Today’s New Reason To Believe

Another Origin-of-Life Theory
Air date: 7-31-07
Fuz Rana, Dave Rogstad, Kenneth Samples, and Joe Aguirre

• Discussion
  • Analysis of an article in Biology Direct hypothesizing the multiverse as a solution to the origin-of-life problem
    • Eugene V. Koonin, “The Cosmological Model of Eternal Inflation and the Transition from Chance to Biological Evolution in the History of Life,” Biology Direct 2:15 (May 31, 2007).
      • Resources
  • Origins of Life, by Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross
  • The Creator and the Cosmos, 3^rd ed., by Hugh Ross
  • Read Jeff Zweerink’s ongoing series on multiverse theory
  • Listen to the July 10 and July 17, 2007 episodes of Creation Update
• Call-in questions
  • Odis from Belleville, TX:
    • What does RTB think of self-organization?
      • Resource
  • Robert Shapiro, “A Simpler Origin for Life,” *Scientific American, *abstract. June 2007, 47-53.
  • James from Phoenix:
    • Did cosmic rays bring about Ordovician extinctions?
  • Trey from San Diego:
    • Can information be added to DNA by plasmids?
  • Ed from Des Moines, IA:
    • Does detection of dark matter refute naturalism?
  • Brad from Mesa, AZ:
    • How do biologists account for the origin and history of plant life?
  • Roger from Portland, ME:
    • Several questions, including: When did death and decay occur in relation to Adam’s sin?

Worldview Thinking

Air date: 7-24-07
Dave Rogstad and Kenneth Samples

• Discoveries
  • Worldview Thinking
    • Resource
      • A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test, by Kenneth R. Samples
    • Resources on predestination
      • Saved By Grace, by Anthony Hoekema
      • Chosen But Free, by Norman Geisler
      • Beyond the Cosmos, 2^nd Edition, by Hugh Ross
    • Resource on Gnosticism
      • Judas and the Gospel of Jesus :Have We Missed the Truth about Christianity? by N. T. Wright
• Call-in questions
  • Ed from Des Moines, IA:
    • Has anyone investigated the accuracy of the Gnostic bible as compared to the cannon of the Bible as we know it?
  • Todd from Dallas, TX:
    • What is RTB’s stance on general revelation and salvation?
  • Michael from Salem, OR:
    • What are RTB’s thoughts on predestination?
      • Michael recommends a new book, The Case for the Real Jesus: A Journalist Investigates Current Attacks on the Identity of Christ, by Lee Strobel
  • Roger from Portland, ME:
    • Will “the theory of everything” explain why the universe is so finely tuned?
  • Joe from Bismark ND:
    • Is God an authoritarian or just a friend?

Did the Universe Have a Beginning?

Air date: 7-10-07
Jeff Zweerink, Dave Rogstad, and Joe Aguirre

• Discussion
  • Analysis of the Kalam cosmological argument and other theories
    • What is the Kalam argument?
    • What is the cosmological argument?
  • Scholars referred to a presentation by James Sinclair
    • James D. Sinclair, “The Physical Substantiation of the Kalam Argument,” ppt presentation at Evangelical Philosophical Society, New Orleans Meeting, February 23, 2007.
      • Resources
        • The Creator and the Cosmos,, 3rd ed., by Hugh Ross
        • Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose, “The Singularities of Gravitational Collapse and Cosmology,” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A, 314 (1970), 529-48.
• Call-in questions
  • Ronnie from Naples, FL:
    • Is there a way to resolve OE/YE debates over the first three days of creation given that these events took place during “nontime”?
  • Roger from Portland, ME:
    • Several questions on the multiverse, and a comment on young-Earth arguments
• Email questions
  • Mark B.:
    • Could information arise accidentally in a type-I multiverse?
  • Robert Knox:
    • Are there any proposed time-frames for when the universe achieved infinite size?
      • Article referenced:
        • Martin A. Bucher and David N. Spergel, “Inflation in a Low-Density Universe,” Scientific American January 1999, 62-69.
  • Dan Morris from Ovid, MI:
    • Can you reconcile how we know that space dust, clouds, or whatever, aren’t a reason for any given standard candle’s light to appear dimmer to us, therefore giving a false estimate of its distance from Earth?
  • Blake from Dallas:
    • Given that the chances of a universe existing with a cosmological constant that permits life are only 1 in 10¹²⁰, could these values have been any other way given that we have a sample size of one?