DOES GOD EXIST?

Welcome to the Young Adults Bible Study Course and the first lesson – “Does God Exist?” The questions “Does God Exist?” and “Is the Bible True?” are two foundational subjects that are worthwhile covering before we learn about what the Bible can teach us in the lessons that follow on from them. If we are going to learn about what the Bible teaches then we need to know for sure that God really does exist and that the Bible can be relied upon.

What we'll be covering in these first two lessons is background information to help you gain a deeper appreciation and awe of the great God who has created this universe before we move on and learn about what the Bible teaches. It is also designed to help you to appreciate the marvellous wonders that He has created as well as appreciate the Bible for the incredible book that it is.

The Bible tells us that we are to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul and all of our mind (Matthew 22:37). The use of the word "mind" in this verse means that our belief in God and the Bible is to be an intelligent faith based on evidence, not just simply a blind faith. One of the most important questions of all is “Does God Exist”? You might answer yes to that question but how would go if someone asked you to prove it to them that God exists? In this first lesson of the Young Adults Bible Study Course we will tell you how.

1] Who created the universe?

·    The laws of radioactivity show that the universe had a beginning.

The most basic point to prove that there has to be a supreme Creator is simply being able to prove that the universe had a beginning. If there was a time when matter did not exist then a great and powerful Creator had to have brought it into existence. The laws of radioactivity prove this very basic point.

There are 92 naturally occurring different types of atoms which all matter is made up of. Hydrogen is the smallest with one proton in its nucleus and one electron circling the nucleus. Helium is the next type of atom with two protons in its nucleus and two electrons circling around its nucleus. Oxygen has 8 protons and 8 electrons. Iron has 26 protons and electrons and so on they go. Lead has 82 protons and 82 electrons.

All the elements with more protons and electrons than lead, such as uranium, are unstable and break down. The nuclei of these elements are constantly losing protons and over time they eventually turn to lead, which is the biggest of the stable elements. We call this radioactivity. Now, if the universe has always existed, all the radioactive elements in the universe would have long ago broken down into lead atoms by now. So, if the universe had a beginning, how did it come into existence from nothing? Something or someone had to have created it.

·    Hubble discovered that all galaxies are expanding so there had to be a beginning.

The UCG booklet “Does God Exist?” gives this excellent explanation of the fact that all galaxies are moving away from each other:

“In the early 1900s astronomers discovered a phenomenon known as red shift - that light from distant galaxies is shifted toward the red end of the colour spectrum. Astronomer Edwin Hubble realized this meant that the universe is expanding. He discovered that galaxies and clusters of galaxies are moving away from each other in all directions.

“To envision this revolutionary discovery, imagine dots of ink on the surface of a balloon you are blowing up. As you inflate the balloon, the spots move further from each other in all directions. Hubble and other astronomers found that galaxies throughout the universe are speeding away from each other in the same way. They also found that, the farther a galaxy or cluster of galaxies is from us, the faster it is retreating.

“What Hubble had discovered was that the universe is expanding outward everywhere he looked. The discovery was revolutionary, since up until this time most astronomers assumed that any motion by galaxies was simply random drift. Other astronomers and physicists subsequently confirmed Hubble's observations and conclusions. What could this mean?

“John D. Barrow, professor of astronomy at the University of Sussex, England, explores in his book 'The Origin of the Universe' the fascinating question of how space, matter and even time began. Of the expansion of the universe, Barrow writes: 'This was the greatest discovery of twentieth-century science, and it confirmed what Einstein's general theory of relativity had predicted about the universe: that it cannot be static. The gravitational attraction between the galaxies would bring them all together if they were not rushing away from each other. The universe can't stand still.

“'If the universe is expanding, then when we reverse the direction of history and look in the past we should find evidence that it emerged from a smaller, denser state - a state that appears to have once had zero size. It is this apparent beginning that has become known as the big bang' (1994, pp. 3-5).

“In other words, what astronomers concluded they were seeing was the aftermath of an unimaginably powerful event that hurled matter and energy outward in all directions to form the known universe - thus the name 'big bang'. In reality, what they were observing was the fact that the universe had to have a beginning” (p.9)

2] The wonders of design in the universe.

·    The Earth's tilt and rotation and its distance from the Sun are just right for supporting life.

The Earth's axis, or the line between the North and South Poles, is tilted at an angle of 23 degrees relative to the orbit which the earth takes in revolving around the Sun. When it's winter in the Northern Hemisphere the North Pole is closer to the Sun than the South Pole. When it's summer in the Southern Hemisphere the South Pole is closer to the Sun than the North Pole. Although not a direct factor in whether life is possible, the angle creates the change of seasons which we are able to enjoy. Were the earth not tilted, our climate would always be the same, with no change of seasons. If the tilt were greater, summers would be considerably hotter and winters much colder, wreaking havoc on plant cycles and agriculture.

The earth rotates at just the right speed. It rotates once every 24 hours which evenly heats the planet like a chicken on a spit. The earth, at 149 000 000 km from the Sun, is also just the right distance for supporting life.

Astronomer Hugh Ross points out some of the ways earth is perfectly balanced for life to exist: "As biochemists now concede, for life molecules to operate so that organisms can live requires an environment where liquid water is stable. This means that a planet cannot be too close to its star or too far away. In the case of planet Earth, a change in the distance from the sun as small as 2 percent would rid the planet of all life...The rotation period of a life-supporting planet cannot be changed by more than a few percent. If the planet takes too long to rotate, temperature differences between day and night will be too great. On the other hand, if the planet rotates too rapidly, wind velocities will rise to catastrophic levels. A quiet day on Jupiter (rotation period of ten hours), for example, generates thousand mph winds" (The Creator and the Cosmos, 1993, pp. 135-136).

·    The Earth's amazing atmosphere.

In the UCG booklet “Does God Exist?” we read the following about the earth's amazing atmosphere:

“Earth's atmosphere is one way our planet is finely tuned for life. No other planet in our solar system has anything remotely like it. High in the atmosphere, ozone blocks cancer-causing radiation emanating from the sun. The atmosphere shields us from meteors, burning up the overwhelming majority long before they reach earth. Otherwise they would cause great damage and loss of life.

“Our atmosphere contains a mixture of gases in perfect proportions to sustain life. Oxygen makes up 21 percent of our air. Without oxygen, all animate life - including humans - would die in minutes. But too much oxygen is toxic and makes combustible materials more flammable. If the proportion of oxygen in the air increased to only 24 percent, destructive fires would frequently break out and be much harder to bring under control. Objects around us could literally burst into flame.

“Nitrogen, making up 78 percent of earth's atmosphere, dilutes the oxygen and serves a vital function as a fertilizer for plants. During thunderstorms millions of lightning bolts around the earth each day combine some nitrogen with oxygen, creating compounds that are then washed to earth by rain, where they can be utilized by plants. Carbon dioxide makes up much of the rest of our atmosphere. Without it plant life would be impossible. Plants require carbon dioxide, which they take in while giving off oxygen. Animals and humans are the opposite, breathing in oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. Plant life sustains human and animal life and vice versa in a magnificent, precise, self-sustaining cycle” (p.6).

On the subject of the ozone layer Fred Meldau makes this incredible statement: “If that little belt of ozone, approximately forty miles up and ONLY ONE-EIGHTH OF AN INCH THICK (if compressed), should suddenly drift into space all life on the earth would perish” (Why We Believe in Creation and Not in Evolution, p.35). Ozone blocks out the deadly long UV rays while allowing through the short UV rays necessary for life.

·    The Moon distance and the tides it creates are just right.

Fred Meldau in his classic book “Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution” explains how the moon's distance and the tides it creates from its gravitational pull are just right:

“If the moon were half as far away, or twice its present diameter, great tides would wreck most of our harbours, periodically submerge low-laying islands and coastal plains, and drive inland a hundred miles on some rivers. If the moon ware smaller and farther away, it would not have sufficient pull on our tides to cleanse our harbours or adequately rejuvenate (with oxygen) the waters in our oceans…

“Those who visit our seashores are fascinated by the rhythmic pounding of the breakers against the rocky coast and the resulting splash and spray with each incoming breaker. This rhythmic 'breathing' - for such it truly is - is very important to the life of the sea. All animal life in the oceans must have oxygen. The breakers, activated in part by the pull of the tides, aerate the water, giving it a new supply of oxygen.

“Both the sun and the moon affect the tides. As a matter of fact, both the sun and the moon create 'tides' in the atmosphere as well as in the oceans! And this ebb and flow of gravitational pull helps circulate the air in our atmosphere” (p.31-32).

·    The sheer size and power in the universe.

The prophet Isaiah was inspired to write: “To whom then will you liken God?…It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-S out the heavens like a curtain, and S-P-R-E-A-D-S them out like a tent to dwell in” (Isaiah 40:18-22).

Our Sun is 149 000 000 km from the earth and is 1.3 million times bigger than the whole earth and yet there are far larger stars than our sun. Antares, in the constellation of Scorpio, is said to have a diameter of nearly 700 000 000 km. Its diameter is nearly twice as big as the diameter of the entire circular orbit that the earth travels around the Sun.

At the incredible speed of 300 000 km per second, it still takes light 4 years to get to the nearest star to the earth, Alpha Centauri, which is close to the Southern Cross. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, alone has about 100 000 million stars in it and it is 100 000 light years wide. If the orbit of the furthest planet, Pluto, was about the size of a coffee cup then the Milky Way would be the size of the entire continent of North America in comparison. And yet, the Milky Way is only one of an absolutely enormous number of galaxies in the universe. Estimates vary but there is believed to be as many as 200 000 million (200 billion) galaxies just like our own enormous galaxy!

Now try and think about this one. Einstein discovered that all matter is essentially made up of an incredible amount of compressed energy. When the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima which destroyed the city and killed 80 000 people, it was done by converting some of the matter in the bomb into pure energy. The amount of matter that was converted into pure energy to destroy the whole city was only ONE GRAM! One gram is about the size of a garden pea that you might eat at your dinner table.

Now if there's that much energy in that little pea, then that is how much energy it took for God to create the atoms which make up that little pea. Now, if it takes the power of a Hiroshima bomb to create a little garden pea how much would it take to create a man? How much to create the earth? How much to create the Sun? Or the galaxy? Or the entire universe full of at least 200 billion galaxies? That's how powerful God is!!!

·    The evidence of design in the universe.

Most of the stars in the universe are orderly grouped together in galaxies, many of which are grouped together in clusters of galaxies. How can such order seen in the galaxies result from a “random explosion” as the big bang if there wasn't a Creator to draw them together and bring order to them? Even in the irregular galaxies there is evidence of design for the purpose of displaying beauty, such as the amazing Cartwheel Galaxy that has been photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope.


The Hubble telescope has also captured incredible colourful nebulas that show beauty that is anything but random. We can see this well-ordered beauty in nebulas such as the horsehead nebula, the hourglass nebula and the eagle nebula which truly look like the patterns which they were named after. There is the beauty of star clusters, double and triple stars with different colours like oranges, violets and blues due to the different temperatures of the stars.

There is evidence of design in a number of the patterns of the constellations. While some are hard to make out, others are quite spectacular like Scorpio and the Big Dipper. E.W. Bullinger in his book “Witness of the Stars” has put forth an interesting theory that the plan of God can be seen in the various constellations in the heavens. One can't help but wonder about that and the evidence of design in the heavens when one sees the Southern Cross. Two of the brightest stars, Alpha and Beta Centauri, point to it and seem to highlight how Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins. Truly “the heavens declare the glory of God” as David wrote in Psalm 19:1.

·   Who started the original push of the orbits of all the stars and the planets?

Fred Meldau in his book “Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution” writes the following about the orbits of the stars and the planets: “GRAVITATION pulls the stars toward their centre or nucleus - and toward each other. INERTIA - after once the stars have been put in motion - keeps them in motion, and in a regular orbit determined by the pull of gravity. By the balance between two great laws of nature, we have the explanation of the ceaseless motion in orbits of the stars and every other heavenly body!

“But the serious thinker at once asks two pertinent questions: (a) What or Who STARTED all this motion? Where did the original 'push' come from? Science has no answer. The Bible Believer has the perfect answer: the Creator gave the universe its original motion - and He is the One who keeps it going! Remember, the universe is NOT an absolute vacuum; there is scattered through space a small quantity of hydrogen gas, meteors, meteorites, and small particles. But be the matter ever so small, MATTER IN SPACE WILL IN TIME SLOW DOWN AND STOP ANY MOVING BODY. The finest pendulum ever made in the most nearly perfect vacuum man can make, will neither START itself - nor keep going indefinitely.

“(b) WHO keeps this vast machine going? The man-made satellites require a tremendous 'push' to get them 500 to 1000 miles above the earth: but they gradually lose altitude and will eventually fall to earth [like S b and the Mir space station]…Obviously, Someone not only had to START this vast machine, but Someone also has to keep it going. Again, we are forced back to GOD. The fact is, if God should suddenly die - which is of course impossible - the universe would become chaotic in a very short time, even though it is running smoothly now, due to the truth of the Second Law of Thermodynamics: the universal tendency toward decay and decline” (p.57).

·   The wonders of the atom.

ALL things in the universe are made up of tiny atoms, each a miracle of creation! These atoms are incredibly small with the common ones being around a billionth of a centimetre in size. They are like miniature solar systems with electrons whizzing around the nucleus. These minute “electrons” dash around the nucleus “millions of times per second” and the electrons revolve around the nucleus “in orbits whose diameters are about 10 000 times larger than the nucleus”. They make the trip around the nucleus several thousand million times every second.

Because the orbits of the electrons are 10 000 times larger than the nucleus, most of the atom is empty space. Scientists say that “if you eliminated all the empty space in every atom in the body of a 200-pound man he would be no bigger than a particle of dust” (Arthur S. Eddington, in 'The Nature of the Physical Universe'). And if the entire earth were likewise compacted it would become a ball only one-half mile in diameter.

Fred Meldau writes the following about the wonders of the electrical charge and the strong force that binds the nucleus of atoms together: “Each proton in an atom has a positive charge of electricity, each electron has a negative charge that exactly balances the positive charge of the proton, with as many electrons outside the nucleus as there are protons inside. Who put the electricity in the atom, and balanced the normal atom so finely?

“Ordinarily, like charges of electricity in different objects that are close to each other REPEL each other; but in the nucleus of the atom God has reversed the law of nature scientists are familiar with (called Coulomb's Law). In the nucleus of the atom, in which all the protons have a positive charge, instead of repelling each other, they are held together by some unknown force of tremendous power! This phenomenon, to scientists, is the most mysterious thing about the atom; in fact, they call it 'the basic mystery of the universe' (World Within Atoms)'…

“Why does a comparatively minor change in the number of protons, neutrons and electrons in an atom produce an entirely different element? Essentially all the atoms of all the elements are built on the same general plan: a central nucleus made up of protons and neutrons with an equal number of electrons revolving around them with unbelievable speed. Why, by merely changing the number of the protons, neutrons and electrons, does one get the different elements vastly unlike?” (ibid, p.71-72, 262).

Water is a good example of this. It is a molecule made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Water is a liquid, yet it is made up of the atoms of two gases. Both of those gases are highly flammable and when on fire they are put out by water. Even with molecules that are formed from the same element there can be profound differences. The element carbon in its pure form is what forms the lead in a lead pencil yet if carbon is super-compressed by natural forces and crystallized it produces the hardest substance known to man – a diamond.

·   The harmony and mystery of the laws of the universe

In Isaiah 33:22 we read: “For the Lord is our Judge, The Lord is our Lawgiver.” God is the great Lawgiver. He not only gave laws that guide human conduct but He also set in motion all the great laws of physics, chemistry and biology, etc. If we are in harmony with them and obey them we are blessed. Break those laws and they break us. Fred Meldau writes the following about the harmony of the laws of the universe:

“We have spoken of the law of GRAVITATION and the law of INERTIA. There are scores of other 'laws' in the universe that are perfect and necessary to make up this vast universe. All students of astronomy are familiar with Kepler's three laws of planetary motion. There are 'laws' of motion, laws of heat, laws of light, laws of sound and all are PERFECT, never-changing, never-failing.

“Rear Admiral D. V. Gallery (USN; writing in the Saturday Evening Post), said, 'The stars in their orbits and velocities through the heavens faithfully obey a great code of LAW. Earth's scientists can quote and explain this code in great detail - until you ask, 'Whence came these laws?'

“And scientists have FAITH in the laws of the universe. They predict the coming of comets into our solar system years before we see the comet - then they predict its return at some future date - and they do so unfailingly, because the laws of the Universe are unfailing!

“Prof. Einstein said in The World as I See It: 'The scientist's religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the Harmony of Natural Law which reveals an Intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection'(p. 29)” (ibid, p.52).

Many of these laws and the forces that govern those laws are really quite mysterious. Take gravity, for example (Job. 26:7). Gravity is the force of attraction that keeps us on the earth and stops us from floating out into space. Scientists still have no idea about how this mysterious force works that draws matter together. What is it that the earth does to put some sort of hook on us to keep us down on the ground? The same applies with the attraction and repulsion of magnets. We can work out the formulas that govern how strong these forces are based on how far apart the objects are but we cannot explain what makes them work.

The law of the conservation of energy allows us to convert one form of energy into another. In our bodies chemical energy in food is converted to kinetic energy (movement). In cars we convert chemical and electric energy also into movement. When we move a conductor in a magnetic field we convert that energy into electricity. We are harnessing the speed of electrons to give us power to do all the wonderful things we do with electricity. The magnetic attraction in a magnetic field strips electrons from atoms and it is this movement of electrons through the conductor, such as in a copper wire, which does the work we need electricity for.

An example of this process in action is in a stereo system. A microphone has a magnetic field in it and we use the faint movement caused by sound waves to produce a small electric current in the microphone which is then amplified. The power of the voltage matches the pattern of the sound wave. The louder the sound, the bigger the voltage.

We can then record that sound. On a tape the magnetic particles are lined up so their north and south poles face a certain direction. The bigger the voltage (louder the sound) the more particles are lined up straight. On a CD the strength of the voltage at each split second is recorded as a binary number (01 – 1, 10 – 2, 11 – 3, 100–4, 101 – 5, etc.). For each 0 or 1 the microscopic pits on a CD are slightly different.

We can then play the music we've recorded. In a tape player the playing head of a tape has a magnetic field. The more particles that are lined up on the tape, the stronger the magnetic force will be. As the tape is played a current (moving electrons) is produced. The voltage varies based on the magnetic force which matches the sound level. A CD player reads in the binary numbers off a CD and produces a current whose voltage varies according to the number read in which matches the sound pattern.

Once we have that voltage its simply a matter of feeding that current with varying voltage through the speakers. Speakers do the reverse of what microphones do. We've seen how magnets can produce electricity when we move a conductor through a magnetic field. Electricity or electric energy can be converted back to magnetic energy. Whenever electricity is moving through something, a magnetic field is produced which can move things. The speakers have a cone attached to a magnet. The voltage causes the cone to move back and forth thousands of times a second producing waves of sound which match what we've recorded. The bigger the voltage, the further the cone is moved out producing louder sound waves.

Light is another great mystery of the universe. Sometimes it acts like a wave and other times it acts like a particle. Light is harmless to us, yet at the same time, it is also one form of electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic waves are forms of energy that travel at around 300 000 km per second. The difference between the different waves is their frequency - the number of peaks of the wave that pass a point each second. Radio waves have a frequency up to a billion waves a second. Above that frequency you have microwaves, infra-red waves (heat), light, UV rays, X-rays and then gamma rays. All of them provide us with some benefit. Their energy is believed to be produced by movements of electrons jumping back and forth different orbits as they spin around the nucleus.

We mentioned before the mystery of water being a liquid that is made up of two gases - hydrogen and oxygen. There are two things about water that make it a curious exception to the natural laws that govern matter. Usually the colder a substance becomes the more it shrinks. Water does the opposite. It expands when it becomes ice because it is heaviest at 4 degrees centigrade. These amazing exceptions prevent lakes from freezing completely solid. The evidence of these “exceptions” to normal natural laws shows that there is a great Lawgiver who can change those laws when He deems appropriate.

3] Water.

·   Water's versatility

Fred Meldau writes the following about the amazing substance we simply know as water: “We all know that a world without water would be lifeless; but a world in which water followed the customary laws of physics would also soon become lifeless! Water has been aptly called 'the most uncommon of the common substances'. What a marvellously versatile substance water is! Its molecules lock together in flinty embrace as ICE - and think of the uses of ice in our economy. In another form water covers the earth with a dry, protective blanket of SNOW in the winter, and piles up ton after ton of stored water in the valleys of the mountains. It falls as RAIN to quench the thirst of the dry earth in the spring and summer; it feeds our rivers and fills our oceans and lakes. It shades us from the heat of the sun as vapour in the CLOUDS. As STEAM it drives powerful machinery. Truly, water is one of the greatest gifts of God to man. Without water there could be no inhabited earth…

“Though sea water weighs 800 times more thin air, when it is vaporised by the heat of the sun it is lighter than air and is lifted into the clouds! This remarkable miracle makes rain possible. Did all these strange and wonderful characteristics of water 'just happen'? Hardly. Water with all its marvellous characteristics is one of God's creations” (ibid, p.37-38).

·   Water heaviest at 4 degrees centigrade.

“Water, unlike any other substance (except bismuth) is heaviest at 4 degrees centigrade - slightly above freezing. Above that and below that it is lighter. Because of this, ice floats and water freezes from the top down. If ice were heavier than water, rivers and lakes would freeze solid. This would kill all fish, prevent thawing in the spring and so upset the scheme of things as to make life on earth impossible. Who changed the law that cold contracts and heat expands, when it applies to water? The Creator designed it so” (ibid, p.37-38).

“Ice is one of the few substances that expands when frozen. Most substances when frozen become more dense and sink when placed in a container of the same substance in liquid form. But not ice. Since water expands by one tenth its volume when frozen, frozen water has the unusual characteristic of floating on top of liquid water. When rivers and lakes freeze in the winter, they freeze from the top down. If ice acted like almost all other compounds, it would sink, and rivers and lakes would freeze from the bottom up. All bodies of water would eventually become solid bodies of ice, eliminating most life as we know it” (Does God Exist, p.7).

·   Snowflakes

Another miracle of nature is that of the unique shape of every single snowflake that falls to ground. Fred Meldau gives us these thoughts on the wonder of snowflakes: “'A snowflake is one of God's most beautiful architectural marvels. Snowflakes are infinite in variety and beauty - the great majority being six-sided crystals, each geometrically perfect and differing from all others in design' (Dr Arthur I. Brown).

“Who can watch the myriads of snowflakes filter down through the winter skies, pile up in fleckless beauty, and not know that this is God's world? Such miracles as snow could not 'just happen'. No one but an infinite God could create upon trillions of delicate snow flakes each winter with NO TWO OF THEM IDENTICAL! That is a miracle of creative genius that should prove to the most sceptical that GOD is the Master Architect who made all things” (Why We Believe in Creation and Not in Evolution, p.41).

·   Cycles in oceans

Fred Meldau gives us these insights into the amazing cycles in the oceans that God has made: “To provide oxygen, and phosphates, to help keep the temperatures of the earth more equal, the Creator has made the seas ost intricate system providing proper CIRCULATION. This circulation is the result of 'the waves and currents that cause continual movement in the waters of the sea; these are created by the wind and the weather and the rotation of the earth (called the Corolis Effect)…also by the rhythmic movements of the tides.'

“In addition to the regular movements of water, there are at least three LIFE CYCLES in the oceans of more than passing interest. 'In contemplating the intricate balance of these natural forces the mind is filled with deepest awe' (Miracle of the Sea). The first is the amazing FOOD CYCLE, beginning with the 'grass of the sea' - the plankton that grows in great abundance in the upper 250 feet of the sea waters. One miracle about plankton we must mention is: 'Plankton...make daily migrations through depths of hundreds of feet as they adjust their environment to the light conditions they prefer' (The World of Water). This is the Creator's very practical plan for serving fish that live at different levels their daily meal of plankton.

“The second Cycle is the OXYGEN Cycle. All life in the sea breathes and lives on oxygen. ALL OXYGEN IN THE SEA MUST COME FROM THE SURFACE LAYER - about 250 feet deep. In this upper layer we find this miracle: 'The microscopic plants (in plankton, mentioned above) are busy at their work every moment of taking in carbon dioxide and giving out oxygen, by means of the process called photosynthesis, while at the surface itself atmospheric oxygen in taken into solution direct.'

“The third life cycle is the astonishing PHOSPHATE CYCLE. Phosphorous is of great biological significance because it is vital to life…The initial assimilation of phosphate in the sea is largely made by algae in the plankton. This plankton is eaten by the fish…There is [also] in the lower water levels a steady building up of phosphates (but) there are [also] the REGULAR INVERSIONS OF THE UPPER AND LOWER LAYERS OF SEA WATER which result in further utilization of deep sea phosphate for plankton growth” (ibid, p.48-50).

4] The wonders of design in nature.

·    Law of biogenesis – life from pre-existing life.

Herbert W. Armstrong in his booklet “Does God Exist?” writes the following: “It is demonstrated today that LIFE COMES ONLY FROM LIFE, and that each kind reproduces only after its kind (Genesis 1:25). The works of Tyndall and Louis Pasteur, in the field of bacteria and protozoa, finally demonstrated scientifically once and for all in these more minute fields what Redi first demonstrated with larger organisms…No fact of science stands more conclusively proved today. Life CANNOT come from dead matter. There is not one shred of truth from science to account for the presence of life upon the earth by any means other than a special creation by the great original first Cause - God - who is life and the fountain source of all life!” (p.6).

Fred Meldau provides us with the following quotes from leading scientists that support what has come to be known as the “law of biogenesis”: “Sir Ambrose Fleming in an address to the members of the Victoria Institute, not only spoke of the origin of matter but also of the origin of life: 'We (as scientists) have not the smallest knowledge of how empty space first became occupied with the most rudimentary form of matter. Neither have we any conception of how life originated. WE CANNOT IN ANY WAY BRING IT INTO EXISTENCE APART FROM PREVIOUS LIFE.'

“Irwin Schroe , 'Nobel Laurete in Physics' and leading atomic scientist says: 'Where are we when presented with the mystery of life? We find ourselves facing a granite wall which we have not even chipped...we know virtually nothing of growth, nothing of life.' (Quoted in the New York Times in "The Greatest Mystery of All - the Secret of Life," by emar Kaempffert) (Why We Believe in Creation and Not in Evolution, p.273-274).

Fred Meldau comments further on the mysteries of life we see in the world of nature: “Scientists do not know how life got started in the beginning; the gap between the inorganic elements and the simplest forms of life is infinitely great. No one knows why life is divided into the two major kingdoms: plant and animal. Why not all one kingdom (say, animal); or, why not more than two - plant, animal and some other radically different form of life? No one can explain the origin of sex: why male and female? Nor can anyone explain the secrets of heredity or of instinct, that amazing property of animals which acts like intelligence but is not intelligence as we know it, but which enables certain creatures to do what man with all his intelligence can not do!” (ibid, p.261)

·   Viruses

The smallest and “most primitive” form of life are viruses which are made up of a protein molecule and are much smaller than the forms of life which are made of a single cell. Fred Meldau has these things to say about these mysterious forms of life:

“Many viruses are a deadly poison. What a strange start for evolution to take, in its FIRST attempt at creating life, to begin with a deadly poison! IF in its first step evolution developed a rank poison, what would the second step be? and the following?…All viruses are parasites or symbionts; they are utterly dependent on a 'Host Cell.' 'No virus has yet been grown in the absence of living cells' (Smithsonian Institute Report, 1956). This simply means that the 'host cell,' a higher form of life than the virus had to be created first…

“Viruses can be put into crystalline form resembling salt. This crystal appears to be dead; it is dead; it can be kept almost indefinitely without apparent change. But put it into a living tissue and something happens. The viruses start to eat, grow and multiply, in their host cells! 'Even after repeated crystallization, a treatment no other living substance has ever been able to survive, viruses resume their activities and multiply when returned to favourable conditions (host cells)'" (ibid, p.80-82).

·   Structure of cells

Let's look at the wonders of design in the structure of cells and ask whether these complex structures could have come into being without the aid of a Creator who designed them all:

“Human cells are similar in construction to all cells, having three principal parts: outer membrane, cytoplasm and nucleus. 'Each human cell nucleus contains 46 chromosomes, with the exception of egg and sperm cells, which contain half as many. Even the powerful peering eye of the electron microscope cannot see inside the unbelievably minute chromosomes. But indirect evidence indicate, that, small as they are, they are still large enough to contain 30 000 genes - the seeds of inheritance'

“These cells are so small, it takes 8 000 of them to make an inch, and 64 000 000 of them can be put in a square inch! 'These 'bricks' (cells) from which all living matter is made, are able to perform chemical transformations that baffle the world's cleverest chemists, producing infinitely complex vitamins, hormones and proteins. They perform striking feats of 'biological engineering' - the outstanding example being the formation of the human ovum and sperm.' There are five general types of cells in the human body - All coming originally from the first two specialized cells: the ovum and the sperm. These cells are (1) the nerve cells, (2) [skin] cells, (3) connective tissue (4) muscle cells and (5) blood cells.

“In general, cells in the body have two main responsibilities: their own sustenance and reproduction, and their community responsibilities. The first includes such responsibilities as eating and waste disposal, the second includes the responsibilities of each cell to all others. Tiny cells in the pancreas, for example, produce minute amounts of insulin which control sugar use by all other cells. Fat cells store tiny droplets of oil to be used for energy for the rest of the body” (ibid, p.219).

·   Bacteria

The majority of one-celled organisms are known to us as bacteria. Like viruses, most bacteria are reliant on a host cell or organism for its survival. Fred Meldau makes these comments on the part that bacteria play in nature:

“Bacteria, like viruses, have a predetermined, planned economy laid out for them. In general, they were created to be scavengers –'to break down the bodies of the dead' - so that the vital organic elements in bodies of dead animals and plants might be returned to the soil to be used by future generations…God, in His supreme wisdom, planned an economy in nature that works; and He gave bacteria a definite place in His overall plan. Were it not for bacteria, and certain other organisms, the bodies of dead animals and plants would not decompose and return to the soil to make food for future generations - they would accumulate. Bacteria, are constantly at work decomposing dead leaves, carcasses, manure. etc.

“'The microbes of putrefaction (bacteria) resolve dead bodies and plants into sulphates, phosphates, nitrates, etc.,' that return to the soil, 'and so the cycle of life is complete.' (The Great Cycles of Life). That such a wonderful system in nature, with each form of life having its necessary function, all working together in a state of perfect balance, should happen by 'chance' is unthinkable” (ibid, p.84).

·   Miracle of photosynthesis

The vast majority of plants have a compound called chlorophyll. This almost magical compound absorbs light and combines with carbon dioxide to produce the simple sugars and starch it needs to grow as well as producing oxygen which animals need to survive. No one can explain the origin of chlorophyll, or the amazing process of photosynthesis. "Photosynthesis - the amazing process of the synthesis of organic compounds from carbon dioxide and water by plants in light remains one of the great unsolved problems of biology.” (Eugene I. Rabinowitch, 'Scientific American', November 1953).

·   The miracle of living food

Herbert W Armstrong in his booklet “Does God Exist?” writes: “No man, with all his ingenuity and science and laboratory facilities, CAN PRODUCE FOOD! That is, he cannot take plain inorganic matter and turn it into the living substance we call food. But when a marvelous little grain of wheat is planted in the ground, a plant develops and sprouts above the ground, and in some manner too wonderful for any human mind to understand or imitate, the elements drunk in through the roots from the ground are utilized by the life germ in the seed of wheat, and new grains of wheat appear.

“During this process, the inorganic iron and other elements dissolved in the ground, drunk into the roots and carried up into the new grain of wheat, have been actually converted into organic matter which can be assimilated as food. And this same marvelous process takes place in the growth out of the ground of all grains, vegetables, fruits and foods. When we eat animal meat we are merely consuming, secondhand, the vegetation which the animal ate. MAN, with all his vaunted science, his technical laboratory facilities, with all his inventive genius, lacks the intelligence and the powers to produce a grain of wheat, or to convert inorganic matter into living food” (p.9).

·   Plants and capillarity

One of the amazing qualities of water that God created in it is that of surface tension. This “sticking” action of water causes water to rise in tubes of very small diameter which is called capillarity. Were it not for this quality, water could not be drawn up from the soil by plant roots and fed to all the cells of a plant. This quality makes a dramatic difference when one considers how water rises from the roots to the highest branches of a 400-foot tree.

"Even today we do not know the complete story of how it does this [for] merely to raise water 450 feet requires a pressure, or tension of about 210 pounds per square inch! And in some hardwood trees water rises at the rate of almost 150 feet per hour. A date palm in a desert oasis may need to raise as much as 100 gallons of water a day to make up its losses in evaporation from the leaves." (Victor A. Grenlach, in 'The Rise of Water in Plants, Scientific American Magazine).

·   Balance of nature

Fred Meldau writes the following about the balance in nature: “All life on earth forms a wonderful unit. In nature are found many 'checks and counterchecks' which keep the so-called 'Balance in Nature'…'Food chains' not only illustrate the way 'balance' is maintained in nature, but also the interdependence of all life…'The living things of a community,' says another authority, 'form a natural balance, which is often upset but just as often restored [such as after a bushfire]…If we consider the living world we see a vast number of species, animal and vegetable, high and low, some numerous, some scarce, some spread everywhere, others confined to limited parts of the earth. On the whole, these proportions, numbers and particular distribution of species remain constant; there is a balance maintained between them which we wont to call the balance of nature'…

“The Creator's hand can easily be seen also in the many 'handicaps' and 'safeguards' found in nature. Balance in nature is maintained by the 'handicaps' placed on certain creatures that otherwise would kill off all weaker species…Certain 'safeguards' also are given to forms of life that would otherwise be at a great disadvantage in the struggle for existence…The presence of life on earth in such great abundance and variety, constantly maintained in an obviously well-planned and finely "balanced" and interdependent economy, in which plants support animals and animals support plants, and both support mankind, witnesses to the superintendence of a Master Mind” (Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution, p.105-106, 330).

·   Sheer number of different species

A species is designated as a group of organisms that can produce fertile offspring such as a horse or a dog. Within each species God has created tremendous variety. We see that within the different races of mankind as well as different horses, cats and dogs, etc. These varieties can produce fertile offspring while different species are not able to.

Animals of different species that are close enough genetically to each other are able to mate and produce offspring but because they are different species the offspring are sterile (A fact ignored by certain science-fiction shows). An example of this is crossing a horse and a donkey which produces a mule. The mule is sterile and cannot reproduce. Biologically close enough species such as horses and those similar to horses are classified as a genus. Reproduction is biologically impossible between species of different genera. This biological barrier God has created is what makes evolution from reptiles to birds and apes to humans impossible.

Evolution speculates that with long enough time it might be possible for one genus to change to another. They believe these changes are slow and gradual but given enough time it will happen. Given the tremendous time needed for even minor changes evolution simply cannot account for the incredible number of species and the incredible amount of variety within each species. Fred Meldau makes these comments on this point:

“Wherever one looks in nature, he is confronted by innumerable varieties of life - especially in the lower echelons. There are over 100,000 known species of fungi; 5,000 species of green algae; 3,000 species of sponges; 5,000 species of corals and their kin; 25,000 species of crustacea (barnacles, crabs, lobsters, shrimp, etc); 80,000 species of molluscs or shellfish; and there are over 300,000 species of plant life!…

“Evolution demands such long periods of time for the development of species, by the slow processes of 'fortuitous changes' and 'natural mutations,' how can it possibly account for such a vast number of species, and why did such an incredible number of species evolve in the same environment? Why, if evolution did it, did not all beetles evolve into a few primary varieties?

“If it took millions of years to develop one type of beetle, how long did it take to evolve 250,000 species? Then think of the other thousands of species of life on earth. And remember, the 250,000 species of beetles are distinct species, each an interbreeding population, and NOT just 'varieties'. Since science has set the age of our earth at from four to five billion years, all evolution must have taken place in the last two to three billion years at the most. So the whole theory collapses in view of the vast variety of life on earth, and the tremendous time needed by evolutionists to account for even minor changes” (ibid, p.118).

·   How insects breathe

There are some profound differences between different types of animals. One such profound difference is that of the respiratory system between insects and virtually all other animals. In short, insects do not have lungs. They get their air through little tubes through the body called trachea. Carroll M. Williams tells us the following about how insects breathe:

“Flying insects require more oxygen, ounce for ounce, than larger animals do. Insect evolution has met this demand by DESIGNING a respiratory system totally different from that of higher animals. Our rhythmic sipping of the air supplies oxygen to our body's cells by the roundabout route of lungs and bloodstream.

“The insect respiratory system bypasses the blood and delivers oxygen directly to each and every one of the millions of cells buried deep in the various tissues and organs of its body. Each insect cell, in short, has its own private lung, to keep the fire of its metabolism burning...The tracheal system embodies a refinement of biological engineering almost past belief” ('Insect Breathing', Scientific American).

Notice her strange choice of words – “insect evolution has met this demand by DESIGNING a respiratory system”. How can evolution, which relies on pure chance, design such a perfect system for insects?

·   Birds – flying wonders

Birds are truly some of the most amazing creatures that God has created. Man has always longed to fly like a bird and it has taken man a long time to discover the principles of aerodynamics which allow man to create machines that allow him to fly yet birds have been gracing the skies for millions of years. They are perfect biological flying machines and are a great witness of God's creative handiwork. On the subject of birds Fred Meldau writes:

“Perhaps in all the realm of nature there is no more, forceful witness for Divine creation than birds. And here is the reason: There is a bigger gulf between reptiles and birds than between most any two other groups adjacent in the 'evolutionary ladder' - and practically all evolutionists are agreed that 'birds developed from a reptilian type of animal, and that the feathers probably developed from scales.'

“Here is a summary of the argument against evolution, when considering the miracle of bird construction. Remember, evolution teaches the slow and GRADUAL change of one genus into another; how then can evolution account for all the radical differences that exist between reptiles and birds? How can evolution account for the complete change of the covering, from scales to feathers? And explain the many vast simultaneous changes made in body structure. For example, many of the bones of a bird are hollow, and some have air sacs, in addition to lungs. In birds heavy jaws and teeth (that would put too much weight too high and too far forward) have been removed and there is provided a g that grinds the food…

“Carl Welty, writing on Birds as Flying Machines, ('Scientific American'), sums up the 'specialties' that birds have that reptiles do not have, that make birds: 'Birds were able to become flying machines largely [because of] gifts feathers, wings, hollow bones, warm-bloodedness, a remarkable system of respiration, a strong, large heart and powerful breast . These adaptations, all boil down to the two prime requirements for any flying machine: high power and low weight'…

“Slight, gradual, random mutations do not account for such drastic changes involved in 'the acquisition of flight in birds' for, to be successful, the entire body had to be rebuilt at the same time in order to make flight possible! The phenomenon of radical changes such as the development of flight in birds precludes the idea of gradual change by random mutations. The only way bird could possibly come to being is by a SUDDEN CREATION; so the gradual change from reptiles to birds is ruled out as an impossibility…

“Birds are by far the fastest creatures on our planet. The streamlined peregrine falcon can dive on its prey at speeds up to 180 miles an hour (some authorities say 250 miles an hour). And yet their great speed is under perfect control! The African eagle, swooping down at its prey at a speed of over 100 miles an hour can brake with such stunning skill, by spreading wings and tail in an serial skid-stop, that it comes to a dead halt in the space of 20 feet!…

“The heart and lungs of birds are truly phenomenal. The heart of the bird is the largest in proportion to its body size of any animal, and its rate of beating, sometimes as high as 600 beats per minute, is far more rapid than man's…

“Birds which build their nests in protected places usually lay few eggs; on the other hand, domestic fowl, whose eggs are used by man, lay many eggs - obviously so designed for man's benefit!…Even the colour of eggs is well planned by the Supreme Architect - and all with a purpose in view. Woodpeckers lay white eggs; most other birds lay eggs with coloured or spotted shells…Birds which lay eggs in open nests on the ground usually lay eggs with brown spots. This makes them look much like stones and clumps of dead plants that surround the nest. Did the birds select the colour of the egg, they lay? Of course not. Who did then? The Great Designer, who wisely created all things” (Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution, p.149-151, 154, 162-163).

·   Hummingbird

One of the most amazing birds God has created is the smallest bird there is – the hummingbird. For his comments on this amazing little bird I quote again from Fred Meldau's book “Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution”:

“The smallest bird in the world is the 'fairy hummingbird' found in Cuba. It measures only 2 1/4 inches from the tip of its to the tip of its tail, and weighs but a fraction of an ounce. The majority of the 580 species and sub-species are tiny birds under four inches in length. The hummingbird cannot walk (it uses its feet only for perching), so it has to fly to get about.

“Most birds are, aerodynamically, the most perfect flying machines on earth. The hummingbird, in addition, is the only perfect HELICOPTER. His wings are attached to his shoulders in such a way that he can poise motionless in the air, and he can fly in any direction, forward, sidewise, down - and even backward, a feat no other bird can do…'While hovering, a ruby-throated hummingbird beats its wings up to 75 times PER SECOND. In addition to backward flight, the hummingbird achieved the aerodynamic miracle of sideways flight...which it does with no appearance of difficulty' ” (ibid, p.177).

·   Penguins

Penguins are another witness to how God has created animals that are perfectly adapted for life in a hostile environment. “The penguin's body is beautifully adapted to its life in cold waters. Unlike other birds, it is almost completely covered with feathers. Its dense coat of short, stiff feathers, overlapping almost like scales, gives it excellent insulation against heat loss" (Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution, p.171).

Emperor penguins can go without food for 100 days, an amazing adaptation perfectly suited for such a hostile environment as the Antarctic. Parent penguins feed their baby penguins by regurgitating food from its supply held in store in its body for this purpose. The way they waddle around on land almost looks ridiculous but the way they swim under water defies the imagination. There is some amazing footage of penguins swimming underwater in the IMAX film “Antarctica”. Proportional to their size, they swim underwater at unbelievable speeds like a formula one race car.

·   Sight of hawks and owls

Another gift that some birds have, aside from being able to fly, is superb eyesight far and above that of our own. Fred Meldau writes the following about this amazing ability of many birds such as owls and hawks:

“An owl scans the dark woods with eyes ten times as sensitive to light as ours. Most birds have prodigious eyesight. In some birds the eyes are so big in relation to the head that there is scarcely room for them in the skull! Nature has also endowed them with a third eyelid that can be drawn back and forth across their eyes as a 'windshield wiper' as they rush through the high sky, constantly encountering bits of dust and other irritants. One of the outstanding miracles of the eyes of birds is their remarkable 'telescopic adaptability' for rapid adjustment.

“The swallow, darting swiftly through the air, is able to see the tiniest insect as it sweeps down through the sky. A bird of prey, even at high altitude, can perceive a small object far below and in its lightning descent (its eyes constantly change focus), that it is able to snatch its prey without a crash landing'(p.269, "Miracles of Science)” (ibid, p.155).

·   Sonar of bats

The only mammals that truly fly are bats. Their amazing specialized feature is their unique sonar system that allows them to fly without eyesight and find their food by the echoes of their high-pitched squeaks. Donald R. Griffin, Professor of Zoology at Harvard says the following about "Bat Sonar":

"In these days of technological triumphs it is well to remind ourselves that living mechanisms are often incomparably more efficient than their artificial imitations. There is no better illustration of this than the sonar system of bats. Ounce for ounce and watt for watt, it is billions of times more efficient and more sensitive than the radars and sonars contrived by man. To appreciate the precision of the bats' echo-location system we must consider the degree of their reliance upon it. Thanks to sonar, an insect-eating bat can get along perfectly well without eyesight…Bats easily find insects in the dark of night, even when the insects emit no sound that can be heard by human ears. A bat will catch hundreds of soft-bodied, silent-flying moths or gnats in a single hour (simply by the use of its sonar system)” (“Scientific American”, July 1953).
        
·   The jumping ability of grasshoppers and fleas

Another amazing feature of mechanical design in the world of nature is that of the jumping ability of grasshoppers and fleas. “The grasshopper's jump is one of the most remarkable performances in the biological world. The little animal can leap about 10 times its body length in a vertical jump or 20 times its length (almost one metre) horizontally” (Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution, p.101). Fleas are not much more than 1 mm in length and yet they can jump as far as 30 cm or nearly 300 times their length.

·   Bioluminescence

In 1879 Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb yet in nature many creatures give off their own luminous light. Fred Meldau makes these comments on this phenomena in nature:

“In the flash of fireflies on a warm summer evening, in the greenish-white phosphorescence in the wake of an ocean-going vessel, in the glow of luminous bacteria on a piece of old meat, in the weird lights on the railroad worm and the cucujo beetle, one witnesses the miracle of bioluminescence - a 'cold light' that man can not duplicate. 'Cucujo is a West Indies firefly having three luminous organs: one on the under side of the abdomen, and two on the rear of the first segment of the thorax. It produces one of the brightest natural lights in the world' (Science Digest)…The miracle of luminescence is found at all levels of the ocean. 'Bioluminescence,' comments H.M. Andrews (see when Nature Lights Up), 'is all around us, yet remains something of a scientific mystery'...

“The deep sea creatures, strange enough in appearance, most of them, as they are, are also able to light themselves up…In fact, if a number of these were to gather together that place would resemble Broadway or Piccadilly Circus at night, a sort of fairyland, for many of the lights carried by the bottom dwellers are coloured. The pattern of lighting varies. Some species have a row of lights along their bodies, others whole tiers of lights along their sides, making them look like ocean liners at night, and which they can switch on or off as they desire; some have illuminated circles around their eyes and mouths, some illuminated heads and faces and some are illuminated all over, some glow from inside” (Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution, p.265, 144).

·   Electric animals

Another amazing wonder in nature is that of electric animals such as the electric eel, electric catfish and the electric ray. How an animal can produce electricity the way these creatures do defies the imagination. Fred Meldau gives us this amazing description of the electric eel:

“The electric eel is a native of the backwaters of the Amazon. Four-fifths of the length of his stubby body contains electricity-generating tissue, which enables him to send out discharges up to 500 volts many times each minute!…The current from the electric eel may be released from any part of the fish with equal intensity; it is directional, having one polarity at the head and another at the tail; the fish can regulate the amount it discharges” (ibid, p.140).

·   Sea horse

One of the most odd looking creatures in nature is that of the sea horse. For his comments on this amazing little creature I quote again from Fred Meldau's book “Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution”:

“Mother nature outdid, herself when she assembled the sea horse. This bizarre creature has the arching neck and head of a stallion, the swelling bosom of a pouter pigeon, the grasping tail of a monkey and the colour-changing power of a chameleon. It has eyes that pivot independently, so that when one eye scans the surface, the other can be directed underwater. To top this fantastic make up the male is equipped with a kangaroo style pouch from which the little ones are born. This four inch long sea horse is the only fish that swims upright! He has a special 'gas bladder' that enables him to keep his upright position. If this bladder is damaged and he loses even a tiny bit of the gas, he sinks to the bottom, there to lie helpless until death overtakes him or his bladder heals” (p.135).

·   Platypus

Another candidate for the most odd creature in all of nature is the platypus. One can't help but wonder if it was created by God to confuse and confound evolutionists.

“What did the platypus evolve from? Let us imagine an Evolutionists' Round Table Discussion of this problem.

“'He must have got his bill from the duck,' suggested one. 'That is obvious.'

“'Think so?' asked the second. 'But a duck has feathers, not fur. It seems to me his fur indicates direct descent from some animal like the beaver - but then a beaver doesn't lay eggs.'

"'Wait a minute,' interposed a third. 'He's toothless and has spurs: that could suggest an ancestry from the chicken - and remember a chicken lays eggs too.' He caught his breath. thought for a moment, then changed his course. 'But then, a chicken doesn't have fur either. That pesky fur eliminates descent from either a duck or a chicken. Quite confusing,' he mumbled. But he started in again. 'The female lays eggs, but she isn't a bird. Then, too, those poison spurs present a problem - no other furred animal is venomous'” (Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution, p.125).

·   Chameleon

The chameleon is the master of camouflage. It can literally change its colour in a process which scientists still fully don't comprehend. The Guinness Encyclopaedia says the following about this amazing creature:

“Mainly found in East Africa and Madagascar, chameleons are bizarre-looking creatures that have adapted superbly to life both in trees and on the forest floor. Equipped with excellent natural camouflage, arboreal species grip branches of their pincer-like toes and prehensile tails. Special cells in the skin may be contracted or relaxed under nervous control, so producing a range of colours to match the animal's surroundings.

“Capable of remaining immobile for hours on end, chameleons vigilantly watch for prey or predator. Their eyes stand out well from their sockets, protected by bulging fused eyelids with a central round hole. The eyes can move in completely different directions from one another, or can be rotated forward to gauge the distance to an insect or small bird with binocular precision. Suddenly, the chameleon's hollow tongue, usually kept collapsed on the floor of the mouth, is shot out, mucus-laden, and retrieves the prey, returning to the mouth like a piece of elastic” (p.135). The tongue of the chameleon outstretched is as long as the rest of the chameleon's body.

·   Migrations

Another marvel of the animal kingdom are the seasonal migration of animals to and from their breeding areas. Fred Meldau makes these comments about the migration of animals:

“Without baggage, lunch or bedding, and with no chart, compass, map or guide - except the sun and stars – the migratory birds make unbelievably long trips, and they make them successfully, even though when first they make the trip they have never been there before! The champion 'globetrotter' and most renown of all migratory birds is the Arctic tern that spends six months in the daylight in the far north and then goes to the Antarctic to spend the next six months in the daylight there. Its annual round trip may be well over 22000 miles - for it does not make its journey in a straight line, but meanders off its course…

“Birds are not the only creatures that migrate. Insects such as the monarch butterfly and the locust take long migrations. The eel, salmon and other fish also migrate, in most mysterious and unbelievable ways. The whale, the porpoise and the seal find their way through water as unerringly as the birds do in the air: and they migrate long distances” (Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution, p.185-186).

·   The amazing ability of salmon to find their way home to lay their eggs

Salmon are born in shallow streams way inland from the ocean. One born they migrate to the ocean and many circle their way around much of the North Pacific Ocean. Before they die they begin an epic journey that is the epitome of determination and relentless desire. They are so consumed with their journey that they will eat nothing as they battle upstream. They are equipped with powerful tails and torpedo-shaped bodies and they have been known to ascend falls over 10 feet. Sometimes they can travel over 1000 miles inland bypassing hundreds of streams, creeks and tributaries.

In the gravel beds in the exact spot in which they were born they lay their eggs and then die. Salmon have an extremely accurate sense of smell which allows them to unerringly find their way home. Each stream has its own distinct chemical composition. The sense of small of the salmon is so sensitive that it can detect one part per billion which is equivalent to a teaspoon of salt in 18 Olympic-size swimming pools.

·   Metamorphosis of butterflies and frogs

Of all the wonders of nature probably the most powerful witness against evolution is that of the metamorphosis that produces beautiful butterflies. For his comments on this incredible wonder of nature I quote again from Fred Meldau's classic work “Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution”:

“In all nature one can scarcely find anything more beautiful than the butterflies! But before a butterfly becomes an adult it must go through a complete metamorphosis in four stages: egg, larva (worm or caterpillar stage), pupa (or chrysalis), and the adult butterfly. Why such a roundabout path to produce a butterfly? If unguided nature or evolution were doing it according to Darwin's theory of 'natural selection' and 'survival of the fittest' the impractical devious route would not have a chance. The butterfly would hatch directly from the egg as it would seem to be the normal route. Unguided evolution in a billion years could not even think up such an involved plan as a 'complete metamorphosis' - much less put it into working order.

“Could it be that God, the Master Teacher, so designed the life cycle of the butterfly to teach us a lesson? Undoubtedly, spiritual and moral truths are illustrated in nature - and the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into the butterfly is an obvious lesson. If the grovelling, repulsive, greedy, earth-bound caterpillar pictures man in his lowly, fallen estate, then the transformation into the butterfly is a lesson in the need and reality of the new birth (see John 3:3, 5, 7). And the butterfly, released from its cocoon, flying heavenward, is a picturesque display of glory, speaking of the glory of the coming resurrection for the saved of earth (1 Corinthians 15:42-44; Philippians 3:21).

“The larva of the Monarch Butterfly is about an eighth of an inch long when it is first born…Seeking a convenient leaf or stem, he proceeds to spin a tough, flat button of silk. This amazing feat is done by means of a liquid secretion of glands in his head…Within this dry shell the organs of the caterpillar are dissolved; special cells are generated (in the apparently lifeless body) whose function is to devour the organs which once worked for the caterpillar and reduce them to a pulp – a seemingly formless glob, 'a kind of soup'. A miracle then takes place!

"Nothing remains unchanged, save perhaps its system of breathing. Jaws, claws, claspers, pro-legs, digestive system, even the very shapes of the head, legs and thorax disappear. Then the shapes of the head, legs and thorax of the butterfly gradually appear upon the chrysalis case, and the first rough draft of the coming butterfly is dimly seen on the horny case of the chitin…The ugly grub has vanished; and in its place is a lovely winged butterfly as colourful as a flower, and in the case of the Monarch butterfly, capable of winging its way across an ocean!” (p.297-300).

The butterfly is not the only creature that is developed by the process of metamorphosis. Consider the miracle of frog generation.

“A frog lays its eggs, yet no frog hatches, but something quite different; not a fish, yet in certain respects resembling one, for it has gills and is entirely aquatic. Soon the tadpole begins to sprout legs, and in a matter of days it is a different creature! Its gills disappear, and Iungs and other organs are formed - and presently the tadpole is transformed into a frog! Its legs are perfected before leaving the water. It then can go on log or land without having to 'evolve' legs and lungs” (Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution, p.266).

·   Beauty in nature is a witness of God's Handiwork

Not only do we find order and biological and mechanical precision in everything in nature that God has created we also find great beauty. Such magnificent beauty is not the work of random events but truly the work of a master Artist. Fred Meldau makes these comments on God's handiwork:

“Beauty is found in many realms of nature: consider the exquisite beauty of many flowers, the loveliness of many insects, especially butterflies and moths. No artist or photographer can possibly do justice to the striking beauty of the jewel-like tones of every shade of the rainbow as seen in various species of moths and butterflies. In some, while in flight, the most striking is the way the colours shift and change, varying with the angle of the light or the eye of the observer. This subtle play of colour reflected from the wings of a butterfly is called 'structural colour' produced by the ultramicroscope structures on the tiny scales on its wings. Consider also the many scores of kinds of brilliant coloured tropical fish, moving about coral reefs. There is a fascinating beauty also in the grace of movement of fish and in the seemingly effortless speed with which they move through the water…

“But of all things beautiful in the world, what can surpass the beauty of birds? What can outdo the peacock for grandeur of display? What can supersede, for symmetry and sheer finery the gorgeous tail of the Australian lyrebird? Were they not real, no artist in the world could conceive such matchless beauty as is found in the amazing Birds of Paradise of New Guinea. Some of the 18 species have 'all the colours of the rainbow nicely blended'…Why such a vast display of beauty in nature, especially in the world of birds? God made it so! To think that this beauty, this endless variety of loveliness, came about through processes of evolution, is without foundation. It is the handiwork of the Master Artist, the One who's every movement is rhythm and who loves music and song” (ibid, p.180-181).

We could also add the beauty of gems such as emeralds, rubies, sapphires and diamonds as well as the beauty of the colours and shape of the rainbow. The way that white light splits up into those colours of the rainbow is another great mystery of the wonders of creation. In reality it is actually our mind which adds the colour. Having said that, it still is truly amazing that our mind generates this incredible variety of colours from picking up light of only very slightly different wavelengths.

·   All creatures are highly specialized and perfectly adapted for their environment.

We have only scratched the surface of all the incredible wonders in nature. We could go on and on describing strange odd creatures and highly specialized skills and organs. Fred Meldau summarizes the case against evolution as seen in the wonders of nature:

“Every form of life on earth is highly specialized and 'perfectly adapted' to its environment and to its place in life and for the purpose for which it was created. The cactus in the desert, the eagle in the air, the tiger in the jungle, the whale in the sea, all function perfectly where they are. No form of life on earth reveals any need whatever for evolution of any kind…

“The innumerable and highly complex 'specialized organs' such as the eye and the ear, the sonar system of bats, the beak of a woodpecker, the tongue of a toad, the trunk of an elephant, the spinerettes of the spider, and mother's breast are of such a nature to be useful and functional they had to come into being at once, and could not have developed gradually through 'chance mutations', 'random changes' or 'natural selection'. A partially developed 'beak' or 'tongue' or 'eye' or 'trunk' is a monstrosity nowhere found in nature, either living or in fossil form” (ibid, p.330)

5] The wonders of design in man.

·   The amazing systems that work together to run our bodies

King David upon pondering the marvels of the human body and how all its systems work so smoothly together was moved to write, “I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).

Fred Meldau makes these comments on the way the various systems of our body all work so harmoniously together:

“Each of the trillions of cells in the body is a LIVING ORGANISM - living protoplasm - and in order to carry on life processes they must convert food, air and water into energy and tissue and food for tissue. These elements must be changed into such a form that they can be absorbed as food and be carried to all parts of the body. This process is called DIGESTION. Air must enter the body to oxidize foods; this is called RESPIRATION. Altered food and oxygen are dissolved in the blood and carried all through the body to hungry cells. The heart pumps the blood to all parts of the body; this is called CIRCULATION. Waste products, like the ashes of a furnace, must be removed; this is known as EXCRETION. All of this highly complicated performance must have directing intelligence, and this is in the Central Nervous System, assisted by the Autonomic Nervous System. Working closely with the nervous system are the DUCTLESS GLANDS which pour hormones into the blood stream when needed for the control of various activities” (Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution, p.215).

·   The miracle of conception

The way that our bodies are begotten by two tiny cells, are then born and develop into the human beings that we are is truly an amazing miracle.

“It is incredible but true that this amazing human body comes originally from just TWO TINY CELLS: the female egg (ovum) and the male sperm. Conception - the instant when new life is created - takes place the moment a male sperm penetrates and fertilizes a female ovum. Starting with the union of these two cells, as a tiny bit of living protoplasm, and sheltered in the mother's womb, this minute bit of life grows, divides and redivides, and develops - until finally it grows into the amazingly complex being called man.

“Beyond doubt, this is the greatest miracle in nature, that 'a SINGLE FERTILIZED CELL SHOULD HAVE THE POWER TO DRAW SEEMINGLY FROM NOWHERE THE 30 TRILLION CELLS OF THE [ADULT] HUMAN, having all the necessary structures and organs that make up the body of man!

“The wonder of this miracle is deepened by the fact that while all the cells in the body started from ONE fertilized cell, the ovum, which was itself neither muscle, nerve, blood, or bone cell, each separate colony of cells produced by the process of division becomes an organ whose cells all have a ponderable and demonstrable DIFFERENCE between them and the cells of any other organ in the same body - and different from the parent cells!' ('Theory of Evolution and Facts of Science,' p. 52)” (ibid, p.214-215).

·   Our blood

Leviticus 17:11 says that “the life of the flesh is in the blood”. Blood is truly an amazing substance which circulates oxygen and other elements necessary for the functioning of the body. Fred Meldau makes these comments about blood:

“The red blood cell was once thought to be a 'dead cell' because, when it reaches the blood (it is made in the red marrow of bones) it at once loses its nucleus. But actually, it stays ALIVE - WITHOUT A NUCLEUS! That is a miracle of Divine design, for to rob a cell of its nucleus is almost like robbing a man of his heart. The chief function of the red blood cells is to carry haemoglobin (which in turn carries oxygen to the cells), and since red blood cells can CARRY MUCH MORE WITHOUT A NUCLEUS TO TAKE UP SPACE, GOD MADE THEM INTO LIVING 'GHOST CELLS'. Moreover, this living 'ghost cell' is specially 'engineered' to carry a maximum load.

“'The red cells...are a particularly excellent piece of biological engineering. They are BICONCAVE in shape (like a doughnut, with a thin section in the middle instead of a hole), and this facilitates QUICK ENTRY of oxygen and other supplies to all parts of the cell. If red blood cells were spherical instead of biconcave we would need about NINE TIMES AS MANY OF THEM to distribute oxygen in the body with the same speed.' (Eric Ponder, in 'THE RED BLOOD CELL,' Scientific American)” (ibid, p.223).

We read the following about the miracle of blood clotting in the UCG booklet “Creation or Evolution?”:

“One relatively simple process necessary for animal life is the ability for blood to clot to seal a wound and prevent an injured animal (or person) from bleeding to death. Yet the only way this intricate system works is when many complicated chemical substances interact. If only one ingredient is missing or doesn't function in the right way - as in the genetic blood disorder haemophilia - the process fails, and the victim bleeds to death. How can complex substances appear at just the right time in the right proportions and mix properly to clot blood and prevent death? Either they function flawlessly or clotting doesn't work at all.

“At the same time, medical science is aware of clotting at the wrong time. Blood clots that cut off the flow of oxygen to the brain are a leading cause of strokes and often result in paralysis or death. When blood clots, either everything works perfectly or the likely outcome is death. For evolution to have led to this astounding phenomenon, multiple mutations of just the right kind had to converge simultaneously or the mutations would be useless. Evolutionists can offer no realistic explanation of how this is possible” (p.19).

·   Our immune system

God has designed our bodies with an amazing ability to heal when damaged. Part of this wonderful immune system is the working of antibodies in our bodies.

“The marvel of the manufacture and presence in the blood of 'ANTIBODIES.' Of extraordinary interest is the story of how the blood makes antibodies to fight disease. Antibodies are those substances in the blood which are protective agents formed to fight infection by an invading organism…An antibody in the blood is a modified soluble protein with properties that make it stick to the type of or micro-organism against which it was developed. After an attack of yellow fever, for example, antibodies against the yellow fever virus are formed. These antibody molecules will immediately coat any new yellow fever viruses that happen to enter the body and WILL EFFECTIVELY PREVENT THEM from causing an attack of the disease.' (HOW ANTIBODIES ARE MADE By Sir Macfarlane Burnet, in the Scientific American Magazine). Science and Medicine know these facts but can explain them” (Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution, p.224).

·   Our amazing eyes

Of all the wonders of our body one of the most amazing is the eye.

“To bring before us the fact that the human eye is indeed 'THE WONDER OF WONDERS' we quote…from Sir Charles Scott Sherrington's classic essay on The Eye.

“How does a pinhead sized ball of cells (the tiny human embryo) in the course of so many weeks become a child? Consider the story of just one individual part: THE EYE…The eyeball is a little camera. Its smallness is part of its perfection. But this is a SPHEROID camera which focuses itself AUTOMATICALLY, according to the distance of the picture interesting it. It turns itself in the direction of the view. Indeed our eyes are TWO CAMERAS finished to one standard that the mind can read their two pictures as one. And the eye is contrived as though WITH FORETHOUGHT OF SELF-PRESERVATION. Should danger threaten it, in a trice its skin shutters close, protecting its transparent window…

“The biconvex lens is made of cells Iike these of the skin but modified to be glass-clear, and FREE FROM BLOOD VESSELS which would throw shadows within the eye. It is delicately slung with accurate centering across the path of the light which will some months later enter the eye. IT IS BEING PREPARED IN DARKNESS FOR USE IN LIGHT. In front of it a circular screen controls, like the iris stop of a camera, the width of the beam and is adjustable so that in poor light more is taken in for the image. In a camera this adjustment is made by the observer; in the eye this adjustment is automatic, triggered by the image itself!

“Not only must the lens be glass clear, but also its shape must be optically right. Its two curved surfaces, back and front, MUST BE TRULY CENTERED ON ONE AXIS, AND EACH OF THE CURVATURES MUST BE CURVED TO THE RIGHT DEGREE, so that light is brought to a focus on the retina and gives there an accurately shaped image. The optician skilfully grinds his glass curvatures in accordance with mathematical formulae. In the formation of the lens of the eye a batch of granular skin cells are told to travel from the skin, to which they strictly belong and to settle down in the mouth of the optic cup and arrange themselves in a compact and suitable ball, NEXT THEY ARE TOLD TO TURN INTO TRANSPARENT FIBERS, and to make themselves into a subsphere - a lens of the RIGHT size, set at the RIGHT distance between the transparent window of the eye in front and the sensitive seeing screen of the retina behind. In short, they behave as if fairly possessed!

“Furthermore, the lens of the eye, compassing what no glass lens can, CHANCES ITS CURVATURE to focus near objects as well as distant when wanted; and not merely the lens, but the pupil - the camera stop - is self adjusting. ALL THIS HAPPENS WITHOUT OUR HAVING EVEN TO WISH IT, without our even knowing anything about it, beyond that we are seeing satisfactorily…

“The human eye has about 137 million separate 'seeing' elements spread out in the sheet of the retina. The number of nerve lines leading from them to the brain gradually condenses down to little over a million. They are in series of relays, each resembling a little brain, and each so shaped and connected to transmit duly to the right points of the brain each light picture momentarily formed and 'taken'. On the sense-cell layer the image, has picture-like, two dimensions. BUT THE STEP FROM THIS TO THE MENTAL EXPERIENCE IS A MYSTERY. For it is the MlND which adds the third dimension when interpreting the two-dimensional picture AND IT IS THE MIND WHICH ADDS COLOR” (ibid, p.226-227).

·   The heart

The heart is probably the most amazing piece of mechanical engineering in the body. Every second over a person's whole lifetime it pumps blood through the body. Its construction and the electrical system that drive it are truly amazing. Fred Meldau makes the following comments about this amazing marvel of our body:

“'Heart , like other striated , is made up of slender fibres. Those, in turn, are composed of tiny fibrils. At regular intervals the fibrils are crossed by bands…Micrographs show that heart differs from other in two important respects. The first is that the capillaries that carry blood to the heart actually penetrate the muscle fibres; in other the capillaries have only been observed on the surface of the fibres. The second is that among the fibrils of the heart are an unusually large number of granules called sarcosomes, which in other cells are known to contain enzymes. Dr Kirsch believes these sarcosomes give special feedings of rich enzymes to the heart , and that, together with the deep-seated capillaries, is the SECRET of the untiring work of the heart!' (See 'Heart ', cientific American magazine). The heart is the most efficient PUMP in the world” (ibid, p.231).

·   Our

Another marvel of mechanical engineering in the body are our . Fred Meldau makes these comments on the of the body:

“More than half the human body is – 'the most remarkable stuff in nature's curiosity shop.' We speak of ' of iron', yet the working or contractile element in is soft as jelly. HOW THIS JELLY CONTRACTS TO LIFT 1000 TIMES ITS OWN WEIGHT IS ONE OF THE SUPREME MIRACLES OF THE UNIVERSE. An elaborate series of chemical and electrical events which would require hours or days to duplicate in the laboratory occurs almost instantaneously when a muscle contracts - the twitch of an eyelid, for example" (ibid, p.230).

·   Our hands

One of the distinguishing features of mankind compared to animals is that of his hands which have opposable thumbs.

“Some artist or musician raises the question. 'How about discussing the HAND?' Gladly, dear friend, for the hand is one of the most marvellous of all God's gifts to man. The hand is unique with man.

"Nowhere in the animal kingdom is there anything comparable with the human hand...the organ that has specialised in remaining unspecialised. It is the perfect tool-holder. The HAND, the BRAIN and human SPEECH are the three features that distinguish man from the animals…The human hand is a very wonderful thing and one of the greatest of its wonders is that the thumb is opposable and CAN TOUCH ALL THE FINGERS – and so the hand can grasp tools, a pen, etc. The hand has strength, lightness and dexterity. With the hands one can play the piano, write, paint and perform a thousand and one other actions” (ibid, p.232).

·   The ear

Yet another marvel of precise mechanical engineering in the human body are our ears which give us the sense of sound.

"Even in this era of technological wonders, the performances of our most amazing machines are still put in the shade by the sense organs of the human body. Consider the accomplishments of the ear. It is so sensitive that it can almost hear the random rain of air molecules bouncing against the eardrum; yet in spite of its extraordinary sensitivity it can withstand the pounding of sound waves strong enough to set the body vibrating.

“The ear is equipped, moreover, with a truly impressive SELECTIVITY. In a room crowded with people talking, it can suppress most of the noise and concentrate on one speaker…At some sound frequencies the vibrations of the eardrum are as small as one-billionth of a centimetre in diameter – about one-tenth the diameter of a hydrogen atom! And the vibrations of the very fine membrane in the inner ear which transmits this stimulation to the auditory nerve are nearly 100 times smaller in amplitude. This fact alone is enough to explain why hearing has so long been one of the mysteries of physiology. Even today, WE DO NOT KNOW HOW THESE MINUTE VIBRATIONS STIMULATE THE NERVE ENDINGS” (See article on 'THE EAR' By George von Bekesy, in the Scientific American)” (ibid, p.234).

·   Man's incredible brain and mind.

The major distinguishing feature between man and the animals is man's incredible mind. We have an amazing physical brain but it is also empowered ind that gives us emotional self-awareness and the capacity to think, reason, solve problems, imagine, create and appreciate art, humour and music. He can learn, remember and even forget (which is sometimes a protective mechanism against certain traumas). He has emotions in a way that animals don't – love and hate, joy and sorrow, peace and anxiety, fear and courage and dozens more. He has free will, a conscience and an ability to make moral choices that are good and bad.

This amazing mind is made possible through the gift of the spirit in man that God has put in him. “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?” (1 Corinthians 2:11). Here are a few quotes which highlight how amazing man's brain and mind really is.

“'The brain is a mystery', said Sir Charles Sherrington, of London, 'it has been and still will be. HOW DOES THE BRAIN PRODUCE THOUGHTS? That is the central question and we have still no answer to it…Today, even though we are awed and even frightened by the intellectual achievements of man's mind, the mechanisms that make it possible are still unknown. Knowledge of the outward form of the brain is well advanced. But what of the neuron mechanisms involved in CONSCIOUSNESS, THOUGHT, PERCEPTION, THOUGHT, BEHAVIOUR, MEMORY?…They are unknown…

“The ten to fifteen billion nerve cells in [the] cerebral cortex are the centre of operations. Each of the sense organs reports on its own lines to specific, well defined regions of operations. Those for the eyes are at the back of the brain, those for the ears are well down on each side, etc. All messages to the brain are sifted, decoded, decisions are made and orders relayed to appropriate stations of the body. IT STAGGERS THE IMAGINATION HOW EFFICIENTLY IT DOES THE JOB…

“One of the most remarkable achievements of the human mind IS ITS ABILITY TO BE CONSCIOUS OF ITSELF AND ITS FUNCTIONING. 'Consciousness' represents actually a situation in which matter has become aware of its own existence…

“The greatness of the mind of man can be measured somewhat by his mental achievements. The mind of man has conceived and created great telescopes, with which he has surveyed and mapped the heavens, peering billions of light years out into space. He has made microscopes with which now he actually see the atom! He is able also to study the microscopic world as never before, and he is discovering wonders undreamed of a century ago. He has 'cyclotrons' and 'accelerators' that cost a hundred million dollars to construct. He has scaled the highest peaks, travelled over both poles, and is discovering marvels in the abysmal undersea depths. He has discovered the secrets of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion - and he has harnessed the power of the atom. He has thrust satellites into orbit in space - and [he has walked on] the moon. He has discovered and is using many 'wonder drugs' and is able to travel in his jet planes faster than the speed of sound” (ibid, p.238-239, 242, 248)

“Modern man can think rationally, can progress from the methods of his forebears. He can think up new ideas, new concepts, he can imagine, he can create. True man has the capacity to wonder about and investigate himself. He inquires about his origin, his future. He can appreciate beautiful art, music, humour, satire, creativity.“As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote: 'Admittedly the animal knows. But it cannot know that it knows...In consequence it is denied access to a whole domain of reality in which we can move freely. We are separated by a chasm—or a threshold—which it cannot cross. Because we are reflective we are not only different but quite other. It is not a matter of change of degree, but a change of nature, resulting from a change of state.'“The vast gap between animal brain and the mind of true man has never been satisfactorily bridged. We are indeed unique. We have the ability to be self-aware, and our self-awareness is the most compelling of all realities. As individuals, we can experience our own unique self-awareness and individuality. We possess the wonderful divine gift of a conscious existence. The human mind—the product of the 'spirit in man' which God imparted to Adam and all his descendants—is the great gift which sets modern man apart” (Beyond Star Wars, p.212).

6] Creation or Evolution?

·   Natural selection only selects the best of existing traits - it does not produce new ones.

The theory of evolution originated with Charles Darwin who wrote “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” in 1859.         
Darwin reasoned that, in nature, individuals with qualities that made them better adjusted to their environments would tend to leave more offspring. This is what has become known as survival of the fittest. He observed that animal breeders were able to change the characteristics of domestic animals by selecting for reproduction those individuals with the most desirable qualities—speed in racehorses, milk production in cows, etc. He believed that this kind of selection occurred in nature as well and the animals best suited for their environment would become the most dominant type within a species.

Natural selection does occur in nature but it only shapes the makeup of individual species and doesn't produce new species. Geneticist Hugh de Vries aptly put it when he said: "Natural selection may explain the survival of the fittest but it cannot explain the arrival of the fittest."

·   Mutations only produces varieties in the same species – it doesn't create new species.

As the science of genetics developed scientists discovered that mutations sometimes occur in the genes passed on from a parent to its offspring. A mutation is a mistake or change in the DNA pattern passed onto the offspring by one of its parents.

Certain geneticists who pushed the theory of evolution took Darwin's idea of natural selection a step further and reasoned that favourable mutations could have not only led to the development of new species but whole new types of animals. The theory snowballed and developed in such way that “rational” scientists felt that life spontaneously generated and single-celled life forms gradually developed into many-celled organisms and through favourable mutations all the different life forms we see on earth developed.

The real truth about mutations is that it only produces varieties in the same species – it doesn't create new species. Fred Meldau says the following: “Each species has its own kind, number and assortment of chromosomes, and they differ from those of all other species. Every chromosome in the different genera, 'differs from every other in size, shape, or in some other respects, excepting that chromosomes always divide into pairs, and the two chromosomes in each pair are identical.' So the Creator has keyed each species by means of differing chromosomes - much like the combinations used in yale locks thus assuring this tremendous fact: Chromosomes forbid transmutation and establish the stability of each distinct genus.

“On the other hand each chromosome has a large number of 'genes' that lend flexibility to each species and give individuality to each member of each species. Genes have such vast possibilities of differing combinations that the net result in life is NO TWO INDIVIDUALS IN ANY KNOWN SPECIES ARE EXACTLY ALIKE” (Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution, p.89).

·   The result of mutations are almost always bad.

The other major point about mutations is that the vast majority of mutations are damaging. In his book “The Crumbling Theory of Evolution” J.W.G. Johnson writes:

“Modern Darwinists have seized on mutations to provide the mechanism for upward evolution…Mutations must be recognised for what they are, namely, mistakes that are damaging, not constructive. In fact all forms of life have wonderful repair mechanisms to guard the D.N.A. against the ravages of mutations, repair mechanisms that are fundamental to the survival of living organisms. However, some mutations slip through these defence mechanisms with usually undesirable results. The results of mutations are diabetes, club feet, haemophilia. mongolism, colour blindness, sickle-cell anaemia, creeper chickens, calves with deformed jaws, fruit flies with crumpled wings or no wings, seedless oranges (not viable in the wild), and on and on.

“The hopelessness of mutations to produce evolution was confirmed by classic experiments on the fruit-fly. Fruit flies breed rapidly. Furthermore, they were given doses of radiation which speeded up their mutation rate by 15 000 per cent. After long experiments involving 25 million fruit-flies, they refused to turn into anything else” (p.15-16).

John Howitt wrote: “As mutations are almost invariably inferior to the original stock this would constitute the Survival of the Unfit, whether in the usual habitat of the species or in an unusual one” (from Karl Marx as an Evolutionist).

“By dropping the barriers between species (or kinds) Darwin opened a dream world in which jellyfish can become elephants, and a sea squirt end up as a Shakespeare. The world welcomed the dream. Evolution is the only alternative to Creation. Evolution suited the mood of the nineteenth century, and it suited the twentieth century, seeking an alternative to a Creator God“ (The Crumbling Theory of Evolution, p.14).

·   No intermediate (missing) links have ever found between species.

Charles Darwin himself realized that the fossil record failed to support his conclusions though he felt, in time, that palaeontologists might find the missing intermediate links. He wrote:

"Why, if species have descended from other species by fine graduations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms?...Why do we not find them imbedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth?...The number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed, [must] be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and serious objection which can be urged against the theory [of evolution]" (Origin of Species, 1958 Masterpieces of Science edition, p.136-137, 260-261).

Francis Hitching wrote the following in his book “The Neck of the Giraffe: Darwin, Evolution and the New Biology”:

"When you look for links between major groups of animals, they simply aren't there; at least, not in enough numbers to put their status beyond doubt. Either they don't exist at all, or they are so rare that endless argument goes on about whether a particular fossil is, or isn't, or might be, transitional between this group and that...There ought to be cabinets full of intermediates - indeed, one would expect the fossils to blend so gently into one another that it would be difficult to tell where the invertebrates ended and the
vertebrates began. But this isn't the case. Instead, groups of well-defined, easily classifiable fish jump into the fossil record seemingly from nowhere: mysteriously, suddenly, full-formed, and in a most un-Darwinian way. And before them are maddening, illogical gaps where their ancestors should be" (p. 9-10).

At the end of each geological era there are massive extinctions of animals in the fossil record, sometimes wiping out more than half of the species on the planet. Two of the major extinctions occurred at the end of the Permian era (c. 245 million BC) and the Cretaceous era (c. 65 million BC) which saw the end of the dinosaurs. After these major extinctions great numbers of new species suddenly came into existence. The suddenness of so many new species is a powerful witness of God creating many new species to replace older ones.

Stephen Collins writes in his book “As It Was In the Days of Noah”:

“Does anyone really believe that wagging a fin through the water will 'presto-chango' turn a fish's fin into a leg so it can climb out on the land? Even if one wishes to believe such a preposterous assertion, changing a fin into a limb is not enough of a leap to do any good; the gills of the fish would need to simultaneously transform themselves into mammalian lungs to allow such a fish to live at all when it washed up on shore. Even though it vexes evolutionists to deal with the facts, it should also be noted that any 'evolving' fish would also need an instantaneous and simultaneous change of its scales to skin to survive even a tiny amount of time out of the water!”

Fred Meldau writes the following in his book “Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution”:

“All specialized organs, such as the trunk of an elephant, the spinning apparatus of a spider, the eye of an eagle, the retractable claws of the tiger, the beak of a woodpecker, the tongue of an anteater, the quills of a porcupine, HAD to be created perfect and suddenly - otherwise they would never serve their intended purpose. The evolutionary idea of gradual development through 'random changes' through long ages of time can in no wise account for the facts of a practical, workable world” (p.98).

·   Evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics.

Evolution teaches the exact opposite of what the second law of thermodynamics says. It states that all things will descend into DISORDER rather than order, if left to themselves. The state of a teenager's bedroom is ample evidence of this law in action. Fred Meldau writes the following about this law:

“This law infers and involves the fact of 'the universal tendency toward decay' - and all nature demonstrates it! Now note this well: The Second Law of Thermodynamics infers and teaches EXACTLY OPPOSITE TO WHAT EVOLUTION TEACHES. It demands universal decay rather than universal development. Careful, honest observers admit that the law of nature in both the inorganic and the organic world tends toward degeneracy rather than toward improvement. This second Law of Thermodynamics is of universal application. The very universe itself is 'running down.' Instead of the sun and stars conserving their energy, they are gradually losing it, though it is a very slow process” (ibid, p.75).

In his book “The Crumbling Theory of Evolution” J.W.G. Johnson writes:

“Evolution…requires the universe to run uphill. It requires random molecules to assemble themselves into organised and increasingly complex systems. Evolution requires the simple to bring forth the complex. It requires jellyfish to transition into humans. Even more than this, it requires hydrogen gas to evolve into thinking man by purely natural processes. Living systems (plants and animals) are extremely complex and highly organised arrangements of matter. How could they arise from disordered molecules of matter? The 2nd Law rules that order cannot spontaneously arise from disorder, nor the complex arise from the simple” (p.13-14).

The theory of evolution is nothing but that – a theory. It fails to stand up to the basic procedures of scientific method yet most scientists support it with religious fervour. They have been influenced by Satan, the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), to reject God and find an alternative method to try and do away with the need of a Creator.

·   Who wrote the software, the coded instructions called DNA, that run all living beings?

As complex a thing as a computer is, it can't run without software. Software programs are a set of step-by-step instructions that tell the computer how to do the things that it does. Someone has to write those step-by-step instructions in just the right order for it to function properly. It takes intelligence to develop the right instructions and put them in the right order for a computer to do exactly what the programmer wants it to do.

It takes reams of written code written just right to make a robot walk and grab things, even in a basic way. Voice dictation programs that recognize words a user speaks into a microphone and put them on the computer screen are extremely long and complex and are nowhere near as good as the human mind in recognizing words and language, even with humans of primitive tribes. Speech is only one extremely complex function of the human body. There are all the other complex functions such as digestion, respiration and circulation that go on in our bodies. The amazing DNA codes in our body run these complex functions without us even having to think about them.

Humans beings and all other life forms can't run without the software to make their bodies run. In human beings there are nearly 100 000 genes on our chromosomes. The genes account for specific characteristics such as eye colour and shape of body parts, etc. Each of these 100 000 genes are a separate, complex written program. Even if our bodies could have come into being through natural processes how could the software to run our bodies have written themselves without some great intelligence to write those instructions?

“That is what scientists simply cannot explain and what random selection cannot reproduce. Professor Davies admits: In a living organism we see the power of software, or information processing, refined to an incredible degree...The problem of the origin of life reduces to one of understanding how encoded software emerged spontaneously from hardware. How did it happen? How did nature 'go digital'?...It is like trying to explain how a kite can evolve into a radio-controlled aircraft. Can the laws of nature as we presently comprehend them account for such a transition? I do not believe they can" (Good News, July/August 2000, p.22).

·   Symbiosis

Symbiosis is another marvel in nature which witnesses against the theory of evolution. Some creatures both literally need each other to survive. So which came first if they need the other to survive? This kind of symbiosis is best reflected in the old phrase - “Which came first – the chicken or the egg?” We read the following about symbiosis in the UCG booklet “Creation or Evolution?”:

“According to the theory of evolution, all animal life on earth has evolved from a common ancestor. This process has supposedly occurred over an immense time and followed a step-by-step sequence from primitive to advanced forms of life. This would mean plant life first appeared and developed, followed much later by the appearance of animal life. This idea is contradicted by the fossil record, which shows complex plant and animal life first appearing together in the geologic column during the Cambrian era.

“Another obstacle to this theory is the interdependent relationships between living things, called symbiosis, in which completely different forms of life depend on each other to exist…How can plants that need certain animals to survive have existed before those animals appeared in the first place? And how do animals that need other animals to survive arrive without the other creature already being there? An example of beneficial symbiosis (called mutualism) is between algae and the fungus of lichens. While fungi provide vital protection and moisture to algae, the algae nourish the fungi with photosynthetic nutrients that keep them alive…

“Another remarkable form of symbiosis is the relationship between bees and plants. While collecting the precious nectar that provides their hives with food, bees pollinate dozens of species of flowers and agricultural crops. Without this vital pollination, orchards could produce little if any fruit, and fruit trees would not survive for long. How can these plants exist without first being pollinated by bees? On the other hand, how could bees exist without first being provided with the necessary nectar as food? Clearly, both life forms depend on each other for their existence. In addition, the bee has to carry out pollination in a precisely specific way for the process to work. If the bee visited other species of flowers at random, pollination could not occur, since the pollen of one species of flower does not fertilize another species. Somehow the bee knows to visit only one plant species at a time and at the right season” (p.22).

·   Where did the two sexes of male and female come from?

The ultimate in symbiosis is seen through virtually the whole animal kingdom with sexual reproduction. How could evolution produce two different sexes that both need each other in order to continue the species? Here is one fairytale explanation that the Guinness Encyclopaedia puts forth as to how the two sexes originated:

“It is possible that sex may have originated in the engulfing of one organism by another in a kind of cannibalism. An engorged organism with double the genetic material would then divide in two to relieve itself. In time an alternating pattern of single and double units of genetic material would succeed each other until the situation was reached where the norm would be the double system” (p.111).

Two sexes originating from a form of cannibalism? Can you believe the fairytale language that some of these evolutionists use?

“Here then evolution faces an impasse. Evolutionists believe there was a time when there was no reproduction by sex. They teach that reproduction by means other than sex (even though there are mutations) maintains 'a fairly constant heredity' – that is, succession of all of life with very few changes. HOW DID SEX GET STARTED? Running in the deep groove of asexual uniformity, there was no chance. through natural causes, ever to get out of that groove. To believe that both 'male' and 'female' elements developed [at the same time] by 'chance mutations' is an absurdity. Obviously, sex…had to be PLANNED, and designed and created that way” (Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution, p.289).

So what is the lesson to be learned from the symbiosis God has created in nature and in our own species with male and female? It is simply that we need each other - we need to co-operate with one another to survive and live peacefully.

·   Man acts with intelligence while animals act with instinct.

The fundamental difference between man and animals is that animals are guided by instinct – a predefined pattern of behaviour – while man has a mind and acts with intelligence. Fred Meldau make the following comments on this fundamental difference:

“Can anyone explain the secrets of heredity or of instinct, that amazing property of animals which acts like intelligence but is not intelligence as we know it, but which enables certain creatures to do what man with all his intelligence can not do!…Dr Irston Barnes…speaks of the 'fixity of character' in animals and plants that assures the maintenance of the 'balance of nature'. He says, 'Each animal is chained…to an instinctive pattern of behaviour…Thus a hawk is powerless to alter its tastes or it manners'” (ibid, p.261,106).

In the UCG booklet “Creation or Evolution?” we read of this major difference between man and the animals:

“If humans are the result of evolution continually reinforcing characteristics that offer a survival advantage while eliminating those that hinder perpetuation, how can we explain a human infant? Among thousands of species the newly born (or newly hatched) are capable of survival within a matter of days or, in some cases, only minutes. Many never even see their parents. Yet, among humans, an infant is utterly helpless-not for days but for up to several years after birth” (p.2).

In his book “The Missing Dimension in Sex” Hebert W. Armstrong wrote:

“Animals are born with instinct. They need little or no teaching. Ever see a little calf born? The mother cow does not need to call an obstetrical physician or go to a hospital for the delivery of her calf. As soon as it is born, the calf will begin to stagger to its feet, while the cow just stupidly stands waiting. She does not need to teach her calf how to walk, how to take its food, how to do anything. A little wobbly and unsteady at first, the calf is up and walking in just a minute or two. Now how long does it take a human infant to learn to walk? Usually a year -- and often more. But the newborn calf walks almost immediately. No one teaches it. THE CALF HAS INSTINCT. And where does it start walking? It has no instruction from anyone. It starts walking for its first "dinner." It knows where to go. And the mother cow just stands stupidly still while her calf sucks its milk…

“The newborn human does not get up and walk immediately to its food. The tiny baby is absolutely helpless. It has a few instinctive reflexes, but no instinct, in the strict sense of the word. It has MIND -- but at birth there is NO KNOWLEDGE as yet in its mind. It knows virtually nothing at birth. It must be taught! It needs parents to teach it! It matures so very much more slowly than animals! Yet its potentiality is infinitely higher!”

“The human mind can know, think, reason, plan and carry out its plans to execution. It can invent and produce instruments by which it may acquire knowledge of the vast universe, or of the minutest particle. By developing rockets and computers, man is able to send astronauts to the moon and bring them back alive” (Does God Exist, Herbert W. Armstrong, p.7).

We have minds with the power to choose between right and wrong. We can think up new ideas, new concepts, imagine and create. We can appreciate beautiful art, music, humor and creativity. We have the ability to wonder about himself, our origin and our future. We have the gift of consciousness and emotional self-awareness that no animal has.

·   Sexual differences between man and animals

An important area that shows the difference between instinct in animal and mind in man is that of the sexual differences between man and the animals.

The menstrual period in women occurs roughly about once a month when an unfertilized ovum is released from her ovaries. Female animals have a rutting period much less frequent. In dogs, for example, females have a rutting time about every six to eight months when an ovum is released. At all other times, female animals are virtually sexless! The female does not allow the breeding act, and the male animal seldom attempts it.

When the animal is "in heat," the sexual organs secrete substances which release an odor. This excites the animals automatically to have sexual intercourse and breed. When "in heat," the female animal is beside herself with desire for mating and she knows no rest until she is relieved by copulation from the male of her kind and any mating between animals in this situation ALWAYS results in pregnancy in the female animal. With animals there is no marriage, home or family relationship. Females are sexless between rutting periods!

With humans sex is completely different. “Between the age of puberty and the time of menopause -- roughly between ages fourteen and forty-four, or a duration of approximately thirty years -- women have the monthly period (approximately each twenty-eight days) when they menstruate. The presence of an ovum in a Fallopian tube (when it is ready to be fertilized) makes little or no difference in either a woman's desire for, or reluctance against sexual intercourse” (The Missing Dimension in Sex, Herbert W. Armstrong).

Notice God's concern for mankind in designing sex in humans so that babies are only born when women are best able to physically care for them. After a woman reaches her mid-forties God stops the process so women are not too old to have to care for their own children.

“Although marital coitus should never, of course, occur during menstruation [Leviticus 20:18], there is NO TIME during the month when a women is virtually sexless -- when sex functioning goes dormant -- when she is unable to engage in coitus with her husband. She is as much capable of coitus at one time as another. God made WOMAN, as well as MAN, on a plane infinitely higher than animals! He created SEX in HUMANS as a means of bestowing reciprocal LOVE. He created women so that their sex organs may be used for the purpose of sharing LOVE when pregnancy is virtually IMPOSSIBLE” (The Missing Dimension in Sex, Herbert W. Armstrong).

·   Major differences between man and the apes show man did not evolve from apes

We have already looked at the differences between the instinct in animals and mind in humans. This profound difference also exists between man and the apes (primates). Along with their instinct God has created in animals a limited personality that has a certain capacity to make choices of a non-moral nature since they are guided by instinct. They do not have emotional self-awareness as we humans have.

The profound sexual differences noted above also apply between humans and apes. Desmond Morris in his book “Naked Ape” describes a number of differences between humans and apes such as the placement of the sexual organs as features which seem indicate that humans [in marriage] were designed for face-to-face sexual bonding rather than the opposite style of copulation in the animal kingdom.

Another obvious difference to the physical appearance between man and the apes is that man does not have a hairy coat like apes and monkeys. Man is naked compared to the apes - another of the features Desmond Morris sees as part of the design for human sexual bonding.

Another profound difference between man and the apes is the gift of speech and language, even amongst primitive tribes of humans. “A certain small area of the cortex. In the frontal lobe, called 'Broca's convolution,' is man's SPEECH centre; monkeys and apes DO NOT HAVE THIS AREA AT ALL" (Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution, p.241).

Another major difference is the relative size of man's brain. “'The brain of the most incompetent normal man is TWICE as big as the most accomplished ape.' And the average size brain of main is 'THREE times as large as the average size brain of an ape' relative to body sizes” (ibid, p.241). This difference in brain size is only a very small part of the reason for the awesome difference in intelligence between man and the apes. The spirit in man (1 Corinthians 2:11) that God has given him is what gives man the gift of mind power and emotional self-awareness.

“Austin H. Clark, Smithsonian Institute biologist, said: "Man is NOT an ape and in spite of the similarity between them there is not the slightest evidence that man is descended from an ape... While man's bodily structure is most nearly like that of the man-like apes, yet all the early remains of prehistoric man so far discovered are distinctly those of man or are the misinterpreted fragments of apes. NO EXISTING LINK HAS EVER BEEN FOUND. There is no fossil evidence whatever that the most ancient man was not a man. There are no such things as missing links. Missing links are misinterpretations. Fossil skulls which have been dug up and advanced as missing links, showing connections between man and monkey, have all been shown as misinterpretations" (ibid, p.316).

Fred Meldau writes the following on the evidence for dating when mankind first appeared on earth and its closeness to the Bible's record that man was first created 6 000 years ago:

“Prehistoric men did not appear until long after the great dinosaurs had disappeared...Palaeontologists know that fossils of men and of dinosaurs are not found in the same geological period. The fossils of dinosaurs come in early periods, the fossils of men much later…As we seek to consider the subject of the Age of Mankind objectively, we are struck with a fact of outstanding importance:

“(1) Man's 'written history' - when man began to write DID NOT BEGIN UNTIL ABOUT 5,000 years ago. That would be about 3,000 B.C. This remarkable fact - that 'written history' begins from 3000 to 3500 B.C. conforms closely to the Bible chronology of mankind!…

“(2) How can one explain the phenomenon of hundreds of highly developed languages, the world over, even among primitive tribes, IF language evolved slowly through the ages? The evidence is all tribes and races obtained the use of language SUDDENLY; and that fits in with the Bible record of Divine creation…

“(3) In addition to the evidence of 'writing' we have another corroborative fact: Archaeological evidence indicates that 'Food production probably began in the Near East somewhere between 6,000 and 5,000 B.C.' 'The earliest village-culture materials now known start about 5,000 B.C.' By 'food producing' economy, palaeontologists mean, 'men began producing their food, instead of simply collecting it.'” (ibid, p.324).

The Bible is correct when it says that man was created by God 6 000 years ago from the dust of the ground and that he did not evolve from apes. God created mankind in His own image and put him in dominion over all the animals (Genesis 1:26) on earth. Man has been given the gift of a mind to choose right from wrong, and with God's Holy Spirit develop God's character, so one day, just as a lowly caterpillar transforms into a beautiful butterfly, so too, we can be transformed and become powerful spirit beings in God's own family (Philippians 3:21).

7] Answered prayer.

The most personal proof of God's existence is that of answered prayer (Matthew 7:7-11, 1 John 3:22). Miracles do happen and prayer, in one sense, is like regularly asking God to perform little miracles for us. Virtually all people who have been in the church for years have stories of clear, miraculous answers to prayers. When you experience clear, undeniable answers to prayer over the course of time one's belief in the existence of a supreme, powerful God who loves each of us personally is strengthened.

Some of those miracles include help in turning around powerful sins and addictions, miraculous protection, intervention in work and personal situations, selecting just the right person for you to marry and then there is the miracle of one's eyes being opened up to the truth of God and being drawn by God into His church.

You can experience for yourself the proof of answered prayer by praying to God on a regular basis. If you ask according to His will (1 John 3:22) and believe in faith (James 1:5-6) you'll receive what you have asked for. God can perform some wonderful things for you if your faith is a living one (James 2:14-26) where you have a genuine desire to obey God. Sometimes He says no for our good (James 4:3) and to build our character. Other times He will delay the answer and then answer with perfect timing later (Luke 18:1-8). God really does answer prayers and does little miracles every day in the lives of God's people.

Two other points that prove God's existence are fulfilled prophecies and His way of life that works. We will look at these two important points in lesson two where we look at the question "Is the Bible True?".

In Psalm 14:1 we read, "The FOOL has said in his heart, There is no God!” and in Romans 1:20 we read, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” The evidence of God's existence is all around us, in the heavens, all throughout nature and in the wonders of our own human bodies. God truly does exist!

·    We know the universe had a beginning because radioactive elements like uranium would have turned to lead long ago if the universe has always existed.
·    The fact that the universe is expanding points us back to the fact that the universe had a beginning – “the big bang”. It takes an almighty Creator to bring a universe into existence where no matter existed before (Genesis 1:1).

2] The wonders of design in the universe

·   The Earth's tilt, rotation and distance from the Sun are just right for supporting life and we have an ideal atmosphere with just the right proportions of oxygen and nitrogen. Our atmosphere has an amazingly thin ozone layer which blocks out deadly long UV rays, without which, no life could exist.
·   The moon's distance is just the right distance to create gentle enough tides which are sufficient to rejuvenate (with oxygen) the waters of the oceans due to the movement it creates.
·   The awesome size and power of the universe staggers the imagination. The evidence of design is seen in the orderly nature of the motion of the stars and galaxies, not to mention the beauty and orderly patterns we see in some of the colourful nebulas and constellations.
·   Gravity pulls the planets toward the sun while inertia keeps them in motion once they have been put in motion. Who gave the stars and planets the original push and what keeps them going? Without a Creator who gives the planets in our solar system a push before they start to slow down they would all fall into the Sun in time like the Mir space station fell to earth.
·   We see design in the wonders and mysteries of the atom and the harmony of the laws of the universe. The stars in the heaven and all of matter follow laws of physics and chemistry, etc. which are totally predictable and unfailing. From where did these laws come from if not from God?

3] Water

·   The amazing properties of water show evidence of design. There is water's versatility as ice, steam, clouds, snow and rain.
·   There is water being a curious exception to natural law by being heaviest at 4 degrees centigrade and expanding when becoming ice which prevents lakes from freezing solid.
·   There is the beauty and miracle of snowflakes. Billions fall each winter without one ever being identical! What greater testament is there to an incredibly creative God?

4] The wonders of design in nature

·   The law of biogenesis states that life can ONLY come from pre-existing life. Inanimate matter can't suddenly become living so it takes the Living God to have created life.
·   Viruses are mostly poisons which is a strange first step if evolution was true and viruses were the first forms of life.
·   The building blocks of life – cells – are incredibly complex and far too complex to have come into being through evolution which relies on positive random changes.
·   We have the amazing balance of nature where plants, through the mysterious process of photosynthesis to produce food, take in carbon dioxide and expel oxygen while animals breathe in oxygen and carbon dioxide. How could such an amazing system like that happen by chance?
·   There are the marvels of design all throughout nature which show that there has to be a great Designer who designed it all. Some of those incredible designs we see in nature include:

·   The unique way insects breathe where each cell essentially has its own “private lung”.
·   The flying wonders we know as birds which are perfectly aerodynamically designed for flight with hollow bones, a strong large heart that beats hundreds of times a second, wings and feathers and a remarkable breathing system.
·   The perfect helicopter – the hummingbird – which can fly backwards and sideways and beats its wings up to 75 times a second.
·   The amazing sight of hawks and owls.
·   The unbelievable sonar system of bats.
·   The jumping ability of grasshoppers and fleas.
·   The natural lighting system of fireflies and deep sea creatures.
·   The amazing ability of animals like electric eels to produce electricity.
·   The chameleon with its incredible ability to change its colour.
·   The ability of salmon to jump 10 feet up rapids and their amazing sense of smell which helps them find the exact place where they were born up to 1000 miles inland.

·   Evolution in billions of years could never come up with the amazing metamorphosis of butterflies from caterpillars and tadpoles (with gills) to frogs (with lungs). In the case of butterflies, the total transformation from the lowly greedy caterpillar into the beautiful butterfly is a lesson of the reality of the transformation of man into the spirit born children of God at the resurrection (John 3:3-7, 1 Corinthians 15:42-44; Philippians 3:21).
·   The beauty we see in all throughout nature in birds, in tropical fish and coral reefs, in gemstones and in the colour of rainbows is testimony to the great Artist that designed it all.
·   All creatures are highly specialized and perfectly adapted for their environment from the cactus in the desert, the eagle in the air and the penguin in the Antarctic.

5] The wonders of design in man

·   There are all the wonders of design in man's own body such as all the various systems which work so harmoniously together such as the digestive system, the immune system, the respiration system and the circulation system (Psalm 139:14).
·   There is the miracle of conception. From a single fertilized cell grows a new human of around 30 trillion cells with all the necessary structures and systems working perfectly.
·   There is the design and shape of our red blood cells which have no nucleus. There is also the design of blood clotting which stops us from bleeding to death when we are cut.
·   Our eyes are another incredible wonder which have a lens with no blood vessels, are flexible and can change their shape to focus perfectly on objects at any distance.
·   There are also the mechanical marvels of the heart, hands, ear and our which point to the great Designer.

6] Creation or Evolution?

·   Natural selection only selects the best of existing traits – it does not produce new ones.
·   Mutations only produces varieties in the same species – it doesn't create new species.
·   The result of mutations are almost always bad. As mutations are almost invariably inferior to the original stock this would constitute “Survival of the Unfit”.
·   Evolution teaches the exact opposite of what the second law of thermodynamics says. It states that all things will descend into DISORDER rather than order, if left to themselves.
·   Even if our bodies could have come into being through natural processes, how could the software to run our bodies have written themselves in our DNA without some great intelligence to write those instructions?
·   Symbiosis is another marvel in nature which witnesses against the theory of evolution. Some creatures both literally need each other to survive. So which came first if they need the other to survive?
·   The ultimate in symbiosis is seen through the whole animal kingdom with sexual reproduction. How could evolution produce two different sexes that both need each other in order to continue the species?
·   The fundamental difference between man and animals is that animals are guided by instinct – a predefined pattern of behaviour – while man has a mind and acts with intelligence. Our mindpower and the fact that, of all creatures, we have emotional self-awareness is made possible through the gift of the spirit in man that God has put in him (1 Corinthians 2:11).
·   There are also sexual differences between man and animals. Sex is only for reproduction with animals. When they go “on heat” once or twice a year females always get pregnant when mating occurs. The rest of the year there is no sex or interest in it. In marriage, couples can have sex at virtually anytime yet pregnancy can only happen on a handful of days each year. Sex in humans is not merely for reproduction like in animals but is designed as a pleasure bond between a husband and wife.
·   There are major differences that show that man is not descended from the apes. There is the difference in animal instinct in apes and mind in humans, the sexual differences mentioned above, the lack of body hair with humans, the much larger brain in humans and the lack of the Broca's convulsion in apes which gives man the gift of speech.
·   The Bible is correct when it says that man was created by God 6 000 years ago from the dust of the ground and that he did not evolve from apes. God created mankind in His own image and put him in dominion over all the animals on earth (Genesis 1:26). Man has been given the gift of a mind to choose right from wrong, and with God's Holy Spirit develop God's character and one day be born into God's family.

7] Answered prayer

·   The most personal proof of God's existence is that of answered prayer (Matthew 7:7-11, 1 John 3:22). When you experience clear, undeniable answers to prayer over the course of time one's belief in the existence of a supreme, powerful God who loves each of us personally is strengthened.
·   “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). The evidence of God's existence is all around us, in the heavens, all throughout nature and in the wonders of our own human bodies.