FACTS & FAITH
1987 Volume 1, No. 3
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Science in the News: The "Edge" of the Universe
By Hugh Ross
Perhaps you have read in a science magazine (or heard in one of my talks) that the universe has an "edge"? To many people that news comes as a shock, and it generates some skepticism. Let me try to explain what scientists mean by the statement and how we can be sure it is true.
First, the word edge needs some clarification. Actually, the universe is roughly comparable to the earth in the sense that it has no "edge" but definitely has limits, or boundaries. As the area of the earth’s surface is finite and measurable, so is the volume of the universe. However, because of the way relativity works, no one can ever penetrate the edge of the universe just as no one can fall off the edge of the earth.
The crucial question that arises next is this: Are the limits we see the real ones, or are they the limits which relativity imposes (in which case the universe could nevertheless be infinite), or are we simply hitting the limits of our instruments' ability to observe?
Under the influence of general relativity, light beams are bent; thus, at a certain finite distance that bending would add up to 180º, bringing the light right back to us. So how do we know that we're not just seeing as far as relativity will allow us to see instead of an actual boundary?
The answer is clear. It comes not only from theoretical work and from indirect measurements, but now, in recent months, from direct measurements. The key to these direct measurements is our understanding of the law of "red shifts." The red shift number assigned to a galaxy or a quasar tells the degree to which light waves from that galaxy or quasar have been stretched by its movement away from us. If the universe were to extend as far as the place where light beams turn around, or beyond, we would find galaxies and quasars with all red shifts from 1 on up, even to infinity.
What do we find? With thorough scanning of the skies and with telescopes powerful enough to detect galaxies and quasars with red shifts of 100 (properly noted as z = 100) or greater, we see many at z = 2.0, and a few past z = 3.0. They become exceedingly rare past z = 3.7.1, 2, 3, 4, 5 In the past few weeks, one was found at z = 4.04 and another at 4.11.6, 7
While some astronomers expect to discover at least a few quasars and galaxies more distant still, perhaps at red shifts as great as 4.5,1, 3, 8 the case for a finite, limited, universe has moved beyond a reasonable shadow of doubt. I must add, here, that the red shift findings also close the case on a universe that is finite in extent but infinite in time. American astronomer Vahé Petrosian laid the theoretical foundation to show that if the observed expansion of the universe arose from an infinitely long pause, red shifts greater than z = 2.5 would be rare or nonexistent.9
What lies beyond the limits of the universe? No space, no time, no matter, no energy. Nothing that would show up in man's theories or man's instruments. According to the Bible, only God the Creator, and His heaven and hell.
References
- Hazard, C. and McMahon, R. "New Quasars with z = 3.4 and 3.7 and the Surface Density of Very High Redshift Quasars," in Nature, 314. (1985), pp. 238-240.
- Sargent, W. L. W., Filippenko, A. V., Steidel, C. C., Hazard, C., and McMahon, R. G. "Spectrum of a QSO with Redshift 3.8," in Nature, 322. (1986), pp. 40-42.
- Dunlop, J. S., Downes, A. J. B., Peacock, J. A., Savage, A., Lilly, S. J., Watson, F. G., and Longair, M. G. "Quasar with z = 3.71 and Limits on the Number of More Distant Objects," in Nature, 319. (1986), pp. 564-567.
- Osmer, Patrick S., "Evidence for a Decrease in the Space Density of Quasars at z ³ 3.5," in Astrophysical Journal, 253. (1982), pp. 28-37.
- Schneider, D., Schmidt, M., and Gunn, J. "Mapping the Quasar Cutoff Near Redshift 3.5 Using a Soectroscopic Transit Survey," in Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 16. (1984), p. 488.
- Schmidt, Maarten, Schneider, Donald P., and Gunn, James E. "PC 0910+5625: An Optically Selected Quasar with a Redshift of 4.04," in Astrophysical Journal Letters, 321. (1987), pp. 7-10.
- editorial staff. "Breaking the Redshift-4 Barrier," in Science News, 132. (1987), p. 254.
- Hazard, C., McMahon, R. G., and Sargent, W. L. W. "A QSO with Redshift 3.8 Found on a UK Schmidt Telescope IIIa-F Prism Plate," in Nature, 322. (1986), pp. 38-40.
- Petrosian, Vahé. "Confrontation of Lemaitre Models and the Cosmological Constant with Observations," in Proceedings of the I. A. U. Symposium No. 63: Confrontation of Cosmological Theories with Observational Data. edited by M. S. Longair. (Dordrecht-Holland, Boston-U. S. A.: Reidel Publishing, (1974), pp. 31-46.
—anonymous (contributed by Myrtle Drake) |
Special Feature: Were the Wise Men Led by Astrology?
By Hugh and Kathy Ross
Some people with whom we have spoken over the past several years have used the story of the advent, specifically the Matthew 2 portion, to suggest that astrology might be okay, at least sometimes, since it led the wise men to Christ child. Or did it? Let's take a look at the passage.
In some translations, notably the New English, the Living, and the Phillips, the Greek word MAGOS is rendered "astrologers." While MAGOS can mean astrologer, a study of Thayer's Greek lexicon (similar to a dictionary) shows that the word derives from Babylonian origin and means "oriental scientist, wise man, astrologer, or seer." That Babylonian word would have been used to describe Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who served as wise men/advisors in the royal court of Babylon, with Daniel in charge of them all (Dan. 2:48). Daniel retained that position of authority even after the Persian conquest.
Consider this: there is one passage, and only one, in the whole of the Bible that foretells the time of the Messiah's coming (his first coming, that is). The passage is Daniel 9:24-26. Daniel received and recorded this prophetic revelation while serving in the Persian court. Given Daniel's boldness to speak about his God, we can safely guess that the sages of Persia heard about it. Notice, however, that Daniel received no other details on the subject. This fact fits the picture we see in Matthew 2: "Magi from the east came to Jerusalem" knowing the identity of the one whom they sought, and the time of his arrival, but not much about the place. And God used a spectacular stellar event to get their attention and to get them moving (more on what that star might have looked like in a future issue).
Can we conclude that the Magi were astrologers? It seems more likely to us that they were part of the legacy of Daniel and his three friends—though trained in all the "wisdom of the East," responsive and submitted to the one true God.
Let us Reason: Science or Science Fiction?
By Hugh Ross
Queries are beginning to come our way concerning some new models of the universe which seem to argue against the necessity of a Creator. An example would be the one published by J. Richard Gott, Nature, 295 (1982), 304-7. Gott suggests that our universe is merely a random bubble in an infinite primeval radiation field. Among those asking for assistance is Dr. Bill Craig (a philosopher-author whom some of you met during our summer lecture series), now ministering with Campus Crusade for Christ in Belgium. He observes that such "theories"—and here I use the word loosely—are gaining widespread interest and cannot be ignored.
By its very definition, science seeks to establish and to verify facts and general laws about the physical world. In my book Cosmology Confronts the Creator, I discuss those theories for the origin and development of the universe that are subject to observational tests.1 These tests, applied with increasing precision through the years, conclusively demonstrate the failure of "infinite" models to explain how the universe has come to be the way it is.
The accumulation of data has brought us to the standard big bang and the inflationary big bang models, both of which show the universe as beginning with a singularity—a point at which matter and energy are infinitely dense. Such models, which are compatible with all observations, continue to be strengthened and verified by new theorems on general relativity.2, 3
As amazing as it may seem, astronomers and physicists have a good understanding of the development of the universe back to 0.0000000000000000000000000000000001 seconds (i.e. 10-34 seconds) after the singularity, or after what most would be willing to call the creation event. They now possess a few tools which may enable them to probe back to the moment when the universe was only10-43 seconds old. However, we know of no way, at present, to test what happened before that time. Alan Guth, the inventor of the inflationary big bang, calculated that a particle accelerator at least 6 trillion miles long would be needed to do those tests. Such an instrument has little chance for funding in the foreseeable future.
The "period of ignorance" before 10-43 seconds has given rise, of late, to a veritable explosion of imaginative speculations about the origin of the universe. Most of them are variations on themes introduced by Richard Gott4 and by Francois Englert and his colleagues.5
Both Gott and Englert et al distance themselves from the dread singularity by putting it forever out of reach. In Gott's model, the density of the universe simply remains "on hold" from infinity past through the beginning of the inflationary period at10-43 seconds. In the model devised by Englert et al the density of the universe increases steadily from zero at infinity past to the much higher density at the start of the inflationary period.
Gott sets up his model in such a way that there is an infinite loss of information about events before 10-43 seconds. Thus, he says, we can never have any knowledge of this era. With this total loss of information, anything becomes possible, including "the ability to make an infinite number of universes."6 In this possibility for an infinite number of universes, some atheists see an opportunity to replace God with chance, or, more specifically, with random fluctuations of Gott's primeval radiation field.
The question remains, however: If the universe had zero information before 10-43 seconds, where did it acquire its subsequent high information state without the input of an intelligent, personal, Creator? A personal Creator is required, too, to explain where the primeval radiation field comes from.
For centuries atheists and agnostics have mocked Christians for their "God of the gaps," that is, for invoking divine miracles wherever man encountered gaps in his understanding of the way the physical universe works. Now we are seeing the reverse situation, the no-God of the gaps. It seems that scientists (and others) are relying on gaps, and in this case a miniscule gap, to give them a way around the obvious theistic implications of scientifically established facts. Perhaps we could say that they have gone too far, whether intentionally or not, in their dedication to the task of finding physical explanations for all phenomena.
In this life we will never learn (even with all the research funding in the world) everything there is to know about the universe. We will always face gaps in our knowledge. While those who criticized the "God-of-the-gaps" approach may have been justified, (after all, the Bible says there is sufficient evidence for God's existence and character in the things we see—Psalms 19 and Romans 1:18-20), we must now appeal to scientists to confine their hypotheses to those ideas that can be subjected to observational tests.
What I am saying about the case at hand is this: the burden of proof lies with those who suggest that physical conditions and/or the laws of physics were different in the period before 10-43 seconds.
Technical notes that accompanied my reply to Bill Craig are available to others on request. Also available is a tape of Bill's lecture entitled "Where Cause and Effect Began."
References
- Ross, Hugh. Cosmology Confronts the Creator. (Pasadena, California: Reasons to Believe, 1987), pp. 9-23.
- Hawking, Stephen W. and Ellis, George F. R. "The Cosmic Black-Body Radiation and the Existence of Singularities in our Universe," in Astrophysical Journal, 152. (1968), pp. 25-36.
- Hawking, Stephen and Penrose, Roger. "The Singularities of Gravitational Collapse and Cosmology," in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A, 314. (1970), pp. 529-548.
- Gott, J. Richard III. "Creation of Open Universes from de Sitter Space," in Nature, 295. (1982), pp. 304-307.
- Brout, R., Englert, F., and Spindel, P. "Cosmological Origin of the Grand-Unification Mass Scale," in Physical Review Letters, 43. (1979), pp. 417-420.
- Gott, J. Richard III, p. 306.
From the President's Desk
Dear friends,
A few weeks ago I received a call from a talented young film/video producer friend asking me to write a short piece about water for a project he's working on. As I pulled together the description of the various features and unique properties of that seemingly simple substance, two things struck me.
One is the marvel that a stable supply of liquid water, exceedingly rare in all this vast universe, exists in such abundance on planet Earth. The oceans themselves are a miracle. So is our well-balanced cycle of evaporation and condensation—clouds and rain.
The second is the beauty and significance of God's choice of water as a metaphor for the Holy Spirit. If you have traveled to Israel or to any other arid land where water so noticeably transforms what is dead and dusty, the word picture will carry all the more meaning for you.
You don't need a degree in science to realize that people and animals and plants can't survive without water. But did you know that water is the only solvent capable of supporting all the chemical reactions essential for life? And did you know that because water is most dense at a point slightly above freezing, it effectively moderates the temperature of the planet and protects life? Contemplation of these facts helps to magnify my awesome appreciation for the wisdom and power and love of our Creator.
I hope the same is true for each of you.
Sincerely,
Hugh Ross
Kids' Space
We are glad to learn of teens and younger people who are interested in Reasons To Believe. We want you to know how important you are to us, and we want to show you by giving you some space in each of our newsletters from now on. If you will send in your questions about God and the Bible and science, perhaps that are coming up in your classes at school, we will do our best to answer them. Write Reasons To Believe, P.O. Box 5978, Pasadena, CA 91107.
One excellent question has come to us from a five-year-old young lady named April who attended one of our outreaches. She asked, "Does God have a wife?"
Before you read our answer, consider for a minute what you might have said if she had asked you this question.
The Bible tells us that God is like a man in some ways. He thinks and does things and has feelings; He's a person. But in other ways He's different. He never does or says wrong things. He's never tired or lonely. He has all the good qualities of a husband and a wife, a dad and a mom, put together.
God certainly doesn't need a wife, but guess what? He decided to have one anyway. He's not married yet; He is engaged. But His wife is not going to be one woman. His wife is going to be you and me and all of us who give our lives completely to Him, the way a bride gives herself to the groom at a wedding. In heaven we well live with Him and love Him and He will live with us and love us and we won't hurt each other or be sad anymore. And we'll do fun things together, too. We really will know what it means to live happily ever after.
Right now, while we're engaged to God we have the chance to get to know Him really well and to get started on that wonderful relationship. We can talk to Him anytime. He's never too busy to listen and to tell us what's important to Him. He doesn't get mad and yell at us even when He must correct us. And He loves to hear us say that we love Him and likes to see us loving other people.
As I See It: A Matter of Interpretation
By Lynn Thompson
[graphic excluded]
Why are we Christians so often afraid of facts? As a geologist, I have learned that facts are not the cause of emotional responses, but the interpretation of facts is.
I remember sitting in my first geology class at Humboldt State, feeling anxious about what I was going to learn. I had spent the previous year working with geologists who challenged my faith almost daily. They "knew" there was no God because they could point to the billion-year-old mountains and to the "obvious" evolution of species, beginning with the simple single-celled organism which eventually "advanced into" man.
"A gaseous mass can be transformed into a living planet through a series of accidents without the help of God," they would tell me. I couldn't answer their questions about the earth, but neither could they answer my questions to them about their purpose in life, or about eternity. I sensed that deep in their hearts they wanted to believe that the God of the Bible is true, is real, but their scientific training had led them to conclude otherwise. So what were the facts on which they based their conclusion? I went back to school to find out.
After wading through classes in petrology, mineralogy, paleontology, historic geology, etc., and in spite of being surrounded by atheistic professors and students, the only conclusion I could honestly make was that there is a God. The fossil record and the stratigraphic sequences show nothing to disprove the God of the Bible, but rather they support the concept of a living earth specially designed and created by the hand of God. The problem lies somewhere else, not in the facts. I am convinced by my experience that if the focus of science education were more on the facts and less on promoting a particular interpretation of them, more people would come to the same conclusion I reached. "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,...and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16-17)—including the rocks!
Lynn works as a hydrogeologist for an engineering firm in Pasadena. She is nearing completion of her M.S. in geology. Between work and studies Lynn devotes time as a volunteer for Reasons to Believe. Because of her familiarity with the contents of our books, papers, and tapes, she makes an able assistant at our book table.
Puzzles & Paradoxes
For those of you who have been puzzling over the dots and the box from our first two issues of Facts & Faith, time is up. As you can see, the trick to solving the dot puzzle is simply to move outside the "boundaries" your mind may have erected around the dots. The puzzle has been shrunk, there, to fit on the page, but to solve the original, your lines had to extend beyond the limits of the page.
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The solution to the box puzzle is a bit more difficult. Here you must move from two dimensions to three. There is no way to solve this puzzle in two dimensions; However, as soon as you see the box as an object with depth, as well as with height and width, and see the possibility of moving a line through that third dimension, the problem is solved. Consider that the straight lines are the sides and dividers of a three-dimensional box on which you are looking straight down. The curing line is a string which you are threading through all sides and dividers. The dotted part of that line shows where you go behind (or in front of) the box to gain access to the one last divider or side through which your string must pass. You can thread the box in many different ways, as long as you go through each side / divider just once.
[graphic excluded]
Congratulations to those of you who solved one or both puzzles. We will igve you another in our next issue. May these little challenges encourage all of us to take a creative approach to difficult dilemmas in our daily living and learning.
Our paradox this time comes from one of our correspondents. J. L., from Rockford, Michigan, writes: "God cannot sin, yet he condoned the suicide of Samson and commended the handmaids who lied about the birth of the Hebrew boys. Jesus appears to have deceived the disciples (in John 7:6-10) by secretly going to the feast after telling them it was not his time to go. Perhaps there are times in this sin-laden world when a lie or disobedience to authorities or even murder may be exempt from being sin. What do you think?"
Perhaps you can think of other examples similar to those cited. In case you have misplaced the list of steps to paradox resolution given in our summer issue, we will repeat the list here. Which one(s) would you apply in answering J. L.? Our response will appear in the next Facts & Faith.
- Establish the correct frame of reference, or point of view, for the passage(s) under consideration.
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Correctly define the system(s) in question.
[Some examples of systems would be a family unity, a church, the heavens, the universe, Israel, etc.] - Make observations over a greater or lesser range of magnitudes, e.g. over a longer or shorter span of time, a smaller or larger geographical region, etc.
- Make observations over more dimensions or different dimensions, e.g. over three dimension rather than two, five instead of three, or over time and space rather than space alone, etc.
- Gather more detailed / more complete information.
Field Report
Hugh and company, some 16 volunteers altogether, have been on the move during the past few months. Some of the far-flung places to which they have traveled include Kingsburg, Hartland Camp, Victorville, Cypress, Newport Beach, Santa Barbara, Downey, Anaheim, Arrowhead Springs, and Orange, California, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Perhaps the best way we can report to you what God has done in people's lives at the various events is to pass along some of the comments individuals have made:
- "I am only 19 and I was going through a big period where I didn't know what to believe... Your speech has changed my whole outlook on life and God and all of mankind. Everything." —college student, Newport Beach, CA
- "The information you shared is just the kind of help and encouragement teachers need." —school superintendent, Bakersfield, CA
- "When I came here today, I was an atheist. Not anymore. You've given me a lot to think about, much more than I expected" —attorney, Orange, CA
- "I'm going through a difficult personal trial, feeling like my prayers aren't doing a thing. I came here today with BIG doubts and LITTLE hope. Your talk on extra dimensions has given me a whole new perspective on prayer and on the God to whom I'm praying. I've got a picture, now, of how He's able to deal with every situation in life." —high school teacher, San Bernardino, CA
- Students at Simon Greenleaf School of Law, business executives in Santa Barbara, and civic leaders in Victorville stayed for hours after Hugh's talk to ask questions and discuss issues. In some cases, future outreach events were planned on the spot.
- A special highlight for Hugh was the opportunity to address high school student body presidents from all over British Columbia gathered for a leadership conference in his hometown, Vancouver. Imagine the thrill of seeing young men and women who began by identifying themselves as atheists, agnostics, and "New Agers" abandon their false notions about reality and commit themselves to consider carefully the claims of Christ. Please pray for their spiritual protection as they make the most important decision of their lives.
[graphic excluded]
Tracey Johnson, Meghan Thompson, Lea Mahood, Sharon Dueck, Kriss Hellberg, Tekla Hendrickson, and Jill Godfrey at Student Leadership Summit '87, Four Seasons Hotel, Vancouver, B.C. They wrote "...the information you shared with us has deeply affected our thinking and stirred all of our hearts. Thank you. Please keep talking about the universe, creation, and all of those other truths with people (like ourselves) who can barely begin to grasp the concepts. Please don't get discouraged—we want to hear and understand!"
Accomplishments of the past quarter
- assistance in the launching of David Mowen's weekly radio broadcast, called "Skeptics Corner," over station KPRO, Riverside.
- preparation of two new outreach messages, one on the nearness of God and the other on the new science and changing world views.
- progress on two manuscripts and the securing of a contract for publication.
- transcription of the first of our tapes for broadcast into North Africa and the Middle East. A friend will deliver these in person before the end of the year.
- reorganization of our accounting and other procedures, and the addition of Mara Weber to our staff, to handle the near doubling of our correspondence and requests for materials.
Objectives for next quarter
- completion of the cosmology manuscript for publication.
- upgrading of virtually all our printed materials, including our catalog.
- development of neighborhood survey teams to gather information on people's acknowledge reasons for belief or unbelief in God and in His word.
- upgrading of our viewgraphs
- further work on the design of specialized outreach and training programs for particular interest/age groups—high schoolers, pastors, teachers, parents, and others. We welcome your suggestions.
A Word From the Editor
By Kathy Ross
Atheist. The word sends a cold shiver through me. To most people, I would guess, the word means "someone who denies (or disbelieves in) the existence of God." But did you know that the New Testament uses the word a little differently? In Ephesians 2:12, the only verse of the Bible where the word atheos appears, Paul uses the term to describe the Ephesian Christians before their regeneration by the Spirit of God. He reminds them that when they were separate from Christ they were "without hope and without God [atheos ] in the world."
In that sense, each one of us has been an "atheist" prior to forming an eternal bond with the eternal God. Even if we believed in God's existence, that belief was worthless, meaningless, empty, until it led to personal trust in Him. I know very few philosophical atheists—people who may acknowledge a "force" or "first cause" but not a personal deity—and fewer still dogmatic atheists—people who absolutely deny that God exists—but I know dozens of people who could be called practical atheists.1 They do not necessarily deny God's existence with their lips, but they live in complete indifference to His claims and in defiance of His ways. They ignore the living God in hot pursuit of the "gods of this age"—power, prestige, pleasure, etc.
You may be surprised to learn, as I was, that early Christians were often dubbed "atheists."2 Why? Because they refused to pay homage to the gods of Greco-Roman or any other pagan culture. Many of those early believers, including the apostles, suffered dearly for that refusal. I tend to run from suffering as much as anyone, but I want to be as whole-hearted and uncompromising as they were. And, like so many of you, I want to learn everything I can about communicating my faith convincingly, convictingly, to any kind of atheist God brings across my path.
References
- Feinberg, P. D. "Atheism," in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. edited by Elwell, Walter A. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1984), pp. 96-97.
- Kuiper, B. K. The Church in History. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 1964), pp. 9-10.
Meet our Staff
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Keeping track of the dollars and cents which keep this ministry rolling is the challenging assignment taken up by Zana Scheele. We thank God that Zana is strong in areas where the rest of us our weak—or at best, impatient. Zana not only manages our cash flow and financial records of all kinds, but she wades through the oceans of paperwork required to keep us in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service.
Zana comes to us with 12 years experience in cash management for Security Pacific Bank, where she began as a remittance clerk and ended as Vice President, Corporate Banking. She loved her work but put it aside two years ago when God gave her and husband Steve a son, Joel. Now this bright, athletic boy has a tiny sister, Stephanie, who blithely accompanies her mother to the office (a few blocks from home) and to the bank at least once a week.
In handling the fiscal matters of the ministry, such as paying bills and recording income, Zana says her faith gets boosted, time and again. Needs arise, and God provides—perfectly, miraculously, often from completely unexpected quarters. Believing that he will touch and change people's lives through the ministry grows easier all the time.
Zana's career skills in finance are enhanced by her hobby: shopping. When we want to know where to get the best for less, whether wallpaper, furnishings, clothes, shoes, or gifts, we ask Zana. She is especially familiar with sources in her hometown, Glendale, and its surrounding communities.
No, we are not giving out her phone number.
Pray-ers' Closet
Jesus encourages his disciples to "ask..., seek..., and knock..." (Matt. 7:7). "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus," says I Thess. 5:16-18. Again in Philippians 4:6 we are told, "...in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."
With clear instructions such as these, not to mention the accompanying promises, how can we help but be earnest and enthusiastic about prayer—with thanksgiving—in everything we do. Prayer is work. It is active, not passive. And it yields rich rewards as it draws us deeper into our relationship with God.
We are grateful for the men and women who set aside time on a regular basis to pray and praise for the opportunities and needs facing REASONS TO BELIEVE. Special thanks go to Bruce and Charlotte Douglas, who launched the prayer team as the ministry was getting started. They have served fervently, faithfully, for over a year. May God bless them abundantly as they now intensify their efforts to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with Muslim friends, an outreach that has been dear to their hearts for years.
God has raised up some excellent candidates to fill this strategic role, and we anticipate announcing their names to you in our next newsletter. Meanwhile, prayer has not ceased. Our pray-ers continue to meet at 154 West Sierra Madre Boulevard, in Sierra Madre, on the third Monday of each month, at 7:30 P.M., under the interim leadership of Roberta Loutsenhizer. Roberta prepares a monthly praise-and-request bulletin for the team to guide us in our communication with God. We invite you to join us.
For those interested in a unique spiritual adventure, we announce a 24-hour Prayerfest, perhaps more appropriately called a "Prayer-fast," scheduled for January 8-9. Participants will begin fasting and praying individually Friday evening; then we will meet together Saturday, mid-morning, to continue praying as a group. The fast ends Saturday evening with the sharing of communion and a celebration feast. To assist us in planning, we ask that you R.S.V.P. to Roberta before January 3 at (626) 355-6058. She will be happy to provide you with a set of notes and guidelines on fasting prepared by Hugh.
Materials Spotlight
A new tape, titled "The Nearness of God," has been added to our catalog. In this Sunday morning message to worshipers at Sierra Madre Congregational Church, Hugh introduces Mr. and Mrs. Flat and other object lessons to help people grasp the practical, personal implications of God's multi-dimensional reality. Catalog number for this item is A8726.
In our last issue of Facts & Faith, two new papers were introduced, one by Dr. Walter L. Bradley, entitled "Thermodynamics and the Origin of Life," and another by Dr. Charles B. Thaxton, entitled "DNA, Design, and the Origin of Life." Both papers give potent arguments for God's direct involvement in the creation of living things.
To demonstrate just how readable a scholarly paper can be, we excerpted Dr. Bradley's paper in last time, and we give you a sampling of Dr. Thaxton's paper here:
". . .As you travel through various parts of the United States, you may come across unusual rock formation. If you consult a tourists' guide, you will learn that such shapes result when more than one type or rock makes up the formation. Because their mineral composition varies, some rocks are softer than others. Rain and wind erode the soft parts of the formation faster than the hard parts, leaving the harder sections protruding. In this way, the formation may take on an unlikely shape. It may even come to resemble a familiar object life a face.
"In other words, the formation may look as tho8ugh it were deliberately carved. However, on closer inspection, say from a different angle, you notice the resemblance is only superficial. The shape invariably accords with what erosion can do, acting on the natural qualities of the rock (soft parts worn away, hard parts protruding). you therefore conclude that the rock formed naturally, Natural forces suffice to account for the shape you see.
"Now let's illustrate a different kind of order. Say in your travels you visit Mount Rushmore. Here you find four faces on the granite cliff. These faces do not follow the natural composition of the rock: chip marks cut across both the hard and soft sections. These shapes do not resemble anything you have seen resulting from erosion. In this case the shape of the rock is not the result of natural processes. Rather, you infer from uniform experience that an artisan has been at work. The four faces were intelligently imposed onto the material.
"None of us finds it difficult to distinguish between these two kinds of order, the one produced naturally and the other by intelligence. To come back to the argument from design, the question is: which kind of order do we find in nature?
"If we find only the firs kind, then our conclusion will be that natural causes suffice to explain the universe as we see it today. An intelligent cause, if there is one, is merely a distant First Cause. it is a deistic kind of God who created matter with certain tendencies and then stood back to let these work themselves out mechanically.
"If, on the other hand, we find any instances of the second kind of order, the kind products by intelligence, these will be evidence of the activity of an intelligent cause. Science itself would then point beyond the physical world to its origin in an intelligent source . . ."
If you wish to order these or any other materials, please write or phone our office at P.O. Box 5978, Pasadena, CA 91107, (626) 355-6058, or simply use the response card enclosed to obtain a copy of our catalog.
Readers Write
...As an evangelical Christian and sitting federal judge, I was most interested in the progress of the case of Edwards v. Aguillard. I believe the Supreme Court decision in this case is a tragic mistake and when one reads the concurring opinion of Justice Powell, one cannot help but feel that the faulty science...substantially contributed to this result.
I am thankful to find in your writings, a cogent treatment of divine creation in the context of generally accepted scientific observations and principles...
--Hon. J.L.G., Columbus, Ohio
...Roberta, your personal story of "Hope" [offered in our Fall 1987 issue] will be a great encouragement to many men and women.
--J.W.D., San Diego, CA
. . . God is surely using you to fill what seemed to be a terrific void in ministering both to those who ask tough questions, and to those who need to be asking . . .
--K.C., Duarte, CA
I am a born again Christian excitedly interested in the sum of information that is available to me through the Reasons ?To Believe organization. I am presently incarcerated here at C.R.C. prison. The Lord has given me a strong desire to know the evidences and proofs of his word, so I am seeking knowledge. Anything that would be beneficial to prove the validity of the scriptures' truths and creation by God would really bless me . . . P.S. I heard you on KKLA.
--L.D.O., Norco, CA
We follow your ministry with much interest!
--D.&S.M., Mairobi, Kenya
Calendar of Events
Those who live within easy driving distance of Sierra Madre (adjacent to Pasadena) may wish to know that Hugh Ross teaches a Sunday morning Bible class, currently studying the book of Revelation. The class meets each week at 9:45 A.M. in the Park House, corner of Sierra Madre Boulevard and Hermosa Avenue, in Sierra Madre (across the street from Sierra Madre Congregational Church). All ages are welcome. For more information call Tom and Jeannette Leslie, (626) 446-2376.
December 5: Hugh to speak on "New Proofs for God's Existence" and respond to challenges from a panel of atheists in the theatre at Cypress College, 9200 Valley View, Cypress, CA. Start time is 7:30 P.M.
December 6: John Morris, of the Institute for Creation Research, and Hugh to be guests of John Stewart on his live broadcast, "Let's Talk About the Bible," 3-6 P.M., KKLA, 99.5 FM in Los Angeles.
December 11: Hugh to speak on "Cosmology Confronts the Creator" at a lunch-hour meeting of Hughes Aircraft employees in Buena Park, CA.
December 13: Glenray Productions' taping of a television special titled "New Age, New Nothing." Hugh has been invited to participate on a panel of commentators.
January 6-7: Two evening outreaches, 7-9 P.M., at the Apple Valley Community Center. The first night Hugh will speak on the transcendence of God, the second night, on the personality of God. For details contact Jerry and Jan Sooter, (619) 247-7026.
January 8-9: REASONS TO BELIEVE "Prayerfest," a time of prayer and fasting for the ministry—staff and volunteers, prayer and financial supporters, programs, and people we hope to reach. (See more details in the Pray-ers' Closet column, p.___.) R.S.V.P. (626) 355-6058 by January 3.
January 20: Lunch-hour meeting at Aerospace Corporation. Hugh will speak on "New Proofs for God's Existence."
January 22: Breakfast meeting of the Newport Beach Christian Businessmen's Committee, 7 A.M., at the Balboa Yacht Club. Hugh will tell his personal story of faith in Christ.
January 22-24: Creation Seminar at Calvary Church of Santa Ana, 1010 North Tustin Avenue. Hugh will speak Friday evening, 7 P.M., on "Cosmology Confronts the Creator;" Saturday morning, 9 A.M. (following continental breakfast at 8:15), on "Science v. Genesis;" and Sunday evening, 6 P.M., on "The Christian Walk in the Eighth Dimension." A children's program is planned for Friday and Sunday evenings. Coordinators for the event are Jeff and Joy Oviedo, (714) 548-4406.
January 26: Slideshow entitled "Journey to the Edge of the Universe," narrated by Hugh, for students, teachers, and parents at Trinity Lutheran School, 4101 East Nohl Ranch Road, Anaheim.
January 30: Banquet for Fairfax Unified School District teachers and their guests, 6 P.M., at Hodel's Restaurant in North Bakersfield. Hugh will speak on "God and the New Cosmology." For information and reservations phone the district office at (805) 366-7221.
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