Nature and the Universe - design
not coincidence
part 2
Close
to six thousand years ago a new world was created. Where there had been
nothing, there was all of a sudden over a matter of six days a world
full of life.
There
was a world full of living breathing life-forms many of which were
capable of thinking for themselves. When one considered each life-form
it would be found that each one had been created according to a set of
perfect plans. And each design was so intricate that it could not be
duplicated by anyone but the creator Himself. Indeed this entire
creation was so magnificent that it would make those who consider it
feel small and insignificant in comparison with the one who had created
this. One couldn't help but feel awestruck at the magnificence and glory
of He who created such a intricately designed system of life.
In the
previous part we looked at God’s creation on days one to three. Let’s
now look at days four and five.
Day Four
This is
how the Bible describes the fourth day of creation:
And
God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the
day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days
and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give
light on the earth’. And it was so. God made two great lights – the
greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the
night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to
give light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was
evening, and there was morning – the fourth day.
1
The
glory of the stars and the planets speaks for it's self when you look at
the sheer magnificence of these bodies.
The
power of the Sun
The
sun sits in the middle of our solar system and uses its gravitational
pull to keep nine, possibly ten planets, revolving around it. Consider
some of the statistics involving the sun - they are mind boggling. Even
more so when one thinks of the power that God must have, to be able to
create something like it, not just once, but billions and billions of
times over throughout the universe.
-
The
sun has a diameter of a little under one million four hundred
thousand kilometres. This compares with the Earth's 14,000
kilometres. So the sun is nearly one hundred times larger than the
Earth.
-
The
surface temperature is believed to be about 6000 degrees centigrade
and it is thought that at its core it is about 20 million degrees
centigrade.
Just
think about the might of a creator that can produce something like this.
And the sun is by no means the biggest star known to man. There are some
stars that are many times bigger than the sun. It is quite amazing to
think of objects the size of these stars when we live in our little
world in the city we live in.
To give
a comparison of the sun with the Earth, there was giant flare of heat
and microwaves from the sun during world war two that managed to
temporarily knock out Britain's entire radar system. How small and
trivial are man’s creations in comparison with the creations of God.
The
eclipse – had to be planned for it to work
There
are many things that point toward a great creator when we think about
the heavens.
Perhaps
one of the most amazing facts is what we know as the eclipse. This is
where the moon comes between the Earth and the Sun and covers the sun
for a few moments so that there is no light. Whilst this is amazing in
itself it is even more amazing to find out how it happens:
The
moon fits snugly over the sun, thus causing the eclipse. The moon is
just large enough to cover the sun completely as seen from the earth.
The reason it fits snugly over the sun is that the sun is 400 times
bigger than the moon and the amazing thing is that the sun is also 400
times as far from the Earth as the moon is from the earth. Because these
two factors tie in with each other, the moon will fit exactly over the
sun so as to give us a total eclipse. For these two factors to tie in,
it can not be a coincidence, it can only be the work of a great creator.
Day Five
The
fifth day of creation is described in these words:
And
God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly
above the earth across the expanse of the sky. So God created the great
creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the
water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according
to its kind." And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said,
“Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and
let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there
was morning – the fifth day. 2
The
perfect design of the bird
Here
we see God creating the first birds of the sky and fish of the sea. God
gave birds a suitable wing surface and warm-bloodedness, for it was with
these two factors only that birds would be able to fly. An efficient
digestion system provides the energy required for flight and for keeping
the body warm, and the high body temperature increases the action of
nerves and muscles. The huge breast muscles, anchored to the breastbone
provide the power of flight, but the rest of the body was created to be
light as possible. This has been done by making birds bones hollow and
some of the bones have been fused together to give strength with
lightness.
Birds
range in size from the tiny bee hummingbird of Cuba, which comes in at 2
½ inches in length. To the eight foot long Ostrich.
God
designed birds with many different types of beaks and other body
features. He did this according to the type of food that the bird was
going to eat. So because of this we have the slender wings of swifts
that chase flying insects, we have the broad wings of the soaring eagle,
the webbed feet of a duck or penguin or we have the acute hearing of an
owl which has to hunt in the dark. Think about the Hummingbird for a
moment. The ruby-throated hummingbird beats its wings as the incredibly
rapid speed of fifty to seventy times a second. If a 170 pound man
expended energy at the rate of the Hummingbird, he would have to eat 285
pounds of hamburger or twice his weight in potatoes each day in order to
maintain his weight! There are many factors that tell us of the
existence of a great creator when we look at birds – consider the
following examples.
Examples
of the amazing design of birds:
a.
Geese
Migrating geese fly in V
formation to save energy. A goose's wings churn the air and leave an air
current behind. In the flying wedge, each bird is in position to get a
lift from the current by the bird ahead. it is easier going for all,
except the leader. During a migration, geese are apt to take turns in
the lead position.
b. The
Hummingbird
The ruby-throated
hummingbird beats it's wings at the incredibly rapid speed of fifty to
seventy times a second. If a 170-pound man expended energy at the rate
of the hummingbird, he would have to eat 280 pounds of hamburger or
twice his weight in potatoes each day in order to maintain his weight.
c. The Red-headed
Woodpecker of Canada
The Red-headed Woodpecker
of Canada is always a good bird to look at to show the wonder of God's
design and it is also good for pecking holes into the theory of
evolution!
The red-necked woodpecker
will eat ants, wasps, beatles, grasshoppers, crickets, moths and many
other insects. Most of these insects it finds either on trees or inside
trees.
To get at the insect it
pecks into the bark of the tree. In order to do this it needs to have a
specially designed body :
|
1 |
It needs
a thick skull |
How long could
the woodpecker peck without scrambling it's brains if it's
head wasn't protected from then continual jarring? So,
appropriately, the brain is housed in a specially ribbed
skull, reinforced with tiny cross-braces to protect the
brain. |
|
2 |
It has a
specialised tongue - so as to snake out insects. |
The tongue
goes out under the jaw, over the head and into the right
nostril (leaving the left nostril for breathing). It needs a
long tongue so that it can search out the insects in the
wood. |
|
3 |
It has a
powerful beak. |
The woodpecker
is able to hit trees without wearing out at 100 shots a
minute. |
|
4 |
It has special
connective tissues |
It
uses these to serve as a shock absorber to cushion the blows
between the beak and skull. It is not found in other birds. |
|
5 |
It has
tough neck muscles. |
All that
banging it does all day requires a super support system. The
red-headed woodpecker has just the right muscle placement
and strength to deliver furious jack-hammer blows. |
|
6 |
It possesses
short powerful legs. |
It needs these
so that maximum leverage can be utilised tom hit the tree
hard enough to chip out wood. |
|
7 |
Strong toes |
it has
vice-like toes - two in front and two in back so that it can
grasp the rough bark in trees. |
|
8 |
Special tail feathers |
It
possesses specialised tail feathers which terminate in sharp
barbs which serve as a tripod or prop against trees. |
God has given this bird
all these special features so that it can carry out the way it needs to
feed itself. At the same time it is also ridding the trees of insects
that could potentially destroy them.
Fish
Fish
were also created on the same day as birds.
Fish
were created as cold blooded animals which breathed by means of gills
and which propelled themselves by fins supported on a bony skeleton. Of
the fish, there is around 22,000 different kinds of fish living today.
There are many factors that tell us of the existence of a great creator
when we look at fish – consider the following examples.
Examples
of the amazing designs of Marine animals:
a. The sea urchin
One may
think of the sea urchin when it comes to ingenuity. Some sea urchins are
so shy of light that they know to pick up pebbles and hold them up so
that it cast a shadow if they should be caught in a beam of light.
b. The Sponge
A species of sponge,
called the red sponge, can be pushed through a piece of fabric so that
it is broken into thousands of tiny pieces. The animal however does not
die: rather, all the pieces reassemble until the sponge is back to its
original, whole self and continues with its life.
c. The Giant Squid
The giant squid continues
to grow as long as it lives. Some specimens reach 50 feet from the tip
of the tentacles to the end of the tail.
d. The Electric
Eel
The electric eel is one of
the most dangerous electric fish, with an average discharge of 400
volts. More than half of it's body is given over to electrical
production.
e. The globefish
The globefish staves off
predators by gulping a large quantity of water, till it becomes simply
too large to be swallowed by it's enemies.
f. Sharks
Sharks can be dangerous
even before they are born. One scientist was bitten by a sand tiger
shark embryo while he was examining its pregnant mother.
g. Sea Urchins
So shy of strong lights
are some sea urchins that they pick up pebbles and hold them up to cast
shadows when caught in flash-light beams.
Conclusion
Part three of this
article looks at the sixth day of creation. This is the day when God
created land animals and then man.
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