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Modern Science Upends the Scopes Monkey Trial Verdict

Modern Science Upends the Scopes Monkey Trial Verdict

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial (July 10–21, 1925) in Dayton, Tennessee, I was asked to make comments at a joint meeting of the Southern Psychiatric Association and Tennessee Psychiatric Association about the events as they were depicted in the 1960 film Inherit the Wind. Below are the notes that I prepared for that event. (Unfortunately, due to time constraints I was unable to present my prepared comments at the event but want to share them with you here).


 

In his last public interview, which he gave in 1996, preeminent scientist and astronomer Carl Sagan said the following:

We’ve arranged a society on science and technology in which nobody understands anything about science and technology, and this combustible mixture of ignorance and power sooner or later is going to blow up in our faces. I mean, who is running the science and technology in a democracy if the people don’t know anything about it? Science is more than a body of knowledge, it’s a way of thinking. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions to interrogate those who tell us something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we’re up for grabs for the next charlatan political or religious leader who comes ambling along. It’s a thing that Jefferson lay great stress on. It wasn’t enough, he said, to enshrine some rights in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the people had to be educated and they have to practice their skepticism and their education. Otherwise, we don’t run the government, the government runs us (https://www.openculture.com/2015/05/carl-sagan-issues-a-warning-in-his-last-interview-1996.html, emphasis mine).

I think we are seeing this today—a lack of skepticism, a lack of educated inquiry, a lack of a truly scientific way of thinking, and, therefore, an intolerance for honest questioning.

I encourage you to be skeptical, to be critical, of what I am going to present in response to this movie because Inherit the Wind is focused on the great questions that have dominated human civilizations throughout all recorded history—the great questions of existence: Where did we come from? Why are we here? And where are we going?

German psychiatrist Karl Jaspers wrote in his book Way to Wisdom: “That which you hold to, upon which you stake your existence, that is truly your God” (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1951).

The question of where we come from has been the subject of great debate throughout human history, and the movie depicts the two most common mythical belief systems that have dominated civilizations throughout recorded history, belief systems that people have constructed and chosen to stake their existence upon. There is a third belief system, the minority report, which I will describe later. But for now, the two most common systems throughout history that are both mythical and accurately depicted in the movie are:

The belief in godlessness in some fashion—nature worship, ancient druids, Gnosticism, mysticism, humanism, atheism, scientism, neo-Darwinism, and the late 18th-century Reign of Terror in France, with their worship of the goddess of Reason.

The belief in the god-king—an all-powerful deity and cosmic imperial dictator who makes up rules and enforces them with external punishments. In this mythical belief system, the gods are the source of pain, suffering, and death inflicted upon people; the gods also need sacrifices of various kinds to propitiate their wrath. These gods are created in the image of the people who worship them and are what led to the god-man beliefs, such as the divinity of the Pharaohs, Caesars, and popes and the divine right of kings.

We find a classic example of this mythical deity in the infamous 9th-century BC pagan god Baal. This Mesopotamian god was the one confronted in the famous Bible story of Elijah calling fire down from heaven. Baal was the son of El, we hear the name echo of this name in Elohim or El Shaddai; Baal was called the almighty, the god of heaven, lightening, thunder, and weather, the god who brought the harvest, the god who fought the great serpent leviathan, the god who fought against Mot, the god of death. In his battle with Mot, Baal died and rose again to bring life to the land.

But Baal was an authoritarian, rule-enforcing, and punishing god. Baal was a god who punished disobedience and required sacrifices to be offered in order to propitiate his wrath and earn favor or blessings. Baal eventually became Zeus to the Greeks, Jupiter to the Romans, Thor to the Norse people—and, yes, Jesus Christ to Christians, who worship a god-king who makes up rules like humans make up, uses power to inflict punishment upon rule-breakers, and requires the blood of a human sacrifice to propitiate his wrath so he won’t kill us. This is the mythological deity depicted by the so-called Christianity in Inherit the Wind.

Yes, the movie did a great job of creating a theatrical depiction of these two mythical belief systems that have been battling back and forth through human history.

But the movie also failed to depict the minority view in human history, a view that rejects both of these views and is the most scientific, evidence-based understanding of reality that answers the great questions.

And that is the understanding that reality is not built upon made-up rules that creatures implement and which require external enforcement through inflicted punishments—instead, reality is built upon design laws, the fixed laws of physics, mathematics, the laws of health, and the laws that govern the healthy operations of our minds and relationships. One cannot experience health while violating the laws of health. These laws are the laws upon which the cosmos is constructed to operate; they are fixed laws and cannot be changed by human will or choice. For instance, humans can pass laws to make marijuana legal, but they cannot pass laws to make it healthy.

Here are a few examples of design law—the laws upon which reality works:

  • The law of exertion: Strength comes from exercise—use it or lose it—not just physically, but also neurologically. If you want strong music skill, you must practice your instrument; strong math ability, you must work problems; strong language skills, you must speak the language.
  • The law of love: The principle of giving upon which life is built to operate; e.g.,
    • We give CO2 to the plants, and they give oxygen to us.
    • The water cycle (oceans > clouds > rain > rivers > oceans).
    • All living organisms give if they continue to live.
  • The law of worship: We are changed neurobiologically and characterologically to become like what we admire, worship, and spend time watching and assimilating. In psychiatry, we call this modeling.
  • The law of liberty: Love, trust, and human development only flourish in an atmosphere of freedom. Coercion of conscience always destroys love and trust, incites rebellion, and results in the destruction of individuality. This is a core principle of design law recognized by the Framers of the Constitution as an inalienable right endowed by our Creator.

And what do the science and evidence reveal about the most rational, logical, evidence-based belief system?

Life, in any form we understand it, requires three elements: physical matter, energy, and usable coded data or information, which is found in DNA and RNA. While theories abound on the godless origins of the physical matter and the energy, there is no random force that codes information. And there is no living organism without coded information.

Charles Darwin defined a principle of reasoning to be used when one attempts to explain events that have occurred in the remote past: Vera Causa—which states: You must posit as a cause that is known to have the power to cause the effect in question.

The effect in question is organized, coded information found in the DNA and RNA of every living organism. What is the known cause of organized information? The only known cause is an intelligence!

And science demonstrates that an intelligence is the cause for the coded information in our DNA and not random forces and chance. Why? Because the number of non-functional sequences of DNA outnumber those that are functional by such a large degree that it is mathematically impossible for functional code to form itself.

Mathematicians call this the problem of combinatorial analysis; the last thing you want in software code is to introduce random changes into the zeros and ones. If you do that, you will get meaningless arrangements long before functional code. The reason is that there are so many more ways to go wrong than there are to create function. If you randomly change code, you are overwhelmingly more likely to create gibberish than functional meaningful code.

Mathematicians have calculated the rarity of functional to non-functional random arrangements in a fairly small protein composed of only 150 amino acids. The functional to nonfunctional random arrangement of codes is 1 functional result to 10 to the 77th power non-functional results (Douglas Epps, Cambridge Mathematician). To put that in context, there are only 10 to the 65th atoms in the Milky Way galaxy; thus, a random search for a new functional sequence would be like looking for one single atom in one trillion galaxies the size of our Milky Way. Even four billion years of life’s history is not enough time to solve a search problem of that magnitude. Further, there are only 10 to the 40th organisms in the history of the planet and not enough replication events to search a space 10 to the 77th large. It is overwhelmingly more probable that the hypothesis that random events resulted in the occurrence of meaningful code is false than it is to be true. Again, that low probability is just for one protein of 150 amino acids and one protein alone is not functional life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDSpLBNQk5I).

We can examine the evidences of other elements in the source materials of the two grand philosophies.

Darwin’s famous finches—with all the different beaks—are presented as evidence of random mutations that are selected through enhanced survival over millions of years. But science has proven this hypothesis false. In fact, the changes in the finches’ beaks are epigenetic modifications that occur in one to two generations due to environmental pressures; there are no gene mutations occurring. In other words, the genetic information to modify the beaks was already coded into the DNA. It was environmental pressures that caused the genes to modify a product, a beak, that fit the need of the living organism.

Amazingly, Darwin’s finches are evidence of intelligent origin, not godless origin, and validate the Bible’s position that our choices and experiences pass down three to four generations, which is what epigenetic science tells us happens with epigenetic modifications.[1]

The biblical record is consistent with genetic science in at least three other ways:

  1. Jacob does a strange thing when negotiating with Laban for payment for his work. He negotiates that all the spotted, speckled, and striped sheep and goats would go to him and all the solid-furred animals would be Laban’s. Then the Bible says: “Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted” (Genesis 30:37–39 NIV84). This has now been documented to cause an epigenetic modification of the agouti gene through methylation (Backon, Joshua, “Jacob and the Spotted Sheep: The Role of Prenatal Nutrition on Epigenetics of Fur Color.” Biology. 2008. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Jacob-and-the-Spotted-Sheep%3A-The-Role-of-Prenatal-Backon/194ef71dd0af81f87cebdeda41ac64a85bc44a74).
  2. The Bible says that God made a male first and took from the male the tissue to make a female. This is contrary to anything observable in the ancient world for, naturally, all babies, male and female, are born from females. Yet, we know with modern science that a female could not produce a male because a female doesn’t possess the genetic material, coded information in the Y chromosome, necessary to produce a male. But a male can produce a female because to be a female only requires one X chromosome to be active in each cell.
  3. Genetic entropy: Godless evolutionary theory teaches that random mutations happen to the human genome and, over time through natural selection, cause the species to advance and develop. But modern genetic science documents that the opposite is happening. With every generation, there are a thousand new damaging gene mutations—and there has not been one mutation identified that adds genetic information or makes the species healthier or more robust. In other words, consistent with the second law of thermodynamics, the human species is slowly decaying, not evolving. This is what the Genesis account said would happen if humans broke trust with God—that life would slowly decay and die.

So Inherit the Wind demonstrates the falsity of two mythical belief systems: godlessness and the god-king. But there is a minority view that, I believe, is reality, and that is the belief in an intelligent, benevolent designer whose laws are design laws—not imposed rules—the laws that life itself is constructed to exist and operate upon. And being in harmony with those laws will result in health.

I invite you to embrace the minority report—the belief in a benevolent designer whose laws are the protocols reality exists and operates upon.

Here is another video providing further science that reveals the irrationality of the godless origins of life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCBHNDTEgWk


[1] Abzhanov, Arhat, Meredith Protas, B. Rosemary Grant, Peter R. Grant, Clifford J. Tabin (September 3, 2004). “Bmp4 and Morphological Variation of Beaks in Darwin’s Finches”. Science (USA: AAAS) 305 (5689): 1462–1465. doi:ISSN 0036-8075. OCLC 1644869. PMID 15353802, retrieved 2008-03-08.

 Abzhanov, Arhat, Winston P. Kuo, Christine Hartmann, B. Rosemary Grant, Peter R. Grant, and Clifford J. Tabin (August 3, 2006). “The calmodulin pathway and evolution of elongated beak morphology in Darwin’s finches”. Nature (UK: Nature Publishing Group) 442 (7102): 563–567. doi:10.1038/nature04843. ISSN 0028-0836. OCLC 1586310. PMID 16885984. retrieved 2008-03-08.

 

 

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Testimony 73

I have been truly blessed by your blogs and other resources. They have helped me to see things in a much brighter light and to reason things out better. Thank you so much for your ministry. Whenever I have the opportunity I pass along your material to my friends.

R. Noseworthy, Newfoundland, Canada

Testimony 23

I would just like to add my voice to the many people who, I believe, must have contacted you to express their appreciation for the “Healing the Mind” DVDs. I’ve been listening to your Bible study class discussions for many years and I’ve been personally blessed by your research and teaching about the character of God.

L. G., Oakland, MI, USA

 

Testimony 67

I was introduced to Come And Reason by a friend of my mother-in-law, who gave me several CD’s of Dr. Jennings. The clarity of the message and recognition that God’s is a God of love was so clear, advancing beyond Dr. Maxwell’s message. However, grappled with Maxwell saying God used emergency measures for the fallen world. Now after several years of being a regular listener of the Come And Reasoning bible study class and attending Jennings’ meetings in Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, things are becoming clearer for me. Design law versus imposed law has added so much to my personal understanding of theology. This message has really impacted my work in counseling so many people miserable because they are searching for and trusting human governments to create order and peace or believing in a God who says love Me or I will kill you. I am grateful that I have an alternative view to offer my clients that makes sense. I teach a bible study class on a semi-regular basis and I value the materials that Come And Reason so freely offers to aid me in presenting this vital message. Thank you for continuing to provide advancement in our very limited understanding of a Infinite God that is rational and believable.

Dr. Roger D, Arlington, TX, USA

 

Testimony 38

Since November 2015, when I started studying Gods word from this God Is Love point of view, my life has been transformed. My troubled marriage of 15 years has been healed and my husband and I are truly happy for the first time in 15 years. Now When I read the word of God I understand it so much better and I can’t help but see Gods love radiating through the pages to humanity. Gods word is living and active and I am blessed beyond measure to be having this amazing experience. God has given me a beautiful understanding of Jn 3:16 that amazes me more and more each day. Thank you again for your ministry.

Helen D., London, England

 

Testimony 54

I had a lot of pressure, as a pastor’s kid, to conform and be “good.” I was good at being “good.” I thought my life was going along well until it all started falling apart and I could not figure out why! In my search for “why is this happening to me, God?” I came across your book, “Could it be this Simple,” and God started revealing to me the many distortions I held about His character, His principles, and how He has designed His universe to operate. I remember thinking, “Wow, I have had this all backwards.” I was happy and angry all at the same time. Happy to have the light of truth break through the darkness, revealing a wonderful, beautiful way of understanding God and His plan for His children, and angry, because I felt deceived and cheated by the church, my family, and myself!

My heart thrills when I listen to your bible study lessons. Literally I have gone from death to life. It is a journey I look forward to every day, as God reveals areas this distortion affects. Praise GOD! I will ever be grateful to God for this ministry and your cooperation with the Spirit!

Karen S., Portal, AZ, USA

 

Testimony 31

It was very touching to hear the testimony of your class share how viewing God’s true character has changed their lives. My feelings are the same – there is so much freedom in knowing that God LOVES me – regardless of my… just, REGARDLESS! I’m still blown away by the true gospel, the fact that God is not ready to strike us when we fail. He is not arbitrary. He simply loves us and warns of the natural consequences because He can’t stand to see us suffer. I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS GOD!!!

Ceil V.,  UT, USA

 

Testimony 39

[This ministry is the] biggest blessing I have ever received! Your DVDs and lessons could not have come at a better time in my life. I have experienced in the past year many difficulties that, if it wasn’t for this wonderful view of God that I have discovered through this ministry, I would not have been able to respond in love and forgiveness. My heart is being transformed everyday by the Calvary-looking God you teach. Hallelujah!! I have tears in my eyes as I write, because my life has taken a complete turn from where I was heading.

I am from Central America. Most of my family is scattered in different parts of the world and all have the same view of God that I had growing up; a distant, exacting, and ready-to-punish-us-with-tragedy type of God. So, I have been translating lessons for my family and, to my surprise, they have also been sharing them with others! I can already see the difference. My brother has often said, “Thank you for sharing, I have never heard it this way!” My other family members are taking an amazing turn from a message of “repent or burn” towards a loving God, pleading to us that we won’t reject him because he loves us eternally.

Bless you for all you do.

Sofia S., Ashfield, MA, USA

 

Testimony 43

Two years ago I stumbled upon your book, “Could It Be This Simple,” and then found “The God-Shaped Brain” videos on YouTube, your bible study class, and the ‘Come And Reason’ mobile app. I shared your book with a friend and after nine months of showing love, patience, and kindness this person has been changed by the love of God, too. The same love that healed me, I now express to other women in tangible ways, such as to a Baptist woman with high anxiety and childhood trauma. She was extremely happy and relieved when I shared about the so-called “judgment of God” and burning in hell. She had no desire to serve a God that was so harsh. I have repeated the phrase dozens of times to her. “What we believe has power over us, but we have power over what we believe…”

This message that you are sharing has changed my life. I will continue to serve other women and bring this message of God’s healing love to their lives by sharing your books, YouTube videos, and The Remedy Bible app. Keep up the good work. Don’t be discouraged. God is doing a mighty work in and through this ministry!

Jill L., Midwest, USA

 

Testimony 8

Thank you for the ministry you are sharing with us, it is a real blessing to us and especially to my husband and myself! You are encouraging us to think for ourselves and not just to except everything, without thinking it through, with God’s word!

M.K., USA

 

Testimony 14

We really appreciate your views on the judgment and they make good sense considering our free choice.

Anonymous

 

Testimony 32

The message [of Come And Reason Ministries is] for all Christians (and those who may become Christians) and not just Adventists or any other group. It is difficult to imagine why any [anyone] with intellectual and spiritual honesty could find fault with the way you explained the healing substitution concepts and the truth about God’s character, though I know some will reject and criticize. On behalf of those in our group near Tacoma, WA, thank you and your staff for all of the hard work and for sharing the Gospel in this manner. God’s message of healing love will be carried to the whole world and then Jesus will come – He promised it.

Terry U., Tacoma, WA, USA

 

Testimony 24

I wanted to thank you very much for presenting your understanding of God. I’ve always been troubled by this question: Why did Jesus have to die? Since my conversion I understood that The Father & Jesus are one, I did not have issues with that. But was there not any other way to save us than for Jesus to die? I guess I actually had a question about God – if He is so wise, how come He did not find another way? I did not see the real ‘beauty’  in the cross. Only when you explained the picture in the medical context, Jesus providing medicine for my selfishness, have I started to finally ‘see the light’. Thank you so much. Your seminar, “Healing the Mind,” are absolutely marvelous & have shared them with my family and many other people, including colleagues at work. Thanks, thanks, thanks. May God bless you abundantly in your ministry.

M. W., Australia

 

Testimony 41

I have been blessed by your ministry. I have experienced personally, and deeply resonate with, the God of love and the beautiful picture of God’s character that you present. I have seen your seminar series on YouTube, read ‘The Journal of the Watcher’ book, used your mobile app, and also listen/study the bible study lesson with you each week. I concur with many of the thoughts and perspectives that you share. I understand your conclusions on natural laws vs imposed law and the legal/penal substitution (incorrect diagnosis). This makes perfect sense to me.

Bless you for all you do.

Melissa L.

 

Testimony 49

I came into the church at 21, but that is as far as it went. I was so confused about what love is. I couldn’t find it in the bible, because I am not a person that can read between the lines. I have no logic. I have read many, many books; trying to figure out the crux of the matter. They were helpful, but something was still missing. I have become very frustrated to the point of crying out to God, “Where can I go?”  I needed some basics.

I found two books, written by Timothy Jennings, MD, to be very helpful. God showed me that I had lived my whole life in fear. I didn’t even see it. Now, I do. God is so good.  I discovered the “The Remedy”  Dr. Jennings new book, “The God-Shaped Heart!” Oh, I was so excited, I purchased them right away.

I can get rid of most of my books, because “The Remedy” brings the Love of God out so clearly, even I can’t miss it. Now, I want to sit and read my Bible. Wow, what a revelation! It is just simply Awesome! I am so grateful to Jehovah Almighty for hearing my prayer for more understanding! I am so encouraged!

Jackie S.

 

Testimony 71

When I was 9 years old, I remember setting at our devotional table with a hunger and thirst for God that wanted more, deeper, BETTER. I can remember literally crying and pounding on the table, “I know these teachers didn’t mean to give us error. They taught what THEY had been TAUGHT, but didn’t ANYBODY READ THE BOOK?!?!?” It mattered to me then. It mattered to me as a teenager. It matters now as I teach bible classes. It didn’t have to be so hard as I watched so many give up and lay God’s great plan and gift of salvation aside as being “impossible.” Then, a friend sent me a link to Come And Reason’s website. I grew excited. YES! FINALLY! Then another friend told me to stay away, saying her son had just broken up with a girl because she was involved with Come And Reason and that “Tim Jennings preaches a false gospel.” But, AFTER many years of developing an authentic and, dare I say FUN relationship with Jesus, through the Holy Spirit I see this message has been around a LONG time, since the apostle Paul, Ellen White, Graham Maxwell, Ray Foucher, and yourself (though I admit, you’ve made me back up, rewind and replay the clips, and get out my well-worn Bible on a few things.) I’m so thankful I have found LIGHT during these DARK days. I am not alone.

Vicki DiNitto