Podcasts

Christians can often feel intimidated by the barrage of questions they receive from skeptical questioners. Gary Bates and Erin Hughes try to help us understand what is actually behind such questions and because this should help us formulate relevant answers. Questions are an opportunity to impart truth and ultimately the Gospel. Being confident about what we believe is a start, but controlling the debate is the key! Don’t be intimated.

Did Adam and Eve exist? Keaton Halley and Dr Robert Carter discuss evidence from genetics that supports a historical first couple—including mitochondrial DNA, Y chromosomes, and the genetic diversity present in humans today. They refute claims by theistic evolutionists who insist it is impossible that we came from a single pair of individuals just thousands of years ago. Properly understood, the DNA evidence is consistent with the Bible.

We are made up of 99.99999999% empty space, so how can humans, or anything else, be ‘seen’ or ‘felt’? When we see something, what we are detecting is the light (an electromagnetic wave) reflecting from the surface of the object.

People who ask, “Is there proof for the existence of God?” usually aren’t open to the proof that God exists. But if you were looking for God, what would you expect to find? Erin Hughes and Robert Carter discuss things like life, intelligence, and incredibly complex biological machines. These are difficult for evolution but are not difficult for an all-powerful Creator God. “For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.” (Hebrews 3:4)

Owl feather features have caught the attention of researchers in the dramatically-expanding field of biomimetics or bio-inspiration, whereby engineers copy biological design.

The price of succumbing to the lure of secular acceptability, at least in physics and astronomy, has been heavy. We have long warned that adopting the big bang into Christian thought is like bringing the wooden horse within the walls of Troy. The Enemy of souls is seeking to seduce believers into embracing a subtle deadly way of evading the authority of the Bible.

The pygmy possum is an ‘opportunistic non-seasonal hibernator’. Their average prolonged hibernation lasts 310 days, with one of creatures reaching 367 days. It’s worth exploring just how this does or does not add to the apologetic arguments about the feasibility of the Flood account. It’s not surprising that as far back as the classic The Genesis Flood creationist authors have been suggesting that Ark animals may have entered a state of prolonged hibernation.

Komodo Dragons have been known to follow wounded prey at a leisurely pace for weeks. It is only a matter of time before the creature collapses, too weak to fight, and is often eaten alive. Similarly and analogously, I believe there is a stealthy and powerful concept stalking the corridors of many of our Christian churches, schools, homes and minds.

The possibility of altering human genetics to create designer babies or to improve the human species has been in the realm of science fiction for decades. Well, the ‘future is here’. In October of 2019, Netflix released the first season of a new miniseries called Unnatural Selection. It focuses on recent advances in genome editing and the many moral and ethical dilemmas associated with it. As Christians, we need to be aware of this new and growing field, for it is no longer ‘science fiction’.

The Reformers saw the doctrine of Transubstantion as heresy. But we have seen that the same charge applies to the doctrine of Theistic Evolution. We could well ask ourselves, as biblical creationists, the question: given similar circumstances as prevailed in England at the time, would we be prepared to resist, to the point of death, this long-age creation doctrine that pervades the Church today?

The remarkable dinosaur footprints discovered at Karoola Station in outback Queensland, Australia, provide dramatic evidence of the reality of Noah’s Flood. Further, they provide insight into the nature of the catastrophe and its effect on the animal life at the time. Understanding the effects of Noah’s Flood changes the way we look at the world and how we understand our place in it.

There is an errant concept of ‘creation with apparent age’. A hypothetical modern observer who travelled back in time to see Adam and Eve at the end of Day 6 might infer that they were 20-year-old adults, but in reality they were less than a day old. Similarly, the trees on Day 3 would be mature trees, and a time-traveling observer might infer that they were hundreds of years old. So the question has been asked, “Why would God deceive us with apparent age of past events before the week of creation?”

There are several things we can learn from detectives like Colombo that we can apply to the enterprise of Christian apologetics in general, and creation apologetics in particular. The next time you’re in a discussion or debate with a skeptic, ask them The Big Question, and push for a real answer.

Before the use of hymnbooks in the 18th century, the main form of musical involvement by English congregations was to intone paraphrases of the Psalms. One Sunday, Isaac Watts opined that the way the Psalms were rendered lacked the dignity and beauty that he felt should characterize every part of Christian worship. His father challenged him to produce something better. In 1707, Watts published his Hymns and Spiritual Songs. These were set to music by a host of later composers, and came to be sung all over the English-speaking world. According to Watts, the systematic study of the heavens enlarged his understanding of the immense power of God and the magnificence of His creation.

The Denisovans are a fascinating subject. It is known from ancient DNA studies that the Denisovans interbred with ‘modern’ humans, and so by the biological species concept that makes them the same species, i.e., Homo sapiens. Hence, by logic the specimens in Homo erectus must also have been fully human, and part of the human kind.

Liligers, ligers, and other cat hybrids are testimony to the fact that all 39 extant cat species alive today (including the domestic house cat) likely came from one original feline/cat kind on board the Ark, which rapidly diversified soon after the Flood.