Jane Goodall's Search For Hope

Where do you find hope? Christians find their hope outside themselves in the sure promises of God in Jesus Christ. These promises are found throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

But what happens to our hope when we decide to be selective about what we want to believe of the Bible's teachings and/or when we add other beliefs that are not from the Bible?

One good example of what happens can be found in Jane Goodall's autobiography, Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey.

Goodall became famous for living with and studying chimpanzees in Tanzania. While her family doesn't appear to have had a strong Christian faith, Jane's grandmother is described as having a very deep faith and wishing the same for Jane.

By her own accounting, by the time she was in her teens, Jane decided she would be selective about the Bible's teachings, believing what she wanted and discarding the rest. Then she started adding beliefs from non-Christian religions to her belief system. She admits that this left her with the problem of where to find hope.

In her autobiography, Goodall writes that she finally found four reasons for hope. They include: the human brain, the resilience of nature, the indomitable human spirit and the energy and enthusiasm of young people. But, we add, in a sinful world, all of these things are more likely to lead to suffering than to provide hope.

Our only real hope is found in Jesus Christ and His victory over sin, death and the devil.

References: World, 10/30/99, "Scientists need faith." Creation Moments 2008

2009 Christian Nature

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4

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Does The Rook Bird Prove The Legend of the Phoenix?

The legend of the phoenix goes back thousands of years. According to that legend, the phoenix bird lived for hundreds of years in the Arabian Desert. Then, to renew itself, it burned itself up in its own funeral pyre. It would then rise from its own ashes, renewed for several hundred years.

Dr. Maurice Burton, a British naturalist, has suggested that this legend may have some basis in fact. He points out that some birds like to play with fire. The British rook is a bird that is a little larger than a crow. When Dr. Burton hands a rook at his nature preserve an unlit match, the rook holds the match so it can peck at it. Once the rook gets the match to light, it quickly puts the burning match under its wing, appearing to want to set itself on fire.

When supplied with straw and a match, the rook will set the straw on fire and then lie, wings outstretched, on the burning straw until the fire goes out. It is possible that in ancient times people saw this behavior and developed the legend of the phoenix to explain what they saw.

Dr. Burton points out that this behavior is common among intelligent birds, such as rooks and jays, who pick up discarded cigarettes that are still burning and fly off with them. It is even likely that this strange behavior is responsible for many house fires. While the legend of the phoenix may be a misinterpretation of a real event, we can trust that the Bible accurately records real creation events.

References: Toledo Blade, 10/8/59, "Phoenix Rises Again In Bird Fire Addicts." Creation Moments 2008

2009 Christian Nature

And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete…Acts 27:12a

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How Long Have Shoes Been Around?

If you were to venture a guess, how long would you say shoes have been around? The answer may surprise you!

While evolutionists portray early man as unskilled and primitive, the Bible portrays him as skilled and sophisticated, even by today's standards.

Martin Luther, in describing Adam before the fall, said that we today would probably consider him to be a type of superman.

The Bible's view of ancient man was supported when researchers found a collection of 18 shoes and sandals in the Arnold Research Cave in central Missouri. While some of the shoes were dated at about 1,000 years old, others have been radiocarbon-dated at many thousands of years old.

The shoes impressed researchers with their excellent design. Two of them are made of leather; the rest are made of plant fibers. They include both sandals and slip-ons. Those woven from plant fibers are equally sophisticated, whether they are only 1,000 years old or many thousands of years old. Left-and right-foot shoes and sandals are easily evident, and some even show toe impressions.

Archaeologist Michael J. O'Brian of the University of Missouri at Columbia summed up the quality of the footwear, saying, "These people certainly knew what they were doing."

The shoes were so well designed that there was no need to improve the design over thousands of years. This supports the biblical view of man's history. Man's skill and intelligence were gifts of God from the beginning.

This story is no surprise to me. I know 'God don't make no junk!'

References: Science News, 7/4/98, "Ancient North Americans shoes step to fore." Daily News, 7/9/98, "Ancient shoes show fashion is nothing new."

2009 Christian Nature

And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Exodus 3:5

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How Long Does It Take to Make a Fossil?

How long does it take to make a fossil? Walk through just about any museum and you will find fossils with explanations saying that they are "millions of years old." Many people find this claim plausible since the fossils are often from creatures very different from those we see today. And for many people, this is convincing evidence that the story of the evolution of life over millions of years is true. These fossils convince many that young earth creationism is wrong.

This line of evolutionary thinking would be shown to be completely invalid if it could be demonstrated that fossils don't need millions of years to form.

While most fossils don't come with labels that allow you to work out their age, a recent fossil find off the coast of Victoria, Australia, does. It is a ship's bell, firmly encased in solid rock.

In former times, ship's bells carried the name of the ship on which they served. Found in about three feet of water, this fossil identifies itself as being from the sailing ship Isabella Watson, which sank off that coast in 1852. That means that this fossil, and the rock in which it is encased, is less than 150 years old!

This is but one of several examples of young fossils. Each of these young fossils demonstrates that it does not take millions of years for fossils to form. Every fossil ever found fits easily within the time line provided by young earth creationism. HMM


References: Creation, March May 1998, p.6 Creation Moments 2008

2009 Christian Nature



The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation! 2 Samuel 22:47

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Beetles Love Bitter Substances - Yuck!

At least one ninth of all 900 species of gourds produce chemicals known as cucurbiticins. The 10 cucurbiticins so far identified are the most bitter substances known to human taste.

In tests, subjects were able reliably to identify amounts as diluted at one part per billion! Cucurbiticins are also poisonous. Livestock have been known to die from eating gourds containing the chemical. But most plant eaters, including insects, know to stay away from the gourds that contain this chemical.

Despite the bitterness of cucurbiticins, a family of 1,500 species of beetles, including cucumber beetles, love to eat the chemical. They can detect the chemical in plants several yards away, or even further if the gourd is injured. When these beetles find a gourd with the chemical in it, researchers say they almost seem compulsive about eating it. As a test, researchers laced tiny grains of sand with cucurbiticins. The beetles actually ate the sand!

Much of the bitterness in our lives comes when we try to live life by our own rules rather than the rules of our Creator. Think of the Bible as an owner's manual for your life on Earth. Not only does it tell us how God designed us to live, but it tells us of our Savior Who came to rescue us from the consequences of our disobedience to God.

References: Bombardier Beetles and Fever Trees, William Agosta, pp.10-12 Creation Moments 2008

2009 Christian Nature

The full soul loaths a honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. Proverbs 27:7

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Do Magnetic Monarch Butterflies Have Compasses?

Scientists have always wondered whether monarch butterflies have built in compasses to help them in their fantastic migrations. After wintering in Mexico, monarchs head to their northern breeding ranges in the eastern United States and Canada. Flying 1,000 miles a day and never having seen their breeding range, they find it every year.

By the time they begin their migration south, they are the great-great-grandchildren of the individuals who left Mexico the previous spring. Yet, never having seen their wintering area, they find the same area in which their distant relatives wintered.

Researchers placed monarchs that were migrating south into a room shielded from the Earth's magnetic field. When the Earth's magnetic field was allowed to be normal in the room, released butterflies flew to the southwest, as they should.

When researchers set the room to have no magnetic influence, monarchs flew in all directions. And when researchers generated a magnetic field in the room opposite that of the Earth's, the butterflies flew northeast. Researchers add that this demonstration of compasses within the monarchs still does not fully explain the wonders of monarch migration.

I believe it takes more faith to believe that monarchs and their migration habits evolved than to believe that these are the work of a wise and intelligent God Who also gave the Earth a magnetic field.

References: Science News, "Monarch butterflies use magnetic compasses," 11/27/99, p.343 Creation Moments 2008

2009 Christian Nature

The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name. Psalm 89:12

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