I have three Fun Facts designed to defend a common claim that can come in at least two different formats: “All real scientists believe in evolution,” or, “No real scientist believes God created the world.”

Well, this Sunday marks the 390th anniversary of the death of Johannes Kepler, so I thought it was a good time to introduce you to the first of these three.

Who was Johannes Kepler?
Best known for discovering the three mathematical laws of planetary motion, Johannes Kepler was a devout biblical Creation scientist with a deep love for Jesus Christ.

Johannes Kepler didn’t just tinker with his microscope in his garage. He left a pretty impressive legacy of scientific accomplishments:

• He was the founder of physical astronomy, revolutionizing scientific thought by applying physics to astronomy. Previously, physics had been considered a branch of philosophy, and astronomy had been considered a branch of math.
• He developed the first tables for tracking the movement of stars.
• He not only defended and promoted the theory of heliocentrism (that the sun is the center of our universe), but he helped people understand how that theory aligned with the Bible.
• He discovered the three mathematical laws of planetary motion which established the discipline of celestial mechanics. In fact, he proved the planets orbit in ellipses, not circles, around the sun. We call these “Kepler’s Laws.”
• He also discovered a supernova, improved the process of calendar-making, improved the telescope, and located many stars and planets.

So, what do you think? Was Johannes Kepler a “real scientist”? And yet, one of the best quotes we have from Kepler was how he defined science: “thinking God’s thoughts after Him.” With his biblical worldview, he knew that the universe must have been created in a logical way, obeying organized patterns that came from an intelligent Designer. That is how he was able to make so many discoveries which have enabled scientists who have come after him to continue making even more discoveries (whether they give the credit to a Designer or not).

Incidentally, there are a lot of modern-day real scientists who believe God created the world too. In fact, this year my friends from the Creation Fellowship Santee have had the privilege of hosting several, including a couple of my favorites: Bill Morgan, Steve Austin, Jay Wile, Jason Lisle, and Gary Bates.

Don’t just take my word for it! Visit YouFormedMe.com/people/kepler.html to read, watch, and listen to supporting research and commentary from scientists, doctors, theologians, and more!
This blog is from a special series of “Creation Fun Facts” by Terri Kammerzell, starting from June 10, 2020. Read the introduction at TruthOfGenesis.com/blogs/building-a-biblical-defense-of-creation.

July 17, 2020, marks 126 years from the day Georges Lemaître was born. I know what you’re wondering: Who on earth was Georges Lemaître, and what does this have to do with our Fun Facts? Let me tell you: Georges Lemaître was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, physicist, and—believe it or not—a Catholic priest. It might be hard for some of us to believe the last one because he is also the scientist credited with the formulation of the modern “big bang” philosophy of the origin of the universe.

Unfortunately, that isn’t such a leap for some Christians because there are some who actually believe God may have used evolution—and specifically the Big Bang—to execute His creative process. And that is what this week’s Fun Fact is about:

Is the Big Bang compatible with the Bible?
Not even remotely. . . . The Big Bang is the naturalistic explanation for how the universe came into existence over billions of years, whereas the Bible makes it clear that God specially created supernaturally over six days.

There is one similarity between the Genesis account of Creation and the big bang scenario: both models acknowledge the universe had a beginning, at which point nothing existed. Beyond that, there really is no comparison between the two. From a scientific viewpoint, I could present all sorts of reasons why the big bang conjecture—although taught in secular textbooks as fact—isn’t even a valid model.  However, the naturalistic principle, “from nothing, comes nothing,” is proof enough.  The big bang model is built on non-falsifiable, speculative hypotheses that cannot be tested, repeated, or observed.  It cannot explain the origin of matter, galaxies, or stars.  It cannot account for the lack of antimatter in the universe, and even many secular scientists and atheists are skeptical of the big bang model.

​Instead, I want to consider three questions: One, what are some of the differences between the two models? Two, what would the theological implications be if the big bang model were true?  Three, why do some Christians want to make the two models match?

First, what are some of the scientific differences between the big bang model and the Genesis account of Creation?

• Natural vs. Supernatural: The big bang philosophy was designed as an attempt to explain the origin of the universe from an atheistic, or naturalistic, view. Naturalism is the belief that everything that happens in this world is the result of natural processes. However, the Bible tells us repeatedly that God, Who is an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God, has supernaturally caused things to happen. Creation was just the beginning. We read accounts all through His Word about rivers being held back, signs and wonders being performed, bread falling from heaven, dead people being raised to life, and so on and so forth. As Christians, we believe in a supernatural God, but to limit His supernatural wonders to only after the origin of the universe is not only an illogical and inconsistent worldview, but it discredits His Word from the very beginning.
• Timescale: The big bang model is built on a timescale of 13.8 billion years, with a suggested 9 billion years between the sudden appearance of space, matter, energy, and time, and the existence of the earth. However, a straightforward reading of the Genesis account of Creation tells us that God created everything in just six ordinary days, and the Bible confirms this in Exodus 20:11 and 31:17. Reading the genealogies throughout the Bible then gives us an approximate timescale of about six thousand years since Creation.
• Order of Events: In the big bang model, the stars appeared long before the earth came to be. Genesis 1:1 (Day 1) tells us, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and in verse 16 (on Day 4), we read, “God made the two great lights—the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night—as well as the stars” (HCSB). Additionally, big bang cosmology suggests reptiles evolved into birds, but Genesis 1 tells us birds were created on Day 5 (verse 20) and reptiles were created on Day 6 (verse 24). The big bang model says that the sun came to be before any vegetation on Earth, but Genesis 1 tells us God created vegetation on Day 3 (verse 11) and didn’t create the sun until Day 4 (verse 14).

These are just a few examples of many inconsistencies between the big bang philosophy and the Bible’s record of the origin of the universe. On top of these, throughout the entire Bible, we have repeated confirmations that God created everything: Nehemiah 9:6; Isaiah 42:5; Jeremiah 32:17; John 1:3; Acts 4:24; Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:16; and Revelation 4:11 are just some of the examples.

Indeed, the glaring differences of the naturalistic vs. supernatural beginning, the timescale, and the order of events display, scientifically, that the two models are not only incompatible, but in direct contrast to each other. But the most important things that would be out of order are death and sin. That brings us to the next question.

What would the theological implications be if the big bang model were true? In last week’s blog post, I wrote about the fact that God originally created everything perfect. We read six times in Genesis 1—at the end of each working day of Creation—that “God saw that it was good” or “very good.” I mentioned that Deuteronomy 32:4 tells us that God’s “work is perfect.” We know that status changed at the curse. Adam and Eve, who were given free will by their Maker, sinned. Romans 5:12 tells us, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned” (HCSB). God’s creation was perfect, but the first sin introduced death.

As a contrast, the big bang philosophy teaches a history of the universe that is full of decay and destruction. Generational cycles of death and evolution would have had to take place before humans ever came on the scene. Death would have come before sin, and this undermines the whole foundation of the gospel.

It was man’s sin, with death as its wages (Romans 6:23), that necessitated our redemption by Christ’s death on the cross. If death came before sin, that would totally negate Romans 5:12 and our need for salvation. Indeed, the consequence of subscribing to a big bang model is not only removing God as a Creator, but even as a Savior.

Finally, why do some Christians want to make the two models match? And that is an important question to answer, isn’t it? I think, for some Christians, they have been taught by public-school textbooks and teachers that evolution is true, and they haven’t stopped to recognize the implications. Some probably don’t understand what the big bang model actually says and what the inconsistencies are in believing it. Hopefully, if I have any readers who fit that category, you will be able to see now how contradictory the big bang conjecture is to the Bible.

Still, I think there are others who, at least when it comes to science, have not digested what John says in 1 John 3:13: “Do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you” (HCSB). Instead, they want to find a way to be friends with the world, to compromise the plain reading of Genesis in order to accommodate what “real scientists” speculate could have happened if there were no God. But here’s the secret: This is not a battle between science and the Bible because God gave us science as a tool, and the Bible as His Word. In fact, real science is the friend of the believer, and we can rest in His Word as our authority rather than changing it to match what fallible scientists see or think about nature. Scientific philosophies come and go, but God’s Word will never change. And that is the biggest contrast between a model that itself continues to evolve and a standard that has been provided by the only Eyewitness to the origin of the universe.
 

Don’t just take my word for it! Visit YouFormedMe.com/astronomy/bigBang.html to read, watch, and listen to supporting research and commentary from scientists, doctors, theologians, and more!
This blog is from a special series of “Creation Fun Facts” by Terri Kammerzell, starting from June 10, 2020. Read the introduction at TruthOfGenesis.com/blogs/building-a-biblical-defense-of-creation.

Commemorating the anniversary of the supposed 1947 UFO crash in Roswell, July 2 has been designated by some as “World UFO Day.” The purpose, as some would say, is to raise awareness to the possibility of life in outer space, to bring people together to stare at the skies in hopes to see flying objects, and to urge governments to declassify files on UFO sightings.

In keeping with the spirit, I thought this would be a good week to introduce you to my very related Fun Fact, and to raise awareness about what the Bible might have to say about life in outer space.

Is it possible that there are living things in space?
Yes, but probably only those that originated on Earth, such as bacteria and astronauts. The Bible seems to rule out any native intelligent life in outer space since they would be under the Curse with no possibility of salvation, and Christ—Who died once for all men—will only return to the inhabitable Earth.

The articles and videos I link to on my website basically cover this Fun Fact from three angles: whether science supports the possibility, whether the Bible supports the possibility, and what are the motives of people searching or hoping to find intelligent life in outer space?

I will let you explore the science angle on your own or wait for future blog posts about Fun Facts that talk about that aspect. But now, let’s skip to the third angle: I would like to suggest that at the heart of the search for intelligent—or even simple—extraterrestrial life is a difference of worldviews, and specifically, what a person’s worldview tells them about the origins of life.

By and large, the majority of people who are hoping to find life on other planets are people who are seeking to confirm their evolutionary worldview. After all, if life could have evolved by random chance on Earth, why couldn’t life have evolved—or be evolving—on other planets, whether in our solar system or beyond (“exoplanet”)? If they could find signs of life on other planets, it would help them confirm their beliefs about the origin of life on our own.

And there’s that word: “beliefs.” Because to date, there is no observable, repeatable, testable scientific evidence that something comes from nothing. So evolutionists are still looking—in faith—for solid proof. Having found none on our own planet, many are looking outward.

Additionally, philosophers through the ages have drawn on the passages of Ecclesiastes 3:11 and Romans 1:18-23 to demonstrate that people have an innate emptiness in their hearts that needs to be filled with God. When it is empty, they will search for something else to fill it. This is another search which fuels the hope to find some “greater” life outside ourselves. (We will also discuss this basic biblical concept more fully at a later time this year.)

On the other side of the worldview coin are Christians who acknowledge that life began as a supernatural and intentional event planned and designed by an omnipotent Creator. For us, it is natural that some curiosity could arise about a God Who can do anything. If He created life on Earth, couldn’t He have created life elsewhere?

And so, this Fun Fact looks to that question. In the end, while we cannot be 100% certain we will never find life on an exoplanet, we can draw some conclusions from clues in the Bible that suggest we never will.

Genesis 3 teaches us the origin of sin: Adam sinned and rebelled against God. The same chapter also explains that not only are we all descendants of Adam and Eve, but we have inherited from them a sin nature. Romans 3:23 confirms this: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (HCSB). Romans 6:23a tells us what the consequences of sin are: “For the wages of sin is death” (HCSB). Romans 5:12 also confirms these three ideas in one sentence: “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned” (HCSB).

Next comes the solution. The rest of Romans 6:23 has the great news: “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (HCSB).

So how does the gospel message apply to our Fun Fact? Romans 8:22 tells us that “all of creation is groaning” because of the curse from Adam’s sin. If God had created life on other planets, the curse would be applied to them as well. Additionally, God is a holy and just God, and all through the Old Testament we find “rules” that He put into place for His people and for their redemption. Hebrews 10 tells us that the animals sacrificed in the Old Testament were not enough to pay the price for sin. We needed a blood relative to do that for us, which is why Christ had to come to Earth and become a descendent of Adam, to be our relative. This “kinsman redeemer” principle is seen in the story of Ruth. Christ became our kinsman redeemer. The redeemer of the human race.

Were there any “intelligent” life other than humans on another planet, though they would be under the curse of sin, they would not be under the redeeming grace of Christ’s sacrifice. Could Christ also die for them? No, because verse 10 of Hebrews 10 concludes by saying, “Jesus Christ once for all” (ESV).

A human sinned, bringing on a curse for all creation. Christ is the redemption, but the once-and-for-all sacrifice of His human blood is the saving grace of the human race. So, we see that the Bible seems to rule out any native intelligent life in outer space.

Don’t just take my word for it! Visit YouFormedMe.com/astronomy/ufo.html to read, watch, and listen to supporting research and commentary from scientists, doctors, theologians, and more!
This blog is from a special series of “Creation Fun Facts” by Terri Kammerzell, starting from June 10, 2020. Read the introduction at TruthOfGenesis.com/blogs/building-a-biblical-defense-of-creation.

​An amazing event will take place on August 21st 2017, a total solar eclipse,  It will be view-able in the continental United States along a 70-mile-wide path from Oregon to South Carolina.
 
It’s an opportunity to give glory to God for the provision of the moon and get a better understanding of the purpose of this “simple” celestial body.

As the Psalmist says, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.  Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.”   So, what is this eclipse telling us or reminding us about the moon as it relates to the Lord.

First of all, the size and position of the moon is critically important for an eclipse to happen.  Of the approximately one hundred moons in our solar system ours is the only one known to be capable of a perfect total solar eclipse.  The reason for this is that the moon is 400 times smaller than the sun but it is also 400 times closer to the earth.  This ratio allows for the moon to completely block the sun and look as if it is the same size.  Secular scientists would have us believe that this is some terrific accident. 

God created the sun, moon and stars on the fourth day of creation.  The moon has a number of critical roles that it plays in day to day life here on earth.  One of the most important is the tidal action that the moon helps cause each and every day.  While the sun plays a role in the tide, about two thirds of the gravitational pull that causes tidal action comes from the moon.  Twice a day the moon causes a “high” tide.  These occur when it is on the near side of the earth and when it is on the far side of the earth. 

The tides, and to some degree wind, help provide our ocean currents.  The value of the tides can’t be over-emphasized.  They cleanse our shores, break down waste coming off the land and reinvigorate the water with oxygen.  Without them sea life would stagnate and eventually die.  Over 70% of our world is covered with water the majority of oxygen producing plants are actually in the sea.  So, without the tides provided by the moon to keep our oceans healthy we would literally be fighting to breathe!  Thank God for designing a wonderful system to deliver oxygen the next time you sing the popular praise song lyrics, “This is the air I breathe...”

While the visible effect of the moon’s gravity is in the water, it also effects the land and air.  The crust of the earth actually rises from one to two inches as the moon passes!  There is a similar effect of tidal action in the upper atmosphere.

One of the aims of secularists is to steal God’s glory and rob Him of the title Creator.  However, the scripture says, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.  … Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!  For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm”.
​
Of course, one of the major purposes of the moon is to mark the seasons as stated in Genesis 1:14. Not only does it help us mark spring, summer, autumn and winter but also determines the date of Easter every year.  To determine Easter, you determine the first day of spring, find the next full moon and then Easter will be the first Sunday afterwards.  
 
Did you know that without the moon the seasons would be chaotic and severe at best?  The moon literally helps to keep everything from going sideways on earth.  It helps keep the earth’s tilt at the perfect 23 ½ degrees.  Without it the earth tilt could fluctuate between zero and 90 degrees.  According to Our Created Moon by Don DeYoung, who I credit for the fascinating information in this blog,” …an earth tilt substantially greater than 23.5 degrees could lead to a permanent freezing of the oceans and the end of all life.”  Maybe we should just give glory to God for placing us in just the right solar system with just the right sun and a perfectly placed moon.
 
Lastly, the moon and Jupiter also have a purpose in protecting the earth.  There are 150 mile-wide craters on the unseen or far side of the moon which shows a great number of impacts left behind by space objects.  The visible or near side has the Maria or seas (these are the dark spots) which are left behind by basalt layers but the unseen or far side has taken the majority of the collisions.  I mention Jupiter because of its mass and massive gravitational pull which acts as a guard against many unwanted visitors to our solar system.
 
In any case, the eclipse may cause you to feel an uncertainty and sense of trepidation that you may never have experienced before.  Remember, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  An eclipse is a dramatic pause that reminds us, “the heavens declare the glory of God” and remind us of His provision.   And whether you are reading this before or after the American solar eclipse of 2017, it is a good time to take a moment and worship the creator…not the creation.