Month: June 2022

Categories
World History

Treasure Hunt: the Garden of Eden

garden of eden

Just the Facts, Ma’am

Dream Time

Treasure Hunt for Eden

Hunting the Pishon and Gihon Rivers

Finding the Treasure: the Location of the Garden of Eden

Treasure Hunt: the Garden of Eden

We will have to take Moses’ word for it.

We have seen that cultural legends, evolution, and radiographic dating have serious flaws. Moses’ Genesis is the only authority that remains.

Just the Facts, Ma’am

Let me remind you that Moses is writing in Hebraic narrative style. It’s like he is writing a military report to the pharaoh. Just…the…facts. No metaphors. No similes. No literary license.

Dream Time

Some cultural legends call this period of man the Dream Time.

I love that name. It evokes your best dreams when everything is beautiful. Events make you happy. Exciting things are happening. People are known as Great Kings or Giants or Gods by the people telling the legends. Animals can talk with you and they all love you. And everyone’s a vegetarian—and I don’t just mean humans!

According to Moses, the Dream Time for humans began with a garden created especially for the first human (a male) in 4008 or 4010 B.C. Moses even tells us where it was!

Unfortunately, he describes it in ancient Egyptian geographical terms and possibly some terms that trace back to the Dream Time itself.

We have to solve puzzles to follow the map to the treasure! What fun!

Treasure Hunt for Eden

There are seven clues in Genesis chapter 3, verses 8-14.

  1. The Garden of Eden was east, in Eden.
  2. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden.
  3. From there, the river separated into four headwaters.
  4. First river: Pishon. It ran through the land of Havilah, where there was gold.
  5. Second river: Gihon. It ran through Cush.
  6. Third river: Tigris. It ran along the east side of Asshur.
  7. Fourth river: Euphrates.

The first thing I see is that many place names have changed since Genesis was written. The clues start in Eden. But we don’t know where Eden is.

Let’s look at the names that are the same today. We know the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. We’ll work backward.

Find the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Well, they don’t exactly come together, but it’s close. They joined when the directions were written. Time changes geology.

Surprise! It’s in the country of Turkey!

The two rivers are in a ring of mountains. Mountains! Many cultural legends tell of one or more mountains! Maybe Eden is inside the ring of mountains: the plateau.

The garden is “in the east, in Eden” and a river flowed through there to the source of the four rivers.

So that means that Eden is the area of the Turkish plateau north of the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates! Bingo!

But where are the other rivers?

Hunting the Pishon and Gihon Rivers

We know by satellite imaging that Turkey used to be a lush environment. Ancient dry riverbeds would have been flowing with water. Some may have connected.

The ancient gold mines were in the Gediz Basin. And, as Moses notes, “the gold there was good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.”

Doesn’t that sound like an Egyptian prince? Gold and the precious stone onyx for décor. Aromatic resin for, among other things, mummification.

The Gediz Basin is on the western edge of Turkey. Maybe the Gediz River used to be the mouth of the Pishon River. It may have connected to Lake Tuz and then connected to the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates.

The Gihon River flowed through Cush.

Cush meant “black” in Ancient Egyptian.  The Nubian Kingdom south of Egypt was sometimes referred to as Cush because the Cush (black skinned) people lived there.

All cultures have known the 4 directions, sometimes called the 4 pillars. We call them north, south, east, and west.

In the time of Genesis, Egyptians named the directions with colors. Black was the color for north.

The Karasu River flows north to the Black (North) Sea! This was the far north of civilization.

Finding the Treasure: the Location of the Garden of Eden

Now we know the four rivers that flowed out of the Garden. Their headwaters were probably where the Tigris and Euphrates are closest together.

Is there a river that flows into that spot, creating the headwaters of the rivers? Yes! It’s the Murat River!

The Garden of Eden was along the Murat River!

Read it for yourself in Genesis 3:8-14 (chapter 3, verses 8-14).

Photo credit: Bkamprath

Categories
World History

The Genesis Account of Intelligent Design

weather women before weather map

Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How?

Genesis: the Geological Time Table and the RATE Findings

The Original Earth

Does Genesis Verify Pangea?

Weather Alert!

The Genesis Account of Intelligent Design

We have already discovered that Genesis is the most authoritative account of ancient history. That does not mean we cannot question it or compare it to other sources. Just remember that we have proven Genesis to be the most authoritative history book.

Remember that Moses writes in the ancient Hebrew verbs indicating that his report is nonfiction. Also, recall that he writes in a minimalistic style. His goal is not to tell everything he knows, but to direct the reader to the most important history.

I will use the New International Version unless I tell you differently.

Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How?

Be an excellent journalist and ask the six questions.

Moses begins with, “In the beginning God….” In the beginning of what? Of everything: time, space, matter…. Nothing existed except the Judeo-Christian God. I will use “God” for the Judeo-Christian deity.

Who? God

What? He created everything including humans.

When? Let’s get back to this. It deserves a section of its own.

Where? God is everywhere at once.

How? He spoke and various things appeared—except for humans. He made the man of dirt (“the dust of the earth”) and later made the woman from the man’s rib.

Why? Unlike many cultural stories who say humans were made to serve the gods, Moses says God created humans for company. He loved the puny little things and wanted them to choose to love him back. How weird is that?

Genesis: the Geological Time Table and the RATE Findings

Let’s return to “when.”

Moses says all of creation was completed in six days. On the seventh day, God rested. (Not that God was tired: he was setting an example for humans.)

Now, some people try to have their cake and eat it, too. They don’t want to seem unscientific, so they try to jam the Genesis account into traditional geological time.

They say, “Well, a day is a period of time like…an eon…or a geological era.”

Sorry, folks, the creation story is written with narrative verbs. The seven days are literal. (Although an eon of rest sounds inviting sometimes!)

How long ago was Creation Week?

The traditional Jewish date of the beginning of Creation Week is October 7, 3761 B.C. However, there is a 165 year period under debate. The traditional date used the genealogies in Genesis and added the years from then to when the date was calculated.

The traditional Christian date for Creation Week is 4004 B.C. Archbishop Ussher calculated this and added dates to the King James Bible when it was first published in 1611.

Ussher used all of the genealogies of the Christian Bible, which brought calculations to known dates in world history. He added the gap dates between the end of the New Testament to his own time.

Since then, other biblical scholars have checked his work, using all genealogies, known historical dates, and scientific findings.

Ussher was found to be almost correct. The actual date of creation was 4 or 6 years earlier.

In case you are wondering, the recalculation of geologic time, using all of the RATE findings, makes Ussher’s date scientifically defendable.

And, by the way, there is an enticing nuclear decay spike during Creation Week! What was its cause and effect? We don’t know yet.

The Original Earth

Genesis gives a unique, specific description of the creation of planet Earth that is as bizarre to our minds as good science fiction.

  1. Genesis 1:2 (chapter 1, verse 2) says, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
    1. All kinds of ideas clash in my mind!
      1. The earth was formless. Okay. (Struggle.) Got that.
      2. The earth was empty. That’s easy to understand.
      3. Darkness…well, yeah. Light hadn’t been created yet.
      4. The surface of the deep. What’s the deep? Deep what? Deep sea? That doesn’t seem likely since water gets its own note next. Deep as in the core of the earth? Maybe. How did an ancient Egyptian prince know this stuff?
      5. The waters. Okay. There were the waters and the deep. Got it. Sort of.
  2. After God created light, and then night and day (yes, a day began after sunset because the Earth was in darkness until light was made) Genesis 1:7 says, “God made the expanse and separated the waters under the expanse from the waters above it….God called the expanse ‘sky.’”

Does Genesis Verify Pangea?

Weather Alert!

  • Genesis 2:5b-6: “…for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth…but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.” So…rain is an abnormal event!

Irrigation was the primary infrastructure interest in ancient Egypt and therefore of great interest to Moses.

Okay, my head hurts. I can’t take anymore.

I bet you could use a break, too.

Read it for yourself: Genesis 1:1-2:6

Photo credit: https://www.istockphoto.com/portfolio/gorodenkoff?mediatype=photography

Categories
World History

Evolution or Intelligent Design? Which is Correct? Part 5

balanced scales

What Does Genesis Say?

Genesis and the Geological Ages Model

RATE Findings about the Age of the Earth

What Do You Think?

Should Genesis be Taught in Public School?

Evolution or Intelligent Design? Which is Correct? Part 5

What Does Genesis Say (about the beginning of life, and especially humans)?

  1. God existed alone until creation.
  2. He created all things as an expression of art.
  3. He created all things except humans by speaking them into existence.
  4. He created living things by “kinds.” We don’t know how that fits into our nomenclature.
  5. He created humans for a relationship, not servanthood as many cultural legends say.
  6. He created humans with a personal touch: man from dirt, woman from man’s rib.
  7. He completed the initial creation in 6 days. That’s 6 days of 24 hours each.

Genesis and the Geological Ages Model

The Geological Ages Theory states that the earth was laid down in various strata over time, with the oldest layer at the bottom. A model was constructed to illustrate this.

In general, everyone agrees with the theory and the model. It has been observed in nature.

But questions remain:

  1. Absolute proof of a geological layer’s age is only obtained when objects it contains are inscribed with a date, name, or event that can be verified independently.

How accurate is the model on deeper strata?

  • The model is an amalgamation of findings. It actually does not exist. In reality, strata are missing, flipped, and sometimes shuffled. Darwin noted this but did not pursue it.
  • Modern humans are theorized to have evolved 300,000 years ago. How does this mesh with the following facts?

Fact: Only 6000 remains of Homo sapiens have been found.

Fact: The oldest Homo sapien with the DNA of both the ancient paternal line and the ancient maternal line is dated only 5000 years ago.

  • Since we now know that DNA changes are neutral, but usually degenerative, how does that change thinking about other humanoid species?

RATE Findings about the Age of the Earth

In 1997, seven scientists questioned the accuracy of radioisotope dating. They called themselves RATE for Radioisotopes and the Age of The Earth.

The seven RATE scientists all held earned doctorates. They included 2 geologists, 1 geophysicist, 3 physicists, and 1 meteorologist. Their research took 8 years.

Here are their findings:

  1. Carbon-14 was found in small but measurable amounts in both coal and diamonds. There should be no Carbon-14 present since its half-life is 5,730 years. (RATE published the first literature on diamonds.)
  2. High concentrations of helium were found in zircon crystals that are radiodated at 1.5 billion years. At that age, all helium atoms should have escaped long ago.
  3. There is large-scale nuclear decay, as shown by the abundance of radiohalos (tiny spherical defects) in granite dated during the year-long event popularly known as Noah’s Flood, as dated by Genesis. Accelerated decay occurs several times during recent history, including during the Genesis Creation Week. These are significant, but not nearly as drastic as during the Flood. Is this what is throwing off older dating?
  4. Different radioisotope dating is sometimes found within the same sample. (The study included a large number of samples from around the world.)

Altogether, RATE’s research calls basic assumptions of radioisotope dating into question.

What Do You Think?

I know these blogs have been a lot to digest.

Think it over.

Remember the Rule is that the simplest answer is usually the right one.

Decide for yourself.

What is the origin and descent of Man?

Should Genesis be Taught in Public School?

It used to be taught, you know. Then it was thrown out because of the separation of church and state.

But that was never the original intent of the constitution. The separation was in political governance, not education.

Genesis is at least a strong alternative theory to evolution. And what if it’s fact?

Genesis is not the oldest factual historical document, but it is the oldest history book. It is certainly the oldest history book not written to aggrandize the author.

Besides, if we ban every book and scientific advance that references religion, we are left only with Enlightenment documents. And we can’t even use Enlightenment research based on books that reverence religion. Can we even use the research of religious persons who do not refer to their religion in print?

So why pick on Genesis?

Suggested readings:

Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 through chapter 2 verse 3

Behe, Michael. Darwin Devolves.

DeYoung, Don. Thousands…not Billions (a RATE report)

Photo Credit: lSerg through Unsplash

Categories
World History

Evolution or Intelligent Design: Which Is Correct? Part 4

Evolution vs Intelligent design part 4 (scroll manuscript)

Intelligent Design Has Answers

Who Done It?

Written Proofs

Who Wrote Genesis?

Moses’s Claim

But was Moses Writing History or Recording Cultural Legends?

The Final Choice: Evolution or Genesis

Evolution or Intelligent Design: Which Is Correct? Part 4

We come at last to our discussion of Intelligent Design. Will it fare better than evolution?

Intelligent Design Has Answers

If you admit that the amazing variety of species with complex and purposeful characteristics must point to a creator, most of these theoretical problems disappear.

  1. The origin of all life is from a consciousness, that is, a mind.
  2. Man did not ascend from apes. There are varieties within species, but no evolution between species. Humans have always been humans.
  3. Complex features were created purposefully for each plant or animal.
  4. Without the concept of evolution, why wouldn’t simpler life forms continue to exist?
  5. Since humans have not ascended from animals, Intelligent Design is in harmony with other sciences.
  6. A detailed description of man is not needed. He is little different today from at first.

Who Done It?

That’s all very well, but who is the creator? How and when did he create, and why?

Are we NPCs in a computer game or some Matrix-like situation? Dr. Behe explains that

these are radical positions from mathematical algorithms and other procedures. There is no proof.

These hypotheses fail the Rule: The simplest answer is usually true.

Also, logic says that a supernatural world (from our point of view) cannot be measured, described, or hypothesized by those within the “natural” world. In other words, if there is a “supernatural” world, someone from that world would have to tell us about it.

 One or more god from a pantheon as the creator is supported by cultural legends. We have already discussed those.

Written Proofs

We haven’t looked at these. Written proofs are valued because we know when the thoughts were expressed and that these reports have not changed over time. Four religions have written texts about the creation of man.

  • First century B.C.Tripitaka Buddhism: a variety of writers
  • 610 A.D.Koran Islam: received by Muhammed
  • 1500-1200 B.C.Vedras Hinduism: a variety of writers
  • Debated Genesis Christianity: Moses, Joshua, or scribes

Do you remember this? Rule: The reporter who lived closest in time to the event is

Probably the most accurate.

That rules out the Tripitaka and the Koran. It also rules out Genesis if it was written by scribes during the fifth or sixth century B.C. I cannot find which Vedra contains the creation story, and therefore when it was written.

Who Wrote Genesis?

The contestants are (drum roll, please!)…

  • Moses probably wrote it sometime after 1531 B.C.
  • Joshua wrote it while leading the people, sometime after the Moses’s death: 1451
  • Jewish priestly scribes in the fifth or sixth century B.C.

Moses’s Claim

  • The Holy Bible is a library with books arranged by genre. The 39 books of the Old Testament is believed by Jews and Christians to be authoritative. Many other books were written during the Old Testament period and the Intertestamental Period that are not authoritative, including the books of the scribes.
  • Within the Holy Bible, there are many references to the Books of Moses or the Books of the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy).
  • This authority has never been questioned by Jews or Christians.
  • While written in ancient Hebrew, there are many touches of a top-level Egyptian education. Moses was adopted by “Pharaoh’s daughter” and would have had the premier education available. Here are some examples:
    • Knowledge of the geography, military strength/tactics, and products of the whole civilized world.
    • The repeated use of the number ten, as in the ten plagues and the Ten Commandments. Egypt was the only civilization that used Base Ten like we do. All other civilizations, including the homeland of the Hebrews, used Base Sixty.
    • It is written in an ultra-minimalist style unique to Moses, which is similar to the writing a military report. Just the facts, Ma’am!

Was Moses Writing History or Recording Cultural Legends?

Dr. Stephen Boyd, a specialist in Ancient Hebrew, determined that there is a clear delineation between narrative literature (fact) and poetic literature.

This determination is made by analyzing the verb form overwhelmingly used in the passage.

The creation story including the creation of man was written as historical fact.

The Final Choice: Evolution or Genesis?

You can’t choose both. We’ll see why next time.

Suggested readings:

DeYoung, Don. Thousands…not Billions (a RATE report) This book contains Dr. Boyd’s study.

Photo credit: eranyadeni at unsplash

Categories
World History

Evolution or Intelligent Design: Which Is Correct? Part 3

6 Weaknesses in the Theory of Evolution

The Origin of Life

The Descent of Man

The Explanation of Complex Features

The Continuation of Lower Life Forms

Evolution of Life opposes All Other Sciences

No Detailed Description of the Evolution of Man

Evolution or Intelligent Design: Which Is Correct? Part 3

Since Darwin, science has progressed on two tracks: Traditional (reason plus religion) and Enlightened (reason only). We still have two theories: Material (Evolution) and Mind (Intelligent Design).

The progress of knowledge and technology since Darwin’s time is hard to comprehend. Darwin’s knowledge and technology was much closer to the aborigines (whom he distained) than to us.

Evolutionary scientists have done much to develop and polish Darwin’s ideas into a true theory, so it is now correct to call it the Theory of Evolution.

Unfortunately, they seem have ignored holes in the theory that have existed since Darwin’s time.

  1. The Origin of Life

Whether the explanation is the Big Bang or a quiet random assembling of non-living chemicals in a pool of water, if you trace back with the question, “And where did that come from?” there is no answer.

What is the origin of the chemicals in the pool of water come from? For that matter, what is the origin of the pool water?

Fact: No one has ever observed or manipulated chemicals to form life.

This creates another problem because it breaks a rule of logic.

Rule: The simpler the problem, the easier the solution.

According to the Evolutionary Theory, the simplest life, and therefore the simplest problem, is the formation of First Life. Yet, while they have made massive gains in other, more complicated areas of natural history, they have not found a way to solve this simplest problem.

  • The Descent of Man

Dr. Behe, biochemist and proponent of Intelligent Design, tells us this:

Fact: There is no missing link between the Great Apes and Man.

Fact: Evolution is self-limiting. It is never seen between families or higher. It occurs at the species level and perhaps at the genus level but has only been observed with bacteria and viruses.

Fact: Genetic changes can be neutral but are usually damaging, although there can be a short-term positive effect on survival. Eventually, the continuing genetic changes no longer support life.

Dr. Behe notes that the polar bear’s white fur, which was held up by Darwin as an example of the survival of the fittest, is a degenerative genetic change.

Today, we know that the polar bear is actually related to the brown bear and the small black bear of temperate regions.

The genetic change that causes a polar bear’s white fur is like the one that causes the white crocodile’s coloration (which is different from an albino crocodile). White crocodiles don’t survive in the wild; this is because they have no camouflage.

From the genetic studies of the polar bear, we can hypothesize that there were white bears in temperate areas but the lines died out because they were all killed due to a lack of camouflage.

The genetic change temporarily aided the polar bears above the snow line to survive, but now they are dying off there, too.

Are polar bears disappearing because of climate change? Or has the bill for continued genetic change come due?

  • The Explanation of Complex Features

How can random evolution result in something as complex as the human eye? What exactly is this system? How does it work—in detail?

Each complex feature is clearly developed for a specific use by a specific species. The level of complexity, for example the eye, does not follow the evolutionary pattern. Evolution cannot explain this.

  • The Continuation of Lower Life Forms

If evolution occurs to increase the odds of survival, why do bacteria still exist?

And why do they comprise the most numerous genus of animal life on the planet?

  • Evolution of Life Opposes All Other Sciences

Everywhere we look scientifically, we see nature descending toward extinction. Even the stars are dying.

But evolution says all life is getting better. Why would evolution be the exception to the scientific rule?

  • No Detailed Description of the Evolution of Man

Evolutionists have not provided a detailed description of human evolution.

When I try to visualize the step by step evolution of a human, he always dies quickly.

What happens first?

Does he walk a little more erect? Why? Great apes do just fine swinging through trees.

Walking more erect throws off the balance of the body. Grasping feet are not prepared to be walked on. After a few steps, the ape defaults to using all four extremities.

Overall, a human is pretty puny next to a Great Ape. It seems several steps down the evolutionary scale.

Except for the human brain. How fast did that develop to enable man to survive?

We come now to an evaluation of the Intelligent Design theory.

Suggested Reading:

Behe, Michael. Darwin Devolves.

Photo credit: Tiziano Cremonini