Expert: Brenda Martin - 10/8/2007

Question
I'm a Christian and I have a question about science. Has the ice age ever happened? Also, how should I respond against evolution in a simple way in public schools?

Answer
HI Nathan, you asked--"HAS THE ICE AGE EVER HAPPENED?"

Orthodox science teaches that the surface of the earth has been shaped in many places by powerful glaciers during a series of ice ages. But apparent evidence of glacial activity can sometimes be the result of water action. Very likely, then, some of the evidence for the FLOOD is being misread as evidence of an ice age.

Just how thousands of great mammoths came to be frozen in Siberia’s ice has perplexed scientists for decades. In considering one new theory, Britain’s “New Scientist” magazine noted that the frozen mammoths “are evidence that the last ice age came upon the Earth very suddenly.” Professor Fred Hoyle of University College, Cardiff, and Elizabeth Butler of Oxford University “suggest that if the last ice age . . . had taken thousands of years to take hold on the Earth, the mammoths would have had time to migrate south to a warmer climate. Their excellent state of preservation is also evidence that they were quickly frozen after death—otherwise they would have begun to decompose.”

To explain how such a sudden freeze could have come about, Hoyle and a colleague “suggested that a large mass . . . of dust from comets entered the Earth’s upper atmosphere” and reflected the sun’s light so that the earth cooled in “only a few years.”

But is such a tortuous and unlikely explanation necessary? No. The Bible account in Genesis offers a simple, clear solution that fits all the facts. It indicates the existence of “waters . . . above the expanse” of “Heaven” prior to the Flood, which could have caused a more uniformly warm climate earth wide, allowing mammoths and other life to thrive in northern reaches. The ‘opening of the floodgates of heaven’ at the time of the Flood could well have been accompanied by great temperature changes that plunged these areas into an icy deep freeze, preserving the mammoths and other life in the condition in which they have been found.—Gen. 1:7, 8; 7:11, 12

"HOW SHOULD I RESPOND AGAINST EVOLUTION IN A SIMPLE WAY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS?"

I find that appealing to people’s sense of logic drives the point home, perhaps reasoning with them on points such as --

Physical universe:- If you found a precision timepiece, would you conclude that it was formed by a chance blowing together of some dust particles? Obviously, someone with intelligence made it. There is an even more magnificent “clock.” The planets in our solar system, also the stars in the entire universe, move at a rate that is more precise than most clocks designed and manufactured by man. The galaxy in which our solar system is located includes over 100 billion stars, and astronomers estimate that there are 100 billion of such galaxies in the universe. If a clock is evidence of intelligent design, how much more so is the far more vast and complicated universe! —Isa. 42:5; 40:26; Ps. 19:1.

Planet Earth:- When crossing a barren desert, if you came to a beautiful house, well equipped in every way and stocked with food, would you believe that it got there by some chance explosion? No; you would realize that someone with considerable wisdom built it. Well, scientists have not yet found life on any of the planets of our solar system except the earth; available evidence indicates that the others are barren. This planet is, as the book The Earth says, “the wonder of the universe, a unique sphere.” (New York, 1963, Arthur Beiser, p. 10) It is at just the right distance from the sun for human life, and it moves at just the right speed to be held in orbit. The atmosphere, of a kind found only around the earth, is made up of just the right proportion of gases to sustain life. Marvelously, light from the sun, carbon dioxide from the air, and water and minerals from fertile soil combine to produce food for earth’s inhabitants. Did it all come about as a result of some uncontrolled explosion in space? Science News admits: “It seems as if such particular and precise conditions could hardly have arisen at random.” (August 24 and 31, 1974, p. 124) The Bible’s conclusion is reasonable when it states: “Of course, every house is constructed by someone, but he that constructed all things is God.”—Heb. 3:4.

Human brain:- Modern computers are a product of intensive research and careful engineering. They did not “just happen.” What about the human brain? Unlike the brain of any animal, the brain of a human infant triples in size during its first year. How it functions is still largely a mystery to scientists. In humans, there is the built-in capacity to learn complex languages, to appreciate beauty, to compose music, to contemplate the origin and meaning of life. Said brain surgeon Robert White: “I am left with no choice but to acknowledge the existence of a Superior Intellect, responsible for the design and development of the incredible brain-mind relationship—something far beyond man’s capacity to understand.” (The Reader’s Digest, September 1978, p. 99) The development of this marvel begins from a tiny fertilized cell in the womb. With remarkable insight, the Bible writer David said to Jehovah: “I shall laud you because in a fear-inspiring way I am wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, as my soul is very well aware.”—Ps. 139:14.

Living cell:- A single living cell is sometimes referred to as being a “simple” form of life. But a one-celled animal can catch food, digest it, get rid of wastes, build a house for itself and engage in sexual activity. Each cell of the human body has been likened to a walled city, with a central government to maintain order, a power plant to generate energy, factories to produce proteins, a complex transportation system, and guards to regulate what is permitted to enter. And a single human body is made up of as many as 100 trillion cells. How appropriate the words of Psalm 104:24: “How many your works are, O Jehovah! All of them in wisdom you have made”!

When I meet people who believe in evolution I usually go along the lines of; everything we see around us needs a planner, designer, maker, even down to a simple door handle & reason that if these simple objects needed a designer, maker, then how much more so did our bodies & the amazing planet we inhabit.

All the best
Brenda