What is Science?

What is Science?

The title asks a fundamental question, doesn’t it? After all, many evolutionists claim there are no true scientists who are creationists. This statement ignores such pioneering giants as Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Joseph Lister, James Maxwell, Louis Pasteur, Michael Faraday, Samuel F.B. Morse, Johannes Kepler, John Dalton, George Washington Carver, and many others. On the Answers in Genesis website one can also find a partial list of living scientists who embrace creationism. (http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/bios/default.asp). The claim that honest scientists embrace evolution demands an answer to our question, how should we define science? Can true science include the supernatural?
The word ‘science’ comes from a Latin word meaning ‘knowledge.’ Dictionary.com has as its second definition for science, “systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation.” Thus, for something to be true science, it must be observable and repeatable, for experimentation demands repetition to verify something always acts the same way under the same conditions. This definition at once dismisses the whole subject of origins from the field of science for the origin of life is not subject to experimentation or observation. It already happened before anyone observed it and it certainly has not been repeated. We can, however, discuss theories of origins based on presently known, repeatable laws. 
Richard Dickerson, biochemist and member of the National Academy of Science, made the following very candid admission: “Science, fundamentally, is a game. It is a game with one overriding and defining rule: Let us see how far and to what extent we can explain the behavior of the physical and material universe in terms of purely physical and material causes, without invoking the supernatural. Calling down special-purpose miracles as explanations constitutes a form of intellectual ‘cheating.’ A chess player is perfectly capable of moving his opponent’s king physically from the board and smashing it in the midst of the tournament. But this would not make him a chess champion, because the rules have not been followed.” (from Darwin’s Black Box) Admitting that the supernatural is possible, they say, is cheating for it seems to admit that no other explanation exists. Yet, dismissing God from the equation has resulted in unverifiable and sometimes bizarre explanations of the origin and apparent design of life by random undirected accidents.
In a previous article we examined the motives behind dismissing the work of God in creation. Now the individual must make a choice. Since neither theory is a matter of true science, we must examine the scientific data and then embrace by faith one or the other theory about how this world, teaming with life, came about. Either we will dismiss the supernatural and try to explain its unity and complexity through mindless accidents, or we will see the hand of our Creator in all He did. In my view, the latter is the only reasonable conclusion an unbiased observer could make. And in accepting it as true, we have no reason to feel that we cheated.

Explaining Instinct

Every reputable scientist knows that Lamarck’s theory of inherited characteristics was repudiated long ago. He had conjectured that acquired characteristics were passed on to the offspring. Thus, to explain how a giraffe got a long neck, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) theorized that, as leaves were eaten from the trees, they were harder to reach and the giraffe stretched its neck a small amount to get his leaf salad lunch.  He passed on his slightly longer neck to his offspring and this went on until we have the animal as it is today. His ideas were dismissed even during his lifetime. Today we know that a characteristic acquired during life does not affect the genes. A woman who lost an arm in an accident will not give birth to a one-armed child. Only what affects the genes is inherited. Genes may be affected during a lifetime, for example by radiation, but if the change is inherited, it almost always is detrimental to the next generation.
So, offspring cannot inherit what parents do. But can offspring inherit what parents learn? We wish it were true but, for better or worse, we humans all start with a clean slate. This leads to the baffling question of how animal offspring do inherit survival needed information, that is, information that is not taught by a parent but is needed to stay alive. Examples are legion. The Pacific Golden Plover bird lives in eastern Siberia and Alaska. In the fall, the bird flies non-stop to the tiny islands of Hawaii, 2000 miles over the ocean. A slight deviation off the southern route and the birds would die before reaching land. Yet they hit it every time. Since the summers are so short, the young are not old enough to take the trip when the parents leave. But two months later they take off and meet mom and dad when they arrive. How do they know where to go and how to get there?
The Magnolia Warbler, even when separated from its parents before hatching, still has the ability to navigate by the stars and to know when it is time to fly south based solely on star patterns. The opossum is born 12 days after conception and is the size of a grain of rice. It then crawls to the mother’s pouch and attaches to one of her 13 nipples. If it is too late (no nipples left), it will perish. How is this knowledge passed on to each generation?
Evolutionists are forced to admit that in the distant past learned information became programmed into an animal’s genes. This sounds suspiciously Lamarckian, doesn’t it? Creationists have a better explanation. God put the information in the genes of animals when He made them. It is just another example of His wisdom and power.

Your Brain’s Priorities

Between your two ears is three pounds of matter called your brain containing, made up of 10 billion cells. In 1970 Isaac Asimov stated, “And in Man is a three-pound brain which, as far as we know, is the most complex and orderly arrangement of matter in the universe.” It is one of the first organs to develop after conception and is clearly identifiable 18 days after conception.
In the protection of your mother’s womb, your brain cells developed in such a way that it could control all the input and output needed to make you an independent individual. About .1% of your brain’s daily activities involve visual images, sounds, touch, pain, smell, i.e. information coming in.  This amounts to about 100 million messages a second though most of them are filtered out as unimportant before they reach the brain. Another .2% of the brain’s cells control all motor activities such as walking, writing, playing an instrument, and speaking, i.e. response going out. All the rest of the brain’s activity, 99.7%, is involved in communicating with itself in what we call reasoning, thought, and choice. “The human brain consists of about ten thousand million nerve cells. Each nerve cell puts out somewhere in the region of between ten thousand and one hundred thousand connecting fibres by which it makes contact with other nerve cells in the brain. Altogether the total number of connections in the human brain approaches 10 to the fifteenth power or a thousand million million. . . a much greater number of specific connections than in the entire communications network on Earth.” - creationscience.com/onlinebook/ReferencesandNotes9.html Stated another way: “One cubic millimeter, the size of a pinpoint, contains one billion connections among cells; a mere gram of brain tissue may contain as many as four hundred billion synaptic junctions. As a result, each cell can communicate with every other cell at lightning speed as if a population far larger than earth’s were linked together so that all inhabitants could talk at once.” (In His Image, p. 127)
It is the brain’s ability to toss information back and forth that allows us to reason, create, decide, and accept or reject the information we receive. Though studied and mapped by scientists for a lifetime, the brain still contains many mysteries yet to be discovered. It is truly a wonder! Read again the quote beginning this article. Sadly, Asimov was an atheist evolutionist who saw in the order and complexity of the brain no evidence of a Creator. He stated, “I am an atheist, out and out. . . I don’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn’t that I don’t want to waste my time.”
Sadly, in 1992 he learned there was a God and that he had been ’willingly ignorant‘ (2 Peter 3:5) of His obvious evidences for design. He learned this moments after his death, but it was too late to repent. The good news is that it is not yet too late for you.

The Marvels of Flight Feathers

While visiting the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum west of Tucson, I was not surprised to find a model depicting the evolution of birds from reptiles. Made of welded copper (if I remember correctly), the model showed how gradually reptiles developed wings and eventually learned to fly as birds. It was all so clearly presented showing six or eight transition forms, how could anyone doubt it? Of course, no one there explained that the transition forms were imaginary. They have never been observed and nothing in the fossil record indicates that reptiles changed into birds over long periods of time. This is from dinosaur-world.com- “Wings evolved over many, many millions of years. Scientists have extensively studied the wings of modern-day birds and have identified many important anatomical details. Especially important are those not found on the ‘arms’ of non-birds.  Major efforts have gone into finding early occurrences of such details in the fossil record, but unfortunately it is far from complete.” This is saying transition forms just aren’t there. Yes, both reptiles and birds hatch from eggs but similarities end quickly. For example, reptiles are cold-blooded whereas birds are warm-blooded, with a body temperature slightly above humans (104º-108º). In an article in animals.about.com, the author shows the mystery of the evolution of flight. “All animals that fly have wings. To understand the evolution of flight, it helps to consider how wings may have evolved: wings may have evolved from forelimbs used in the capture of small prey; wings may have evolved to assist animals as they jumped up from the ground; wings may have evolved as part of sexual display features; wings may have evolved to help animals glide efficiently.” Besides the fact that each of these theories is fraught with problems, consider the marvel of the feather. Feathers play a crucial role in the life of birds besides allowing them to fly. Wiki says, “They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates.”
Feathers are used for flight, thermal insulation, waterproofing, and coloration that helps in communication and protection. “Every feather is a marvel of engineering design. A single pigeon feather is composed of more than a million individual parts. Barbs extend from each side of a center shaft. Smaller barbules grow out of both sides of these barbs, which in turn are made with tiny microscopic barbicels. These barbicels are tiny hooks which interlock with barbules, weaving each feather together like the teeth on a zipper. If the barbs are pulled apart, the bird hooks them back together by simply running its beak through the feathers. For their weight, feathers are stronger than any man-made structures.” Evolutionists claim that feathers evolved from reptile scales. “There is virtually no similarity between scales and feathers, nor is there any fossil evidence showing the transition from scale to feather.” (It Couldn’t Just Happen, p. 106)
We can give evolutionists credit for a great imagination and creative ways to present their theory. However, when they are not based on the facts, they are deceptive. The truth is that feathers, like all other marvels of our world, point to a masterful design by a Creator!

Sheep (1)

Is it not significant that Abel, the second generation from creation, was a ‘keeper of sheep’? From the beginning these animals needed someone to care for them. If they had evolved before shepherds did, we would only know of them in the fossil record! In this and many other ways, sheep were designed, I am confident, to teach us about ourselves.
A ewe is old enough to reproduce by 10 months and usually gives birth to twins. The gestation is about 145 days but this could be a dangerous time for her, even with the shepherd around. Unlike other animals, a sheep that rolls on its back cannot right itself. It is called being ‘cast.’ This is especially a problem with a top heavy ewe near birth. The baby inside her can put pressure on her rumen (first stomach compartment) and this can build up gases and cut off blood circulation to the legs. She and the baby could be dead in a few hours. When she is cast down, her only hope is to be set upright by the shepherd. This takes effort on his part for she could weigh as much as 300 pounds! David said, ”Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me?
Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” (Psalms 42:5; see also vv. 6, 11)
Sheep too have no sense of direction. They can pass over a hill, lose sight of the flock or shepherd, and wander aimlessly in the wrong direction trying to find their way home. This is the picture of the lost sheep in Luke 15.  Isaiah says, ”All we like sheep have gone astray.” (Isaiah 53:6) Peter says, ”For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” (I Peter 2:25)
Did you know that sheep have perfect pitch? You can’t fool a sheep by trying to imitate the call of its shepherd. Sheep do not need to be branded because, once they learn who their shepherd is and know his voice, they are bonded for life. Several flocks of sheep mingled together will not require massive sorting. One shepherd need only stand to one side and call his sheep. Only his will come as he leads them away.
Jesus said, ”My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life.” (John 10:27-28)

Do you know the Good Shepherd’s voice? (John 10:11)

It is no compliment to say we are like sheep. Sheep are not on the top ten list of smartest animals! But since we are, it is wonderful to know we can have such a loving and caring Shepherd! (Psalm 23:1).