Reasons To Believe Spokane Chapter

July 2003 Newsletter

Table of Contents:

Chapter Meeting: Sunday, July 20, 3 - 5 P.M.

We invite you to attend our monthly meeting. A presentation is offered to the group, followed by discussion and questions, and we conclude with snacks and a little club business. This time we’ll be showing the video, Journey Toward Creation, RTB’s newest video product.

We always try to start and end our meetings right on time. If you need directions, don’t be afraid to call the phone number below.

Date: Sunday, July 20
Time: 3-5 P.M.
Hosts: Dan and Cathy Bakken
Location: 13003 N. Miami Ct, Mead
Phone: 466-2693 (for directions, etc.)

Symphony Under the Stars: Friday July 25

On Friday evening, July 25, Northview Bible Church has invited Dan Bakken, local chapter president, to give an evangelistic presentation at Nine Mile Falls Resort from 8-10pm. The Event is called "Symphony Under the Stars", and will start with a classical music performance, then Dan will speak. Dan will bring his 41" diameter telescope, Hercules, for attendees’ viewing pleasure afterwards.

Symphony Under the Stars: Directions

Take Francis West toward Nine Mile (it is called Hwy 291 on the map). Cross over the dam over the Spokane River. Turn right onto Charles Road, Turn Right onto Hedin Road. Watch for signs for the Nine Mile Resort. It is a dirt road between two farm houses on the left hand side of the road.

Who Is the Designer? RTB Conference Report

By Cathy Bakken

Dan and I had the chance to attend the Reasons To Believe conference at the end of June in Cypress, CA, and we had a great time. I’d like to give you all the chance to hear what the speakers had to say, so here are some synopses of some of their talk s.

Guillermo Gonzales and Jay Richards of the Discovery Institute. Guillermo and Jay gave a talk based on their upcoming book to be titled "The Privileged Planet". This talk was just too short! The main point of their book by that title which will come out in early 2004, is that not only is earth in the ideal spot for life, it is in the ideal spot for being able to see out and measure the universe. Habitability correlates with measurability! They give two examples from their book. The first is that earth is the only place in the solar system that can experience perfect solar eclipses, and that without them we might not have ever understood stars correctly. The second example is that the earth and solar system are in the galactic habitability zone, which not only allows life to exist here but also allows us to see outside our galaxy and observe other galaxies.

Dr. Walter Bradley, one of the co writers of the 1984 classic, The Mystery of Life’s Origin. His talk was entitled, "Information and the Origin of Life". Bradley has been involved in critiquing the origin of life researchers for years no w. He talked about what life really is, and how it requires three things at least - the ability to store information, to replicate with very occasional mistakes, and to take in energy to live. Then he discussed the way DNA, RNA and proteins work to sustain a cell, using a clip of the DNA animation from the Discovery Institute's video, Unlocking the Mystery of Life. He pointed out the fallacies in the Miller Urey experiment - and pointed out a couple things I' d like to had had in my recent article on the topic! It seems that under the atmospheric conditions used in the original experiment, energy would have been easily available for the creation of prebiotic molecules. But under true atmospheric conditions, energy is just not available from the constituent molecules.

Fazale Rana, RTB’s resident bio-chemist, gave an exciting talk on "Biological Convergence". Scientists are discovering some challenges to evolution in the recent field of using DNA to figure out how different creatures 'evolved'. It turns out that there are many species that appear to have 'evolved' along totally different 'evolutionary' pathways without being related in any way, but have come up with identical results. This is called "repeated evolution" by secular scientists. Examples include crabs, cichlids, ranid frogs and more. Also, examples of convergence are being discovered. That is, that the same functions, structures or behaviors have evolved independently. Two examples are the Arthropod compound eye, and echolocation in bats. The scientists are saying its amazing that these things have happened, but they aren’t saying the truth, which is that evolution demands chance as the main cause of change, and to have so many coincidental similarities points more to design - the reuse of o

Dr. David Rogstad, RTB executive vice president. He researched galaxies for 10 years, then worked at JPL on the Galileo mission among other things. His talk was entitled, "Extraterrestrial design: Is ET the designer?" He discussed the possibility that in a "2001 Space Odyssey" fashion, life was planted on earth by an alien culture or individual. He assumed this ET would be within our universe and subject to its laws, not transcendent of our universe (a creature like that would be - well, God). The limitations on this universe-bound creature are that it would have to be carbon based (no other element provides for the complex molecular bonds advanced life necessitates), that its planet would have to be similar to earth's, and that it would have to have a relatively short life span (1000 years or shorter). This alien would have to first find a life site to seed. These possible life sites are so rare that the alien would have to search from its home planet out to a distance of 25,000 light years

Dr. Ron Nash, Professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and author of Faith and Reason: Searching for a Rational Faith. Dr. Nash gave a talk on "The Origin of the Human Mind". This guy looked like an old codger when he was coming up to speak, but he's really an animated speaker! This talk was about how naturalism and Christianity are two competing world views. Nash was most concerned with pointing out that naturalism by its very nature denies the power of the human mind to think rationally at all. Naturalism says there is nothing but the universe, which will die and mankind will die with it. There can be no eternal standards, no ethics, no reason, no truth. This means not even the laws of mathematics and physics can be trusted. In reality, Nash says, this isn't true because, as beings created in the image of God, we have been implanted with an innate understanding of certain concepts which are eternally true.

Couldn’t attend the RTB Conference? Attend the Web Cast!

The conference will be available via the Internet on www.OnePlace.com. (Go to www.reasons.org to register.) For $79 you can listen live, and/or access the archived presentations for several months after the conference. Also, the conference notebook will be available as a downloadable file (pdf).

Can’t Get Enough Proofs for God? Then visit www.reasons.org!

The folks at RTB have started a new service. They unveiled it at this conference. On their web page, every day, they will post a new "Reason To Believe" that is coming from the research level publications they receive. So don’t miss this great service! Check it every day! A summary of the discovery is given, with links to the actual research when available, as well as links to RTB web sites that pertain to the topic.

RTB Needs Your Help

This is a message for those of you who contribute to Reasons To Believe, or who are in a position to do so. We don’t regularly ask for money for our parent organization, but from what we heard at the conference, we feel that it is necessary to pass this information along to you.

Reasons To Believe doesn’t usually say too much about their financial position, but the organization, like many nonprofit groups in these days, is in need of your financial support at this time. If they can’t keep their head a little higher above the water, they will have to make a cut in staff again – something they’ve already done once this year. We just wanted you to know!

Resources To Know About

Watch (or record) the "Reasons To Believe" television show. Airs on Thursday mornings, 3:00 A.M. Pacific Time on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). An archive of recent shows is also available at reasons.org.

Listen to the Creation Update Radio Show on the Internet

Learn what’s coming up on the next show

Who We Are and What We Do: Your Local Reasons To Believe Chapter

We’re here to answer your questions and help local Christians and churches get more answers about science and the bible issues.

  • Our monthly meetings enable training and dissemination of new reasons to believe.
  • We help people access Reasons To Believe resources, including the Apologist Training Program.
  • We offer trained apologists to speak at local churches and other events to share these exciting discoveries.
  • We provide a forum for members to discuss the latest scientific discoveries.
  • We bring national speakers into the area to promote the scientific reliability of the Bible.
  • We build alliances with churches, ministries, and groups to share the Reasons To Believe message.
  • We help Christians overcome their fear of science and equip them to use it as an effective tool in spreading the Gospel.
  • We reach out to skeptics and non-believers with gentleness and respect, encouraging them to evaluate their worldviews.

Contact us if you have any questions! And watch this newsletter for more information!

Local Chapter Contact Information

For more information about the Reasons To Believe Spokane chapter, contact:

Phone: Ray Luse (509) 465-8562
Email:
Web Page: reasons.org/chapters
Newsletter Questions? Cathy Bakken, editor, Cgbakken@yahoo.com