Have you found the Purpose of Life?

Background.

By the time that I had completed Secondary School and University, I believed that one day science would explain everything. I had been brought up to attend Sunday School at the local church at an early age, but because evolution had been taught as a fact at school, and appeared dogmatically in books and magazines, I believed in evolution and saw no need for God. Creation was thought of, and still is by the majority of people,as being unscientific. The creation/evolution debate is of particular interest to me because I work with engineers with a science background, and because belief in evolution and a long age of the earth is so widespread in the community.
I probably would have held these beliefs for life, but for the devastating loss of my mother, sister and baby neice in a car accident in 1975. In the same year my father-in-law was also in a car accident which left him severely brain damaged until his early death. These events caused my wife Linda and I to search for the purpose of life, if there was any. Evolution taught that life came about through random chance mutations and survival of the fittest. Life has no meaning, and leads to oblivion.
During this time of searching, we attended meetings of a psychic phenomena/UFO group. Through this I saw evidence of things that science could not explain, and this showed clear evidence of the supernatural, and led me to acknowledge the possible existence of God.
After the birth of our first child, Sharon, a chance meeting at an infant welfare centre led us to the home of a Christian couple one evening. The husband was in Bible college and had an exam the following day. They were concerned at the danger we were in at the psychic group. After several hours of questioning them, we saw evidence that the Bible is the inspired word of God through things such as fulfilled Old Testament prophecy in the New Testament and fulfilled prophecy in history.
  • Bible Prophecy.

    • Both Linda and I accepted the gospel message, that Jesus is God in human form, that we were sinners and Jesus died for our sins and rose again, and that He is coming again.
  • Salvation Bible references.

    • What is science?

    If something is scientific, it is observable and testable ie able to be repeated. Obviously this is impossible in the case of the beginning of the universe because it was a unique past event.
    Because evolution does not fit the Biblical account of creation one should ask the question "What is the scientific evidence consistent with, evolution or creation?" After studying this for some years, I am convinced that God created the universe and all that it contains in six 24 hour days.

    Rejecting evolution is not rejecting science.

    To believe in evolution requires a faith that everything made itself, and this overrides objective science.
    People believe in evolution because they choose to. Some have the attitude "we are here, therefore we must have evolved". Evolutionists cannot allow a Divine foot in the door. It has nothing to do with the evidence. We have all been subjected to a scientific "snow job".
    Evolution is merely fantasy with some science thrown in. Modern versions of the evolution of organisms began in the 1920's when little was known about boichemistry and it sounded reasonable.

    Some problems with the evolution model.

    1.The second law of thermodynamics says that all real processes result in a decrease in energy available to effect further processes. In other words, real processes result in a net increase in the entropy of the universe, a property causing a movement toward a final stable equilibrium where all processes cease (heat death). That process produces a break-down of complexity, not its increase. This is the exact opposite of what evolution requires.The second law is undisputed by all reputable scientists and contradicts the basic premise of evolution.(Ref.1)
    2.Probability. Evolutionists are never quick to point out the actual numbers associated with the probabilities of life coming about by chance. Fred Hoyle, the eminent British cosmologist, is possibly the best known writer to use the laws of mathematical probability. The procedure is to estimate probabilities at each step of a postulated evolutionary path and concatenate these to arrive at the probability of finding an evolutionary product at any point along that path. Before travelling very far along the path, probability values drop so low as to make the happenings impossible. Hoyle put it this way: the probability that life arose by random processes is equivalent to believing that a tornado striking a junk yard would reassemble the junk and leave a completed, assembled and functioning Boeing 707 jet. (Ref.1)
    3. The "simple" cell. Evolution fails to account for the origin of the proteins required for even the simplest living organism. In his book "Evolution, a theory in crisis", molecular biologist Dr Michael Denton says there is no such thing as a simple cell. The smallest element of which, a functional gene or protein, is complex beyond our own creative capacities, a reality which is the very antithesis of chance, which excels in every sense anything produced by the intelligence of man. The simplest cell is more complex than a super-computer, and yet evolutionists attribute much greater design to chance in the name of science.
    The atheistic evolutionist Richard Dawkins admits: "There is enough information capacity in a single human cell to store the Encyclopedia Britannica, all 30 volumes of it, three or four times over." (Ref.2)
    4.There is a lack of transitional forms, ie a gradual change from one kind to another, in the fossil record. For example, flying insects have no connection whatsoever with birds, and yet flight is fully developed in all fossils of flies, moths and butterflies. There is not any contender at all for any transitional forms. Many creatures which are supposed to have provided the oldest fossils, such as starfish, jellyfish and snails, are still with us today. Why should this be, if evolution says they can easily develop into higher kinds. The assumption that evolution is true is the main evidence for evolution. Circular reasoning is used. The age of a rock is determined by the age of the fossils in or near the rock, and the age of the fossils is determined by evolution.
    5.Radiometric dating.
    There are numerous examples where radiometric dating gives the wrong answers. For example dates up to 3 million years have been obtained for Mount St Helens lava in U.S.A, historically dated at 10 years old. Anomalous ages of up to 3.5 million years have also been found in 1954 lava flows at Mt. Ngauruhoe on the North Island of New Zealand. This dating method assumes that the laws of nature do not vary with time and that the isotope decay rates we measure today have been constant since the beginning of the cosmos,according to uniformitarian belief, and may be extrapolated back into the remote past. There are dozens of physical processes occurring on earth which yield age estimates orders of magnitude smaller than the radiometric methods. This conflict is so consistent, that the validity of radiometric methods need to be challenged.
  • Table of Uniformitarian Estimates of the Age of the Earth.

    • 6. The theories of solar system evolution never predicted the fantastic variety in the images we now see of the outer planets and their moons.

    Some evidence for the young earth and global flood creation model.

    A short timescale is quite possible for a world created by an intelligent designer. The long time periods are no longer necessary to try to explain the origins by chance. The Bible presents a creation in which each thing was fully functional when it was made. Adam was not a child on his first day, but all of creation had "the appearance of age".
    A landmark paper appeared in Scientific American Magazine (vol. 208, no.2, 1963) entitled "Crisis in the History of Life" by a secular geologist. The article provided much evidence that fossils were deposited by catastrophic means and not gradual. The flood of Noah was just such a geological catastrophe. If the rocks and fossils are the result of a global flood, there is no evidence for evolution, or an old earth.
    Stalactites in natural caves have often been claimed to be hundreds of millions of years old due to slow growth rates being claimed. More recent observations of stalactite growth rates of several inches per month are common.
    Consider complicated organs such as the human eye or the brain. These contain many interdependent systems composed of parts that would be useless without the presence of all the other necessary parts. There are one hundred million light-sensitive cells in the eye connected to the brain through a million nerve fibres in the optic nerve. How could such complicated organs develop by an unplanned process?
    Dawkins suggests that non-functional proteins can be acted on by natural selection and mutation to do the required job in the future. This suggests that natural selection has a goal in mind, a great heresy to those who believe in evolutionaty theory. (Ref.1.)
    A mouse trap for example would not work if any one part was missing. Similarly living things require many separate parts which all have to be in place at the same time. Some scientists argue that a long evolutionary timescale makes evolution more difficult, because to function, a living cell or system requires the instantaneous creation of all parts.
    The words of the Bible are from the only eyewitness to creation (2 Peter 1:21, 2 Tim 3:16), and the Bible has proved to be a trustworthy historical record. All of the events recorded in the early chapters of Genesis ie creation, Adam and Eve, the fall, Noah and the flood are accepted as literal and historical in the New Testament by Jesus Christ and the apostles.(eg Matt. 19:4). Samples of all of the coin types mentioned in the Bible exist today, which bear the names of rulers and ancient cities. The Bible is truthful in what we can independently check, so when God says that He made the universe in six days we should believe Him. It is interesting to note that the terms day, month and year all mark astronomical time periods eg period of the earth's rotation equals 1 day, but the concept of the week comes from the Genesis creation and one rest day.
    Other examples of observations indicating a young age are:
    -not enough sodium in the sea.
    -not enough mud on the sea floor.
    -comets disintegrate too quickly and not replaced.
    -not enough Stone Age skeletons, tools etc.
    -lack of dust on the moon for 4.6 billion years.

    Famous Scientists that were Christians.

    Sixteenth century scientists reasoned that the universe must be orderly and worthy of investigation because it was the work of an intelligent creator. (Ref.3.)
    In my field of electrical/communication engineering there are names like Michael Faraday, James Joule, Lord Kelvin and James Clerk Maxwell (who wrote against evolution) They were all Bible-believing Christians.
    Nicolas Copernicus laid the foundations of modern astronomy, and held office in the Polish Church. He described God as "the Best and Most Orderly Workman of all".
    Galileo argued that the earth was not the centre of the universe. Although he was persecuted by the church, he was a devout Catholic Christian.
    Johannes Kepler discovered the three principles of planetary motion. He was a Lutheran, and said that he was "thinking God's thoughts after Him". Sir Isaac Newton is famous for his laws of gravity, and his work in optics, astronomy and mathematics. He believed in the inspiration of Scripture and wrote theological books as well.
    Other pioneering scientists who were Christians include Robert Boyle(Boyle's Law), Joseph Lister(antiseptic surgery), Louis Pasteur(pasteurisation), Gregor Mendel(genetics) and James Simpson(anaesthetics).

    What the Bible says about evolution.

    The apostle Peter prophesied about the "scoffers" in the last days - they claim "everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation" 2 Peter 3:4. Peter reveals the huge flaw of the uniformitariian scoffers: they are "willingly ignorant" of special creation by God, and of a cataclysmic globe-covering and fossil-forming flood.
    The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:20,22 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities- His eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse"...."Professing themselves wise, they became fools".
    "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God" Psalm 14:1

    Moral Consequences of Evolution.

    "If no one created me, if I am just highly evolved pond scum, then surely I am my own authority. Who or what determines right or wrong? Isn't it diferent for different people and changing as society evolves? Why not kill the old and useless, the dumb, or excess children? ... Remember, a generation ago abortion and euthanasia were both illegal and taboo subjects." (Stephen Grocott, Ref.1.)
    Other examples from the past are racism, marriage is less important and divorce is more acceptable, truth is relative, and "might is right" attitude (survival of the fittest).
    If evolution is true, Jesus Christ Himself must have lied when he referred to God creating and to the days of Noah, the Ark and the Flood, so therefore He could not be "The Way, The Truth and The Life" (John 14:6) or the "Son of God".

    The Purpose of Life.

    The reason for Jesus' death and resurrection rests upon the historicity of what happened back in Genesis - that the rebellion of Adam and Eve brought the curse of death and suffering upon the world. Each of us has sinned, so we all deserve God's wrath (Romans 5:12). Jesus took that curse of death upon himself on the cross so that we who trust God for salvation will be free from the penalty of sin and receive eternal life (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22). If evolution were true, death and suffering were always here; they were not the result of sin. So what meaning has Jesus death? (Don Batten, Ref.1.)
    Yet the Bible says I am special and I was created for a purpose. Genesis 1:31 says that everything He had made was very good (before the curse). Revelation 4:11 says that all things were created for God's pleasure, and that He is worthy to receive glory, and honour and power.
    Our purpose is to acknowledge and worship God for who He is and what He has done for us, as our Creator and Redeemer. John 4:23 says that God seeks those who will worship Him. God could have created us all as robots to follow Him, but instead we are all given a free will to choose. He has given us a lifetime to make that choice, and this choice determines our eternal destiny (Revelation 20:15).
    Once we have chosen God, our purpose in this life is to tell others the Gospel message "Go therefore and teach all nations" Matthew 28:19. The Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13 is a picture of this where the good seed is the children of God, the field is the world. The weeds are Satan's followers (ie any that have not chosen God). The purpose of the good seed is to multiply ready for the harvest at the end of the age at Chist's return.

    References:

    1. John F Ashton, In six days, Why 50 scientists choose to believe in Creation, New Holland Publishers, Australia 1999 * see writeup on book jacket below.
    2. R.Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker: Why the evidence of evolution reveals a universe without design, WW Norton & Co. New York, 1986
    3.Nicky Gumbel. Searching issues, Kingsway Publications, Eastborne, 1999.

    Other related books:

    Scientists Who Found God, Eric Barrett.
    Many Infallible Proofs, Henry Morris

    For further information:

    Internet web sites with information on creation/evolution are:

    Creation Magazine

    The Institute for Creation Research

    Christian Answers Network

    Los Alamos Creation Fellowship - A collection of letters on the origins issue.

    * "In six days", writeup on jacket
    Can any scientist with a PhD believe in the idea of a literal six day creation?
    "In six days" answers that provative question. In this book, 50 scientists from around the world say "Yes!" Taking a factual and scientific look at the evidence for evolution, physicists, biologists and chemists come to some disturbing and revealing conclusions. In their estimation, evolution may offer no more evidence than traditional religion and, factually, it may lag behind.
    Important questions about the Big Bang Theory, radioactive dating of rocks, light from distant stars, and the fossil evidence for evolution are discussed in detail. These essays examine the entire approach to science education, and are essential reading for educators, politicians, parents and students.
    "In six days" opens the evolution versus creation debate to a wider public - not with narrow and closed arguments but with a straightforward and wide ranging analysis of the issues confronting both the scientific community and the general public.
    This is a must read book for all thinking people.