Researching Creation

September 05, 2009

General / A Passage for Isaac's Passing

Our pastor shared a story from the Bible at Isaac's graveside ceremony today.  I'll just paste it in for you:

And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick. David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth. And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead? But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. (2 Samuel 12:15-23)

August 18, 2009

General / Please Pray

JB

Among other reasons, one reason I haven't been posting here is that my 2-month-old son is in the Pediatric ICU on a ventilator with a rare genetic condition.  I am wondering if the diagnosis is incorrect (or, more specifically, not fully correct), and if the treatment is actually causing some of his problems.  Please pray for wisdom for me and the doctors.  The problem of being in the hospital is that you are essentially at their mercy, and they can choose to ignore you if they want to.  The medical team we are working with is truly astounding, but even the best doctors can be easily blinded to certain possibilities.

Anyway, for anyone reading this blog, please pray for me, and for the doctors, and for wisdom.

June 10, 2009

Biological Change / BSG Conference Registration Now Open

JB

The BSG (Creation Biology Study Group) has officially opened the registration for their conference.  The title of the conference is "Genesis Kinds - Creationism and the Origin of Species".  It will include the set of talks they gave in the UK earlier this year, plus contributed talks by members of the Creation Biology Study Group and the Creation Geology Study Group.

With my new baby (and a lot of stuff going on at work), I can't make it this year, but it sounds like quite an event!

Register Here

May 25, 2009

General / New Baby!

JB

My wife and I just had Bartlett baby #5 this weekend!  Everyone is healthy and in good shape, and we are all home now.

May 20, 2009

General / Upcoming Creation Research Society Conference

JB

The Creation Research Society is hosting a conference July 10-11 at the University of South Carolina Lancaster.  Registrations for the conference can be done here.  Here is a semi-official list of presentations:

  • Lack of sufficient selection pressure to explain non-random patterns of mutations suggests directed mutations may increase genetic diversity (Jean Lightner)
  • The Origin of Grand Canyon by Late Flood Channelized Flow (Michael Oard)
  • Universe in Near Real Time Universe in Near Real Time (Steve Miller)
  • Matching the age of a Galaxy with its Rotation Velocity Profile (Keith Davies)
  • Rapid Cosmological Formation Processes in a Young and Initially Cold Universe (Keith Davies)
  • The Region of Eden: Analysis and debate (Joel Klenck)
  • Genetics, Developmental Biology, and Fossils Provide no Evidence for the Evolution of Teeth and Jaws, but Support the Creation Model of the Original Kinds of Genesis (Don Moeller)
  • What Really Happened to Atlantis in the Days of Peleg (William M. Curtis)
  • Truths and Solutions for the Bible, or the Vacuous Contradictions of Evolutionary Humanism (Rick Lapworth)
  • Analyses of Pertified Human Brain (Suzanne Vincent and Larry Skelf)
  • A Preliminary Hypothesis for the Origin of the Carolina Sandhills (John H. Whitmore, Ray Strom, and Danny Faulkner)
  • Post-Flood Ocean Cooling and the Ice Age (Steve Gollmer)
  • Genesis 10 & 11: A correlation (Stan Udd)
  • Survey and Analysis of Creation Views Espoused by Churches (Larry S. Kisner)
  • Genesis and Demise of the Dinosaurs  (Joel Klenck)
  • A Paradigm of Reality Towards a Theory of Everything (Pal Asija)
  • Ancient Binaries In A "Young" Configuration: The Strange Story Of V409 Hya and GSC 2537-0520  (Ronald G. Samec, Gregory Behn, Heather A. Chamberlain, E. R. Figg, Christa M. Labadorf Danny R. Faulkner)
  • Some Perspectives on Neanderthals: What Do They Mean for the YEC Model? (Anne Habermehl)
  • The Discovery of Design (Don B. DeYoung)
  • Words, Definitions, and Thoughts in the Battle of Worldviews (Horace D. Skipper)
  • An Analysis of the Star of Bethlehem DVD (Danny R. Faulkner)
  • The Moon's Recession from the Earth: Still a Valid Young-Age Indicator (Spike Psarris)
There are also going to be talks (with titles pending) from Hamilton Duncan, Gene Chaffin, and James E. Brownd.  The abstracts will be published in a future CRSQ.  I wish I could be there!

May 19, 2009

Geology / Ariel Roth Discusses the Flood's Impact on Geology

JB

I'm a huge fan of Ariel Roth.  Recently, he gave a presentation to the Creation Science Fellowship of Costa Mesa discussing Noah's flood and its impact on the geological record.  It's kind of slow-going (it's two hours and fifteen minutes!) and he doesn't hit any real evidences until after about a half an hour.  This video combined with Mike Oard's video on geomorphology presents a pretty good lay-level overview of how Noah's flood affects your outlook on geology.

April 13, 2009

Geology / Paul Garner and The New Creationism

JB

Paul Garner, an excellent Creation Geologist from the UK, has a new Creationism blog out, and it is fantastic reading.  He also has a new book out, which I have not yet read, called The New Creationism: Building a Scientific Theory on a Biblical Foundation.  Some posts of interests from his blog:

Anyway, Paul Garner is a first-class researcher.  I got the opportunity to meet him at the 2006 BSG meeting, and again at ICC last year.  I am so glad that he is blogging now!  [Hat tip to Todd Wood]

April 10, 2009

General / Is Biology Boring?

JB

One of the reasons I did not go into biology after high school was that I had this idea that biology was extremely boring.  The reason I thought biology was boring was because the classes about biology and the textbooks in those classes were, in fact, boring, and left no reason for me to want to pursue it.

It wasn't until much later that I realized that, because of Creation, by looking into biology we are seeing God's own handiwork.  Isn't that an amazing conception?  How could that possibly be boring?

Charles Jackson described this in a recent debate (see full debate here):

I am suggesting that it is not inappropriate to discuss in the classroom anything that’s controversial, that’s already in the minds of the students, and that they are capable of comprehending...It will take longer to teach a unit, but the students will learn it better.  Controversy–if you were a government teacher, during an election year, the discussions you could have would be fabulous.  And the discussions that I had in my biolgoy and Earth science classes were wonderful during a unit when I address origins.  I bent over backwards to be fair about the evolution thing.  My students thought I believed in evoluiton.  I had a Catholic boy get chewed out by a Muslim girl for not believing in the Garden of Eden.  So we had some really good discussions.  The students like this.  It worked great.  Whenever there’s something controversial, it boosts student interest.  They get very interested.

On the whole, I homeschool, so what gets taught in public education doesn't impact me much.  However, from my own personal experience, I wish that someone had interested me more in biology.  His point (which there was even a more interesting part slightly earlier) was that you build from where students already are.  Whether you agree with Creationism or not, it is not inappropriate to bring it up in a science context, and do discussions on it, because that's the best way of teaching - even if your purpose is to teach evolution.  If you don't, it just bounces off and makes no impact.  Students need to be engaged where they are, not where the evolutionists wished that they were.

Studying Creationism has ignited my passion in biology - a passion which I never knew that I had.  I hope more science teachers realize that connecting God to science doesn't stop science, but instead broadens the interest base by a huge margin.

April 03, 2009

Geology / Spotlight on Marcus Ross

CMI has an interesting profile on paleontologist Marcus Ross.  Check it out!

April 03, 2009

Biological Change / SNPedia

JB

A new wiki is out, called SNPedia, which documents the effects of DNA variations on phenotypes.  You can also check out the SNPedia blog.