My witness of the source of mankind

I watched an inspiring thing on YouTube How Modern Archaeology CONFIRMS the Bible in which Corey East answers this question, explains what archaeology is, and emphasizes the importance of a biblical worldview. I felt impressed to share this with her and others who will watch it. To date, nearly 4000 people have Liked her presentation.

Corey working on one of her first experiences in an archaeological dig.

I appreciate your insights and witness of the Bible, Corey East

I studied botany and zoology as majors, but my studies included chemistry, physics, biochemistry, genetics, and so forth. I then spent decades working in nature, ecology, and with the wonders of creation from desert to forest and everything in between in South Africa that is an exceptional part of the world in terms of natural resources, especially biodiversity.

After many years, thoughts came to my mind that we tend to think that things are just the same now as they were in the past. This brought to me the same conclusion that I heard in a film about 50 years ago - Albert Einstein or Isaac Newton or someone of their calibre asked the question "Who keeps winding the clock?" While pondering this, it occurred to me that if I use a gas cooker or gas lamp, I need to keep on refilling the gas bottle. It loses mass as mass is changed to energy in the form of heat or light. The Sun at the centre of our Solar System is constantly converting mass to energy, and the Earth is continually absorbing energy. The gravitational attraction between Sun and Earth is affected by the mass of each body. That being said, how many seconds was a year 6000 years ago in the time of Adam and Eve?

I also wondered about the levels of radioactivity if they are continually depleting by about 50% every 300 years, as an example, then just 6000 years ago, in the time of Adam and Eve, ambient levels of radioactivity would have been 1 million times higher than they are at present - what effect would that have on genetic mutation, general health with us not walking about wearing lead protection, and on the rate of decay of radioactive substances?

Things cannot simply have always just been the same as they are now with gravitation changing and radioactivity changing, and these are only two of so many variables! And yet, mariners have been using the same stellar constellations for navigation for thousands of years! so - who keeps on winding the clock? Who keeps on filling the gas bottle?

I have also pondered about the last speciation event that apparently occurred - there are various suggestions that there might be species that have developed recently, but it is clear that thousands go extinct compared to a few possible new species over recent years. That does not sound like it is sustainable, especially to explain the millions of species that have been described.

All in all, my faith is in an intelligent Creator rather than the suggested chance-phenomena as the explanation for all of the truly amazing ecosystems that I have seen including things like species-specific pollination. I appreciate your input into this faith-building experience that I have had where I have learned so much from the Spirit that no man has taught to me.
Blessings on you in your work helping to build faith in Jesus Christ as the Creator of whom John said 'All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.' and of His Father who sent Him to be our Messiah and He said "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."

As part of my journey, I have read the works of Charles Darwin and came to the conclusion that he actually was bearing witness of creation rather than evolution, but was working with the lenses that were available to him in his university experience studying theology and pondering science. I salute him for his wonderful thoughts that he shared based on what he had available to him. People have built their own philosophies on what they interpret from Darwin's and other authors' writings, but often avoiding reading the Bible and pondering what it actually describes. I appreciate what Corey shares about the word of God contained in the Bible text.

I certainly do not have all of the answers, but I am confident that we are not the result of chance phenomena, but of a carefully planned  creation by an intelligent and loving Creator. I do not only know about Him, but through my study and praying I have come to know Him. I know that anyone who does what I did will also come to know Him.

Some more mulling over science and religion

I was sent a video clip about how a man leaves scientists speechless when he answers the age old question 'Where did God come from?' Maybe you have had it land in your WhatsApp some time?

Geological time is calculated using radioactive carbon dating and such like - it seems to me as though the assumption is always that things have always been the same as they are now. I ask myself questions like: 

• How long was a day 6000 years ago?
• What Sun were we orbiting 6000 years ago?
• What were the levels of radioactivity 6000 years ago, and what impact would significantly higher levels of radioactivity have on genetic mutation and on rates of decay?

If our daylength is determined by the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, and that orbit is governed by the masses of the Earth and Sun, and the distance between them (a principle taught me in 1^st year Physics at Wits), then with the Sun losing billions of candlepower every second of every millennium, and the Earth absorbing energy, and energy is converted to and from mass (another principle taught me in 1^st year Physics) then the distance and orbit must have changed.

When I burn a gas lamp the gas bottle gets lighter and I have to refill it. Who keeps on refilling the gas cylinder of the Sun to keep it all stable?

If many biological clocks, such as many flowers blossoming and other biological processes, are dependant on daylength, what would a daylength have been 6000 years ago?

I use 6000 years because that is the ballpark figure given in the Bible – so what if the levels of radioactivity or daylength are to be determined for 600 million or 200 billion years ago???

Ja well, no fine… What does this ignorant Les Powrie know anyway??? 

Read more in my blog The faith of this scientist and thoughts about a question someone asked me on a beach near Kwelera a few years ago.

Faith is a real part of life for atheists, agnostics or irreligious

I was thinking a lot in the wee hours of this morning about the fact that faith is a real part of life - for everyone.

We tend to think that we live without faith in some things, but let me share how faith in the unknown and unseen is a reality for all - whether they acknowledge it or not.

Each and every one of us lives by faith in so many different aspects of our lives

Some think that they can simply dispel any thought of God because they believe that science indicates that it is possible for life to exist without divine intervention. There are knowledgeable people like Darwin that argue sufficiently strongly that the power of natural selection might have enabled all life - the millions of species of plant, insect, bird, reptile, fungus, and every other class of organism - to have evolved without any intervention by some divine power. And so they live their lives without regard for the inconveniences of the commandments that they reckon impact on their freedom, comfort and convenience by requiring sacrifice of some sort or another at the request of some unseen being.

Let me share at least three aspects of life in which each and every one of us demonstrates faith, and how there can be an impact on our freedom, comfort and convenience should we fail to abide by associated rules.

Electricity

We enjoy the benefits that we derive from electricity without fully comprehending the complexity of exactly what it is, and what is involved for us to be able to use that light, heater, air conditioner, stove, machine, computer, mobile phone, game, television, refrigerator, or whatever device that we are so accustomed to using that enables us to enjoy freedom, comfort and convenience. We might even chafe at the suggestion that we should reduce our consumption by turning off unnecessary lights, computers, heaters, and so forth. We do not always consider the complexity of the electricity infrastructure that needs to be adequately supplying vastly more electricity than is required for demand at any given time. Electricity needs to be available in the network of power lines, cables and wires for us to be able to use any electrical device whenever we wish to flip the switch. 

We tend to not think of the fact that those administering the power grid have to be adequately prepared with increasing capability to generate excess power in order to meet the continually increasing demands due to consumption due to an ever increasing population, industry, leisure and other needs. The leaders in South Africa and in several other parts of the world have failed to adequately prepare for the need for sufficient generating capacity to cater for these increasing demands. They need to prepare for outages due to planned maintenance of the existing generating facilities as well as unplanned failures of generating facilities due to insufficient coal, water or other sources of energy, or simply disasters like leaking nuclear plants. We might object to paying taxes and tariffs that are levied in order to make it possible to have the generating capacity that we enjoy - especially if we see any dishonesty in anyone in any level of the hierarchy involved. 

It is highly commendable that many people have opted to generate some power using solar or wind in order to reduce demand and increase supply.

We, in turn, often do not exercise restraint to not consume more than we actually need. Then we complain when there is an unplanned power failure or planned loadshedding because it impacts on our freedom, comfort and convenience. We each have rights, but we also each have responsibilities to help reduce demand and facilitate increasing supply.

We have great faith in electricity despite our lack of understanding everything involved in it.

Water supply

We have recently had a serious impact in Cape Town due to a shortage of water.  There had been less rainfall in previous years than is the norm and so our storage facilities were emptying at a rate that was in excess of the rate of inflow to meet the demands for water. 

This is not new - I remember my sister telling us of the shortage of water in England when she was there in the 1970s because there had been less rain in preceding weeks that was the norm. I remember dams being very low in parts of South Africa in about every decade or two of my life, and the rejoicing that we had when they were filled to overflowing with subsequent rains.

Many of us use water without due regard for our responsibility to conserve this valuable resource. We might fail to turn off water when it is not needed, to use less, to repair leaks, to stop using wasteful water features. We often carelessly allow water to flow out into the drainage system that feeds into our processing plants or into rivers that simply flow into the sea. 

During the recent time of crisis there was much complaint about the impacts on freedom, comfort and convenience that the water restrictions caused. Many of us installed water tanks that enabled us to harvest rain that did fall and thus reduce demand on public water supply. But many did not consider the needs for the authorities to cater for increased demand by building and maintaining water storage facilities, desalination plants, or other means of providing an adequate supply of fresh drinking water to meet the demands of a growing population and industry. Once again, many grumble about paying taxes and tariffs that enable the authorities to prepare to meet anticipated demand, especially when there is any hint of dishonesty in anyone in authority.

Viral infection

The world has been impacted by the COVID-19 coronavirus that has seriously impacted on our freedom, comfort and convenience. We have been called upon to help reduce the spread of the virus by wearing masks, sanitising hands, exercising social distancing, reducing gatherings, staying at home, and many other serious impacts on our normal ways of living. We were initially required to stay at home in order to help the medical system to prepare adequately for meeting the demands for care, oxygen, and beds for those infected. Then we were asked to exercise personal responsibility in order to reduce the rate of spread of the virus due to thoughtless acts. Many complained about the costs to us in terms of taxes and tariffs, and the impact on freedom, comfort and convenience that has arisen, and too many have had super-spreader events or irresponsible behaviour that have caused the virus to spread to thousands of people who were particularly vulnerable due to age or specific health issues, and more recently the virus has been contracted by many younger people than was the case in the first wave in South Africa and other countries all around the world.

Conclusion

In each of these cases, we live by faith - faith in supply, faith in the planning of the authorities, faith in what we probably do not fully understand or comprehend, and what we certainly cannot easily see with our eyes. Those electrons moving in the power network, those impurities that are removed from our drinking water, those viruses that we cannot fully see or understand. We have to trust that other people have the required knowledge, understanding, foresight, wisdom, integrity, and whatever is required for us to be able to enjoy freedom, comfort and convenience. 

Despite our exercising faith in these ways, many ridicule those who live by faith in a divine plan, declaring it to be unreasonable. If we look carefully at what is happening in nature around us, we might be humble enough to acknowledge that we do not fully understand genetics, speciation, ecology, selection, and everything that is involved in order for a species to survive. We might also need to be humble enough to acknowledge that there might be a divine being who knows more than man does collectively. We might observe that we actually see a decline in species numbers over time and no evidence for new species forming despite the rapidly changing environmental niches that are supposed to have made it possible for new species to be selected and become established in the distant past. We do not necessarily have any personal experience with breeding flowers, rabbits, pigeons or anything to fully appreciate those selection processes described by Darwin for features like colour or size - let alone the innumerable characters that are not visible to the breeder and cannot be selected for, such as nuclear and mitochondrial characters that make species survive and thrive. But an all wise and knowing divine creator can select for these unseen characters.

Natural selection certainly is possible, but it is immeasurably improbable. It takes a certain amount of humility to accept that just maybe there is a divine power that has a plan and directs those selection processes that enable a species to survive. But - let's face it - man is really good at leading to the extinction of many species, resulting in a nett loss while we do not see the increase of species numbers through mutation, genetic isolation, mate selection, and ultimately the selection of new favoured races. 

All of these things denote to me that there is a God. I am comfortable in my mind that there is design and planning that has resulted in the wonderful freedom, comfort and convenience that we are able to enjoy on this planet Earth. I accept that I need to be responsible for enabling the provision of freedom, comfort and convenience for other humans and organisms by being careful in the choices that I make to not be wasteful, to not spread infections, to not be disrespectful of the freedoms, comfort and convenience of others. My living responsibly, paying taxes, tariffs, even tithes, is part of the way that I can help others to have a more meaningful experience in life, appreciating the abundant natural heritage that we do have and facilitating supply, rather than just demanding more and more in terms of freedom, comfort and convenience. I think often of that first instruction to man to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over all living things.

I am grateful for the commandments and guidance through prophets that have taught us about the divine creator who desires our eternal freedom, comfort and convenience and wants us to have that eternal perspective that will enable us to be part of the supply of solutions rather than simply adding to the problems arising from an ever increasing demand.

I have observed many people that are atheist, agnostic or irreligious demonstrating an innate divine nature of faith, hope and charity in their responses to the challenges of electricity supply, water supply, and COVID. It is unfortunate that I have seen some religions people who have demonstrated a lack of faith, hope and charity in some of the things that they have done or said in these same situations that we are all facing. I hope that I continue to demonstrate faith, hope and charity. That is the desire of my heart, even although I fail at most times to be a perfect example of what I intend to be.

Images 

Ken Powrie: Vaal Dam overflowing, 1967
https://toursofutah.com/blog/christus-statue-salt-lake-city-tours/
Walking with masks: Les Powrie

https://www.polity.org.za/article/eskom-unit-1-of-the-koeberg-power-station-returned-to-service-2015-06-02

The road to Emmaus and me

I have done several two or more hour walks recently in various settings, including karoo, succulent karoo and fynbos. My most recent walk was a 5¾ hour, 14 km walk on the front of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak, marvelling at seeing probably about 250 plant, fungus and lichen species. I love living in this part of the world where I am able to walk in these wonderful ecosystems.

I am touched by the story told of two men who lived about 1990 years ago. They were walking and conversing in a landscape very similar to the karoo. They were joined by a stranger at some stage of their journey of about two hours, and were guided by this stranger in their thinking and interpreting of an amazing experience that they had just witnessed in their country. I hope that I may help others to have wonderful experiences as I walk with them and share some of my thoughts with them.

A couple walking in the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden

These two men were walking in an area not vastly different to the semi arid winter-rainfall succulent karoo vegetation. They had just witnessed a dramatic event in their city and were discussing it as they walked. They had had close affiliation with a really impressive character that they thought was going to lead them to victory against a foreign oppressive colonialist regime that ruled their land. At the very least, they anticipated some dramatic outcome for their people following all that they had seen their wonderful hero doing on a day to day basis in their country. 

Even with all of their wonderful expectations, their hero had just been killed by the foreign imperialist regime that they despised. It is true that a lot of their own people had hated their hero and had called for his execution, despite their own antagonism towards their foreign rulers. Their own leaders did not want to be ruled by these oppressive foreigners, but they hated this upstart commoner who had such popularity with some of their people. They just wanted him out of the way!

These two people were presenting the thoughts and anticipations that they and some others had about their hero, and the sudden and unexpected anticlimax to the story that they had to share. 

They were about to be guided by this stranger in reinterpreting their observations. 

The stranger initially reprimanded them for being slow of heart to believe in their hero that had been killed. But - he was dead! What good could he do now for their cause? What good would his death do for their cause? This stranger then recounted things that had been said hundreds of years before about this hero and that his death was not a defeat, but actually a victory. This was the very way that the enemy would be defeated - by their hero being killed. This left them with much to ponder. They were not entirely sure what to think!

They had walked for a long time and it was approaching the end of the day so they invited the stranger to dine and spend the night with them. He did accept their invitation and as they were about to eat, he blessed the food and gave them each some bread, then he vanished out of their sight!

These two rather startled men reflected on this remarkable and unreal experience and recognised that their hearts had burned within them as the stranger had been talking with them during their walk. They felt comfortable with these strange things that they had heard, even if they could not comprehend them! 

I am always impressed that if these guys had just got on with their meal and chatted about the weather or the latest triumph of their favourite sports team, and had not reflected on the experience that they had with this stranger, they might have missed their precious feelings. 

They had evidently just walked about two hours. It was possibly already dark, or nearly dark. They immediately set off again to repeat the two hour journey to share their experience with their friends who were also distressed by the death of their hero. 

As they were once again with their friends, they tried as best as they could to explain what had just happened to them - what they had heard the stranger say, what they had felt, and about the stranger disappearing!

Even after being told of the experience that two of them had on the Emmaus road, the people of the assembled group were terrified and affrighted when their hero Jesus appeared to the group as they were trying to come to grips with their feelings and confusion. 

It appears that, as part of His way of making it absolutely clear that He was not a spirit, that He was not dead, but had risen from the dead, Jesus Christ gave a clear demonstration that the resurrection is the reuniting of body and spirit by asking if they had some meat for him. He would surely not have needed to eat, but the disciples would have needed to witness His ability to eat and participate in this regular social activity - that he was not a spook. 

I enjoyed watching the two videos portraying some of the events of the 24th chapter of Luke - the stranger joining the two disciples on the road, and then Jesus appearing to the gathered disciples in the room that was shut for fear of the Jews.

I am grateful for the insights that I have gained as I have pondered the stories of long ago in the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Book Of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, and the Pearl of Great Price. I am grateful that there are enough times that I have not simply chatted about the weather or sports and have been able to have the Spirit teach me things that no man has taught me. I have realised that my heart has burned within me as I have come to feel the complete harmony of truth in so many of the things that I have studied. I am grateful that this harmony of truth has extended to include some things that I was taught in my science and biology classes at university - helping me to see how things that are scientifically possible but absolutely unlikely without God can have occurred because I know that God is there with His divine oversight. 

How can I doubt when I know enough about genetics, ecology, physics, probability and other things that were taught to me at university to know that these things that are possible are almost certainly absolutely improbable without divine design? Beyond that, though, I do not only know about God - I know that God has made Himself known to me in undeniable ways. 

I have felt my heart burn within me on my road to Emmaus, and I hope that some of the insights that I have shared with others on their roads to Emmaus have caused their hearts to burn within them. I hope that I can be that kind of tour guide that does not only share information, but helps guests to learn things from the Spirit that no man could teach them.

The origin of interesting things

I found this interesting. I picked it up long ago. 

Front

Back

One side

The other side

End-on

I look at it and can picture one rock bumping another, causing a cleft to form into which water will be drawn by capillary action, the water then freezes and causes the small chip to break off. This water being drawn in and freezing could have been repeated in the same crack, season after season, event after event, over many years. The weathering of rock is a slow process, but all of the valuable agricultural soils derived from granite, shale, dolerite, sandstone, conglomerate, and other rock are evidence that the soils do weather. 

Isn't it interesting that anthropologists and archaeologists look at things like this, using their incredible human eyes, and say that this must be a stone tool fashioned by primeval hominem. Yet, they will thoughtlessly attribute the development of their human eyes, and brains, and hearts, and fingers, and skin, and circulatory system, and intelligence, and everything that makes them what they are to random chance events and undirected natural selection. 

I don't doubt natural selection, but I am fully confident that an infinitely intelligent and powerful Heavenly Father directs the selection processes that might have been part of some of the development of some of the preferred races.

Some thoughts about a question to me on the beach near Kwesani

Thanks, Rohan, for this picture of weird clouds.

This morning, storm clouds from my study window.

And the rain gauge which measured 9 mm for 07:00 to 07:00.

WeatherSA had forecast 80% chance of 10 mm for City of Cape Town.

As we face a tremendous storm in the Cape of Storms, my mind is turned again to a question asked a few days ago by a colleague from the Kwelera National Botanical Garden as we stood on the beach near Kwesani. He asked me about my thoughts regarding creation and evolution.

I don't know what prompted his question, but I shared some thoughts about the many questions that evolution has never answered for me, and that creation can be the only answer. Like, who keeps the celestial clock wound? Who keeps topping up the gas bottle? Who helps the flimsy little insect species to survive despite the individual that I see caught on a raindrop clearly not being 'the fittest'? What were the levels of radioactivity millions of half-lives ago? How is the distance between the Earth, the Sun and all other celestial bodies constant so that day lengths and year lengths seem to have been consistent for thousands of years? These fiery suns, without some intelligent governing force or power or influence, must be constantly losing mass as they emit infinite quantities of solar energy, and the planets that must be constantly gaining mass as they absorb small proportions of the solar energy emitted by their suns.

I failed to go beyond the academic and intellectual in answering the question. 

The reality is that I know about evolution, and I know about creation, but far more importantly, I know the Creator. I know that Heavenly Father lives, loves us, is merciful to us.

 

I apologise for not giving this piece of essential evidence to my friend. I sent it to him this morning. And I give it to you.

I hope that you can learn to know the Creator instead of only knowing about him. It is essential to read His word - not what people say about His word. Read the Torah, Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, or the Qur'an. It is essential to speak to Him through prayer so that He can speak to you through His holy scriptures. Sometimes He will give you something that He has not already spoken through the prophets, but most of His answers have already been given. We just need to discover them in the scriptures. Prayerfully read with a question in mind and you will find answers. Not many of us are like Saul of Tarsus, Zeezrom, or Alma the younger who will be called to repentance on some road to Damascus or Zarahemla or in the land of Ammonihah. Rather get to know the creator without having to spend days in eternal torment or anguish because of being harrowed up by the memory of our sins.

The Faith of This Scientist

I have never measured the diameter of the Earth, or the speed of light, or the atomic mass of carbon or the size of the orbit of an electron orbiting a proton in a uranium atom or looked at the structure of a benzene molecule or measured the half life of the radiation of tritium or many of the things that are generally accepted as being constants or facts. Have you?

How many things do we accept as being reasonable without checking them? What makes them reasonable? Why do we accept them?

If these things are all true as I was taught in university physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, biochemistry, ecology and evolution and other classes, then what does that really mean?

I have read Darwin's Origin of Species, Autobiography of Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle. Have you?

I am not sure that I have read the original texts that Einstein and Newton wrote about energy and gravity. I have been taught what they said, but have I read their original texts. Have you? 

I have read the Bible several times, and pondered what it says. Have you?

I have pondered extensively as I have read, and while walking, or mowing the lawn, or driving in the car, or weeding the garden, or meditating, and I have 'pondered the solemnities of the eternities' as my one fellow missionary used to refer to them. In all of my pondering, I have become very comfortable with the faith that (as I have heard Einstein quoted) 'there is some force, or power or influence active in the Earth and in the Universe'.

I have no doubt, having studied the Bible, that that 'force, power and influence' is indeed the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel, Allah, even Elohim, and that Jehovah is the creator (i.e. organizer) of all things as the Bible teaches.

Just as I have not measured all things, or calculated all things, or considered all things, I have done enough to have more faith and confidence that these are true, rather than to have doubts.

I have been pondering recently, as I did while at university 40 years ago, how we give the half life of radioactive substances, and consider all of these to be constant. But consider a time frame of 6000 years, let alone 380 million years (Ma) that my colleagues estimate to be the time since the first land vertebrates existed, or 4550 Ma that they estimate to be when the earth was formed, or
4000 Ma since the first life started, or 3500 Ma since photosynthesis started. Can it be possible that all has remained constant in all that time?

What would the ambient levels of radiation have been then? Would rates of radioactive decay of elements have been the same then as they are now, under those levels of radioactivity?

How many of our seconds (the SI standard unit of time) would a day have been, or how long would a year, or any of our time periods have been then? What would the mass have been of the Earth, and of the Sun? The Sun has been releasing energy all this time, and that is surely related to a loss of mass if using Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity E = mc ².

The Earth has been receiving energy all these millennia, I suggest that this would result in accumulation of mass. Have any of you done the calculations of what the changes would have been and the implications for radius of orbit of the Earth around the Sun? Would the day length have been what it is now? Would a year have been the same number of days as it is now? How would circadian rhythms and diurnal patterns have affected the biodiversity on our planet? What effect would all of these changes that I am suggesting have on the interactions between organisms?

The time 300 Ma is about mid way between the start of land vertebrates and start of dinosaurs in the Geological Time Scale. Can it be possible that none of our physical constants has changed in all of that time?

I do not know all things, but I can say with Alma, that I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself (Alma 5:46)

Man changes the earth. He causes things to change! For example, he is surely changing the mass of the earth by removing and burning fossil fuels. Converting carbon deposits from solid to carbon dioxide gas and other elements and compounds. What effect does that have on the mass of the earth, the orbit of the moon, our orbit around the sun?

I've been reading about the signs of the second coming. Will the sun refuse to give it's light (see Joel 2:31, Acts 2:20,  Helamen 14:20, D&C 88:87), if it explodes? If the gravitational pull changes to the point that the earth leaves its orbit around the sun, what will be our source of light? In such a scenario, would the Earth plunging out of orbit describe the stars falling?

The moon turning to blood (see Joel 2:31, Acts 2:20), may happen if we are no longer in orbit around the sun and the moon is getting light from our changed earth or some other light source.

Pillars of smoke (see Joel 2:30) sound as though they could describe the mushroom clouds of nuclear explosions. Might these be prophecies of nuclear explosions, perhaps of reactors exploding as these massive changes take place?

These are things written by prophets thousands of years ago - do they describe the physical conditions that might exist when the mass of Earth and Sun as we think 'we know them' change sufficiently that the gravitational pull between Earth and Sun changes sufficiently to cause the Earth to leave the orbit of the Sun, or, if the Sun loses enough of its fuel load that it explodes or stops working as we think 'we know it does now', will we still have our normal days and months? How can that be possible?

There may be information buried in the jargon and literature about the sun that answers some of the questions that have been going about in my mind, such as Mass and energy flow in the solar chromosphere and corona and 3 He Transport in the Sun and the Solar Neutrino Problem and other scientific works. 

I am not sure that I shall be able to find a simple explanation there that my mind will grasp and say - 'Ah, yes, that explains all of my questions'. Maybe some readers of my blog will say to themselves 'What a numbskull to ask such elementary questions!' But maybe many have not even stopped to consider if all time and space was just as we experience it now, as we think 'we know it'?

Another question that I have recently been pondering is 'How many hundreds of thousands of years ago did the last species evolve?' Thousands of species go extinct every year, and yet the most recent speciation event is estimated to be hundreds of thousands of years ago - that sure doesn't sound like a sustainable system to me! New species are discovered each year, but the data always suggest that they evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago. A Google search like 'what is the most recent species to evolve' suggests some recent speciations, but do they rank in the same category that Darwin proposed? Changes and adaptations take place, but is that a speciation event? The formation of a new Species implies that it will not breed with other closely related species and is sufficiently different that it is not just a subspecies or variety of an existing species. 

I share my testimony with that of Henry Eyring, author of The Faith of a Scientist, in declaring that I am fully confident in my belief in the literal creation of this Earth and all in it. I am a scientist, but I have no delusions of being anywhere near the calibre of Henry Eyring. However, I do declare that I see no conflict between science and religion. There certainly is conflict between many scientific theories that were presented to me as I studied botany, zoology, chemistry and physics when studying for my BSc. But my own observations of applying scientific principles cause no conflict in my understanding between science and religion - indeed, I find that I use each to explain the other. I declare the faith of this scientist, Leslie Ward Powrie, to be that we are the offspring of a Divine Father in Heaven, and that His greatest joy is to see us becoming like Him. I declare that we are the offspring of deity and not of lower life forms. 

I declare that unless someone has read the holy scriptures, they cannot give a 'peer review' of them, or the interpretations and conclusions drawn by those who have. They must read the Introduction of the holy writ. They must use the same Materials and Methods used by the millions who declare the scriptures to be the word of a living God. They must consider the Results drawn by those who have repeated the methods, and come to unanimous Conclusions. They need to consider the Discussion given by those who have studied and applied the methods. They cannot justifiably be 'more knowledgeable' than those who have paid the price necessary to become peers who can review the testimonies of the believers. Without following the required methods of studying and asking God if His word is true, they cannot legitimately criticize the millions of believers who have. 

I bear a humble witness as a disciple of Jesus Christ that He is the Saviour provided to enable us to return to the presence of our Living God, our Father in Heaven.