-
December 2, 2019
Whenever a catastrophe strikes in the United States, political and public figures almost always offer “thoughts and prayers” and call the public to join them in their gestures for those negatively impacted by the catastrophe. However, until recently no one had conducted a scientific experiment to determine the value of these thoughts and prayers to the intended recipients.
-
November 25, 2019
When humans experience or learn of an earthquake or volcano anywhere in the world, a natural response is to express concern and then mobilize to help the suffering. Because these disasters often result in tragedy, many people are surprised to learn that the processes involved in plate tectonics also play a crucial role in sustaining life on Earth. For example, who would have thought that the exchange of carbon between Earth’s layers must occur at just-right rates to ensure our survival? Thanks to ongoing research, scientists have discovered that 60 components of Earth’s deep carbon cycle must be fine-tuned for advanced life.
-
Earth Science
-
Earth Design
-
Earth's History
-
Ecosystems
-
Sun
-
Requirements for Life
-
Plate Tectonics
-
Oceans
-
Ocean life
-
Life History
-
Life Design
-
Life Complexity
-
God's Existence
-
Geophysics
-
Geology
-
Fossil Record
-
Comets
-
Cambrian Explosion
-
Atmosphere
-
November 18, 2019
The movement of carbon through Earth’s atmosphere, hydrosphere, crust, and mantle may not immediately fascinate everybody, but we will appreciate those cycles as we understand how they help make our existence possible. Scientists have learned how Earth’s fine-tuned carbon cycles have compensated for the Sun’s increasing brightness to keep our planet from overheating or overcooling and, thus, making long-term life possible and comfortable.
-
Fine-Tuning
-
Requirements for Life
-
Atmosphere
-
Plate Tectonics
-
Earth Science
-
Sun
-
Earth Design
-
November 11, 2019
What counts as evidence that a scientific model is consistent with reality and therefore true? According to scientists, there is strong evidence for a model when advancing knowledge yields a progressively better-defined and more detailed description of the phenomenon the model explains. To that end, detailed spectral measurements of two stars from very early in the universe’s history have now yielded a more detailed and more precisely defined big bang creation model.
-
Big Bang Theory
-
Milky Way Galaxy
-
Young-Earth Creationism
-
Universe Design
-
-
November 4, 2019
Everything scientists can observe and measure about the universe asserts that the universe had a beginning—a beginning that implies the creation of matter, energy, space, and time. A moment when all matter, energy, space, and time came into existence implies that a Causal Agent operating beyond (i.e., outside) them must have created the universe. Such a Causal Agent matches the description of the God of the Bible and contradicts the descriptions of the gods of the eastern religions.
-
Origin of the Universe
-
Cosmology
-
Big Bang Theory
-
Astronomy
-
October 28, 2019
I grew up in British Columbia, a Canadian province that is 40% larger than Texas and almost entirely covered by forests. When I attended the University of British Columbia, the department of forestry was one of the larger educational departments on campus. In fact, the university was founded with a land grant of more than six square miles so that the department of forestry could have an on-campus forest on which they could conduct some of their research.
-
October 21, 2019
In part 1 of this two-part series I explained how astronomers were able to discern the structures and extent of superclusters of galaxies and determine where we reside in the Laniakea Supercluster. Here in part 2 I will use a 26-image library I constructed (in part from a 176-megapixel image of the large-structure features of the universe) to describe how, at all cosmic size scales, we see that our position is remarkably fine-tuned to make possible our existence and civilization.
-
Galaxy Design
-
Universe Design
-
Milky Way Galaxy
-
Solar System Design
-
Fine-Tuning
-
Cosmic Expansion
-
October 14, 2019
A well-designed home is a house where every room, wall closet, and cabinet of the interior has been configured to suit the specific needs and desires of the residents. For that to be possible, however, the house itself needs well-specified interior and exterior designs. What is true for our homes is also true for our galaxy, our galaxy cluster, and our supergalaxy cluster, and it seems that they all are well-designed indeed.
-
Milky Way Galaxy
-
Galaxy Design
-
Fine-Tuning
-
-
October 7, 2019
Physicians possess various tools for determining the health status of your heart. In addition to stethoscopes, physicians possess advanced instruments like electrocardiograms, echocardiograms, and angiograms to determine the health of human hearts. Likewise, astronomers now possess advanced telescope and imaging instruments to determine the health of our Milky Way Galaxy’s heart. These instruments reveal an unusual “health” that speaks of galaxy design.
-
Old Earth Creationism
-
Milky Way Galaxy
-
Young-Earth Creationism
-
Galaxy Design
-
Fine-Tuning
-
September 30, 2019
In many war movies that were released fifty to eighty years ago, an infantry lieutenant would challenge his platoon with the question, “Are we mice or are we men?” The platoon soldiers would shout back, “We are men! We are men!” The platoon would then charge into battle, suffering horrific casualties before ultimately winning a great victory. I do remember one spoof of such movies where the soldiers shouted, “We are mice! We are mice!” and then beat a hasty retreat.
-
Human Uniqueness
-
Animals
-
Adaptation
-
September 23, 2019
If you ever watched Tim Allen on Tool Time, the handyman show within the television show Home Improvement, you saw a man who always expressed joy in using some tool or set of tools to fix or solve a problem. Allen (as Tim “The Toolman” Taylor) portrayed what is inherent in us all. All human beings find satisfaction and fulfillment when we successfully use a tool—or better yet, several tools—to fix or solve something that has stumped or vexed us. Research affirms that this fulfillment in humans and some animals appears to result from a Creator’s endowment.
-
Life Complexity
-
God
-
Animals
-
Mental Health
-
Human Uniqueness
-
September 16, 2019
In last week’s post, I explained how a team of astronomers comprehensively verified general relativity by achieving unprecedented accuracy in their gravitational field tests, even for extremely strong gravitational fields. I also discussed how this verification strengthens the case for a cosmic beginning and for a causal Agent beyond space and time who created our universe. In this post, I’ll show how additional measurements on our galaxy’s supermassive black hole help resolve discrepancies and lead to further compelling philosophical implications.
-
Big Bang Theory
-
God's Existence
-
Cosmic Expansion
-
Dark Energy & Dark Matter
-
Universe Design
-
Relativity
-
Origin of the Universe
-
Milky Way Galaxy
-
Galaxy Design
-
-
September 9, 2019
It may be surprising to learn that a star orbiting the Milky Way Galaxy’s black hole has produced evidence for one of the most tested and implication-laden theories of science—general relativity—but that’s what’s happened. An international team of astronomers, equipped with sophisticated measuring instruments, has analyzed data they’ve captured from recent measurements of the star’s orbit and provided evidence buttressing the idea of a cosmic beginning and, hence, a causal agent. I’ll explain the findings in this post and will discuss the philosophical implications in next week’s entry.
-
Relativity
-
Milky Way Galaxy
-
Origin of the Universe
-
Einstein
-
Universe Design
-
Galaxy Design
-
Cosmic Expansion
-
Big Bang Theory
-
September 2, 2019
Time for both the universe and us as humans is linear. That is, for us, there exists only one dimension of time. In that one dimension, time moves inexorably forward. We can slow down the forward passage of time by adjusting our velocity, but we cannot reverse or stop it. Simply put, there is always a past, a present, and a future for the universe, and for us as its inhabitants.
-
Good Questions
-
Creation
-
Augustine
-
Trinity
-
Philosophy
-
Doctrine
-
Cosmology
-
Choice and Freewill
-
Christian Issues
-
August 26, 2019
One of the most popular articles I have written is “Big Bang—The Bible Taught It First!” I wrote it with the encouragement and assistance of theologian John Rea and we published it in Reasons to Believe’s Facts for Faith magazine in 2000.1 In the two decades since then, one of the most common objections I have received from skeptics is that the Bible teaches no such thing. Who is correct?
-
RTB 101
-
Creation & Genesis
-
God's Existence
-
Origin of the Universe
-
Creation
-
Cosmic Expansion
-
Big Bang Theory
-
August 19, 2019
Which model, naturalistic evolution or supernatural creation, best explains the pattern of life’s history on Earth? If a test produces “strikingly divergent results” for the expectations of a model, what does that tell us? A new study on speciation and extinction rates provides persuasive evidence.
-
Creation vs. Evolution
-
Extinction
-
Genes & DNA
-
Fossil Record
-
Speciation
-
Naturalism
-
Genomics
-
Common Design vs. Common Descent
-
Challenges to Evolution
-
Animals
-
-
August 12, 2019
Skeptics of big bang creation cite a loophole in their attempts to avert a beginning for our universe and, hence, the implication of a causal agent. A new discovery on gamma-ray emissions from a supergiant galaxy stands to address the loophole from early in the universe’s history in an “era” (an extremely brief moment after the beginning) called quantum gravity.
-
Laws of Physics
-
Relativity
-
Origin of the Universe
-
Universe Design
-
God
-
Cosmology
-
Big Bang Theory
-
August 5, 2019
It may not occur to people living in a high-tech modern society, but an improbable confluence of natural events in Earth’s past has made our comfortable lives possible. Scientists have learned how four finely tuned snowball events led to just-right plate tectonic activity, along with the timing of the Sun’s brightness, in what appears to be a supernatural arrangement to prepare our planet for advanced life.
-
Human Origins
-
Earth Design
-
Sun
-
Life History
-
Geology
-
Creation vs. Evolution
-
Atmosphere
-
July 29, 2019
Which model, naturalistic evolution or biblical creation, best explains Earth’s mass extinctions followed by introductions of new species? A new discovery helps provide an answer as it sheds light on a coincidental supernova event and an asteroid impact.
-
Extinction
-
Life History
-
Asteroids
-
Natural Disasters
-
Atmosphere
-
Speciation
-
Ocean life
-
Creation vs. Evolution
-
Animals
-
July 22, 2019
A question that is frequently posted on my Facebook page is: Why, if there is an all-powerful, all-loving God, do good people die while they are still young? Here’s a recent example:
-
Miracles
-
Cancer
-
Laws of Physics
-
Sin
-
Death
-
Problem of Evil
-
Pain and Suffering
-
Bible
-