup>1</sup> wrote, “Ion selectivity in neuronal signaling channels evolved twice in animals.” Sea anemones and birds have complex channels in their cell membranes called volt- age-gated sodium channels, responsible for passing signals along nerves. <br />
<br />
<em><strong>Jellyfish and Man</strong></em>. Nature News<sup>2</sup> claims that muscles, too, evolved twice. In discussing the alleged dual origins of muscles, Andreas Hejnol said, "Jellyfish move using a set of muscles that look remarkably similar to striated muscles in vertebrates. However, new data show that the two muscle types contain different molecules, implying that they evolved independently."<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Resistance to Plant Toxins.</em></strong> Another paper in Nature<sup>3</sup> begins, “In a remarkable example of convergent evolution, insect species spanning 300 million years of divergence have evolved identical single-amino-acid substitutions that confer resistance to plant cardenolide toxins.”<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Odor Detection. </em></strong>Fruit fly maggots and humans could hardly be further apart in the evolutionary tree, but three Cambridge evolutionists found an “unpredicted degree of similarity” between their odor-detection equipment.<sup>4</sup> They said, "Our results reveal an unexpected degree of similarity between the development of the olfactory systems in vertebrates and the Drosophila larva."<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Blood Suckers.</em></strong> A paper about fleas in PLoS ONE states, “Blood feeding evolved at least ten times within arthropods, providing a scenario of convergent evolution for the solution of the salivary potion.”<sup>5</sup><br />
<br />
<strong><em>Crayfish. </em></strong>Another paper in PLoS ONE found convergent evolution in 12 subgenera of Appalachian crayfish.<sup>6</sup> "Convergent morphological evolution appears to be a common occurrence in invertebrates suggesting the need for careful phylogenetically based interpretations of morphological evolution in invertebrate systematics.:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><strong><em>The Tree Diagram isn't just a Tree Anymore.</em></strong> Darwin's original tree of life does not accommodate "convergent" evolution very well. <strong>If you really insist on drawing pictures of what evolutionists can pick and choose from, there are 5 varieties</strong>, as discussed in Evillusion's blog<sup>7</sup>:</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="color: #444444;">To make the point of this chapter very clear, and to do a bit of a review, below is a list of all of the scenarios that are available and imaginable for evolution as an explanation for the appearance, formation, and migration of organs and bio-logical systems into multiple species and groups of species. Each one is a biological and logical impossibility.... The list below includes <em>all scenarios, no matter how absurd </em>that could have brought a full inventory of organs and bio-logical systems into a common ancestor of any group of modern species. I realize that evolution would say only one of the choices actually occurred. For the sake of good science, these are <em>all </em>of the various impossibilities, no matter how absurd</span>.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3FsgeI1lalA/UN4F71HyMeI/AAAAAAAACwM/QrAVEaSVBAQ/s1600/squared-circle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="288" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3FsgeI1lalA/UN4F71HyMeI/AAAAAAAACwM/QrAVEaSVBAQ/s320/squared-circle.jpg" title="image from http://evillusion.wordpress.com/evolution-explodes-gets-hung-on-a-phylogenetic-tree/" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1. Each species fills in its own missing inventory</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KxWs4fTL-No/UN4GPiueMBI/AAAAAAAACwU/SHQb4XK_rkA/s1600/chapter-10-scenario-2-1-copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KxWs4fTL-No/UN4GPiueMBI/AAAAAAAACwU/SHQb4XK_rkA/s320/chapter-10-scenario-2-1-copy.jpg" title="image from http://evillusion.wordpress.com/evolution-explodes-gets-hung-on-a-phylogenetic-tree/" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2. Coalescing of species</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oTB4wQ0rjJ8/UN4GeRPR-cI/AAAAAAAACwc/jTqOLP6cNWg/s1600/chapter-10-isp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oTB4wQ0rjJ8/UN4GeRPR-cI/AAAAAAAACwc/jTqOLP6cNWg/s320/chapter-10-isp.jpg" title="image from http://evillusion.wordpress.com/evolution-explodes-gets-hung-on-a-phylogenetic-tree/" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3. Inter-Species Procreation</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PngqYETyEHY/UN4GrV21xYI/AAAAAAAACwk/v9broro3DNs/s1600/one-org-evolves-all.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PngqYETyEHY/UN4GrV21xYI/AAAAAAAACwk/v9broro3DNs/s320/one-org-evolves-all.jpg" title="image from http://evillusion.wordpress.com/evolution-explodes-gets-hung-on-a-phylogenetic-tree/" width="255" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4. One species evolves a full inventory</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zsU012ZMba8/UN4G6qYlMKI/AAAAAAAACws/5vugnP0wxik/s1600/pearl-clade-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zsU012ZMba8/UN4G6qYlMKI/AAAAAAAACws/5vugnP0wxik/s320/pearl-clade-2.jpg" width="242" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5. A string of species evolved a complete inventory</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<strong><em>Convergent Everything!</em></strong> The Wikipedia entry on “Convergent Evolution” ends with a statement that reveals that “convergent evolution” is an incomplete and controversial notion: <br />
<br />
<blockquote>
Simon Conway Morris counters this …, arguing that <strong>convergence is a dominant force in evolution</strong>, and that, since <strong>the same environmental and physical constraints act on all life, there is an “optimum” body plan that life will inevitably evolve toward</strong>.... Convergence is difficult to quantify, so progress on this issue may require exploitation of engineering specifications (e.g., wing aero- dynamics) and comparably rigorous measures of “very different course” in terms of phylogenetic (molecular) distances.
</blockquote>
Although the escape clause “<strong>convergent evolution</strong>” may be thought by evolutionists to be a work in progress, it <strong>remains little more than a convenient phrase </strong>for evolutionists to toss around in their papers!<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US">Subscribe</a>)</i></b></span><br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong>References</strong> (selected)</span></em><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">1. Univ. of Vienna (2012, July 26). Ion selectivity in neuronal signaling channels evolved twice in animals. <em>PhysOrg</em>. Retrieved October 11, 2012, from <a href="http://phys.org/news/2012-07-ion-neuronal-channels-evolved-animals.htm">http://phys.org/news/2012-07-ion-neuronal-channels-evolved-animals.htm</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
2. Hejnol, A. 2012. Evolutionary biology: Muscle’s dual origins. <em>Nature </em>487(7406):181–182.<br />
3. Whiteman, N.K. and K.A. Mooney. 2012. Evolutionary biology: Insects con- verge on resistance. <em>Nature </em>489(7416):376–377.<br />
<br />4. Prieto-Godino, L.L., S. Diegelmann, and M. Bate. 2012. Embryonic origin of olfactory circuitry in Drosophila: Contact and activity-mediated interactions pattern connectivity in the antennal lobe. <em>PLoS Biology </em>10(10): e100014000. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001400<br />
<br />5 Ribeiro, J.M.C., T.F.C. Assumpção, D. Ma, P.H. Alvarenga, V.M. Pham, et al. 2012. An insight into the sialotranscriptome of the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis. <em>PLoS ONE </em>7(9): e44612. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044612.<br />
<br />
6. Breinholt, J.W., M.L. Porter, K.A. Crandall. 2012. Testing phylogenetic hy- potheses of the subgenera of the freshwater crayfish genus Cambarus (De- capoda: Cambaridae). <em>PLoS ONE </em>7(9): e46105. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0046105.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #660000;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #660000;">7. </span><a href="http://evillusion.wordpress.com/evolution-explodes-gets-hung-on-a-phylogenetic-tree/"><span style="color: #660000;">http://evillusion.wordpress.com/evolution-explodes-gets-hung-on-a-phylogenetic-tree/</span></a><span style="color: #660000;">, retrieved 12/28/2012.</span></span>
Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-48151044861315586792013-01-21T20:53:00.000-05:002013-01-21T21:20:32.025-05:00Creation and Truly Good News of the GospelMy friend Dave T. asks the following question: <b>"Could you write me a brief, poignant and concise defense of a six day literal creation, and refutes other perspectives?"</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kKiCCT0qr2g/UMqHihiey9I/AAAAAAAACe8/Z_kOoFr_ZtI/s1600/mqdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="112" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kKiCCT0qr2g/UMqHihiey9I/AAAAAAAACe8/Z_kOoFr_ZtI/s200/mqdefault.jpg" title="image from http://www.youtube.com/user/SRodriguezABQ" width="200" /></a></div>
<i><b>The Argument from Science</b></i><br />
<br />
As spelled out in the article “Evidence for a Young Earth”<br />
<div>
<a href="http://www.earthage.org/youngearthev/evidence_for_a_young_earth.htm">http://www.earthage.org/youngearthev/evidence_for_a_young_earth.htm</a>, (with references given at <a href="http://www.earthage.org/youngearthev/young%20earth%20refs.htm">http://www.earthage.org/youngearthev/young%20earth%20refs.htm</a>) there are at least 22 clocks, or indicators, given to us by nature that the Earth and Universe are young. The vast majority give an age estimate of less than 10,000 years. They include clocks based on: </div>
<ul>
<li>Receding Moon</li>
<li>Oil Pressure</li>
<li>The Sun</li>
<li>The Oldest Living Thing</li>
<li>Helium in the Atmosphere</li>
<li>Short Period Comets</li>
<li>The Earth's Magnetic Field</li>
<li>C-14 Dating of Dino Bones</li>
<li>Dinosaur Blood and Ancient DNA </li>
<li>Unfossilized Dinosaur Bones</li>
<li>165 Million Year Old Ligaments</li>
<li>Axel Heiberg Island</li>
<li>Carbon-14 in Atmosphere</li>
<li>The Dead Sea</li>
<li>Niagara Falls</li>
<li>Historical Records</li>
<li>The San Andreas Fault</li>
<li>Mitochondrial Eve</li>
<li>Population Growth</li>
<li>Minerals in the Oceans</li>
<li>Rapid Mountain Uplift </li>
<li>Carbon 14 from "Old" Sources</li>
<li>Dark Matter and Spiral Galaxies</li>
<li>Helium and lead in Zircons</li>
</ul>
<div>
<i><b>The Argument from Philosophy</b></i><br />
<br />
So-called “science” that leads to Old Earth conclusions is based on completely unbiblical presuppositions. In the words of Francis A. Schaeffer <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Should-We-Then-Live/dp/0800708199/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1358821150&sr=8-1">How Should We then Live?</a></i> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Should-We-Then-Live/dp/0800708199/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1358821150&sr=8-1">1976 ed</a> p.146) “scientists … [have] pushed God more and more to the edges of their systems.… [They] moved to the idea of a completely closed system. That left no place for God. But equally it left no place for man. Man disappears, to be viewed as some form of determined or behavioristic machine. Everything is part of the cosmic machine, including people.” This is falsehood!</div>
<br />
<i><b>The Argument from the Bible</b></i><br />
<br />
The truth is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This gospel has at its foundation the truth of a Creator God, who created all things in a literal period of six days, with the corollary of a global flood in Noah’s day. <br />
<br />
Here are some great Good News verses that should only be ignored or hermeneuticized (by our theological professors) at our peril:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+5%3A12&version=ESV">Romans 5:12</a>: "Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned."</li>
<li><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2020:11&version=ESV">Exodus 20:11</a>: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (in the Fourth Commandment, written by the finger of God on a tablet of stone)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024:39&version=ESV">Matthew 24:39</a>: "And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." (direct words of Jesus)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201:31&version=ESV">Genesis 1:31</a>: "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day."</li>
</ul>
The Christian who wants to grow ever closer to Christ should aspire to these words of Paul:<br />
<br />
“I want to know Christ, and the POWER of His Resurrection, that I may share in His sufferings, and be like Him in His death” (Philippians 3:10)<br />
<br />
The power of the Resurrection to make all things new is the same power of our Creator, who originally made all things in six days, and who sent a cataclysmic judgment over all of the Earth in the flood of Noah. <br />
<br />
<b>To sum it up, if the Gospel is truly Good News, the Earth must be young!</b><br />
<br />
<i>(written by Marko Malyj)</i><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </i></b></span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Subscribe</i></b></span></a><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">)</span></span></span></i></b>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-27772689520707349112013-01-18T20:18:00.000-05:002013-01-18T20:18:47.172-05:00Five Things Evangelicals Need to Know About American MuslimsSometimes we don’t love some people because of our erroneous beliefs. Let me tell you some things about most Muslims that most Christians don’t know.<br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>1. You can’t be a good Muslim without believing in Jesus</strong>. Muslims believe in Jesus’s virgin birth—but not from the Father of God. They believe in his miracles. They believe in his perfection. They believe in his unique place. They do not believe as I do that he was God in flesh and part of the Trinity. The Muslims I know love to talk about Jesus, if you open up the conversation.<br />
<strong></strong><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-poUzbrTiSKU/UKfKEWH0III/AAAAAAAACU0/yWOBEl6sQt0/s1600/muslim-girl-american-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-poUzbrTiSKU/UKfKEWH0III/AAAAAAAACU0/yWOBEl6sQt0/s320/muslim-girl-american-cover.jpg" width="269" /></a></div>
<strong>2. Most Muslims in the US are here because they want the freedoms we have.</strong> If they wanted Islamic law and culture, they would be in Islamic nations globally. If you ask them, they’ll tell you that. Most Muslims I know would fear the US becoming an Islamic nation. Money was not the only reason or even primary reason many came.<br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>3. Most Muslims fear Islamic terrorists as much as Anglo Christians do.</strong> That’s why some are here. The majority of violence perpetrated in the name of God in the world is Muslim on Muslim. Yes, some Muslims commit terrorist acts against non-Muslims, but they by far kill their own people more than others. <br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>4. Most Muslims want a relationship with Christians and others, but they are afraid to reach out.</strong> They are the minority. It’s up to the majority to reach out and build relationships. Our church practices many ways of reaching out to others of different faiths. Many who come to America value relationship and friendship far more than Americans do. Those friendships have the potential of going very deeply for those who are not afraid.<br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>5. God has a special plan for Muslims. </strong>How can I say that? There are 1.5 billion of them in the world. He loves them. They matter to God. God always moves in the masses. You cannot ignore that many people. God created all people. He has a plan for them just as he has for other nations and peoples. I pray daily that God be glorified and Jesus exalted among all peoples and nations, Muslims included.<br />
<br />
<em>(reposted from </em>Bob Roberts<em>, <a href="http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/the-boy-who-would-not-die">Five Things Evangelicals Need to Know About American Muslims</a></em><em>, Mission Frontiers, Issue 34:6, Nov/Dec 2012)</em><br />
<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Subscribe</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">)</span></i></b></span></i>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-29425506034744278592013-01-10T19:15:00.000-05:002013-01-10T19:15:27.561-05:00Christianity to be taught in Turkish elementary schools<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jDZE6Yo7Fwc/UOYqtAS5B_I/AAAAAAAACzo/I3wE6IzbfBo/s1600/TurkishSchoolChildren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jDZE6Yo7Fwc/UOYqtAS5B_I/AAAAAAAACzo/I3wE6IzbfBo/s200/TurkishSchoolChildren.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<strong>The Turkish government </strong>has decided to include an elective course on <strong>Christianity in the nation's elementary schools. </strong><br />
<br />
Local educators will be required to provide the course <strong>if at least ten students request it</strong>. <strong>Christian leaders of various backgrounds have been asked to help prepare a text</strong>, and the work is now underway. <br />
<br />
<strong>Thank the Almighty for this</strong>, and please pray that all lessons will be accurate and uplifting in their approach and style.<br />
<br />
(from a Christian newsletter, January 2013)<br />
<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Subscribe</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">)</span></i></b></span></i>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-37690341290697450542013-01-07T19:21:00.000-05:002013-01-07T19:21:23.253-05:00How Long Is a Cubit?<strong>The cubit </strong>is one of the earliest known standards of length, used in ancient Israel and throughout the Near East. It <strong>was originally the length of one’s forearm between the tip of the middle finger and the elbow. </strong>The word cubit comes from the Latin word for elbow and the Hebrew term refers to the forearm. The term occurs more than one hundred times in the Old and New Testaments to describe structures and distances.<br />
<br />
Nations varied somewhat in defining the cubit's exact length, and both short cubits and long or <em>royal </em>cubits were common. Dual cubit values in Egypt were 17.72 and 20.67 inches, as determined from measuring sticks found in tombs. In Babylon, 20.806 inches was a common cubit length (Achtemeier, 1985).<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CfGTCEEVd4w/UNdJN-cdehI/AAAAAAAACpk/wR_NfnqwA68/s1600/SLH21-Cubit-measuring-rods.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="110" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CfGTCEEVd4w/UNdJN-cdehI/AAAAAAAACpk/wR_NfnqwA68/s320/SLH21-Cubit-measuring-rods.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cubit measuring rods such as these from the Eighteenth Dynasty tomb of Aperia would have been common tools in the quarries and at the pyramid construction site (Photo by <a href="http://emhotep.net/2010/08/04/locations/lower-egypt/giza-plateau-lower-egypt/building-the-great-pyramid-year-1-six-letters-from-hemienu/">Jon Bodsworth</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
There is a fascinating clue to the length of the cubit from the Old Testament and archaeology. Hezekiah’s famous Siloam water tunnel is referenced in 2 Kings 20:20 and 2 Chronicles 32:3–4. It was built around 700 B.C. to provide water for Jerusalem during a siege by the Assyrians under Sennacherib. This tunnel is hewn from solid rock and is a memorable hike for visitors to the old city of Jerusalem. When I walked the tunnel in 1995 by flashlight, there was a foot depth of moving water along the entire length of one-third mile, or 1,749 feet.<br />
<br />
Originally there was a carved inscription near the tunnel outlet into the Pool of Siloam within the city wall. This Siloam Inscription, now in the Archaeology Museum of Istanbul, Turkey, records the tunnel length as 1,200 cubits. Comparison with the actual length yields a cubit measure of about 17.5 inches.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qpOMs7undUM/UNdLJU2a50I/AAAAAAAACq8/995eVaik5FM/s1600/arc2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qpOMs7undUM/UNdLJU2a50I/AAAAAAAACq8/995eVaik5FM/s320/arc2.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>
<strong><span style="color: #660000;">With a 17.5-inch value for the cubit, Noah’s Ark measures an impressive 437.5 feet long, 72.92 feet wide, and 43.75 feet high</span> (300x50x30 cubits</strong>; Genesis 6:15). The Ark may well have been the largest building project in history up to that time. Also, the biblical giant Goliath was over six cubits tall (l Samuel 17:4), or nine feet. <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><em><span style="color: black;">(re-posted from Don DeYoung, How Long Is a Cubit?, published in Creation Matters, a publication of Creation Research Society, Volume 17, Number 5, September/October 2012, to appear at </span></em><a href="http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2012/CM17%2005%20low%20res.pdf"><em>http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2012/CM17%2005%20low%20res.pdf</em></a></span><span style="color: black;"><em>)</em></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US">Subscribe</a>)</i></b></span><br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Reference</span></strong></em><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Achtemeier, P.J. (ed.) 1985. <em>Harper’s Bible Dictionary</em>. Harper & Row, San Francisco.</span>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-83034703206952195682013-01-05T11:42:00.000-05:002013-01-05T11:42:13.428-05:00Aren't you afraid of me? After all, I'm a murderer!The chairs sat empty and the church quiet when a dark, disheveled figure wandered through the open door. <a href="http://richandholly.com/3.html">Rich Vallette</a>, the pastor of the church in the Dominican Republic, and a Crossworld worker, looked up to study the stranger. Despondent and bewildered, he had walked in the church's open door seeking help. <br />
<br />
"<strong>I am going to commit suicide today</strong>," he said. "<strong>I need someone to pray for me</strong>." After praying for him, Rich invited the man into his office and asked him to share his story. <br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r3TbcwRzmuo/UKwg0_Nyh1I/AAAAAAAACXk/BV-AC3oSZRo/s1600/church-photo_altered-300x153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" rea="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r3TbcwRzmuo/UKwg0_Nyh1I/AAAAAAAACXk/BV-AC3oSZRo/s1600/church-photo_altered-300x153.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The church in the Dominican Republic <br />
where this story took place.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<strong>Lucieno </strong>had made murder his living. As <strong>a hit-man</strong>, he just finished a 14-year prison term. His guilt for the bloodshed of victims and the trauma of their families pushed him into crushing despair. "<strong>Death is the only way </strong>out of my miserable state," he said. "I'm here as a last resort before taking my own life." <br />
<br />
Rich continued listening to the killer's story until Lucieno blurted out, "<strong>Aren't you afraid of me? After all, I'm a murderer!</strong>" <br />
<br />
"No, I'm not afraid," Rich answered. "<strong>You're the one that needs to be afraid. I have Jesus and you don't.</strong>" To Rich's amazement, Lucieno didn't threaten him or run away, but shouted, "<strong>That's what I need! It's Jesus!</strong>" But then Lucieno's joy at discovering the source of redemption turned to fear. "How could Jesus possibly forgive a sinful man like me who has taken people's lives and caused so much pain?" <br />
<br />
"Jesus has already paid for your sin on the cross," Rich said. "Have you heard of the apostle Paul? He was like you in many ways. He tortured and murdered Christians, but Jesus forgave him! God transformed Paul's life and gave him a new mission: bring others to experience Jesus' forgiveness as well." <br />
<br />
That was all Lucieno needed to hear. "Jesus, forgive my sins," he prayed aloud. "I don't deserve it, but would you give me a new life like Paul?" Lucieno raised his head and gave a huge smile - a brilliant expression of his <strong>new life in Christ</strong>.<br />
<br />
<em>(from Light, the <a href="http://www.crossworld.org/stories-news/">Crossworld</a> newsletter, November 2012)</em><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em>(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </em></strong></span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em>Subscribe</em></strong></span></a><strong><em><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">)</span></em></strong>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-15354700333314921072012-12-30T14:41:00.000-05:002012-12-30T14:41:14.901-05:00A Divine Appointment in a Drab Ukrainian OrphanageEvery night when seven-year-old Tanya tried to sleep, memories haunted her. Memories of wandering around in the cold and trying not to be seen by the police while begging for money. The smile on her mom's face when Tanya brought home enough money. The hostility, anger, and beatings she received when she didn't. The gut-wrenching pain she felt when one of her mother's boyfriends stabbed her with a knife and another scalded her hands in boiling water. <br />
<br />
<strong>Living in a drab, cold Ukrainian orphanage, Tanya prayed every day that God would give her a forever family. </strong>One afternoon her eyes lit up when she spotted <strong>a nice-looking young couple touring </strong>the orphanage. <strong>Tanya walked right up to them </strong>and told them she had been praying for a family. <br />
<br />
What Tanya didn't know was that <strong>God was already working in this couple's hearts</strong>, prodding them to become part of New Hope's Orphan Care ministry. That day something very special, something they believe was a divine appointment, began. And about a year later, then-eight-year-old <strong>Tanya </strong>said good-bye to the stark orphanage and <strong>became part of Vasyl and Ira Fityo's family</strong>. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HfFES8nDR4w/UNXpiDLDbhI/AAAAAAAACj8/RUU5Fj-nqjE/s1600/TanyaFromOrphanageToFamily.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eea="true" height="148" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HfFES8nDR4w/UNXpiDLDbhI/AAAAAAAACj8/RUU5Fj-nqjE/s320/TanyaFromOrphanageToFamily.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The weeks, months, and years ahead were anything but easy and smooth. It took a great deal of love, patience, prayer, and tenacity for Vasyl and Ira to help Tanya find wholeness and healing. <strong>But today, ten years later</strong>, 18-year-old Tanya's life has been imprinted and changed forever by this loving Christian family and their church community. <strong>Tanya is a happy, independent young lady who loves the Lord Jesus Christ with all of her heart. </strong><br />
<br />
Tanya's own words of appreciation: "I am very glad that you and New Hope Ukraine supported me financially and spiritually for all these years. May God bless you richly! <strong>Thank you</strong>, New Hope, for the chance in life you gave me by helping my parents find me and help me!" <br />
<br />
(from the <a href="https://newhopeinternational.org/">New Hope International</a> newsletter, December 2012)<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Subscribe</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">)</span></i></b></span></i>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-63427212731874133892012-12-27T20:11:00.000-05:002012-12-27T20:22:55.786-05:00Abiogenesis: metabolism or information? Better question: chicken or egg?<span style="color: #660000;">Abiogenesis, the idea that life arose from inorganic matter, is between a rock and a hard place. <strong>If </strong>the origin of life began with <strong>metabolism</strong>, the first life <strong>molecules </strong>were so simple they <strong>could not copy themselves</strong>. <strong>If </strong>it began with <strong>information</strong>, the first life molecules had to be <strong>so complicated that they have never been produced </strong>by reasonable chemical processes. The real answer can be found in the age-old question: "<strong>Which came first, the chicken or the egg?</strong>"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><em><span style="color: black;">(excerpts from Timothy R. Stout, Testimony of the Origins Divice, published in Creation Matters, a publication of Creation Research Society, Volume 17, Number 5, September/October 2012, to appear at </span></em><a href="http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2012/CM17%2005%20low%20res.pdf"><em>http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2012/CM17%2005%20low%20res.pdf</em></a></span><span style="color: black;"><em>)</em></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Melissa Lee Phillips published an article not too long ago in </span>BioScience magazine titled, “The Origins Divide: Reconciling Views on How Life Began” (Phillips, 2010). In it she gives a history of the understanding of <strong>abiogenesis<span style="color: #660000;">, the idea that life arose from inorganic matter. </span></strong><br />
<br />
Regarding the large macromolecules which are so critical to the functioning of living organisms, she commented,<br />
<blockquote>
All of these <strong>molecules and processes are so intertwined </strong>that it’s difficult to imagine how any of them could have arisen without the others already in place. <strong>Chicken-and-egg problems abound.</strong></blockquote>
<span style="color: #660000;">It turns out that </span>the big, fundamental divide facing <span style="color: #660000;">abiogenesis </span>researchers today is <strong>whether the origin of life was information first or metabolism first</strong>. Study has revealed <strong>serious problems with both </strong>of these situations! The molecules which are proposed to have arisen <strong>in the metabolism-first </strong>scenario are <strong>simple </strong>enough to have achieved some level of concentration in plausible prebiotic chemical processes. However, the fact that these <strong>molecules do not copy themselves </strong>is a critical shortcoming since reproducibility is a fundamental, required characteristic of life.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7xSX2NIknFo/UNdC0Fb76sI/AAAAAAAACoE/z24o6vYseTQ/s1600/TheOriginsDivideMetabolism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7xSX2NIknFo/UNdC0Fb76sI/AAAAAAAACoE/z24o6vYseTQ/s200/TheOriginsDivideMetabolism.jpg" title="image from http://melissaleephillips.fastmail.fm/TheOriginsDivide.pdf" width="135" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phillips says: "The metabolism-first model proposes that life probably arose at deep-sea hydrothermal vents, like the black smoker pictured here, when very simple molecules such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and hydrogen sulfide reacted with each other on the common iron-sulfur minerals pyrrhotite and pyrite. Photograph: OAR/National Undersea Research Program (NURP); NOAA."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
By contrast, <strong>the molecules </strong>associated with an <strong>information-first </strong>scenario <strong>are so complicated that they have never been produced by chemical processes </strong>which can be reasonably associated with prebiotic circumstances. The meager positive results occasionally observed experimentally in- variably are found to have required extensive human intervention. Indeed, Phillips quoted Jim Cleaves of the Carnegie Institute for Science who said that whenever researchers manage to synthesize an interesting molecule, “it’s such a complex and kind of contrived experiment, it’s hard to really swallow.” <br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N1WfYshhNe4/UNdDcML4uYI/AAAAAAAACoM/wU3o0NOG1Mw/s1600/TheOriginsDivideInformation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N1WfYshhNe4/UNdDcML4uYI/AAAAAAAACoM/wU3o0NOG1Mw/s320/TheOriginsDivideInformation.jpg" title="image from http://melissaleephillips.fastmail.fm/TheOriginsDivide.pdf" width="295" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phillips says: "The 'RNA world' model arose with the discovery of ribozymes—RNA molecules, such as the self-cleaving hammerhead ribozyme depicted here, that can act as catalysts. Could these self-replicating molecules have evolved from short, noncatalytic stretches of RNA, or would an autocatalytic network of chemical reactions have had to come first? The pink spheres are Mg11ions that stabilize the structure of the ribozyme. Graphic: Kalju Kahn and Esther Zhuang, University of California, Santa Barbara; created with PyMol (DeLano Scientific)."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Finally, after six pages of pointing out major problems at every level of abiogenesis, <strong>Phillips </strong>endeavored to end the article on an optimistic note by discussing the new “emergent systems” approach. <br />
<br />
In this approach, <strong>scientists “toss dozens or hundreds of chemicals together and see what happens.” </strong>John Sutherland of the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, declared, “We spent fourteen years exploring all that assembly chemistry and were largely extremely unsuccessful…” Then, using this “systems” approach, they discovered a method to make RNA nucleotides, the only successful effort by abiogenists to make nucleotides (Powner et al., 2009)<br />
<br />
<strong>However, </strong>they did not just step back and watch the synthesis happen. In order to avoid a series of problems, not the least of which was the formation of tar, <strong>they had to monitor and control the process very carefully</strong>. In another article, Benner and others simply chalk this up as another example of an experiment which is supposedly plausible for a prebiotic scenario, but which realistically requires far too much human intervention to be suit- able (Benner et al., 2012 )<br />
<br />
<strong>Sixty years of study in abiogenesis has not provided the anticipated solutions to the problem of life’s origin, but just the opposite! </strong>The abundance of “chicken-and-egg problems” implies the necessity of all of these components making a simultaneous, first appearance, in a fully-functioning interdependent form. If there were no religious implications, the evidence would be sufficient to make the case and this would be the end of the discussion.<br />
<br />
Of course, there are religious implications and this changes the entire character of the discussion. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VQ9IeTjYL4o/UNc__W6rf4I/AAAAAAAACms/ESbcUlswzHU/s1600/creationdays2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VQ9IeTjYL4o/UNc__W6rf4I/AAAAAAAACms/ESbcUlswzHU/s320/creationdays2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000;">The Bible states that the Creation of the entire cosmos (universe) took place in six days. It is clear from the context that these were literal days, not figurative. Experts have failed to build a scientifically-defensible case otherwise. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Illustration from the</span> <a href="http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-ordercreation.html">Creation Facts Screen Saver</a>. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #660000;">Marko's comment: </span><span style="color: #660000;">It seems that scientists always like to talk about “chicken-and-egg problems." <strong>Which came first, the chicken or the egg? </strong>Thinking people who also believe that there is a God who gave us the Bible - they know the answer. <strong>It's the chicken! Created on Day Five of the Creation week! </strong>How did life arise from inorganic matter? The answer is not in the primeval depths of time, it is that God Himself called living creatures into being.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US">Subscribe</a>)</i></b></span><br />
<br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">References</span></strong></em><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Benner S.A., H-J. Kim, and Z. Yang. 2012. Setting the stage: The history, chemistry, and geobiology behind RNA. <em>Cold Spring Harb. Perspect. Biol.</em> 4:a003541. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a003541</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Phillips, M.L. 2010. The origins divide: Reconciling views on how life began. <em>BioScience </em>60(9). 10.1525/bio.2010.60.9.3. Retrieved October 25, 2012, from </span><a href="http://www.deepdyve.com/lp/university-of-california-press/the-origins-divide-reconciling-views-on-how-life-began-vOMlkgH3Lk"><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.deepdyve.com/lp/university-of-california-press/the-origins-divide-reconciling-views-on-how-life-began-vOMlkgH3Lk</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Powner, M.W., B. Gerland, and & J.D. Sutherland. 2009. Synthesis of activated pyrimidine ribonucleotides in prebiotically plausible conditions. <em>Nature</em>. 459:239–242. doi: 10.1038/nature08013</span>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-34637577483388388052012-12-27T19:49:00.000-05:002012-12-27T19:49:32.576-05:00A Bottle of Vodka Costs the Same as a Loaf of Bread<strong>Alcoholism is a big problem in Romania</strong>, especially in the villages. It's quite common for families to self-produce --- and consume --- close to one hundred gallons of vodka a year. And lives that are on a path of destruction often pull others along with them. Especially in a land where a bottle of vodka costs the same as a loaf of bread. <br />
<br />
But <strong>a Christian ministry offers true hope and change</strong>. As a result of their program, many Romanians not only get released from the bondage of their addiction, but also become followers of Christ. For them, <strong>this Christmas will not be about vodka and abuse, but about freedom and hope in Christ! </strong><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E9zVwZ-IgB4/UNc2c3KwGMI/AAAAAAAAClU/xfPuAuIv29k/s1600/HLevente.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="156" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E9zVwZ-IgB4/UNc2c3KwGMI/AAAAAAAAClU/xfPuAuIv29k/s200/HLevente.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Levente Horvath. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This ministry is <strong>Good Shepherd Romania</strong>, a partner with <a href="http://www.4dministries.org/">4D Ministries</a>. Good Shepherd is led by Levente Horvath, who <strong>helps churches </strong>become "missional" --- to <strong>reach out with the love of Christ in order to see lost people redeemed and restored. </strong>Christmas to Levente is not about getting, but about passing on God's love and grace to those in need. <br />
<br />
On average, the subsidy paid by Good Shepherd is about $400 per participant. The remaining 40 percent of the cost is paid by the family or sending church, which gives them a stake in the program, often resulting in much needed prayers and follow-up programs.<br />
<br />
In the last few years <strong>over 700 people participated with a success rate of over 70 percent</strong>. That's about 500 people, both men and women, <strong>who have left their lives of alcohol</strong>. <strong>Many also became followers of Christ!</strong><br />
<br />
Levente did not look for a comfortable job when he got involved. It was clearly God's calling and empowering that made him a messenger of God's Good News to those desperate and in need. What an inspiration! <br />
<br />
<em>(from the <a href="http://www.4dministries.org/">4D Ministries</a> newsletter, December 2012. 4D means "for Deo/God")</em><br />
<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Subscribe</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">)</span></i></b></span></i>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-77354699552870845672012-12-22T11:42:00.000-05:002012-12-22T11:42:15.587-05:00Uğur never came back with the Bible<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EIWrAZ6waxA/UKlDpQ56moI/AAAAAAAACWM/oYMBgVbwALI/s1600/untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EIWrAZ6waxA/UKlDpQ56moI/AAAAAAAACWM/oYMBgVbwALI/s1600/untitled.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Uğur Yüksel</em></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
More than five years ago, a young Turkish man named Uğur shared his love of Jesus with a waitress at a café he often visited in <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=malatya+turkey&hl=en&ll=38.358888,38.320313&spn=11.502096,21.643066&sll=41.117935,-77.604698&sspn=5.528042,10.821533&t=m&hnear=Malatya,+Turkey&z=6">Malatya</a>, Turkey. He said he'd bring her a Bible the next day, and she eagerly waited for it.<br />
<br />
However, he never came.<br />
<br />
Instead, she saw his picture on the news and learned that Uğur had been brutally murdered. She was heartbroken and confused, and began a prolonged search for a Bible.<br />
<br />
This summer she learned of believers at a Christian camp an hour away, and she continued her search there. When she arrived, they shared the Gospel with her and gave her the Bible she'd sought for the past five years. The group was meeting at the very same lake where Uğur made his profession of faith and was baptized.<br />
<br />
Please pray that this dear woman will follow his godly example.<br />
<br />
<em>(from a Christian prayer letter, November 2012)</em><br />
<em></em><br />
For more info on Uğur Yüksel, see <br />
<a href="http://www.persecutionblog.com/2010/04/new-evidence-stalls-murder-trial-in-malatya-turkey.html">New Evidence Stalls Murder Trial in Malatya, Turkey</a>, April 22, 2010.<br />
<span class="content_headrblack" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_title"><a href="http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/turkey/27472">Alleged ‘Middleman’ Arrested in Malatya, Turkey Murders</a>, October 21, 2012.</span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Subscribe</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">)</span></i></b></span></i>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-12824141861839150312012-12-16T15:23:00.000-05:002012-12-16T15:23:42.749-05:00Beware Biologos attempts to improve on Scripture...Evil has nothing to do with the Curse or the Fall of man? Evil is somehow a natural outcome of evolutionary progress? God does not know the details of how history will turn out? Here is a suggestion: <strong>When Biologos </strong>or any other group <strong>attempts to improve on Scripture, be suspicious.</strong><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Selections from Don DeYoung's book review of <strong>The Language of Science and Faith, by Karl Giberson and Francis Collins.</strong></span><br />
<br />
<em><span style="color: #660000;">(These selections by Marko Malyj are of the book review published in Creation Research Society Quarterly Journal, Volume 49 Number 1, Summer 2012)</span></em><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em>(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </em></strong></span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em>Subscribe</em></strong></span></a><strong><em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">)</span></span></span></em></strong><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FKzAyDld0VM/UJ_rk--B4SI/AAAAAAAACSE/zgwJQQsSEIE/s1600/language_science_faith_350h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FKzAyDld0VM/UJ_rk--B4SI/AAAAAAAACSE/zgwJQQsSEIE/s200/language_science_faith_350h.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
Physicist Karl Giberson is on the faculty of Eastern Nazarene College, Quincy, Massachusetts, and geneticist Francis Collins directs the National Institutes of Health. Both <strong>authors </strong>are in leadership of <strong>the Biologos Foundation, which strongly promotes theistic evolution. </strong><br />
<br />
One of the questions that the authors address is "What about about evil in nature? [It] has no simple answer; alas it also has no complex answer” (p. 128). <strong>The authors state that evil has nothing to do with the Genesis 3 Curse or the Fall of man. </strong>Instead, Biologos concludes that <strong>evil is somehow a natural outcome of evolutionary progress</strong> (p. 132). <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Furthermore, <strong>they believe </strong></span><strong>that God does not know the details of how history will turn out. </strong>“God has endowed nature with a degree of freedom … with and inherent liberty … it explores its own inherent potential through its evolving process” (p. 116). <br />
<br />
It is further stated that a literal Adam and Eve are ruled out by genomics (p. 206). The studies conclude that there is too much genetic variation in humanity for an origin in just two people. Instead, there must have been at least 10,000 prehuman creatures to get us where we are today. The apostle Paul must not have gotten this memo, since he refers to Adam and Eve in Romans 5:12. The Lord makes similar reference in Matthew 19:4. <br />
<br />
<strong>Here is a suggestion: When Biologos or any other group attempts to improve on Scripture, be suspicious.
</strong><br />
<br />
<em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Language-Science-Faith-Questions/dp/0830838295/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352657691&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Language+of+Science+and+Faith+by+Karl+Giberson+and+Francis+Collins">The Language of Science and Faith</a> </em>by Karl Giberson and Francis Collins
<br />
IVP Books, Downers Grove, IL, 2011, 250 pages, $20.00.
Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-63858967721221775922012-12-06T19:17:00.000-05:002012-12-06T19:17:04.859-05:00Is the Romance of Radiometric Dating Getting Old?<span style="color: #660000;"><strong>Radiometric dating is <span style="color: #660000;">still a faulty argument </span>against biblical history. </strong>Naturalistic geologists often <strong>“cherry-pick” dates </strong>they deem appropriate to their particular studies. <strong>Carbon-14 </strong>has been found in coal and diamond samples <strong>supposedly be billions of years old</strong>, even though the half-life of <sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">14</span></sup>C is only 5730 years. The creationist RATE group's theory that there have been periods of <strong>accelerated nuclear decay </strong>in the past <strong>runs into the problem of rapid volume cooling</strong>. Woodmorappe's statistical noise theory that <strong>radiometric dating is inherently unreliable </strong>may indeed be vindicated.<br /><br />The inherent inconsistency of secular results <strong>strengthens the argument for a young earth</strong>, as the Bible describes in a most straightforward way!<br /> </span><span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Selections from <a href="http://www.creationresearch.org/crsq/abstracts/Abstracts49-1.htm"><strong>RATE Study: Questions Regarding Accelerated Nuclear Decay and Radiometric Dating</strong></a><strong>, by Carl R. Frode Jr. and A. Jerry Akridge.</strong></span><br />
<em><span style="color: #660000;"></span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #660000;">(These selections by Marko Malyj are of the article published in Creation Research Society Quarterly Journal, Volume 49 Number 1, Summer 2012)</span></em><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em>(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </em></strong></span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em>Subscribe</em></strong></span></a><strong><em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">)</span></span></span></em></strong><br />
<br />
<em><strong><u>Introduction</u></strong></em><br />
<br />
Radiometric dating remains a popular, <span style="color: #660000;">but still faulty, </span>argument against biblical history. <br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #660000;"><strong>Radiometric dating utilizes the decay rates of certain radioactive atoms to date rocks </strong>or artifacts. Uniformitarian geologists consider this form of dating strong evidence that the Earth is billions of years old. Many atoms (or elements) exist as numerous varieties called isotopes, some of which are radioactive, meaning they decay over time by losing particles. Radiometric dating is based on the decay rate of these isotopes into stable nonradioactive isotopes. To date an object, scientists measure the quantity of parent and daughter isotope in a sample, and use the atomic decay rate to determine its possible age. (Creationwiki, 2012)</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #660000;">But research by creationists has revealed a large number of problems with radiometric dating. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">For instance, </span><strong>Naturalistic geologists often “cherry-pick” dates they deem appropriate </strong>to their particular studies, and if results do not agree with expected dates, the “error” is attributed to any number of possible problems (Froede, 2010). <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Yet another challenge for the interpretation of nuclear decay findings is </span>documentation of detectible <strong>Carbon-14 in coal and diamond samples purported to be billions of years old</strong>, <span style="color: #660000;">even though <strong>the half-life of <sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">14</span></sup>C is only 5730 years</strong>.</span><br />
<br />
<em><strong><u>Radiometric Age-Dating in Creation Science— A Brief History</u></strong></em><br />
<br />
Beginning with the publication of <em>The Genesis Flood</em> (Whitcomb and Morris, 1961), radiometric age-dating was deemed incompatible with biblical history. Over the years, many young-earth creationists have documented the <strong>problems and unbiblical assumptions of various dating methods</strong> (Acrey, 1965; Armstrong, 1966; Clementson, 1970; Cook, 1968; Lammerts, 1964; Whitelaw 1968, 1969a, 1969b; Woodmorappe, 1979, 1999). <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">However, many </span>young-earth creationists have suggested that radiometric dating can be accepted with one or more episodes of accelerated nuclear decay having occurred during Earth’s past. <br />
<br />
In 1968, <strong>Gentry proposed a bold idea based on </strong>his work on <strong>radioactively damaged zircons</strong>. He stated, “While there might be other alternatives, one possible explanation of these ‘fractures’ or ‘blasting’ halos is that <em><strong>the rate of radioactive decay was at one time greater than that observed today</strong></em>” (Gentry, 1968, p. 85; italics added). <br />
<br />
But no one could offer a mechanism for decay acceleration. <br />
<br />
Chaffin (2000) proposed that a variation in the fifth dimension of our universe early in the Creation Week might have led to accelerated nuclear decay. <br />
<br />
<em><strong><u>RATE Project</u></strong></em><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9j8bZx2rd80/UJxQrEHbXFI/AAAAAAAACPM/-fzBvyNlEzc/s1600/Dating_combo_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9j8bZx2rd80/UJxQrEHbXFI/AAAAAAAACPM/-fzBvyNlEzc/s320/Dating_combo_small.jpg" width="280" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The radioisotope age dating book <br />
and DVD set by the RATE <br />
group can be purchased <a href="http://store.nwcreation.net/agedatingcombo.html">here</a>. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As a joint project between the Institute for Creation Research and the Creation Research Society, <strong>the RATE group </strong>convened in 1997 to discuss issues with radiometric dating within the framework of a young earth (Vardiman, 2000). <br />
<br />
Research seemed predicated on the belief that <br />
<blockquote>
at some time <strong>in the past much higher rates of radioisotope decay may have occurred</strong>, leading to the production of large quantities of daughter products in a short period of time. It has been suggested that these increased decay rates may have been part of the rock-forming process on the early earth and/or one of the results of God’s judgment upon man following the Creation, that is, the Curse or during the Flood (Vardiman, 2000, p. 4).</blockquote>
The results of the eight-year study were published in 2005 (Vardiman et al, 2005), and the RATE scientists determined that "<strong>accelerated nuclear decay </strong>was the most promising explanation for the large amount of daughter products." (Vardiman, 2005, p. 7). <br />
<br />
<em><strong><u>Problem of Massive Heat Generation </u></strong></em><br />
<br />
Any episode of rapid nuclear decay <strong>should result in the release of large amounts of heat </strong>(Humphreys, 2005; Snelling, 2005; Vardiman, 2005). This heat would profoundly affect the planet, whether it happened during the Creation Week, following the Curse, or during the Flood. Humphreys (2005, pp. 68-70) stated <br />
<blockquote>
<strong>rapid cooling occurred </strong>.... most of the cooling could not be by the normal processes of conduction, convection, or radiation. Instead, the process would have to cool the entire volume of material simultaneously (“volume” cooling) and abnormally fast. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
In my feasibility study, I pointed out a little-known and less-understood phenomenon in standard General Relativity theory that seems quite relevant. The mechanism causes photons and moving material particles in an expanding cosmos to lose energy. The equations clearly show the loss of energy but where and how the energy goes is less clear…. This mechanism offers good potential for removing heat on a large scale. </blockquote>
<strong>But </strong>if <strong>volume cooling </strong>cannot be empirically demonstrated, then it <strong>remains speculation</strong>.<br />
<br />
<u><em><strong>Variability in the Rates of Nuclear Decay: </strong></em><em><strong>K-Ar, Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, and Pb-Pb Isochron Discordance</strong></em></u><br />
<br />
In his analysis of the parent/daughter radioisotopes for the Beartooth amphibolite (Wyoming) and the Bass Rapids diabase sill (Grand Canyon, Arizona), Austin determined that changing decay rates created discordances in the K-Ar, Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, and Pb-Pb radioisotope age-dates. He noted, <br />
<blockquote>
Furthermore, our data are consistent with the possibilities that, at some time or times in the past, decay of the α-emitters (<sup>238</sup>U, <sup>235</sup>U, and <sup>147</sup>Sm) was accelerated more than decay of the β-emitters (<sup>87</sup>Rb and <sup>40</sup>K). (Austin, 2005, p. 386)</blockquote>
Snelling and others reached this same conclusion in their investigation of the Bass Rapids diabase sill (Snelling et al, 2003, p. 283).<br />
<br />
Both projects concluded that there was decay-dependent variability in the rate of nuclear decay that should show <strong>consistent differences between <em>different </em>radiometric dating methods</strong>, <strong>yet some level of consistency in the <em>same </em>method</strong>.<br />
<br />
What radiometric age- dates would indicate Creation Week rocks, post-Curse antediluvian rocks, or Flood rocks and sediments? (Figure 1) If the results (using accelerated decay) are to be useful, the ability to link rocks/sediments to biblical history is essential. This also <strong>raises the question of a quantifiable conversion factor for each radiometric method</strong>; such numerical factors would be invaluable for creationist analyses of radiometric age-dates (Figure 2). <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MlOKXA2Fofg/UJhf8YHIwnI/AAAAAAAACLM/XZRfK6Dqr7Y/s1600/figure1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MlOKXA2Fofg/UJhf8YHIwnI/AAAAAAAACLM/XZRfK6Dqr7Y/s400/figure1.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 1. This diagram shows a biblical geologic timescale with three shaded boxes corresponding to the <strong>three periods of time when accelerated radiometric decay purportedly occurred</strong>. The darker the box, the greater the level of accelerated radiometric decay based on the findings of the RATE project team. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SVpy3DgSS2s/UJhf8rpoSBI/AAAAAAAACLQ/XzBvv-H989M/s1600/figure2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="277" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SVpy3DgSS2s/UJhf8rpoSBI/AAAAAAAACLQ/XzBvv-H989M/s320/figure2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 2. This diagram presents <strong>a hypothetical mathematical formula necessary to convert naturalistic radiometric dates to accelerated and acceptable values </strong>in the Creation/Flood geologic framework of earth history. Missing are the conversion factors for each of the secular radiometric age-dating methods. These factors will need to be provided in order to demonstrate that accelerated nuclear decay occurred within the anticipated time frame of the biblical record (see Figure 1). </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<em><strong><u>Inconsistency between Carbon 14 and Long-Lived Nuclides</u></strong></em><br />
<br />
Baumgardner (2005) presented an interesting study on detectable carbon 14 (<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">14</span></sup>C) in various “old” coal deposits and diamonds.<br />
<blockquote>
... during the Flood might have affected a offer the tentative hypothesis that, This amount of decay represents short half-life isotope like <sup>14</sup>C.... perhaps only a modest amount of accelerated <sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">14</span></sup>C decay took place during the cataclysm itself.... whatever the physics was describing the decay acceleration, it did not operate in so simple a manner as to reduce temporarily the effective half-lives of all radioisotopes by the same factor. (Baumgardner, 2005, p. 620)</blockquote>
At present, it is not clear <strong>how accelerated nuclear decay could have occurred at very high rates </strong>for the K-Ar, Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, and Pb-Pb systems <strong>but at very low rates for </strong>short-lived isotopes such as <strong><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">14</span></sup>C</strong>.<br />
<br />
<em><strong><u>Certainty and the RATE Results</u></strong></em><br />
<br />
It is useful that some of the results of the RATE research appear to be critiques of radiometric dating from both theoretical and experimental perspectives (Snelling et al, 2003; Snelling, 2004). <br />
<br />
Unfortunately, the same circularity that afflicts modern secular stratigraphers seems likely to also plague creationists that take this route. Quantifying accelerated decay for each dating method would go a long way to ward reducing those uncertainties.<br />
<br />
<em><strong><u>Discussion and Conclusions</u></strong></em><br />
<blockquote>
The RATE group considered the possibility that a substantial amount of decay might have occurred during the Judgment in the Garden of Eden, but then it was concluded that the implied levels of radiation and heating would have been so highly destructive to biology at that point in earth history as to render this possibility unlikely (Vardiman et al, 2005, p. 737).</blockquote>
<strong><span style="color: #660000;">Unfortunately,</span><span style="color: #660000;"> there is an</span></strong><span style="color: black;"><strong> inherent problem of knowing the relative ages of rocks in the first place. </strong>Some creationists resolve this problem by accepting a compressed version of the standard geologic timescale, although one reason for doing so is the presumption of accelerated radiometric dating (Dickens and Snelling, 2008a, 2008b). However, Reed (2008a, 2008b, 2008c, 2008d) and others (Froede, 2008; Reed and Oard, 2008) have questioned this approach.</span><br />
<br />
There is a demonstrated lack of accuracy and precision of radiometric results, and their inconsistency with other field evidence. Some of these studies showed results that were definitively wrong (Austin, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000; Snelling, 1995, 1999a, 1999b, 2000a, 2000b). <br />
<br />
<strong>The statistical noise theory </strong>was <strong>a competing model proposed by Woodmorappe </strong>(1999). He asserted <strong>that radiometric dating is inherently unreliable </strong>and that secular scientists select desired results from a reservoir of inconsistent results, based on their needs at the time. It would require researchers to find a quantitative basis for eliciting consistency from apparently inconsistent results. This might provide the basis for conversion factors or equations that would ultimately allow the theory to become useful in field studies. If they cannot, then the skepticism of Woodmorappe (1999) and the earlier creationists who wrote against radiometric age-dating might be vindicated. <br />
<br />
But even then, a good result will have been achieved. <strong>If creationists can demonstrate the inherent inconsistency of secular results, the argument for a young earth is greatly strengthened. </strong>This would force acknowledgment that chronology must ultimately rest on the divinely inspired historical documents provided in the Bible. Similarly, the demonstration of the unreliability of radiometric dating would reinforce the inherent weakness of the geological timescale (Reed, 2008c).<br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong><u>References</u> </strong>(selected)</span></em><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Acrey, D.O. 1965. Problems in absolute age determination. <em>CRSQ </em>1:7–9. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Armstrong. H.L. 1966. An attempt to correct for the effects of the Flood in determining dates by radioactive carbon. <em>CRSQ </em>2:28–30 and <em>CRSQ </em>3:4.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Austin, S.A. 1988. Grand Canyon lava flows: a survey of isotope dating methods. <em>Impact </em>No. 178. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Austin, S.A. 1992. Excessively old “ages” for Grand Canyon lava flows. <em>Impact </em>No. 224. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Austin, S.A. 1994. Are Grand Canyon rocks one billion years old? In Austin, S.A. (editor), <em>Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe</em>, pp. 111–131. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Austin, S.A. 1996. Excess argon within mineral concentrates from the new dacite lava dome at Mount St. Helens volcano. <em>CenTJ</em> 10(3):335–343. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Austin, S.A. 2000. Dubious radiogenic Pb behavior places U-Th-Pb mineral dating in doubt. <em>Impact </em>No. 319, Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Austin, S.A. 2005. Do radioisotope clocks isochron need repair? Testing the assumptions of isochron dating using K-Ar, Rb-Sr, Sm- Nd, and Pb-Pb isotopes. In Vardiman, L., A.A. Snelling, and E.F. Chaffin (editors), <em>Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative</em>, pp. 325–392. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA, and Creation Research Society, Chino Valley, AZ. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Baumgardner, J.R. 2005. 14C evidence for a recent global Flood and a young Earth. In Vardiman, L., A.A. Snelling, and E.F. Chaffin (editors), <em>Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: Results of a Young- Earth Creationist Research Initiative</em>, pp. 587–630. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA, and Creation Research Society, Chino Valley, AZ</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Chaffin, E.F. 2000. A mechanism for accelerated radioactive decay. <em>CRSQ </em>37:3–9. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Clementson, S.L. 1970. A critical examination of radiocarbon dating of rocks. <em>CRSQ</em> 7:137–41.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Cook, M.A. 1968. Radiological dating and some pertinent applications: do radiological clocks need repair? <em>CRSQ </em>5:69–77. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Creationwiki 2012. Radiometric dating. </span><a href="http://creationwiki.org/Radiometric_dating"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://creationwiki.org/Radiometric_dating</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">, accessed 11/8/2012.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Dickens, H., and A.A. Snelling. 2008a. Precambrian geology and the Bible: a harmony. <em>JoC </em>22(1):65–72. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Froede, C.R., Jr. 2008. Harmony between the Bible and Precambrian geology—too fa vourable to naturalism. <em>JoC </em>22(3):40–41. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Froede, C.R., Jr. 2010. Radiometric cherry-picking. <em>Creation Matters</em> 15(6):1–4.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Gentry, R.V. 1968. On the invariance of the decay constant over geologic time. <em>CRSQ </em>5:83–5.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Humphreys, D.R. 2005. Young helium diffusion age of zircons supports accelerated nuclear decay. In Vardiman, L., A.A. Snelling, and E.F. Chaffin (editors), <em>Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative</em>, pp. 25–100. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA, and Creation Research Society, Chino Valley, AZ. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Lammerts, W.E. 1964. Discoveries since 1859 which invalidate the evolution theory. <em>CRSQ </em>1(1):47–55.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Reed, J.K. 2008a. Toppling the timescale part I: evaluating the terrain. <em>CRSQ </em>44:174–178. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Reed, J.K. 2008b. Toppling the timescale part II: unearthing the cornerstone. <em>CRSQ </em>44:256–263.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Reed, J.K. 2008c. Toppling the timescale part III: madness in the methods. <em>CRSQ </em>45:6–17. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Reed, J.K. 2008d. Toppling the timescale part IV: assaying the golden (FeS2) spikes. <em>CRSQ </em>45:81–89. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Reed, J.K., and M.J. Oard. 2008. Precambrian dissonance. <em>JoC </em>22(3):42–44. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Snelling, A.A. 1995. The failure of U-Th-Pb “Dating” at Koongarra, Australia. <em>CenTJ </em>9(1):71–92. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Snelling, A.A. 1999a. “Excess argon”: The “Achillies’ Heel” of potassium-argon and argon-argon “dating” of volcanic rocks. <em>Impact </em>No. 307. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Snelling, A.A. 1999b. Potassium-argon and argon-argon dating of crustal rocks and the problems of excess argon. <em>Impact </em>No. 309. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Snelling, A.A. 2000a. Dubious radiogenic Pb behavior places U-Th-Pb mineral dating in doubt. <em>Impact </em>No. 319. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Snelling, A.A. 2000b. Conflicting “ages” of Tertiary basalt and contained fossilized wood, Crinum, central Queensland, Australia. <em>CenTJ </em>14(2):99–122. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Snelling, A.A., S.A. Austin, and W.A. Hoesch. 2003. Radioisotopes in the diabase sill (upper Precambrian) at Bass Rapids, Grand Canyon, Arizona: an application and test of the isochron dating method. In Ivey, R.L. (editor), <em>Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Creationism</em>, pp. 269–284. Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, PA. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Snelling, A.A. 2004. Radioisotope dating of Grand Canyon rocks: Another devastat ing failure for long-age geology. <em>Impact </em>No. 376. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Snelling, A.A. 2005. Radiohalos in granites: evidence for accelerated nuclear decay. In Vardiman, L., A.A. Snelling, and E.F. Chaffin (editors), <em>Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative</em>, pp. 101–207. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA, and Creation Research Society, Chino Valley, AZ. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Vardiman, L., A.A. Snelling, and E.F. Chaffin (editors). 2000. <em>Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: A Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative</em>. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA, and Creation Research Society, St. Joseph, MO. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Vardiman, L., A.A. Snelling, and E.F. Chaffin (editors). 2005. <em>Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative</em>, Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA, and Creation Research Society, Chino Valley, AZ.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Whitcomb, J.C., and H.M. Morris. 1961. The Genesis Flood. Presbyterian and Re formed Publishing Co., Phillipsburg, NJ.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Whitelaw, R.L. 1968. Radiocarbon confirms biblical creation (and so does potassium-argon). <em>CRSQ </em>5:78–83.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Whitelaw, R.L. 1969a. Radiocarbon and potassium-argon dating in the light of discoveries in cosmic rays. <em>CRSQ </em>6:71–73. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Whitelaw, R.L. 1969b. A reply. <em>CRSQ </em>6:114.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Woodmorappe, J. 1979. Radiometric geo chronology reappraised. <em>CRSQ </em>16:102– 129, 147, i. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Woodmorappe, J. 1999. <em>The Mythology of Modern Dating Methods</em>. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA. </span>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-3767342895664504222012-11-30T19:45:00.000-05:002012-11-30T19:45:24.004-05:00A Little Child Reaches out to Algerian Drug Dealers in FranceDaniel Rhys has spent the last 18 years building an e-Learning business of which he is a managing partner. In 2006, he created Christ-based online abstinence training to address the HIV epidemic in Africa. In 2011, Daniel moved his family to France for three months to share Christ with the Muslim population. <br />
<br />
He received a call from an old friend and spiritual mentor. He told me he’d joined forces with Greater Europe Mission to reach the growing numbers of Muslims in Europe with the gospel. The friend finished the conversation by saying, “And I want you to bring your family to France next summer for ten weeks to work with Muslims in our pilot city.” <br />
<br />
Daniel tells what happened...<br />
<br />
"The next summer found our little family in <strong>a city in northern France</strong>. We quickly encountered places that frankly scared us! Our children, Virginia, seven, and Samuel, six, not only got to see us cry out to God, they also participated with us.<br />
<br />
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"The Lord led us to a small park <strong>where Algerian immigrants hung out</strong>. They gathered in small or large groups, many of them selling drugs to earn money. We visited the park regularly and I tried everything I could think of to break through the barriers and connect with these men. After three completely unsuccessful weeks, I turned my eyes heavenward and told God I was out of ideas. I said I’d come to the park every day and pray for these men, but if he wanted anything else to happen, he was going to have to do it. God in his goodness and grace seemed to say, “Ok. Now that you understand our roles, let’s get started.”<br />
<br />
"<strong>Five minutes later a police van </strong>careened up the center sidewalk of the park. It <strong>screeched to a halt and gun-wielding officers poured out</strong>. As if a bomb had dropped on the park, <strong>drug dealers began running in every direction</strong>. Confused and surprised, I looked around and noticed that the groups were now gone, leaving lone individuals in a few places. <strong>Wow, I had just finished asking God to do this! He opened the door for us </strong>and now our job was to step through.<br />
<br />
"I walked over and sat next to a man. He couldn’t speak English, but I soon learned his name was Habib. He came through Spain on his way to France and spoke Spanish. <br />
<br />
Hearing “Spanish,” <strong>my son ran over and preceded to go through every Spanish word he had learned in kindergarten </strong>the year before. As Samuel spoke, I could see Habib’s eyes soften and grow warmer.<br />
<br />
"When we arrived the next day, I saw Habib standing in his normal group and gave him a smile and a nod. Suddenly, Samuel broke from our group and made a beeline for Habib with arms stretched out wide. <strong>Habib bent down and received a hug that seemed to melt his heart</strong>. We were now “in.” Habib introduced us to his friend Karim. Karim spoke a fair amount of English and listened to my testimony. He wanted to understand more so <strong>he took me to Mohammed</strong>, who owned a small snack shop on the edge of the park. Mohammed spoke perfect English and we were soon spending hours together talking about Jesus.<br />
<br />
"I didn’t know it at the time, but <strong>every drug dealer in the park would come into Mohammed’s snack shop </strong>to get drinks during the day. <strong>Before long we knew everyone in the park</strong>. And by the time we left France, we couldn’t walk through the park without men coming to us to talk and asking us for prayer.<br />
<br />
"God grew our faith in ways I couldn’t have guessed. He also showed us that <strong>our children </strong>were not just along to learn. They were there to be <strong>used by God to open doors and build bridges to the hearts of many</strong>. Their faith began to blossom as Jesus went from an academic pursuit to being the living creator of the universe who heard them when they prayed and then answered their prayers in so many ways."<br />
<br />
<em>(selections from Daniel Rhys,
<a href="http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/and-a-little-child-shall-lead-them">And a Little Child Shall Lead Them, One Family's Journey on Mission in Europe</a>, Mission Frontiers, Issue 34:6, Nov/Dec 2012)</em><br />
<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Subscribe</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">)</span></i></b></span></i>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-43184129859017526722012-11-25T15:53:00.002-05:002012-11-25T15:53:55.590-05:00Untold secrets of Planet Earth: Dire Dragons, by Vance Nelson<strong>Did dinosaurs and people live together?</strong> According to creationist researcher Vance Nelson, this was indeed the case. <i>Dire Dragons</i> presents much never-before-published evidence.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Selections from Andrew V. Ste. Marie's book review of <strong>Untold Secrets of Planet Earth: Dire Dragons, by Vance Nelson.</strong></span><br />
<br />
<em><span style="color: #660000;">(These selections by Marko Malyj are of the book review published in Creation Research Society Quarterly Journal, Volume 49 Number 1, Summer 2012)</span></em><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em>(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </em></strong></span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em>Subscribe</em></strong></span></a><strong><em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">)</span></span></span></em></strong><br />
<br />
<strong>Carbon-14 dating of dinosaur bones and soft tissue finds both indicate that dinosaurs lived recently. </strong>Nelson critiques the idea that ancient men could have excavated or observed fossils and accurately reconstructed dinosaurs from them. He shows photographs of <strong>ancient depictions of dinosaurs and pterosaurs from five different continents</strong>. He also shows similarities between ancient and modern depictions of what appear to be the same animal. A wide array of creatures are shown in ancient art, including pterosaurs, mastodons, hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, sauropodomorphs, theropods, nothosaurs, and pachycephalosaurs.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ew2jd1nGpEU/UJ_g3JzJlVI/AAAAAAAACQs/1oG_xpXHNk0/s1600/petroglyph-tn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ew2jd1nGpEU/UJ_g3JzJlVI/AAAAAAAACQs/1oG_xpXHNk0/s1600/petroglyph-tn.jpg" title="image from http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2011/03/18/feedback-senter-and-cole" /></a></div>
The <a href="http://www.untoldsecretsofplanetearth.com/blog/kachina-bridge-dinosaur-refuted.html">Kachina Bridge sauropod petroglyph</a>, for example, is already <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2011/03/18/feedback-senter-and-cole">known among creationists</a>. But Nelson shows new evidence never before published in creationist literature. Examples include a Peruvian vessel with an apparent Protoceratopslike animal, a “salamander” emblem similar to a prosauropod, an apparent young hadrosaur on a sixteenth-century tapestry, and some very compelling ceratopsian depictions from China. Several depictions of the story of St. George and the dragon are also included, showing creatures similar to theropods and nothosaurs (pp. 71, 101, 121). <br />
<br />
Many representations, although quite convincing, show slight inaccuracies, such as a wrong number of toes or fingers. However, modern artists have only bones to work with, and thus we do not know the details of soft tissue that the ancients may have had knowledge of, accounting for more differences. an ancient eyewitness to a living dinosaur may have only seen one a few times, perhaps while it was moving, obstructed, or at a distance.<br />
<br />
<i>Dire Dragons </i>is an excellent book with much new, verified information that should be of great usefulness to creationists. In addition to being scientific, it is a beautiful work of art, a coffee-table type book with excellent graphics and beautiful dinosaur reconstructions. The book concludes with a gospel presentation. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.untoldsecretsofplanetearth.com/store/">Untold Secrets of Planet Earth</a>, by Vance Wilson<br />
Untold Secrets of Planet Earth Publishing Company<br />
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, 2011, 137 pages, $30.00.Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-79049417862048229012012-11-17T10:37:00.001-05:002012-11-17T10:37:33.682-05:00I demand my right to complete my prison sentence<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<strong>To Dinh Trung was arrested more than 25 times</strong> for preaching the gospel in rural <strong>Vietnam</strong>. During his 24th imprisonment, in 1991, he was deprived of food for 12 days, "In prison, I worshiped the Lord a lot, praying and singing in a room by myself," Trung said. "My room was the prison toilet." After 12 days, village authorities dragged Trung before a people's court. "I became bold and grabbed the microphone," he said. "I said, 'For the Lord's sake, because of his name, I am willing to die: The police grabbed the microphone back, exclaiming, 'Once again. you want to preach the gospel.'" <br />
<br />
The next time Trung was arrested, he spent three years in prison. VOM helped his wife and three children, and VOM supporters were invited to send him letters of encouragement. While in Quang Ngai prison, <strong>Trung helped lead many prisoners to Christ.</strong> <br />
<br />
One day, prison officials offered to release Trung early, but Trung surprised them by replying, "<strong>I demand my right to complete my prison sentence</strong>,"' He wanted to spend more time leading prisoners to Christ and teaching new converts. <br />
<br />
Trung completed his time in prison and immediately returned to ministry. Since 1999, Trung has trained 20 believers to become evangelists. Police still harass him, interrupting his church services and detaining him for questioning. Although <strong>his church is sometimes filled with more police than Christians</strong>, Trung relishes the opportunity to <strong>teach them the gospel, too</strong>. <br />
<br />
<em>(from <span id="goog_1409952671"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Voice of the Martyrs<span id="goog_1409952672"></span></a> newsletter, September 2012)</em><br />
<em></em><br />
Also see Stacy L. Harp, <a href="http://www.persecutionblog.com/2012/09/christian-prisoner-refuses-early-release-opportunity-from-prison.html">Christian Prisoner Refuses Early Release Opportunity from Prison</a>, September 24, 2012, <a href="http://persecutionblog.com/">PersecutionBlog.com</a>.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Subscribe</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">)</span></i></b></span></i>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-27063559093471972392012-11-10T12:05:00.000-05:002012-11-10T12:46:42.631-05:00Another Lunar Formation Theory is in Trouble<span style="color: #660000;">For the past 200 years, scientists have been working hard to come up with an explanation for the Moon's formation that does not involve the direct work of a Creator. The fourth hypothesis in that <strong>the Moon was formed by the impact upon Earth of a body the size of Mars</strong>. Early this year it was <strong>proved to be wrong by new evidence</strong>. A fifth hypothesis has quickly taken its place! When will they realize that <strong>the God hypothesis is the only fully reasonable explanation</strong>?</span><br />
<br />
<em>(<span style="color: #660000;">Based </span>on Ron Samec, "Lunar Formation Theories" published in Creation Matters, a publication of Creation Research Society, Volume 17, Number 4, July/August 2012, to appear at </em><a href="http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2012/CM17%2004%20for%20web.pdf"><span style="color: #660000;"></span><em>http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2012/CM17%200<span style="color: black;">4</span>%20for%20web.pdf</em></a><a href="http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2012/CM17%2003%20for%20web.pdf)"></a><em>)</em><br />
<br />
<em><strong><span style="color: #660000;">Theory One. </span><span style="color: black;">Fission Hypothesis.</span></strong></em><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">George Darwin was the fifth child of Charles Darwin, who wrote <em>On the Origin of Species</em>, the sacred book of evolution. George, who became a professor of astronomy, followed in his father's footsteps by calling into question the Biblical account of the formation of the Earth and the Moon. In 1898, he published <em>The Tides and Kindred Phenomena in the Solar System</em>, in which he discussed the effects of tidal friction on the Earth–Moon system.<sup>1</sup> </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AZLeP_zNzKE/UHN0FUxhPfI/AAAAAAAAB6s/A3z63Sdkhpw/s1600/tumblr_ma9bnkUmSv1rd81evo1_r1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="162" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AZLeP_zNzKE/UHN0FUxhPfI/AAAAAAAAB6s/A3z63Sdkhpw/s200/tumblr_ma9bnkUmSv1rd81evo1_r1_1280.jpg" title="image from http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Moon+tore+from+the+Pacific+Ocean+Basin&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=673&tbm=isch&tbnid=FXt62xD-IzZdaM:&imgrefurl=http://ecstaticeclectic.tumblr.com/&docid=dmH8kTAMaCLT3M&imgurl=http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma9bnkUmSv1rd81evo1_r1_1280.jpg&w=775&h=632&ei=j3RzUJ6AFuSs0AH_1IGoDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=178&vpy=185&dur=4089&hovh=203&hovw=249&tx=211&ty=225&sig=113364141852334426747&page=1&tbnh=137&tbnw=168&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:72" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Fission Hypothesis</em></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #660000;">In this </span>fission hypothesis, George Darwin claimed that the early Earth rotated faster and faster, as more dense elements sunk to its core. When the earth exceeded breakup velocity, the material that would become <strong>the Moon tore from the Pacific Ocean Basin</strong>, leaving a scar (Ridges). <br />
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The problem with this is that the initial spin or angular momentum is not conserved in the present Earth-Moon system (50% loss).<br />
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Also, the orbit of the moon and the obliquity of the ecliptic (likewise the inclination of the earth) should coincide, and they do not. The Earth’s inclination is about 23.5<sup>o</sup> to the orbital plane (the ecliptic) and the Moon’s orbit is inclined by some 5<sup>o</sup>. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Fr71e_xES8/UHN06rNWDII/AAAAAAAAB60/zr2Yg7ZVmUY/s1600/Earth-Moon-Dynamic3-600x408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="217" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Fr71e_xES8/UHN06rNWDII/AAAAAAAAB60/zr2Yg7ZVmUY/s320/Earth-Moon-Dynamic3-600x408.jpg" title="image from http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2009/07/21/the-best-eclipse-of-the-centur/" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #660000;">The plane of the Moon's orbit does not match the plane of the Earth's rotation.</span></em></td></tr>
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<em><strong><span style="color: #660000;"></span></strong></em><br />
<em><strong><span style="color: #660000;">Theory Two. </span><span style="color: black;">Condensation Hypothesis.</span></strong></em><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G2JhXl5g1YI/UHN2lQrqRvI/AAAAAAAAB68/2hspTf8TayY/s1600/solar_system_formation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G2JhXl5g1YI/UHN2lQrqRvI/AAAAAAAAB68/2hspTf8TayY/s200/solar_system_formation.jpg" title="image from http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/lecture-5/lecture-5.html" width="174" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #660000;">The Solar System supposedly <br />formed from a spinning ball <br />of gas. But then why is the <br />motion of the Moon and <br />Earth on different planes?</span></em></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #660000;">The fact that the plane of the Moon's orbit does not match the plane of the Earth's rotation also defeated the second Lunar formation theory that became very popular among scientists, namely the Condensation hypothesis.</span> It is an extension of the Laplace nebular hypotheses: the Moon formed from the solar nebula.<br />
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As <strong>the sun’s nebula condensed</strong>, conservation of angular momentum caused a disk to form and within the disk, eddies or whirlpools developed. At the center of these, the planets formed. <strong>Secondary eddies led to satellites or moons of the planets</strong>. The Earth and the Moon supposedly formed in an eddy and a secondary eddy. Again, the current, strange Earth-Moon orbital-inclination would not result — the Moon’s orbital plane and the Earth’s equator should coincide. <br />
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<em><span style="color: #660000;"><strong>Theory Three. <span style="color: black;">Lunar-Capture Theory.</span></strong></span></em><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m3KtW54C-EI/UHN4tSf1tcI/AAAAAAAAB7E/hgfQZhyH7QQ/s1600/066_MoonCaptureTheory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><em><span style="color: #660000;"><img alt="" border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m3KtW54C-EI/UHN4tSf1tcI/AAAAAAAAB7E/hgfQZhyH7QQ/s200/066_MoonCaptureTheory.jpg" title="image from http://cosmographica.com/gallery/portfolio2007/content/066_MoonCaptureTheory_large.html" width="200" /></span></em></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #660000;">A ring of dust around earth slows <br />the passing Moon, but it can't be enough <br />for it to be captured by Earth's gravity.</span></em></td></tr>
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Another theory is that <strong>the Moon was captured by the Earth as it passed by </strong>in an Earth-crossing orbit. One major problem with this idea is that capture is an extremely rare event! And even if this unlikely event took place, the Moon would likely have swung by in a parabolic or an elliptical trajectory, which is a higher velocity orbit than is that of the near circular orbits of either the Earth or the present Moon. <br />
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The big question is what caused the Moon to slow down? If captured by the Earth, we would expect the present Moon to have a larger eccentricity and inclination. The resulting, fantastic tidal dissipation would have resulted in major distortions and destruction of the Earth. Also, if a near-collision brought the object within the Roche limit of the Earth, the Moon could have been shredded into rings. <br />
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<em><strong><span style="color: #660000;">Theory Four. </span><span style="color: black;">Collision Hypothesis.</span></strong></em><br />
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<span style="color: #660000;">In 1976 astronomers Alastair G. W. Cameron and William R. Ward suggested that <strong>the Moon was formed by the tangential impact upon Earth of a body the size of Mars</strong>. Most of the outer silicates of the colliding body would be vaporized, leaving the metallic core of the two bodies. Hence, most of the collisional material sent into orbit would consist of silicates, <strong>leaving the coalescing Moon deficient in iron</strong>.<sup>2</sup></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jUcKVpuo3ac/UHOCj3UrruI/AAAAAAAAB8U/WzptFdd1udA/s1600/moon%2520formation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="173" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jUcKVpuo3ac/UHOCj3UrruI/AAAAAAAAB8U/WzptFdd1udA/s320/moon%2520formation.jpg" title="image from http://forum.thefreedictionary.com/postst17855_Earth-May-Have-Once-Had-Two-Moons.aspx" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #660000;">A body the size of Mars collided with Earth, resulting in the Moon with core properties different from Earth.</span></em></td></tr>
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This premise seems to solve all of problems of the <span style="color: #660000;">earlier</span> theories. except for the <span style="color: #660000;">vanishingly </span>low probability of such an event<span style="color: #660000;">!</span> In fact, it is much more improbable than is a near collision of a lunar mass dwarf planet, as in the capture hypothesis. <span style="color: #660000;">To this theory's credit</span>, the odd orbit of the Moon is easily explained by the initial orbit of the planet since it does not have to follow a particular path (except that it should be near the ecliptic, <span style="color: #660000;">which is the plane of the Earth's revolution around the Sun</span>).<br />
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<strong>A recent study of Moon rocks now puts even this model in doubt</strong><sup>3</sup>. The research team confined their study to a rare form of titanium (using the 50Ti/47Ti isotopic ratio) which is known to occur in widely varying amounts throughout the solar system. After correcting for the difference caused by the continued exposure of the lunar surface to the Sun’s radiation, the scientists found that the isotopic abundance in Moon rocks was identical to that of the Earth. <br />
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This implies that the Moon came only from Earth materials and not an alien planet that collided with the Earth. Thus, there is no evidence of the Mars-mass object in these data. <br />
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In other words, <strong>the collision theory has failed.</strong><br />
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<strong><em>The Real Explanation<span style="color: #660000;">: the God Hypothesis</span></em></strong><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EApokODmB1A/UHOF8jAmTxI/AAAAAAAAB9k/y_tzEiCiKBU/s1600/tide-tables-a-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EApokODmB1A/UHOF8jAmTxI/AAAAAAAAB9k/y_tzEiCiKBU/s200/tide-tables-a-2.jpg" title="image from http://sanibelseaschool.org/classroom/tides" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="wp-caption-text">
<em><span style="color: #660000;">The sun and moon exert <br />gravitational forces on Earth <br />that influence tides, needed to<br />sustain life.</span></em></div>
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The real explanation of the Moon’s existence and orbital configuration is that <strong>God designed and created the Moon and set it in place, with a number of important purposes</strong>. These include the gyrostabilization of the Earth, cleaning of Earth’s shorelines by tidal forces, giving light in the evening, and the revealing of the Sun’s corona and chromosphere to scientists during solar eclipses. Helium was discovered because of the last listed design feature.<br />
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As we read in Genesis 1:16-18,<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #444444;">…God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.</span></blockquote>
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<em><strong><span style="color: #660000;">Theory Five. Efficient Impact Ejection.</span></strong></em><br />
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<span style="color: #660000;">Of course, scientists who work for mainstream universities and government agencies no longer allow themselves to think that there is a Creator God who was directly involved in the formation of the Moon, or of anything else. </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FA0beBGIxic/UHOKgfHz39I/AAAAAAAAB-0/zY2z45O4T1k/s1600/moon_formation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="160" nea="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FA0beBGIxic/UHOKgfHz39I/AAAAAAAAB-0/zY2z45O4T1k/s200/moon_formation.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #660000;">Complete mixing of <br />two colliding bodies?</span> </em></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #660000;">Very quickly, at least one group has come to the rescue with yet another lunar formation theory, to make up for the defeat of the Collision hypothesis. Zhang et al.<sup>4</sup> (2012) stated that the twin nature of lunar rocks and the Earth could be explained by an “efficient impact ejection” by “<strong>exchange of material between the Earth’s magma ocean and the protolunar disk</strong>.” </span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000;">It is hard enough to imagine such an improbable event as a planet just the size of Mars ... impacting the Earth at just the right angle ... to result in a perfectly placed Moon ... that benefits life on Earth in such wonderful ways</span><span style="color: #660000;">. It is even harder, though, </span>to imagine that this involved ... such a thorough mixing of the alien planet and the Earth’s crust ... so that the two bodies have identical core materials.<br />
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<span style="color: #660000;"><strong>The God hypothesis will ultimately be the only fully reasonable explanation!</strong></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US">Subscribe</a>)</i></b></span><br />
<strong><em><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span></em></strong><br />
<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong>References </strong>(selected)</span></em><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">1. Britannica.com: Sir George Darwin, <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/151966/Sir-George-Darwin">http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/151966/Sir-George-Darwin</a>, retrieved October 8, 2012.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">2. Wikipedia.org: <span dir="auto">Giant impact hypothesis, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_impact_hypothesis">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_impact_hypothesis</a>, retrieved October 8, 2012.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">3. Meier, M.M.M. 2012. Moon formation: Earth's titanium twin. <em>Nature Geoscience</em> 5:240–241.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">4. Zhang, J., N. Dauphas, A.M. Davis, I. Leya, and A. Fedkin. 2012. The proto-Earth as a signifi- cant source of lunar material. <em>Nature Geoscience</em> 5:251–255</span>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-81433763864879791622012-11-07T19:02:00.000-05:002012-11-07T19:02:20.354-05:00Do Not Lose Heart<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zJbioXvpuZM/UJr2SWq440I/AAAAAAAACN0/amjCOtfUE-Y/s1600/the-passion-of-the-christ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zJbioXvpuZM/UJr2SWq440I/AAAAAAAACN0/amjCOtfUE-Y/s200/the-passion-of-the-christ.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
We are hard pressed on every side,<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28868A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></sup> but not crushed; perplexed,<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28868B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></sup> but not in despair; we do not lose heart.<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28876AK" title="See cross-reference AK">AK</a>)"></sup> Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28876AL" title="See cross-reference AL">AL</a>)"></sup> we are being renewed<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28876AM" title="See cross-reference AM">AM</a>)"></sup> day by day. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28878AO" title="See cross-reference AO">AO</a>)"></sup> since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2 Corinthians+4&version=NIV">2 Corinthians 4:8, 16, 18</a>)Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-36815859521108383882012-10-28T19:02:00.000-04:002012-10-28T19:02:01.250-04:00The Word of God, sharper than an AK-47Ahmed and Mechela, the men who once picked up the hitchhikers in the desert, were again bumping over <strong>a desert road in Muslim African</strong>—hitting potholes, slogging through muddy ruts, choking on dust—<strong>when the check engine light came </strong>on. Ahmed did not have the tools or spare parts needed to repair his old Land Cruiser. The engine died and the vehicle rolled to a stop.<br />
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Fortunately, they were less than three kilometers from a small African village where <strong>there was a Christian colleague</strong>, Waseem, whom Ahmed had trained in making disciples. Unfortunately, they knew that it would take a minimum of three days for a truck to arrive with the spare parts they needed. So Ahmed and Mechela left the vehicle and walked the remaining distance to Waseem’s home.<br />
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That evening, after milking his cows, Waseem invited the two men to join him for his Discovery Bible Study. Ahmed and Mechela readily agreed, picturing a short walk to a peaceful round hut with thatched roof, owned by a quiet family in the village. Waseem smiled innocently, then <strong>led his friends on a long, arduous trek </strong>under the desert stars. After several hours, Ahmed saw a large hut in the distance. It was indeed round with a thatched roof, and things were certainly quiet, but perhaps too quiet. <strong>The three men entered the hut </strong>and Ahmed stopped dead in his tracks.<br />
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Huddled <strong>inside was a group of some thirty men</strong>. All were dressed in desert camouflage, and all were <strong>heavily armed</strong>. Several of the men had automatic rifles in their hands or within reach. Most had ammo belts draped across a shoulder, and all had unwelcoming eyes focused toward the strangers. Ahmed recognized the men as a group of rebels, whom the Western press would term “freedom fighters,” but whom most Africans know as dangerous brigands. Had Ahmed known in advance that these men would be here, he would never have agreed to come. But Waseem simply beamed his smile once more, then sat down next to <strong>the rebel leader, who pulled out a Bible and opened it!</strong><br />
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<img alt="" src="http://www.missionfrontiers.org/uploads/images/34-5-simple-churches-3.jpg" style="float: left; height: 250px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 15px; width: 190px;" />“You have heard that it was said,” <strong>the rebel leader read</strong>, “'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But <strong>whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. </strong>If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.” Then the leader asked, “<strong>What did Isa say here, in your own words?</strong>”<br />
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For the next hour, the thirty men discussed the words of <strong>Jesus</strong>, considering His <strong>commands that were so radically opposed to their own traditions</strong>, and wrestling with their conviction that they must begin to obey them. Ahmed and Mechela sat silently in a corner, gazing with amazement as many of the men, including the leader himself, wept openly over their sinful condition, <strong>These rebels</strong>, and many others like them, <strong>cloaked their crimes under the guise of fighting for independence</strong>, but they supported their “initiatives” by old-fashioned highway robbery. Indeed, these were the very types of men that Ahmed had feared when he passed the elderly hitchhikers some weeks earlier, knowing that they habitually hijacked cars and trucks in the desert, frequently murdering the passengers under the old adage “dead men tell no tales.”<br />
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The rebel leader blinked through his tears at Ahmed, then started to laugh. “<strong>You don’t have to be afraid, my friends</strong>,” he said, gesturing toward the fearful countenances of the two church planters. “<strong>You are in the safest place in the region!</strong>” The entire band broke into laughter as Waseem translated, many nodding in agreement as they hefted their loaded weapons. Ahmed smiled politely, but his eyes measured the distance to the door.<br />
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“My brother,” the rebel leader said in a serious tone, “our friend [pointing to Waseem] has been reading <strong>God’s Word </strong>to us, and it <strong>has changed our lives</strong>,” He glanced around the hut at his comrades. “We have been changed. We used to do all the stealing and… and other things… but now, <strong>now we are children of God!</strong>” As Waseem translated these words, a few men at the rear of the group scowled and exchanged glances, but many others nodded with smiles or tears; a few cried “praise God!” in their native tongue. Many of the rebels had already given their lives to Christ, and <strong>the group had slowly been diminishing as</strong>, one by one, <strong>the new believers returned to their homes to share the Word of God with their families</strong>. Some were still hardened in their ways of wickedness, but God had not finished yet. It was for that very reason that <strong>the leader himself yet remained</strong>, working to obey God’s commands by <strong>urging his men to continue following him into eternal life through Jesus Christ</strong>.<br />
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The next morning, the rebel leader sent several men with donkeys to tow the Land Cruiser back to the rebel hideout. “It will be quite safe here,” he joked. Ahmed and Mechela remained with the band for several days, until the spare parts arrived, and in spending time with these men, whom they had once feared, their understanding of God’s Word was transformed.<br />
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“<strong>These men were my brothers</strong>,” Ahmed explained later.<br />
<em></em><br />
<em>(excerpted from Jerry Trousdale, <a href="http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/simple-churches">Simple Churches: Dramatic Transformations, Rapid Replication</a>, Mission Frontiers, Sep/Oct 2012)</em><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Subscribe</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">)</span></i></b></span></i>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-83691285643696485472012-10-22T17:57:00.000-04:002012-10-22T17:57:12.730-04:00A review of How to Know God Exists, by Ray ComfortRay Comfort is the author of over 70 books, including several on the creation-evolution debate. In his book <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CEcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FHow-Know-God-Exists-Comfort%2Fdp%2F088270432X&ei=qPIqUKWFL8rJ6wGr8IC4Bw&usg=AFQjCNFBa9Rd9SKHs2bG8isDFf9n3RMx7w&sig2=JfYMc_s2vLx4aMMubhSuOw"><em>How to Know God Exists</em></a><em>, </em>he shows the reader that evolutionary theory is incapable of explaining such dilemmas as the origin of life, gaps in the fossil record, and macroevolution.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c-jh3PClHSg/UIRMF4htAVI/AAAAAAAACEg/Opdra02JUGU/s1600/HowToKnowGodExists.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c-jh3PClHSg/UIRMF4htAVI/AAAAAAAACEg/Opdra02JUGU/s200/HowToKnowGodExists.png" width="200" /></a>Perhaps author <strong>Comfort’s best argument for the existence of God, is </strong>his discussion of the conscience and morality. </div>
<br />
<em>(selections from Reagan Schrock's book review, published in Creation Research Society Quarterly Journal, Volume 48, Number 4, Spring 2012)</em><br />
<br />
If we are simply highly evolved animals, why and <strong>how do we know right from wrong?</strong> What makes us decide, for example, that murder is wrong? “The problem with <strong>atheism</strong>,” writes Comfort, “is that it <strong>has a shifting morality</strong>. There are no moral absolutes. How can there be, when [according to atheism] morality is thought to come through human consensus, rather than divine mandate” (p. 87)? <strong>If humans are just biological machines composed of random chemicals </strong>that formed over millions of years, <strong>there is no reason to believe in moral absolutes</strong>. <br />
<br />
As Comfort points out on the same page, this is one of the clearest differences between humans and animals. <strong>If humans are just animals that are more highly evolved </strong>than the rest, <strong>why are we the only species to have a clear sense of justice?</strong> Why do we punish wrongdoers? No other animal does anything like this. If someone is wronged, most of us naturally want to make it right. <br />
<br />
“We know right from wrong,” continues Comfort, “because the conscience is an impartial judge in the courtroom of the mind. It speaks to us irrespective of our will” (p. 87). This is why a lie detector (polygraph) works so well to detect lies. <strong>Our conscience tells us lying is wrong and we react physically. </strong>For example, a person’s blood pressure and heart rate will spike when he lies and the polygraph picks up the changes. <strong>If there were no absolutes, the polygraph would not work </strong>because we would not have a conscience to tell us when we err.<br />
<br />
This book is a welcome addition to the field of apologetics, especially for the layman. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Know-God-Exists-Comfort/dp/088270432X">How to Know God Exists</a> by Ray Comfort<br />
Bridge-Logos Publishers,<br />
Alachua, FL, 2007, 192 pages,<br />
$13.00.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US">Subscribe</a>)<a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Know-God-Exists-Comfort/dp/088270432X">http://www.amazon.com/How-Know-God-Exists-Comfort/dp/088270432X</a></i></b></span>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-81371871842459512512012-10-20T21:37:00.002-04:002012-10-21T15:17:25.849-04:00Pennsylvania Scholarships help kids go to Christian schoolsThe state of Pennsylvania's Education Improvement Tax Credit Program (EITC) has been greatly expanded for the 2011-12 school year, to give scholarships to families so that their kids can attend Christian and other private schools.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4BV5TyH0o5E/UINQsskTn9I/AAAAAAAACC0/P-doDiJjak0/s1600/hdr_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="91" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4BV5TyH0o5E/UINQsskTn9I/AAAAAAAACC0/P-doDiJjak0/s320/hdr_logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The way EITC works is this: businesses operating within Pennsylvania that pay certain taxes have the option to contribute some or all of what they owe to scholarship organizations, like the Pennsylvania Family Institute's <a href="http://www.pafamily.org/fcsp.php">Family Choice Scholarship Program</a>. The state will give them a generous tax credit. Those scholarship programs, in turn, distribute those monies in the form of grants to students to attend private (including Christian) schools. It's a great concept - businesses get nearly a dollar-for-dollar credit and deduction off their state taxes, and families and children get greater choice.<br />
<br />
<em>(from Pennsylvania Citizen, Fall 2012, published by <a href="http://www.pafamily.org/fcsp.php">Pennsylvania Family Institute</a>)</em>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-89552018645389514482012-10-19T20:20:00.000-04:002012-10-19T20:20:05.394-04:00Reaching Filipino Muslims with Living WaterBringing fresh water to a remote area in the Philippines has opened the door to share living water. When
Life Resource Foundation graduates Bebot*, Inday,* Dudong* and Yeye* moved to an impoverished
area on a small island at the Southern end of Mindanao, they had to walk two hours to get fresh water!
The well they brought to this isolated area served to earn a hearing for the Gospel.
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-11OutNV8z34/UB7wohOyDyI/AAAAAAAABHQ/gYtBu_azm6k/s1600/FreshWater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-11OutNV8z34/UB7wohOyDyI/AAAAAAAABHQ/gYtBu_azm6k/s200/FreshWater.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<strong>The need for church-planting teams among least-reached Filipino Muslims is staggering</strong>-far greater
than a handful of Christar missionaries can meet alone. However <strong>at the Life Resources Foundation
(LRF), Christar partners with the existing evangelical church in the Philippines , training Filipino men
and women to plant churches.
</strong><br />
<br />
The Filipino missionary team of Bebot, Inday, Dudong and Yeye has seen 14 from this community
trust Christ for their salvation and several have been baptized! The team continues to live and work
in this remote area.<br />
<br />
To read more about the LRF, see <a href="http://christar.org/life-resource-foundation.html">http://christar.org/life-resource-foundation.html</a>.Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-74159552732993610592012-10-15T17:52:00.003-04:002012-10-15T18:31:02.531-04:00Incredible Energies of the Global Flood quickly created the Appalachian Water Gaps<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="color: #660000;">Mainstream "millions of years" scientists oscillate back and forth between failed explanations for <strong>the formation of water gaps. But the Global Flood </strong>described in the book of Genesis <strong>leads to a very reasonable explanation! </strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="color: #660000;">The retreating waters started with <strong>sheet flow </strong>that <strong>ultimately deposited the continental shelves</strong>. </span><span style="color: #660000;">The sheet flow then <strong>diminished to channelized currents </strong>with ultra high velocities and scale, the only kind of flow powerful enough to <strong>form <em>aligned </em>water gaps </strong>in a series of perpendicular ridges, seen throughout the Appalachians. This ultra high energy channelized flow stopped so quickly that it <strong>left many water gaps high and dry to make wind gaps.</strong> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> <span style="color: #660000;">Once again, <strong>a creationist explanation is the one that holds water!</strong></span></span></span><br />
<strong><span style="color: #660000;">Selections from the second section of </span><span style="color: #660000;"><a href="http://www.creationresearch.org/crsq/abstracts/Abstracts48-4.htm">Origin of Appalachian Geomorphology, Part III: Channelized Erosion Late in the Flood</a></span><span style="color: #660000;">, by Michael J. Oard. </span></strong><br />
<br />
<em><span style="color: #660000;"><strong>(These selections by Marko Malyj are of the article published in Creation Research Society Quarterly Journal, Volume 48, Number 4, Spring 2012)</strong></span></em><br />
<div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US">Subscribe</a>)<br />(On Twitter: FOLLOW uMarko or <a href="http://www.twitter.com/uMarko">http://www.twitter.com/uMarko</a>)</i></b></span><br />
</div>
The Appalachian Mountains are a complex fold and thrust belt in the eastern United States. There are <strong>five uniformitarian hypotheses </strong>for the origin of water gaps in these mountains and other mountain chains around the world:<br />
<ol>
<li>relief inversion plus reversal in drainage</li>
<li>faults</li>
<li>the antecedent stream</li>
<li>the superimposed stream</li>
<li>stream piracy</li>
</ol>
But uniformitarian <strong>geomorphologists seem to bounce from one hypothesis to another</strong>, stuck in the rut of their failed paradigm. <br />
<br />
"What was written in 1932-33 can still be quoted today: '<strong>The Appalachian problem, like the poor, we shall have with us always.</strong>'" (Bryan etal., 1932/3 3, p. 318, quoted in Clark, 1989, p. 225, 229).<br />
<br />
If all of the classical uniformitarian hypotheses are insufficient, then we must conclude the necessity of searching for an explanation within a completely different paradigm. Ironically, the features of these landforms readily <strong>can be explained by the great nemesis of modern geology- the Genesis Flood. </strong>The retreating stage of the Flood, with its two phases, readily accounts for all of these features, including erosion surfaces, plateaus, and the many wind and water gaps cutting through the mountains along its entire length.<br />
<br />
<em><strong>Sheet Flow created the Continental Margin</strong></em><br />
<br />
<strong>Sheet flow produced extensive erosion surfaces</strong>, mainly on the Piedmont and on the plateaus west of the Valley and Ridge Province. As the combination of uplift and base-level decline caused the Appalachian Mountains to emerge from the Flood, the flow diverged from either side of the rising peaks. Sediments eroded west of the Appalachian divide were transported west, where they merged with water flowing east from the rising Rockies, <strong>carrying vast amounts of sediment </strong>that would form the massive Gulf of Mexico coastal plain and continental margin sediments. Erosion surfaces were later formed <strong>on either side of the Appalachian Mountains. </strong><br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XWZFxiOxrD4/UCMIPWsqYcI/AAAAAAAABIk/LjXKeRqCc7Q/s1600/WaterGapFormationA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="114" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XWZFxiOxrD4/UCMIPWsqYcI/AAAAAAAABIk/LjXKeRqCc7Q/s200/WaterGapFormationA.jpg" title="http://creation.com/do-rivers-erode-through-mountains#endRef13" width="200" /></a></div>
As the <strong>sheet currents began to diminish </strong>into large embayments and channels, they would have <strong>still </strong>been <strong>flowing perpendicular to ridges </strong>(Figure A), <strong>initiating the water gaps</strong>. Water gaps appear to be the last large-scale features formed by the Flood’s recession off the Appalachians. The water (and wind) gaps indicate that the water was at first flowing perpendicular to the mountains when the Appalachian erosion surfaces were formed, since it takes perpendicular flow to create water and wind gaps. When the water and wind gaps were first started, the <strong>flow velocities would have been incredibly high</strong>, and locally variable (Schumm and Ethridge, 1994, p. 11). The water flow may have taken advantage of possible structural weakness or a low spot on the ridge. <br />
<br />
This type of process is seen on a small scale in the breaching of an earth dam by water flowing over its top. <strong>Finding a zone of weakness, the sheet flow </strong>over the top rapidly <strong>cuts a narrow deep notch that channels the water </strong>through. Most of the remainder of the dam wall usually remains intact. Also, the anomalously high velocities and the scale of the channelized currents is the only feasible explanation for the phenomenon of <em>aligned </em>water gaps in a series of perpendicular ridges. <br />
<br />
The extent and speed of these currents is evidenced by the extent and nature of the erosion, as well as by the gravel veneer deposited on top of the erosional surfaces. But the best way to visualize the energy involved is to understand that <strong>the shelf-slope system on the present continental margin </strong>was rapidly deposited from eroded Appalachian sediments.<br />
<div>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dvEChtuWZOY/UCMImAUQ0OI/AAAAAAAABIs/PrvtM3sLYMc/s1600/ContinentalMargin.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="202" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dvEChtuWZOY/UCMImAUQ0OI/AAAAAAAABIs/PrvtM3sLYMc/s320/ContinentalMargin.gif" title="http://www.answers.com/topic/continental-margin" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Continental margin off the northeastern United States.</em></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
</div>
<strong><em>Channelized Flow then Created Water and Wind Gaps</em></strong><br />
<br />
As the Floodwater <strong>transformed from sheet flow into channelized flow</strong>, the erosion became narrow and linear. Valleys, canyons, and water and wind gaps would then be cut until the Flood ended. This is similar to the two-step erosion on the Colorado Plateau: (1) the Great Denudation from sheet flow, and (2) the Grand Canyon, Zion Canyon, and other canyons from channelized flow (Oard, 2010, 2011a, also see the excerpted article <em><a href="http://umarko.blogspot.com/2010/10/did-noahs-flood-make-grand-canyon.html">Did Noah's Flood make the Grand Canyon?</a></em>).<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ZYJWGBI1nE/UCMJrVoWKMI/AAAAAAAABI0/NBtefRCwT_M/s1600/WaterGapFormationB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="113" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ZYJWGBI1nE/UCMJrVoWKMI/AAAAAAAABI0/NBtefRCwT_M/s200/WaterGapFormationB.jpg" title="http://creation.com/do-rivers-erode-through-mountains#endRef13" width="200" /></a></div>
<strong>Once a notch was cut, water would have sought that channel, </strong>increasing flow velocity relative to the surrounding area (Figure B). <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J2tw4PoBapM/UCMJ-vPCX6I/AAAAAAAABI8/7Sa5NKV2RVU/s1600/WaterGapFormationC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="109" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J2tw4PoBapM/UCMJ-vPCX6I/AAAAAAAABI8/7Sa5NKV2RVU/s200/WaterGapFormationC.jpg" title="http://creation.com/do-rivers-erode-through-mountains#endRef13" width="200" /></a></div>
The notch would quickly grow as more water was forced through the narrow opening. In addition, the faster water would have carried abrasive particles, cutting the gap even faster (Figure C).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a2BiUftfs1c/UCMKKYryqSI/AAAAAAAABJE/YBwO525iPYw/s1600/WaterGapFormationD2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="110" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a2BiUftfs1c/UCMKKYryqSI/AAAAAAAABJE/YBwO525iPYw/s200/WaterGapFormationD2.jpg" title="http://creation.com/do-rivers-erode-through-mountains#endRef13" width="200" /></a></div>
<div>
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>The Flood explanation also differentiates between wind and water gaps. </strong>Wind gaps represent early water gaps that were left high and dry as the water level rapidly dropped or the current velocity diminished quickly, leading to the cessation of erosion (Figure D). These would have remained as remnants at high elevations while the lowering water carved new gaps at lower elevations, establishing the basic post-Flood drainage patterns. Today, only wind traverses the higher gaps, while the rivers naturally take advantage of the low water course through the water gap established at the very end of the Flood.</div>
<br />
<em><strong><span style="color: #660000;">Conclusion</span></strong></em><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Mainstream "millions of years" scientists oscillate back and forth between failed explanations for the formation of water gaps. But the Global Flood described in the book of Genesis leads to a very reasonable explanation. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><strong>The retreating waters started with sheet flow </strong>that would have been flowing perpendicular to ridges and ultimately deposited the continental shelves. The sheet currents initiated the water gaps by cutting narrow deep notch that channeled the water through. Most of the remainder of the mountain wall remained intact. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><strong>The sheet flow then diminished to channelized currents </strong>with anomalously high velocities and scale. They are the only feasible explanation for the phenomenon of <em>aligned </em>water gaps in a series of perpendicular ridges, as seen throughout the Appalachians. This ultra high energy channelized flow stopped so quickly that it left many water gaps high and dry. These resulted in the many wind gaps, unexplainable by any uniformitarian model involving millions of years. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><strong>Once again, a creationist explanation is the one that holds water.</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><em><strong>References </strong>(selected)</em></span><br />
<br />
Clark, G.M. 1989. Central and southern Appalachian water and wind gap origins: review and new data. <em>Geomorphology </em>2:209–232.<br />
<br />
Oard, M.J. 2010. The origin of Grand Canyon part IV: the great denudation. <em>CRSQ</em> 47:146–157.<br />
<div>
</div>
Oard, M.J. 2011a. The origin of Grand Canyon part V: carved by late Flood channelized erosion. <em>CRSQ</em> 47:271–282.<br />
<br />
Schumm, S., and F.G. Ethridge. 1994. Origin, evolution and morphology of fluvial valleys. In Dalrymple, R.W., R. Boyd, and B.A. Zaitlin (editors), <em>Incised-Valley Systems: Origins and Sedimentary Sequences</em>, pp. 11–27. SEPM Special Publication No. 51, Tulsa, OK.<br />
<div>
</div>
Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-15338872995973376332012-10-13T11:17:00.000-04:002012-10-13T11:17:35.844-04:00You can switch off the loudspeaker now, I have found God<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JAcfsYzA5jU/UEI8WBt6OFI/AAAAAAAABcw/6LobYFri90Q/s1600/PrisonLoudspeaker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JAcfsYzA5jU/UEI8WBt6OFI/AAAAAAAABcw/6LobYFri90Q/s320/PrisonLoudspeaker.jpg" width="213" /></a><strong>During Stalin's time </strong>in the country of Czechoslovakia, <strong>a leading communist named Loeb was imprisoned </strong>by his comrades and subjected to brainwashing. Alone in a cell, <strong>he had to listen day and night to a loudspeaker </strong>blaring at him maddening words: "<strong>Spy! Traitor! Counter-revolutionist! </strong>Oh, no, I beg your pardon. Dear and faithful comrade, no, spy! Traitor! No, comrade! You will be hanged! It is a confusion; you will be released soon. Your arrest has been a mistake. Rogue, rascal, beloved comrade, innocent victim of injustice!" This went on for weeks. </div>
<br />
Then he had <strong>a moment of illumination</strong>. The thought occurred to him: "If communists torture Christians or other enemies, it makes sense. We cannot triumph without destroying them. But <strong>if communists torture communists, this is wickedness without any sense</strong>; it is evil for evil's sake. I have now seen the final depth of evil. But there is no electricity without two poles, no coin without two faces. <strong>If there exists an extreme depth of wickedness, there must also be an extreme height of love. This then is God.</strong>" <br />
<br />
After this, when he was called to a new interrogation, he told the police officer: "<strong>You can switch off the loudspeaker now. I have found God.</strong>"<br />
<br />
<em>(from <span id="goog_1409952671"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Voice of the Martyrs<span id="goog_1409952672"></span></a> newsletter, August 2012)</em><br />
<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click </span><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Subscribe</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">)</span></i></b></span></i>Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23939139.post-60976548960882703072012-10-10T17:48:00.000-04:002012-10-10T18:05:35.252-04:00Water Gaps could not have Formed over Millions of Years<span style="color: #660000;">As Michael J. Oard tells us: "<strong>the origin of water gaps has not
been explained</strong>, despite all the attempts. What was written in 1932-33 about water gaps in the mountains of the eastern U.S. can still be quoted today: '<strong>The Appalachian problem, like the poor, </strong><strong>we shall have with us always.</strong>'" </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">"<strong>Uniformitarian geomorphologists </strong>seem
to <strong>bounce from one hypothesis to another</strong>.
They have tried the antecedent stream hypothesis, the superimposed stream hypothesis, even stream piracy. <strong>They are stuck in the rut of their failed paradigm.</strong>"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
"We must conclude the necessity of
searching for an explanation within a completely different paradigm.
<strong>Ironically, the features of these landforms readily can be explained by the
great nemesis of modern geology- the Genesis Flood</strong>."</span></div>
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #660000;">Selections from the first section of </span><span style="color: #660000;"><a href="http://www.creationresearch.org/crsq/abstracts/Abstracts48-4.htm">Origin of Appalachian Geomorphology, Part III: Channelized Erosion Late in the Flood</a></span><span style="color: #660000;">, by Michael J. Oard. </span></strong></div>
<br />
<em><span style="color: #660000;"><strong>(These selections by Marko Malyj are of the article published in Creation Research Society Quarterly Journal, Volume 48, Number 4, Spring 2012)</strong></span></em><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=uMarko&loc=en_US">Subscribe</a>)<br />(On Twitter: FOLLOW uMarko or <a href="http://www.twitter.com/uMarko">http://www.twitter.com/uMarko</a>)</i></b></span><br />
<br />
<strong><em>Water Gaps</em></strong><br />
<br />
<strong>Many master streams flow in deep gorges through ridges of resistant rock</strong>, with the Valley and Ridge of Pennsylvania having the most dramatic examples. The problem of how streams were able to cut through such obstacles has fascinated many geomorphologists.<br />
<br />
Water gaps are numerous in the Appalachian Mountains (VerSteeg, 1930; Thompson, 1939; Strahler, 1945; Ahnert, 1998). Hundreds of them have been cut through resistant ridges (Thornbury, 1965). Speculation and controversy over the origin of water gaps have been going on for about 150 years. Although the major rivers Bow through water gaps of the Valley and Ridge and Blue Ridge Provinces, many tributary streams also Bow through water gaps, especially in the northern Appalachians (see Figures 23 and 24).<br />
<br />
One of the most famous is the series through which <strong>the Susquehanna River </strong>flows. The river cuts through the folded and eroded ridges of Blue Mountain north of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (Figure 4). The river, on the 37-km stretch upstream from Harrisburg, <strong>could have flowed around four out of five of the resistant ridges, had it followed the expected course </strong>at lower elevations over softer rocks (Strahler, 1945).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2e5KqRfeyKM/UA3zzQXyahI/AAAAAAAABC4/imknD02ZO4I/s1600/Figure4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2e5KqRfeyKM/UA3zzQXyahI/AAAAAAAABC4/imknD02ZO4I/s400/Figure4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Figure 4. </em>Coogle Maps Image of Susquehanna River water gaps north of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Note that the last two water gaps are aligned and the third to the north is almost aligned (© Google 2010).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;"><em>Figure 9. </em>Shaded relief map of New River. Downstream toward top. Note that the river cuts almost straight through the Valley and Ridge Province(© Google 2010).</span></span></div>
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<strong>The New River </strong>starts near the Blue Ridge Escarpment in North Carolina and <strong>cuts northwest through at least four ridges </strong>of the Valley and Ridge Province via major water gaps (Figure 9) (Bartholomew and Mills, 1991; Ward et al, 2005).<br />
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<em><strong>Uniformitarian Hypotheses and Problems</strong></em><br />
<br />
<strong>A water gap is "a deep pass in a mountain ridge, through which a stream flows</strong>; esp. a narrow gorge or ravine cut through resistant rocks" (Neuendorf et al., 2005, p. 715). This applies to any perpendicular cut through any topographical barrier, including a plateau (Douglas, 2005).<br />
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There are <strong>five uniformitarian hypotheses for the origin of water gaps</strong>, also called transverse drainage (Oberlander, 1965). William Morris Davis was one of the first to attempt an explanation in the early twentieth century, by <strong>relief inversion plus reversal in drainage</strong>. This explanation <strong>is not taken seriously </strong>today. The second is that gaps are the surface expression of faults cutting through the mountains. However, <strong>most water gaps </strong>in the Appalachians <strong>are erosional and cannot be attributed to faulting</strong>. In fact, many well-known faults have not resulted in water gaps (e.g., Strahler, 1945, pp. 46, 63-65). <br />
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<strong>That leaves three </strong>current uniformitarian hypotheses: (1) the antecedent stream, (2) the superimposed stream, and (3) stream piracy (Stokes and Mather, 2003, p. 76).<br />
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<em><strong>Antecedent Stream Hypothesis</strong></em><br />
The <strong>antecedent stream hypothesis</strong>, defined above and illustrated in Figure 1, seems to have been the first invoked to explain transverse drainage. John Wesley Powell simply assumed the Green River<br />
through the Uinta Mountains and the Colorado River through Grand Canyon had been eroded by antecedent rivers. Most other geologists accepted this hypothesis until the mid 1900s, when<br />
it ran into severe problems. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gvTo313VFyI/UA31jmyG_RI/AAAAAAAABDI/OYScaJb6JI4/s1600/Figure1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gvTo313VFyI/UA31jmyG_RI/AAAAAAAABDI/OYScaJb6JI4/s320/Figure1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Figure 1. </em>The antecedent stream hypothesis shown on a plaque near a Yakima River water gap, Washington. First, a stream is established; then, as a ridge slowly uplifts, the stream erodes through the barrier.</td></tr>
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<strong>One must prove that the river in question predates uplift</strong>, but that is difficult (Twidale, 1976). Furthermore, <strong>uplift must be </strong>slow enough and steady enough so that the river's course is not deflected<br />
(Ranney, 2005). If uplift was too rapid, a river in an enclosed basin would become a lake. If a water gap through one barrier is difficult to achieve, <strong>aligned water gaps through multiple uplifts</strong>, such as on the Susquehanna north of Harrisburg (Figure 15), <strong>would be much less likely</strong>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kKowaFKuHWE/UA32RYKZv6I/AAAAAAAABDQ/VAWybC757Is/s1600/figure15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kKowaFKuHWE/UA32RYKZv6I/AAAAAAAABDQ/VAWybC757Is/s320/figure15.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;"><em>Figure 15. </em>Coogle Maps close-up view of aligned water gaps of the Susquehanna River north of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.</span></span></td></tr>
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<em><strong>Superimposed Stream Hypothesis</strong></em><br />
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In the <strong>superimposed stream hypothesis</strong>, a <strong>landscape is buried by renewed sedimentation</strong>, usually by a marine transgression. <strong>Then, a stream or river is established on the generally flat </strong>cover of sediments or sedimentary rock, called the "covermass." As erosion takes place over millions of years, <strong>the stream erodes downward in the same location </strong>(Figure 2). In that way, after millions of years, the stream ends up flowing through structural barriers. <strong>At the same time, the rest of the covermass </strong>not in the path of the river <strong>is somehow eroded </strong>or mostly eroded, leaving behind the stream or river flowing through ridges or mountains. If so, that surface would have been generally level, and rivers flowing across it were assumed to have cut down into older deformed sedimentary rocks. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2ckncljck0A/UA33FgyKiII/AAAAAAAABDY/bPVk5VcJKio/s1600/Figure2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="78" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2ckncljck0A/UA33FgyKiII/AAAAAAAABDY/bPVk5VcJKio/s320/Figure2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Figure 2. </em>Block diagram of the superimposed stream hypothesis. The stream maintains its same course as most of the covermass (top layer) is eroded. Drawing by Bryan Miller.</td></tr>
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<br />
<strong><span style="color: #660000;">What is actually observed is that </span>many tributaries </strong>do flow parallel to the ridges, but then they <strong>mysteriously jump across ridges through water gaps</strong>. Von Engeln (1942) also pointed to the aligned water gaps as evidence of superimposition, since these features would not be likely caused by antecedence or stream piracy.<br />
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The most significant problem is <strong>the absence of evidence for the </strong>proposed transgression, the great volume of "<strong>covermass</strong>." Cretaceous marine deposits do not occur within the Appalachian fold belt (Kaktins and Delano (1999, p. 382). Another difficulty is the tendency of modern rivers to take the path of least resistance. We would expect a downward-cutting river to change course as it encountered a more resistant anticline, and flow through the more easily eroded covermass.<br />
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Superimposition has a problem with removing the covermass in between the rivers. <strong>If the rivers are cutting vertically, then why would we expect laterally extensive erosion </strong>of these sediments on the ridges between the rivers? The hypothesis requires the river to maintain the same course and<br />
downcut into both resistant and nonresistant formations, while at the same time having the drainage basin erode the covermass all across the remainder of the region. Thus, the soft rocks are cut into valleys and leave the more resistant rocks as ridges, while the main rivers do not change course through the ridges (Crickmay, 1974 ).<br />
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<em><strong>Stream Piracy</strong></em><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rMa4O8fCnb4/UA330_ltA2I/AAAAAAAABDg/_KLETZvhvGg/s1600/Figure3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rMa4O8fCnb4/UA330_ltA2I/AAAAAAAABDg/_KLETZvhvGg/s320/Figure3.jpg" width="267" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Figure 3. </em>Schematic of stream piracy drawn by Peter Klevberg. <strong>As the stream valleys erode, a tributary stream </strong>supposedly erodes through the intervening ridge and <strong>eventually captures part of the stream on the other side </strong>of the divide.</td></tr>
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In a flume experiment, Douglas and Schrneeckle (2007, p. 38) discovered hat the mechanism of <strong>stream piracy is very difficult and needs extra "help"</strong>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The final piracy experiment successfully produced a transverse drainage through headward erosion, but required the retreat of a strongly asymmetrical scarp ridge and required much more time than the other experiments. This supports Bishop's (1995) argument concerning piracies over utilization.</blockquote>
<em><strong>All Uniformitarian Hypotheses Fail</strong></em><br />
<br />
Hack (1989) acknowledged that the origin of water gaps has not been explained, despite all the attempts. Uniformitarian geomorphologists <strong>seem to bounce from one hypothesis to another, stuck in the rut </strong>of their failed paradigm.<br />
<br />
"What was written in 1932-33 can still be quoted today: <strong>'The Appalachian problem, like the poor, we shall have with us always.'"</strong> (Bryan etal., 1932/3 3, p. 318, quoted in Clark, 1989, p. 225, 229).<br />
<br />
If all of the classical uniformitarian hypotheses are insufficient, then we must conclude the necessity of searching for an explanation within a completely different paradigm. <strong>Ironically, the features of these landforms readily can be explained by </strong>the great nemesis of modern geology - <strong>the Genesis Flood.</strong><br />
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<em><strong>References </strong>(selected)</em><br />
<br />
Ahnert, F. 1998. <em>Introduction to Geomorphology.</em> Arnold, London, UK.<br />
<br />
Bartholomew, M.J., and H.H. Mills. 1991. Old courses of the New River: its late Cenozoic migration and bedrock control inferred from high-level stream gravels, southwestern Virginia. <em>GSA Bulletin</em><br />
103:73–81.<br />
<br />
Bishop, P. 1995. Drainage rearrangement by river capture, beheading and diversion. <em>Progress in Physical Geography </em>19(4):449–473.<br />
<br />
Clark, G.M. 1989. Central and southern Appalachian water and wind gap origins: review and new data. <em>Geomorphology </em>2:209–232.<br />
<br />
Crickmay, C.H. 1974. <em>The Work of the River: A Critical Study of the Central Aspects of Geomorphology. </em>American Elsevier Publishing Co., New York, NY.<br />
<br />
Douglass, J.C. 2005. Criterion approach to transverse drainages. PhD thesis, Arizona State University, Tucson, Arizona.<br />
<br />
Douglass, J., and M. Schmeeckle. 2007. Analogue modeling of transverse drainage mechanisms. <em>Geomorphology</em> 84:22–43.<br />
<br />
Hack, J.T. 1989. Geomorphology of the Appalachian Highlands. In Hatcher,R.D. Jr., W.A. Thomas, and G.W. Viele (editors), The Geology of North America, Volume F-2, <em>The Appalachian-Ouachita<br />Orogen in the United States</em>, pp. 459–470. Geological Society of America, Boulder, CO.<br />
<br />
Kaktins, U. and H.L. Delano. 1999. Drainage basins. In Shultz, C.H. (editor), <em>The<br />Geology of Pennsylvania</em>, pp. 379–390. Pennsylvania Geological Survey, Harrisburg, PA, and Pittsburgh Geological Society, Pittsburgh, PA.<br />
<br />
Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A.Jackson. 2005. <em>Glossary of Geology</em>, 5th<br />
Edition. American Geological Institute, Alexandria, VA.<br />
<br />
Oberlander, T. 1965. <em>The Zagros Streams: A New Interpretation of Transverse Drainage in an Orogenic Zone. </em>Syracuse Geographical Series No. 1, Syracuse, NY.<br />
<br />
Ranney, W. 2005. <em>Carving Grand Canyon: Evidence, Theories, and Mystery</em>. Grand Canyon Association, Grand Canyon, AZ.<br />
<br />
Stokes, M., and A.E. Mather 2003. Tectonic origin and evolution of a transverse drainage: the Río Almanzora, Betic Cordillera, Southeast Spain. <em>Geomorphology </em>50:59–81.<br />
<br />
Strahler, A.N. 1945. Hypotheses of stream development in the folded Appalachians of Pennsylvania. <em>GSA Bulletin </em>56:45–88<br />
<br />
Thompson, H.D. 1939. Drainage evolution in the southern Appalachians. <em>GSA Bulletin </em>50:1,323–1,356.<br />
<br />
Thornbury, W.D. 1965. <em>Regional Geomorphology of the United States</em>. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY.<br />
<br />
Twidale, C.. 2004. River patterns and their meaning. <em>Earth-Science Reviews </em>67:159–218.<br />
<br />
Ver Steeg, K. 1930. Wind gaps and water gaps of the Northern Appalachians, their characteristics<br />
and significance. <em>Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences </em>32:87–220. <br />
<br />
Von Engeln, O.D. 1942. <em>Geomorphology: Systematic and Regional</em>. Macmillan, New York, NY.<br />
<br />
Ward, D.J., J.A. Spotila, G.S. Hancock, and J.M. Galbraith 2005. New constraints on the late Cenozoic incision history of the New River, Virginia. <em>Geomorphology </em>72:54–72.Marko Malyjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14534425603890985808noreply@blogger.com0