Jacob’s Ladder

R. C. Sproul:

“Jacob’s Ladder represents a bridge between Jacob’s secular mindset to make it in this world and the reality of Heavenly things.” (The Holiness of God)

Evolution or Design? Part III

Science and Evolution:

(Continued from yesterday. . . .) If Darwin were alive, he would have to explain how the individual amino acids came together to form the first protein. We now know that the amino acids have to come together in a specific way, like writing a sentence with letters, to form the protein. There are at least 30,000 different types of proteins that are constructed from the same 20 amino acids. If the amino acids are not arranged correctly, they don’t form functional proteins!

The odds of these acids coming together in a meaningful, specific way are extremely remote. It is the equivalent of being able to throw Scrabble pieces into the air and a meaningful sentence forming after they fall on the floor. The odds of this happening are remote. The very simplest of proteins are made up of a large number of amino acids. The odds of a simple protein forming spontaneously are less than one chance in 10 to the 65th power (that’s a 1 with 65 zeros behind it)! These odds are similar to the odds of finding the winning state lottery ticket lying in the street and then finding another one the very next day, and every day for a thousand years!

Scientists have estimated that if our planet were covered in “primordial soup” and filled with complete sets of all 20 types of amino acids, the time necessary to assemble a simple functioning protein would be about the estimated age of the universe which is 15 billion years multiplied by 10 to the 60th power. There is not enough time in the history of the universe to form a single protein by chance. Darwin assumed that cells are simple, but he was wrong. He believed that the smallest elements would have the smallest number of parts and processes. Now that we have powerful, modern microscopes we can see the incredible complexity of the miniature universe within a cell. Darwin’s hypotheses was completely wrong at it’s very beginning! (Continue reading tomorrow. . . .)

The Truth about Us!

The purpose of the law is to reveal our sinfulness and bring us to Christ. When Christ refers to the commandments, He is using it to expose sin. Pastor David Moore writes:

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:17-23 ESV)

It is interesting how the Lord went about finding this man out. Notice that Jesus only presented him with the parts of the Ten Commandments that deal with man-to-man relationships. The first four commandments which deal with man to God, He leaves unmentioned. There is no question that the young man has violated these , but the Lord wants to expose the self righteousness of this earnest enquirer, and he wants him to see that whilst he seeks eternal life, in his own mind he actually doesn’t have a need for it.

When the young man says of these laws “Master, all these I have observed from my youth.” I believe him. The chances are good that he had never committed adultery, that he had not murdered anyone, that he was generally honest, truthful, and honoring of his parents – at least on a superficial level. But if he is suggesting, as he is, that he had never murdered – even with his tongue, that he had not committed adultery – even in his heart, that he had never spoken anything less than the whole truth, then we can only marvel at his blindness and inability to see the truth about himself.

Let me tell you something, the truth about ourselves is hard. We can give man a softer image, we can proclaim him as generally good, mostly kind and humanitarian – but the truth is we are wicked to the bone, we are selfish, depraved, we are ungodly, we are by nature the enemies of God we are everything we would rather not be and that is the hard truth, and you cannot proclaim a true gospel without facing men with the hard truth about ourselves. I don’t see too much “seeker sensitivity” here. I see hard realities. Tough, damning statements, that tell the truth about who men are and what they are like. (“The Hard Gospel”)