Articles » Intermediate

For many years, in sponsoring Creation Weekend, our local association (CSAA or Creation Science Association of Alberta) has provided inspiration and information to audiences of all ages. The benefit from these weekends is training on how to be informed and enthusiastic, able to enjoy the insights that we hear, and to share those with others.

Many people are afraid of spiders, but they are excellent examples of God’s engineering design in nature, especially in the production and use of their silk.  Spider silk starts as a “liquid crystal”—a highly concentrated water-based solution containing rod-shaped molecules.  This means it both flows like a liquid and has its molecules oriented and ordered like a crystal.  The silk solution is produced and stored in a group of silk glands until it is drawn out through the silk ducts for use.  Evolutionists cannot decide whether the liquid crystal structure is an “accident of Nature” or a necessary requirement, but they think it may help to control crystallization.  If the silk crystallized prematurely, it would block the ducts and kill the spider. (De Luca & Rey) Creationists would call it a design feature.

Book Review –
Darwin’s Bluff: The Mystery of the Book Darwin Never Finished
Reviewed by Margaret Helder

A project which has produced a delightful read on Darwin’s life, views and impact, began many years ago when an undergraduate student, out of curiosity, dipped into a new volume in his university library. This volume was the first in a lengthy series from Cambridge University Press. These volumes contained the correspondence, both to and from, of Charles Darwin. Thus hooked on these communications, Robert Shedinger, who was majoring in a general arts degree, began a 40 years long research project on Charles Darwin’s thoughts and actions. Astonished by what he found, Robert Shedinger now shares the results of his research. His book, Darwin’s Bluff, can’t fail to interest everyone.

Our Required Response to the Awesome Creator!

Featuring: Dr. Kurt Wise, Director of Creation Research Center, Truett McConnell University, Cleveland, Georgia

Session 1 – Dinosaurs: Insight into Biblical History
Friday evening:
October 25, 2024, 8:00 p.m.
(excellent for youth and families)
Learn how dinosaurs’ designs teach us something about God’s nature, how the fossils of dinosaurs teach us about sin and its consequences in judgement, and the legends of dinosaurs teach us how people still need God’s love and salvation.

In recent years, people have become really interested in genetics.  They ask questions like “Who were my ancestors?  What can I learn about my family through our genes?  What mix of nationalities do I have?”  As the genomes of various species, including humans, have been mapped, scientists have reflected on many issues.  One of those issues is molecular clocks.

The objective of education, in general, is to equip upcoming generations to understand their place in society and how to contribute in a meaningful way to the well-being of that society. Christians go further. Each generation seeks to communicate with youngsters our relationship to God, and our relationship to people and the world in which we live. Christians therefore declare that an important part of our mandate as citizens and believers, is to make sure that we are informed about current events and issues such as science which can exert such a dramatic impact on society, especially today. Thus, we seek to acquiesce with, or speak out against, various important policies in government and society. Indeed, few issues today have fashioned the values of society as much as has scientific thinking and the philosophical implications thereof.

Review by Margaret Helder

A just-retired forensic scientist, Dr. Mark Sandercock, has written an amazing book on scripture, science and current attitudes and customs in our modern society and how these compare to biblical revelation. The book is written for all interested Christians, but especially for those who may have doubts about six-day creation and need a little encouragement.

This work is divided into three sections. The first deals with Genesis 1-11. The second section deals with the evolution paradigm and how this does not compare favourably with what we see in nature, or indeed in scripture. The third section deals with several popular practices which plague our society, and why these customs are allowed and encouraged today when former generations did not allow anything of the kind.

“Strange is this little creature, because the whole organisation of his body is extraordinary and strange and because his external appearance, at the first sight, has the closest similarity to a little bear.  This also led me to give him the name little water bear” (cited in Greven 2015).

Dinosaurs are such showy, dramatic creatures, and their fossils are found in such variety that they have naturally attracted a lot of attention from scientists and the public alike. The question “where did they come from?” has attracted a lot of attention from specialists who seek an evolutionary answer. Nevertheless, a recent article on the topic remarks that relationships (lines of evolutionary descent) between the major groups of dinosaurs have historically been uncertain.  Why would that be? Have we seen any improvement in this situation with new analyses? [David Cerny and Ashley L. Simonoff. 2023. Statistical evaluation of character support reveals the instability of higher-level dinosaur phylogeny. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-35784-3 (2023) 13:9273 open access]

The recent death of Dr. John Morris of ICR brings to mind the occasion when he collaborated with Rev. Edward Crawford of Edmonton to travel to Mount Ararat.

On a stormy night at the end of February, 1976 Edward Crawford and more than three thousand other Edmontonians crowded into Jubilee Auditorium to hear John Morris, Field Director of the Institute for Creation Research in San Diego. Morris’ update on the status of expeditions to Mount Ararat included a number of slides. Mr. Crawford however saw something that others missed. He saw an inscription on a boulder on Mount Ararat. He recognized some of the characters as ancient proto-Sumerian. What was the story behind these writings? He wondered how messages came to be in such an inhospitable part of the world.

A Reflection

It has been suggested by some people that Christians reacted poorly to the threat posed by Darwin’s book The Origin of Species. Such criticisms miss the point. Influential English society had already abandoned an orthodox Christian faith and they were more than ready for Darwin’s ideas. The situation was similar in the United States. There were no arguments which could have changed these hearers’ minds. They heard what they wanted to hear and ignored what they did not like.

Naturally the first to speak out were prominent clerics. One of the most famous defenders of the faith was Samuel Wilberforce (1805-1873) Bishop of Oxford and son of the famous William Wilberforce who campaigned so long for the emancipation of the slaves in the British Empire. The Wilberforce family was known for their devout faith. Thus in a review of Darwin’s book, Bishop Wilberforce wrote:

Since the 1960s, biologists have understood that the shape of a protein is essential to its function. The molecular machines which are so important to the functioning of the living cell, are made up of precisely shaped proteins. And the shape is genetically controlled by the sequence of nucleotides in the DNA of the cell. What has concerned some scientists recently however is that there are proteins with similar shapes but the controlling nucleotide sequences are very different. Could a DNA sequence change but the protein shape remain the same? This is the evolutionary explanation that some scientists are promoting.

You are invited to
Creation Weekend 2022
Featuring Patricia Engler
Youth Outreach Coordinator for Answers in Genesis and author of a new book Prepare to Thrive

Saturday, October 15, 2022

Hybrid Event with In Person or Online Options
In Person Option
– View presentations on a large screen and meet others.
– Browse books and DVDs provided for sale.
– No need to register for this option.
– Location: Meadowlands Baptist Church (2215 17 St NW, Edmonton)
– Attendance is free.

At Home Option
– Watch presentations using Zoom.
– Register for free at www.create.ab.ca/register

10:00 a.m. – Session 1
Understanding Genesis,
the Foundation of our Christian Faith
Why are Western nations growing less Christian every year – and what can we do about it? Find out why Genesis provides the foundation for the Biblical worldview, what happens when we compromise that foundation, and how everyday Christians can respond.

2:00 p.m. – Session 2
Stories from Backpacking Around the World
in Search of Christian Students
How do Christian students around the world keep their faith? To find out, Patricia backpacked around the world interviewing students. With a country-by-country retelling of her experiences, key takeaways from interviews, and stories of God’s provision along the way, this presentation combines topics of apologetics, higher education, and the adventure of the Christian life.

Patricia Engler has written a most helpful and inspiring book to help post-secondary students, and in fact everybody, deal with a constant barrage of secular messages, especially in science. Her objective, and hopefully the objective of all of us, is to “know, defend and live out the truth of God’s Word.” Her book is aimed specifically at the post-secondary student, but it is suitable for every Christian. She also discovered, as a result of a six-month trip around the world to consult Christian students in many diverse countries, that while Christians in these cultures face a variety of challenges, the solutions are largely the same. So, what are these solutions? Patricia has penned this book to share those solutions with us.

In high school biology courses, it soon became apparent to Angie that among her fellow Christians, there was a diversity of opinions about origins. So, she consulted the HeadStart program about the impact of world views on the relationship between faith and science. She read information on the gap theory, the day age theory, the framework hypothesis, theistic evolution, neo-Darwinism, methodological naturalism, intelligent design and creation. Now she better appreciates why this whole website is devoted to creation.