Intelligent Design and Biblical Scripture

Nay-sayers is now proclaiming that Christianity is obsolete when in fact our society has not lived up to the “Ten Commandments” which take up one-fourth of a page in the bible that has over a thousand pages on the average according to print size. From the beginning unto the end of the bible there are over 60 promises from God in which only one has the power to give any person a happy life such as “seek the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and All shall be added unto you” with All meaning All things.

The key is to have faith in Jesus, the Son of God, and know that He is God in the flesh among us. “Be still and know that I am God.” God is a Spirit, and is among us now; just know the connection that Jesus has with God. “If you have seen me, than you have seen the Father.”

Matthew 4:3
Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

Matthew 4:6
and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.

Matthew 8:29
And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

Matthew 14:33
Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

Matthew 16:16
Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Matthew 26:63
But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!”

Matthew 27:40
and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

Matthew 27:43
He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

Matthew 27:54
So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Mark 1:1
[ John the Baptist Prepares the Way ] The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Mark 3:11
And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, “You are the Son of God.”

Mark 5:7
And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.”

Mark 15:39
So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!”

Luke 1:32
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.

Luke 1:35
And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

Luke 3:2
while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

Luke 3:38
the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Luke 4:3
And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

Luke 4:9
Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here”.
Luke 4:41
And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.

Luke 8:28
When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!”

Luke 12:8
[ Confess Christ Before Men ] “Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.

Luke 20:36
nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

Luke 22:69
Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.”

*** Will Myers

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Transposable elements, once thought to be a class of junk DNA, show signs of function and, consequently, design based on new research.

We live in a mobile society. People move around from city to city and state to state. Often, new career opportunities or the wish to live in a particularly desirable part of the country prompt the moves.

Within genomes, mobile pieces of DNA, called transposons, move around from place to place, too. Retrotransposons are the most common type; they include LINEs (long interspersed nuclear elements), SINEs (short interspersed nuclear elements), and LTRs (long terminal repeats).

Evolutionary biologists believe these various sequence elements originate from a class of junk DNA called endogenous retroviruses (ENVs). Many scientists imagine ENVs are remnants of a retroviral infection, in which biochemical processes incorporate the viral DNA into the genome. Once part of the genome, the retroviral sequences suffer mutations, becoming inactive and leading to the formation of ENVs. These sequences, in turn, spawn LINEs, SINEs, and LTRs.

Retrotransposons not only move around the genome, they also duplicate themselves. However, unlike a person carefully planning a move across country, retrotransposons seem to proliferate and insert randomly throughout the genome. Evolutionary biologists have long thought that these mobile pieces of DNA served no useful function in the genome. In fact, they have argued that retrotransposons persist in the genome as parasitic pieces of DNA that infest genomes. (Just like the proverbial ne’er-do-well relative who moves across the country to live with you.)

Retrotransposons comprise roughly half the human genome. And for many evolutionary biologists, the mere presence of LINEs, SINEs, and LTRs indicates that much of the human genome consists of nonfunctional junk DNA.

Yet a number of studies demonstrate that retrotransposons play a role in gene expression. To read about a few of these discoveries, check out the following links:

“Junk DNA Regulates Gene Expression”
“Is Junk DNA Evidence for Biological Evolution?”
“A Couple of Tasty Morsels”
“Alu Sequences in Primate Genomes: Evidence for Common Descent or Common Design?”
“Yet Another Use for ‘Junk’ DNA”
Recently, scientists from Canada published one of the first attempts to quantify the extent to which transposable elements play a role in gene regulation.1 These researchers used ENCODE Project data to identify accessible regions of the genome. (Presumably, these accessible regions reflect active regions.)

The researchers then determined how many transposable elements mapped to these regions. They discovered that transposons made up 44 percent of the accessible regions (which amounts to about 730,000 sequence elements). It turns out transcription factor binding sites enrich these regions. (Transcription factors are proteins that bind to specific sequences, thus impacting gene expression.) In other words, transposable elements seem to play a comprehensive role in regulating gene expression in the human genome.

Evolutionary biologists argue that evolutionary processes will co-opt a percentage of junk DNA sequences to develop new capabilities—such as binding transcription factors and turning genes on and off—thus accounting for the function of transposons. This explanation appeared reasonable when only a few examples of transposon function had been reported. However, the scientists from Canada have uncovered in the human genome a recognized pervasiveness of transposon function that makes it hard to argue that transposons’ functional distribution is due to neofunctionalization. Instead, transposons’ widespread functional properties are best explained as the deliberate work of a Creator.

This new work also has implications for the debate over the ENCODE Project. Published in September 2012, ENCODE’s phase two results indicated that at least 80 percent of the human genome consists of functional DNA.2 A number of scientists have challenged the ENCODE conclusion for various reasons, including transposons’ extensive presence in the human genome. In a previous article I responded to this objection by stating that when it comes to transposable elements and pseudogenes in the human genome, it is highly likely that the 80 percent of the human genome that possesses functional elements overlaps the 50 percent comprised of transposable elements and pseudogenes. Based on the latest insight into the global occurrence of functional transposons, it looks like my assessment was correct. (RTB,FR)

*** Will Myers

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Scripture:
“But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.” Psalm 5:11

What is it about a beautiful, bright, sunshiny day that makes you cheerful and happy, whistling a tune on your way into work? Today was one of those days—and a Saturday, no less. The temperature was perfect, and there was a nice breeze blowing through the trees. All was well as I made my way into work.

Wait…what? I was happy about having to work over the weekend? Yeah. I was.

Maybe, just maybe, there was a good explanation.

A total of seven studies have researched the correlation between Christianity and levels of happiness by using two scales to determine the relationship. The first, called the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity,1 is a “24-item rating inventory, concerned with affective response toward God, Jesus, [the] Bible, prayer, and church.” Subjects rated each item by selecting one option from five choices varying from “agree strongly” to “disagree strongly.” The second scale, the Oxford Happiness Inventory,2 is used to measure the subject’s degrees of happiness.

Between all seven research efforts, a total of 3,334 subjects were studied. The first five studies demonstrated a positive correlation. With an n=331, only the sixth study conducted showed a negative response.

Recently, a study from researchers at the University of Wales in Great Britain3 replicated the efforts from the six previous studies. The researchers repeated the failed study, and got a positive response. It appears the one negative study could have been a fluke. The University of Wales folks speculate that the negative report may have failed to find a positive relationship between Christianity and happiness because where as the first five studies were performed in English-speaking countries, the failed study was performed in a different country where a different language (German) was the primary spoken language. Rating scales and wording differences between languages can make such studies tricky.

In any case, six studies out of seven, with a total of 3,003 subjects, found a significant positive correlation between a Christian attitude and happiness (in just the last study, r=0.38, p< 0.001, n=89). This means that subjects who, based on the Francis scale, had a more positive Christian outlook were generally found to be happier on the Oxford Happiness Inventory scale.

This research provides excellent evidence for dual revelation: what we read in the word of God (for instance, Psalm 5:11 above) correlates to what we see in our own natural world. With data like that and a beautiful day, who wouldn’t be happy? (RTB,JP)

*** Will Myers

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*** Will Myers
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Knowledge that we learn about our environment and our selves is in effect learning of God’s Kingdom. With all the present knowledge of man we are still begging the question of “what’s it all about?” alone with who is God our Creator or is there a God? The bible say “be still and know that I am God.” This scripture refer to Jesus, the Son of God Who is God among us in the flesh with all the limitations of man. Jesus is more than just a model sent by God to guide our lives unto His Kingdom, but rather Jesus is God. The Infinite and Eternal God remains forever God, but He reveals Himself thru Christ Jesus because humans can not wrap their minds around an infinite God.

The natural world with humans being a constructional part of this natural existence is a conditional nursery in which we develop and accrue knowledge. I call this a toyspace of knowledge in which we have learned how God has made some things to work. We can seek God’s Kingdom which comes to us part by part awaiting the wholeness of the Holy Spirit of God Who is in Jesus Christ, the Son. Jesus is the Toyspace in the beginning and the end, the alpha and omega. In Him we move and have our being.

In the end toyspace must be released with the accepting of God’s Holy Spirit; being given life continuously and forever by God; a return to the paradise of Adam and Eve. God is a Spirit, and we shall be as spirits living in God’s Kingdom. All matter is for the next creation, the next universal generation. The Earth abide forever, but not the configuration of matter-space. In God’s Kingdom we shall no longer need matter.

John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Isaiah 28:16
Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

Revelation 1:8
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Revelation 1:11
Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

Revelation 21:6
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Revelation 22:13
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

*** Will Myers
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*** Will Myers

Stress can take a serious toll on human health, making the pursuit of happiness seem all the more imperative. But recent research suggests that the benefits of stress reduction depend on the type of happiness people seek.
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A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
— Proverbs 17:22
Job demands, family concerns, poor health, the economy—everyday experience is full of things that stress us out. Many people simply learn to live with this unpleasant reality, but while a little pressure now and then isn’t a bad thing, scientific research testifies to the deleterious physical effects of chronic stress.
The impact of stress on health can be mapped to changes at the genetic level. Stress can slow the healing of wounds and impair the immune system, making infections and disease more dangerous. The brain translates stress into changes in the hormonal signals that initiate the activation of signaling pathways in individual cells. These altered signals lead to changes in gene expression where genes are turned on or off and levels of expression are modulated.
Stress is signaled by the hormone cortisol. In T cells, the immune system’s ninjas (i.e., surveillance and threat-neutralization team), cortisol turns on genes associated with inflammation while turning off those that involve anti-viral and antibody production. T cells in people experiencing chronic adversity (or stress) show a particular profile of gene expression called a “conserved transcriptional response to adversity” (CTRA). It is thought that CTRA contributes to the poorer health experienced by those suffering chronic stress.
So, what can we do to combat the physical dangers of stress? Some have suggested that stress can be kept at bay by the pursuit of happiness—yet, new research puts an important qualifier on this idea. The type of happiness a person pursues dictates whether they are at more or less risk for poor health.
In this study, a group of researchers characterized the well-being of 80 subjects. Specifically, the researchers were looking at two forms of well-being: hedonic and eudaimonic. Hedonic represents well-being derived from pain avoidance and pleasure seeking and shares the same root as hedonism. Eudaimonic well-being results from “striving toward meaning and a noble purpose beyond simple self-gratification.”
To characterize the subjects, the researchers used the short flourishing scale. This metric asked the subjects to think about the previous week and then answer how often they felt:
happy?
satisfied?
that their life had a sense of direction or meaning to it?
that they have experiences that challenge them to become a better person?
that they had something to contribute to society?
The first two questions score hedonic well-being and the last three indicate eudaimonic well-being. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, there was a high correlation between eudaimonic and hedonic well-being (r=0.79). Further, both types of well-being showed an inverse correlation with depression symptoms.
Yet although all the subjects experienced similar feelings of happiness (e.g., level of conscious affect), their immune responses differed significantly depending on the type of well-being that characterized them. Eudaimonic well-being was associated with reduced CTRA expression while hedonic well-being demonstrated increased CTRA expression.
Upon digging more deeply, the researchers found that hedonic well-being was associated with increases in pro-inflammatory gene expression and decreases in antibody synthesis gene expression. Conversely, eudaimonic well-being showed significant decreases in pro-inflammatory gene expression. These results suggest that those pursuing meaning had a lower risk for diseases associated with inflammation such as cancer. Hedonic well-being biochemically strikingly mirrors the experience of bereavement, social isolation, or diagnosis with a life-threatening illness. The indication is that people who find hedonic well-being but do not experience eudaimonic well-being develop the same health risks as those with depression and stress. The researchers concluded that “striving predominately toward meaning eudaimonic well-being] may have more favorable effects on health than striving predominately toward positive affect per se.” In other words, happiness derived from meaningful activities—many of which involve serving others rather than just ourselves—produces greater benefits than simply seeking pleasurable experiences. These conclusions recall to my mind a quote from C. S. Lewis:
If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: If you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth—only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with, and in the end, despair.
Often times I hear agnostics reflect that they see no evidence for a personal and transcendent God. It begs the question, “What would you expect if there were a personal, transcendent God?” Would you expect this God to build compassion into our very beings and physiology? Would you expect that He would transcend our world to offer us guidance on how to live? Would you expect that He would instruct His followers to act so as to promote life for others?
The Bible has long prescribed how we are to live our lives, this includes the proper care of the bodies He gave us. While these prescriptions for wise living may seem restrictive, this recent study highlights how wise living brings true life. As ambassadors for Christ, believers have been commissioned with the important mission of reaching others with the good news of hope and life in Christ. While the emphasis of the church’s outreach efforts may vary with the community needs, this study highlights that spiritual and physical care are intimately intertwined. God has placed eternity in our hearts, wired us to seek meaning, and fills us with life as we seek and follow Christ. (RTB,KG)

*** Will Myers

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We are bound to the materialness of this world. The center of our being, the self, is supported by this material world. We live and thrive in this natural world, and can do so without acknowledging God, but there is always a void in our life which can not be filled by things in the world. We could say that God is always calling each person without repentance. Only God gives the answer to life which is Him and being in His presence. God accepts the being in the name of Jesus, His Son, as being in the presence of God.

The supernatural Words of God gives each person the opportunity to live a supernatural life. No one wants to let self go and accept God’s Spirit who is in Christ Jesus even with the assurance that one shall have life gained one hundred fold, and actually find their real self. Without going thru a series of thoughts just ask God in Jesus’s name, and God shall give a more perfect answer.

Experiences in the natural world gives us a toyspace an accumulation of ideas, precepts, principles, and concepts. I use the term toyspace because our natural world is an example of the Kingdom of God. The natural world is God’s footstool. God is a Spirit, and we must worship Him in spirit and truth. Our destiny is to live in the spirit with God.

Once One realizes that their conscientious self is actually their created life with God always than one shall begin to know the answers to life. Without God there is no conscientious self, no life.

God came in the flesh as Christ Jesus to return each person to the Kingdom of God. Jesus gives that eternal life.

No one ever want to say goodbye to love.

Proverbs 1:19
Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the life of those who get it.

Hebrews 11:35
Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.

Mark 8:36
For what benefit is it for a person to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his life?

Matthew 16:25
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 19:29
And whoever has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

Mark 8:35
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.

Mark 10:29
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel

Luke 9:24
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Acts 9:16
For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

Romans 9:3
For I could wish that I myself were accursed—cut off from Christ—for the sake of my people, my fellow countrymen,

Ephesians 3:1
[ Paul’s Relationship to the Divine Mystery ] For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

Colossians 1:24
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body—for the sake of his body, the church—what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.

Revelation 2:3
I am also aware that you have persisted steadfastly, endured much for the sake of my name, and have not grown weary.

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*** Will Myers

One of the things that marks humanity’s time on Earth is the optimal conditions of our Sun, including its unusually low flare activity. New research from Japan helps explain why the Sun exhibits such low flaring and stable luminosity. Here I’ll examine the benefits they provide for life, humans in particular.
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I am not known for being a flashy guy, quite the opposite, in fact. Likewise, the Sun, although it appears cheerfully bright, is not very “flashy.” Indeed, new discoveries indicate that the Sun may be the least flashy of all stars—which is a good thing for advanced life. Why does the Sun lack flashiness—or, as astronomers would put it, why does the Sun manifest so little flaring activity? A group of nine Japanese astronomers recently found that part of the answer lies with sunspots.

Starspots and Superflares
The Japanese team showed that starspots (similar to sunspots, but located on stars other than the Sun) greatly influence a star’s flare activity and superflares in particular, which are ten to a million times more energetic than the very largest that the Sun blasts off.

We found that the energy of superflares are related to the total coverage of starspots. The correlation between the spot coverage and the flare energy in superflares is similar to that in solar flares.
For many years astronomers have understood that the magnetic energy associated with sunspots determines the amount of energy in solar flares. Thus, the Japanese team suggests that “the energy of superflares can be explained by the magnetic energy stored around the starspots.

Sunspots look dark because of the powerful magnetic fields associated with them. The energy output from the nuclear furnace located at the Sun’s core is uniform throughout the Sun’s interior. Therefore, the total energy output per unit surface of the Sun is constant. However, the brightness is not constant. The brightness arises from heat energy. Since the total energy = heat energy + magnetic energy, sunspot regions are cooler, and thus darker, than other parts of the Sun’s surface.
The Sun’s spot activity is not constant. It varies over an 11-year cycle, approximately. At sunspot minimum the Sun displays either no spots or only a few very tiny spots; at solar maximum the Sun will consistently display several spots that are visible through a small telescope. Currently, we are approaching the next sunspot maximum.

Sunspots never cover a significant fraction of the Sun’s surface. For much of the Sun’s 11-year sunspot cycle there are no sunspots at all. (In fact, only once since I started observing sunspots at age 16 do I recall seeing spots big enough for me to observe without the aid of a telescope.) Consequently, sunspots have a barely measureable impact on Earth’s climate.

Other Factors in Flare Activity
A star’s mass and age also influence its flare activity. As I sometimes mention in talks, stars are like humans in that they are most stable when they are middle-aged . The same is true of star size; mid-sized stars are more stable than small or large stars.

Intensity of Flaring Activity throughout the Sun’s Burning History
Astronomers constructed the flaring activity level by observing solar-type stars of known ages. The scale on the y-axis is logarithmic. That is, intensity levels are thousands to millions of times higher at the maximum than they are at the minimum.

When astronomers say that the Sun is mid-sized, they are referring to their spectral classification system for stars. The color of a main sequence star (that is, a star undergoing hydrogen fusion) is proportional to its mass. For example, red main sequence stars are the least massive while blue main sequence stars are the most massive. Our yellow Sun is mid-sized.

However, 89 percent of all stars in the Milky Way Galaxy are less massive than the Sun. These stars display dramatically greater flaring activity than the Sun. Consequently, astronomers rule out red and orange main sequence stars as candidates for possibly hosting a planet friendly to advanced life. At the other end of the spectrum, stars more massive than the Sun also display greater flaring activity than does the Sun, although the activity is much less dramatic for these stars. However, higher mass stars burn up much faster than lower mass stars. These faster burning rates cause these stars to exhibit dramatically greater mean luminosity changes relative to the Sun. Thus, astronomers also rule out blue, white, and green main sequence stars as possible hosts for a planet capable of sustaining advanced life.

Though flaring activity does depend strongly on the star’s mass, it is more powerfully dependent on the star’s age. Young solar-type stars (those with the same mass as the Sun) frequently emit superflares.
Young solar-type stars not only exhibit aggressive flaring, but their averaged luminosities also vary hugely from star to star. This observation is counterintuitive because mass is an accurate predictor of luminosity for hydrogen-burning stars. Such a star’s luminosity is proportional to the 3.9th power of its mass.

In a recent study of the nearest giant molecular cloud, called Lynds 1641, a team of astronomers observed that young stars with similar masses differed in luminosities with respect to one another by as much as a factor of a hundred times. Astronomers had observed this variation in other star clusters. They assumed that the accretion of mass from the young stars’ birthing clouds at differing rates explained the variation. However, the team that studied Lynds 1641 did extensive analysis of multi-epoch spectroscopic data on Lynds 1641’s stars; they determined that accretion variability cannot explain the luminosity differences.

Many astronomers have suggested that a star’s rotation rate may also be an important factor concerning flaring activity and luminosity differences. Taking advantage of Kepler satellite observations of solar-type stars, the Japanese astronomers determined, “Stars with relatively slower rotation rates can still produce flares that are as energetic as those of more rapidly rotating stars, although the average flare frequency is lower for more slowly rotating stars.

What This Means for Life
Astronomers now recognize that the Sun stands apart from other stars in possessing such an extremely low level of sunspot activity. It possesses the best possible mass and is at the optimal age for minimizing sunspots on its surface. All this is critical for human health and well-being. As I described in a previous Today’s New Reason to Believe article, even the extremely minimal sunspot activity manifested by the Sun poses a slight health risk for humans at solar maximum.

The Sun’s sunspot history goes a long way to explaining why the fossil record looks the way it does. Bacteria appeared on Earth as soon as the Sun’s mass stabilized and sunspot activity subsided enough to permit their survival. As sunspot activity continued to subside more complex life-forms appeared. Humans appeared at the beginning of the very narrow time window in the history of the Sun when the sunspot activity is low enough to permit the launch, development, and maintenance of global high-technology civilization.

When it comes to the Sun and its spots, we humans have much cause to praise God’s providence. He designed the best possible star to meet our needs and, in part, to equip us to fulfill our purpose and prepare for our ultimate destiny. He placed us on Earth at the most optimal time in the Sun’s burning history when its luminosity is the most stable and its spotting activity the least disturbing. The brevity of that optimal time implies that God will fulfill His intended purposes for humanity in the present creation relatively quickly and then usher those who choose His redemptive gift into a brand new creation. Psalm 97:6 says, “The heavens proclaim His righteousness, and all the peoples see His glory.” The Sun and its few tiny spots are part of that proclamation.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The Word of God reveals the full magnitude of “what’s it all about” from the beginning unto the end. The physical laws of the universe including man’s physical entanglements has produced cultures alone with their religions liken unto the hands of a master craftsman. For one to have faith mean that one remain vigilant and observant hoping to see the truth verified. If one has faith in the Word of God than the man shall see God’s truth revealed before his eyes. We see what we behold firstly.

With a continual ear bent toward the Lord and the Word of God held in one’s heart one shall become aware of the invisible things of this world; the spirit of truth of this world shall continue to renew your mind by giving precepts upon precepts unto the absolute concept of God.

May Christ Jesus be intimately engaged with each and all of us. Praise the Lord!

Hebrews 11:3
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Hebrews 13
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

Ephesians 2:20
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Hebrews 13:15
By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

The universe continually sing a song from God; punctuated by man.

*** Will Myers

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As I discussed in The Cell’s Design—and elsewhere—one of the most provocative arguments for intelligent design centers on the recognition that DNA (and other biomolecules) is an information-based system. Common, everyday experience teaches that information derives solely from the activity of human beings. So, by analogy, the biochemical information systems, too, should come from a divine Mind. The stark similarity between the way that biochemical information systems are structured and the structure of information systems designed by humans deepens the analogy (for an example, go here).

Yet skeptics argue that biochemical information is not genuine information. Instead, they maintain that when scientists refer to DNA as an information storage molecule they are making use of an illustrative analogy—a scientific metaphor—and nothing more. They accuse creationists and intelligent design proponents of misconstruing their use of analogical language to make the case for design.2

But the work by the Harvard and Johns Hopkins scientists questions the validity of this objection.

DNA Data Storage

These researchers are not the first scientists to store information within the nucleotide sequences of DNA. However, they are to be credited for storing the most information to-date, and, in doing so, addressing some limitations of this technology.

In order to encode specific information into the nucleotide sequence of DNA, researchers must make DNA molecules with a prescribed sequence without error. Yet, with the current synthesis technology, the number of errors in the DNA sequence increases with the length of the sequence. In other words, researchers can make “perfect” sequences, but only if they are relatively short—not long enough to store any appreciable amount of data.

Stabilizing the encoded DNA molecules poses another challenge. DNA tends to become damaged or broken down over time. When this happens, information is lost.

To sidestep the first of these two issues, the researchers encoded the book’s contents into small DNA fragments—devoting roughly two-thirds of the sequence for data and the remainder for information that can be used to locate the content within the entire data block. In a sense, this approach is analogous to using page numbers to order and locate the contents of a book. By making short DNA sequences, the researchers were able to ensure that few, if any, errors were introduced into the sequences of the synthesized DNA fragments.

The researchers addressed the problem of stabilizing the synthesized DNA by making multiple copies of each fragment. In this way, if one of the fragments becomes damaged or breaks down, the redundancy prevents the information from being lost completely.

As impressive as this advance is, the practical implementation of DNA storage is still a dream for the future. The chief hang-up at this point is the time and cost to synthesize the amount of DNA required to store a book, and then, in turn, to read out the information. But these efficiency concerns may not hinder progress for long, as the cost of making and sequencing DNA is dropping rapidly.

Even if the work on DNA storage never translates into practical applications, it still has profound implications for the creation/evolution controversy. These scientists were able to store information in DNA, because DNA is an information-storage system. In other words, it is hard for skeptics to argue that biochemical information is only a metaphor, when biotechnologists are using DNA to store an entire book’s worth of information.

The more that DNA becomes the focal point of new biotechnology application, the more the claim that life comes from the outworking of undirected evolutionary process becomes the same old tired story. It is time to “turn some pages.” (RTB,FR)

*** Will Myers

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Did Adam and Eve really exist? Did all humanity originate from a single pair? These questions are not peripheral topics for an academic debate; they are central to the Christian faith.

Toward this end, recent advances in molecular genetics are quite provocative. Numerous studies indicate that humanity originated: (1) recently (around 100,000 years ago, plus or minus 20,000 years or so); (2) at a single location (East Africa)—close to where some Bible scholars think the Garden of Eden was located; and (3) from a small population
of individuals.

Moreover, analysis of mitochondrial DNA (which provides insight into the origin of the maternal lineage) indicates that humanity traces back to a single ancestral sequence that could be interpreted as a single woman. Likewise, characterization of Y-chromosomal DNA (which provides insight into the origin of the
paternal lineage) indicates that all men trace their origin back to a single ancestral sequence that could be interpreted as a single man.

These astounding results harmonize with a traditional reading of the biblical account of human origins, and suggest that Adam and Eve likely existed as real persons who gave rise to all of humanity.

But Did Adam and Eve Exist? Population Size

Others have challenged this interpretation, arguing that the genetic data shows that humanity arose from thousands of individuals, not two.1 The chief basis for this claim comes from estimates of the ancestral population size of humans based on genetic diversity.

It is possible to estimate the effective population size of any ancestral group from genetic diversity of present-day populations if the mutation rate is known. As discussed in Who Was Adam?, a number of these types of studies do indeed indicate that humans stem from a small population, on the
order of a few hundred to a few thousand.2

Skeptics of the traditional reading of the biblical account of human origins uncritically accept these results. They argue that the data indicate humanity experienced a genetic bottleneck, with the population collapsing to a relatively small number of individuals. Consequently humanity arose from the thousands of survivors, not a primeval pair.

Critics also point to other methods to model the size of the ancestral population that do not depend on mutations, but on other types of processes to generate genetic diversity.3 Studies employing these techniques also seem to indicate that humanity arose from population sizes on the order of a few thousand individuals.

What Was the Population Size, Really?

In the face of this challenge, it is important to recognize that population sizes generated by these methods are merely estimates, not hard and fast values. The reason: the mathematical models are highly idealized, generating differing estimates based on a number of factors. As a case in point consider two studies discussed in Who Was Adam? One, reported in 2003 by a Russian and U.S. research team, examined DNA sequence elements called short tandem repeats at 377 locations in the human genome for 1,056 individuals that represented 52 population groups. On the basis of this analysis, they concluded that humanity originated from a single point of origin (apparently Africa), from a small population (~2,000 or less) between 71,000 and 142,000 years ago.4 Although this conclusion was consistent with that of an earlier study of short tandem repeats, the population size estimate from the earlier study was around 500 individuals.5 The reason for the difference (of about 1,500) was due to a varying sample size and number of locations in the human genome that were studied.

Did humanity originate from a single pair? Even though population estimates reveal that humanity originated from several hundred to several thousand individuals based on mathematical models, it could well be the case that these models overestimate the original numbers for the first humans.

And it is important to note that an origin of humanity from a small population is consistent with the existence of a historical Adam and Eve who gave rise to all of humanity. After their creation the biblical text teaches that they procreated––having many sons and daughters (Genesis 5:4). Given the limitations of the methods, could it be that the population estimates are reporting on the population structure of humans some time after their creation, when the population would have been small, on the order of a few thousand? Additionally, skeptics who claim that humanity came from thousands of individuals and not two assume that Adam and Eve were genetically identical. Yet, there is no hint of that idea in Scripture. When Eve is created, God takes material from Adam’s side and rebuilds (bānâ in the original Hebrew) it. Part of this process could have involved the introduction of genetic differences into Eve’s genome that made Adam and Eve genetically heterogeneous.

As with the mouflon sheep, if natural selection drove an increase in genetic diversity in humans, then the estimates of the original population sizes of humanity would be artificially high.

We All Like Sheep?

In 2007 a research team reported on the genetic diversity of wild mouflon sheep on one of the islands that are part of the Kerguelen sub-Antarctic archipelago.6 This group of sheep provided researchers with an unprecedented opportunity to study the effects of population dynamics on genetic diversity in small populations.

In 1957 a male and female yearling were placed onto Haute Island (an island in the Kerguelen Archipelago). These two sheep were taken from a captive population in France. By the beginning of the 1970s, the number had grown to 100 individuals and peaked at 700 sheep in 1977. Since that time the population has fluctuated in a cyclical manner between 250 and 700 members. Given that the population began with only two individuals (the founder effect), has experienced cyclical changes in the population size, and was isolated on an island, the researchers expected very low genetic diversity (measured as heterozygosity).

Using mathematical models, the heterozygosity of a population can be computed at any point in time from the heterozygosity of the ancestral population (which was known for the original mouflon pair) and the original population size. What the researchers discovered, however, when they measured this quantity directly for the sheep on Haute Island was that it exceeded the predictions made by the models by up to a factor of 4. In other words, the models underestimated the genetic diversity of the actual population.

The researchers explained this discrepancy by speculating that natural selection drives the increase in genetic diversity, since an increase in genetic variability increases the survivability of the population.

Consequently, if these same models were used to estimate the effective sizes of the ancestral population from the measured genetic diversity at any point in time, they would have overestimated the original population size as much larger than two individuals.

Lastly, the primary reason to think that humanity arose from a single pair does not rest on population estimates, but the fact that the Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA sequences sampled from humans alive today trace back to single ancestral sequences. Again, these can be understood as reflecting an origin from a single man and single woman.

One Lucky Mother, One Lucky Father?

Even though the genetic data traces humanity’s origin back to a single woman and man, evolutionary biologists are quick to assert that mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam were not the first humans. Rather, according to them, many “Eves” and “Adams” existed.7 Accordingly, mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam were the lucky ones whose genetic material just happened to survive. The genetic lines of the other first humans were lost over time.

While this explanation is not out of the realm of possibility, it is highly contrived. It would work if only a few of the first humans reproduced, or were allowed to reproduce. If the data is simply taken at face value, the biblical model is the more parsimonious explanation.

Even though evolutionary biologists offer ways to explain away the implications of the human population genetic data, these explanations—entrenched in naturalism—are not necessarily superior to an interpretation that fully squares with the biblical account. The scientific case for the biblical Adam and Eve stands firm.

*** Will Myers

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