Spokane Chapter, Reasons To Believe

March 2005 Newsletter

Table of Contents:

Chapter Meeting: Sunday February 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.

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: March 20, 2005 (Sunday)
  • Time: 3 - 5 P.M.
  • Hosts: Dan and Cathy Bakken
  • Location: 13003 N. Miami Ct, Mead
  • Phone: 466-2693 (for directions, etc.)

April 8 - 10, 2005: Intelligent Design Conference in Spokane

Last month we reported on the intelligent design conference coming to Spokane April 8-10. Again, the conference is called “Fingerprint of God: How Intelligent Design Points to Our Creator”. Several members of the Reasons To Believe Spokane Chapter are involved. Those of you who receive the newsletter by mail will find a registration brochure enclosed. Those of you who receive this newsletter by email may find out all about the conference at its web site, www.GNATeam.org. You can also register online by using PayPal to register.

In order to get the word out about the conference, here is a summary of the most pertinent information.

Speakers

Four of the five speakers are big names from the Discovery Institute in Seattle. They are: Dr Stephen Meyer, formerly of Whitworth College; Jay Richards, co-author of the book The Privileged Planet, whom we brought to the CLIC conference last April; Jonathan Wells, the author of Icons of Evolution; and Scott Minnich, of the University of Idaho, who is a major investigator of the bacterial flagellum, a molecular machine that is highlighted prominently in the video "Unlocking the Mystery of Life". Our fifth speaker is Fred Heeren, of Daystar Ministries, an excellent speaker, and the author of Show Me God: What the Message from Space is Telling Us About God.

Conference Details

The conference consists of three components. On Friday, April 8, our speakers will talk on several area college campuses. On Saturday, April 9, an all-day conference will take place at Fourth Memorial Church in Spokane. And on Sunday, several of our speakers will give part or all of the sermons at area churches.

The all-day Saturday segment of the conference costs $25 for two tickets if you pre-register, or $30 for two tickets if you register at the door the day of the conference. The conference will run from 9am -4:30pm, with an optional Q&A session from 4:30-5:30. Fourth Memorial Church is the venue, located at 2000 N. Standard, on Indiana between Hamilton and Division.

Snacks will be provided, as well as a map of area restaurants, and a lunch room for those who want to bring their own lunch. The campus events and Sunday morning events are free. To find out about them, watch the conference's web site (www.GNATeam.org) and the next edition of this newsletter.

Sponsors

The conference is being sponsored by Fourth Memorial Church, His Place in Post Falls, Life Center, Mt. Spokane Church, and Spirit 101.9 radio station. Listen for our radio ad starting in March! Some free tickets will be given away by the radio station as well. And if you attend one of the four sponsoring churches, be sure to register through your church, because you will receive two tickets for $15! We are also offering two tickets for $20 to area churches who purchase a batch of them in advance to re-sell or distribute to their congregations, so watch for that opportunity to save, as well.

Why Two Tickets?

We're selling the tickets in batches of two with the idea that as many people as possible invite someone else to attend the Saturday conference.

This will be a wonderful opportunity for Christians with skeptical friends and relatives to engage them in a meaningful and thought-provoking experience. This is also a particularly great opportunity for teens, collegiates and their parents to learn about a viable alternative to evolution as it is taught in schools and universities.

How to Get in Free!

You can get free attendance to the Saturday all-day conference if you sign up to be a volunteer! We'll need help with registration, ushering, food, etc. the day of the conference.

Please contact Dan Croskrey if you're interested in being a volunteer. Call him at 993-6948 between 1pm and 8pm, or email him at info@GNATeam.org. There will be a meeting for volunteers on March 10 in the evening.

How to Register

You can register online at www.GNATeam.org. You can use PayPal to charge the registration fee of $25 to your credit card. We will include a conference brochure in the March mailing of this newsletter, as well. It includes a registration form and allows you to mail in a check. We are offering brochures and posters to area churches in the next couple of weeks, so you may see brochures at your church in the near future. If you volunteer, you do not need to register. Simply contact Dan Croskrey, as mentioned above.

How the Conference Came to Be

In the Spring of 2004, Pastor John Repsold of Fourth Memorial Church brought together a group of people interested in apologetics, to plan a conference on intelligent design in the spring of 2005. This group came to be called the Greater Northwest Apologetics Team, and it hopes to put on an apologetics related conference on a regular basis here in Spokane. The Team does not take a particular stand on the age of the earth or the universe, but agrees that God is the creator, and through his wisdom, power and precise design, the cosmos has become what we know it to be today.

Landing on Titan: What We’ve Learned

by Cathy Bakken

The Cassini Spacecraft recently reached Saturn, and has been sending back the first pictures since the Voyager probes passed Saturn in the early eighties. When Cassini reached Saturn’s moon Titan, it launched an instrument called the Huygens probe, named after the discoverer of Saturn’s rings and of Titan itself, Christiaan Huygens(1629-1695). On January 14, 2005, this probe entered Titan’s atmosphere, landed on the surface, and sent back data and photographs for scientists to study.

The popular press has been suggesting similarities between Titan and the early Earth, suggesting that Titan can help us learn how life arose here. However, the two bodies really don’t have that much in common.

The temperature on the surface of Titan is -292 F. Titan’s atmosphere is mainly made up of nitrogen, with between 1 and 6% methane, and possibly some Argon gas. The sight of what appeared to be channels possibly created by some sort of liquid inspired suggestions that there was a “methane cycle” on Titan’s surface, similar to a water cycle. Perhaps there could even be seas of methane there. However, the dark areas in the photos released so far are not liquid, but darker colored lowlands. Cassini has been examining Titan for two months watching for glints of light which would suggest liquid or ice, but has found none. There might be small pools of methane--which can stay liquid at very cold temperatures--but not in large abundances.

[graphic excluded]

Taken from 16 km up by the Huygens probe.

Why would scientists hope for liquid methane in on Titan? They hope that perhaps primitive life or the building blocks of life could have existed in methane pools. Methane on Earth is only produced by natural processes, and the presence of methane in the atmosphere of Titan inspires some creative fantasies about the possibility of life having existed on Titan earlier in its history, perhaps as the result of a large meteorite impact warming the surface sufficiently. Also, when atmospheric methane is broken apart by the energy of sunlight, creates organic compounds--compounds which could be building blocks of life.

However, this is a far cry from life, and Titan is a far cry from being hospitable to life. All known forms of life need liquid water, and there does not seem to be much water ice on Titan, which would make a better solvent for chemical processes than methane, but it’s just too cold there. What water there is has been found only in trace amounts in Titan’s upper atmosphere--not on the surface. Also, ammonia has not been found in any quantity--and ammonia is necessary for even the simplest life processes.

Christianity Today Book Awards In

Kenneth Samples' book, Without a Doubt: Answering the 20 Toughest Faith Questions, was nominated for one of Christianity Today's "best book" awards for 2004 in the apologetics/evangelism category.

The winners have been announced, and the winner in the apologetics category was Going Public with Your Faith: Becoming a Spiritual Influence at Work, by William Carr Peel and Walt Larimore.

So Ken’s book didn’t win, but it did get a lot of attention, and we highly recommend it.

The winner in the “Christianity and Culture” category was Doubts about Darwinism: A History of Intelligent Design, by Dan Kimball. Christianity Today described it as “combining a well-researched history of the Intelligent Design movement with an analysis of the rhetoric of both evolutionists and design theorists. It is well-organized and accessible. Sympathetic to the design movement, Woodward's treatment of both sides is measured and fair.”

Another intriguing title that received an “award of merit” is For the Glory of God: How Monotheism led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts and the End of Slavery, by Rodney Stark.

Modern science grew so well under Christianity because of the understanding that God had set up the physical laws of the universe--e.g. the fixed laws of heaven and earth mentioned in Jeremiah 33:25--laws that did not altar, and allowed repeatable experiments.

Christianity allows that the world and universe be understandable, because a consistent God won’t change his mind about the way the world is put together. Many other religious systems, such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, allowed the beginnings of science, but only under Christianity has science developed so fully.

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

Reasons To Believe Web Store: www.reasons.org/shop. Buy the books you read about here!

Reasons Institute: www.reasonsinstitute.com. RTB's online distance learning program. Take college-level apologetics courses. Contact RTB for information at 626-335-1480.

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 Web Cast: On the Internet at OnePlace. Or listen to the archives on the Creation Update page.