Photos on Friday

I will be showing photos from a Southwest tour this June. Come by the Shilo Inn in Richland, Washington November 14 at 6 am for breakfast, fellowship, and some fantastic slides. Breakfast is $8.50, the slides are free.

Photos include fossils at Dinosaur National Monument,

artifacts of dinosaurs and men in Utah,

Monument Valley,

Grand Canyon, and The Wave at Paria (see entry below).

The Creation Museum, and the Flood

Regarding the Creation Museum, and Ken Ham: I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering (1977, UNM), 30 years experience as a nuclear safety engineer, and a Bachelor of Theology (2004, CLST). After accepting evolution and an ancient earth in 7th grade, I learned enough to reject both by 40. Can anyone explain these two photos I took at “The Wave at Paria” north of the Grand Canyon? The first appears to me to show mudflows, fast enough to have whirlpools, which were altered by earthquakes, and then part slid above the rest. Only then did it harden into stone - but all the layers were mud while they were being altered. And, the altering is consistent with Psalm 104 which says that "the mountains rose, the valleys sank down" while the Flood was upon the earth.

The second photo shows layered mud, swirled, then hardened into stone. Both defy the BLM explanation that The Wave was sand dunes, hardened into stone. I consider The Wave to be the best evidence, outside the Bible, for the Biblical Flood.

And, though I have never met him, I consider Ken Ham to be both ethical and honest. I look forward to visiting the Creation Museum, which is also honest, as well as being awesome. The existence of the Flood demolishes the temple of time, needed for evolutionary theory.

The Greatest Generation

THE GREATEST GENERATION ?

A Speech by Greg Morgan

Presented to the Desert Wind Toastmasters club, 10/14/2004

Tom Brokaw called them The Greatest Generation … those who grew up during the Depression, won World War II, and built the modern America. That’s quite a claim. A claim that they were greater than the generation that fought the Revolutionary War, than the generation that fought the Civil War, the generations that fought the Spanish-American War, World War I, Korea, Vietnam, the first Gulf War, and the current war on terror. Also that they were greater than those generations which built decades of peace and prosperity. Were they truly The Greatest Generation? Let me introduce one man from that generation, and let each of you decide for yourselves.

This man was raised in swamp-east Missouri, on a farm, by his grandparents because his mother died when he was barely more than born. The area was poor before the Depression, and the Depression started before he was ten. When he was eight, he was given a .22 rifle and a box of shells. It was his job to bring home game for the family table. If he brought in 45 animals from each 50 shot box, he got enough money to buy another box of shells. If not, he had to earn the difference. He became a good shot – or else. As a teen, he earned money by clearing canal banks, to drain those swamps, in the heat and humidity of the midwest. He once visited a friend at dinner time, and found on the table one pot of beans, mustard, and a pan of corn bread. That was far less than he normally had, but most people in the county lived on such fare. He grew up tough, strong in body and in mind.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he signed up for the Navy. As basic training ended, people came around asking for volunteers, for “the toughest and most dangerous job in the Navy”. This tough man was quick to volunteer. The training was for the Underwater Demolition Teams, and that training was tough. Toward the end, the trainers would continue the daily physical training until someone was exhausted enough to drop out. After a friend was the one to drop out, this man decided enough was enough, and challenged the trainer. They ran and did push ups and pull ups until the trainer dropped out. That ended that practice - at least in his training class.

In one operation, the team did their mission well. On the way out, one of his friends got such bad cramps that he could not reach the pick up point on time. This man pushed his friend out, even though he knew that the boat would only make one pass to pick up the team. More important, the underwater blast from the mine they had set caught them before they got out of the harbor. The blast injured his back so badly that he had trouble getting his friend the rest of the way to the pick up point. His body protected his friend from the blast. Fortunately, the boat skipper violated orders and came around a second time (endangering the boat and the crew), and picked them up. He spent six weeks in the hospital while his friend enjoyed liberty.

Trained by the Navy as a truck driver, after the war he drove trucks cross country for a living. One dark night, he came around a curve in Utah, where he met a truck. Not a problem, until he saw the lights of a jeep coming around the truck. He could not stop in time, and with a cliff dropping off on his side, he decided that the jeep driver had just killed himself – and then he saw the children in the back seat. He thought, “I just fought a war to save those kids lives …” and he turned the wheel to go off the road. The rear trailer broke off, and he tried to stop the tractor. Then the natural gas tank he had been hauling bounced – did you know they could bounce? – and he had to avoid it while missing the rocks. He also had to accelerate and then brake to get away from it. After five bounces, he got away from the tanker, and something kept it from exploding. He had risked his life for those children, and somehow they all lived.

At a truck stop, he met the baker of the best lemon meringue pies in the Southeast. They were married, and they had 13 children. Though the first died, the rest were raised to be hard working, though maybe not as tough as their father. He provided well for them, with enough food and clothing at all times, and usually far better than what he ate as a child. He taught them all to be law-abiding, peaceable, and good citizens and good parents to their own generation.

Was this the greatest generation? And was this man typical of that generation? As you have probably guessed, I am proud to call this man my father, and I am rather (perhaps very) biased. But, this generation has my vote: This was The Greatest Generation.

Scientific Evidence for a young earth

The Evolution of a Creationist

By Greg Morgan

As I grew up, I believed in evolution and an ancient earth. My teachers, and several science films, said as much. One film in particular stands out. “Hemo the Magnificent” was intended by Frank Capra as an explanation of how evolution and Christianity were consistent, but to my mind it showed that evolution was true and Christianity was unnecessary and probably false. For me, and for many others, evolution undermined my early faith in God. When I came home and told my parents I believed in evolution, my father did not really care. As an agnostic, he was undisturbed, but my mother, as a Southern Baptist, was appalled.

But she had no scientific reasons to argue with my new understanding, so, although I did not like upsetting her, I stuck with my new beliefs.

I continued to believe in evolution, as I went to four high schools in four states, and earned Manzano High School's math and science prize (of 499 students, in 1973). I believed while I got a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico in 1977.

I then reported to a Navy aircraft squadron at Whidbey Island, Washington. Two fellow officers met me after work -separately - and explained how I needed to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. As an evolutionist, I was amused. As a human, I tried to keep my amusement to myself. For 18 months, they witnessed to me. I went with one to his church - for the social life (I was a young man, with normal interest in women). I went with the other to Officers Christian Fellowship - I cannot figure out why I went there.

After those 18 months, with no real change in my beliefs, I was supervising the launching of our airplanes from the deck of an aircraft carrier. The last airplane to leave the deck was from my squadron, and I watched it pitch its nose down, and crash into the ocean at 150 miles per hour. As two men I knew died in front of me, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior.

But that did not change my mind about evolution. I continued to believe as I gathered evidence for three more years. After three years, the evidence led me to reject evolution. I became an old-earth creationist. It took another 12 years, and a visit to a Back To Genesis Seminar from ICR (http://www.icr.org/). There, in 12 hours of presentations by PhD level scientists, I learned how the scientific evidence contradicted the old-earth view, and more importantly, how the sequence of (1) Creation, (2) Corruption by sin, (3) the Catastrophe of the flood, (4) the Confusion of languages and mankind at the tower of Babel, (5) Christ, (6) the Cross, and the yet-to-come (7) Consummation when Christ return, explains the evidence in the world around us.

How? For one thing, the Flood was far more catastrophic that a 40-day rain. It also involved massive volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, and continents splitting apart.

At the seminar, I became a young earth creationist. And since then, the evidence has become overwhelming. Some of it is presented here.

But why is Creation a significant issue? Because, at some level, we all act based on what we believe. And the theory of evolution is racist at its core. The full title of Darwin’s 1859 book was ”On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”. Whatever you may think of “Favoured Races”, Darwin was not speaking of subspecies of squirrels. He believed, and his theory teaches, that darker-colored humans are inferior to lighter-colored humans. I do not. Repeat, I do not. Recently, Dr. James Watson of DNA fame made racist statements based on a belief that “there is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically”. He was fired, but Discover Magazine defended him (Discover, March 2008). Why are our schools allowed to teach such an evil theory? Why are they actually required to teach the basis for racism? The same basis which Adolf Hitler used to try to wipe out the Jews of Europe?

Is it because evolution is scientific and therefore true? Are you aware that evolution is a scientifically controversial theory? Most people who believe in evolution do not acknowledge the controversy – but that does not make the controversy go away. There are hundreds – thousands really – of PhD-level scientists who believe in a recent creation of the earth. There is a book available, In Six Days, which presents arguments from 50 of these scientists, saying why they believe in a recent creation. There is also a major movie out, “Expelled”, which shows the professional persecution of scientists who challenge Darwin.

Most people who know about the controversy view it as a debate between science and religion. Is it? Consider these facts. Charles Darwin had one degree – in theology. That’s religion. Darwin’s strongest argument was that no god would have created things as we find them. That is a religious argument. Those who think most deeply about evolution still make their arguments from religious premises.

Here are a few other facts of note. Radioactive carbon is found in “ancient” fossils (http://globalflood.org/papers/2003ICCc14.html). These fossils are dated as being over 120,000 years old, which means they should be more than 20 “half-lives” of carbon old. After 20 half-lives, there should be only 0.000095 percent of modern carbon, but they contain 0.12 to 0.58 percent modern carbon- they are “radiocarbon dated” as being only 54,000 years old to as little as 42 thousand years old. There are many such examples where radiocarbon dating says one thing, but other evidence says something else. Radioactive dating of rocks of known ages often gives false results. The most-used method for dating rocks relies on the decay of potassium into argon. But a Google search shows 12,800 hits for “excess argon”. One third of these reports are from creationists, one third from evolutionists, and one third from scientific groups reporting scientific discrepancies. The scientific discrepancies reflect radioactive dating giving falsely old ages, when the lava rocks were seen to flow recently. The bottom line is, rocks and fossils do not come with date stamps or birth certificates, and radioactive dating does not improve the situation.

The theory of evolution proposes that simple life forms evolved first, and are buried lower in the rocks, but the Grand Canyon has complex life in rocks near the bottom, and simple sponges don’t appear till near the top. This might not mean much if it were only at one location, but this pattern is repeated around the world.

Short-period comets exist. If the solar system is ancient, they should all have evaporated. Yes, I know about the Oort cloud, the proposed place from which new comets come. I also know that it has never been observed. Comets, and other findings in our solar system, argue for a young universe. Furthermore, Jupiter and Saturn, and even Saturn’s tiny moon Enceladus, give off more heat than they absorb from the Sun. No scientific explanation passes the reality checks. Except the explanation, that they are young and have not cooled off yet.

That film I watched in school, said that sea water resembles our blood, and that the ocean contains the amount of salt that reflects its ancient origin. But, our blood chemistry is not at all like sea water (http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v19/i2/blood.asp). Further, sea water contains far less salt than it should – if the earth is ancient. If the earth were a billion years old, the ocean would be thousands of times as salty as it is.

Dinosaur fossils, including a T Rex, have been discovered with soft tissue and protein (http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jan/year-in-science-2007/t-rex-time-machine). This soft tissue should not be there – unless the dinosaurs were buried recently. Say, about 2348 BC, during the global Flood. Ancient cliff paintings and pottery are found on every continent, and many of them show dinosaurs living with men (http://www.creationism.org/swift/index.htm). Men lived with dinosaurs. This means, dinosaurs are not ancient, and the earth is probably not ancient either.

These facts, and thousands of others, argue for a recent creation. Astronomy, geology, and biology all provide facts supporting recent creation. Recent, Biblical, creation.

For more facts and books check http://www.answersingenesis.org/, http://www.icr.org/, http://www.globalflood.org/, and http://www.creationsafaris.org/ (click on News). For how to meet the One who created us, come by any Bible-believing church. Please. You will be glad you did, and we will be glad you did.

Greg Morgan

Why Do We Suffer?

This is adapted from a letter I sent to a brother, who does not accept the Lord, after a family reunion:



It was good to see you at the family reunion. I’m glad that you are in good health and enjoying life.

I am enclosing an article on the Fremont People artifacts in eastern Utah. I hope it has some stuff you haven’t seen in your papers. Please read it before you continue.

I would give a lot to know more about these people – how they lived their daily lives, what they ate and drank, what they believed. I wonder if the were afraid of the dark? Growing up with darkness, they probably weren’t, but the wolves, mountain lions, etc, may have made them afraid of what was in the dark. Maybe they were like me, afraid of what might leap on them. Did their older brothers surprise them in their back yards? Or was that only two other brothers? I seem to remember you being involved in scaring the living daylights out of me. Did these people believe the stars were just points of light, or did they know more? Did they, like some people in the Middle East at the same time, use clay-pot batteries, perhaps for lighting? Maybe they did not need to be afraid of the dark. The photos make their technology look primitive, but so does most Middle East artifacts.

I wish you had been able to stay at the reunion a little longer. You missed several good water fights. All in all, an excellent time for all.

You also missed my talks on what I believe and why I believe it. Though this was from a scientific standpoint, and you seem more concerned with other matters, I believe that you would have enjoyed it.

You expressed considerable moral indignation at child suffering. It’s a reflection of the moral indignation that God Himself feels when His children suffer. If God did not exist, neither could your moral indignation. Evolution could not create such indignation (notes 1, 2). Only God’s creatures can feel such outrage. Clearly, I believe that you direct your outrage at the wrong person, but the outrage itself is an excellent thing.

So how do I explain why children suffer the unspeakable horrors that life sometimes visits on them? First, understand that I may ask God those questions when I see Him, because my heart does not understand.

But, my head does. One thing I have learned is to use other’s work when possible, and I enclose three articles on “Why Does God Allow Evil?” (See http://www.answersingenesis.org/).

God does not cause senseless suffering, for children or for adults. The Bible says that “God is love”, and you are correct to object to any god who loves but causes evil. So why is there suffering in this world?

It is not an uncommon question, and it keeps lots of people from coming to God. Just since the time you mentioned it, Dad has gone into the hospital where he found he had an earlier heart attack, and has undergone a quadruple bypass surgery; my pastor fell ten feet and broke his femur and his wrist, then had a stroke in the hospital; and more deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq, leaving behind widows and orphans in those countries and in ours. So why do I still serve Him?

God created us perfect, without suffering or sin. He even gave us a great gift: free will. He wanted us to use that gift to love Him as He loves us. Instead, we used our free will to rebel against God, and we began to do all sorts of evil things. Because God had given us control of this earth, our rebellion caused the earth to do evil things as well (earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, disease, etc). Things got so bad that God decided to kill all those evil people. He did this with a global Flood, but He found eight people who were good enough to save, and He warned them to build an ark, on which they and the animals of this world survived. Those eight people became our ancestors, but, unfortunately, some of us have committed evil as well.

So I suggest that we blame the evil, including the suffering of children, on the decisions of men, rather than on God.

But isn’t that a cop out? Couldn’t God make us perfect, with free will, but not allow us to sin? And if He isn’t powerful enough and loving enough to do that, why should we have anything to do with Him?

No, God could not make us with free will and still keep us from sinning.

Doesn’t that make Him less than all-powerful? No, but it does mean that God cannot make nonsense. It falls into the same category as, “Can God make a rock so big that He cannot lift it?”, or, better, “Who is the bachelor married to?” Nonsense questions do not need to be answered sensibly. Unfortunately, we do not recognize that the question, “Couldn’t God make us perfect, with free will, but not allow us to sin?” is a nonsense question. Either we have free will – truly FREE will – or we do not. And if we have free will, we can sin. The only question remaining is, which generation will choose to sin? Genesis answers that question. The first generation, our parents Adam and Eve, chose to sin. And every generation since has sinned also.

Actually, there are a few more questions. Questions like, what does a loving God do about sin? Why did God create this world if He knew that we would sin? Why does He allow sinful men to torment innocent children?

About sin, God provided a way for us to be forgiven. Even though we rebelled against Him, He loves us so much that He provided a way for us to be free from the penalty of sin. And do not forget that the penalty is severe – to be separate from Him, and from all that is good, forever. But the forgiveness is severe also – for God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son in to the world, to die for the world, that whoever believes in Him need not perish, but have eternal life. And the good news is this, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with Scripture, was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with Scripture. If we accept this, we have eternal life in a sinless world.

Why create this world if we will sin? Because there is no better way to that best world where there is no sin and all serve and love God and each other. This world is neither the best world, nor the worst world, but this world is the best way to the best world (so said one of my theology professors, and so I believe). And achieving that world is worth all of the evil and sin of this world. Oh, really? Worth all the child suffering, all the wars, all the heartache of this world? If it isn’t, God is needlessly cruel. But God is love. In His love, He created this world without sin, even though He knew that it would fall into sin. He believed that the next world is worth all the evil of this world.

And if we disagree? The Bible answers this question. In Jeremiah Chapter18, the prophet sees a potter remake a ruined pot. God then points out that we are the clay, He is the potter, and He has the right to do with us as He pleases. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8, 9) His thoughts take all things into consideration, in the past, in the future, and throughout the universe. Therefore, who are we to judge God? Or are we so arrogant as to add this to our rebellion?

And, God promises to make all things right, in the end. As Dad always said, the wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind incredibly fine. And Who makes the wheels of justice grind, if not God Himself?

And why does God allow sinful men, or disease, to torment innocent children? Again, how could God create free will, yet prevent its effects? He could not. Therefore, He created this world, with the potential for greatness or for sin, even knowing that we would choose sin. And He promises to set all things right, among other things by sending those sinful men to Hell, but also by giving those children crowns and glory. And that glory is so great, that the present suffering is not worthy to be compared to it. And, in the final world, He will wipe every tear from our eyes, and there will be no death, or mourning, or crying, or pain.

And I am not great enough to judge God in His intentions. But, I have experienced enough of God’s love to trust Him. And so have you. Every day of your life, the sun has risen. You have experienced the love of our mother and your wife. We have shared the love of our father, and of our brothers, and you read in this letter my love, which risks your contempt or your anger, as I try to reach out to you with God’s love. You have always had food to eat and water to drink, clothing, and shelter. These are all gifts from God.

But God has given you a greater gift – one which you cannot work for, and cannot reach except the way God offers it. God offers the gift of eternal life in His presence. This gift is extremely costly, but that cost has been paid by another. While we all deserve to die and to go to Hell, God loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus the Christ, to bear our penalty, to die in our place and to go to Hell in our place. And, after three days in Hell, Jesus rose from the dead. He walked the earth for forty days, was seen by over 500 people, and returned to heaven. All of this was to buy, then demonstrate, that gift of eternal life, for us.

It took fifteen months of having three friends talk with me about this, and then seeing two of my friends die in front of me, before I would accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. I pray that it will not take as much for you.

Since I accepted Jesus as my Savior, my professional and personal lives have been much improved. Not that I became perfect – you know that I have not. But, I became a good officer (if such exists … and some do), and then a good engineer. I have received several awards for my professionalism, which I attribute to God’s grace and favor. He caused me to become much more focused on the details of my work, and that has led to much better safety analyses, and much better communication with others. He has used my wife to encourage me in the right ways to solve serious issues, and had me contact people who helped me stand up for the right, when others did not see the right way to go. And He has helped me to stand up for the little guy when others mistreated them. And tyranny is what I am indignant about. Having seen tyranny from a commanding officer, I despise it in me and in others. God has helped to eliminate it from me – largely.

In my personal life, God has helped me to be kind and gentle, showing love rather than harsh discipline or tyranny. This has allowed me to raise two gentle and reasonably obedient and loving children. Neither they nor I am perfect, but the care I have displayed amazes me. Where I was once self-centered, I am now concerned about the welfare of my wife and children and about my brothers’ welfare. My language is a lot cleaner, I am involved in a food-for-the-poor ministry, I try to help others, and I enjoy life.

Did you notice that I didn’t enjoy life when we were growing up? I escaped into books, and into studying. I certainly did not enjoy life when I worked for that tyrannical commanding officer; but I enjoyed life when I worked for an equally tyrannical assistant manager where I now work. I have learned to deal with tyranny when I must, and to put it behind me when I leave. I am both a better person, and a better-off person, than I was without God.

As to evidence that Christianity is the true religion, there is enough evidence to convince me; enough evidence to convince two of our brothers; enough evidence to convince the roughly 2 billion Christians alive today. And enough evidence to convince the 2 billion Christians who lived and are now in heaven – including the 2 million plus who believed even when required to deny Christ or die. They died rather than deny Christ, because the evidence was enough to convince them.

If you still have questions, please let me know. Maybe we can become good brothers once again.

In either case, I love you and will be praying for you.


Love,


Greg



Note 1: Caring for our young is a necessary part of creation or evolution. But, if evolution is true, moral outrage at child suffering wastes resources. It takes energy and time away from “more necessary” activities. This is especially true if we have such outrage about suffering by someone other than our own children, but it is true for any outrage. Therefore, evolution and natural selection would eliminate any such attitudes from the gene pool.
Note 2: Therefore, the existence of outrage at child suffering is evidence that we are God’s creations. Since this outrage is universal, it is strong evidence for universal creation by a God of love.

Big Bang Busted

Dear Sir:

So, a few people are upset that a NASA spokesman wants to add “theory” to Big Bang references (Herald, 2/26/06). They may be more upset to learn that nearly 400 researchers, scientists and engineers agree (http://www.cosmologystatement.org/), and also believe that it is a poor theory. Since their letter was published in New Scientist (May 22, 2004), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey published a map of the universe which falsifies the Big Bang Theory (http://www.sdss.org/news/releases/20031028.powerspectrum.html).

Scientific American (February 2004) reports that the Big Bang theory rests on not just fact, but four assumptions: (1) there is no center to the universe, (2) there are no large structures in the universe, (3) the universe looks the same no matter where you are, and (4) the universe is unbounded. The map of the universe shows that there is a center of the universe, there are numerous large structures (some two billion light years long), and the universe looks very different from here than from any other location. So, the map shows that the first three assumptions are false, and the fourth is indeterminate. Since the Big Bang theory relies on all four of these assumptions, it is falsified.

For a consistent theory of the origin of the universe, I suggest Dr. Russell Humphreys' book, “Starlight and Time”. Or, just read the first chapter of the Bible.


Sincerely,


Greg Morgan