"People who believe in God are often painted as naïve or foolish by the die-hard defenders of evolution. Some have even gone so far as to equate it with a mental disorder. The famous twentieth century evolutionist, Richard Dawkins, said, 'It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid, or insane (or wicked, but I'd rather not consider that).' If evolution was truly supported by science, then I might agree that to believe in God would be a form of insanity." The hint of a smile formed on Rebecca's face as the memory of a cackling laugh echoed in her mind. "But in reality," she continued, "it is the other way around—to deny the existence of God in the face of all of the supporting evidence is the height of foolishness.
"When we examine the facts and follow them to their logical end without letting our preconceived ideas, our biases get in the way, we must conclude that we were designed. Thank you for inviting me to speak tonight, and may God bless you."
The conference hall erupted with applause as Rebecca collected her notes from the podium and stepped down from the stage. As she approached her table, the smiling faces of her family greeted her. She silently thanked God for their support, for it had taken most of the six years since her return from 2021 PK for them to accept the changes that had happened to her.
Everyone except her husband.
Their already strained marriage had suffered even more. Jeffrey had difficulty accepting her true account of what had happened. Rebecca knew it was a risk to tell him, so she had waited several months before revealing her vision to him or anyone else in her family. Even after he had accepted the fact that she had experienced some sort of "realistic dream," he still struggled to come to grips with Rebecca's newfound beliefs, putting further tension in their marriage.
Her parents had very different reactions. Upon her return, they were extremely concerned for her health and wanted her to check herself into the hospital for tests of all kinds. Her refusal to do so only served to worry them more. In an effort to assuage their fears, as well as check on her father's diabetes, Rebecca made it a priority to visit with them at least once a month. When she finally told them the truth about what had happened on 2021 PK, her parents actually responded with relief, thankful that the coma was God's doing and not the result of some unknown space sickness.
Out of all her family, her sister was the one who really supported her immediately. Although she expressed some initial concern when Rebecca first told her about the vision, her trust for her older sister quickly overrode any apprehension. Katie even jumped onboard to help out as a kind of secretary as the speaking engagements started to roll in.
And roll in they did. Although they had failed to find any signs of life on 2021 PK, the scientific data they had collected had made the overall mission a success. For a short time, the entire crew attained instant celebrity status. Although she was thrilled at the attention and excitement that came with the interviews and news stories, she was also deeply engrossed in her own personal research, using every moment of free time to devour books, articles, and web sites about the scientific arguments supporting creation and intelligent design.
After the initial media frenzy died down, Rebecca spent several years trying to work on her struggling marriage and rebuild her relationships with her family as well as adjust to her new beliefs. Eventually, she received a call to speak at a science convention, which she accepted. For the first time, Rebecca shared the results of her research into the scientific proofs for creation and the flaws of evolution. Although the general audience was not enthusiastic about her views, there were many in attendance who asked her afterward if she would be willing to speak at other venues about her findings. After several months of conferences and private functions, it became clear to her that she would have to resign from NASA in order to meet the increasing demand for speaking engagements.
Although Lisa understood why she had decided to leave NASA, it, nevertheless, saddened her to lose daily contact with her best friend. As Rebecca traveled across the country to speak, she made it a point to always stop in to see Lisa, Jenny, and Amanda whenever she was in their area.
"Great job, Becky!" Katie said, her voice bringing Rebecca's thoughts back to the present. Rising from her chair, she gave her sister a quick hug as the applause in the room slowly died down.
"Thanks," she said as she slid into the chair that Jeffrey had pulled out for her. At least, he stayed for the whole speech. Lord, maybe this time...She smiled at him, her eyes searching for some sign of his feelings. Yet despite her probing, his thoughts proved unreadable, locked up tight like a vault.
Once she was seated, she brushed aside her concern for her husband and forced herself to relax, allowing her mind to wander. It seemed ironic that this was the very conference room in which she had given her speech about the need for a manned mission to 2021 PK so long ago. So much has changed since then. As the conference session ended, people began to stand and head directly for her table. Then again, some things never change, she thought wryly.
"I'll be waiting in the car," Jeffrey said abruptly as he stood up from the table and immediately headed for the exit.
As she watched her husband depart, the ache within her seemed to deepen and swell. Lord, how I love him. Please help him to see.
"I...uh...I think I'll join him," Paul said, noting Rebecca's concern. Giving Katie a quick kiss, he stood and followed in Jeffrey's footsteps.
Eager to gloss over her son-in-law's rapid departure, Rebecca's mother stood and patted her daughter on the arm. "You get better each time, dear. Keep it up."
"Yes, we're both very proud of you," her father chimed in as his wife maneuvered his wheelchair closer to where Rebecca sat. After a quick kiss on the cheek, the two of them wound their way through the conference hall, leaving Rebecca and her sister standing alone.
"Don't worry, sis," Katie whispered into her ear. "He'll come around. Maybe Paul can help him see what a gem he has for a wife."
Grasping her sister's hand tightly for reassurance, she forced her thoughts aside. "Thanks. I don't know what I'd do without your support."
"Hey, I'm only in it for the money and fame," she said with a grin.
For the next several minutes, a crowd gathered around the table, eager to ask questions on one subject or another. Rebecca politely responded time and again, thankful for the opportunity to share her knowledge with those who were hungry to learn.
Then just as she was about to answer the latest question, her gaze fell upon a familiar-looking dark-skinned gentleman dressed in a navy blue pinstriped suit and who was standing near the back of the room. For a moment, she simply stared at him, trying to determine where she had seen him before. Recognition hit her like a lightning strike, causing her to gasp aloud. The eyes! Could it really be...Without taking her focus off the stranger, she excused herself from the group of conference attendees and headed off in his direction.
She had not taken more than two steps when he turned and began heading toward the main set of double doors that led from the conference hall into the foyer beyond. Fighting her way through the crowd, she headed toward the exit as quickly as possible without being impolite. In the back of her mind, she could barely hear the voice of her sister calling after her with concern.
Rebecca was about to call out to the stranger when he walked through the doorway and disappeared from sight. Several seconds later, she finally managed to push her way past the last of the crowd and made it through the doors. Breathing heavily, she stopped just beyond the entrance and stared around in all directions in search of the pinstriped suit.
Where did he go? All around her, people milled about, moving slowly due to the crowded foyer and hallways. He couldn't have gotten far. He must have—
"Mrs. Evans? Mrs. Evans!"
Turning toward the voice calling to her, she saw a young man approaching; he was wearing a nametag bearing the insignia of the hotel. In his hand, he carried a small folded piece of paper. Disappointed
, she resumed her visual search of the area as she replied, "I'm sorry, but I can't give an autograph right now. I'm trying to find someone."
"I'm not here for an autograph, ma'am. I was told to give this to you."
"What?" Rebecca said, suddenly giving the young man her full attention. Taking the offered piece of paper, she glanced at it, then stared at him, her nerves on end. "Who...who told you to give this to me?"
"He just passed this way a moment ago,"he replied, suddenly taken aback by the intensity of Rebecca's mannerisms. "He was a tall man with black hair and brown skin and dressed in a dark blue suit with white pinstripes."
"Thank you," she said, her voice shaking with excitement. As the young man turned away, she unfolded the paper and began to read.
Rebecca Clan Evans,
You have done well. I am encouraged to see that you are fulfilling the calling that the Master has placed on your life. Always remember what you learned during your time on Ka'esch. Keep it in the forefront of your mind so that your faith will not waiver during the difficult times that lie ahead.
May the Eternal Creator continue to light your path and guide your steps.
Sikaris
Rebecca reread the letter two more times before slowly refolding it and looking once more around the foyer in the fleeting hopes of catching a glimpse of the pinstriped suit. As she stood there in silence, her sister came jogging through the doors of the conference hall. Upon seeing Rebecca, she immediately walked up and placed her hand on Rebecca's shoulder, concern etched on her handsome features.
"Are you okay? Is something wrong?"
"No," she said, shaking her head slowly. Her eyes were still staring off at nothing in particular. Handing her sister the folded note, she reflected upon the message. "Difficult times that lie ahead." What did he mean?
As Katie read the letter in shock, Rebecca simply smiled. There was once a point in her life where the thought of difficult times would have caused her to worry, but now she knew that no matter what came at her, her faith would see her through. For her life was now based upon an unchanging foundation.
Afterword
WHERE DID we come from? How did life begin? The answers to these two questions form the foundation on which all other questions in life are based. And when broken down, there are really only two possible answers: either the universe and all matter in existence sprang into being on its own or they were created by some eternal entity that exists apart from time and space.
Although there are some who propose a third explanation—that we were created by aliens—this is, in reality, the same as the first argument. For if we were created by aliens, then how did the aliens come to be? Eventually, if you go back far enough, you end up at the previous two possible answers: special creation or random evolution.
The question of origins, whether we realize it consciously or not, is the driving force behind every decision we make. If evolution is true, then man is the ultimate authority; there is no one higher. Therefore, all things are permissible, and all behaviors and choices are acceptable. There is no objective basis for morality.
However, if there is a creator, a designer of the universe, then we must find out who He is and why He created us. Morality then becomes based upon His rules.
Because of this, all of our modern social issues—abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, racial prejudice, etc.—have their roots in the question of how life began. This is why the debate over creation and evolution is of utmost importance. If we as a society cannot agree upon this foundational issue, then it is nearly impossible to reconcile our opinions about the other issues.
Unfortunately, when attempting to answer this most fundamental question, many scientists rule out one answer before they even begin looking at the evidence. Without verbalizing it, many often have the mentality that says, "There is no god. Now how did life begin?" This would be akin to a math teacher telling the class that the number four does not exist and then asking, "What is two plus two?"
Part of this mentality is due to the fact that many believe that religion deals with things about God and that science deals with things that we can see, feel, and touch. While science does deal with the material universe, it does not mean that we must automatically rule out a supernatural origin of the universe.
Furthermore, it is important to understand that the science that deals with the origin of life is different from laboratory science. If an experiment can be repeated in a laboratory, it is called operational science. This is the type of science that put man on the moon and allows us to see distant stars.
Forensic science, on the other hand, is using scientific methods to examine evidence in an effort to understand a past event. Detectives, archaeologists, and pathologists are examples of professionals who utilize this type of science. In forensics, it is important to note that interpretation is critical. If a detective misinterprets a vital piece of evidence, it could completely throw off the final conclusion. It is also possible to have several interpretations of the same evidence.
Origin science falls into this category. No human was alive at the dawn of time. Therefore, we study the evidence around us, such as fossils, rock layers, and living creatures, and we draw conclusions based on what we find.
To many scientists, the theory of evolution best explains the evidence. However, there are a large and growing number of scientists who believe that the creation model offers a more complete explanation. (For a list of over eight hundred scientists who hold this conviction, visit the web site: www.dissentfromdarwin.org.) Both sides have the same evidence, but what differs is the interpretation. Often the media, activist groups, and others try to convince the general populace that the battle is between religion and science, but that is simply not true. The real debate is within the academies of science themselves.
Since it is a matter of interpretation, how do we tell which one is correct? We must apply logical reasoning and carefully examine both theories to search for areas where the interpretation is not logically supported by the evidence. After spending several years researching both theories, I am convinced that the theory of evolution is based on several assumptions that are not simply a matter of interpretation—they are scientifically unsound. (If you are interested in learning more about how the creation scientists counter evolutionary arguments about things like ape-men, dinosaurs, or rock layers in the Grand Canyon, I encourage you to check out the materials listed on my reference page.)
Due to space constraints, I will only focus on those areas of scientific impossibilities within the theory of evolution. I have broken them down into four main categories: biological information, irreducible complexity, mathematical probability, and random mutations.
Biological Information
If you were walking along the beach and found a message written in the sand that said, "John loves Mary," you would immediately recognize that it must have been written by an intelligent being. Or if you saw a message written in the clouds that said, "Eat at Joe's," you would not confuse the skywriting with natural shapes formed randomly. But why? How do we define information, anyway?
Webster's dictionary defines information as "the communication or reception of knowledge or intelligence." Information is conveyed when a series of symbols are combined into certain patterns and those patterns are assigned specific meanings. The letters themselves mean nothing. It is the combinations of the letters that are important. In addition, when certain words are combined, you get sentences, and sentences can be combined to make paragraphs.
Now by randomly combining letters, you may form a few words. But if you randomly combine words, you get gibberish. Again, over an extremely long time, you may get lucky and form a few simple sentences like, "He sat down," but you would never get any meaningful paragraphs, much less an entire cohesive book.
The only way to get meaningful combinations of letters and words is to have an intelligence manipulating them and placing them in the proper patterns and sequences. Therefore, when we find informati
on in living things, the only logical conclusion is that it must have been placed there by an intelligent being.
DNA is the most incredible storage system in the known universe. It is so complex it has taken generations of scientists building on each other's work to map it out. By using a system of four different proteins called nucleotides, DNA encodes all kinds of instructions that tell the various parts of the cell how to perform a variety of tasks. It is very similar to the software needed to run a computer, and the amount of information contained in the DNA molecule boggles the mind. Although the entire DNA of a human could fit in a tablespoon, it contains enough information to fill one-thousand books of five-hundred pages each of very small print (three billion letters long)!1
By contrast, a bacterium contains enough information to fill only one book of five hundred pages. Therefore, two questions come to mind: 1) How did this supposedly "simple" life-form get so much information to begin with? 2) How did life go from one book of information to one thousand books?
Furthermore, information stored in DNA would be useless without a method of retrieving it. What good is a computer program stored on a compact disc without the computer to read it? In life, it is the RNA that translates the stored information in DNA and instructs the various biological machines on what to do. It is also the RNA that tells the cell how to construct DNA, so you can't have one without the other. It is the proverbial "chicken and egg" situation. It defies logic to think that one could somehow evolve independent of the other.
Irreducible Complexity
All complex machines must have a minimum number of parts to function. In the early 1990s, Michael Behe coined the phrase, "irreducible complexity." The main point of his book, Darwin's Black Box, was that complex organs could not have evolved bit by bit because in order to function at all, all parts must be present and in the correct order.2
Logic's End Page 29
