The Origin of Our Origins: A Summary of Godly Origins: Worldviews Collide

By Emerson Thomas McMullen B.S. M.S. M.A. Ph.D.

There is no conflict between the Bible and science that is evidence-based. The conflict is between belief in the Biblical Worldview and belief in a non-biblical worldview. If a claim about nature is not testable or observable and then confirmable, it is not science.

Evolution requires belief. In his On the Origin of Species (1859), Charles Darwin wrote about his “belief in the transmutation of species” (p302), that “The theory of natural selection is grounded on . . . belief” (p320), and that he believed we descended from one common ancestor (p484).

Darwin believed in evolution because he had no evidence. He admitted that “the whole volume is one long argument” (p459). Observations show that biological change is limited and research indicates that evolution is/was not by chance mutations. Additionally, chance does not cause anything. It is a philosophical term and may not even exist.

Finally, experiments have repeatedly shown that life does not arise from non-life. Similarly, we did not descend from stardust either. Besides violating the principle of cause and effect, astronomical discoveries are proving that the Big Bang is science fiction. Like evolution, chance, and life from non-life, the Big Bang has to be believed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 18, 2024
• ISBN: 9798385012299

Emerson Thomas McMullen B.S. M.S. M.A. Ph.D.

By God’s grace, Dr. McMullen earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering at Washington State University, a Master of Science degree at Southern Methodist University, and a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. in the History and Philosophy of Science at Indiana University with minors in History and Religious Studies. He conducted research at the now Air Force Rocket Laboratory, Edwards Air Force Base, California; the then Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Livermore, California; and the then Aerospace Research Laboratories, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He has taught at four different universities, including the Air Force Institute of Technology, Air University; Indiana University, Bloomington campus: and the University of Oklahoma, Norman campus. He and his wife Sharon met at the then Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory in 1964 and married a year and a half later. Their son was born at Edwards AFB, and they adopted a daughter in Dallas. Two grandchildren were born in California, two in Virginia, and one in Pennsylvania. At the moment, they have four great-grandchildren. The author was raised in the church, but in college, went his own way. God called him back to Himself through Jesus Christ in 1969. He has striven to live more biblically since then.

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Copyright © 2024 Emerson Thomas McMullen B.S. M.S. M.A. Ph.D.

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Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version, public domain.

Scripture quotations marked WEB are taken from the World English Bible, public domain.

Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, American Standard Version (ASV), Public Domain

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1228-2 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1229-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023921572

WestBow Press rev. date: 04/12/2024

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ALSO BY DR. MC MULLEN:

Published:

Godly Origins:

Worldviews Collide

William Harvey’s De Motu Cordis;

A New English Translation

William Harvey and the Use of Purpose

in the Scientific Revolution;

Cosmos by Chance or Universe by Design?

Unpublished:

Godly Origins:

Attacked by Atheists

Godly Origins:

Heaven and Earth

Solo Deo

Gloria

The works of the Lord are

great, sought out of all them

that have pleasure therein

Psalm 111:2 (KJV)

Table of Contents

Foreword

CHANGE

Introduction

WORLDVIEWS AND ORIGINS

Chapter I

THE ORIGIN AND AGE OF THE UNIVERSE

Chapter II

THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH AND SOLAR SYSTEM

Chapter III

THE AGE OF THE EARTH AND SOLAR SYSTEM

Chapter IV

THE ORIGIN AND AGE OF LIFE

Chapter V

THE ORIGIN OF ANIMALS

Chapter VI

HUMAN ORIGIN AND PRESENT CONDITION

Chapter VII

THE GEOLOGICAL AGE OF THE EARTH

Epitome

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Epilogue

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR THE AGES

Appendix

THE HISTORY OF THE CREATION OF THE COSMOS

Afterword

GENESIS, THE BIBLE, AND MUSINGS ON THE RAPTURE

About the Author:

EMERSON THOMAS MCMULLEN

Endnotes

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Figure 1. Heavenly Fireworks Hint at God’s Fantastic Power

An exploding star formed the Crab Nebula shown here. But where did stars come from? Did the God of the Bible purposefully create them by His eternal Word? Or did they and the universe form themselves according to chance, untestable, materialistic, unscientific ideas such as the Big Bang? If an idea about nature is not testable or observable, and then confirmable, it is not science.¹ Further, chance does not cause anything; it is not a causative agent.

No one has a time machine, so all claims about our origins are not testable. Therefore assumptions, which are beliefs, come into play. One can either believe in the Creator God and His word or else believe in the stars’ chance, naturalistic origin and that we are stardust. It is belief versus belief. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Dubner (IAFE, CONICET—University of Buenos Aires) et al.; A. Loll et al.; T. Temim et al.; F. Seward et al.; VLA/NRAO/AUI/NSF; Chandra/CXC; Spitzer/JPL-Caltech; XMM-Newton/ESA; and Hubble/STScI.

Foreword

CHANGE

Stars blazed so beautifully in the deep night sky of the Mojave Desert. These skies were stunningly clear in the 1960s at my first duty station at the then Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (now the Rocket Laboratory) at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Those stars in the desert skies launched a part-time heavenly hobby.

I purchased a pair of 7x50 binoculars and Donald H. Menzel’s A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets and subscribed to both Astronomy and Sky and Telescope magazines. The heavens were declaring the glory of God even though He did not have anywhere near first place in my heart at that time.

To The Reader

As a declared agnostic, I was following my reasoning and my way. I wanted scientifically to prove God’s existence but got nowhere. Along the way, I learned that explanations of our origins such as the Big Bang, the chemical evolution of life, and others are not scientific. The origin of our origins comes down to belief in something.

This book tells what I came to believe about the origin of our origins, and why. My thinking changed; my life changed. Read this book and decide for yourself what you should believe about the origin of our origins, and why.

Fig01aDavidHumeauthor.JPG

Figure 1a. Some Limitations of Science

David Hume, the Scottish Skeptic, argued that there is no empirical basis for cause and effect in nature. Hume also pointed out that assumptions about the regularity of natural laws are not subject to reason, thus creating the problem of scientific inference (believing that the future will resemble the past).

Other limitations of science include the inability to observe the past (no time machine), and proving that nature is orderly. Also, there are Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle (uncertainty in physics), and Kurt Gödel’s Proof (uncertainty in mathematics). Finally, there is the inherent problem of theory-driven subjectivity in science as pointed out by Thomas Kuhn (for theory) and Norwood Russell Hanson (for observation).

Introduction

WORLDVIEWS AND ORIGINS

Origins

The pseudo-gods of many scientists include Nature, Time, and Chance. These are behind the false ideas of the Big Bang, chemical evolution, and biological evolution. Together their beliefs in these pseudo-gods add up to what theologian Robert Brow labels Modified Pantheism, which is pantheism without admitting divinity in nature.¹*

Concerning the Big Bang: This naturalistic idea implies that the universe somehow created itself by chance, evolving from nothing. But naturally speaking, nothing comes from nothing! On the other hand, in Mark 13:19. Jesus refers to God creating the world. The Bible, from Genesis 1:1 and on implies that God created everything, whether visible or invisible, from nothing.

Concerning Chance and biological evolution: How often do we hear that we evolved by chance mutations?² Or that life came about by chance? But chance does not cause anything. Chance does not cause mutations, nor does it cause life to happen.

Biological research has indicated that mutations are not random. They do not happen by chance. What appears to be a biologically random/stochastic/chance process is in reality a deterministic one, as per Chaos Theory.³ Chance is just a philosophical idea, and may not exist in reality.

Concerning Time and descent from a common ancestor: Biological varieties do not depart indefinitely from the original life form, no matter how much Time is involved. Rather, biological change is limited, not unlimited. Darwin’s finches and Galapagos tortoises vary within their genetic makeup and do not and did not evolve into anything else.

Additionally, look at the subtitle of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. The subtitle is the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Darwin was claiming certain races are favored; so, which ones were favored, and by whom? He answered that Nature made the supernatural selections. Hence, Darwinism is Modified Pantheism regarding biological evolution.⁴ (For chemical evolution, Darwin is theistic, since he recognizes an initial Creator.)

Concerning Nature, Darwin personified nature (normally just an ecological system) and made it appear to be divine with supernatural powers. This deity of biological evolution is Nature or Mother Nature. Also, it appears that British multimillionaire Richard Dawkins copied Darwin’s personification trick in his book, The Selfish Gene.

With the idea of survival of the fittest, there is no measure of fitness that is independent of survival. The only thing we can say is that the living beings we see today were the fittest because they survived. This idea is merely an exercise in circular reasoning, a tautology.

Thus, we did not evolve/descend from a common ancestor by natural selection over long periods of time. Further, we did not evolve by chance mutations, or by any other reason, such as being favored by Nature. Concerning biological evolution, Time, Chance, and Nature are gods that have not made the heavens and the earth. (Jeremiah 10:11, KJV.)

Chemical evolution is the idea that life came from non-life. But our DNA contains genetic information while chemicals have none. Further, our genetic information is not material and had to have originated from