Thanks to National Geographic, it has now become common knowledge that “Judas wrote a Gospel” and that “Jesus asked Judas to betray him.” Just as the “Da Vinci Code” has made it common knowledge that “Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and that they had children together.” If you doubt that these “facts” are now common knowledge, just ask a few teenagers about the subject and you will quickly learn some of the absolute nonsense they believe and are even being taught in school.

It is shocking but true. National Geographic allowed itself to become the vehicle for this type of scholarly abuse. The Biblical Archaeological Review among others have now blown the whistle on this fraud of which the National Geographic has made itself a part. In May of 2006 the Geographic ran a large article headlined on its cover as “The Judas Gospel.” The Judas Gospel is a document that surfaced in Egypt in the 1970’s. The facts around its discovery are somewhat murky but radiocarbon dating of the manuscript puts its origin between 220 and 340 AD. It is written in Coptic but is alleged to be a copy of a currently nonexistent earlier Greek Gnostic text. In the early days of Christianity one of the more popular heretical groups were the Gnostics. This group claimed to have “secret knowledge” about God and Jesus. The Nag Hammadi Codices, which also contained the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas, represent the largest collection of surviving writings of this sect. This Gospel of Judas is also a product of the Gnostics. These writings were known to be frauds since the second century and have been recognized as such by scholars, secular and Christian alike. This information was no secret to the staff of the National Geographic.

Despite knowing exactly what these documents were the Biblical Archeology Review points out that the Geographic staff went ahead and, not only misrepresented what these documents were, but shockingly went even further and reported clear mistranslations of these the documents to further cloud the issue. So the Geographic took a fraud and made it more fraudulent. Even Dan Rather and CBS would not have gone this far; at least CBS correctly reported what the fraudulent documents they used actually said.

According to the Biblical Archeology Review (BAR) the Geographic, “In the first instance, it pitches its enormous publicity machine to imply that the newly released Gospel of Judas contains what may be a historically reliable portrait of Judas Iscariot, not as he is portrayed in the New Testament as Jesus’ betrayer, but as a hero, the thirteenth disciple who is closer to Jesus than the other twelve.” Then in the National Geographic version, “Jesus asks Judas to betray him.” So they treat this known counterfeit as though it is a reliable historical source. As the BAR points out, “In fact , no scholar would treat it this way, including the National Geographic scholars themselves.” ‘”The idea that this new gospel might be an accurate historical report of the reason for Judas’s betrayal of Jesus is arrogant nonsense.”‘

As if this was not bad enough the Geographic goes further and mistranslates the documents in key areas. For example the Judas Gospel does not actually portray Judas as a hero. This is an invention of the Geographic. In their attempt to turn Judas from a villain into a hero they make key misrepresentations. A glaring case is seen in Judas 46:25-47:1. The Geographic has Jesus saying to Judas, “You will ascend to the holy generation.” In the document it says exactly the opposite, it actually says “You will not ascend to the holy generation.” There are numerous other examples that could be cited for those who are interested. You may want to begin with the source article listed below.

Why Is This Important

A big question that comes to mind is, why would the National Geographic lend itself to this abuse? Why would they engage in such fraud? The only purpose that seems apparent is an attempt to advance the materialist agenda by undermining Christian faith. Do any readers have another suggestion?

Source: “Judas Iscariot Among the Gnostics: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says”, Biblical Archeology Review, by Birger Pearson, May/June 2008, Vol 34, No. 3, pp 52-57.

By: Lawrence Vescera Ph.D.

Imagine the headlines if some group started tearing down the Great Pyramids at Giza or the Colusseum in Rome or the Great Wall of China! The world would be outraged. It would rightly be called a crime against humanity and a desecration of the world’s heritage. Indeed his type of reaction followed the Talibans destruction in 2001 of the 1700 year old Buddhas of Bamyan in Afghanistan. These monumental statues were dynamited by Islamic fundamentalists for violating Sharia law. The Taliban was condemned around the world for this outrage against an archaeological monument that belonged to the world not just to Afghanistan.

Yet a far worse archaeological outrage against the world’s heritage has been taking place and the world media has been predictably silent on this one. Since 1999 the Islamic authorities in charge of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem under the claim of “construction” has been destroying the archaeological remains on the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount currently has the Al-Aqsa Mosque sitting at its summit. This mosque previously was a Christian Church and before that the Roman Temple of Jupiter. However it originally was the site of the First and Second Temples of Solomon, the home of the Ark of the Covenant, Boaz Thrashing Floor and the place were Abraham took Isaac to make his sacrifice. The archaeological remains here go back to at least 2500 BC. This was where King Solomon and all of the following Kings of Judea worshipped. It is the Temple where Jesus and Paul and the other Apostles stood. It was the site of more history then can be imagined.

All construction on the site is supposed to be supervised by the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA), however in 1999 the Islamic religious trust known as the Waqf, which oversees the Al-Aqsa Mosque, began a construction project underneath the mosque. This has turned out to be a huge excavation covering 1600 square meters to a depth of 15 meters. The Waqf had over 200 dump truck loads of earth and archaeological remains removed and summarily dumped in a landfill. This was all done with no archaeological supervision. Later examination of this priceless material in the dump turned up a number of valuable finds. This massive excavation is also being carried out quite carelessly and consequently the eastern wall of the Temple mount is now bulging and in danger of collapse.

The thought of the information that has been lost to the world is staggering and saddening. Modern archaeological research on sites like the Temple Mount is performed with dental picks, half-inch fine haired brushes and microscopes. However once the dirt is moved, the data loss is almost complete. Also stories have been floating around for several years of major finds being made during this digging which were deliberately destroyed so that they would not fall into the hands of the Israelis. Such stories may or may not be true but sadly probably cannot be known for sure now.

The Israeli authorities permitted this atrocity to go on according to the Biblical Archaeological Review and other sources because they wanted to avoid the political consequences of intervening. If the IAA had attempted to stop the destruction there likely would have been riots accompanied by claims of religious persecution from the Muslims. The world’s media of course would have repeated this mantra thereby creating an international crisis for the Israelis at a particularly sensitive time. It was easier to just turn a blind eye to this because, “…the top priority of the State of Israel is quiet, not riots, even if the antiquities pay the price.”

Why This Is Important

This is a crime against science and against the world because it destroyed a unique archaeological resource, which would have added to knowledge of world prehistory and history. Christians and Jews are especially affected by this crime because it eliminated opportunities to find materials, which may have, provide independent verification for Biblical accounts or expanded the understanding on materials referenced in the Bible and other ancient texts. It also would undoubtedly have contributed to an understanding of this historical period.

Sadly, it is also a shining example of the continued failure of the “objective” medias’ coverage of world events. If you want to be informed, do not depend on the major news sources.

Source:

“Israeli Authorities Acquiescence in Destruction of Temple Mount Antiquities”, Biblical Archaeological Review, May/June, Vol 34, No. 3, p.22.

By Lawrence Vescera, Ph. D.

In broad outline the Book of Genesis gives the following information about early human history:

1. All humans are descended from one woman and one man. (Genesis: 2)

2. Humans originated in an area close to or in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. (Genesis 2) The early human population grew to a considerable size (Genesis: 5)

3. At some point early in human history the entire world population was almost wiped out by a catastrophic event. (Genesis: 6)

4. The world was repopulated by the survivors of this catastrophe. (Genesis: 10)

This narrative has found support in recent research published in “The American Journal of Human Genetics.” Please keep in mind that this article has nothing to say about the relevance of this research to the above scriptural passages. The conclusions of this research as stated are completely secular. However there are Biblical implications in this research.

The study examined the mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) of the Khoi and San people, they are two groups of hunter and gathers living in southern Africa. These two bands are considered “…unique relics of the hunting and gathering life style.” Their genetic material represents a pocket of reproductively isolated genes with ancient roots. The analysis of their genetic material is quite complex and convoluted so no detail is included here, if you are interested, the original article is referenced below. However the findings of the researchers were shocking to some and are fascinating to review.

First this work reminds the reader that mitochondrial DNA research supports the idea that we are all descended from one woman. For those interested, there are also Y Chromosomal studies that show that we are all descended from one man. Sound familiar? (Adam & Eve)

Second, in addition to showing lines of descent and the approximate time that these lines diverged from their ancestral line, such studies can also point to the original geographical dispersion patterns of populations of organisms. The current dominant theory among paleoanthropologists is that humans first appeared in Northeast Africa somewhere around the Rift Valley. This area is only about 1,000 miles from the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. Given the imprecision of such studies, the actual focal point of human origins could easily have been anywhere within the East African/Middle Eastern region which includes the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. Again does this ring a bell? (Garden of Eden)

Third, this and other cited studies concluded that the human race underwent a catastrophic near extinction about 70,000 years ago. A related piece of research done by a group from Stanford University concluded that the world population may have collapsed to as little as 2,000 individuals. It is argued that this catastrophic population implosion was “probably” caused by a drought. However the study does not postulate a world wide drought, so it is difficult to see how a drought would have caused a world wide population decline? However this event would fit very nicely with the expectations of what would follow a world wide hydrological catastrophe as described in Genesis 6. (Noah’s Flood)

Fourth, the study points to the fact that all existing humans are the descendants of the survivors of this catastrophe. Again, does this sound familiar? (Genesis 10)

Why This Is Important

This research while probably not intended to have Biblical implications in its broad brush strokes, paints a picture of the early history of the human race that is consistent with the Biblical narrative. Some may take exception to the details of the research but its general outline certainly has a ring of familiarity to it.

Sources:

1. “Humans Nearly Wiped Out 70,000 Years Ago”, April 24,2008,www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/24/close.call.ap/index.html

2. “The Dawn of Human Matralinial Diversity”, in The American Journal of Human Genetics, by Doron Behar, et.al., April 24, 2008.

By: Lawrence Vescera, Ph.D.

You may be a “Thought Criminal” and not know it. So, if you have not yet seen “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”, I strongly suggest that you see it. Ben Stein produced this movie to alert the public to some very disturbing trends. The movie exposes a widespread effort in academia and the media to suppress the fact that a growing number of mainline scientists are beginning to consider Intelligent Design as an explanatory factor in their work or world view.

Intelligent Design is probably most often defined as the argument that the origin of the Universe and the origin of life cannot be completely explained by purely natural, random or unguided processes alone. This leads to the argument that at some point supernatural intervention was required to either start the process or to intervene in it. This supernatural force is usually identified as God. The movie shows what happened to some scientists and teachers who dared to openly consider Intelligent Design. They very quickly found themselves purged from the field, loosing their positions, abilities to publish, reputations and more.

This movie attempts to tackle an enormously large set of subjects. Adequately addressing such a large body of information in two hours is nearly impossible. A twenty-four part series would be inadequate to cover issues that include: science definitions, science history, biology, evolution, Darwinism, Social Darwinism, freedom of speech, freedom of thought, academic freedom and much more. But Stein did a good job of providing an overview and introduction to this battle that is being waged against scientists and scholars who want to consider Intelligent Design.

The film recounts what happened to several researchers who dared to write about scientific research findings that support the Intelligent Design argument. These people have paid dearly career-wise for openly thinking about Intelligent Design.
Keep in mind that in most cases they were not advocating it, but only discussing it. Their crime can best be described as a “thought crime.” Such crimes in the 20th Century generally occurred in the Marxist countries where such crimes were covertly and occasionally openly punished. In Marxist regimes anyone who dared question the Neo-Marxian worldview usually found themselves without a job and home and in some cases imprisoned, like Alexander Soljenitzen, and occasionally as under Stalin or Mao execution was also a real possibility.

The film also discusses some of the problems with Social Darwinism and its consequences. It briefly reviews the undeniable link between Darwinism and the Eugenics Movement and their use by regimes such as the Nazi’s with their theories about survival of the fittest between competing races and how this was directly linked to the Holocaust.

Not surprisingly the film has infuriated the Darwinists. The film is being attacked on all sides. The factual accuracy of the film is usually not attacked directly because many of the facts are undeniable so they speak for themselves. Therefore the criticisms have mostly fallen into marginal areas such as claims that the film does not tell the other side of the argument completely enough or that there are copyright issues about the use of some animations (it is hard to imagine a more irrelevant criticism).

Arguably the films most important point is that the effort to squelch discussion of Intelligent Design is an infringement of freedom of speech and thought. Whether or not Intelligent Design is factually correct is not the main issue for many, the main issue is freedom of thought. The Darwinists, materialists and atheists want to straight-jacket us all, having us put on blinders to the evidence that points to God’s creative role in the Universe by saying that Intelligent Design is not science. However at the same time they contradict themselves by also claiming that the scientific evidence against Intelligent Design is “irrefutable.” If this is the case, why are they trying to suppress free discussion of the subject? The truth is only too
obvious; they know that their beliefs are based on extremely weak evidence and in all probability will collapse under future scrutiny. However Darwinism is the basis for moral relativism and moral relativism is the foundation of the political left. Therefore there is no length these people will not be willing to go to in order to enforce their ideological orthodoxy.

By: Lawrence Vescera, Ph.D.

Imagine your surprise if you suddenly discovered that the person you thought was your grandfather was actually born more recently then your father.  Well, that is exactly the position that Darwinists are in, given new genetic studies of sponges and jellyfish.

Sponges are very simple, “primitive” life forms. They lack true tissues, having no muscles, internal organs or nervous systems.  They even lack a digestive system.  They resemble something like a colony of independent cells.  They have long been regarded as representing a first step in the evolutionary transition from single-celled organisms to the first multi-celled organisms. Comb jellyfish on the other hand are more advanced, complex organisms having such innovations as internal organs including a nervous system.

According to the Darwinian model of the “Tree of Life,” all life forms are descended from a single-celled ancestor which evolved through time by exclusively random, natural, accidental process into ever more complex multi-cellular organisms.  This model is a hierarchy, which requires that simple life forms must come first and give rise gradually to more complex life forms. Consequently, primitive organisms like sponges must evolve before more complex organisms like jellyfish can be “naturally selected” into existence.

So, imagine the surprise a group of scientists using powerful new genetic research tools had when they discovered that their data showed that comb jellyfish diverged onto their own evolutionary path before sponges. “This was a complete shocker. . . So shocking that we thought something had gone very wrong,” said Casey Dunn, the team’s lead researcher from the University of Hawaii. But despite checking and rechecking the data still pointed to the same conclusion – the more complex animal predated the simpler animal.

Despite this “shocking” finding in contradiction to the predictions of the Darwinian model, the Darwinian model was not brought into question.  After all, these scientists want to keep their jobs and one does not question Darwin in academia (an alleged bastion of unfettered “free thought”).  Consequently, two highly improbable alternative explanations were offered in an attempt to bludgeon the data back into the constraints of Darwin’s 1859 insights.  The suggested solutions are that either sponges devolved from a heretofore completely unknown, more complex ancestor or the comb jellyfish evolved their complexity independently after they went off onto their own evolutionary branch of the Tree of Life.

Why this is Important

This study raises three critical problems only one of which is even addressed by the authors.  The first problem is the fact that the higher form of life is more ancient than the lower form.  The evidentially unsupported speculations mentioned above that are offered to account for this are weak at best and will likely not find support by further research.  The second finding that is even more important is the undressed time factor.  The fossil record shows that jellyfish appeared suddenly in the fossil record.  The third problem is where are their ancestors in the fossil record? If jellyfish didn’t evolve from the sponges where did these complex creatures come from? In terms of the Darwinian model the evolution of organs such as a nervous system would have taken at least ten’s of millions of years.  So where are the original and intermediary forms?

This is not the first case where genetic research has collided with Darwinism.  Genetic research has been making it harder and harder to maintain the Darwinian straight jacket that claims that life appeared and evolved without any divine or intelligent intervention.

Sources:

“Broad Phylogenomic Sampling Improves Resolution of the Tree of Life”, Casey Dunn et. al., Nature, April 10, 2008 pp 745-749.

“The First Animal on Earth Was Significantly More Complex The Previously Believed”, Science Daily, April 11, 2008.

By Lawrence Vescera Ph. D.

“Meteorites Delivered The ‘Seeds’ Of Earth’s Left-handed Life, Experts Argue”, read the headline in this Science Daily story of April 7, 2008. This claim was quickly advertised around the world by the media as a major breakthrough in the effort to explain the origin of life on Earth by purely natural, unguided processes. However, what the headline claimed and what the story actually reported are two far different things. This story is a classic example of how the media mis-informs and dis-informs the public on issues of great import. It is also an example of the widespread misuse of science and scholarly research to promote the materialist/humanist agenda.

Here is how the media operates this abuse: first they make a bold claim such as that in the above story. They then report the details in the story, realizing that few will read beyond the headline and knowing that even if they do, very few will understand what is being written at a level necessary to evaluate the claim in the headline and accurately conclude that the headline’s claim is so weakly supported by the data that the story is not really worth reporting. Also when competent scientists criticize the story, if reported at all, will be printed on page 36 under a headline such as “Scientist Question Chirality Claim.” A title, which will guarantee that almost no one will read it.

Let us examine the above story to see this pattern at work. The opening paragraphs tell an imaginative tale of the early Earth:

“Flashback three or four billion years – Earth is a hot, dry and lifeless place. All is still. Without warning, a meteorite slams into the desert plains at over 10,000 miles per hour. With it this violent collision may have planted the seeds of life on Earth.” “Scientists have presented evidence that desert heat, a little water and meteorite impacts may have been enough to cook up the first prerequisites of life: The dominance of “left-handed” amino acids, the building blocks of life on this planet.”

The story claims to answer one of the greatest mysteries in biology, known as the “chirality problem.” Chirality here refers to the molecular mirror image symmetry of proteins. This symmetry is labeled as either left or right-handedness depending on how amino acid molecules polarize light. This is a very complex problem, which cannot be discussed here in detail, but in summary is as follows: With a few exceptions almost all of the amino acids in living systems are left-handed. However, in the inorganic world, amino acids because of the physics of their formation process are always found in mixtures of equal parts of left and right-handed forms. These amino acids are the raw material from which proteins are constructed. If protein synthesis occurs in a mixture of left and right-handed amino acids, even if the right-handed molecules constitute only a tiny fraction of the whole, the molecules formed will be biologically useless because they will fold in a manner that causes them to be inactive. Consequently when life was first synthesized on Earth it was necessary to start in environment of pure left-handed only amino acids.

Getting and maintaining a solution of purely left amino acids even under laboratory conditions is extremely difficult. This means finding a natural route to the synthesis of purely left-handed amino acids in the very messy natural world, full of right-handed amino acids, contaminants and thermodynamic problems seems almost insurmountable. Consequently origin of life researchers have long despaired over finding a materialist explanation for this phenomenon.

The article in question claims to provide a solution to this problem. According to this article: researchers examining the amino acids on the surface of some meteorites from Australia and Tennessee found a 5% to 10% excess of left-handed molecules over right- handed molecules. They then postulate that if this is combined with a series of natural processes (not currently known to exist), which could purify and amplify left-handed molecules, this concentration level can be increased to higher levels and (add another mere 100,000 or so other critical steps) you “voila” get life.

The article does not mention several interesting facts. First researchers have been examing meteorites for years looking for evidence of this chiral excess. Up until now all have always found that meteorites contain equal amounts of left and right-handed molecules. Ancient rocks in the Earth’s crust also always show this same racemic mixture. Would anyone like to bet that this finding will not be replicated when preformed at different labs using different meteorites? The fact that the excess of left-handed amino acids comes from the surface and not the interior of the meteorites should raise a big red flag because the surface is where contaminants from Earth life are likely to be found. Also not mentioned is the fact that even if there is a slight abundance of left-handed amino acids in meteors and a natural process did amplify this concentration (of which there is currently absolutely no evidence) it would still not provide the purely left-handed solutions of amino acids which is necessary for life to start from. In a mind-boggling step of illogic, the process of amplification postulated in this article requires preexisting biological organisms to carry out the process of amplification. So the way life originates under this scenario is through the mediation of preexisting life.

Why This Is Important

This piece of extremely questionable research will now begin to work its way into the public forum. It will become used as evidence to support the claim that “life originated through strictly natural processes.” It will probably become common knowledge that “meteorites brought left-handed amino acids to Earth and these formed the basis of life.” The reality however is that this common knowledge will be based on a greatly overstated case standing on the shakiest of evidence. This is reminiscent of that fact that many people now believe that there is genetic evidence to support the claim that homosexuality is genetically based. Such claims are based on several pieces bogus research, which were touted with extravagant headlines in the media. This research was all later shown to be specious, yet it is not unusual today to be told, “Everybody knows that scientists have shown that homosexuality is genetic.”

Source: www.eurekalert.org “Meteorites Deliver The ‘Seeds’ Of Earth’s Left-hand Life”, AAAS, April 6, 2008.

By: Lawrence Vescera Ph.D. - Isaac Newton Institute

This July will see a unique event in the history of modern thought. It may very well prove the beginning of a true “Paradigm Shift” in biology. The Event has been labeled the “Woodstock of Evolution” and will probably mark the beginning of the end of the status of Darwin’s writings as holy writ and Darwinism’s strangle hold on freedom of thought and speech. This meeting will be attended by sixteen of the world’s leading evolutionary biologists and philosophers of science. It will take place in Altenberg, Austria at the Konrad Lorenz Institute. The reason for the meeting is the recognition by most of these scholars that Darwinism is retarding progress in biology through its insistence that biological evolution can only occur through natural selection operating on random processes.

Thought in the nineteenth century was dominated by three main figures Marx, Freud and Darwin. Freudianism has fallen into disrepute through repeated experiments showing that it does not work and in reality can be harmful to psychiatric patients. Indeed in most of its controlled tests the patients in the untreated control groups almost always do better than the patients receiving “psychoanalysis.” Marxism has also been rejected almost everywhere except on university campuses because the people living under Marxist governments eventually get tired of being poor while their neighbors prosper. Darwinism, however, has not died yet, because it is foundational to materialist philosophy, the cornerstone of which is cultural relativism, with its claim that there is no absolute right or wrong. Right and wrong to cultural relativists are just matters of taste not revelations from God.

Unfortunately, devotion to Darwinian orthodoxy also had the unintended consequence of stopping scientific progress in biology. Despite its failures, biologists were reluctant to consider the possibility of any mechanism, even other materialist mechanisms, as possible drivers of evolution. The rarely admitted reason for this strict enforcement of thought policing was the fear that any admission that Darwin could have been wrong might bring down the entire materialist edifice. However reality eventually will force the admission that the emperor has no clothes and that is where biology finds itself today. It has become painfully obvious that Darwinism, despite its claims, cannot explain “the origin of species” satisfactorily and when it comes to questions such as the origin of life, Darwinists have completely abandoned the effort, admitting that it is hopeless within their paradigm.

This is why the meeting in Altenberg is taking place. It is hoped that this meeting will find a new way forward in biology. This new way forward will be called the “Extended Evolutionary Synthesis.” However this new synthesis will not be a victory for the recognition of a role for God in the creation and evolution of life such as proposed by Intelligent Design. It will instead be an effort to rescue materialism by finding new naturalistic explanations for the origin and development of life. The areas that will be looked to are theories of self organization such as Chaos Theory, a Fourth Law of Thermodynamics, the Butterfly Effect and similar theories that exclude God from consideration.

Why This Is Important

Despite the fact that only materialist theories for evolution will be acceptable explanations in the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, it probably will still a be giant leap forward because it will undermine Darwinian orthodoxy in all areas of science, philosophy and social policy. Once Darwinism is more widely recognized as too restrictive for biologists it will also begin to decline in popularity in the social sciences and with this decline as orthodoxy new explanations will be looked at. What will be the most interesting of all will be to see what happens with the new theories of self organization. As anyone who has followed this literature knows, theories of self organization have been widely discussed for over forty years and despite repeated claims of breakthroughs they have so far proven a total failure to explain biological evolution. As these theories continue to prove fruitless in the future, it will be interesting to see what straw the materialists will grasp at next?

Source:” Mazur: Altenberg! The Woodstock of Evolution” by Suzan Mazur, March 4, 2008, www.scoop.co.nz/stories .

By: Lawrence Vescera, Ph.D.

Exobiologists study life on other planets. As of today it is a science without a subject, as the Search for Extra Terrestrial Life (SETI), despite more than fifty years of searching, has so far failed to find anything to study. Looking at Earth, however, exobiologists are in general agreement that it is difficult to see how life on Earth could be sustained for a long period of time without a moon like ours. They further agree that it is difficult to see how any multicellular life forms could have arisen or survived without such a moon. It is also reasoned that because the Earth was formed as the result of “random natural processes”, the Moon must have been formed by the same presumably ubiquitous natural processes.

Given this line of reasoning, they conclude there can be nothing special about the Earth – Moon System; therefore the Universe must be full of similar planet – moon systems harboring life. The Moon is considered critical to life, especially higher life forms for several reasons. Among these reasons is the fact that it plays a major role in plate tectonics, which in turn drives a number of geological cycles, such as the carbonate-silicate cycle, on which life is dependent. The Moon is also critical to climate stability, oceanic nutrient circulation and much, much more.

Even more important to these life-sustaining processes is the planet-forming role played by the Moon in the Earth’s history. It is now almost universally accepted by planetary scientists that the Earth took on its present form when it collided with a Mars-size body during the earliest phase of the planets formation. This collision did several things that are essential to making the Earth a habitable planet. Among the most important of these are the stripping away the Earth’s original extremely dense carbon dioxide atmosphere (such as that still retained by Venus) and the super-enriching of the planet’s core and crust with heavy metals. This collision also left behind the small low-density moon that now orbits the Earth.

Fortunately for astronomers new observational techniques and instruments allow observers to detect such collisions in other planetary systems and see if they are as common as is supposed. It is easy to imagine how much dust and debris must be left behind when an Earth-size planet collides with a Mars-size planet. This type of dust cloud is easily detectable from across the Galaxy.

To get a measure of the frequency of such collisions NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope examined 400 nearby stars that were believed to be good candidates for such a collision, based on the system’s age and other factors. It was originally assumed that about 5% to 10% of the systems would show evidence of such a collision. As it turned out only one system showed evidence of a collision event. This very low frequency indicates that life supporting planet - moon systems such as ours are probably very rare indeed.

Why This Is Important

The discovery of life on other planets is critical to the Materialist faith. The discovery of life on other planets is not central to Christian theology. Christian thinkers entertained such speculations as early as the Middle Ages. Finding extraterrestrial life would neither prove or disprove the existence of God, it would only show that God created life on planets other than just Earth. However, the discovery of extraterrestrial life is absolutely central to atheism/materialism. It is central because it would be taken as evidence for the claim that there is nothing special about the Earth or the origin of life. If life is found elsewhere, this would be taken as evidence that life is just the result of some natural process and consequently is a purposeless process devoid of meaning. As long as no evidence of extraterrestrial life has been found, the atheists/materialists realize they have no “proof” for their beliefs.

Source: “Uncommon Moon” Astronomy, March 2008, pp. 18.

Blogger: Lawrence Vescera, Ph.D., Isaac Newton Institute

“Moses was High ON Drugs,” read the headline of a story published March 2, 2008 by AFP, (Agence France-Presse) one of the three largest news agencies in the world. The story was also picked up and reported by other press agencies all over the world. The gist of the story is this: Benny Shanon, an Israeli psychologist at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has published new “research” in the “Time and Mind Journal of Philosophy.” This research has led him to conclude that during the Exodus, Moses and the Israelites were frequently high on hallucinogenic drugs. He further argued that it was during these drugged bashes that Moses and the Israelites imagined hearing the Theophany (“God speaking”) and receiving the Ten Commandments. Dr. Shanon states that there could only be three explanations as the source of the visions and voices heard by Moses and the Israelites: they were either supernatural phenomena, myths or drug induced hallucinations. However, Shanon’s conclusion is that the explanation is it was a drug induced phenomena; therefore the Ten Commandments did not come from God but were instead the result of a high on psychedelic drugs.

These are very important claims for a variety of reasons; among them is the fact that the Ten Commandments are the foundation of Western Law and the Judeo-Christian doctrine of morality. If Dr. Shanon is correct, all of the West’s moral and legal codes are based on nothing more than a “bad trip” taken by some strung-out druggies about 3500 years ago. Given the wide ranging attention to this story by the “objective”, “mainstream media” it would be reasonable to assume that a sweeping claim with such broad implications must be founded on substantial research, especially given that the underlying story line is that: it is now time to forget the Ten Commandments and move on to a “new morality,” which will probably look a great deal like the old immorality.

So what is the evidence presented by Dr. Shanon that the media finds so compelling? Well, it is his “opinion” that is the evidence combined with his claim that when he used a South American hallucinogenic drug called Ayahusca, he had hallucinations, which had “spiritual-religious connotations.” He claims that there were plants in the Sinai, which could have produced similar hallucinations if taken by Moses and others. He further dismisses the alternative explanation that the supernatural event reported in the Bible, with the “irrefutable argument” that “I don’t believe that.” The world’s media of course does not want to question a claim supported by “research” of this quality, despite the fact that there is absolutely no textual or archaeological evidence to support the claims.

Why This is Important

The media’s uncritical reporting and support for such bogus and nonsensical stories based on nothing but one person’s opinion following his experimentation with hallucinogens have the unfortunate but not unforeseen result of granting credibility to claims that are totally unsupported by fact. Once these claims get into print they then have a tendency to become props for the received wisdom of the age. “The Di Vinci Code” is a good example: even though it was fiction and made claims that were demonstrably false, it has now become widely believe especially by young people that, “It is common knowledge that Jesus was married and had children.” The sad reality is that this “research” may now become part of the received wisdom and will be widely quoted as support for the claim that, “Moses imagined The Ten Commandments when he tripped out on drugs.”

By: Lawrence Vescera Ph. D., Iscca Newton Institute

Channel One is an advertisement based educational television network that is currently broadcast into more then 11,000 schools in the United States. In exchange for having students watch their programming and commercials, the schools receive the programming and viewing equipment such as TV monitors and VCRs for free.

Channel One has regularly run stories critical of Intelligent Design and supportive of Darwinism. The stories contained many inaccuracies, misrepresentations, errors of fact, and misleading material. These inaccuracies include using the term evolution to mean Darwinism and using the term Intelligent Design as if it included only Young Earth Creationism. This was done in an effort to portray Intelligent Design in the worst light possible. They tried their best to paint the proponents of Intelligent Design as enemies of science, truth, and fact. They conversely tried to present Darwinists in the most positive light possible, portraying them as beacons of reason, intelligence, truth, beauty, virtue, and the American Way. They stopped short of claiming that Darwinists could leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Recently, Channel One ran a poll in their “Your Turn” section under the title “Evolution or Design” to explore the reaction of the students to whom they have been broadcasting their propaganda. On February 15th an online survey of almost 1500 high school students was conducted to test the effectiveness of their crusade for Darwinism. The students were given the choice of four options regarding what should be allowed in the teaching of origins. The results must have astounded the Darwinist advocates at Channel One. The results are below.

High School Students Only
1. Evolution Only - 9%
2. Intelligent Design Only - 53%
3. Evolution and Intelligent Design - 25%
4. None of These - 13%

The poll remains open to the general public now, and as of today the results from all respondents, not just high school students, are below.

All Respondents as of 3/1/08
1. Evolution Only - 19%
2. Intelligent Design Only - 44%
3. Evolution and Intelligent Design - 24%
4. None of These - 13%

Why This is Important

Despite the enormous efforts of the media, Hollywood, and the rest of the Materialist/Darwinist Complex, they are failing miserably to convince the public that life is the result of a random, purposeless, and exclusively natural process. It is especially interesting that high school students reject the Darwinist Paradigm by an even wider majority then the public in general.

Those who are trying to get the message out that there is a God and that life has meaning and purpose should take heart from these results.

Source:
ChannelOne.com

By: Lawrence Vescera Ph. D., Isaac Newton Institute