Spokane Chapter, Reasons To Believe

July, 2004 Newsletter

Table of Contents:

Chapter Meeting: Sunday July 18, 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. 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 18
  • Time: 3-5 P.M.
  • Hosts:  Dan and Cathy Bakken
  • Location: 13003 N. Miami Ct, Mead
  • Phone: 466-2693  (for directions, etc.)

Spitzer Findings Under the Microscope of Origins of Life Research: Is Life Common?

As the Spitzer Space Telescope relays more and more information, excitement abounds with the possibility that the origin of life mystery has been solved. A May 27th article released by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory notes that:

  • Spitzer found a gap in a dusty disk around a protostellar object. This finding shows that planets could possibly form in hundreds of thousands of years or less.
  • The material in the dusty disk is made up of ices and sticky hydrocarbons, the building blocks of amino acids which are the building blocks for life.

Do these findings imply that life is common throughout our galaxy? Not so, says astronomer Hugh Ross and his team of scientists at Reasons To Believe.

  • While confirming that dusty disks are common around young stellar objects, the Spitzer findings do not disturb the conclusion that only about two percent of the Milky Way’s stars possess planets or that the Milky Way, compared to other galaxies, is unusually planet rich.
  • The existence of ices and sticky hydrocarbons in many places in the Milky Way no more proves that life is ubiquitous than does the abundance of silicon throughout the Milky Way prove that laptop computers are ubiquitous (except on Earth).
  • Astronomers have found 120 different carbon compounds in interstellar and interplanetary space, including (possibly) trace amounts of the simplest amino acid glycine. Controlled laboratory experiments have produced up to six of the twenty biological amino acids from these 120 compounds. However, amino acids are highly susceptible to ultraviolet photodestruction. They are virtually absent in interstellar and interplanetary dust because they are destroyed before they can accumulate.

Bottom Line: The Spitzer findings confirm that we’re on the right track with the current models for planet formation and in identifying which kind of planets are likely to form first. The results, however, are irrelevant to the origin of life problem. It still stands that past and present conditions on Earth, in the solar system, and in the galaxy offer no realistic naturalistic pathway for life’s origin.

By Hugh Ross and Fazale Rana

Source: Origins of life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face Off, 2004,  by Fazale Rana (biochemist) and Hugh Ross (astronomer), pp. 93-105, 123-133, 202-204.

Visit the Spitzer web site on this discovery: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2004-08/ssc2004-08b.shtml

Book Review: Origins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face Off

This is the first book from RTB primarily written by RTB scholar and biochemist Fuzale Rana. It covers the difficulties with the naturalistic origin of life. From the common secular viewpoint, the origin of life is a straightforward outworking of chemistry, wherever the conditions are right. This is bolstered by the fact that life appeared on the early earth as soon as a stable crust formed, about 3.8 billion years ago. This in turn drives naturalistic scientists to believe that there may be life under every wet rock in the universe.

When investigated at the forefront of research on the origin of life, however, things are not so tidy. As a matter of fact, several seemingly intractable problems become apparent. The familiar “primordial soup” in fact turns up dry. There was no significant primordial soup, if there was we would easily have found the evidence for it by now. This along with other issues like oxygen on the early earth has driven the researchers either down or up.

Some think that extremophiles living in the earth’s crust were the first life forms. This is a shaky proposition at best because it appears the first life was complex photosynthetic, extremophiles are very sensitive to changes to their environments, and have extremely slow metabolisms. This means they are a very poor choice for the formation of first life. There are many naturalists that agree that in their view they must have arisen from surface life, not vice versa.

The only other direction is up. Panspermia, the idea that life came to earth from space is currently popular, especially from Mars. But Mars is an even worse case for the origin of life than Earth in practically every way. Comets are also seen as a possible source of life generating molecules, but again enormous difficulties arise there too, like homochirality, and the very limited amounts of organics to be delivered in this way. Some prominent scientists have argued for panspermia from beyond the solar system, but that has fallen out of favor as the great distances keep viable organisms or even amino acids from surviving the journey.

That has pushed some to argue for directed panspermia, the idea that intelligent aliens have purposefully seeded life on earth, reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey. This begs the question, where did they come from? There is no better place imaginable for the naturalistic formation of life than the surface of the earth, yet they are forced to say it couldn’t happen here! But we notice that this is only slightly different than the biblical model that Hugh and Fuz present here, that an intelligent life creator purposefully seeded the life on earth.

Their book is concise and very readable. It is accurate and very up to date, but not too technical, making this a very enjoyable book. I like how they are able to cast the difficulties naturalists face without being condescending to those researchers. The difficulties are pointed out, while being very respectful of the science that is being done. This same research is shown to be very compatible with the biblical model in a way that is compelling. This is very refreshing as a Christian resource on this topic!!! Origins is a must have resource for those with an interest in the topic, or for those that answer naturalistic claims about the origin of life.

By Dan Bakken, President, Reasons To Believe Spokane Chapter.

RTB Launches Reasons Institute This Fall

RTB is launching an online distance learning program called Reasons Institute.

It will showcase college level classes based on lectures from RTB scholars. Each course will cost $75 when taken as a six-week ‘for audit’ class. Twelve-week courses cost $150.

These courses will be available to the general public as well as to students for college credit through Northern California Baptist College (NCBC).  In this instance tuition costs are established by NCBC and you can obtain further information by logging onto www.ncbc.net.

By accessing the user-friendly WebCT e-learning platform, students listen to lectures by RTB scholars in Real Media format while obtaining assignments for the week. There are reading assignments and questions to answer for each week. Students interact with professors and other students online.

Three courses will be offered this fall.

  • The History of Christian Apologetics.
    This course, which features Kenneth Samples, surveys prominent apologists from the time of the apostles through the great apologists of our own century. Students will understand the shifting goals, audience and methods used in the historical development of the Christian apologetic enterprise.  Some discussion will also be devoted to the historical context which gave rise to the various approaches of defending the faith. - 12 weeks.
  • Integrating Science and Theology.
    Learn why Christians should care about science, the historical alliance between science and Christianity, and how worldviews are important in understanding what people believe about creation and the Bible. Learn how to use a testable creation model to evaluate both theological and scientific concepts from a Christian worldview in order to show how both Scripture and the facts of nature point to a specially created universe. This course was developed from the first portion of the Science & Evangelism Correspondence Course. - 6 weeks.
  • Evaluating the Age of the Earth.
    This course addresses the issues that surround the age of the earth and how it relates to a biblical worldview.  The Bible teaches that the physical universe, the realm of nature, is the visible creation of God.  Nature declares God’s existence and gives a trustworthy revelation of God’s character and care.  Properly understood, God’s Word and God’s world, as two revelations from the same God, will never contradict each other.  Finally, the course will demonstrate how general and special revelation can work together. - 6 weeks.

The latest updated version of the Science & Evangelism Correspondence Course will be offered in four individual portions.  They will include Integrating Science and Theology, Creation and Evolution 1 & 2, as well as Evaluating the Age of the Earth.  These four portions are known to some as the apologist training program.

Reasons Institute will not replace the apologist training course.  However these online courses will present an additional way to accomplish the goal of becoming a volunteer apologist.

Some advantages to taking the apologist training program through Reasons Institute are the interaction with instructors and fellow students, the structured timeframes for completing assignments at a reasonable pace, and the option of obtaining college credit through NCBC. 

Prices for the Reasons Institute courses are somewhat higher when compared with the Science & Evangelism Correspondence Course, but they do offer unique advantages as previously mentioned.

Contact at RTB for more information.

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. 
  • We offer trained apologists and bring in national speakers to speak at local churches and other events to share these exciting discoveries.
  • 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: www.reasons.org/chapters/spokane
  • Newsletter Questions? Cathy Bakken, editor, cgbakken@yahoo.com

Resources To Know About:

Reasons To Believe’s Web Site: www.reasons.org. Many useful documents are available, as well as their daily new “reason to believe” from the latest scientific research.

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 www.reasons.org.

Listen to the Creation Update Radio Show on the Internet at http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/creation_update/Archives.asp. Or learn what’s coming up on the next show.