Sunday, April 29, 2012

Words - Abiogenesis

The first fly appeared as if by magic; its wings added a mother-of-pearl glitter to the ground beneath.  Looking closely at the brown and shadowed dirt as it warmed in the light of the rising sun, I could see another fly, and then another.  It was like an optical illusion: as if the dirt itself were turning into flies.  There were soon five, ten, twenty flies, and some of them began to take flight, buzzing slowly around, over the garden.

Faced with this plague of flies, I quickly ran into the house, returned with a spray-can of Raid insecticide, and began spraying both the air and the ground as flies by the dozen continued to appear from the dirt and take to the air.  Within half an hour all of the flies were dead or gone, and the plague was over.

Abiogenesis is a word which means life beginning from non-living matter.  I have seen this with my own eyes, so I understand why people up through the late 1800's used to believe it.  But the science of Biology was founded on the disproving of abiogenesis.  Life never comes from non-living matter.  Life always comes from existing life of the same kind.

Thinking back to the warm afternoon when we had rototilled the dirt for that garden, I remember the small pile of dead fish lying under the shade of the almond tree, attracting the attention of a dozen flies.  We buried those fish six inches under the soft dirt at one end of the garden.  The same end of the garden where the flies later appeared.

Science is founded on testing and observation.  If you want the truth, you look at the evidence.  Not just the evidence that presents itself before your eyes, but all of the evidence.  So, even though I did not see it, I understand that the flies which landed on the fish under the almond tree, laid eggs on those fish.  And later, even though the fish were dead and buried, the fly-eggs hatched into a swarm of maggots, and those maggots grew into a swarm of flies that, when grown, struggled up through the loose dirt to appear in the sunshine before my very eyes early one morning.

Everything that begins to exist, has a cause.

Back in 1668 an Italian named Francesco Redi proved that maggots come from eggs laid by flies.  He set out meat in different containers.  Some were sealed shut.  Others were screened to keep out flies.  And others were open to allow flies to land on the meat.  In the end, maggots grew only on the meat in the open containers where the flies had landed on it.

In 1859 Louis Pasteur won a contest for the best experiment that disproved spontaneous generation (abiogenesis) of bacteria.  He boiled meat broth in a glass flask with an S-shaped neck to keep dust from settling on the broth.  Even though the broth was open to the air, the dust would settle by gravity in the s-bend of the neck of the flask.  The broth remained clear because no microorganisms magically appeared it it.  But after the flask was tipped to bring the broth into contact with any dust in the neck of the flask, the broth soon became cloudy with microscopic life. Pastuer declared, in essence, "Spontaneous Generation is dead."

These two experiments are part of the foundation of biological science. They proved, for the world, that life does not magically appear without cause from non-living matter. Abiogenesis is not true. 

So why is evolutionism trying to return science to the dark ages by resurrecting abiogenesis?


Sunday, April 8, 2012

Words --- High School = Hunger Games

So, you are in high school? Congratulations, and welcome to the Hunger Games. The only difference is, almost all of you will survive because, after all, actually killing each other is a capital offense. But in the end, the question is this: Will you survive as an Ally by helping other people? Or will you survive as a Career Tribute by making fun of other people and tormenting them?

Will you be an ally like Rue, who kept Katniss alive and hidden for two days while she was helpless? Will you be an ally like Peeta, who refused to give up caring for other people, who refused to become the traitor that others wanted him to be? Will you be an ally like Katniss, who stepped up and volunteered to go to certain death (or in the case of high school, popularity death) instead of someone else?

Or, because you are fast, strong, beautiful, or likable, will you band together with other Career Tributes in order to torment and humiliate those you think are not worth your care and consideration?

Hour by hour, day by day, we are given many opportunities to help and care for other people, even by doing such little things as smiling at someone, or listening to someone, or, as Jesus said, by giving them a cup of water.

If, instead, we participate with the in-group's game of talking trash about other people --- If, instead of caring for people, we stand at the back of the crowd and don't speak out against the bullying and tormenting, then we are guilty of abetting the conspiracy, we are guilty of aiding the evil which is being done.

So, welcome to high school. Welcome to the Arena. This is where you learn to be the person you want to become. Will you conquer your fear and step forth to stand up for what is right and good? Or, will you cringe back to hide behind the crowd, allowing evil to succeed in crushing the weak?

Remember this. When your name was called out at the Reaping to send you to your death, it was Jesus who cried out and said, "No! Take me instead."