Lesson # 35 Ice Age & Glaciers

Smoky Mountain Bible Institute

Lesson #35

            Welcome back class.  Please get settled in and take hold of your pick point rock hammer and hand lens so that we can continue our study in geology.  We will examine Ice Ages today.  The last major geophysical event to take place on earth was an ice age.  Now the uniformitarian models for ice ages are all sadly lacking in sound plausible theories for anyone to latch on to and say this is the predominate theory or theories.  There are currently dozens of theories that are all fraught with algorithmic holes or unobservable and improvable assumptions.  So first let's dispense with the currently accepted models of 30 ice ages that have as their only basis the need for time and flawed ice core assumptions which I will address later.  While we are at it, let’s also dispense with the more popular predecessor of 4 major ice ages. Let's imagine for a moment one ice age and when we do this, we will find that all of the problems that other models suffer from evaporate, because a model that has one ice age following a world wide flood around 4300 years ago and taking about 500 years to peak and about 200 to melt to our current ice levels, actually fits very nicely with both observable glacial geology, strange mass extinctions, and the biblical narrative.

        

            So we now jump into a discussion that spends most of its time arguing for the biblically harmonious explanation and less time on disproving the currently popular, albeit weak, models.  It is always good to start with scripture, and a good text to start this discussion is Saint Paul's first letter to the church at Thessalonica which says in chapter 5, verse 21, but test everything; hold fast what is good. This is taken a bit out of context but is a good research principal all the same.  First let’s acknowledge that the worldwide temperature went down and glaciers advanced from about 1350 to 1850 in what is often called the little ice age.  This however was not an ice age in the sense we are speaking of.  It was simply a 500-year cooling period in a worldwide cooling and warming cycle that has existed since we were kicked out of the garden around 6000 years ago…give or take a few decades.  This could lead to a global warming discussion but that will have to be put off to another lesson.

            So why are we discussing the ice age under the topic of geology?  Because our earth is covered with geological evidence of that geophysical event.  Geologic formations exist that can only be explained by the ice age, much of it associated with glaciers: glacial till, moraines, lakes, scratches, U-shaped valleys, and erratic boulders. We can understand each of these formations while also reviewing a sound theory for how the ice age came to be.

            Following the flood in around 2300 BC, the oceans were much warmer due to volcanic and plate tectonic activity.  This led to greater evaporation which led to greater cooling, combined with the high levels of particulates in the atmosphere which provided for further cooling.  These two things would have been sufficient to start a steady cooling trend that in approximately 500 years, depending on which models and variables you plug in, could easily develop ice sheets and glaciers onto the Eurasian and North American continents, down to the latitudes where we know they once existed because of the geological formations that we can observe:

            - Glacial till: the mixed rock matter caused by glaciers breaking off and carrying and mixing sediment from various sources of various sizes.  Glacial till is often found on top of sedimentary rock, not found covered by layers of sedimentary rock.  This is what you would expect to find if the ice age followed a worldwide flood which is responsible for many sedimentary rock layers.

            - Glacial moraines: ridges of mixed glacial till pushed into place by a glacier, giving evidence of where the sides and ends of glaciers were before melting.  If the ice age started melting back around 1800 BC and reached close to current levels around 1600 BC, then we would expect to see these formations as we do today showing evidence of only about 3600 years of erosion.

            - Lakes, long striations or scratches, and U-shaped valleys.  All three of these are evidence of glacial activity. Many lakes in North America and Eurasia can be attributed to the extreme weight and land-moving ability of glaciers. Rocks of all sizes and large rock surfaces show the scratches and scoring that you would expect to see when tons of rock and ice flow for years over a hard surface. Normal erosion leads to V-shaped valleys, but when large glaciers create valleys, they scrape to the bedrock.  Therefore U-shaped valleys can be attributed to glaciers.

            - My favorite glacial geographic formation is erratic boulders.  These boulders, some larger than houses and weighing tons, are located in some cases hundreds of miles from the closest formation that contains that kind of rock.  So we have three main theories about how they got to their current location: they floated there inside an iceberg, were carried there inside a glacier, or during the melting of a large glacier were washed to that location in a violent and powerful flash flood following the breaking of an ice dam. Part or all of these processes can easily explain the existence of erratic boulders.

            I seem to have run out of time and still have not addressed some other important ice age questions.  Next month I will address how areas that are now deserts, like the Sahara or parts of the Middle East, were once very green, with evidence of large (now dry) deep  inland lakes, and mass extinctions of disharmonious associations like wooly mammoths, hippos, musk ox, and reindeer. We will discuss ice cores and I also need to briefly address global warming.

Lots to cover in coming lessons!

See you next month,

Pastor Portier      

                                              

Lesson #34 Plate Tectonics

Smoky Mountain Bible Institute

Lesson #34

Welcome back class. Please get settled in and take a hold of your pick point rock hammer and hand lens so that we can continue our study in geology. It is generally agreed that the bulk of earth quake and volcanic activity on earth is the result of tectonic plate movement. Plates coming together, spreading apart or sliding against each other, forming subduction trenches and mountain ranges, oceanic ridges and unstable fault lines. From the prospective of a world-wide flood taking place 4300 years ago, we can see these events as small after shocks from catastrophic plate tectonic action that would have been an integral part of that event. More on catastrophic plate tectonics in a moment, but first a little history on this subject…

Abraham Ortelius, a Flemish cartographer and geographer in the 1500's, is generally recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas. He is also believed to be the first person to imagine that the continents were joined together before drifting to their present positions. In 1912 the meteorologist Alfred Wegener described what he called continental drift. A fifty-year debate started that would end in the theory of plate tectonics. The basic premise of this theory is that present continents once formed a single land mass called Pangaea, that drifted apart. The cotenants of low density (on average 15% less dense) are granite floating on a sea of denser basalt. Supporting evidence for this idea can be seen by simply dove-tailing outlines of South America's east coast and Africa's west coast, and matching the rock formations along these edges, and this process can be repeated on virtually every coastline. The debate of course is not whether or not the drift is happening but on the span of time from Pangaea to our current global configuration. The question so often boils down to time.  When we come to that question I will always refer you back to lessons 21 through 25. on my blog

With the advent of sonar in World War Two giving a detailed map of the sea floor, and later discoveries dating the bulk of the sea floor as younger than most of the fossil layers on the earth, we begin to get a very homogeneous view of our world’s lithosphere. We now come to a point in the discussion when an understanding of catastrophic plate tectonics can be helpful. The best way to do that is with the computer aided TERRA program which shows, mathematically, just how such a high speed catastrophic plate shift could take place. So this is not some computer generated graphic. We are talking about accepted algorithmic formulations that account for and explain how our lithosphere flows and moves.

The TERRA model was invented by Dr. John Baumgardner, who may not be the most well-known young earth creationist in science, but he is probably the most qualified. Baumgardner holds a Ph.D. in Geophysics. He is employed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the most prestigious research institutes in the country. He has developed the program called TERRA that models plate tectonics (the drift of "continental plates," sections of the earth's crust that float on the magma beneath). Dr. Baumgardner's computer program is the leading program for modeling plate tectonics. Amazingly, depending on what initial date is programmed in, it will allow for both a young and old earth. So how did a young earth creationist wind up in such a pivotal role in science? Dr. Baumgardner was an electrical engineer before he became a geophysicist. While doing a stint in the military, he became a Christian through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. He realized that arguments for evolution were being used as a battering ram against young Christians, so he decided to do something about it. Picturing himself as David going to slay Goliath, he went back to school for his Ph.D. in geophysics. While there, his doctoral thesis was developing TERRA, which became for him an instant step into the spotlight and has become the industry standard for testing theoretical models of the lithosphere.

That all being said, the program accounts for all the variables: pressure, temperature, density, volume--turning the globe into a algorithmic lava lamp of sorts. When you plug in a theoretical Pangaea, account for the instability of silicate minerals, which leads to rapid deformation when they are exposed to the critical amounts of pressure and heat (sorry for all the scientific lingo), what you get is a clear scientific model that shifts from Pangaea to something very close to our current continental configuration in months and years not centuries and millennia. That is as thorough a treatment that this theologian can provide on plate tectonics. Next month we will have a look at Ice Ages, maybe some lone large boulders, and if we have some time, we might even get to canyons.

In Christ

Pastor Portier

Lesson #33 Sedimentary Rock

Smoky Mountain Bible Institute

Lesson #33 

            Welcome back class.  Please get settled in and take a hold of your pick point rock hammer and hand lens so that we can continue our study in geology.  So lets have a look at some of that sedimentary rock shall we. Sedimentary rock is one of the greatest pieces of geological evidence that begs the question...where did all this stuff come from and how did it get here and get deposited in this fashion. In the famous words of Ken Ham, What would you expect to find if there was a world wide flood? "Billions of dead  things buried in rock layers  laid down by water all over the earth." and that is exactly what we find plants and animals buried and fossilized in sand, mud, and lime that were deposited rapidly by water in rock layers all over the earth. Based on the description of the Flood in Genesis 7–8, there are a number of geologic evidences that testify to the Genesis Flood.

            Fossils of sea creatures high above sea level due to the ocean waters having flooded over the continents.  We find fossils of sea creatures in rock layers that cover all the continents. For example, most of the rock layers in the walls of Grand Canyon (more than a mile above sea level) contain marine fossils. Fossilized shellfish are even found in the Himalayas.  Being thrust upward by plate tectonics is only a partial explanation of how all those sea fossils got to all of our mountain ranges. again a flawed estimation of time is needed to make it work. 

            Rapid burial of plants and animals. We find extensive fossil “graveyards” and exquisitely preserved fossils. For example, billions of nautiloid fossils are found in a layer within the Redwall Limestone of Grand Canyon. This layer was deposited catastrophically by a massive flow of sediment (mostly lime sand). The chalk and coal beds of Europe and the United States, and the fish, ichthyosaurs, insects, and other fossils all around the world, testify of catastrophic destruction and burial, which can clearly be seen in how they were preserved and the final position they are in when they were quickly buried alive.

            Rapidly deposited sediment layers spread across vast areas. We find rock layers that can be traced all the way across continents—even between continents—and physical features in those strata indicate they were deposited rapidly. For example, the Tapeats Sandstone and Redwall Limestone of Grand Canyon can be traced across the entire United States, up into Canada, and even across the Atlantic Ocean to England. The chalk beds of England (the white cliffs of Dover) can be traced across Europe into the Middle East and are also found in the Midwest of the United States and in Western Australia. Inclined (sloping) layers within the Coconino Sandstone of Grand Canyon are testimony to 10,000 cubic miles of sand being deposited by huge water currents within days.

            Sediment transported long distances. We find that the sediments in those widespread, rapidly deposited rock layers had to be eroded from distant sources and carried long distances by fast-moving water. For example, the sand for the Coconino Sandstone of Grand Canyon (Arizona) had to be eroded and transported from the northern portion of what is now the United States and Canada. Again the volume and time measurements lean in favor of a rapid erosion not a slow one over millions of years.

            Rapid or no erosion between strata. We find evidence of rapid erosion, or even of no erosion, between rock layers. Flat, knife-edge boundaries between rock layers indicate continuous deposition of one layer after another, with no time for erosion. For example, there is no evidence of any “missing” millions of years (of erosion) in the flat boundary between two well-known layers of Grand Canyon—the Coconino Sandstone and the Hermit Formation. Another impressive example of flat boundaries at Grand Canyon is the Redwall Limestone and the strata beneath it.

            I Have no knowledge of the rock formations I site here so I would like to thank the Answers in Genesis Website for the bulk of this summary and further acknowledge that these geologic evidences were elaborated on by Dr. Steve Austin at the Institute for Creation Research in his book Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe, pages 51–52 (Institute for Creation Research, Santee, California, 1994).  These are trust worthy peer reviewed documents and for the rock enthusiast out there they are a must read.

            That will wrap up sedimentary rocks and rock types for that matter. so I think we will continue next month with plate tectonics.  Ice Ages, canyons and fossils will have to wait in line.

Have a blessed spring

Pastor Portier

Lesson 32 World Wide Flood

Smoky Mountain Bible Institute Lesson #32

     Welcome back class. Please get settled in and take a hold of your pick point rock hammer and hand lens so that we can continue our study in geology. As we start our a discussion on rock types, plate tectonics, Ice Ages, canyons and fossils, we need to do this in light of a world-wide flood—a perspective long since abandoned by those who think themselves more learned than God's Word. There was a time when the words Antediluvian (before the flood) and Prehistoric (before any recorded history) were common words to be used in all forms of scientific discussion. They were used together because they covered a similar time frame around 2300 BC to 3200 BC.

     It is generally agreed that true writing of language (not just numbers) was invented separately in at least two places: Mesopotamia around 3200 BC and Mesoamerica around 600 BC. It is debated whether writing was developed completely independently in Egypt 3200 BC and China around 1200 BC, or whether the appearance of writing in either or both places was due to Mesopotamian influence. It is also generally agreed that the biblical flood account happened around 2300 BC. Whether or not scholars believe a world-wide flood happened, there is not disagreement in what it claims in the narrative and that the approximate date of that event is around 2348 BC. Was writing invented before the flood? Well, if you check the dates, it appear so, however there is room for doubt—but remember that the only evidence we have of written language before 500 BC is carved in some hard surface and the bulk of historical writing evidence does not really start showing up until after the flood date above.

     So why does any of this matter and what does it have to do with geology, you may ask. In its early days, geologists did use words like antediluvian and prehistoric. However in the 19th century, when the age of the earth debate took off, the bulk of the scholastic community started talking in millions and billions of years. Because of this, we will have to approach geology as outsiders, because we question the assumptions of dating methods. We will do something geologically bold: we will approach the topic with our own assumptions. We will assume that God spoke all there is into existence and He is an eyewitness to all that has happened in history. We have a record of that from creation to the flood in the first nine chapters of Genesis. We further know these accounts to be true because our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ referred to them as historical fact.

     That being said, let’s jump into the subject of rocks. We know if we remember from our school days, that rocks fall in three basic categories. Igneous rocks, crystalline solids which form directly from the cooling of magma. Sedimentary rocks form when the small particles of pre-existing rocks combine due to pressure, chemical, or organic processes. Finally, metamorphic rocks form when pressure and temperature changes the properties of the rock. As we look at these rocks, we will see that they can clearly be understood in a young earth setting. First, we can acknowledge that all of the old earth evidence from igneous and metamorphic rock is primarily based on flawed dating methods mentioned in Lessons 21 to 24. You may wish to review those lessons on this blog

     There is some evidence for a young earth in metamorphic rock—evidence like Carbon 14 contained in rocks that are supposed to be much older than Carbon 14 can have existed. However most of the young earth evidence will be found in different types of sedimentary rock. For example, coal is a very hard sedimentary rock formed by compressing biomass (organic material such as plants). It too is supposed to be millions of years old, but in many cases contains C14. Diamonds while not a rock but an mineral, are much harder than coal, and also have been found to contain C14. Sedimentary rock is where we find most of our young earth evidence, so let’s examine some of that. Rocks do not normally bend; they break because they are hard and brittle. But in many places we find whole sequences of strata that were bent without fracturing, indicating that all the rock layers were rapidly deposited and folded while still wet and pliable before final hardening. For example, the Tapeats Sandstone in Grand Canyon is folded at a right angle (90°) without evidence of breaking. Yet this folding could only have occurred after the rest of the layers had been deposited, while the Tapeats Sandstone remained wet and pliable. This is clear evidence that many strata were laid down in rapid succession, not slowly over long periods of time. We still have a lot more sedimentary rock to discuss, so we will see you next month.
 In Christ,
Pastor Portier

Lesson #31 Our Geological Place in the Universe

Smoky Mountain Bible Institute

Lesson #31
Our Geological place in the Universe

            Welcome back class.  Please get settled in and take ahold of your pick point rock hammer and hand lens so that we can continue our study in the geology. Although astronomy (the study of stars) is a separate field of science, panning out and taking a broader look can be beneficial in understanding the earth and its geology.  It may seem a bit odd to start our study of what the earth is made of in the vastness of space, but nothing exists in a vacuum and that includes the earth.  A perfect vacuum is only theoretical, just like absolute zero is theoretical.  The vastness of space is hard to fathom and equally difficult to fathom is that all that space is full of particles—photons, gravitons, dark energy, space dust.  There really is no such thing as empty space.  Space is full of particles of every size, the large spheres that burn are called stars and the ones that are not on fire are called planets.  Meanwhile moons, asteroids, comets and meteorites fill out the sphears, particles and clusters in-between.  That being said, the universe is estimated to contain some 100 to 300 sextillion stars and the number of planets is theorized to be greater.  Over 99% of the matter in the known universe is hydrogen and helium, leaving less than one percent of the rest to all the heavier elements (the stuff the earth is made of):  iron (32.1%), oxygen (30.1%), silicon (15.1%), magnesium (13.9%), sulfur (2.9%), nickel (1.8%), calcium (1.5%), and aluminum (1.4%); with the remaining 1.2% consisting of trace amounts of other elements.

            The current estimated age of the universe is 13.7 billion years, an estimate that is flawed and leaves more questions than answers.  The universe is full of young blue stars.  It is posited that new stars are forming all the time.  However, this has NEVER been observed, not once!  Planets like Neptune and Uranus have a high gravitational strength that is puzzling based on known rates of gravitational decay.  If our sun is billions of years old, it should currently rotate about once every three hours, but it currently rotates once every 25 days.  Our sun is also relatively calm compared with most other stars and when it does send out a flair or a CME, (coronal mass ejection), the radiation is absorbed and deflected by our magnetic field.  This is what causes the phenomena called the aurora borealis.

            There are other unique qualities of earth found in no other (known) planet that make it uniquely habitable in accord with Isaiah 45:18 "He formed it to be inhabited!" Our earth’s 23.5 degree tilt does more than give us seasons—it provides the proper warming to give us two large temperate zones on either side of the equator, making most of the earth’s land surface habitable.  Our earth’s size provides for proper gravity, with the abundance of water and a moon to keep its oceans from becoming stagnant.  These are all key ingredients to a perfectly balanced sphere in an otherwise chaotic universe.  The question of whether or not there is extraterrestrial life is not addressed in scripture.  If God wanted to create life somewhere else, he certainly could have; but when we consider the little we know of this universe and its inhospitable and extreme hostility toward even the extremist of known life forms, it is statistically highly unlikely that life as we know it could exist anywhere else. 

            In understanding the physical nature of the earth, early science first got many things wrong.  Then it caught up with God's word, and finally in many cases, rejected God's truth and started creating its own.  There are some interesting examples. Isaiah 40:22 “It is he who sits above the circle of the earth” could be understood as saying sphere, as biblical Hebrew lacked the word sphere.   However, the scientific community once held the earth to be flat, and so too did the early church, but this was man's error, not God's or His word.   Jeremiah 33:22 “the host of heaven (stars) cannot be numbered.  Numerous ancient astronomers claimed to have identified all the stars. The last time this claim was made was by Ptolemy and the number was 1100.  Job 26:7 “He .....hangs the earth on nothing.”  The scientific community once held that the earth rode on the back of a large beast.   1Corinthians 15:41 “star differs from star.” Science once held that all stars were the same. It also once proclaimed that light was fixed, air was weightless, and wind blew only straight,  Job 38:19-20 "Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?”   Job 28:25 “When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure.”  Ecclesiastes 1:6 “....around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.”  Science once claimed that the ocean floor was flat, and that it was fed only by rivers, streams and rain.  Jonah 2:5-6 “The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountain” and  Job 38:16 "Have you entered into the springs of the sea.”  Many of these references are poetic in nature, but they carry a strange knowledge of the way the world is when man had little or no understanding in this area of science. I'm just sayin :- )  

            Well, enough of our view from space. Next month we will start a discussion on rock types, plate tectonics, Ice Ages, and canyons & fossils and we will do so in light of a world-wide flood—a  perspective long since abandoned by those who think themselves more learned than God's word. Thank you for visiting the Institute.  See you next month.            

In Christ, Pastor Portier

SMBI #30 History of Geology

Smoky Mountain Bible Institute

Lesson #30
History of Geology

            Welcome back class.  We hope you have enjoyed your trip through the biology wing of the Institute. Please get settled in and take ahold of your pick point rock hammer and hand lens so that we can begin our study here in the geology wing of the Institute.  The study of geology is a broad and interesting field which may require most of this year to examine. 

            First, let’s define geology.  This is the field of science that studies the solid Earth, the rocks it is made of, and the processes by which the rocks we have today came into existence. Geology can give us insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics and the history of life (found in fossils and even foot prints).  Geology is used to locate mineral resources and to provide safety by giving warnings for earthquakes and volcanic activity.  This is a major academic discipline and is also a hobby for those who enjoy collecting rocks and fossils.

            Geology dates back at least to ancient Greece when Theophrastus (372-287 BC) wrote the work Peri Lithon (On Stones). While study on this field has a long history, what we consider modern geology probably did not start until the 1600's when a number of individuals from a number of countries formalized the field of study.  Much of 19th-century geology revolved around the question of the Earth's age. Estimates varied from a few 100,000 to billions of years.  By the early 20th century, radiometric dating was used to determine the Earth's age to be 2 billion years and in recent decades, that estimate was changed to 4.5 billion.  These estimates are of course flawed by assumptions which I addressed back in the biology wing in Lessons 21 through 24. The most recent advances have led to the development of the theory of plate tectonics in the 1960’s.

            We all have the same rock evidence to examine and there are good scientific methods on both sides of the old earth / young earth discussion, even though the old earthers claim our position is not science at all.  So who is closed-minded: those who are willing to dialog on the subject or those who dismiss the opposition without even looking at the evidence?  We all evaluate the evidence with preconceived notions, and if you hold old earth preconceived notions, you will draw old earth conclusions.

            I will not be able in this summary format to do justice to the vast field of geology. I will however be able to present a rational observation of the world’s geological composition that is in keeping with young earth biblical worldview.  We do not have to check our brain at the door to do this. The purpose of any field of study is to explore, identify, or classify the evidence in order to understand what is possible for us to understand as fallible human beings.  That all being said, let’s put our foot in the big pool that is molten geology.

            There are two very different approaches to the study of geology: uniformitarianism, the older of the two disciplines which was the dominant view until recent decades; and catastrophism, which has been coming in to favor in recent decades.  Uniformitarianism is the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now, have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe.  This position is very conducive to the old earth position that developed during its peak of acceptance.  In recent decades however the view of Catastrophism has been coming into vogue. Uniformitarianism is still the dominate view.  Catastrophism is the theory that the Earth has been affected in the past by sudden, short-lived, violent events, possibly worldwide in scope.  It is less burdened by timelines and in many cases does a better job of analyzing the rock evidence.

            So in the coming months, we will examine the rock evidence and see how in many ways it really is a clear reflection of the biblical record.  Get ready for some field trips to impact craters, volcanos, mountains and valleys as we explore flood evidence, water and wind erosion, glaciation, plate tectonics, canyons, fossils and rock formations of every kind and composition.  Thank you for visiting the Institute.  See you next month.              

In Christ, Pastor Portier

SMBI #29 Anthropology

Smoky Mountain Bible Institute

Lesson #29

            Welcome back class. We hope you have enjoyed your trip through the Biology wing of the institute.  Before you make your way across the quad to our Geology wing, please enjoy a brief moment of enlightenment in our anthropology lab.  This lab is the newest addition to our Biology wing and will prove very interesting.  So what is Anthropology and how can it be of any help in clarifying my biblical worldview? Well, let’s take a look.

            The field of Anthropology is so diverse it could have its own wing.  We however choose to discuss it in the realm of the study of life (biology).  The term "anthropology" from the Greek (anthrōpos: “man” or “mankind” and logia: words of “discourse” or “study”) was first used in 1501 by German philosopher Magnus Hundt.  While this field of study has four main areas—physical, cultural, linguistic, and archeological—it further divides into over a dozen other categories.  Some of the basic questions today's Anthropologist seeks to answer are: "What defines human life and origins?"; "How are social relations among humans organized?"; "Who are the ancestors of modern Homo sapiens?"; "What are humans' physical traits?"; "How do humans behave?"; "Why are there variations among different groups of humans?"; and "How has the evolutionary past of Homo sapiens influenced its social organization and culture?"

            The reason this vast topic is being handled in one little article will become clear when we answer a few questions of our own. What is the underlying world view behind the bulk of the questions above? There are clearly evolutionary assumptions even in the way some of the questions are asked.  Will your worldview affect how you approach these questions? Most certainly, if you "believe" that we are genetic descendants of a chemical happenstance, three to five billion years ago.  Then to research these questions, you must take an atheistic (no god), or deistic (god is not involved) position not allowing for the possibility of the supernatural to be a part of what you study.  This position also requires a random purposelessness that seemingly contradicts the simple to complex nature of a purpose-driven evolutionary system.  On the other hand, if you have a biblical worldview, many of the questions become either easy to answer and require no research, have no answer because they contain false assumptions, and the remaining can be adequately handled as subsets of other fields of study.  Let’s examine the questions above from a biblical worldview.

             "What defines human life and origins?" For the life half of the question, love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul and strength and your neighbor as yourself.  For the origins half, see Genesis chapters one through eleven. This is an eye witness account of the Creator Himself.  "How are social relations among humans organized?" Created prefect, broken by sin, redeemed by Christ.  "Who are the ancestors of modern Homo sapiens?" Adam and Eve. "What are humans' physical traits?" Ask a medical doctor. "How do humans behave?" Poorly.  "Why are there variations among different groups of humans?" Because God created us to be able to genetically adapt to our environments with less than one percent of our genetic material. Beyond that he created us all 99% identical because we share His image. "How has the evolutionary past of Homo sapiens influenced its social organization and culture?" That which does not exist has no influence.

            I realize I have "tongue in cheek" over-simplified some of the answers above, but there is some truth to all those answers.  Am I saying Christians should not be anthropologists? No, we need good Christian soldiers in every field of study.  Know that if you approach this field of study with a biblical worldview, you will have a very difficult time.   There is however the field of Christian Anthropology which acknowledges and embraces a biblical worldview—not to mention all of the good anthropology that takes place in the realms of archaeology, linguistics, and cultural studies. Most of the things that biology does not answer in this field are better left to the topics of philosophy, psychology, and theology which are topics to be covered in yet to be built wings of this institute.

In Christ, Pastor Portier

Saint Paul Lutheran Church

1610 Pullen Road, Sevierville TN,

Phone: 865-365-8551, Service times: Sun 8:30 & 11:00, Wed 7 PM