Copyright © 1982, 2000 by the Creation Research Society. All rights reserved.

Volume 19, Number 1
June, 1982
Abstracts

Postfire Strategies Of Two Chaparral Shrubs (Chamise And Ceanothus) Cast Light On Origins

How do you start with survival of shrubs after fire and end up discussing origins models? This is what Wells did when he claimed that Ceanothus evolved rapidly because its species could not resprout after fire but had to use the seedling mode of reproduction thereby being forced to undergo mutations, selection, and speciation more rapidly than plants like chamise that resprout. This paper contains a review of some of the data that conflict with Well's evolutionary hypothesis.

The problem of how a plant could have originally gotten the ability to resprout after fires is discussed in terms of the neodarwinian microevolutionary model, the newer evolutionary concept of "punctuated equilibria", and the scientific creation model. Keeley has proposed a "stochastic fire hypothesis" that fits quite well with our field data in particular and with the scientific creation origins model in general. Keeley argued that resprouters like chamise are well adapted for growth in areas where fires are frequent and that obligate seeders like Ceanothus have an advantage wherever fires come along after long fire-free periods. The idea that both patterns of shrub growth after fire are advantageous under certain circumstances supports creation scientists' belief that there is a plan in nature.

Does Chromosomal Reorganization Really Lead To The Origin Of New Species

Some people have appealed to chromosomal reorganization as a way of getting large changes in a hurry, as is needed according to the notion of punctuated equilibrium. It is shown here that there is no evidence that such changes will really lead to anything which is new, viable, and improved. Punctuated equilibrium is still a hypothetical process, for which no mechanism can be found.

The Genetic Integrity Of The "Kinds" (Baramins): A Working Hypothesis

Modern evolutionary theory is based on the assumption that all of heredity has its basis in the DNA genes. Evidence is presented here to show that that assumption is false. There are, in fact, two major interacting systems of heredity. The implications of these facts for Creationist research are discussed.

The Sickle Cell Trait

The sickle cell story is often put forward as a demonstration of evolution. Here recent medical knowledge concerning the trait is reviewed. It is seen that in sickle cell nothing has evolved, improved, or increased in complexity. All that happens is that in this case protection against one disease, malaria, is conferred by another disease, sickle cell.

Cosmic Space And Time

In this article the big bang theory is examined critically. Points considered include problems having to do with initial values, entropy, the initial expansion rate, the relative abundance of matter and antimatter, the formation of stars and galaxies, the interpretation of the cosmic red shift, the missing mass, uncertainties in the Hubble relation and constant, the distribution of quasars, the synthesis of elements, and the Schwartzschild radius of the universe. It is concluded that the big-bang theory fails to provide a satisfactory explanation of the universe.

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The Oklo Natural Uranium Reactor Examined From A Creationist's Viewpoint

In 1972 evidence was discovered that a body of uranium ore found at Oklo in Gabon, Africa, had once been a natural reactor. At least six reactor zones existed in the pre-Cambrian rock found at Oklo. Some have believed that the evidence indicates an age of 1.9 billion years for the reactors. In this paper, arguments are presented which show that the data are consistent with a more recent date for the self-sustaining chain reaction which was achieved - a date, in fact, which would be compatible with young-Earth Creationism.

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The Mosaic Building Code

The author has come to believe, from long study, that incorporated in the instructions about the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant, in Exodus, is a building code: instructions about the exact way of building them, and of setting up the Tabernacle after each time it was moved. In this article some of his investigations are described.

The Longevity Accounts In Ancient History

The longevity accounts in the Bible, mostly in Genesis, were contested by some, but nevertheless were accepted as valid by such persons as Josephus in the 1st century, Augustine in the 5th century A.D. and the Puritan scientists in the 17th century A.D. WHY was subject not to doubt, but to varying speculations.

Recorded in the Bible, especially Genesis, are: (1) greatly extended lifespans, and (2) delayed sexual maturation; and both must be related. Also in the Bible are: (3) an abatement or decline of lifespans after the flood, and (4) yet a phenomenal vigor in the lives of the patriarchs. Observed in nature are: (5) great normal size for most fossil animals, and (6) an abatement or decline in the size of animals in the Pleistocene, which is equated to the post-ice-age, post-flood era.

It is theorized here that before the flood the atmosphere was like the present atmosphere in constituents for oxygen, nitrogen and argon, but was different in humidity or water vapor, and especially in carbon dioxide. Contemporary CO₂ levels are 330 parts per million, partly due to burning of fossil fuels in our age of petroleum. At the turn of the century it was 290 ppM. However, gbefore the flood atmospheric CO₂ is considered to be 5000 ppM, some 15 times the current concentration.

The decline in atmospheric CO₂ is considered parallel to, and caused by, a decline in temperatures of the oceans. Cold oceans will absorb CO₂ out of the atmosphere like a blotter; and it is believed that oceans have dropped in average water temperature from a preflood 60^oF to a current 38^oF. This is the physical cause for the depletion of atmospheric CO₂.

A decline in CO₂ physiologically results, (specific only to the skin and the brain), in a vasodilation of blood vessels and hence oxygenation of the brain cells. The progressive decline of CO₂ and hence the decline of oxygenation of the brain cells, especially of the cells in the hypothalamus in the mid brain, is considered the caue of the accelerated aging.

Accelerated aging is believed caused by a more rapid breakdown of the suppression system of the hypothalamus. A more active hypothalamus causes the diseases of aging. This is the hypothalamus disregulation theory.

Besides the decline in lifespans as seen in Genesis after the flood, there was also a decline in the age of arrival at sexual maturity, and presumably skeletal maturity. Hence the smallness of contemporary animals compared to fossil ones.

The numerical ages of the patriarchs are one class of data. The phenomenal vigor of the patriarchs is seen as supplying a strong internally consistent additional data base, indicating that the data are reliable. Examples are taken in the lives from the 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th generations after the flood in the person of Joktan, Sarah, Job and Caleb.

Yet another corroboration in the hypothesis of atmospheric decline in CO₂ is seen in the change of ancient climates. North China and Palestine are given as illustration, further underscoring the theory.

Language Was Created, Not Evolved

During the preparation of a graduate thesis in the area of comparative linguistics, the author found that practically all linguistic theory is based on the evolutionary hypothesis. But there is no sound reason for basing it thus; it is merely a presupposition. The Biblical teaching, that language was brought into being fully developed at the Creation, and that it was miraculously diversified at the time of the Tower of Babel, is in beter accord with the facts.

The Expanding Universe Theory Is Internally Inconsistent

Free photons must lose energy if the Big Bang is the origin of an expanding universe. Free photons must not lose energy if the universe is expanding. This inconsistency in photon behavior disproves the Big Bang expanding universe theory that claims the universe is billions of years old. The evidence alleged to support the Big Bang expanding universe theory is in beter agreement with a vast recently created universe than with an expanding universe billions of years old.

A Biblical Approach To Dating The Earth: A Case For The Use Of Genesis 5 and 11 As An Exact Chronology

A method is proposed by which the Bible can be used to pinpoint the exact date of Creation. Arguments for gaps in the Genesis genealogies are refuted, and nine evidences for a tight chronology are proposed.

Reality: Real Or Conventional

The process of constructing reality, that is what passes for reality, is explored, the work of Berger and Luckmann serving as a framework. It is concluded that once a structure of belief is internalized, it is very resistant to change, regardless of the empirical evidence for or against that structure. The same problem is found with paterns of belief in science.

 

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