Today’s New Reason To Believe

by Hugh Ross

Many independent sets of observations confirm that only about six percent of all the ordinary matter (neutrons and protons) in the universe is made up of stars and stellar remnants.¹ The other 94 percent is dark. While astronomers have verified that enormous quantities of ordinary dark matter exist as dispersed intergalactic gas, they have yet to positively identify a totally dark structure of galactic proportions.

The existence of ordinary dark matter structures on galactic, or at least dwarf galactic scales, is a crucial component of the biblically predicted big bang creation model,² which appears to best fit the observations, namely the cold dark matter big bang model. Therefore, the discovery of a dark matter structure of galactic proportions would be a big boost for a biblically consistent cosmic creation model.

A team of thirteen astronomers from Chile, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States found such a dark galaxy in the Virgo cluster of galaxies.³ In a low-resolution map of the Virgo cluster at radio wavelengths they found a neutral hydrogen line (21-centimeter wavelength) emitter with a broad line width that was unaccompanied by any light-radiating source. The team re-imaged that part of their map using the high-resolution Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope in the Netherlands. What they discovered was a dark, edge on, spinning disk manifesting the diameter and mass of a typical spiral galaxy. Furthermore, they noted that the luminous spiral galaxy, NGC 4254, is located very close to the dark rotating disk and possesses an “odd one-armed morphology” that can only be explained by a nearby massive perturber. The one possible candidate in the vicinity of NGC 4254 is the dark disk discovered by the team. Finally, the team confirmed that their discovered disk is indeed truly dark when they used the Hubble Space Telescope to search for possible faint stars associated with the disk’s 21-centimeter emission. They found none.

The team not only produced a convincing case for the existence of a “dark galaxy,” they also demonstrated that astronomers very likely have been overlooking the possible existence of dark galaxies elsewhere. They propose a targeted research program to search for and identify such galaxies. Such a program would enable astronomers to develop a much more detailed model for the creation and history of the universe and, consequently, more rigorous tests of the biblical cosmic creation model. We at Reasons To Believe are thrilled that doubts expressed by atheists and young-earth creationists about the dark matter component of the big bang creation model are being convincingly answered. We also predict that any forthcoming more-detailed models of the creation and history of the universe arising from future dark galaxy discoveries will prove to be a beautiful match with the Bible’s story of the universe’s beginning and development.

1. Masataka Fukugita and P. J. E. Peebles, “The Cosmic Energy Inventory,” Astrophysical Journal, 616 (December 1, 2004): 643-68.
2. Hugh Ross, The Creator and the Cosmos, 3rd ed. (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2001): 23-29.
3. Robert Minchin et al., “21 cm Synthesis Observations of VIRGOHI 21—A Possible Dark Galaxy in the Virgo Cluster,” Astrophysical Journal 670 (December 1, 2007): 1056-64.

David H. Rogstad, Ph.D.

That’s a rather intolerant statement, especially in light of how much broken marriages permeate our culture, even among those who attend church. However, while the Bible does express God’s disdain for divorce, students of the Scriptures have explained that it is not so much God’s lack of love towards those involved in failed marriages, but rather a startling way to communicate how much harm divorce generates in our lives and the lives of our children. Not the least of these destructive side effects is the damage it does to the picture of marriage as an exhibit of Christ’s love for his bride, the church.

A study published in the December 2007 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (see abstract here) provides another example of the damaging effects of divorce, this one on the environment. Using data from a variety of sources (usually censuses), the authors of this study show a number of consequences coming from the rapid increase of divorces in the past 30 to 40 years.

First, the size (number of people) of divorced households (households with divorced heads) is 36 to 50 percent smaller than married households (households with married heads). This leads to a second effect, namely more households. The authors conclude that if the divorced households represented in the study had combined to reach the size of married households, the total number of households could have been reduced by about 7.4 million, or 3.3 percent. The third effect revealed in the study is that divorced households consume more resources (water, land, and energy) per person than married households. This is due to the greater degree of inefficiency present in smaller households. Combined with the first two effects, we find, in the words of the authors, “that divorce escalates the consumption of increasingly limited resources.” They calculated that these extra households resulted in the additional consumption of 38 million rooms, 73 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, and 627 billion gallons of water in 2005 alone.

Additionally, the authors show that remarriage increased household size and began to reverse some of these effects. They also note that there are other mechanisms besides divorce that bring about the same adverse effects, including the decline of multigenerational households, delays in marriage, and increases in the number of empty-nesters and separated couples. The wisdom we find in Scripture is often multi-faceted. Sometimes it takes a lot of time and a few hard knocks for us to fully appreciate the practicality and goodness of God’s commands. As Jeremiah 29:11 reminds us, God’s plans for humanity are meant “to prosper [us] and not to harm [us].”

Posted by Fazale ‘Fuz’ Rana, Ph.D.

Fossil evidence reveals that evolutionary change is seldom directional.

As a parent, one of my biggest concerns is that my children have a direction for their lives. I don’t want them to waste time aimlessly going through life.

Unfortunately for the evolutionary paradigm, new research indicates that the fossil record has lost its direction. But this loss of direction isn’t bad for a different paradigm. This new insight adds to the evidence indicating that life’s history has a purpose orchestrated by a Creator.

One of the key pieces of evidence cited in support of biological evolution is the fossil record. Evolutionary biologists point out that: 1) the fossil record shows that past life on Earth is different than life today; and 2) simple life preceded complex life-forms. For many scientists these general features indicate that life on Earth must have evolved.

These observations, however, could just as easily be accounted for by evoking the work of a Creator who created in stages, bringing different life-forms into existence at different times in Earth’s history. This pattern accords with the Genesis 1 and Psalm 104 creation accounts.

What about the specific features of the fossil record? Can these patterns find explanation within a creation model context? Or are they best understood within an evolutionary framework?

Given a Darwinian mechanism, it’s expected that the fossil record should display gradual transformations replete with corresponding transitional forms. Over the last 30 years or so paleontologists have debated whether or not the fossil record truly displays this pattern. In the early 1970s, Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge argued that the fossil record fails to show gradual evolutionary transformations. Instead these two paleontologists maintained that evolutionary change happens suddenly and then periods of stasis, or no evolutionary change, follow. They termed this idea punctuated equilibrium.

Ironically, the pattern proposed by Gould and Eldredge—punctuated equilibrium—is consistent with the work of a Creator and matches the pattern for the fossil record predicted by the RTB creation model. Since its proposal, punctuated equilibrium has been a controversial idea, provoking much debate among scientists about the actual patterns observed in the fossil record.

A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences addresses this controversy. The researcher conducting the study examined 250 documented cases in which biological traits were monitored in fossil lineages, statistically assessing the percentage of 1) directional change; 2) random walk; and 3) stasis. He noted that only 5% of the fossil lineages showed directional change while roughly 45% displayed random walks and about 45% stasis. (The 5% of cases displaying directional change most likely represents an overestimate due to a selection effect. Paleontologists are more likely to study fossil lineages that show change than those remaining static.)

In addition to these overarching trends, the statistical analysis also uncovered specific patterns. It turns out that stasis is much more prominent for features related to shape. In contrast, directional trends are more likely to involve changes in body size. Likewise, planktonic microfossils (visible under a microscope) showed a more pronounced tendency to experience directional changes than macroscopic (visible to the naked eye) fossil lineages. More often than not, macroscopic forms displayed stasis.

The statistical analysis supports the central claim of punctuated equilibrium and indicates that directional change in fossil lineages is quite limited.

The patterns uncovered by the study are also consistent with a Creator’s work in life’s history. Organisms created in an optimal state would be expected to experience stasis because virtually any change would cause them to lose fitness. Random walks observed in the fossil lineage could be interpreted as genetic drift and the few cases of directional change are consistent with microevolutionary changes in organismal size or evolutionary advance of microscopic creatures with large population sizes.

The patterns uncovered by this study are provocative in light of the analysis of life’s history conducted by biologist Eugene Koonin, discussed previously. Koonin demonstrated that life’s history is best described as a sequence of biological big bangs with little, if any, evidence for intermediate forms.

Still, can punctuated equilibrium account for the patterns observed in the fossil record without evoking the Creator’s hand?

I will discuss this question next week.