\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload Audio\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\tText: Romans 1:18-22<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. There are so many hints present in this world that it is surprising that they are often\noverlooked.\n
A. But people have this tendency to only see what they expect to see<\/p>\n B. And we have a school system that pushes agendas instead of teaching students to\nanalyze and think on their own\n C. Once, I was shown the arguments by a teenager who stated there was no evidence\nof creation. He then began making arguments that I know were fed to him from\nhis teachers.\n
D. Let’s take a look at just a few clues that there is a Creator<\/p>\n
II. Interdependencies <\/p>\n A. The Brazil Nut Tree grows up to 160 feet tall in the Amazon rainforest and lives\n500 to 1,000 years. The trunk grows straight with no branches for over half the\ntree’s height.\n B. The flowers are coiled and have a heavy hood. Only one genus of the orchid bees\nhas the strength to open the hood and has a long enough tongue to reach the\nnectar.\n
1. These bees only live in undisturbed forests that contain orchids.<\/p>\n 2. The male orchid bee must pollinate a particular orchid flower to get its\nperfume that attracts a female orchid bee. Females will ignore males who\ndon’t have this particular scent.\n
3. It is the female orchid bees that pollinate the Brazil Nut flower.<\/p>\n C. It takes about 14 months for a seed pod to mature after the flowers are pollinated.\nThe seeds pods then fall to the ground. They can reach speeds of 50 mph during\ntheir fall. The thick pod protects the seeds during their fall.\n D. Few animals can crack the seed pod. One, the agouti, is a large rodent whose\nchisel-like teeth can break open the pod.\n
1. It eats some of the nuts but buries the remainder for later.<\/p>\n 2. But the ones that are forgotten lie dormant for years and eventually grow\ninto new trees.\n E. Without the male bees, the orchids cannot reproduce. Without the orchids, the\nbees cannot reproduce. Without the female bees, the Brazil Nut cannot reproduce.\nWithout the Agouti, the Brazil Nut tree can’t grow new trees.\n
F. So which came first? This is worse than the chicken and egg problem.<\/p>\n G. The system works because the interdependencies were designed to fit together to\nproduce a greater whole.\n
III. Natural Machines<\/p>\n A. We use gears in many machines, dating all the way back to about 300 B.C. in\nAlexandria, Egypt.\n B. Turns out there is a hopping insect, only 3mm long, that has gears. It is called a\nplanthopper (Issus coleoptratus).\n 1. Most hopping insects have long legs that extend beyond their bodies. This\nmakes it easier adjust its trajectory.\n 2. Planthoppers have short legs that are under their bodies. To make an\naccurate jump, the legs have to give the same power at the same time.\n
3. Planthoppers can jump at speeds of 8.7 miles per hour. <\/p>\n C. The gears allow the legs to move within 30 microseconds of each other. It handles\na complex problem that the brain and nervous system can’t handle.\n 1. The teeth of the gears even have filleted curves at the base, which is used\nin man-made gears because it reduces wear over time.\n D. But the gears are only in the nymphs. Adult planthoppers don’t have the gears, but\nuse a series of pins.\n 1. The hypothesis is that gears are more fragile. It isn’t a problem for juvenile\nplanthoppers because the frequent molts replace the gears.\n 2. Adult planthoppers can’t replace the gears, but they are big enough for\nanother system.\n E. The articles I’ve read emphasize that these parts evolved and were not designed …\nright after talking about how similar they are to human-designed machinery! \n
1. Sarcasm: Isn’t amazing how random events solved complex problems?<\/p>\n
2. So why don’t random answers on a test get you past a course?<\/p>\n
IV. Complex Imitation<\/p>\n A. The Goniurellia Tridens or G. Tridens is a species of fruit flies. Each wing of a\nG. Tridens is transparent and bears a precisely detailed image of an ant. When\nthreatened, it fans it wings to make it appear that there is a swarm of ants around\nit.\n B. The Lampsilis, uses mimicry to spread their young. The edge of their mantle looks\nand moves its “fins” just like a real fish. \n 1. A bass or other predatory fish will take a bite and the mussel immediately\nejects a large number of baby mussels into the fish’s mouth. The miniature\nmussels clamp their shell onto the gills of the fish and begin sucking their\nblood. After maturing some, the mussels drop off of the fish to begin the\ncycle again.\n 2. So the mussel just happened to “evolve” a perfect fish lure that looks\nexactly like a small fish, and figured out that this predator would make a\ngood home for it’s babies? [Biblical Creation]\n C. In its larval form, the Sphinx Hawk Moth is capable of expanding its anterior\nbody segments to give it the appearance of a snake, complete with eye patches.\nThis snake mimicry extends even to the point where it will harmlessly strike at\npotential predators.\n
D. Mimicry doesn’t happen by accident. It is designed for a purpose.<\/p>\n
V. Nested Coding in DNA<\/p>\n A. Programmers come up with numerous schemes to improve the efficiency of the\nprograms they create.\n 1. One is to divide code into modules that can be used repeatedly in different\nsituations\n
2. This nesting or overlapping code reduces the size of code drastically<\/p>\n B. Not long ago, it was discovered that there are overlapping codes in DNA. A\nsequence of DNA can produce different enzymes that look completely different\njust depending on where the coding starts.\n
1. Sometimes the second protein is created by shifting<\/p>\n
2. Sometimes it is produced on the complementary side of the DNA<\/p>\n
3. Sometimes it is produced by reading complementary strand backwards<\/p>\n
C. But this means that mutations are very unlikely to work. <\/p>\n 1. A change will affect multiple things at once and all are unlikely to be\nbeneficial. \n 2. This makes the odds of evolution by random mutations mathematically\nimpossible. \n D. It gets more complex than this. Each plant and creature has one set of DNA for the\nentire organism, but we have cells that make skin, blood, bones, liver, kidneys,\nheart, muscles, etc. all coming from the same single set of DNA. How?\n 1. It was recently discovered that the DNA folds so that different parts are\nexposed. \n
2. How it folds controls what kind of cell develops.<\/p>\n 3. Think of it as all the shapes you can make in origami from a single piece\nof paper folded in different ways\n E. Decades ago the fad was to say that we had vestigial organs. Leftover organs from\nevolution that we still carry but no longer serve a purpose.\n 1. There once was a long list for humans, but over time we kept finding that\nthe vestigial organs had a purpose. Every one of the organs has been\ncrossed off the list.\n 2. Thus, evolutionists started talking about junk DNA – sequencing strands\nin DNA that serve no purpose. \n a. But as before, we are discovering that those supposedly junk\nsections actually have critical functions\n 3. The argument was based on our lack of knowledge! And time shows the\nargument is false\n
F. The density of information encoded in DNA is mind-boggling! <\/p>\n
1. This isn’t something created by random throwing things together. <\/p>\n
2. Imagine writing a letter to a family.<\/p>\n
a. The overall letter is a love letter from the husband to the wife<\/p>\n b. But the daughter is told to read at the fourth paragraph going\nbackward, and there is a personal letter just for her\n c. The son to start at the second paragraph and skip every other word\nand he finds a personal letter.\n
d. Hard to write? Perhaps impossible.<\/p>\n
3. It requires a LOT of thought to package information densely<\/p>\nVI. Everywhere we look, we find indications of a genius designer that we have yet to\ndiscover all that He has created – Job 26:14; Romans 11:33\n A. Why would any think they can escape the notice of One who notices more detail\nthan we can comprehend? – Isaiah 40:26-28\n
B. Instead of pretending God doesn’t exist, we need to bow before our Maker <\/p>\n
C. Isn’t it time for you to give your life to the One who gave you life?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Romans 1:18-22 I. There are so many hints present in this world that it is surprising that they are often overlooked. A. But people have this tendency to only see what they expect to see B. And we have a school system that pushes agendas instead of teaching students to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[302,80,90],"class_list":["post-19404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-creation","tag-evolution","tag-god"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":63908,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-certified-gospel-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":19404,"position":0},"title":"The Certified Gospel (Perz)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jonathan Perz","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53683,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/great-events-in-four-rooms\/","url_meta":{"origin":19404,"position":1},"title":"Great Events in Four Rooms","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67354,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/reasons-to-believe-in-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":19404,"position":2},"title":"Reasons to Believe in Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Matthew 1-2 by Don Bunting One (or Two) Chapter Lessons","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43779,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/gods-proof-of-his-existence\/","url_meta":{"origin":19404,"position":3},"title":"God’s Proof of His Existence","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Exodus 3:1-6 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps you have heard statements to the effect that the Bible doesn\u2019t try to prove that God exists. It simply assumes the existence of God. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At the beginning of the Bible we read \u201cIn the beginning God created the heavens\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62794,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/learning-to-see-souls\/","url_meta":{"origin":19404,"position":4},"title":"Learning to See Souls","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Taylor Ladd Influence and Evangelism","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29411,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/drinking-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":19404,"position":5},"title":"Drinking in the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Old Testament Sermon with Audio: Drinking in the Old Testament Article: Old Testament Beverages New Testament Sermon with audio: Drinking in the New Testament Article: New Testament Beverages","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0013_tif-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}