I recently sat down to watch one of the newest episode of the NBC series 'Heroes' and was reminded yet again how evolutionized our culture is today.

    About 10 minutes into the episode 'Lizards,' a teacher, while talking about creatures with an ability to regenerate limbs, talks about how this is possible "thanks to millions of years of combined mutation…." Then when the main character asks him a further question, he states "I guess the next step for us is phasing out the extra parts. We're not using the appendix anymore, or grinding bone with our wisdom teeth, we don't even really need a pinky toe for balance. It's all just junk in our DNA."

    If you didn't know, he's referring to the all-to-commonly cited "vestigial," or "useless," organs. Vestigial organs are commonly defined as useless "left-overs" from our evolutionary past. They're written in our textbooks, taught to us in class, and told to us in primetime shows. But do vestigial organs really exist? And is there really "junk" in our DNA? Well to keep this post short, as this is a blog post and not the full-fledged newsletter, the answer is no. But don't worry, I will go one step further than that. Over the next few lines, you will find why the vestigial argument of "useless" organs really is useless.

    To set the stage, it would be useful to note that the list of vestigial organs has shrunk from 180 in 1890 to 0 in 1999 [Reference 2]. The media, some museums (such as the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History), and even textbooks seem to be continually "out of date" in the information being taught. They commonly cite examples of "evidences" and experiments which have been proven false, and are no longer accepted by any credible scientist as what actually happened. Such is evident with such experiments as the Miller-Urey Experiment. Scientists know the experiment is false, and they do not even accept the proposed atmosphere of the earth in the experiment, but it is kept in the textbooks as proof for evolution nonetheless. It is very frustrating when so often textbooks don't even keep up with their OWN worldview and what it teaches. Such is true with the vestigial argument.

    Not a single informed scientist still believes the appendix is useless. Without getting too technical, it actually performs an important immunological function in the body. For the more technical definition:

• "The appendix is part of the immune system, strategically located at the entrance of the almost sterile ileum from the colon with its normally high bacterial content." [Reference 2]
  

    The same is true of the wisdom teeth. Once thought to be a useless left-over from when we were apes with bigger jaws, scientists now understand that there are much better ways to explain the wisdom teeth and their purpose. These reasons do not include any evolutionary ancestry, but diet and dental care. As Reference 3 states:

• "These reasons include a change from a coarse abrasive diet to a soft western diet, lack of proper dental care, and genetic factors possibly including mutations. Common past dental practice was a tendency to routinely remove wisdom teeth. Recent empirical research has concluded that this practice is unwise." [Reference 3]
  

    And the same is for every other example of "evolutionary vestiges." The list has been shrinking down, showing without a doubt that humans are created in the image of God, rather than a distorted, mutant mistake of an uncreated universe. Even still, some people still try to use the examples above and others (tail bone, pinky toe are some other examples) in order to indoctrinate our culture. For a larger listing of vestigial organs and how to refute them, visit: http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/vestigialorgans.asp.

    Back to the show, after the teacher's answer, she asks him about if people have "evolved" a new set of code. But that is a completely different subject for another time. For a more in-depth, technical overview of the topic, go the link above and Reference 2 below. Another topic that may be covered soon is embryonic development and the idea that when a fetus is developing, it goes through its evolutionary lineage. Even lately in the news there have been articles telling about the idea that the appendix might have many other uses.

Until next post,

Happy Trails,

Sam

References:

1. Cutting out a useless vestigial argument [http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v26/i3/vestigial.asp]
   
2. Do any vestigial structures exist in humans? [http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/magazines/TJ/TJv14n2_Vestigial.pdf]
   
3. Are wisdom teeth (third molars) vestiges of human evolution? [http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v12/i3/wisdomteeth.asp]

Sadly for most of us, the school year is underway. Our minds have been forced out of hibernation and back into backpacks and lockers stuffed with homework.

Many of us are already taking classes such as World History or US History. Lately in these classes, as well as in English, we have been learning a lot about the so-called "Enlightenment" and its effects on society. From this stems the point of this post…

This week we learned that Enlightenment thinkers (like Voltaire, Diderot, and Gibbon) taught that true science required the defeat of religion. Okay, no surprise there. As the Enlightenment thinkers were almost entirely ardent atheists and humanists, it is no surprise that they strongly disliked religion.

While learning about the "Enlightenment," I have found that many people have the wrong idea about what happened and its implications on religion. Many people have the idea that Enlightenment thinkers disproved religion in favor of reason and science. This is not the case at all.

I was VERY surprised to learn, though, that scientists like Galileo, Isaac Newton, and Francis Bacon showed that you could believe in natural laws and observation rather than God and religion. I must admit, when I first heard my history and English teachers say this, I was a bit puzzled. Perhaps they, as well as some of you, are unaware that these scientists were devout Christians. These scientists did not prove that you could believe in natural laws rather than God, but rather that natural laws came directly from God. For these men, natural laws were proof that God existed, proof of order in the universe.

Some of you may be skeptical that these men were devout Christians.

Many of us have heard of the "Galileo Controversy" in which the church officially censored his teaching of the heliocentric model. The church as an entirety, though, was not against his views, as many of us have simply assumed from this censorship. In fact, many church officials regarded his view well. Even through all of this, he still believed the Bible and that it supported his views. For more information on the "Galileo Controversy" see: The Galileo affair: history or heroic hagiography?

Sir Francis Bacon is credited with establishing the "scientific method" and helping to found the Royal Society of London. How could he be a devout Christian? Let's read a quote from Bacon:

"There are two books laid before us to study, to prevent our falling into error; first, the volume of the Scriptures, which reveal the will of God; then the volume of the Creatures, which express His power"

He was a devout believer in the Bible. He believed that the scientific method is the observation and study of God's world and the natural laws He uses to govern it.

Surely Sir Isaac Newton, being one of the greatest scientific minds to ever live, should know better than to believe in God. Perhaps you will be surprised by the astonishing fact that he wrote more about the Bible than he did about science. His belief that science leads to a greater understanding of God shaped his entire life. In his book Principia, he wrote:

"This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being. … This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he is wont to be called "Lord God"… or "Universal Ruler". … The Supreme God is a Being eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect."

• Principia, Book III; cited in Newton's Philosophy of Nature: Selections from his writings, p. 42.
  

So did Sir Isaac Newton prove that God is not necessary? No, in fact exactly the opposite; he believed that investigation and natural laws helped in the understanding of how God upholds the universe. In fact, Newton was strongly against atheism:

"Opposition to godliness is atheism in profession and idolatry in practice. Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors"

• A Short Scheme of the True Religion, manuscript quoted in Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton by Sir David Brewster; cited in Newton's Philosophy of Nature, p. 65, Ref. 2.
  

Even today, we find manuscripts proving over and over Newton's religious fervor. In fact it appears from his writing that he was especially interested in the book of Daniel in the Bible (see Papers reveal Newton's religious side, USA Today). For more information on Sir Isaac Newton and his belief in the Creator God, see Sir Isaac Newton (1642/3–1727).

So was Voltaire right when he taught that science required the defeat of religion? Perhaps he needs to read-up on his history, as virtually every branch of science was started by a devout Christian (i.e. Francis Bacon, Galileo Galilei, Johann Kepler, Isaac Newton, Carolus Linnaeus, etc). Also, the overwhelming majority of sixteenth and seventeenth century scientific leaders were Christians who believed it science's duty to comprehend the Bible. Through my searching, the best list of Christian (creation) scientists is located here: Creation scientists and other biographies of interest.

We shall end this post with a statement from the USA Today article mentioned above:

'The Newton papers, Ben-Menahem said, also complicate the idea that science is diametrically opposed to religion. "These documents show a scientist guided by religious fervor, by a desire to see God's actions in the world," she said.'

• Papers reveal Newton's religious side, USA Today
  

Until the next post and the next newsletter issue,

Happy Trails,

Sam

    This is the first post of the Genesis vs Darwin Blog. As some people may know, there is also a Genesis vs Darwin Email Newsletter. Due to the amount of time required to produce such a large newsletter, though, some people may fall out of interest with the Creation/Evolution debate in-between issues. This blog will hopefully provide at least some help regarding this time issue. This is an annually updated blog that will include new information, research, and thoughts in-between the Genesis vs Darwin Email Newsletter.

Note: The Genesis vs Darwin Email newsletter may sometimes be referred to as the GvD Newsletter or even the GvDN, and the blog may be referred to as the GvD Blog or the GvDB.

    If you are wondering, the newest issue of the GvD Newsletter will be coming out soon, finishing the topic of astronomy for the time being. This first GvD Blog post is just a Genesis vs Darwin informational post, so it will not have any Creation/Evolution information. So to end this first GvD Blog post, here is a quote I found from C.S. Lewis. While it may be a bit long, it is none-the-less a powerful quote, in my opinion:

"Looking for God – or Heaven – by exploring space is like reading or seeing all Shakespeare's plays in the hope that you will find Shakespeare as one of the characters or Stratford as one of the places. Shakespeare is in one sense present at every moment in very play. But he is never present in the same way as Falstaff or Lady Macbeth….

    If there were an idiot who thought plays existed on their own, without an author (not to mention actors, producer, manager, stagehands and what not), our belief in Shakespeare would not be much affected by his saying, quite truly, that he had studied all the plays and never found Shakespeare in them….

    My point is that, if God does exist, He is related to the universe more as an author is related to a play than as one object in the universe is related to another.

    If God created the universe, He created space-time, which is to the universe as the metre is to a poem or the key is to music. To look for Him as one item within the framework which He Himself invented is nonsensical.

    If God… exists, mere movement in space will never bring you any nearer to Him or any farther from Him than you are at this very moment. You can neither reach Him nor avoid Him by travelling to Alpha Centauri or even to other galaxies. A fish is no more, and no less, in sea after it has swum a thousand miles than it was when it set out."

--C.S. Lewis, Christian Reflections, "The Seeing Eye" pp. 167-168.

    More GvD Blog posts will be posted annually. Until then,

Happy Trails,

GvD Sam

Adding the Genesis vs Darwin Blog RSS Feed to Your Computer

    If you want to stay updated with this blog, there are many ways to get automatic updates of new posts on your computer. Most new web browsers have to ability to obtain an RSS Feed, which is needed in order for the computer to know which website to access to update the blog. If you have such a web browser, tell it to add a feed, then copy the below URL into the RSS Feed Website area:

http://genesisvsdarwin.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

    There are also other ways to have this blog automatically updated on your computer. My personal favorite is for those of you using Windows Vista. As most of you know, Windows Vista contains a Side Bar (usually on the right side of the screen) which contains "Gadgets" which can be added. If you haven't done so already, click the "+" button above the sidebar and double-click on the "Feed Headlines" Gadget. A small box should appear on your Side Bar.

    Next, go to http://genesisvsdarwin.blogspot.com/ (if you are not there already). Near the top-right, in-between the "Home" and "Print" button there is the RSS Feed button. Click on it and it will send you to the RSS Feed page for the blog. Near the bottom of the text box, it will ask you if you want to add this feed. Click yes. Next, go to your Feed Headlines Gadget, and right click near the bottom and click "Options." Under "Display this feed:" click and choose "Genesis vs Darwin Blog." Voila, now you will have the automatically updated Genesis vs Darwin Blog right on your Desktop.