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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Matthew Priebe

Spotlights on Creation - Part 1

I study animals and I study nature and I study plants.

And I study how they all interact together.

And I've been doing that for about the last 25, 30 years.

And in the opportunity I've had, I've been able to see animals in the wild in their natural habitats.

Being able to be out in nature, not read about them in a book, not see them on a video screen, but actually be out there and study them in the field.

And so that's what I've been doing most of the year, most of the time for the last 20 plus years.

And so today what we're going to be doing is brand new.

I've never done it here at Edmund Hope and I've just developed it over the last year or so.

And that is focusing on aspects of nature.

Really taking a sharp look at some of the really interesting parts of nature and the animal groups and plant groups that make up it, the natural world, and see what it tells us about creation and evolution, about our responsibility as Christians to the natural world, and how we relate to God.

And so what we're gonna be doing today is a little bit different than what I normally do, because normally I do very long programs on 1 topic.

Some of you who have heard my meetings can testify to that.

Today we're going to be doing short stories.

We're going to be doing actually little focuses on 1 group of animals and then another group of animals to see what they all can tell us, each 1 a little bit different.

But they'll all add up to a long program, so you're not getting away early.

So if you're hoping for that, you're going to be disappointed.

We'll still be going along here this morning.

But Anyway, we're going to be looking at some of the really exciting aspects of nature to see what they can show us.

Now I'm wondering, could it be possible to turn the lights out at all, dim them at least, because it's a little bit bright in here for the screen.

But We're going to start with design and nature, a bit of an introduction to what we're going to be doing here this morning.

When we look at the natural world, what do we see?

Does everything look the same, behave the same, and live in the same way?

Or do we see an infinite variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and behavior.

Imagine finding a pocket watch sitting upon a beach, ticking away, telling the time of day.

Did the ocean waves combined from the coral, sand, pebbles, and seaweed to form the watch?

Or did a human design and build the watch?

When we look at Mount Rushmore, do We assume that long years of weathering and erosion created a pattern in the rocks that coincidentally looked like the faces of US presidents.

Or do we know even without being told that the faces were carved by artists?

Are we glad that the glass accidentally formed into that beautiful pattern that we can enjoy?

Are we glad that someone had the artistic skill required to make that beautiful pattern that we admire?

But what about living organisms, plants, animals, every living cell?

Evolution tells us that all design we see in nature is due to chance.

Random chance is responsible for all the complexity and all the diversity that we see in nature.

There is no intelligence in the universe capable of designing life, so it all just happened to form out of chaos, luck, and natural processes.

So when we see what looks like design, this is merely the appearance of design, not actual design.

What do the animals and plants have to teach us?

Do they give us evidence for random chance or a master designer, a blind watchmaker, or a intelligent creator?

Scientists can tell the difference between chance and design when they observe systems that are both complex and specific.

If a system is ordered and specific, it rules out the likelihood that randomness is the cause.

However, since anyone can use common sense and experience to determine whether or not watches, sculptures, and windows are made by chance or design, then why can't we use that same common sense and experience to determine whether or not The living organisms of our world are due to chance or design.

For many years, physicists told us that bumblebees could not fly because of the shape of their body and their wings.

And yet, bumblebees continue to buzz merrily around flower meadows without listening to the physicists.

Discus fish secrete an edible mucus across their entire body for their babies to eat, letting them nibble it off the sides of their bodies.

A rhino's head is filled with specialized smelling equipment that lets them see with smell.

Plants breathe through microscopic pores that cover their leaves.

Now, those species that live in dry habitats keep their pores shut as much as possible to save water.

Those that live in wet habitats can afford to keep them open all the time.

How do unthinking plants know the difference?

Bird feathers are interlocking lattices of tiny hooks that give them incredibly strong, tight surfaces while staying so lightweight that the birds are able to fly.

Other feathers serve different functions and each has its own unique and useful features.

Spiders spin a liquid from their abdomen that hardens when exposed to oxygen, forming silk.

Spiders can weave silk into egg cases, safety lines, and the most ingenious traps found in nature.

Sea turtles ready to lay eggs have the navigational ability to find the exact beach that they were laid on sometimes decades ago when they last saw it as a tiny hatchling.

Many salamanders have no lungs, instead breathing through their moist and porous skin.

Cuttlefish communicate using patterns of light and color on their skin.

They have an entire visual language of shifting colors and strobe pulses, the most sophisticated visual language ever studied.

We will be looking at many such examples over the course of today's meetings, but for now we will look at 2 clear examples of design in nature.

Bat species make up a quarter of all mammals.

Many are tropical, active during the day, and use their excellent vision to navigate.

But others are active during the night, especially in those in temperate areas, and these rely on echolocation to navigate.

They send out high-frequency sound bursts, directing them with elaborate facial shapes.

These sound pulses above the level of our hearing are so loud that the bats' delicate hearing would be damaged if they didn't have special protection.

Bats have a valve plug in each ear that they shut off their hearing as they send out their sound pulses.

They immediately open up those valves in order to be able to hear the returning echoes that they have already sent out.

Bats can turn on and off their hearing like this up to 200 times per second.

They use their sound echoes to construct a mental map of their immediate surroundings.

All bats can see very well, but their echolocation allows fantastic feats of navigation that vision never could.

They can detect objects as thin as a human hair.

They fly at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour, even in total darkness, so caves become perfect roosts.

In a cave system in Borneo, millions of bats share roosting and flying space.

They avoid crashing into each other or interfering with each other's sonar, despite the fact that there are 12 different species, each with their own calls and frequency levels.

Evolution provides no factual evidence as to how a system so unbelievably complicated could ever have evolved slowly over millions of years.

A second example is the transformation of butterflies and moths from larvae caterpillars to adults.

They enter a hard chrysalis or silk cocoon and then melt into a formless liquid as their entire body breaks down to a soup from which new cell structures will form the adult body.

What is in control of this transformation?

There is no controlling brain as the caterpillar's brain has turned to liquid soup along with the rest of their body.

The adult that emerges is utterly different from the larva that went into the transformation.

The body, mouth, eyes, digestive system, and feet are totally changed.

If we didn't observe the change, we would never guess it is the same species.

Only God's providence could have set up such a delicate and complex transformation.

Do nature's examples indicate random chance mimicking design, or do we see actual design?

God has left his handiwork on display for us to study.

If we ignore the clear evidence of intelligent design, we will try to explain what we see as blind luck.

Creation really is the best scientific explanation of the complexity and diversity of life.

Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to usward.

If they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee, if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

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Spotlights on Creation - Part 1

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