In This Issue

CREATION TRIP REPORT
Introduction
Chapter I – The International Conference on Creationism
Chapter II -- Flight Museums in Dayton, Ohio
Chapter III – AIG Museum, Cahokia Mounds
How to Live Longer, Part II
Coming Events

CREATION TRIP REPORT

Introduction
by Doug Dexheimer

Ken Carlson and I were recently privileged to attend the 13th International Conference on Creation (ICC-13) in Green Tree, PA.  Just prior to the conference itself on Aug 3rd, we joined a bus tour of Pittsburgh’s geology, on which we experienced an unexpected “alien encounter” (details below).

The conference itself is summarized in the article “Chapter I - The International Conference on Creation.”

On Friday, Aug 9th, as we returned westward toward Kansas City, we visited several museums in the Dayton, Ohio area.  Our visits to the USAF Museum of Military Aircraft, and the Wright Brothers Museum of Flight are reported in the “Chapter II” article.

Following our adventures in Dayton, we took a short detour to the Answers-In-Genesis museum in Peterborough, KY.  Due to time constraints, we could not stay to see more of the museum on Sunday afternoon, so we departed Kentucky and set out for the central Illinois World Heritage site, Cahokia Mounds, about which you can read in the “Chapter III” article.

As mentioned above, an interesting “alien” appeared on our bus tour on Aug 3rd.  She was riding on a separate tour bus, so we saw her only occasionally when the passengers of both buses congregated at stops along the way.  She was not camouflaged to look like other tourists or passengers on the bus, but openly announced herself as an “alien.”

Not only did she freely announce herself as an alien, but she also bore a warning label on her “earth suit,” stating, “I am an alien.  I am not of this world, nor do I call it HOME.  My desires are not for earthly things that will fade, corrode, or burn.  I set my heart & mind on things above.  My faith and hope are in GOD alone and I eagerly await HIS return for me.  I am a citizen of heaven.”

I suspect that there were many other aliens aboard those 2 tour buses.   This was the only one I saw who openly announced herself as one.  I do not know what would have happened had all the aliens on the two buses so openly announced their allegiances….

Here she is standing in the sun -- in full view of everyone on the tour.

     

“I am an alien.  I am not of this world, nor do I call it HOME.  My desires are not for earthly things that will fade, corrode, or burn.  I set my heart & mind on things above.  My faith and hope are in GOD alone and I eagerly await HIS return for me.  I am a citizen of heaven.”

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October Monthly Meeting

Tuesday October 1st, 2013

 “The Great Debate”

DVD  Part 3

Ken Ham, AiG president, is perhaps the most widely recognized creation-apologist in the world today. Ken Ham and AiG astrophysicist Dr. Jason Lisle engage Drs. Hugh Ross (Reasons to Believe) and Walt Kaiser (president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary), both of whom are proponents of an old earth, no-global-flood view of Bible interpretation. In this eye-opening debate, well-mannered disagreement is punctuated by intriguing confrontations as these four Christian leaders communicate their views. Ham and Lisle implore Ross and Kaiser to accept the Genesis account of history as written, while Ross and Kaiser argue for their view that the first chapters of Genesis are more symbolism than history.

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CREATION TRIP REPORT

Chapter I – The International Conference on Creationism
by Doug Dexheimer

Early Friday morning, August 2nd, Ken Carlson and I departed from Kansas City by car on a 14-hour drive to attend the 2013 International Conference on Creation, held this year in Green Tree, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh.

Saturday, Aug 3rd proved to be a major highlight of our trip.  We joined a bus tour of the Pittsburgh area coal seam, led by Dr. Steve Austin of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR).  We visited numerous interesting geological sites, observing some unusual and fascinating geological cuts through many layers of limestone, coal, and sandstone. 

         

Dr. Steve Austin describes the vegetation comprising the Pittsburgh coal seam.

Ken Carlson, CSAMA’s resident “coal guru,” told us that for him, this bus tour was the best part of the trip.

The keynote address for the conference was delivered on Sunday evening by AIG President Ken Ham.  He spoke about “Genesis, Biblical Authority, and the Age of the Earth.”

For the next four days, we attended 2 of 6 sessions offered each morning, and 2 of 6 sessions each afternoon.  An additional session was offered each evening.  Each of us had to choose from one of three sessions being offered during each morning and evening timeframe.  Needless to say, it was impossible for anyone to attend all the sessions relating to his own personal field of interest.

The conference website contains numerous photos of this year’s event. ¹

Briefly, here are some of the disciplines represented:

• Modeling / simulations:
• Flood and volcano geology.
• Post flood erosion simulation.
• Post flood meteorology, i.e., ice age simulations.
• Baraminology of plants and animals, with emphasis on canine, feline, and equine kinds.
• Chronological reconciliation of Egyptian & Hebrew dynasties, with ice age evidence in the Middle East.
• Study of wood trusses on Noah’s ark, strength of wood used to build the ark, and strength of a woodpecker’s bill.
• Astronomy and Cosmology:
• The variable speed of light across the vast universe, versus a biblical young earth.
• Explanation of creation from day zero, starting with zero entropy, and without a so-called Big Bang and billions of years of evolutionary imagination.
• Microbiological explanations of the impossibility of evolution.

Each evening, a different speaker presented his own special emphasis on creationism:

1. Monday. Dr Mark Horstemeyer:  Numerical simulations and the need for grad students to continue working on accurate scientific models.
2. Tuesday.  Dr. Andy Mcintosh: A look from across the pond, i.e., Great Britain.
3. Wednesday. Dr Paul Nelson: The Genomics Revolution and its Effect on Theories of Origins.  ORFan genes rule out the possibility of Macroevolution.  In bacterial literature, orphan genes are also referred to as ORFans, a play on the phrase: “open reading frame,” describing the specific sequencing of genes.
4. Thursday. Dr. Steve Austin: The Crucifixion earthquake of 33AD, Evidence in the Dead Sea Sediment.  (There was a lively Q & A session following this presentation, as the chronology of the earthquake was debated.)

The following link contains a detailed list of all of the presentations:
http://www.creationicc.org/ICC_TOC.php?yr=2013

(Audio video webcasts of each presentation are being made available to participants.  We invite you to contact us if there is a particular presentation would like to see.)

¹http://www.creationicc.org/

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Monthly Meetings

2013

(1st Tuesday of each month; content subject to change; no signup or registration necessary.)

• October 1: “The Great Debate” DVD, Part III, moderated by Bob Farwell.
• November 5: “Cave Formation, & Mineral Placement,” Bob Farwell, Doug Dexheimer, and Kevin Anderson.
• December 2: “The Star of Bethlehem” DVD, moderated by Bob Farwell.

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CREATION TRIP REPORT

Chapter II -- Flight Museums in Dayton, Ohio
by Doug Dexheimer

Following the ICC, on Friday, Aug 9th we drove to Dayton, Ohio to visit the US Air Force Air Museum.  Included at the museum are examples of military aircraft from early times, to present.

          

Saturday, Aug 10th found us at the Wright Brothers Museum of Flight, where visitors may learn, among many other interesting facts about the brothers: 

• Their parents encouraged them from a young age.
• They started a print shop with financial support from their father, making job prints for their church and for local businesses.  Eventually they launched a newspaper even though neither of the brothers had graduated from high school.
• When the printing business got competitive, they set up a bicycle manufacturing shop, making many of the components of their bicycles from scratch in their machine shop, and sharpening their metal and woodworking skills.

• They read avidly of experimental attempts at heavier-than-air flight, and began their next venture: flying machines.  They made classical use of what is known as “the scientific method,” with biblical inspiration.  They:
• devised effective experiments to measure lift and drag,

• made careful observations,
• meticulously recorded their findings, and
• developed a number of designs for wings and propellers.
• They performed their first test flights at Kill Devil Hill on the outer banks of NC.
• They continued refining their flying machines in a cow pasture near their home in Dayton.
• Their efforts to sell the flying machines for military observation were unsuccessful, although…
• Eventually they secured a contract to carry mail for the US Postal Service.

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Ha Ha Tonka Safari

October 19 Saturday
7:15 PM

Meet at park headquarters on Hwy D (just west of Camdenton on Hwy 54).  We suggest you bring a sack lunch.  Saturday morning we visit the karst (caves, sink holes, rock bridges) topography of Ha Ha Tonka State Park around Camdenton, MO and later, Jacob’s Cave.

You must register for any safari.
Please call
(816) 618-3610 or (816) 246-4517
or visit
http://www.csama.org/Safarisignup.htm
to register.

2013
Past and Future

• April 12: Astronomy.
• April 13: South East Kansas Fossils and Mineral.
• May 10: Astronomy.
• May 25 - 27: Western Kansas.
• June 8: Photo.
• June 20 - 22: A Float Trip Down the North Fork of the Black River.
• June 29: Astronomy.
• July 20: Kansas University Natural History Museum.
• July 27: Astronomy.
• August 9: Astronomy.
• August 17: Greater KC Fossil Hunt.
• Aug. 31 - Sept. 3: Southeast MO.
• September 6: Astronomy.

• October 18 - 19: Ha Ha Tonka.
• October 4: Astronomy.
• November 1: Astronomy.
• December 7: Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge; Eagle Days.
• Recurring safaris not scheduled for 2013:
• (July) Rock Bridge / Connor’s Cave.
• (August) Zoological Park Caney KS.
• (October) KATY Bike Trail.

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You must register for any safari.
To register please call (816) 618-3610 or visit:
http://www.csama.org/Safarisignup.htm

Astronomy safaris only, call:
(913)-515-6421.

For detailed safari information:
http://www.csama.org/events.php

CREATION TRIP REPORT

Chapter III – AIG Museum, Cahokia Mounds
by Doug Dexheimer

Answers In Genesis Creation Museum

On Saturday afternoon, we arrived at the AIG Creation Museum (http://creationmuseum.org/) near Petersburg, Kentucky, about an hour south of Dayton.

Because we arrived late in the afternoon, we went through the displays rapidly in order to get a feel for the size and scope of this installation.  The primary emphases of the museum are:

• Creation week
• Noah’s ark
• The Great Flood
• The Tower of Babel, and a bit of flood geology and plate tectonics
• The Lord’s plan of salvation

The amusements outside the Museum include zip lines from timber towers, picnic groves, etc.   Plans were on display for a full size reconstruction of Noah’s ark in a separate theme park.

We stayed at the Creation Museum until the gate was locked on Saturday evening.  Unfortunately the museum would not be opened again until noon on Sunday.  Ken had to be home by Sunday evening, so to cover the greatest distance we jumped in the car and headed west immediately after closing time on Saturday evening.

On Sunday morning, we experienced two “close encounters” that we consider ordained by the CREATOR:

• While eating breakfast, a gent at a nearby table heard us talking about mitochondrial DNA, and offered his evolutionary understanding of genetics from a microbiologist’s viewpoint.  We told him we were young-earth-creationists, and presented to him our understanding of Biblical creation (i.e., no evolution).  Since he was on his way to KU, we allowed that we will meet again soon.
• Then, while loading the car, I noticed a logo for Generac ™ standby generator systems on a nearby vehicle.  We visited with the salesman who told us that many of the installations he does are for the aged and infirm, and folks on dialysis or ventilators who do not want to encounter death if their electrical grid goes down.  He told us that many units have been sold to folks in Branson and Springfield, MO, where many retirees reside.  The generator folks were on their way to a nearby church service, so we chose not to delay them, except to tell them we were on our way home from the ICC in Pittsburgh, PA, and to wish them “GODspeed.” 

What an opportunity this salesman has: to witness to those who are afraid to “meet their maker”!

An hour later, we drove up to the visitor information center at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site and World Heritage Center.

Here’s one of the markers found along the Great River Road that stretches from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.

Inside the center, native culture is presented in great detail via numerous dioramas and other interesting displays.  We took a walking tour of the reconstructed town’s main central plaza.  At the time of the town’s existence, it contained a population larger than that of London, England during that same time period. 

Cahokia Mounds is the largest and earliest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico. It was occupied primarily during the Mississippian period (800–1350 A.D.), when it covered over 1,600 hectares (3,950 acres) and included some 120 mounds. It is the pre-eminent example of a cultural (pagan) religious, and economic center of the Mississippian cultural tradition, which extended throughout the Mississippi Valley and the southeastern United States. This agricultural society may have had a population of 10,000–20,000 at its peak between 1050 and 1150. Cahokia is an early and exceptional example of pre-urban structuring.

The native culture had no written language, and no record remains to explain its demise. 

Students of ancient astronomy will appreciate Cahokia’s solar calendar, which modern scientists have named “Woodhenge.” It was discovered recently when a highway improvement project uncovered the holes into which poles had been inserted.  The holes were arranged in large circles west of Monk’s Mound, the largest of the 120 mounds.  Anthropologist Dr. Warren Wittry was studying excavation maps when he observed that numerous large oval-shaped pits seemed to be arranged in arcs of circles.

Wittry guessed that posts set in the holes would line up “with the rising sun at certain times of the year, serving as an agricultural calendar, which he called Woodhenge….  The most spectacular sunrise occurs at the equinoxes, when the sun rises due east. The post marking these sunrises aligns with the front of Monks Mound,” so that it would have looked “as though Monks Mound gives birth to the sun.”¹

An interesting piece of artwork by Lloyd K. Townsend at the following website shows the natives erecting one of the poles:
http://www.cahokiamounds.org/explore/cahokia-mounds/woodhenge

Anthropologists believe the inhabitants/residents of Cahokia came to central North America by way of the Bering Sea Bridge between Siberia and Alaska.   This idea is consistent with the dispersal of people groups that occurred at the Tower of Babel, as recorded in Genesis 11: 1-9:

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.  (KJV)

The Cahokia people were building earthen mounds long after their ancestors had left the site of the Tower of Babel.  It seems they were still reaching for heaven after they settled there on the banks of the Mississippi River.  Many other ancient cultures (Egypt, the Mayans, the Incas, etc.) used similar concepts – mounds or pyramids used as temple sites or burial tombs – in their apparent attempts to “reach for heaven.”

Our return to Kansas was uneventful.  We gave the LORD thanks for 1,900 safe miles when we reached our home in Overland Park.

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahokia

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How to Live Longer, Part II

byDoug Dexheimer

Last month, we looked into the notion that a pre-flood canopy may have served as an effective sunscreen; i.e., that it may have possessed anti-aging effects.  The possible benefits we mentioned include:

• Shielding from the scorching sun.
• Shielding from cosmic radiation.
• Increased partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere.

However, all hypotheses attempting to explain the “lifespan drop” in environmental terms have another issue they must resolve, and that is the temporary persistence of man’s longevity after the Genesis flood.

Noah was 600 years old at the time of the flood, but lived another 350 years afterwards – in the post-flood atmosphere!  It seems evident then that neither the change in atmosphere, nor the removal of a proposed vapor canopy “sunscreen” resulted in any abrupt decrease in human lifespan.  Even in pre-flood terms, Noah was already of a moderately advanced age.  If the post-flood atmosphere/environment indeed has such devastating effects on man’s longevity in modern times, then it seems logical to assume that Noah’s life should have been likewise shortened considerably upon his immediate exposure to these same conditions.  Actually though, we find that only two patriarchs are named who lived longer lives than Noah, they being Methuselah and Jared.

This month, we will look into another aspect of aging: picking your parents -- i.e., heredity, and good genes.

Barring accidental death, one-celled organisms are potentially “immortal.”  A bacterial cell reproduces by dividing into two where there was one, those two then become four, and so on.¹

 This does NOT work the same in multi-celled creatures, including mankind.  Enter, center stage, our old friend the telomere.

A telomere is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end of a chromotid, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes. Its name is derived from the Greek nouns telos (τέλος) “end” and merοs (μέρος, root: μερ-) “part.” Telomere regions deter the degradation of genes near the ends of chromosomes by allowing chromosome ends to shorten, which necessarily occurs during chromosome replication. Without telomeres, the genomes would progressively lose information and be truncated after cell division…. Over time, due to each cell division, the telomere ends become shorter.

 

During cell division, enzymes that duplicate DNA cannot continue their duplication all the way to the end of chromosomes. If cells divided without telomeres, they would lose the ends of their chromosomes, and the necessary information they contain. The telomeres are disposable buffers blocking the ends of the chromosomes, are consumed during cell division, and are replenished by an enzyme, telomerase reverse transcriptase.²

It seems the telomere at the end of each chromosome is limiting the number of times that individual human cells can divide. Recall from last month’s article, we saw that the age of Dolly the cloned sheep was preset by the age of the ewe from which she was cloned.  In other words, Dolly was chromosomally six years old when she was born!

Individual human cells in tissue culture divide some 50 times and then stop -- some sort of pre-programmed genetic limit is reached.  

 

In multicellular organisms, once damaged and worn cells can no longer replace themselves, death is only a matter of time the function of whole organ systems deteriorates.³

 So even without accidents or disease, it seems there is a programmed “upper limit” on our age -- which appears to be 120 years or so, as previously stated.  On the other hand, cancerous tumor cells may be lacking their telomeres, or perhaps their telomeres are damaged in such a manner that the cells propagate indefinitely by division.  In the words of Dr. Weiland:

I suggest that our ancestors simply possessed genes for greater longevity which caused this “genetic limit” to human ages to be set at a higher level in the past.⁴

A critical aspect of heredity was discovered by Augustinian monk, Gregor Mendel in his experiments with garden peas in the mid-1800’s.  He found that some hereditary traits in peas appear to be dominant, while others are recessive.  A common diagrammatical method of illustrating inherited traits is the “Punnett Square,” named after the man who devised the approach, Reginald C. Punnett.  Biologists use the method to determine probabilities of an offspring’s genotype when parents of known genotype are crossed.  By using a table showing the genotypes of both parents, all possible combinations of those genes can be determined in their offspring.

Monohybrid cross looking at one gene.  The term genotype refers to the combination of genes for both parents.  The term phenotype refers to the expression of the genes in term of the percentages of dominant and recessive genes.

 

In this example, both male and female have the genotype Bb. They can produce offspring that contain either the B or the b allele. (It is conventional in genetics to use capital letters to indicate dominant alleles and lower-case letters to indicate recessive alleles.)  The probability of an individual offspring's having the genotype BB is 25%, Bb is 50%, and bb is 25%. 

 

 

It is important to note that Punnett squares give probabilities only for genotypes, not phenotypes. The way in which the B and b alleles interact with each other to affect the appearance of the offspring depends on how the gene products (proteins) interact (see Mendelian inheritance). For classical dominant/recessive genes, like that which determines whether a rat has black hair (B) or white hair (b), the dominant allele will mask the recessive one. Thus, in the example above, 75% of the offspring will be black (BB or Bb) while only 25% will be white (bb). The ratio of the phenotypes is 3:1, typical for a monohybrid cross.⁵

The field of Genetics has developed into a complex science that explains many things like hemophilia, Tay-Sachs syndrome, albinoism, etc.  Punnett squares are used to map out the dominant and recessive genes of a family and explain how the phenotypes may appear in siblings of the same parents.

Watch for another installment on “How to Live Longer” in an upcoming issue of this newsletter, where we’ll discuss:

• The benefits of adequate sleep.
• The benefits of eating the right foods and avoiding what is harmful, as outlined in “The Maker’s Diet.”
• The benefits of limited diet plans, such as the fast diet, etc.

Each one of these benefits has a basis firmly established in scripture.  Stay tuned.

¹ http://creation.com/decreased-lifespans-have-we-been-looking-in-the-right-place
² http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomere
³ loc. cit., http://creation.com/
⁴ ibid.
⁵ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punnett_square

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All photographs contained in this issue, unless otherwise indicated, courtesy Doug Dexheimer.

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