Andrea Reitan

Behemoth and Leviathan:
This presentation briefly summarizes most of the book of Job leading up to chapter 40, when God directs Job to look at Behemoth, and chapter 41, when He describes Leviathan. These two creatures are described by God Himself in detail as the Designer and Engineer of these creations in order to bring the hearers/readers to a revelation of how much bigger He is than they are and to show us the need to be humble. Many commentators say that these creatures are mythical or metaphorical, or that they are something we are familiar with today, but these explanations do not fit God’s character or His Word. This presentation proposes that Behemoth and Leviathan were real creatures that are extinct now and presents some evidence for this.

Carbon-14 Dating:
Radiocarbon, or carbon-14, is a radioactive form of carbon that scientists use to determine the age of fossils and organic materials. A lot of people assume carbon-14 dating is an exact science and that it proves the universe is billions of years old. This presentation gives a brief explanation of radiometric dating and carbon dating in particular. Then it discusses some of the secular assumptions and interpretations before moving on to a young-Earth creationist explanation.

Catastrophic Plate Tectonics:
Dr. John Baumgardner first proposed Catastrophic Plate Tectonics as a mechanism for the Genesis Flood at the International Conference on Creationism in 1986. This presentation provides a summary explanation of the model and follows up with an explanation of why God flooded the Earth and why we still need a Saviour.

Design and Complexity of the Cell:
Evolutionists claim there is no evidence of intelligent design, but one of the biggest challenges to their worldview is the origin of life and its associated biomolecules. Cell biology has revealed a microscopic world operating at a level of technological sophistication far beyond anything man can make. This aspect of God’s creation offers unmistakable evidence of intelligent design through examples of irreducible and specified complexity. Inside every organism, reside bio-mechanical systems and molecular machines that Darwin and his contemporaries could never have imagined. Even today, much of what is happening inside cells is still not understood, but evolutionists believe unquestioningly that these things developed without God.

Flood Geology and Sedimentation:
This presentation starts with a few examples of how sedimentary layers are formed in observed modern natural events and lab experiments. It then presents a walkthrough of Genesis 7 that deals with what the Bible says and what we see in geology and finishes with a brief explanation of why God flooded the Earth, going from Creation to the Gospel.

Milankovitch Cycles, Climate, and the Ice Age:
Secular scientists have trouble explaining the cause of Ice Ages. This is because it requires cool summers and moderate winters for many consecutive years to increase the amount of snow and ice in winter but not melt it all during the summer. There were over 60 Ice Age theories by the 1960s, and there are probably more now, but the Milankovitch Theory is currently the favourite secular explanation for what causes an Ice Age. This is the idea that Earth’s tilt wobbles over the long term as it orbits the sun, resulting in different amounts of sunlight hitting certain areas. The claim is that this would have resulted in less sunlight in the northern polar regions at different times in the deep past, allowing ice sheets to grow. However, there are several problems with this theory, one of which is that this mechanism on its own isn’t strong enough to cause Ice Ages if Earth’s climate is stable, so secular scientists rely on the assumption that the climate is inherently unstable. Much of today’s climate change alarmism can be traced to the Milankovitch Theory. This lesson explains the Milankovitch Theory and presents some of the problems with it. Then it briefly discusses the young-Earth creationist view of the Ice Age, how we should view our relationship to Earth and the environment according to the Dominion Mandate given by God in Genesis, and why we can be sure that climate change is not worth the alarmism being put forward by uniformitarians. We have been given stewardship of the Earth, even in its broken state, but we are not capable of saving the planet. God is in control.

Origin of Life:
The origin of life is one of the biggest challenges for natural science. Many evolutionists avoid the subject and even argue that the origin of life is not part of the theory of evolution. This is because they haven’t found a way for non-living chemicals to become living cells—also known as abiogenesis or spontaneous generation. This presentation starts with a comparison of worldviews, followed by a brief look at the early research into spontaneous generation. It then considers some evolutionary arguments on philosophical grounds and the problems with chemical evolution. It concludes with some scriptural reasons for why many people choose to believe in evolution in spite of the lack of scientific evidence.

Post-Flood Ark Dispersal:
One of the questions people often ask, especially Bible skeptics, is “How did the animals spread all over the world from where the Ark landed?” I’ve even heard some Christians deny that there ever was an Ice Age. The presentation gives a brief overview of the Flood and its aftermath, the Ice Age, with a look at the geological evidence and an explanation of how the Ice Age allowed for worldwide migration of people and animals after the Flood.

Sanctity of Life:
In our current culture, life is no longer considered sacred. This is a result of the evolutionary worldview that says that humans are just animals. “Get rid of spare cats, get rid of spare kids, and if people are deemed too old, weak, or sick to keep taking care of them, get rid of whoever else you want, too.” This presentation covers the issues of abortion and euthanasia and why they are morally wrong, and then it finishes with a presentation of the Gospel.

Walking with Lucy: What Makes Us Different?:
One of the main foci of paleoanthropological research is the supposed evolution of bipedality. Evolutionary naturalists face the tough task of explaining all the anatomical particulars that God created for humans to walk and run in the unique way that we do. Numerous studies have compared the human bipedal gait to that of extant apes, all under the assumption that humans and apes evolved from a common ancestor. Australopithecus afarensis is currently represented by the most complete skeletal remains among extinct apes and ape-like remains. This makes it the favourite for studying the supposed evolution of bipedalism. A few 3-dimensional muscle reconstruction models have been published in this regard. Some recent studies have acknowledged that A. afarensis would have walked with a gait different from humans but still assume obligate bipedality. In this study, we explain how the lower extremity muscle and ligament attachments work with the osseous (bony) morphology to produce the human gait. Then we contrast this with how the anatomy of extant apes affects the way they walk. Finally, we compare these extant models with available data for A. afarensis. We conclude that its gait resembled that of modern apes.