| 2000 Web Sites of the Month |
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| Web Site of the Month - January 2000 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
This month's web site provides some information about the Theory of Intervention. The creator of this theory was Alfred Russell Wallace who was a British naturalist and explorer who lived from 1823 to 1913. He became famous by reaching the same conclusions about evolution as did Charles Darwin in regard to natural selection. Wallace formed this theory to try to explain how man evolved spiritually and creatively.
"The Theory of Intervention suggests significant ‘others’ may be responsible for many sudden and dramatic changes in the evolutionary process here on earth. Since Interventionism does not make a distinction as to whether these others were by nature spiritual or extraterrestrial, the theory could be the basis of reconciliation between creationist and evolutionary thinking. It certainly presents an alternative to these prevailing views that shouldn't be ignored."
The web site not only discusses the history of the Theory of Intervention; it also points out that many in the scientific community are now leaning toward Wallace's interventionist thinking.
The writer of the web site seems quite intrigued by the construction of the Great Pyramid in Egypt. The Pyramids are believed to have been built in the second millennium BC with a precision that would require modern optics technology to duplicate. Many details about the construction of the pyramids make for interesting reading.
| Web Site of the Month - February 2000 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
This month's web site provides 50 reasons to leave your faith--if your faith is based on the theory of evolution. The 50 reasons cover a very broad area. The author starts out by saying that he loves science and he covers many areas of science to show that evolution cannot be supported by fact.
In reason number 3 he examines past mistakes made regarding the fossil record. He discusses many of the "finds" that evolutionists have used to support their beliefs. These include Piltdown Man, Nebraska Man, Ramapithecus, Australopithecus, Australopithecus Afarensis ("Lucy"), Homo erectus, Neanderthal man and others. His conclusions regarding this evidence are very strong as he states that "it seems there is no end to the speculation over the bestial ancestry of man and it would appear that all scientific caution has been thrown to the wind. However, with today's scientific advantages and advances we will see evolution falling farther by the wayside scientifically and advanced as fact philosophically to our children. There is more than ample evidence for man’s sudden and abrupt appearance--creation if you will--and absolutely none for a long gradient process or evolution. It takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does creation. One is easily proven and apparent while the other is frauds and tricks."
Many more reasons for not believing evolution are presented on this web site that make for interesting reading. The author also has a separate page of references that provide the reader with much study material.
| Web Site of the Month - March 2000 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
This month's web site review describes a web site I found that provides information about a book that discusses the origins question. The web site allows the reader to preview the introduction of the book and six selected chapters. The site also provides comments about the book from various readers and a review of the book from Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith.
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"The Origins Solution is about what the name implies, a long-awaited answer to the thorniest of problems--a reconciliation of the first eleven chapters of Genesis with history and science. This book tells the uncompromising truth, is thoroughly documented, and resolves the creation-evolution controversy in an uncomplicated, reader-friendly style.
"The Origins Solution offers compelling evidence that even the early passages of Genesis appear to be historically accurate. A prime source of the Bible vs. science controversy has been that a few Hebrew words in the Old Testament have been mistranslated in key areas and misunderstood as a result. Once obvious corrections are applied, there are no contradictions of substance between what the Bible teaches and what has been uncovered by relentless pursuit of modern science." |
The book contains 18 chapters and the web site provides the required information for ordering the book. If you are interested in the origins question, then this book should make for interesting reading.
| Web Site of the Month - April 2000 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
This month's web site review describes the web site of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER). The web site offers
| "resources on the scientific content of evolutionary theory and its place in education; historical, philosophical, legal and religious perspectives on evolution; and commentary on current issues (including the AAAS Board Statement on the Kansas State Board of Education decision). The site is organized into seven main sections: Current Issues, Educational Resources, Scientific Resources, Perspectives, Court Cases (including the "Balanced Treatment" Law), Historical Documents (by Darwin), and Epic of Evolution (essays from a forthcoming volume). Documents at the site reflect current thinking by the leading scholars in the field of evolution and provide historical context for evaluating current thinking. A careful collection of related links augments each section." |
Under the Educational Resources section there is a description of Project 2061, which is the long standing science education reform program of the AAAS. The section contains those sections of Science for All Americans and Benchmarks which address teaching about "the nature of science" and "the evolution of life".
If you are interested in reading about how the AAAS recommends evolution should be taught in our schools then this is the place to start.
| Web Site of the Month - May 2000 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
This month's web site review describes the web site of the Genesis Network. This web site provides articles, news, and information on the creation vs. evolution controversy. On the main page of the web site in the introduction the author states that "Creation is the very foundational assumption of the Judeo-Christian religion and evolution is the foundational assumption of religions such as atheism, agnosticism and secular humanism. Creation implies that man is ultimately accountable to the Creator and evolution implies that man is ultimately accountable to no one save himself. It seems almost inevitable that beliefs about origins will tend to polarize people in two camps with each quite certain that the other is dead wrong." Indeed that appears to be the case.
The main content of the web site can be found under the following titles: Introduction to the Controversy, Evidence from Biology, Those Mysterious Dinosaurs, History of the Controversy, Voice of Moderation, Origin of Man, Dating Methods, Biblical Creation, Devil's Dictionary of Evolution, Fossils and Geology, Teaching About Origins, Implications of Evolution and Life Origins Library. Not all of the links are active so this appears to be a work in progress. The links that are active, however, provide a great deal of interesting reading material.
| Web Site of the Month - June 2000 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
The web site is arranged into eight areas as follows:
The Articles section contains links to articles from the monthly Creation Worldview Ministries' Newsletter. Presently there are 24 links to various articles covering a wide variety of subjects, such as Carbon 14 Dating, What is Really in the Fossil Record, Meteorites and Life on Mars, plus many more.
The Tapes, Videos and Books sections of the site describe the various materials that can be ordered from this site. Presently there are two tapes, ten videos and thirty-nine books that can be ordered.
A great deal of interesting material can be found on this web site.
| Web Site of the Month - July 2000 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
| "Down House at Downe in Kent UK, where Darwin lived for 40 years from 1842 until his death in 1882, has recently been restored at a cost of over £3 million. Over £1 million came from money raised from the National Lottery. On 10 April, Good Friday, 1998, English Heritage reopened it to the public." |
The web site is really only a single page of the Biblical Creation Society web site. This page discusses what you would see should you ever make a visit in person to Down House. Quite a lot of detail is given regarding what is located in the various rooms including what is written on some of the displays.
Not far from Down House is a Baptist church. What makes for interesting reading is to find out what this church did to counteract the evolution exhibit located so close to them. Baptist Pastor Richard Hart said,
| "With the re-opening of Down House with an exhibition not only about Darwin, but also very much about evolution, we wanted to make a stand that we believe something different--to try to show people the truth of the Scripture that God created the world. We thought a simple exhibition would be one good way of doing that. Another way which proved popular in the past, on another significant anniversary date involving Darwin, was a series of lectures, which we are repeating this year." |
The creation versus evolution controversy continues even where Darwin did much of his work.
| Web Site of the Month - August 2000 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
As you can tell from the above description of the Gap Theory, it is an attempt to try to reconcile the Bible with evolution. The web page does a good job of explaining why the Gap Theory fails in its attempt.
There are other links on this web page that point to other interesting articles by the web page author that discuss the creation vs. evolution controversy.
| Web Site of the Month - September 2000 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
This month's web site review is a description of a companion article to last month's review of "Creation vs. Evolution: The Gap Theory Explained". Apparently the author has received a lot of criticism regarding his views on the age of the earth and evolution vs. creation. This article is his attempt to explain why the Day Age theory is not really necessary, and that the earth is not really billions of years old.
The Day Age theory purports that the seven days of creation were not 24 hour days, but 7 ages of geologic time. This appears to be the view of many people who try to reconcile the teachings of the Bible and evolution.
The web page author strongly states that evolution and creation should not be mixed. He shows evolution does not fit with the Bible and its account of creation, and then shows how science itself proves that the earth is not billions of years old.
The topics discussed regarding the age of the earth are very interesting and cover many areas including the Big Bang theory, planetary motion, comets, space dust, continental erosion and the age of trees.
| Web Site of the Month - October 2000 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
This month's web site review describes the web site of a radio talk show from San Pedro, California called Stand to Reason. On this web site you can find transcripts of commentaries on evolution that have been presented on the radio. Many interesting topics are covered, such as:
The commentaries on these subjects make for interesting reading. The author clearly points out in many of the commentaries that evolution is often not really science but philosophy. He also points out that "Evolution is winning in the marketplace of ideas. But it is not winning because of the facts, it is winning because of the rules of the game." To find out about the "rules of the game" just read any of the topics.
The commentaries make for light reading, because the author writes very clearly and provides many interesting illustrations to explain his ideas about evolution and creation.
| Web Site of the Month - November 2000 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
| "provides an intellectually honest alternative to such pro-evolutionism websites as the ‘Talk.Origins’. Archive." |
According to this web site,
| "The question of origins is largely a matter of history--not the domain of applied science. One's worldview plays heavily on one's interpretation of scientific data, a phenomenon which is magnified in matters concerning origins, where neither repeatability, nor observation, nor measurement--the three immutable elements of the scientific method--may be employed. Many proponents of evolutionism nevertheless persist in claiming exclusive scientific status for their highly popularized beliefs, and curtly dismissing--if not angrily deriding--all doubters." |
The web site provides many links to articles covering the origins debate. The links are organized into the following catagories:
The commentaries on these subjects make for interesting reading. The author clearly points out in many of the commentaries that evolution is often not really science but philosophy. He also points out that,
| "Evolution is winning in the marketplace of ideas. But it is not winning because of the facts, it is winning because of the rules of the game." |
To find out about the "rules of the game" just read any of the topics.
The commentaries make for light reading, because the author writes very clearly and provides many interesting illustrations to explain his ideas about evolution and creation.
| Web Site of the Month - December 2000 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
Gore started a controversy when it was reported that he "favors the teaching of evolution in public schools. Obviously, that decision should and will be made at the local level and localities should be free to decide to teach creationism as well." This report created quite a stir among both educators and scientists. One remark that I find quite interesting is the statement made by Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education. She said that "I understand politicians like to compromise and that faced with one group who says two plus two equals four and another group that says two plus two equals six, will tend to arrive at a position that says two plus two equals five. Unfortunately, sometimes the answer has to be four, and this is one of those times."
From the Bush camp we have the statement that Governor George Bush made saying, "I believe children ought to be exposed to different theories about how the world started." Bush campaign spokesperson Minday Tucker followed up, saying "He (Bush) believes both creationism and evolution ought to be taught. He believes it is a question for states and local school boards to decide but he believes both ought to be taught."
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