Updated on April 15, 2016
Unburdened
The narrow, rocky path through the canopy of brush looked very inviting to my weary mind. Like the heavy backpack I carried hiking up the rough path, I had been feeling the problems, decisions, and tasks of daily life weighing on my mind and heart. It’s always refreshing to spend a few days camping or on a fossil dig where I can have some peaceful time to more fully enjoy creation and my Creator, away from the demands of modern life. No cell phone service, no emails or social media, no traffic, etc. It’s still and peaceful. A couple of weeks ago, I enjoyed going on a camping trip with my Dad and uncle in Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.
This was not the kind of camping trip with huge RVs, grills, and plumbing. It was low-intensity backpacking. We carried everything we needed for the weekend (food, tents, bedding, etc.) in backpacks and set up our base camp about three miles into the wilderness. After weighing my backpack, I figured it was somewhere between one-third and one-half of my weight. It really wasn’t bad, but I did feel a little unstable a few times going up and down along the rocky path. On the first day after we hiked in to our camp site, I settled my backpack down off my shoulders and onto a large boulder. The moment I felt my pack go, a scene flashed through my mind of the character “Christian” in Pilgrim’s Progress, when his burden of sin fell off because he came to the point of salvation in Christ.
I know that, like “Christian”, I don’t bear the weight of guilt and judgment for my sin anymore. Do you still bear the weight of guilt and judgment for your own sin? Don’t delay – let Jesus take that burden away today. Or perhaps, like me, you have made the decision to let Jesus bear sin, but still sometimes feel like you carry a heavy load. I’m sure there are more I’ve missed, but here are three reasons I’ve found for why I sometimes feel heavy laden. First, because I was trying to bear things by myself when I shouldn’t – choose humility to pray and be to ask others for help when needed. A second reason is because my tongue forgot how to say that powerful two-letter English word – “No”. I can’t do everything and I certainly cannot solve all the problems of everyone around me, no matter how hard I try. Resting is not bad or a punishment for sin; rather our Creator gave the example to us by resting after He had finished His work of creation. He has always intended for us to take time off to spend it with Him.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” ~ Matthew 11:28-30
A third reason I might feel the weight of life bearing heavily on my shoulders is because I need to clear and re-focus my vision. Glasses get smeared and contacts get dry – especially if you camp or dig up fossils. Ultimately, our focus should be on the Person of Jesus, our Creator. Our vision is to follow in His steps until we reach our home in Heaven with Him. As I set down my pack on that first day, a phrase from an old hymn I learned in choir a number of years ago came to mind: “we’ll lay our burdens down”. May you be refreshed and re-focus, turning your eyes back to our Creator this week and we shall discuss the geology of Wichita Mountain next week. May this hymn, “When We See Christ” help point your vision in the right direction:
Article copyright Sara J. Bruegel, April 2016
1 Oft’ times the day seems long, our trials hard to bear,
We’re tempted to complain, to murmur and despair;
But Christ will soon appear to catch His Bride away,
All tears forever over in God’s eternal day.
Chorus:
It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.
2 Sometimes the sky looks dark with not a ray of light,
We’re tossed and driven on, no human help in sight;
But there is one in heav’n who knows our deepest care,
Let Jesus solve your problem, just go to Him in pray’r. [Chorus]
3 Life’s day will soon be o’er, all storms forever past,
We’ll cross the great divide to glory, safe at last;
We’ll share the joys of heav’n – a harp, a home, a crown,
The tempter will be banished, we’ll lay our burden down. [Chorus]
By Esther Kerr Rusthoi
Updated on April 9, 2016
Twisted Tweaks
“Whoa – that’s a funky fossil”, I remember thinking the first time I saw this twisted, snake-like fossil. It looked like the creature had been frozen into stone while groping upward in an eerie, loose coil. This type of fossil looked a very similar to the familiar, tightly coiled ammonite fossils, but with an odd twist – literally. Ammonite fossils are like the nautilus we can find swimming in the seas today (read about ammonites here). Their hard shells are usually firmly stuck together in a tight coil, but the ones I saw looked like unraveled ammonites. They are called hetromorph (meaning “different shape”) ammonites. Looking at ammonite fossils, there’s a diverse array of different types, sizes, colors, and shell patterns. Evolutionists often try to use these different types of ammonites to support evolution, but there are some issues with the evolution of ammonites.
As seen from the outside, iridescent shells of some ammonites can be quite eye-catching. The inside of their shells, are a wonder that can be seen if you slice the fossil in half. There, you can see that the inside of the coiled shell is divided into a series of chambers, each getting smaller as they wind toward the tightest part of the coil. In biology, ammonites are classified as cephalopods, like a squid or cuttlefish, and use the chambers of their shells to help them move as needed through the water.
The little walls of these chambers are called septa and the points where they join to the main part of the shell are sutures. Different patterns of these sutures, some straight, and others in intricate, wavy lines, are used to distinguish types of ammonites. Researchers think the ammonites with less-intricate sutures may have lived in deeper waters than the
ones with more complex suture patters. Rather than evolution, the difference is probably best explained by the different environments in which each type of creature lived or died. It’s interesting to notice that ammonites with more simple sutures are found beginning at the Cambrian rock layers (among the lowest and oldest rock layers) and are found in modern ammonites today. That would be 500 million years of experimenting for this creature, just to decide sticking to the original design works best. Simply a diverse array of the same created kind makes more sense of the fossil record.
Different types of ammonites are often used to categorize rock formations into the classic geologic timescale (more on the geologic timescale/column here). Evolutionists look at these ammonite fossils and interpret them as different types of a creature thriving and going extinct over vast periods of time. Young earth geologists look at those same fossils and instead see a creative array of the same kind of creature, all living at basically the same time, but in different environments. Animals can’t change into just whatever they want, but they do have an amazing amount of pre-programmed flexibility in their genes to adapt to different environments. You can’t change into just anything you want, but, through the grace of God, all the tools you need are available to help you adapt to the challenges and pressures you will face in your life. Just don’t let it get you all unraveled, like the quirky hetromorph ammonite!
Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, April 2016
References:
- Frank Sherwin, M.A. 2004. Ammonite Evolution?. Acts & Facts. 33 (12). Institute for Creation Research. Last accessed 4/8/16. http://www.icr.org/article/ammonite-evolution
- Gordon Howard. Index fossils—really? Creation Magazine 34(4):52–55. October 2012. Creation Ministries International. Last accessed 4/8/16. http://creation.com/index-fossils
- Jann Vendetti.The Cephalopoda: Squids, octopuses, nautilus, and ammonites. 2006. University of California Museum of Paleontology. Last accessed 4/8/16. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/taxa/inverts/mollusca/cephalopoda.php
- Harold Levin. 2010. The Earth Through Time, 9th edition. Pages 352-353. John Wiley & Sons Inc. United States.
- Heather Brinson Bruce. Masters of Disguise. 2016. Answers Magazine 11(2). Pages 66-72. Answers in Genesis.
Updated on April 1, 2016
Destruction of the Ammonites
You might come across passages that talk about the destruction or judgment of the people group of “Ammonites” in the Bible, when reading through the Old Testament. Some of these irritating Ammonites tried to prevent Nehemiah from re-building the wall in Jerusalem (see the book of Nehemiah). The words Ammonite, Ammonites, and Ammonitess can be seen 36 times in the Bible and the word “Ammon” can be found another 90 times (KJV). These are not the “Ammonites” I’m talking about today. While the ammonites we will be looking at today are fossil sea creatures, the great event of the destruction of these ammonites is also mentioned in the Bible before the people group is mentioned.
Ammonites are fossils of soft-bodied sea creatures that have hard, beautifully coiled shells. They are very similar to a nautilus you could find living in the oceans today. The name “ammonite” comes from Latin words meaning “horn of Ammon”, because their coiled shells looked like horns. Their name actually is connected to a rebellious people group mentioned in the Bible. Like an octopus or squid, ammonites fall under the category of “Cephalopods” (meaning “head-foot”). These creatures came in a variety of sizes, ranging from nine feet to less than one inch across. They made a rather tasty snack for many different sea creatures.
Some ammonite fossils have been found with bite marks, possibly made by a creature like a Mosasaur that would have bitten into the hard shell to get out the soft sea creature inside. One incredible, large ammonite fossil with a story behind it was shown by Neal Larson at the 2016 Tucson Fossil show. This ammonite, about 2-3 feet wide, had a giant slash in its shell that must have been caused while the creature was still alive. After doing some research on the odd markings, Larson decided that the markings must have been made by a giant sword fish that had serrated fins.
The very first “destruction of the ammonites” started with other animals eating them. Before Adam and Eve chose to rebel against their Creator, God, both they and all the creatures were vegetarians. There was no death, no sickness, and no animals getting eaten. The first destruction of ammonites happened when sin entered into the world, bringing death and decay to all of creation – ammonites included. The next big destruction of ammonites event happened during the global flood, as God’s righteous judgment for the wicked rebellion of people. It’s this great destruction of the ammonites (and many other creatures) during the flood that gives us all the fossils we find. Death, including fossils and creatures getting eaten, was not a part of God’s original, “very good“ creation. Rather, those things are the consequences of man’s rebellion , choosing to sin. The next time you read about the destruction or judgment of the Ammonites in the Bible, remember both types of ammonites, and how the consequences of sin includes death, but the Lord continues to show mercy by sparing the lives of some.
Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, April 2016
Special thanks to Neal Larson for a personal interview about his ammonite fossil at the Tuscon Fossil show on February 3rd, 2016.
Posted on March 25, 2016
Flying Fossils
“Hurry! Let’s catch one!” Declared my 5-year old friend, as she ran across the grass, wielding a plastic cup and lid. Swarms of dragonflies were dancing overhead. The girl leaped into the air, spinning and reaching her cup as high as she could, trying to catch a dragonfly and imploring for my assistance. The sun was just starting to sink on that beautiful August evening. I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend an evening than chasing the swarms of dancing dragonflies, and later chasing the best view of the sunset, with my young friend across the wide, open countryside. Though we didn’t actually catch a dragonfly, we enjoyed watching these fantastic flying creatures.
Living dragonflies are amazing, but several weeks ago I also got to see some fossil dragonflies from the German Solnhofen Limestone formation. Last week, we looked at the incredible way jellyfish fossils were preserved in the Solnhofen rock by the rapid, catastrophic burial during Noah’s Flood (read that article here). Just like the soft-body of a jellyfish, dragonflies, with their delicate wings, are very difficult to preserve as fossils. These fossil dragonflies were big, but some are much larger – giant dragonflies that thrived in lush environments before the global flood. Giant fossil dragonflies with wingspans of up to thirty inches have been found in rock layers classified as Pennsylvanian (learn more about rock layer classification here).
One thing that is interesting to notice about dragonfly fossils is how similar they are to the dragonflies we see today. Think about it for a minute. According to evolutionists, the beautifully preserved dragonflies of the Solnhofen lived about 155 million years ago, and giant dragonflies (in Pennsylvanian rock) lived a supposed 325 million years ago. Why is it that dragonflies have stayed basically the same for that long? The issue gets more intriguing as we look at some of the other creatures amazingly preserved in this rock unit. We find shrimp, lobsters, katydids, water striders, beetles, and cockroaches almost exactly like the ones we see today. Perhaps these creatures didn’t evolve after all and didn’t live millions of years ago. The Biblical account of creation and a catastrophic, global flood, just a few thousand years ago seems to line up better with the fossil evidence.
“The insects go through [the event that killed off the dinosaurs] with apparently little change . . . We’re talking about more than cockroaches. We’re talking about butterflies and bees” ~ Dr. William Clemens, professor of integrated biology, University of California, Berkeley
The most famous fossil from the Solnhofen formation is Archaeopteryx, often said to be a “missing link” between birds and dinosaurs. In reality, it is just an extinct type of bird. There are a lot of problems with the idea of dinosaurs-to-birds evolution, but going into all of those is beyond the limits of this article (find previous writings on the topic here). One big issue with dinosaur-to-bird evolution is how all of the right features required for flight could evolve. Looking back to the dragonfly fossils we started with, flying creatures of some kind are found deep in the fossil record. There is a wide variety of flying creatures including birds, bats, dragonflies, and pterodactyls (flying reptiles), all with different designs for flying. If evolution was true, the ability to fly would have to evolve at least three completely unrelated times. The Bible offers a different history of flight. God created sea creatures, like the jellyfish, and flying creatures, like birds and dragonflies, all together on day 5 of creation.
Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, March 2016
References:
- Andy McIntosh. 100 years of airplanes—but these weren’t the first flying machines! Creation Magazine26(1):44–48. December 2003. Creation Ministires International. Last accessed 3/25/16 http://creation.com/100-years-of-airplanesbut-these-werent-the-first-flying-machines
- Localities of the Jurassic:The Solnhofen Limestone of Germany. Introduction to the Odonata:Dragonflies and Damselflies. University of California Museum of Paleontology. Last accessed 3/25/16 http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/uniramia/odonatoida.html
- Carboniferous Period. Prehistoric Timeline. National Geographic. Last accessed 3/35/16 http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/carboniferous/
- Carl Werner. Living Fossils. Pages 45-69. 2008. New Leaf Press. Green Forest, AR.
Posted on March 18, 2016
Jellyfish Sandwich
It had been an incredible, long morning at the international Tuscon fossil and mineral show. I had sore feet, tired eyes, and an empty stomach. Waiting for our last missing team member, I casually looked around at some of the fossils sitting on a nearby table. In a slab of rock next to a fish fossil, there was a large flat, circular fossil that I didn’t recognize. I paused to take a closer look. The single hand-written word on a little sticker next to the odd fossil made me gasp suddenly with delight! For several years, it had been the one rare type of fossil I have talked about and wanted to see in person more than any other – it was a jellyfish fossil!
https://pixabay.com/en/jellyfish-aquarium-wildlife-aquatic-695127/
Just the idea of a jellyfish fossil sounds all wrong. Most people think of bones, shells, and other hard body parts when they hear the word “fossil”. Today, we can see that jellyfish, classified in the biology phylum cnindaria, are truly incredible sea creatures that can glow and sting. They flow gracefully through the water and don’t have bones – their bodies are made up of about 96% water. After being washed onto the shore, it doesn’t take long before those beautiful bodies turn into a gooey mess. Other creatures, the motion of waves, and harsh sunlight batter their delicate remains. You certainly don’t see them turning into fossils on our seashores today.
To preserve a jellyfish as an imprint fossil in rock, it must be buried very quickly and not exposed to oxygen very long. The jellyfish fossil that I saw is from the Solnhofen limestone formation in Germany, which is classified as Jurassic rock (buried during the flood – more about how rock layers are classified here). Fossils in the Solnhofen formation, like this jellyfish, were supposedly gradually covered and preserved in the ancient “Tethys Sea”. However, it makes more sense to believe that these jellyfish were instead preserved by being buried quickly in the Biblical global flood just a few thousand years ago.
The fine-grained limestone of the Solnhofen preserves jellyfish and other detailed, delicate fossils quite well. However, a deposit of large jellyfish fossils with ripple marks was found in the coarse Mt. Simon-Wonewoc Sandstone of Wisconsin. Some of these jellyfish measured twenty inches across. The rock layer they are found in is classified as Cambrian, which is one of the lowest rock layers, laid down towards the beginning of the global flood. Delicate fossils like jellyfish are not preserved easily in coarse sandstone like this. Once again, they must have been buried very quickly to be preserved. Jellyfish fossils are a marvelous testimony of sudden burial during the global flood.
Life is short. Our time can disappear quickly. Don’t waste your life waiting – turn to the Lord in even the smallest aspects of life, and live. Don’t let your life turn into a gooey mess and disintegrate like modern washed up jellyfish. Choose to invest your precious time (your life) in things that will last for eternity. Choose to be like a jellyfish fossil – make an imprint that will last.
Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, March 2016
“For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,and its place knows it no more.” ~ Psalm 103:14-16
“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” ~ Psalm 90:12
References:
- Tas Walker. Death March: Horseshoe Crab stopped dead in its tracks. Creation Magazine. 25(2):54–55. March 2003. Creation Ministries International. Last accessed 3-18-16 http://creation.com/death-march
- Frank Sherwin, M.A. 2005. PB & J (Painful Blisters and Jellies). Acts & Facts. 34 (10). Institute for Creation Research. Last accessed 3-18-16 http://www.icr.org/article/pb-j-painful-blisters-jellies
- Kara LeBeau. What Are Those Big Jellyfish Fossils Doing in Wisconsin? January 23, 2002. GSA Release No. 02-05. Geological Society of America. Last accessed 3-18-16 http://www.geosociety.org/news/pr/02-05.htm
- David Catchpoole. Hundreds of jellyfish fossils! Creation Magazine 25(4):32–33. September 2003. Creation Ministries International. Last accessed 3-18-16 http://creation.com/hundreds-of-jellyfish-fossils
Posted on March 11, 2016
Well-Rounded Pi
After years of waiting, dreaming, and planning, the long-awaited day had finally come – and it was remarkable! That day was better than I could have imagined, and one day I’ll probably remember for the rest of my life. That day happened one year ago. It was “Pi-Day” 2015 – that is March 14, 2015 or 3/14/15 like the mathematical constant, Pi, which is 3.1415 and is used in calculations involving circles and curves. I like to celebrate “Pi Day” on March 14th (3-14) every year, but since “15” is the next set of numbers, March 14, 2015 (3/14/15) matches up with more of the digits of Pi (read last year’s article on Pi Day here). Because of that, it was a day I had been looking forward to for years, and trying to figure out what I wanted to do to celebrate such an occasion. I was thrilled that it ended up being the day of my brother’s home-town wedding reception, and I can always remember all of the kind friends who brought pies.
I’ve been a little sad lately, thinking that Pi Day this year (2016) would be a bit of a letdown in comparison, but someone pointed out that since Pi is 3.14159 etc., it would really be 3.1416 if we correctly round it to the fourth number after the dot. That means that 3/14/16, or March 14, 2016 is Rounded Pi Day. And Pi is the great “secret ingredient” in the math recipe behind all rounded or circular things, so it’s quite fitting to celebrate Rounded Pi Day. Pi is a constant number – it doesn’t change like the rest of the things in these round formulas, or “ingredients” in your math recipes. Whether you’re drawing a circle on paper or building a space craft, Pi will always be about 3.14
You may remember learning to use the fraction “22/7” (twenty-two-sevenths) as Pi when figuring out the area or circumference of a circle in grade school. However, many people forget that the fraction “22/7” is not actually Pi, but only a very close estimate to the constant. We say that Pi is an irrational number, meaning that it cannot really be written as a ratio (fraction) like 22/7. The number for Pi really comes from the measurement of the circumference (length around the edge) of any circle divided by its diameter (distance across the middle). You can try it yourself by using a flexible measuring tape to measure the circle around the edge of a CD (circumference) and the distance across the middle of the CD (diameter). If you divide the circumference by the diameter (length/width) you should get Pi!
The fraction 22/7 is used in simple calculations because it is pretty close to Pi. Twenty-two divided by seven= 3.14285714 while Pi=3.14159265 If you’re only rounding to two numbers after the dot, you get 3.14 either way, this fraction works well, but will get you into big trouble if you need something super precise. Rounding is very important in sciences like chemistry and physics. There are a few math rules used in these sciences to figure out exactly how precise you should be when solving for answers. They are the rules of “significant figures” or “significant digits”.
The main thought behind these rules of “significant digits” is that the information you calculate out as your answer cannot be better or more precise than any of the information you started with. For example, if you need to find the area of a circle that was measured to have a diameter of 2.86 inches, your answer has to be 6.42, even though a calculator will give you a more precise answer of 6.4242428. Any calculation is only as good as the information you started with. The same goes for all of creation – animals, plants, stars, and people. If you see any amazing beauty, order, information (like DNA), or human intelligence, know that they can only come from something that is just as good or better than what you see. An author must know at least as much as he wrote. Intelligence can only come from a source that is at least as intelligent. Order and precision cannot come from chaos, but need to come from something that is at least as orderly and precise. All of creation and the rules of math proclaim our Creator’s intelligence, order, and beauty. The glory of God is all around us. Remember the Lord, our Creator, and His precision on Rounded Pi Day this coming Monday!
Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, March 2016
Posted on March 4, 2016
Shifting Seasons
The spring breeze teased my loose, long hair as it sailed behind me when the swing went up, and cascaded around my shoulders when gravity pulled the swing back. Light from the late afternoon sun filtered through the new, bright green leaves of the tree in front of me. I closed my eyes, but could still see the magnificent light patterns. “Ding-dong-ding-dong-“, the distant church bell sounded softly, but clearly. I tried to get my swing to go with the rhythm of the rest of the chimes “-dong-ding-ding-dong”, which was followed by the hour. I counted the chimes: one, two, three, four, five. I’ve always loved seeing the first signs of spring after the cold dead-ness of winter – especially when I can see them from my favorite swing.
In my area, the way I usually first notice that spring is coming soon is when the Bradford Pear trees bloom in all white, generally around late February and early March. Later, the white blooms become dominated by leaves of bright green that progressively become darker. Several other types of fruit trees start to bloom around the same time the pear trees bloom. Bright green color begins to grace the branches of willows and a few other types of trees, including the tall, slender tree in front of my swing. Seasons are a remarkable part of God’s grand creation.
Do you have a favorite season? I love it that we do have different seasons, but would have to admit that no, I do not love all seasons equally. I tend to prefer warm sunshine, butterflies, and going barefoot, so winter is my least favorite and summer is my favorite season. Spring and autumn are beautiful, too. Regardless of how you feel about one season or another, seasons, in general, were a part of God’s original “very good” creation and not a punishment for sin. God created the stars, sun, moon, and the way that they are positioned, saying that they are for “signs and seasons, and for days, and years”. He designed the way that the Earth tilts, causing the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere to have opposite seasons. The Lord, our Creator, is the Author of order Who designed patterns, cycles, and seasons all throughout His Creation. God is good – He does not make chaos or disaster.
Several weeks ago, I heard a well-educated, intelligent Christian trying to defend his belief that Earth is billions of years old and dinosaurs lived before humans. He was so very close to the truth, and yet so far. Because Noah’s global flood, mentioned in the Bible, gives a better catastrophic explanation for fossils and rock layers than long periods of time do, I asked for his thoughts on the flood. His responses were a little scattered, sketchy, and unclear, but the one point he was very adamant about is that a real, global, catastrophic flood like I was talking about would throw off seasons and therefore must not have happened because the Bible says:
“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” ~ Genesis 8:22
Sadly, I suppose this Christian must not have read what was going on in the passage around this verse. The Lord gave this promise to Noah after the flood in the very same conversation that He promised never again to destroy the entire earth with water and used a rainbow as a reminder of that promise. It’s important to read each Bible verse in the context that it was written. After the flood, the climate would have changed a lot in different places around the world, causing an “ice age”, but changing the climates of some regions doesn’t mean there weren’t seasons. “Seasons” are large-scale cycles that influence smaller cycles, like the life cycles of plants and animals, while “climates” are conditions we normally expect in a certain areas and “weather” is what you actually get in a day. For example, Tuscon Arizona is a desert (climate), so when I was there about a month ago, I expected it to be a little warmer than my home in north Texas, but that week turned out to be quite cold and cloudy (weather).
Because God is good and just, He did destroy the whole earth with a catastrophic flood because people had become so very evil and disobedient. A righteous God required righteousness. The price of sin must be paid. That’s precisely why Jesus came – to pay the price for sin so that we might be able to have a restored relationship with our Creator. The Lord is faithful – He upholds the seasons and patterns of our everyday life and allows us a way of escape from our dreadful fate.
Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, March 2016
“The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness” ~ Lamentations 3:22-23
Posted on February 26, 2016
Daunting Dunes
Battling the ferocious, bone-chilling desert wind of a February morning, I tightly gripped one handle of my sled while the rest of the sled flailed wildly in the wind. Looking out across the wide open field of pure white sand dunes, I knew that if I let go of that sled, it would be long gone in a matter of seconds. Finally, I managed to get a good hold of the other side of the sled and promptly sat down on top of it, ready to go sliding down a great white sand dune at White Sands National Monument near Alamogordo, New Mexico. It was truly a breath-taking experience – in every sense.
Sand dunes, like the ones I saw and sledded down at White Sands, are important for understanding the history of rock layers and the age of the earth. In geology, formations made by wind, like sand dunes are called Aeolian deposits (also spelled “Eolian”, pronounced “ee-oh-lee-uhn”). They are typically throught to be formed in desert environments, like we see at White Sands and in many other places around the world. People who want to believe in a very old earth and long periods of time (millions of years) will often point to rock layers that they say are Aeolian deposits, made in an “ancient desert”.
People who don’t want to accept the Biblical young-earth view (about six thousand years) and global flood will often point to Aeolian deposits, saying that you can’t have rock made by desert conditions forming during a flood, and that it had to have taken millions of years. However, many of the supposedly desert-deposited rocks are actually better explained as being made underwater. Some rock formations with cross-bedding are thought to be Aeolian (desert made) formations. Cross-bedding is when the thin layers of the rock are not all flat, one on top of another, but angled, sometimes making “Z” shapes. This cross-bedding could be explained by sand dunes in a desert, like I saw at White Sands, but sand dunes can also form underwater with the right currents making cross-bedding. Footprint fossils are also found preserved in deposits that are thought to be made in the desert, but footprints don’t last long in the desert and are also better explained by being preserved quickly in water-deposited rock.
One common example of a supposed Aeolian rock formation is the Coconino Sandstone layer, which can be seen in the Grand Canyon. A closer look at what the sand in the Coconino is actually made up of can shed some light on how it was formed. Sand, silt, and pebbles are all just names for grain sizes and don’t really have much to do with what minerals and chemicals make up the sand. The sand at White Sands is made of gypsum, very unlike your typical beach sand (read more about gypsum sand here). Some of the minerals found in the sand of the Coconino, including flaky mica and relatively soft dolomite, would not last long in a desert environment. Also, on closer examination, scientists have found that the sand grains of the Coconino are rough, unlike the well-rounded grains of desert deposited sand (study lead by Dr. John Whitmore). It looks like the Coconino is better explained by flood deposits rather than Aeolian desert dunes.
The dunes of White Sands are much more recent – they were made after the flood, when the world was recovering from such a dramatic catastrophe. Modern sand dunes are different from what we see in the Coconino Sandstone and other rock deposits from the flood. Don’t become daunted by the dunes and the explanations evolutionists try to give them by saying that they show long periods of time and changes in climate.
Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, 2016
- Brian Thomas, M.S. 2014. Do Sand-Dune Sandstones Disprove Noah’s Flood?. Acts & Facts. 43 (9). Institute for Creation Research. Last accessed 2-26-16 http://www.icr.org/article/8231
- Morris, J. 2010. The Coconino Sandstone: A Flood or a Desert? Acts & Facts. 39 (7): 15. Institute for Creation Research. Last accessed 2-26-15 http://www.icr.org/article/coconino-sandstone-flood-or-desert/
- Geology rain size reference chart. United States Geological Survey. Last accessed 2-26-16 http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/of03-001/htmldocs/images/chart.pdf
- Dr. John Whitmore, Raymond Strom, Stephen Cheung, and Paul Garner. The Petrology of the Coconino Sandstone (Permian), Arizona, USA. December 10, 2014. Answers Research Journal. Last accessed 2-26-16. https://answersingenesis.org/geology/rock-layers/petrology-of-the-coconino-sandstone/
- “Coconino Sandstone—The Most Powerful Argument Against the Flood?” by Dr. John Whitmore on July 1, 2015; last featured November 1, 2015. Answers in Genesis. Last accessed 2-26-16 https://answersingenesis.org/geology/grand-canyon/coconino-sandstone-most-powerful-argument-against-flood/
- Morris, J. 2013. Slot Canyons, a Stunning Flood Formation. Acts & Facts. 42 (5): 15. Institute for Creation Research. Last Accessed 2-26-16. http://www.icr.org/article/slot-canyons-stunning-flood-formation/
- Tas Walker. “Shifting sands:How do we handle conflicts between geology and the Bible?”Creation 24(1):36–37. December 2001. Creation Ministries International. Last accessed 2-26-16. http://creation.com/shifting-sands
Posted on February 19, 2016
Sea of Sand
The ferocious, frigid wind whipped my hair all over the place as I attempted to run up the sandy hill. The soft, white sand kept on swallowing my bare feet in each step, making progress extremely slow. Once I did make it to the top, the sight of rolling white sand dunes under the stormy, blue-gray horizon was truly breath-taking. On my travels a few weeks ago, I had a chance to stop at White Sands National Monument near Alamogordo, New Mexico. It’s a stunning, wide open field of white sand dunes in the dessert. The white sand, in and of itself, has quite the story behind it.
This sand is white because it’s made of the mineral gypsum. Gypsum is a very dynamic mineral that is put to use in many different ways and in many different places. In homes, it’s often used in the sheetrock and texture of walls. Personally, I use it in plaster for field paleontology and in making fossil replicas (read more about that here). Gypsum is considered to be a type of “salt”, falling under the same category as table salt. Like table salt, it will dissolve in water, which is why large areas of gypsum sand, like we see at white sands, are rare. Usually gypsum does not gather in great sand dunes, and instead dissolves in rain water and flows into streams, rivers, and oceans. To understand why the area around White Sands is different, let’s go back to where gypsum comes from.
Traditionally in geology, gypsum and other salts are categorized as “evaporites” – they are said to have formed when water evaporates out of an area and leaves the salt behind, little by little over long periods of time. However, there are some pretty major problems with this idea. Two of these problems are that salt deposits are 1) practically pure and, 2) massive – spreading over large areas. Small scale salt deposits we see from evaporation are anything but pure – very unlike the deposits we see.
While there is still a lot of research that needs to be done in this area, there’s another scientific model that seems to fit the evidence better. In the “hydrothermal model”, large salt deposits like gypsum do not come from slow evaporation, but catastrophic flows of salt-lava underwater, coming from inside the earth. These super-heated salt-lava brines would fall under the category of the “fountains of the great deep” mentioned in Genesis 11 during the global flood.
Gypsum would have been deposited during the global flood, roughly 4500 years ago. At the end of the flood, the mountains rose, and probably continued rising for some time afterward. The way that the mountains rose around the area would have caused a lot of bending, pulling, and pushing of rock (plate tectonics – read more about that here), which created the Tularosa Basin where White Sands now exists. Rain and mini-floods after the global flood, at the time when the Earth was still having “after-shocks” and some ice-age conditions, would have dissolved gypsum and carried it down into the Tularosa Basin. With nowhere to go, a lake formed and later dried up, leaving gypsum trapped in the basin. This is how the sand itself came to be in this region. It doesn’t take millions of years to make white sand – just the right conditions. Next week, we will talk about the sand dunes and wind/desert geology deposits.
Read about gypsum caves here
Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, February 2016
References:
- Morris, J. 2010. Evaporites and the Flood. Acts & Facts. 39 (6): 17. Institute for Creation Research. Last accessed http://www.icr.org/article/evaporites-flood
- “A Magmatic Model for the Origin of Large Salt Formations”, by Stef Heerema. Journal of Creation 23(3):116–118. December 2009. Creation Ministries International. Last accessed 2-19-16 http://creation.com/magmatic-origin-salt-deposits
- Geology Field Notes: White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. National Park Service. Last accessed 2-19-16 http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/parks/whsa/index.cfm
- “Geology of a Gypsum Dunefield” geology brochure. White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. Available at: http://www.nps.gov/whsa/learn/nature/upload/geology-brochure_revised_margins_final_2_16_12.pdf
Updated on February 12, 2016
Mathematical Proof of God?
“ . . . I can prove God mathematically using Einstein’s theory of relativity,” the medical doctor declared in the midst of a monologue about how much he loves science because of how much we can learn about God when we study His creation. Oh, really? I thought to myself, with equal curiosity and skepticism. After scrounging together a scrap of paper and pen, our small group watched over as Dr. A. Michael Minotti, our new doctor friend, demonstrated his mathematical proof of God over lunch. While Dr. Minotti’s demonstration may not be perfect and doesn’t necessarily “prove God”, it certainly is a very thought-provoking way of noticing the character of our Creator as displayed in His creation.
“For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, so that they are without excuse” ~ Romans 1:20
Dr. Minotti’s demonstration is based on fairly simple math calculations and some Biblical principles. Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12). In a number of places throughout the Bible, it mentions that God is the ultimate source of light. Let’s try to apply this by mathematically solving for the “mass” of God (i.e., how big God is):
In this equation “m0” is the “mass of God” that we’re trying to find. The “m” is irrelevant for this calculation. The ”v” stands for the velocity (speed and direction) of God and “c” is the constant number for the speed of light. Well, if God is light, then the velocity of God would be the speed of light (theoretically, for our calculation at least). That would mean that “v” is the same as “c” , which means that “v squared over c squared” is really just “c squared over c squared”. In math, any time you have a fraction with the same number on the bottom and the top (anything divided by itself), it is equal to 1. Simply put, if you have two halves of something, you must have a whole. So the v-squared over c-squared just equals one. Doing the part under the square root first, with the 1 minus the fraction, we find that it is the square root of one minus one. One minus one is zero, and the square root of zero is zero. Any time you have a fraction with a zero on bottom, the number is undefined (see the whole problem worked out below). The physical size of God is undefined – you can’t measure God!
Now that we’ve solved for the mass of God, we can also solve for the time of God – His age. Notice that the formula for time (below) looks just like the formula for mass, only with “t”s replacing our “m”s. We know that if you use the speed of light for the velocity of God (because God is light), our results are “UNDEFINED”. So, time is undefined for God – He is timeless! That certainly reminds me of some of the things I’ve read about God in the Bible.
So far, we’ve figured out that both the mass and time of God are mathematically undefined (that involves infinity). There a third equation that Dr. Minotti showed us is my favorite – it’s the formula for distance. What is the distance of God? How far away is He? Just like we did in the previous two formulas, using the speed of light for the velocity of God, we get zero under our square root. Anything multiplied by zero is equal to zero. So the distance of God, or “L0” is zero (full calculation below). That means that God’s distance from any point in space or time is zero. He is there. He is here. His distance from YOU is zero. God is ever-present.
Do you see it? Our Creator left fingerprints of His character in physics. God is light. He is beyond physical measure. Our Lord is beyond time. There is NO distance between the Creator and His Creation. He is ever-present with you. God is not just our Creator, but He also wants a personal intimate relationship with each and every one of us. You cannot run from God. God is with you. When trouble comes, choose to acknowledge that He is the Lord your Creator and He is with you. As long as He is with you, you do not have to fear, and can face whatever may come.
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” ~ Romans 8:38-39
Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, February 2016
***Special thank you to Dr. A. Michael Minotti for showing me this demonstration in Tuscon, Arizona, on February 3rd, 2016. Thank you also, to Dr. Minotti, for giving his permission to write about it.***
