In this newsletter:
1) “Happy Birthday Darwin” tour
2) The Complete Creation – Finished!!! & official website
3) Finally – they created life in the lab! Sort of….
4) Happy Birthday Darwin, sorry, but apparently people don’t believe you.
5) Long overdue give-away
6) “What Darwin Didn’t Know” Creation Fair
7) Canadian Minister of Science & Technology… *GASP!* a CREATIONIST???
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1) “Happy Birthday Darwin” tour
Currently I’m home, building museum displays for the Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum in Glendive, Montana. Lord willing, within the next week or two, I’ll be delivering the cell model(shown on right), a giant grand canyon model, a cast of the Tennessee polystrate fossil, and a Mt. St. Helens model. I already dropped off the DNA model, the largest I’ve built to date at 7 feet tall.
After Easter I’ll be heading out for the second leg of my US tour, which will probably be my last US tour for a very long time, due to the beginning of construction (Lord willing) of the tractor trailer museum.
April 21: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
April 23-25: New Berlin, Wisconsin
May 9-16th: Akron, Ohio Creation Fair
May 17th-June 14: All over Ontario, and then out west to Alberta – check the itinerary page for up to date info on a lot of things going on!
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2) The Complete Creation – Finished!!! & official website
Yer not gonna believe this, but….
The Complete Creation video series is finished!
In celebration of the completion of the video series, for the next seven days, the full set price will be discounted by $30. This is only good until March 27th, 2009.
Order your DVD’s at http://CompleteCreation.org
But before you buy, you might want to check out the Long-overdue give-away down below.
| This has been a year long project, and it’s already received rave, unsolicited reviews:
“I just wanted to say thanks for the vid for children on creation. I started homeschooling my boys this year and will be using your other creation vids as part of our studies. ”
“Thank you Ian Juby for all that you are doing, for many people are now seeing the truth about this world and that the bible is true.
God Bless you Ian, I wish you luck in further proving the bible to be the word of God. It’s just a shame so many people call you a liar and ignore what you are saying… ” “I’m glad I found these videos. They are awesome!” “Thank you for your video series on creation, I’m on #13 and can’t stop watching. It is so cool and so simple, it just makes sense! I’m in the middle of one right now, but had to stop to say thanks.” “I love your Complete Creation series. Absolutely fantastic. “ |
All the pre-orders have been sent out, so if you pre-ordered you should have it soon (if not already). Also, for those who pre-ordered, I plan to send you a bonus DVD, simply to say “thank you” for purchasing the set.
Official website:
I am also constructing <sarcasm =”on”>in my copious amounts of spare time </sarcasm=”off”> the official website: http://CompleteCreation.org which hosts all of the videos, available for free viewing on line, as well as resources for homeschoolers and those who want to dig deeper into the subject. An index of all videos and their contents is available on the splash page, so you can now find that favourite clip you were looking for.
Gotta favour to ask of ya:
So I have a favour to ask of everyone: Please spread the word! Yes, buying a DVD supports myself and my ministry (including the traveling museum I’ll be dumping loads of my own personal money into), but all the videos are available to watch on line, for free, no obligations. Buy a set of DVD’s as a gift for your favourite skeptic!
If you have a website or blog, or you post to discussion groups, please link to the videos or the completecreation.org website. Homeschoolers especially – please spread the word around. The homeschool resources will be available on the CompleteCreation.org website hopefully this week, again for free, which for starters includes discussion/ Q&A sheets kindly compiled by Brock Lee from Minnesota.
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3) Finally – they created life in the lab! Sort of….
The scoop:
Last week, Science magazine published an article claiming that scientists had produced “self-replicating RNA.”
Here’s a layman’s report from Fox news:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,479777,00.html?sPage=fnc/scitech/evolution
And if you head on over to the Science website, you can download their free resources that go along with the article (which I’ll use in a second):
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/data/1167856/DC1/1
Okay, it isn’t really “life”
They were quick to point out that they had not created “life in the lab.” Presumably this was to deter reports of the same title that came out when Dr. Miller and his Professor Urey revealed their research in the 50’s, producing amino acids in the lab.
Those nasty natural laws:
First of all, there is a reason that we have a scientific and natural law known as the “Law of biogenesis,” which states that life only comes from life, and like begets like. The reason being is that this is all that has ever been observed. So much so that it has been elevated to the status of a natural law. Furthermore, if you check out parts 11 and 12 of the Complete Creation video series, you’ll see just how utterly, indescribably complex even the “simplest” of life is.
What they did:
But let’s peruse science’s supporting online material to see what the scientists did; here’s some random quotes from the paper – Read Carefully:
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“Oligonucleotides were either purchased from Integrated DNA Technologies (San Diego, CA) or synthesized on an Expedite automated DNA/RNA synthesizer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) using nucleoside phosphoramidites purchased from Glen Research (Sterling, VA).” “M1 RNA, the catalytic subunit of RNAse P, was obtained from E. coli genomic Hey! Stop that with the eyes glazing over thing! Keep reading carefully…you should be taking notes! “The A substrates could not be obtained reliably by in vitro transcription due to heterogeneity at the 3´
(I could go on and on, but I won’t – I’ll let you read the paper yourself – good luck with that eh!)
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“Integrated DNA technologies Purified Oligonucleotides: Three hundred and fifty dollars”
“Applied systems DNA/RNA synthesizer: thirty-five thousand, two hundred and ninety-five dollars.”
“Isolated E. coli genomic DNA: Fifty dollars per ounce.”
“Producing ‘self replicating’ RNA in the lab that took ‘no intelligence’: Priceless.“
“The things needed for life, money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s mastercard.”
The way it wuz:
Look very, very carefully: (this is like “where’s Waldo?”) Do you see:
A) Integrated DNA technologies Purified Oligonucleotides?
B) An Applied systems DNA/RNA synthesizer?
C) Isolated E. coli genomic DNA?
D) A scientist to put it all together to make ‘self-replicating’ RNA that required no pre-existing life????
Ya, I don’t see’em either.
Evolution Falls Down at the Starting Line:
Needless to say, while the study is interesting, it can hardly be cited as somehow adding feasibility to the “life from non-life” story that is the foundation of evolution. Evolution falls down at the starting line: If you have no life, you have nothing to undergo mutations, natural selection, speciation, etc… You have no evolution.
In order to produce life in violation of natural laws, evolution must produce the first life via supernatural means; i.e., from outside of the natural realm! Thus, in incredible irony, while both Creation and Evolution require the first life to arise from outside of the natural realm, Creation is the only model that still adheres to the law of biogenesis: The first life on earth was created by a pre-existing lifeform!
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4) Happy Birthday Darwin, sorry, but apparently people don’t believe you.
This is the “year of Darwin,” in celebration of what would be his 200th birthday, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book. So of course there is much focus on evolution, and consequently, creation.
A Gallup poll, released in time for Darwin’s birthday found that only 4 in 10 Americans believe in the theory of evolution:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/114544/Darwin-Birthday-Believe-Evolution.aspx
A second survey carried out by the Pew Research Center came to the same conclusions, and also broke down the opinions by religious persuasion:
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1105/darwin-debate-religion-evolution
Especially noteworthy is how the division of belief breaks down. In the words of Gallup:
“There is a strong relationship between education and belief in Darwin’s theory, as might be expected, ranging from 21% of those with high-school educations or less to 74% of those with postgraduate degrees.”
“…among those with high-school educations or less who have an opinion on Darwin’s theory, more say they do not believe in evolution than say they believe in it. For all other groups, and in particular those who have at least a college degree, belief is significantly higher than nonbelief.”
This is oft cited as some kind of evidence that only stupid, uneducated people do not believe in evolution. Actually, this is not an indicator of intellect, this is an indicator of the effectiveness of indoctrination! Our school systems are geared towards pounding “evolution is fact” into the brains of the students, desperately trying to make it a permanent part of their belief system. Funny how, when evolution has no policies, judges or lawyers to hide behind, and people are encouraged to examine the evidence and think for themselves, evolution gets creamed. (see the “Angus Reid Poll” results on my blog)
The Anti-creationists run for cover again:
It is exceedingly difficult to find someone to defend evolution in a public, moderated scientific debate (primarily because the evolutionists persistently lose the debates). Such was the case this past week when attempting to find a worthy opponent for a debate with John Mackay this fall when he’s in Alberta.
U of Calgary associate professor, Dr. Jessica Theodor, verbally attacked the Big Valley Creation Science Museum on National Television when it opened its doors in 2007. For instance, in the CTV interview, and available on line, she said (of the Big Valley museum)
This coming from someone who had not even darkened the doors of the museum she was criticizing! Uh-huh, I helped build that museum. Anyone who goes in there cannot deny that we have done our homework – including having all the research and plaques peer reviewed by leading experts in their fields from literally all around the world.
We invited Dr. Theodor to defend the evolution myth in a public, scientific debate, she declined, claiming that creation and evolution are “not of the same order.”
Actually I agree with her: Even though both faiths (evolution and creation) have their origins in the supernatural, at least Creation still obeys natural and scientific laws, such as the laws of biogenesis, which states that life only comes from life. Evolution does not even have this going for it, and it must violate multiple scientific and natural laws (such as life arising from non-life), and multiple scientific observations. If evolution violates scientific and natural laws, then it is, by definition, neither scientific nor natural.
Evolution isn’t even on the same playing field as Creation. We stick by good science, evolution dodges the science.
It’s just as well Dr. Theodor declined, she wouldn’t have survived ten minutes in an actual debate where she was held accountable for her words and claims. At least Dr. Micheal Caldwell, also of Calgary U, has willingly stepped up to the plate to defend the evolutionary faith, and has thus earned our respect at the museum. (see below “Canadian Minister of Science & Technology…” for an MP3 of a live debate I had with Dr. Caldwell on National radio this past week).
We’re still looking for someone to debate John Mackay in Alberta this fall – any takers???
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Okay, I’m gonna do it. I am giving away one set of “The Complete Creation.” That’s right, 12 DVD’s, I’ll even pay for the shipping. Not only that, I am going to give away a second and third prize to the next two people who get the correct answer sent in.
Normally I run the give-aways on a “first-come, first-win” basis, however, the newsletter list has grown to near economical numbers (they used to be called astronomical numbers, now they’re ‘economical’ numbers), and many of the subscribers are in different parts of the world.
So we’re going to have a draw for the three winners.
To enter the draw, you must email me back with the correct answer to the prize-winning question by 5pm Eastern, Sunday, March 22, 2009.
I’ll give you a big hint on how to get the answer: You can use the index on the CompleteCreation.org website to find the video which has the answer contained within it.
The Prize-winning question:
Somewhere in “The Complete Creation” video series, I show the math involved in randomly assembling a single protein, 200 amino acids long. I provided the number of random shufflings per second that one would have to carry out to try all combinations of amino acids to produce this one protein in 20 billion years.
What is the number of shufflings and tries per second that are needed? Please provide the number given in the video series.
Scientific notation is okay, you don’t have to send me the really big number, but you can if you want. Just don’t try to text it to me while driving – typing out that many zeros is quite distracting..
The Grand Prize: One set of “The Complete Creation”
Second Prize: Your choice of 7 DVD’s from “The Complete Creation” (free), or the option to purchase the entire set of 12 for $50 (+free shipping, that’s $100 off)
Third Prize: Your choice of 4 DVD’s from “The Complete Creation” (free), or the option to purchase the entire set of 12 for $90 (+free shipping, that $60 off)
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6) “What Darwin Didn’t Know” Creation Fair
If you happen to be in the Akron, Ohio area for the week of May 9 thru the 16th, you will want to catch the first Creation Fair at the Akron Fossils and Science Center.
Groups are encouraged, and a pre-booking discount of $10 off for groups booking by April 25th. Click on the logo above to see the details on the Akronfossils.com website.
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7) Canadian Minister of Science & Technology… *GASP!* a CREATIONIST???
(Photo courtesy of garygoodyear.com)
Not really – at least, he didn’t say that. The problem is, he didn’t deny it, and that’s what all the hub-bub’s been about. After making cuts to research spending, the Honourable Mr. Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology), was asked in an interview if he believed in evolution.
He then dropped a bomb with his coy answer:
“I’m not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don’t think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate,”
Now, I wasn’t at that interview, but I can tell you that this was one of the few instances you could hear a pin drop after a bomb had gone off.
He didn’t affirm evolution, and he didn’t deny creation – that, my friends, is a no-no in the “scientific” and “academic” world (scientific and academic used loosely here).
The Media Frenzy Begins:
A media frenzy then took place, starting with an article that appeared in the Globe and Mail:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090317.wgoodyear16/BNStory/National/home
It contained the usual fear-mongering, condescending remarks from the anti-creationists like Dr. Brian Alters, such as:
Actually, it’s not the same. Not even remotely close. The shape of the earth is observable, testable and repeatable, and so is gravity. Evolution is none of these things. Evolution is not science, and is not a scientific nor natural process, it is a supernatural process.
Dr. Alters should be thanking his lucky stars right now that I missed the interview today (March 19th) on the Jeff Allen show, as apparently Alters was on that program, and I had an invitation to carry out a phone interview. Seeing as how I missed being on the program, and missed taking Alters to task on live radio, I’ll make up for it here (until we undoubtedly meet on the air somewhere).
Alters is so far off the mark, it’s difficult to know where to begin. Obviously he’s implying that someone who doubts evolution (or even worse, believes creation) is simply not capable of carrying out good science and research.
Tell that to Dr. Raymond Damadian, inventor of the MRI, who is a young-earth creationist (MRI is magnetic resonance imaging, used in hospitals for medical imaging, shown on right courtesy of wikipedia.org). Or try telling that to Dr. Jonathan Sanford, co-discoverer of the gene gun, who is also a young-earth creationist. In fact, tell that to each of the people on the entire list of scientists who believe in creation, available on the creationinfo.com website:
http://www.creationinfo.com/list.htm
In fact, the foundations of science were formulated by creationists!
Clearly creationists are quite capable of carrying out good science, and so is the Honourable Mr. Goodyear, thanks for coming out Dr. Alters.
The fall-out is still happening over Mr. Goodyear’s remarks (or lack thereof), and I consequently wound up on a live debate on Nationally syndicated radio with Dr. Micheal Caldwell, professor of evolutionary biology. With one hour’s notice, I was invited to speak up for the creationists on the Charles Adler show, which fortunately has been provided in MP3 format for your listening pleasure:
Part 1:
http://emedia.cjob.com/podcasts/March_17th_-_Adler_p1.mp3
Part 2:
http://emedia.cjob.com/podcasts/March_17th_-_Adler_p2.mp3
As I previously mentioned, while we may disagree with him, Dr. Caldwell has earned our respect, as he is one of the few individuals who has stepped up to the plate to defend evolution, previously debating John Mackay, and getting into the fray by being willing to participate in a live radio debate. Kudos to him.
Pray for them:
In fact, let me take a moment to please ask my readers to pray for Dr. Caldwell, and also pray for Dr. Jessica Theodor and Dr. Brian Alter. Pray for their eyes to be opened, and that they might receive the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
The debate and broadcast speaks for itself, except that because of the short notice and the crazy pace, Caldwell got away with a lot on which I should otherwise have nailed him. For example, his dismissal of the helium diffusion dating method by saying helium in the rocks is produced by radioactivity. Yes it is, but that’s just the point! Apparently Dr. Caldwell is not familiar with the subject, and undoubtedly he and I will cross swords again in the future. So in the meantime, you can get the scoop on this particular dating method by watching Complete Creation part 8, right around the 8 minute mark: http://completecreation.org/videos.html
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