Yesterday evening the boys and I attended the Answers in Genesis conference hosted by Merrimack Valley Baptist Church, featuring Dr. Ken Ham. (See event details, including driving directions here.)
There are two more sessions this evening. I highly recommend attending. Dr. Ham is an excellent presenter, and teaches in ways that are both fascinating and amusing.
I’ve now attended three different Creation Science conferences: Dr. Ham’s presentations are on par with the excellent work of the Institue for Creation Research. (There is a third, very well-known Creation Science presenter I’ve seen whose seemed to go off-topic at times, and who left me feeling he was a bit loopy when he did so.)
There were a few things which were of particular interest to me, although everything was interesting:
- Not a single point mutation ever studied has resulted in an increase of genetic information: They have all (all that we have studied so far, at least) removed information. It turns out that the things we dread, like bacterial resistance to antibiotics, are due to genetic information being lost from the strains. (In one specific example, mutation removed the ability to produce an enzyme that converted the antibiotic to poison within the bacterium, making a particular antibiotic ineffective.)
- The explanations of how specific breeds of dogs show subsamples of a more genetically diverse gene pool were excellent. He referred to his wife’s expensive-to-care-for hypoallergenic poodle-type dog as, “my wife’s degenerate, mutant dog.” I have always been fascinated by genetics, and enjoyed this part of the presentations immensely.
- During an explanation of 14C (Carbon 14) dating versus K-AR (Potassium-Argon) dating, Dr. Ham presented a find from a mine in Australia, where samples of fossil trees (not petrified) were found embedded in the bottom of a basalt layer. The layer was K-AR dated at 36 to 45 million years old, while the wood was radiocarbon dated to about 45,000 years old. They can’t both be correct, especially as 14C isn’t supposed to persist in measurable quantities for more then 100,000 years.
Dr. Ham has blogged about this conference himself here.
Enjoy.
Fascinating stuff. Thanks for the info!
I had intended to attend at least one of his sessions, but was ill last weekend. A young woman who attends MVB is in my Greek II class said there was a great turnout! [I just found out that Henry Morris died in March! Years ago I heard Dr. Whitcomb.]
I’ve always had more interest in the Ancient Civilzations aspect of Genesis. I know only the basics concerning science, but I DO have an expert in the family who is up on the physiological aspect of this!
(Just don’t ask her about astronomy.)
I just started preparing for teaching Genesis, though, and read that some bristlecone pines live up to 4,000 years, as datable from tree rings. Lab tests have shown that disintegration rates on growth rings older than 1000 BC are faster than the present C14 rate! [est. at 750 years younger from dates b/w 5100 & 4810 BC, and 100 years younger from dates b/w 1499-1000 BC] They think the discrepancy in rate may be due to changes in cosmic ray intensity or changes in the equilibrium b/w the atmosphere and the volume of ocean water. [Herbert Freely, Journal of the American Scientific Affiliations; referenced in Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1971] So much for uniformitarianism! Yet they KEEP teaching that at lower levels of education. Beth said it wasn’t until she reached graduate levels that she found professors who were actually honest in their scientific evaluations. I suspect that elementary and HS teachers pretty much know only what’s in the textbooks, so much of which is WRONG. Just ask anyone at a Ph.D. level to evaluate an elementary or HS textbook! It’s pretty obvious the textbook writers have their own agenda…and scientific honesty is NOT one of their criteria! The thing that really irks me is that J.Q. Public, who is not trained in these things, believe whatever they (or the newspaper or the Discovery Channel [which is, I am convinced, either produced by Satan or a 10 year old] or National Geographic) say. Btw, I have some GREAT articles I’ve saved over the years from National Geographic that I use for “discernment lessons” in my class! I like National Geographic except for their Religion of Evolution, which they end up having to retract so often it becomes kind of humorous! You’d think they would learn!
As I’ve already shared with you, I am absolutely in love with his ministry! If you haven’t heard about it, already, you really have to check out information on the Answers in Genesis, Creation Museaum. It’s literally a walkthrough of the first 11 chapters in Genesis. My parents and I attended “Creation College” at their headquarters, conveniently not to far from where the museum is being built. We got a chance to tour as they were in the beginning stages of building. If you are familiar at all, with his teaching, then you probably know about the “7 C’s of History.” That is the basic theme of the walkthrough! It looks like it’s going to be phenominal!! My parents and I are all “lifetime charter members of the museum,” so we get updates at least once a month, on the progress. Last I heard they are planning on opening their doors to the public sometime this summer!! I can’t wait!! We plan on finding the time, to take a road trip out there!
I would love to go to the Creation Museum. ( :: sticks out thumb :: ) We learned about it during the conference at MVBC, and it looked fabulous.
I read at least one of Ken Ham’s books, One Blood: The Biblical Answer to Racism. (I wonder why I might be interested in that one?) I loved the book, just like I loved Dr. Ham’s speaking, but found the writing level of that book, at least, to be too simplistic. I don’t generally prefer things to be dumbed-down, and was hoping for something more technical.
I have a subsription to two of AIG’s magazines. “Creation,” is the one that most people are familiar with. “TJ” is a fairly new magazine, that we were introduced to when we went to the creation college seminar. TJ has some “meaty” information. Ken Ham described the magazine, as the magazine for the creation enthusiast (I left quotes out on purpose, because I can’t remember the exact words he used, but it was something along those lines). I will bring one of them with me, this Sunday.
Also, there are several AIG speakers that my dad, and I, really like. Although, he would know better than I would who to recommend. I’ll ask him. We have enough of their books to fill at least 1 bookshelf. You’re welcome to borrow any of them.