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VOLUME 4 NO 4 NOVEMBER 2012 WWW.REASONS.ORG
human origins
4 | Did Humans and Neanderthals Interbreed?
By Fazale (Fuz) R. Rana
earth design
7 | Planet Habitability Requires a
Lifetime of Fine-Tuning
By Hugh Ross
cosmology
9 | Why Testing the Existence of
Dark Energy Is Good
By Jeffrey Zweerink
world religions
11 | East or West: Which Worldview Offers Hope?
By Kenneth Richard Samples
human origins
13 | Neanderthal Burials “Deep-Sixed”
By Fazale (Fuz) R. Rana
life design
14 | Why So Many Species?
By Hugh Ross
archeology
15 | Is the Cyclical Mayan Calendar Correct?
By Jeffrey Zweerink
worldviews
16 | God, Naturalism, and the Meaning to Life
By Kenneth Richard Samples
EDUCATOR’S HELP DESK | BIBLE BOOKEND
From The Editor | Help Support Reasons To Believe
FROM THE EDITOR
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” This popular quote, attributed to
Albert Einstein in New York Times Magazine (1930), sometimes punctuates the signature line in Christians’
emails. Lest believers in the God of the Bible take that one as an Einsteinian affirmation of a hand-in-glove
fit for Christianity and science, other quotes from the brainiac make that idea fit as well as a man’s hands in
a baby’s first mittens.
Here’s an example: “The idea of a personal God is quite alien to me and seems even naïve.” Einstein was
difficult to pin down religiously, but he helped me understand relativity, which the guys here at RTB have
explained to me over and over, to little avail. Einstein: “When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems
like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.”
Got it. Thanks, Al.
Despite the technical nature of scientific and philosophical study, the RTB author team delivers red-hot
discoveries and thought pieces in language you (and I) can understand. In this issue of New Reasons to Believe you will find ten impactful
articles, including these:
• Fuz Rana explains how the widely accepted notion of human-Neanderthal interbreeding has been called into question by
advancing science.
•
Hugh Ross describes how a planet’s habitability lifetime must include many fine-tuned features.
• J eff Zweerink discusses recent efforts to detect the universe’s dark energy and how such a discovery would buttress evidence for
creation.
Kenneth Samples compares how two major religions from the East and West answer the question of humanity’s final state.
Plus, Krista Bontrager provides insight (in her Bible Bookend article) into recognizing the difference between sensationalism
and true science and presents helpful guidelines (in Educator’s Help Desk) for parents as they encourage their children to study
dinosaurs.
Navigate your way through this colorful resource, and click on links for further investigation. We hope New Reasons to Believe
equips you for confident, respectful engagement with those who might not see or acknowledge a just-right fit for the two domains.
Integrating science and faith, Joe Aguirre
CONTRIBUTORS
KRISTA KAY BONTRAGER, MA, MA
KENNETH RICHARD SAMPLES, MA
Theologian, writer, educator, and dean of online learning
at Reasons To Believe (RTB)
Philosopher, theologian, author, educator,
and RTB senior scholar
FAZALE (FUZ) RANA, PHD
JEFF ZWEERINK, PHD
Biochemist, author, RTB executive, and former senior
scientist with Procter & Gamble
Astrophysicist, journal author, RTB scholar,
and member of the research faculty at UCLA
HUGH ROSS, PHD
Astronomer, author, pastor, international lecturer, and
president and founder of RTB
DYNAMIC CONTENT KEY
Website Link
Internal Link
Product Link
Audio Link
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 2 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
Video Link
File Download
In Appreciation for Your Support
Thanksgiving provides a perfect
opportunity not only to acknowledge
God’s ample provision and care for
all creatures but also to express
gratitude.
Psalm 104, the passage of Scripture on which this
coming year’s RTB wall calendar is based, is chief among
“the creation psalms.” This particular song of praise
elaborates on the events of Genesis 1, glorifying God for
His wondrous works of provision on creation days one
through five. Each month’s photo illustrates a specific
creation activity and connects with the verses depicting it.
Would you consider including RTB in your Thanksgiving
celebration? For your
gift this month, request
a calendar, and we’ll be
pleased to send you our
Psalm 104: Another
Account of Creation
2013 wall calendar.
Click on the Donate button
and don’t forget to choose
our appreciation gift to you.
DONATE
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 3 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
human origins
Fazale (Fuz) R. Rana
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Grocery shopping can be a drag—especially waiting in the checkout line. It’s not clear what’s worse:
winding up behind someone with a ton of items or
being surrounded by inane tabloids. Still, truth be
told, it’s hard to resist the headlines about turbulent
celebrity relationships and death-bed confessions.
In recent years, paleoanthropologists have produced
their own tabloid-like headlines, though they’ve been
published in some of the world’s best peer-reviewed
science journals. The sensational story?—whether
or not humans interbred with hominids, specifically
Neanderthals and the newly discovered Denisovans.
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 4 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
human origins
Fazale (Fuz) R. Rana
The sordid details came to light when scientists completed the draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome.1 A
comparison of that genome with representative human
genomes revealed that Neanderthals had more in common with non-African people than with Africans.
Geneticists can account for this difference by assuming
limited interbreeding occurred between humans and
Neanderthals in the eastern portion of the Middle East,
roughly 45,000 to 80,000 years ago, as humans began to
migrate around the world. This activity would explain why
non-African populations display what appears to be a 1 to
4 percent genetic contribution from Neanderthals while
African people groups display no contribution whatsoever.
Humans On the Move
Remarkably, when the Denisovan genome is compared
to representative human genomes, it displays a much
greater similarity to the genomes of Oceanic people
groups than to other human populations.2 Researchers
suggest this result indicates that after humans interbred
with Neanderthals, a subset made its way across Asia,
interbred with the Denisovans (from Siberia), and left
behind signatures in the genomes of Oceanic people
groups (where they settled).
How would such human-hominid mating impact
RTB’s human origins model (derived from the biblical
text)? The RTB model views Neanderthals (and other
hominids) as biologically and behaviorally distinct
from modern humans. If this is the case, then the most
straightforward prediction is that humans and hominids
did not interbreed.
Nevertheless, many people regard the idea of
interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals
(and then humans and the Denisovans) as scientific
orthodoxy. Yet some paleoanthropologists are not
convinced. The evidence for such interbreeding is
primarily statistical in nature. To account for the
observed statistical associations, geneticists have
tapped into a massive amount of complex data while
attempting to model complex population phenomena
using sophisticated algorithms. Richard Klein, a
paleoanthropologist from Stanford University, proposes
that the evidence for interbreeding may not be real but
may stem from an artifact of the methodology.3
Along these lines, some researchers have concluded
that humans and Neanderthals did not mate at all. These
researchers claim that the statistical association between
the Neanderthal (and Denisovan) genome and those of
non-African people groups could arise from the ancient
population substructure of the African genomes.4 It
appears that the ancestral population possessed the
genetic signature attributed to Neanderthals.
Additionally, Klein has complained about the “tendency
for geneticists to ignore fossil and archeological evidence,
perhaps because they think it can always be molded to fit
the genetics after the fact.”5 When it comes to the timing
of Neanderthal extinctions, the scenario proposed by
geneticists doesn’t square with the fossil and archeological
records. In 2011, researchers from Great Britain and
Russia demonstrated that Neanderthals were already
extinct before humans made their way into Europe. (See
“Does New Date for Neanderthal Extinction Mean the
End of Human-Neanderthal Interbreeding?”) If so, these
hominids may have already been extinct in the Middle
East (pathway to Europe) even before humans began
their migration out of Africa. In other words, it’s possible
humans never encountered Neanderthals in Europe nor
in the Middle East.
Another complication relates to the population size
of Neanderthals estimated from the genetic diversity of
mitochondrial DNA sequences.6 The effective population
size of Neanderthals across Europe and Asia may have
been as low as 3,500, and the Denisovans, based on their
high-quality genome, must have had a relatively small
population size as well.7 The low population densities
of the two hominids greatly reduce the likelihood that
migrating modern humans would have encountered
these creatures, making it hard to imagine how
interbreeding could have occurred.
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 5 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
human origins
Fazale (Fuz) R. Rana
If humans and Neanderthals (and Denisovans)
paired up, researchers should detect Neanderthal genes
within the human genome. Possible evidence for this
view came from an international team of scientists that
detected HLA (human leukocyte antigen) genes in the
human genome. It “looks like” these genes originated
in Neanderthals and Denisovans and were introduced
into the gene pool of Eurasians and Oceanic people
through interbreeding.8 These genes play a role in the
immune system’s operation and would have, presumably,
provided an advantage to humans as they made their
way out of Africa into Europe and Asia. Entering
into new environments, humans would have been
accosted by pathogens they weren’t exposed to in Africa.
Neanderthals and Denisovans would already have the
genes in place to fight off these pathogens.
It is important to note that variants for the HLA gene
occur in some African people groups. The researchers
who discovered these genes in the Neanderthal and
Denisovan genomes assumed that the hominid HLA
genes were introduced into African genomes when
people of Eurasian descent mated with Africans (in a
backward gene flow). But it could be that the HLA genes
already existed in the human gene pool before human
migrations commenced. In that case, the shared genes
could be understood as reflecting shared design features.
In light of the HLA story, it is odd that Neanderthals
did not contribute genes for light skin pigmentation to
humans as the latter group entered Europe. Analysis
of the Neanderthal genome shows that these creatures
had light skin and hair. A recent study dates the
origin of gene variants (KITLG, TYRP1, SLC24A5,
and SLC45A2) that play a role in producing light skin
pigmentation from around 11,000 to 19,000 years ago
in Europe.9 Their origin took place well after humans
had made their way to Europe and after Neanderthals
Dig Deeper
“Fossil DNA Points to New Branch
of Humanity”
had gone extinct. Light skin pigmentation improves
fitness for northern-dwelling people by helping facilitate
production of vitamin D. Given its importance, it is
surprising that Neanderthals did not contribute this trait
to the human gene pool, yet, purportedly introduced
genes that contributed to the immune system. The two
sets of genes don’t tell a coherent story about humanNeanderthal interbreeding, raising skepticism on the
validity of this idea.
Just as there are good reasons to be skeptical about
what one reads in a supermarket tabloid, further
investigation has uncovered good reasons to be cautious
about concluding that interbreeding between humans
and other hominids ever took place.
E NDNO TE S:
1. Richard E. Green, “A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome,”
Science 328 (May 2010): 710–22.
2. David Reich et al., “Denisova Admixture and the First Modern
Human Dispersals into Southeast Asia and Oceania,” The
American Journal of Human Genetics 89 (October 2011): 516–28.
3. Nicholas Wade, “Genetic Data and Fossil Evidence tell Differing
Tales of Human Origins,” New York Times, July 26, 2012.
4. Anders Eriksson and Andrea Manica, “Effect of Ancient Population
Structure on the Degree of Polymorphism Shared between
Modern Human Populations and Ancient Hominins,” Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 109 (August 2012):
13956–60.
5. Wade, “Genetic Data and Fossil Evidence.”
6. Adrian W. Briggs et al., “Targeted Retrieval and Analysis of Five
Neandertal mtDNA Genomes,” Science 325 (July 2009): 318–21.
7. Matthias Meyer et al., “A High-Coverage Genome Sequence from
an Archaic Denisovan Individual,” Science 338 (October 2012):
222–26.
8. Laurent Abi-Rached et al., “The Shaping of Modern Human
Immune Systems by Multiregional Admixture with Archaic
Humans,” Science 334 (October 2011): 89–94.
9. Sandra Beleza et al., “ The Timing of Pigmentation Lightening in
Europeans,” Molecular Biology and Evolution (2012), doi: 10.1093/
molbev/mss207.
Stay connected
with the latest
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“Who Was Adam? An Old-Earth Creation
Model for the Origin of Humanity”
Who Was Adam?
Adam: Miracle, Myth, or Monkey?
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 6 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
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earth design
Hugh Ross
Planet Habitability
Requires a Lifetime
of Fine-Tuning
I
n my youth I would frequently backpack to remote
mountains. For a trip lasting only two days I would
pack just a tarp and some twine. For a trip lasting more
than a week I needed a tent with sealed seams, a large
rain fly, and an entryway. Just as longer tent habitability
requires much more design, according to several teams of
astronomers the same is true for planet habitability.
Up until now, astrobiologists (scientists who investigate the possible existence of living organisms on planets
other than Earth) have limited their research efforts to
determining what planetary features are necessary for
habitability. Short-lived habitability can sustain only microorganisms. For advanced life to be possible, a planet
must be able to sustain habitable conditions for several
billion years.
Three astronomers from Arizona State University
demonstrated that the abundance ratios of several elements—carbon, sodium, magnesium, and especially
oxygen—relative to iron in a planet’s host star dramatically impact the planet’s potential habitability lifetime.1
For example, only a star with an oxygen-to-iron ratio as
high as the Sun’s will remain in a sufficiently stable burning mode for a long-enough time that advanced life on a
planet orbiting it becomes feasible.
This requirement supports the “rare Sun” doctrine.
While astronomers have found a few planet-bearing
solar-type stars with oxygen-to-iron ratios the same as
the Sun’s, their discoveries yield no evidence for stars
that––like the Sun––have remained in a stable burning
mode for at least four billion years.
A star’s elemental composition also affects its rocky
planets’ mineralogy. A second research team, an Australian-British-American combination, showed that a star
with an elemental composition different from the Sun’s
will fail to produce a planet with the kind of atmosphere
and geochemical cycles necessary to sustain life for billions of years.2
A third group of three American astronomers pointed
out that unless the solar system’s primordial planets were
exposed to a certain kind of supernova (exploding star)
where the latter stages of r-process nucleosynthesis was
efficiently expressed, Earth would seriously lack rare-
earth elements (lanthanides––fifteen metallic chemical
elements, plus scandium and yttrium).3 It is the relatively
high abundance of these seventeen elements in Earth’s
crust that makes high-technology civilization possible.
Without enduring, strong plate tectonic activity the
nutrient recycling necessary for long-standing life and
for the feasibility of advanced life is impossible, as affirmed by yet a fourth team of researchers, two American
astronomers from Rice and Harvard Universities. They
published a paper explaining that long-lasting, strong
plate tectonics requires delicate fine-tuning of a planet’s
(1) size, (2) internal energy content, (3) distance from its
host star, (4) crustal rock strength, (5) viscosity, (6) thermal conductivity, (7) surface liquid water properties, and
(8) a host of different properties of its mantle and core.
Such plate tectonics also requires significant constraints
on the planet’s geologic and climatic histories.4 This
long list of fine-tuning design prerequisites implies that
planets capable of possibly sustaining advanced life must
be very rare indeed.
A fifth research effort by three other American astronomers established that a long habitability lifetime
requires enduring, continuous, aggressive silicate (rocks
comprising 95 percent of Earth’s crust) weathering.5
Erosion of exposed silicates through rainfall is the only
means by which enough greenhouse gases can be removed from a planet’s atmosphere to adequately compensate for the host star’s increasing luminosity (brightness). Such erosion is possible only if a planet has both
surface continents and oceans.
A complicating factor is that the silicate erosion rate
must increase with time. Different kinds and quantities of surface life either speed up or slow down silicate
erosion rates. Consequently, another requirement for
advanced life is for the planet to possess precisely the
right kinds, quantities, and diversities of life on its surface at different times for billions of years. These factors
allow the planet’s atmospheric greenhouse gas quantity
to remain continuously at varying just-right levels while
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 7 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
earth design
Hugh Ross
the host star’s luminosity increases at varying rates. This
optimal variation yields planetary surface temperatures
ideal for life.
Astrobiologists define habitable planets as bodies with
the necessary features for surface liquid water to be possible. In truth, even primitive life needs many, many more
fine-tuned planetary features.6 Advanced life requires the
previous existence of several billions of years of primitive
life. These five studies establish that habitability lifetimes
in the billions of years demand such a long list of exceptionally fine-tuned planetary characteristics as to defy
naturalistic explanations. It seems reasonable to identify a
Fine-Tuner: “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.”
E NDNOTES:
1. Patrick A. Young, Kelley Liebst, and Michael Pagano, “The
Impact of Stellar Abundance Variations on Stellar Habitable Zone
Evolution,” Astrophysical Journal Letters 755 (August 20, 2012):
L31.
2. J. C. Bond et al., “Beyond the Iron Peak: r- and s-Process
Elemental Abundances in Stars with Planets,” Astrophysical
Journal 682 (August 1, 2008): 1234–47.
3. Matthew R. Mumpower, G. C. McLaughlin, and Rebecca Surman,
“The Rare Earth Peak: An Overlooked r-Process Diagnostic,”
Astrophysical Journal 752 (June 20, 2012): 117.
4. A. Lenardic and J. W. Crowley, “On the Notion of Well-Defined
Tectonic Regimes for Terrestrial Planets in this Solar System and
Others,” Astrophysical Journal 755 (August 20, 2012): 132.
You asked for it,
now we’ve got it!
5. Dorian S. Abbot, Nicolas B. Cowan, and Fred J. Ciesla, “Indication
of Insensitivity of Planetary Weathering Behavior and Habitable
Zone to Surface Land Fraction,” Astrophysical Journal 756
(September 10, 2012): 178.
6. Hugh Ross, RTB Design Compendium (2009).
Men’s Black Sport Polo
Black Cap
Women’s Black Sport Polo
Blue Sports Bottles
Dig Deeper
RTB Live! vol. 8: A Revealing Fossil
Record
Why the Universe Is the Way It Is
“RTB Design Compendium (2009)”
WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE
RTB CHAPTERs?
“Rare Solar System, Rare Sun”
Our chapters are located throughout the US and around
the world. Interested in finding or starting a local RTB
chapter? Contact Bryan Rohrenbacher at
chapters@reasons.org.
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 8 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
cosmology
Jeffrey Zweerink
Why Testing the Existence
of Dark Energy is Good
D
oes dark energy exist? Considering that three scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering
the accelerated expansion of the universe, presumably caused by dark energy, one would think this question was settled amongst astronomers. However, different
models can explain the acceleration without invoking
dark energy; so scientists continue to explore how to test
whether dark energy actually exists. One particularly
compelling signature of dark energy, which is thought
to comprise over 70 percent of the universe, recently
received validation.
Testing for Dark Energy
The dynamic behavior of space changes the wavelength
of light on its way to astronomers’ telescopes. The most
pronounced (and well-known) change results from the
heavens being “spread out” as the universe ages. Because
space is expanding, a photon (unit of light) traveling
through space has its wavelength stretched and made
longer. Astronomers use this effect to measure the
expansion history of the universe and to determine the
distance to the farthest objects.
The gravitational attraction of large objects causes a
more subtle change to a photon’s wavelength that allows
astronomers to determine whether dark energy exists.
Most galaxies in the universe reside in clusters. The
Local Cluster includes the Milky Way and Andromeda
galaxies, the smaller Triangulum galaxy, and dozens of
dwarf galaxies. Other galaxy clusters include thousands
of galaxies. As a photon travels into one of these clusters,
it gains energy as it moves deeper into the gravitational
well caused by all the mass. And, as expected, the
photon loses energy while it travels out of the cluster’s
gravitational well.
In a static universe or one dominated by mass, the
energy gained by the photon as it enters the well matches
the energy lost when leaving the well. Thus, the photon
has the same wavelength before and after. In a universe
undergoing accelerated expansion, the depth of the
well shrinks as the acceleration spreads the mass over a
larger volume. So the photon gains more energy entering
the cluster well than it loses on the way out, causing
its wavelength to decrease (shorter wavelengths mean
greater energy). In a similar fashion, the wavelength of
the photon will increase as it travels through void regions
with very little mass. Scientists refer to this feature as the
late integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect (ISW).
The cosmic microwave background (CMB—faint
radiation from the big bang) provides a good tool
for measuring the ISW because the fluctuations in
temperature measure the mass density distribution in
the early universe. Although the CMB was emitted at
a known wavelength, local density fluctuations changed
the wavelengths. So astronomers must figure out some
way to correct for this effect. Fortunately, they can also
measure the distribution of mass on large scales using
maps of galaxies and galaxy clusters like those provided
by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. They can then use these
maps to look for the ISW.
Various research groups had used different maps of
the large-scale structure of the universe to indicate
detections of the ISW and then tried to integrate all
the measurements into a single result. Previous analyses
showed the existence of dark energy with a confidence
level of 99.999 percent. However, some people raised
objections to the analysis.
More recently, researchers addressed the criticisms by
reevaluating the claims for dark energy. They included
the most up-to-date CMB and large-scale structure
data. The new analysis affirmed the previous conclusions
and demonstrated that the dark energy results hold,
independent of different processing routines.1
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 9 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
cosmology
Jeffrey Zweerink
Why It Matters
Given the astronomy community’s general confidence
in the existence of dark energy, one might ask why it’s
necessary to perform all these detailed tests. Scientists
continue testing for two main reasons. First, the
additional tests help eliminate alternative explanations
for the measured acceleration of the universe’s expansion.
Similar testing over the past 100 years helped establish
big bang cosmology by showing the deficiencies of
steady-state, oscillating universe, and other alternative
cosmologies.
Second, more-detailed measurements help scientists
build a more-complete model. In the case of dark energy,
beyond the fact that it accelerates the expansion of the
universe, scientists currently have little idea what the
dark energy is or how it works. In the case of big bang
cosmology, such testing eventually revealed the need for
an epoch of inflation to account for all the observations.
These more-detailed models help us understand how
God brought this universe into existence, how it has
matured (or, dare I say, evolved), and how it currently
exhibits all the characteristics necessary to support life.
Dark energy plays a pivotal role, so let’s keep the tests
coming.
E NDNO TE S:
1. Tommaso Giannantonio et al., “The Significance of the Integrated
Sachs-Wolfe Effect Revisited,” Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society 426 (November 2012): 2581–99.
Dig Deeper
For an in-depth review of this topic:
“RTB’s Dark Energy Articles”
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NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 10 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
HUMAN ORIGINS
4 | Did Humans and Neanderthals Interbreed?
By Fazale (Fuz) R. Rana
EARTH DESIGN
7 | Planet Habitability Requires a
Lifetime of Fine-Tuning
By Hugh Ross
COSMOLOGY
9 | Why Testing the Existence of
Dark Energy Is Good
By Jeffrey Zweerink
WORLD RELIGIONS
11 | East or West: Which Worldview Offers Hope?
By Kenneth Richard Samples
HUMAN ORIGINS
13 | Neanderthal Burials “Deep-Sixed”
By Fazale (Fuz) R. Rana
LIFE DESIGN
14 | Why So Many Species?
By Hugh Ross
ARCHEOLOGY
15 | Is the Cyclical Mayan Calendar Correct?
By Jeffrey Zweerink
WORLDVIEWS
16 | God, Naturalism, and the Meaning to Life
By Kenneth Richard Samples
EDUCATOR’S HELP DESK | BIBLE BOOKEND
From The Editor | Help Support Reasons To Believe
world religions
Kenneth Richard Samples
East or West:
Which Worldview Offers Hope?
W
hat is humanity’s final state? An impersonal
existence after being absorbed into an impersonal
deity? Or an intimate, personal relationship with
a super-personal God. The major religious worldview
traditions of the East and West come to fundamentally
different conclusions.1
Let’s briefly explore two dominant perspectives of
the East (Hinduism) and West (historic Christianity)
and compare what these worldviews reveal about God,
humankind’s personal nature, and the final state for
human beings. We’ll also consider which perspective
offers a hopeful vision for humanity.
The Mystical
Pantheistic East
A leading Eastern religion,
philosophical Hinduism’s
pantheistic monism asserts that
all reality is an undifferentiated
one (unity), and that unity is
God or Ultimate Reality. This
Eastern metaphysical theory may
be summed up in the statement:
“All is God and God is All.” Everything that is real—
including the universe and the souls of human beings—
is one in essence with this single all-encompassing
Ultimate Divine Reality (called Brahman).
From this perspective, man is at one with the Cosmic
All. Yet man regrettably suffers from a deceptive state
of spiritual amnesia where he has forgotten his divine
status. For him to truly reunite with God, he must
overcome this amnesia, and the pursuit of mystical
enlightenment through meditation makes that possible.
When someone experiences release from the illusion of
being separate from Ultimate Reality, then the wheel of
reincarnation (rebirth) is broken and he experiences true
spiritual liberation (oneness with Brahman).
According to this distinct form of Hinduism, such
emancipation (called moksha) represents the end of man’s
journey to be reunited with Brahman. In the pantheistic
monism worldview, man’s mind, consciousness, and soul
are completely absorbed into the impersonal, cosmic
World Soul. Thus, the final end of the person is totally
impersonal.
The Christian
Theistic West
According to historic Christianity,
God will sovereignly intervene
to bring the world and all he
created to an abrupt and final end.
Christian eschatology asserts the
Second Coming of Jesus Christ and
a final resurrection and judgment
for all human beings. Nonbelievers
will suffer eternal conscious punishment in hell, while
believers in Christ (the redeemed) will enjoy God’s eternal
personal presence in heaven. The exalted Jesus Christ, the
God-man, will reign in a kingdom with no end.
Thus, according to historic Christianity, redeemed human
beings’ final state is personal, where they glorify God and
enjoy the Triune God’s super-personal presence forever.
Worldview Questions
Two fundamental worldview questions come to bear
on the competing perspectives and what they offer:
1. Explanatory Power: Does the worldview explain
personal reality?
Pantheistic Monism: According to this worldview,
Ultimate Reality is completely impersonal. God
is beyond all rational and moral categories and is
thus less or, other than, personal. In this concept of
moksha, the soul ultimately loses its personal identity
and is absorbed into the completely impersonal
World Soul. (Imagine a single drop of water being
placed into the ocean where the drop of water
loses every trace of its individual characteristics
and becomes indistinguishable from the whole.)
Therefore the end of reincarnation’s journey leads
to the loss of personal identity forever. Thus it is
extremely difficult for this worldview to properly
account for man’s personal state.
Christian Theism: According to this worldview, a
super-personal God created human beings in his
image and these creatures derive personal selfconsciousness from their Creator. Consequently,
personal self-consciousness is an expected feature in
Christian theism.
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 11 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
world religions
Kenneth Richard Samples
2. Existential Test: Does the worldview offer a hopeful
vision for human beings?
Pantheistic Monism: A life filled with illusion and
deception, where man’s ultimate purpose is to lose
his complete personal identity by becoming one
with an impersonal Ultimate Reality, does not offer
any sense of hope for the present or for the future.
Pantheistic monism offers only an impersonal
absorption. A sense of hopelessness seems to
permeate this belief system.
available now...
A NEW book by Kenneth Samples.
Discover Christianity’s most
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Christian Theism: One profound difference between
the Christian world-and-life view and pantheistic
monism is that (in the former) human beings can
enjoy a relationship with a loving, caring, personal
God who is knowable, reachable, and accepting.
Christian theism offers an intimate redemptive
relationship with the God who came to Earth in the
person of Jesus Christ.
Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, in
his book Man’s Search for Meaning, described the power
of hope in his fellow systematically starved concentration
camp inmates. Those who clung to hope survived; those
who lost hope often fell over dead.
Unlike Hinduism’s pantheistic monism, historic
Christianity’s gospel message offers self-aware people
genuine hope, purpose, and meaning in this life and
indescribable goodness in the next. Historic Christianity
uniquely offers people a viable reason to live and to die.
Available also as an e-book.
Other RTB E-books
E NDNOTES:
1. This topic receives an expanded discussion in my book A World
of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test
(Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007).
Lights in the Sky and
Little Green Men
The Fingerprint
of God
Hidden Treasures in
the Book of Job
The Creator and
the Cosmos
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 12 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
human origins
Fazale (Fuz) R. Rana
Neanderthal Burials
“Deep-Sixed”
“Will the Circle Be Unbroken” is one of my favorite
songs. This tune perfectly captures the mixture of deep
sadness, joy, and hope that Christians experience at the
funeral of a loved one.
According to anthropologists, funerals and burials—
mortuary rituals—reflect the symbolic capacity of our
species, though some believe symbolic activity is not
unique to humans. They maintain that Neanderthals, too,
possessed this capability. The recovery of Neanderthal
remains in what appear to be gravesites seems to support
this view. In fact, archeologists claim that they have
found at least twenty Neanderthal graves.
Given such data, the concept of Neanderthal
burials has become nearly unassailable. Yet, significant
controversy surrounds this notion.1 For archeologists
the issues are (a) whether the Neanderthal burials were
natural or intentional and (b) what criteria must be met
to establish a burial as deliberate.
Some of the disagreement emanates from the fact
that many of the purported Neanderthal gravesites
were discovered in the early days of archeology. In those
times the standards for excavation and recording site
information were not as robust as those used today.
For example, in 1961, archeologists in France
unearthed a two-year-old infant in a cave known as Roc
de Marsal. The original team interpreted the discovery as
a deliberate Neanderthal burial. The gravesite became a
widely considered, unequivocal example of an intentional
entombment but in 2011 an international team of
investigators took a second look at the site.2
This careful reexamination indicates that the
“gravesite” was actually a natural depression in the cave
floor. Furthermore, the infant’s remains appear to have
slid into this natural cavity. When archeologists first
unearthed the infant, they discovered animal bones and
stone artifacts associated with it. The first team assumed
these materials were added to the grave as part of the
burial ritual, but did not consider the abundance of
animal and lithic remains in the cave site. These remains
are so richly distributed throughout the cave that their
association with the infant appears to be coincidental.
According to the second team of researchers who
reexamined the burial site, “Realistically, it would be
impossible to dig anywhere within these deposits
without encountering concentrated lithics and faunal
remains.”3
The new interpretation of the Roc de Marsal infant
site may help throw dirt on the idea of Neanderthal
burials, but there’s more. La Ferrassie Cave (France)
is one of the most important Neanderthal burial sites.
Archeologists working in this location have recovered
several specimens that look as though they were buried
deliberately. Yet, reanalysis of the cave sites suggests that
these, too, were natural burials, not purposeful ones.4
In the words of paleoanthropologists Ian Tattersall
and Jeffrey Schwartz, “All claimed evidence for symbolic
activities among Neanderthals is highly debatable.”5
Thus, scientific advance points to the uniqueness of
humans.
E NDNO TE S:
1. Michael Balter, “Did Neanderthals Truly Bury Their Dead?” Science
337 (September 2012): 1443–44.
2. Dennis M. Sandgathe et al., “The Roc de Marsal Neandertal Child:
A Reassessment of Its Status as a Deliberate Burial,” Journal of
Human Evolution 61 (September 2011): 243–53.
3. Ibid., 249.
4. Balter, “Did Neanderthals Truly Bury Their Dead?”: 1443–44.
5. Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz, “Evolution of the Genus
Homo,” Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 37 (May
2009): 81.
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 13 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
life design
Hugh Ross
Why So Many Species?
O
nly in the last year have ecologists determined a
reliable count of the total number of species on
Earth. For eukaryotic species—organisms with a
membrane-bound nucleus—the estimate is 8.7±1.3 million (6.5 million land species and 2.2 million marine species).1 Estimates of the number of prokaryotes (bacteria
and archaea), species whose cells lack a nucleus, range
from 0.1 to 10.0 million.2
Now a team of six astrobiologists proposes a set of
experiments to address the question, why are there so
many species on Earth?3 This question, the team notes,
is “central to evolutionary biology.”4 More than that, it
is crucial to the creation-evolution debate. Can natural
processes alone explain such a high number of species, or
must God’s supernatural intervention be included?
For the location of these experiments the team
chose Cuatro Ciénegas Basin (CCB), a desert oasis
in Coahuila, Mexico. From a naturalistic perspective,
speciation events should occur at the highest rates
and greatest efficiencies possible at this unique site.
The team observed that CCB’s species diversification
and low phosphorus availability, in combination with
“mechanisms for nutrient recycling and community
cohesion result in enhanced speciation through
reproductive as well as geographic isolation.”5 Next
the team selected a set of microbial species they knew,
from other studies, manifest the highest probabilities
for speciation events. These selected species were ones
that demonstrated the highest rates of horizontal gene
transfer, the greatest food and nutrient plasticity, and the
highest capabilities for geographic travel.
The team recommends that experimental ecology
research groups perform long-term evolution
experiments at CCB where different groups would
“experimentally manipulate nutrient availability in
microbial communities” and “monitor how microbial
diversity responds to shifts in nutrients.”6 The goal would
be to measure how many new species appear per unit of
time and how dramatically new species differ from old
ones.
Naturalistic models require that speciation rates be
high enough and generate changes dramatic enough
to account for the evolution of over 9 million species
from the purported common ancestor of all life, as well
as replace the species that go extinct naturalistically.
Sufficiently dramatic changes mean some demonstrated
capability for the microbes to naturally and quickly
become complex multicellular, multi-differentiated
organisms and for the microbes not to revert back to
their original forms once the environmental pressures
inducing the “evolution” are removed.
Given the proposed artificial evolutionary
inducements, if the speciation rate and kind at CCB
falls short, then the naturalistic models will have been
falsified. We at Reasons To Believe predict that presentday long-term evolution experiments will reveal results
falling far short of the change rates and kinds in Earth’s
life documented in the fossil record. Such a biblical
perspective recognizes that we are currently in God’s
seventh day wherein He is resting from creation activity.
E NDNO TE S:
1. Camilo Mora et al., “How Many Species Are There on Earth and in
the Ocean?” PLoS Biology (August 23, 2011): doi:10.1371/journal.
pbio.1001127.
2. P. M. Hammond, in Microbial Diversity and Ecosystem Function,
eds. D. Allsopp, R. R. Colwell, and D. L. Hawksworth (Wallingford,
Oxon, U.K.: CAB International, 1995), 29–71.
3. Valeria Souza et al., “Travel, Sex, and Food: What’s Speciation Got
to Do with It?” Astrobiology 12 (July 2012): 634–40.
4. Ibid., 634.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., 638.
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 14 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
archeology
Jeffrey Zweerink
Is the Cyclical Mayan
Calendar Correct?
O
ne cartoon Mayan to another as they look at a huge
round rock: “So how come it ends in 2012?” . . . “I
ran out of space on the rock.”
People often joke about the world ending on December
21, 2012. While a majority of western society believes the
world will end someday, not many think it will occur later
this year. The Mayans did not think so either.
The global celebration of the “new millennium”1 in
2000 illustrated that the world operates on a calendar
starting on January 1 and ending December 31. This
calendar system not only marks the passage of time,
but also implicitly assumes that time behaves in a linear
fashion. Yesterday’s events affect what happens today, and
today’s actions influence the future. But once a moment
passes, we never return to that point in time again. As
the proverbial saying goes, “time marches on.” But not all
cultures thought that way.
Most ancient Near Eastern cultures, in addition to the
Mayans, viewed time as cyclical: time moves forward
until it reaches the calendar’s end, then it “restarts”
the whole cycle again. A recent archeological find in
La Corona, Guatemala, recovered hieroglyphs that
corroborate the cyclical Mayan
calendar and impending “end date.”
The hieroglyphs describe a visit by
a Mayan ruler from a nearby city,
seeking to assure his allies after a
recent defeat. The inscriptions predict
that the ruler’s lineage will continue
even with the approaching end of
a Baktun (the 394-year cycle of the Mayan calendar).
Further, the ruler was declaring his reign would encompass
events transpiring years later when the thirteenth (a
number sacred to the Mayans) Baktun would end—in
December 2012. Rather than apocalyptic in nature, the
predictions served to promote political stability.
The Genesis 1 creation account stands in stark
contrast. First, time has a unique and distinct beginning
that starts with the creation of the universe and, later, of
the Earth. The author delineates the initial conditions
on Earth, providing specific details regarding how
God transformed an inhospitable wasteland into an
environment teeming with a great diversity of life.
The words “and then God…” are strewn throughout
the account to show how past events prepare the way
for future transformations. Such a linear view of time
continues throughout the Bible. Humanity falls and
ushers evil into the world; God sends his Son to atone
for humanity’s sin; then, with the final conquest of
evil, God destroys this world and creates the ultimate
paradise for those who place their trust in him.
With thousands of years of human history available for
review, we see no evidence for a cyclic behavior to time.
Quite the contrary, all the evidence indicates that “time
marches on,” validating the descriptions in Genesis 1 and
elsewhere throughout the Bible.
E ndnotes
1. While 2000 was a notable year, the new millennium actually
started January 1, 2001. Since there was no “year zero,” the first
year of the most recent epoch in the Christian era was AD 1 or
1 CE. Adding two millennia brings the date to 2001.
Dig Deeper
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 15 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
“Response to 2012 Prophecies”
worldviews
Kenneth Richard Samples
God, Naturalism, and
the Meaning to Life
I
f the Christian God exists then life has objective meaning. God possesses ultimate meaning, therefore humans
(made in His image) would be expected to derive
purposeful meaning. But what if God doesn’t exist? Can
meaning be created or discovered in a godless universe?
Some atheist philosophers propose that while there
is no meaning to life there may be meaning in life by
the choices people make. A test of this claim comes by
examining the human need for meaning and what the
secular worldview of naturalism (the metaphysical view
that nature is the sole reality) offers to meet this need.
Human Beings and Meaning
Human beings yearn for authentic meaning, purpose,
and significance in their lives. In fact, without a sound
and enduring reason to live, people often succumb to a
sense of despair. At a fundamental level, humans need
purpose and hope as much as they need food, shelter, and
clothing—maybe even more. And that significance must
include genuine meaning to life itself.
Naturalism and Meaning
How could a universe without God have value,
meaning, and purpose, especially for sentient beings?
If the universe and humanity are merely products of
blind, accidental, and purely natural processes, then it
is difficult to identify and justify a true enduring value
for life. Accidental creatures with no ultimate purpose
or end are hard-pressed to impart any permanent
significance to their lives.
But why couldn’t a person simply create meaning
for themselves by their personal choices? Philosopher
Thomas V. Morris offers a response:
Something has meaning if and only if it is
endowed with meaning or significance by a
purposive personal agent or group of such
agents…. Meaning is never intrinsic; it is
always derivative…. We can endow with
meaning only those things over which we
have the requisite control.1
If Morris is right,
then the limitations
of the human
condition cause some
real inner existential
consternation for
naturalists. Much of reality lies beyond human control—
the timing, place, and circumstances of one’s birth; the
family into which one is born; the ideas, education,
philosophy, religion, and worldview to which an
individual is exposed; social and environmental factors;
and much of a person’s own suffering. Even the everyday
choices people make, over which they have some
control, are influenced by factors beyond their consent.
Recognizing that much of what is critically important
to life lies beyond a person’s direct authority should
motivate that individual to critically analyze his adopted
worldview.
In a naturalist universe, everyone is subject to profound
forces beyond their control. Again, if Morris is right, the
challenge in creating meaning in life is that humans lack
requisite control.
However, God possesses intrinsic meaning, and
humans, being made in God’s image, derive that
meaning. The Gospel message of historic Christianity
offers people all the derived hope and meaning that a
person could ever want and need.
E ndnotes
1. Thomas V. Morris, Making Sense Of It All: Pascal and the Meaning
of Life (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 56–59.
Reasons To Believe Introduction
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 16 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
EDUCATOR’S HELP DESK
Krista Kay Bontrager
Dinosaurs for Kids
M
y daughter’s dinosaur phase lasted about 10 years.
At age 4, she dressed up as a paleontologist for
Halloween. Imagine a 4-year-old in a pith helmet
knocking on your door.
Children are often curious about when dinosaurs
lived, what happened to them, and whether they were
on Noah’s ark. But many parents struggle to answer
these questions. Christian parents contact RTB regularly
looking for resources—books or videos—to teach their
children about dinosaurs from a Christian perspective.
Unfortunately, most Christian books on dinosaurs are
written from a young-earth perspective and promote
scientifically untenable ideas. These two guidelines can
empower educators to more effectively use the wide
variety of resources available.
1. Encourage your child’s curiosity
about God’s world.
Modern science was birthed largely because people
were curious about exploring and learning as much as
they could about the Creator’s world. Public libraries
offer a treasure trove of information—all just waiting to
be explored by your child. My daughter used to check
out two or three books on dinosaurs each week. It
seemed like there was a never-ending supply of options.
The advice I offer parents is to give their children
some freedom in selecting topics that interest them. This
autonomy is more likely to help them stay engaged over
the long-term than if parents try to coax them along.
And using mainstream books and videos will provide
students access to the great body of knowledge from
scientific research.
when kids generally are developmentally ready to
start philosophical issues. Until then, it’s best to focus
attention on fostering the child’s curiosity.
Even though the resources in a library or on television
are written from a naturalistic point of view, the
overwhelming majority of scientific data in them is
correct. As you read or watch science-related material
with your kids, engage them in a discussion about God’s
creation.
Look at that dinosaur! It’s so unusual looking.
Isn’t God imaginative?
What does this dinosaur eat? God designed its
teeth to eat that.
The most important resource in any discussion with
children about dinosaurs is you. No book or video can
substitute for the ongoing discussions that can take place
between parents and their children. For this reason, it’s
absolutely vital that Christian parents equip themselves
to be conversant on a range of science-faith issues,
including dinosaurs, so they’ll be ready to give their
children a response for the reason that’s within them.
Dig Deeper
2. Don’t stress about evolution.
Many parents are concerned about the evolutionary
content in secular books. In my experience, however,
young children don’t possess the developmental ability
to grasp the complexities surrounding the creationevolution debate. I found that I was far more stressed
about evolution than my kids were. To them, it was
just another word in a book. It’s appropriate to begin
addressing the evolution controversy in middle school,
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 17 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
RTB 101
“5 Reasons Why I Think
Christian Schools/Parents
Should Teach Evolution”
Dual Revelation
BIBLE BOOKEND
Krista Kay Bontrager
Ducking Tabloid
Science
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H
ighlighting new discoveries and how they provide
new evidence for the God of the Bible marks one
of the distinctive features of RTB’s approach to
scientific research. Our scholar team works diligently
to discern whether a finding is adequately supported by
sound research before they report on it. Dr. Fazale Rana’s
article Did Humans and Neanderthals Interbreed? offers
a cautionary tale about the perils of getting on a breakthrough bandwagon too quickly.
Science offers a powerful tool to discover truth about
God’s creation—but it can also be misreported. It’s
critically important that Christians guard themselves
from falling prey to false claims, especially when
dispensing information through social media. The next
time you hear about an exciting scientific claim, here are
some helpful guidelines to keep in mind.
Credentials: Who is the main scholar(s) behind the discovery? What are his/her credentials
(academic, professional, publishing)?
A credible discovery should be backed by one or more
scholars with relevant expertise. If the main person
promoting a discovery is a filmmaker or self-taught
amateur, it’s time for a healthy dose of skepticism.
Publication: Where was the research published?
The normal path for announcing a new discovery
is through publication in a reputable, peer-reviewed
journal. Generally, reports of scientific discoveries on
popular news websites or through video documentaries
without documentation are red flags, signifying that the
work hasn’t been adequately reviewed.
Verification: Have other scientists corroborated
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Origin: What’s the source of the story?
Most people get their science news from mainstream
outlets like Yahoo! or Fox News. The popular press
frequently emphasizes the research’s most sensational
aspect, and headlines often deliver a sketchy summary of
the actual study.
The real research was likely completed months before
the publication of the news release. It’s a good practice
to track down the original journal article (often linked
in the news article) and read the abstract. It provides a
short summary of the research and will help you gauge
how much of the news article may be an exaggeration
and how much reflects the actual research.
We live in exciting times and there is much more
to be discovered. Even so, it isn’t easy to differentiate
good science from unproven, and even junk, science. Dr.
Rana’s cautious approach to the human-Neanderthal
interbreeding research provides a helpful and important
example of how not to be charmed into blind acceptance
by a sensational science news story.
Dig Deeper
the research?
Authenticating the accuracy of high-level scientific
research is often difficult without a relevant PhD. But
doing so is crucial, especially when researchers claim
“breakthrough” results or when one study shows an
isolated outcome. If the discovery has validity, more
research will be forthcoming to confirm or deny the
original team’s findings. That’s the scientific process at
work, but it takes time. RTB’s Science News Flash podcast
can be a helpful resource, offering summaries of, and
careful commentary about, new discoveries.
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 18 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
Science News Flash
“Avoiding Crackpot
Archaeology”
Who Was Adam?
NEW RESOURCES FROM REASONS TO BELIEVE
RTB 2013 Wall Calendar Psalm 104:
Another Account of Creation
Psalm 104, chief among the “creation psalms,” expresses worship and praise to
God for His unique role as Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Each month
highlights a portion of the psalm accompanied by a striking photo and an
insightful comment from a member of our scholar team.
Original Prices: $12.50/each, $50/five, $75/ten
10% discount: $11.25/each, $45.00/five, $67.50/ten
Impact Events: The Earth
by Jeff Zweerink and Ken Hultgren
In this unique student devotional, astrophysicist Jeff Zweerink and seasoned
small-group leader Ken Hultgren connect little-known facts about our planet
with faith-building insights about the Creator.
Original Price: $6.50
10% discount: $5.85 booklet
If God Made the Universe small group study
with Hugh Ross
This DVD series invites you to be a part of Dr. Ross’ small group. Each session
includes a brief presentation (about 20 minutes), followed by Q&A. The eight
sessions address cosmic questions such as Why Is the Universe So Vast? Why
Is It So Old? and What Does All This Say about God?
Original Price: $99.00
10% discount: $89.10 DVD set and book
Enjoy free standard shipping and 10% off your total order* by
using the code “Stocking” now through December 31, 2012.
For delivery before Christmas, please allow two weeks with
standard shipping.
*Certain items are excluded from the 10% discount.
NEW
RE ASONS
TO BELIEVE
An e-zine Published by Reasons To Believe
Managing Editor: Joe Aguirre
Editors: Sandra Dimas, Maureen Moser, Kathy Ross, Elissa Emoto
Design: Fluid Communications, Inc.
(800) 482-7836 • www.reasons.org
NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 19 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012
AN INVITATION TO JOIN AN IMPORTANT GROUP
You are invited to join a valued community of regular supporters of the
ministry.
The Monthly Partners program was established to “give back” to our
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of our latest resources available to equip you and to share with others.
Each month a special audio message is sent to our Monthly Partners, and
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monthly letter.
Monthly Partners
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Click on the button to learn more about becoming a Monthly Partner or call
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Continuing Education Units
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Now offering CEUs
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and administrators.
Coming in January!
Visit the CEU webpage
for more details.
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NEW REASONS TO BELIEVE | 20 | VOL 4 / NO 4 | NOVEMBER 2012