Figure 1 - Museum exhibit of a mammoth
Mammoths pose a mystery to science. How did they get frozen? The answer is not as simple as you might think. Normal cold weather would not freeze them quickly enough to preserve them as well as they are found. The temperature had to drop drastically, in only a few hours, to -150° F or lower! Based on the range of places where they are found, this had to be a widespread, not just a local, phenomenon.
In 1 Corinthians 13 the Bible says, “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.” Our knowledge is imperfect in this life, and we are continually learning more. This is also true in the scientific realm, and theories that were once held often have to be given up. We may see scientific theories change again very soon due to new discoveries concerning rates of radioactive decay, the speed of light, and the degree of ape-human similarity. All of these areas are significant for theories of the origin of life on earth, so it is helpful to examine them in more detail. Here there is only space to examine the first of these areas, namely, the rate of radioactive decay.
... there is about the fact of evolution no doubt at all. Evolution is a fact, as securely established as any in science, ... 1
Is this actually true? You may have read, or heard, such claims about evolution: that it is a fact, that it is proven beyond doubt, and perhaps even that anyone who questions the truth of evolution is either uneducated, ignorant, deluded, or perhaps just not that bright.
In their new book, The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow defend scientific determinism, which they define as follows:
Even though Noah’s Ark has not been discovered yet, we have the Word of God that records in the Hebrew book of B’resheet (Genesis) that the Ark rested in the Mountains of Ararat. This emplacement implies an altitude high above the current sea level, the result of the catastrophic and universal Deluge, that in biblical chronology happened about 4400 years ago. This universal flood refaced the earth’s surface (mountains, oceans, rivers, valleys, caves, fossils, sedimentary layers, volcanoes, etc.). Furthermore, Noah, his seven family members, and pairs of land dwelling animals that were carried in the Ark survived the catastrophe. No water dwelling creatures or insects were included in God’s rescue venture.
