What was the Best Gift You’ve Given?

As we are buried in 6" of snow here in Burnsville, I am starting to get in the Christmas spirit. A week ago, I sat out in front of the Microcenter store for 45 minutes on a cold, Back Friday morning, getting a gift for one of my children. With this, I am thinking about the whole idea of gifts, and I kicked around the idea of the best gift that has been given. So I will ask those of you who visit my Blog – what was the best gift that you have given?

This topic came up when my friends and I were talking about an appropriate response for a really good gift – what is more important: to receive a "thank you", or to see the Recipient truly enjoying the gift as much as you hoped.

Isn't this an easy one? Of course, we expect our children to have the good manners enough to say "thank you". But isn't it much more important to see them actually enjoy the gift, and take real pleasure in using the gift. When I was growing up, there are a few gifts that bring back special memories. The time I woke up early and found a toy baseball player. It had a stand to hold the baseball, and if you hit his head, he swung and popped the baseball. I was sitting there for an hour, playing with this toy, while the rest of my family was sleeping. It was great and a pure moment of joy for me.

Another favorite Christmas gift my family received was an early Apple computer. The computer was connected to our television, and so the whole family played a murder mystery game called "Cranston Manor", with everyone shouting out clues we saw and things we should try. And then my brothers and I played a game called Olympic Decathlon. This crazy game had you pound the keyboard arrows to move the Olympic runner – so the faster you pounded the keys, the faster your athlete went. We spent many hours in front of that computer, and it left me with many happy memories from that time in my life. We also went through many keyboards from playing the Decathlon game!

I don't even remember if I told my father "thank you" for those gifts. But I know he saw the happiness his gifts brought to us. And I am sure that was more important to him – to see his gift received with joy. Which brings me to the point of this post – what does God want from us in response to His Gift of salvation through Jesus' death on the Cross? Jesus' sacrifice in our place is the Best Gift given to humanity, and so it is an important question - Does God expect us to just say "thanks", and then not do anything with this Gift? Yes, saying "thank you" is important, but it can't be nearly as important as having an appreciation of this Gift? Perhaps even a life changing appreciation.

So my take away application is this – what should our response be to God's Gift of His Son? How should we should we show our acceptance and appreciation of this Gift? As we go through this Christmas 2010 season, I hope this post helps you in thinking of ways that we can show our heavenly Father our true gratitude. In Christ, /s/Tom

Elijah – Flashback to 2001

Praise to our God Who cares about us, is loving, Who heals, and is Lord of Hosts and of miracles. Here is portions of a letter of thanks I wrote on the birth of our son Elijah, back in September 2001: Peggy and I were blessed with the birth of our baby son, Elijah on September 2, 2001. Elijah is a blessing from God, and we want to thank the Lord for showing His power through this pregnancy. And we also wish to thank the many people who prayed for us, and provided us with encouragement during this long pregnancy. Elijah's story is one of many prayers and God's love.

    On December 29, 2000 we took a pregnancy test, and it came back with a light 'positive' result. Peggy immediately obtained a prescription for Progesterone, which helped us with our two other successful pregnancies. But Peggy started bleeding/spotting almost immediately.

    So I prayed and attempted to fast. I wanted some credit for the healthy birth of this child, and so I reasoned that if I fast, I will have earned this baby son I had prayed for during the past three and a half years. God has to listen to me when I fast, right? But on the day I fasted, Peggy brought home a Big Mac extra value meal for lunch, and I weakened. The next day, New Year's day of 2001, Peggy passed some blood clots. We were both convinced that she had miscarried, and that we had lost another baby (We had suffered six previous miscarriages). I should have known better than to think God zaps babies because I ate a Big Mac!

    But God's power and our son Elijah are both strong. During the next week, to see if she had miscarried, Peg took blood tests on two different days to see the HCG levels. When the test came back that the levels were increasing, this showed she was still pregnant.

    Although the pregnancy was a blessing in testing our perseverance in prayer, we were dealt several tough battles from this pregnancy. Peggy was put on partial bed rest beginning in February 2001. She was still bleeding/spotting, and it turned out that she had a 'sub-chorionic hemorrhage'. This was a small spot by the gestational sack, which often grows larger and causes miscarriages. The first doctor we saw said that it was "fifty-fifty" whether Peggy would miscarry from this hemorrhage. But God's power shone through, as He listened to the prayers of such saints as the people in my Bible study, men's group, Peg's women's group, our family members, and the people at church. On March 2^nd, Peggy had her fourteen week ultrasound, and the hemorrhage was completely gone. Praise God the healer and great Physician! And wonderfully, Peggy no longer had to be on bed rest.

    But the Periontologist (a specialist in high-risk pregnancies) and ultrasound technician that were present during the ultrasound discovered another problem. I emphasize that it was a specialist doctor and the ultrasound technician here because they were very careful in checking what they discovered - there are supposed to be three vessels between Peggy and the baby, two going in to the baby and one taking waste out. During the ultrasound, they saw that there was only one cord, instead of two feeding the baby. The artery going to the baby and the one bringing waste out. Talk about life hanging by a thread! This is also a sign that the baby could later have a heart defect. But this is God's story, and so we asked for more prayers. Praise God Who is sovereign.

    On April 17^th, Peggy had a 'level 2' ultrasound, which is a more detailed look at the baby. During this ultrasound, we learned that the baby was healthy, and that there were no heart defects. We also saw that all three vessels/cords were present between Peggy and the baby. The third blessing was that we saw that the baby was a boy.

    Now, I don't want to give the impression that our pregnancy experience was a stroll through the park. Peggy was in a great deal of pain right from the start. She had two hernias, back pain, sciatic nerve pain, and increased weight from the bed rest she was on, and so this was a hard pregnancy for my wife. But through this Jesus was our foundation and He shined and carried us through. Somehow the hernias disappeared. And the summer turned out all right, because of friends in the neighborhood that helped keep our girls busy. During the nine years we lived in our neighborhood, there were few playmates for our children. While over the summer two new families moved in with children of the same age.

    Adding to Peggy's pain in the beginning of the second week of July, she started having irregular contractions. These were often strong enough to double her over with pain. But because Elijah was sitting so high in the uterus, the contractions were not effective in moving him out. So Peggy went through constant contractions, taking away her sleep, along with the considerable pain throughout her body. Only the Lord could provide us with the strength to get us through this past summer. (I hope you don't mind my adding myself in the last sentence. It's not easy being the husband during a pain-filled pregnancy, too). J

    Because of Peggy's pain, I prayed that after Elijah's lungs and anti-bodies developed, that he be delivered early. I thought I heard God's voice saying that Elijah would be delivered at 37 weeks. This would be a delivery date around August 15^th. However, when this date passed it was clear that the Lord's answer was that we should wait. His timing is perfect.

    Which leads us to the end of August 2001. Peggy's contractions continued, but starting in the final week of August the contractions became regular. Every ten to fifteen minutes, she would have a contraction. On Saturday night (September 1^st), the contractions came together as close as every three to five minutes, and so we went into the hospital. But we received what we thought was terrible news when they took an ultrasound, at approximately 9:00 p.m. Elijah had his head up near Peggy's ribcage – he was in a breach position. When the doctor arrived, she did a second ultrasound not fifteen minutes later. This time, Elijah had his head near the birth canal, but his legs were horizontally across Peggy's stomach. He was doing flip-flops!

    We were blessed with a wonderful, caring doctor – Dr. Suzie Cho. She explained to us the different ways we could give birth to this somersault baby, and Peggy decided on having a c-section. We scheduled the c-section for the next morning at 8:00 a.m.

    When the next morning arrived, they did one last ultrasound. Sure enough, the little stinker got in perfect position for a normal delivery. The doctor and I talked to Peggy to have her consider canceling the c-section and having a normal delivery. But Peggy was not to be swayed. Peg had fears about delivering the baby. Her fear was that there would be trouble if the she went through with the delivery. So she chose the c-section, and good thing she did. It turned out that Elijah was 9 pounds, 8 ounces, which is a big baby. And when they did deliver him, he had the umbilical cord around his neck. Both hands were also blue, and so it was fortunate for the baby that he was delivered in this way. If Peggy had waited the two weeks until his due date, who knows what they umbilical cord's cutting off of Babe-E's circulation would have meant for him.

    So on September 2, 2001, Elijah Carr Wolff was born. He is healthy, strong, and beautiful. Mom, Dad, and the sisters have fallen madly in love with our Babe 'E'. It's easy when he's such a good child. Thank you again for your prayers, and praises to our heavenly Father for the many blessings He has provided. To us all.

Final note – I count 5 miracles in the birth of my son. And, let me add that Elijah is a healthy, strong boy who has no heart defects, or any other health issues. Except for, perhaps his inability to listen when Mom and Dad ask him to clean-up! My hope is that this helps you in seeing God's love and power. God answers prayer, and gives us who delight in the Lord, the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4). /s/Tom Wolff

 

Retreat Today

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are attending a Holy Spirit Retreat today at Hosanna church. We are hosting an Alpha group, and so we would appreciate your prayers for our time at this retreat. Also, please remember my Mom who has pain in her side, and will not be able to see a doctor until Tuesday. Here is my prayer that God's Power connects to the needs of our Alpha guests. /s/Tom

Utterly Depraved?

I am a bit down this weekend. OK, so I am not at all depressed at the thought of the end of the political ads coming this Tuesday. But part of my being down is how hard the economy has hit my family and others, and how slow any recovery appears. And this weekend, as I allow this darkness to seep into my soul, I was hit by a quote from Martin Luther. Here’s his quote:

The works of God, though they may always look evil and have the appearance of being very bad, are yet in fact works of eternal merit.

As I chewed on Marty’s quote (that’s how close I am to the founder of Protestantism, I can call him Marty), I thought about how some people (not naming names, but their initials are Ed and TJL) see everything done by God as wrong. Even evil. And I suppose that why this quote initially caught my attention. The Heidleberg Disputation provides further explanation and insight into Martin Luther’s quote, and it states:

Heidleberg Disputation: That the works of God are unattractive is clear from what is said in Isa. 53:2, »He had no form of comeliness«, and in 1 Sam. 2:6, »The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.« This is understood to mean that the Lord humbles and frightens us by means of the law and the sight of our sins so that we seem in the eyes of men, as in our own, as nothing, foolish, and wicked, for we are in truth that. Insofar as we acknowledge and confess this, there is »no form or beauty« in us, but our life is hidden in God (i.e. in the bare confidence in his mercy), finding in ourselves nothing but sin, foolishness, death, and hell, according to that verse of the Apostle in 2 Cor. 6:9-10, »As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as dying, and behold we live.« And that it is which Isa. 28:21 calls the »alien work« of God »that he may do his work« (that is, he humbles us thoroughly, making us despair, so that he may exalt us in his mercy, giving us hope), just as Hab. 3:2 states, »In wrath remember mercy.« Such a man therefore is displeased with all his works; he sees no beauty, but only his depravity. Indeed, he also does those things which appear foolish and disgusting to others.
This depravity, however, comes into being in us either when God punishes us or when we accuse ourselves, as 1 Cor. 11:31 says, »If we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged by the Lord«. Deut. 32:36 also states, »The Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.« In this way, consequently, the unattractive works which God does in us, that is, those which are humble and devout, are really eternal, for humility and fear of God are our entire merit.

Tom’s Wrap:I know this is a lot to put your mind around, especially on a weekend morning. Especially on a day when our blood is pumping for the anticipated sugar fix that is coming later on (Halloween, and all). But here is my take. I think what Luther and the Disputation are getting at is not so much how God’s ways can only be viewed over the long-term, and over many years when everything will be put it order. Instead, I think it is more likely pointing toward man’s utter depravity and God’s holiness and righteousness. When I say man’s utter depravity, I mean that every inclination of our heart is to do the sinful, rebellious, self-centered action. While God’s actions cannot possibly be understood by us for what they truly are. God’s actions alone are of “eternal merit”, as Luther describes.

The 1 Corinthians 11:31 verse is powerful. If we were able to judge ourselves properly, then there would be no need for God’s judgment. My final takeaway is this: think about Nehemiah’s response upon learning of Jerusalem’s destruction. His response to the Sovereign God allowing Jerusalem to be destroyed and disgraced? He “sat down and wept”, and then pleaded for forgiveness of Israel’s sin (Nehemiah 1:4-6). As we face trouble and battles, and as we see the pain that the economy’s devastation is taking all about us, I hope we don’t ask “where is God”? Instead, I hope we trust in the holy and righteous Sovereign God, and what He is doing through this time. I praise Your holy name Lord God, /s/Tom Wolff

Death for All

We recently discussed the topic of sin in the Men's Group I have breakfast with every Thursday morning. I found our discussion helpful, and so I wanted to write about this same topic this morning. First, what is sin? It's a big word, and the traditional description of sin is "missing the mark". But I prefer the Pastor Keller (Reason for God) definition of sin as not simply doing bad things, it is putting good things in place of God. Think about it, God gives us good things in this world, things like food, sex, work, and others, etc. But sin is when we take these good things and put them in place of God. Sin is seeking to become one-self, and to get an identity apart from Him.

OK, I hope everybody gets two points on sin that are foundational for the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ: We are all sinners, and that Jesus came as the world's Savior to pay the price for our sins: death on the Cross. But does this mean that our sins deserve to be punished with the Death Penalty? Sure, Osama Bin Laden deserves the death penalty. Yes, Hitler and Stalin, but why should my sins deserve the just punishment of death? Yeah, maybe my sins deserve 2 or 3 years in prison, but DEATH? C'mon, the death penalty should only be given to those who have murdered, or done realllly bad things. But not me, right?

So I wrestled with this issue a few years ago, and I decided to start by looking at the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20). Yes, I have honored my father and mother, I don't steal much, I've never murdered, and those commands on coveting other people's property are kind of slippery, so I felt ok looking at my sinfulness looking at most of the 10 Commandments. But then I started looking at the portion of the Commandments that dealt with God – No, I don't always Honor the Sabbath, and no, sometimes I take the Lord's name in vain. And the First Commandment of Honoring the Lord our God, and having no other gods beside Him, was the one that stuck with me. What was I putting in place of God? Yes, I am prideful, and being logical is very important to me. And being able to spend my time doing what I want is very important to me. But was I putting these in place of God? I think this is what Pastor Keller was getting at with his definition of sin as taking "good things and putting them in place of God".

But do I really deserve to be put to death for not honoring God? So I did some Bible work to look up the punishments that ought to be given to someone who violates the 10 Commandments. And I discovered that for any violation of a single Commandment, the Death Penalty should be given. Here is my breakdown:

1^st and 2^nd Commandments (Honor God and No Idols): Deut. 13:6-10; Lev. 20:1-5

        Those who draw others away from God – Deut. 13:6-9

        Those who lead others to idolatry – Deut 13:1-5, 18:20.

Witchcraft, consulting spirits, necromancy, divination, sorcery, augery, soothsaying Lev. 19:26, 20:6; Deut 18:10-16;

3^rd: Taking Lord's Name in Vain: Lev. 24:10-14;

4^th: Break Sabbath: Exod. 31:14-15, 35:2; Numbers 15:32-36;

5^th: Honor your Parents: strike your parents, punish with death – Exod. 21:15; curse parents, death penalty Ex. 21:17, Lev 20:9; Those who are disobedient to their parents: Deut. 21:18-21, Rom. 1:30-32;

6^th: Murder: Intentional – Ex. 21:12-14; Numb. 35:9-28; Deut. 19:4-13; cause miscarriage Ex. 21:22-25;

7^th : Adultery punished with death – Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22-24; rape Deut 22:25; incest – Lev. 20:11, 12, 14, 17, 19-21; Deut. 27: 20-23; Lev. 20:11, 14; Homosexuality – Exod. 22:19, Lev. 18:22-3, 20:13, :15-16; Prostitution Gen. 38:24, Deut 22:21-26, Lev. 19:29, 21:9; Bestiality Ex. 22:19, Lev. 18:23, Deut. 27:21.

8^th: Thou shall not steal – restitution plus interest Ex. 22:1-4, Lev. 6:4-5; if can't pay back what was stolen, thief is sold into slavery – Ex. 22:1; kidnapper of a person – death, Ex. 21:16, Deut. 24:7; Death for all thieves, Zech. 5:4; Thieves will not inherit the kingdom of God – 1 Cor. 6:9-10;

9^th: Thou shall not bear false witness: whatever was intended to be done to victim of false witness, should be done to liar – Deut. 19:15-21; Death – Zech. 5:4; Rev. 21:8, death for lying to Church, Holy Spirit (Ananias and Sapphira): Acts 5;

10^th: Thou shall not covet – Deserves death - Rom. 1:28-32.

And so, by checking into the punishments for sinning against the 10 Commandments, I discovered I did not deserve 2 or 3 years of jail time for my sins, no, instead I deserved death. You cannot flagrantly disobey and dishonor the God, Maker of the Universe without there being a consequence. This is what makes God a holy God, who deserves to be feared. And so, this list helped me better understand what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote that the wages of sin was death (Romans 6:23). And of course, this helped me understand the debt that was owed when Jesus took the punishment that was owed for my sins, when He died on the Cross. He died to save me from the punishment that my sins deserved. My sins are paid for, I don't need to feel guilty about what I have done. And the extra bonus is this – Jesus' death and resurrection also provides us with the freedom so that we don't have to keep on sinning. Praise God for His plan and the giving of Jesus as a sacrifice in my place!

I hope this post was helpful for you in better understanding what sin means and deserves. But enough of this theological stuff. Go Vikings against those stinking Packers playing on Sunday night. And my favorite Halloween candy? Reese's Peanut Butter cups – what's yours? /s/Tom

A New “Earth” Found?, and other topics

Good morning. I wanted to address last week's news story about a "new" Earth, as well as another topic. First, the New Earth – this is a planet scientists discovered that has similar conditions to that of Earth, and may be able to support life. Here's the story from Sept. 30 CNN:

1. A New Earth Found?    Gliese 581g may be the new Earth. A team of astronomers from the University of California and the Carnegie Institute of Washington say they've found a planet like ours, 20 light years (120 trillion miles) from Earth, where the basic conditions for life are good. "The chances for life on this planet are 100 percent," Steven Vogt, a UC professor of astronomy and astrophysics says. "I have almost no doubt about it." The planet is three times the size of Earth, but the gravity is similar. Dr. Elizabeth Cunningham, planetarium astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, says the discovery is a huge deal. "It could have liquid water on the surface," she said. "That's the first step to find life." …
   

   But if we did - we'd find some other things familiar. The atmosphere and gravity are similar to Earth, and if you're from the polar regions, you'd definitely feel right at home. Scientists say the highest average temperature is about -12 degrees Celcius (10 Fahrenheit), but they point out that the planet doesn't have a night and day - one side continually faces the star and the other side faces the darkness of space. This means one side is blazing hot and the other freezing cold. But Cunningham also called it a Goldilocks planet – it's not too cold, and it's not too hot, it's just right for water to form.
   

   Tom's view – in the past I have shown skepticism on the chance of life being found on another planet. I based this on the exceptional number of unique characteristics that Earth has in which to support life. Not just water, but other things like the right force of gravity, a right sized moon, the right speed of rotation, the right atmosphere, etc. But now that this other planet was found, with a temperature of 10 degrees, that does not rotate, and because Gliese 581g has two of these conditions: the possibility of water on the planet along with a similar gravity, Professor Vogt states that there is a 100% chance that life will form. A body of water is all that it takes for life to form on a planet? Hmmm, I may be wrong, but it seems that life is little more difficult to create than having just a body of water. It's interesting to me that they are able to discover the possibility of water on a planet 20 light years away, and that they make a good guess as to its gravity. Science is amazing, but the quote that there is a 100% chance that life will form on Gliese 581g, is clearly overstated.
   

2. Clues to God's Existence. I have been asked before what evidence is there to support God's existence. I believe that Intelligent Design is the best position to explain life on Earth. I may be wrong, but when it comes to either a naturalist explanation (like Darwinism) or a supernatural one, it seems to me that the supernatural explanation makes more sense. And the evidence of how Darwinism actually works, continues to support my understanding. As one writer submits, don't we have "astronomical numbers of organisms" in the real-world data collected in the cases of malaria, HIV and e-coli? In these cases, Random Mutation + Natural Selection produced only trivial changes and no other evolutionary processes came into play at all, despite strong selection pressures. In the case of e-coli, the data were produced in the lab over the space of about a decade. Isn't it likely that we'll have more and more sets of data of this kind as medical science proceeds? Why keep telling stories about how a Lexus evolved from a Ford and a Volvo when you can go inside the Lexus factory and actually observe workers assembling parts produced entirely in Japan?
   

   Well, I am reading a book by Pastor Timothy Keller entitled "The Reason for God", and it has a good way of describing "clues" of God. These are not proofs of God's existence. But instead they are strong clues that point to His existence. Divine fingerprints if you will. Here are a few:
   

• Big Bang. Scientist Francis Collins writes, "15 billion years ago, the universe began with an unimaginably bright flash of energy from an infinitesimally small point. That implies that before that, there was nothing. I can't imagine how nature, ion this case the universe, could have created itself. And the very fact that the universe had a beginning implies that someone was able to begin it. And it seems to me that had to be outside of nature." Everything we see is 'contingent', meaning that there is a cause outside of itself. Why should the universe be any different? This makes a lot of sense to me, but it certainly is not a proof;
  

  
   

• The Cosmic Welcome Mat. Keller: Everything about physics from the speed of light, the gravitational constant, the strength of weak and strong nuclear forces – must all have values that together fall into an extremely narrow range. This is called the "fine-tuning" of the universe, that makes it appear that the universe was prepared human beings. It seems as though there were a large number of dials that all had to be tuned to a narrow setting, and they all were turned to that setting. Again, this is not a proof. I'm sure there is a theoretical chance that there are billion upon billions of unobservable other universes out there. Yeah, sure. But the one universe that we can see, tells us that someone has made sure that life be created on Earth. The clues point to a Creator.
  

 

• Love. Yes, it is possible that chemical reactions in our brain create an attraction to another person. But that doesn't tell half of the story. Chemical reaction doesn't explain my wife's love of someone like me who can be grumpy, selfish, and not give her the attention of love back to her that she deserves. Yet, she still loves me. Chemical reactions seem as a laughable explanation for love. We have free choice to love others in our life by our actions, or to make selfish, unloving choices to those around us. We don't get to blame our genetics for our choices.
  

 

And of course, God's example of sending His Son as a sacrifice to pay for all of the World's sins is the best example of love. The Gift of Jesus' sacrifice was made to allow people to be in relationship with God. No one is forced to believe or accept this gift. But if it is accepted this is the beginning of a grand adventure. A relationship with the Creator of the universe, who gives us jobs to do – to help others, and provide glory to God. And the relationship gives us what we need, peace, growing is purity, growing in our faith and knowledge of the Creator. It's a great plan, and it's open to everyone.

Thanks for those who email me with comments. May God bless you this week with His joy and peace. /s/Tom

Difference Between Darwinism and Intelligent Design, Part 2

My thanks to TJL and Edward Oleander for their comments to my last post on the difference between Darwinism and Intelligent Design. I wanted to spin-off one of the issues raised from their comments on the fossil record, and more specifically the fossil record of the "Cambrian Explosion". Edward Oleander writes:

1. Very few creatures get fossilized. … By looking at how modern species are spread out, it is possible to estimate that the vast majority (perhaps as much as 95%) of species never left any remains behind at all.
   
2. The Fossil record records very little data about soft tissues.
   

It appears Edward O. is drinking the Kool Aid of Richard Dawkins. As the Arch-Bishop of Darwinism Richard Dawkins notes: "It's as though they (the Cambrian fossils) were just planted there, without any evolutionary history" (Dawkins 1996: 229). Dawkins doesn't claim to know why there is so little pre-Cambrian fossil evidence but he suspects "it might be that many of these animals had only soft parts to their bodies: no shells or bones to fossilize" (Dawkins 1996: 230).

The Fossil Record.    So let me start by making clear what the Cambrian Explosion fossil record is, then both sides can suggest why the record is the way that it is. The Pre-Cambrian fossil record is from the Ediacaran, and an example of the sort of fossils is the Treptichnus pedum, which is a segmented, soft-bodied worm (a brief description and picture is found in Wikipedia here.) And from this worm, in a period as short as 5-10 million years, we have as Time Magazine describes "worms and flies, mice and fish". And most interesting, is the fact that in the Cambrian Explosion we see the appearance of all of life's basic body plans found in nature today are here: bodies with heads, tails, and appendages (this is from pbs.org). We get crab shells, the skeletal structure of fish, with eyes, fins, gills and mouths. We have the air breathing ability of mice, and their tails, paws, and teeth. We have the birds, with their ability to fly, with wings, feathers, and tails. We have insects. And the Darwinist claim is that this all arose from this soft-bodied worm.

So. to aid our discussion, let me ask a few questions:

1. Why have no new body plans for life arisen after the Cambrian Explosion?
   
2. The Darwinist claim is that there are few fossils, and the fossils provide little detail about "soft tissues". So I want to know what exactly you are claiming is missing: is it all of the transitions from (for example) the Trept Ped worm to the crab and its' shell? Or is it all of the transitions from the Trept Ped worm to the first fish, PLUS all of transitions from the fish to the Crab and its' shell?
   
3. Why is that all of the same transitions are missing from the fossil record all over the world? The Cambrian Explosion shows the same record throughout the world.
   
4. Think of all of the new parts of life created in the Cambrian Explosion. Here's just a few:
   

• All of the life's Body Plans;
  
• The brain;
  
• Wings and limbs, feet and fins;
  
• Shells;
  
• The spinal column;
  
• From an asexual reproductive system to a sexual reproductive system, along with the creation of the womb, placenta, etc. to sustain the newborn life;
  
• Teeth and the digestive system;
  

I could go on. So I will, the blood system, antibodies, muscles, the ability to walk on four feet, and two feet, the five senses all working together with the brain, and all of this comes from the Trept Ped worm? There's much more, but let me stop here.

And so, my question to the Darwinists out there, what is there in life that leads you to think that this kind of rapid change in the DNA of these creatures. Specific examples are demanded in your answer.

Thanks in advance to anyone who adds to the discussion. My final thought is this – we all have to live with the "truth" of our worldview. We cannot one day decide the truth of the Tooth Fairy, and then live in full acceptance of the Tooth Fairy's power and existence. But alongside the need for "truth" in our lives, is the question how is your worldview helping you? With the big questions that we all have, like Why are we here? What's the meaning of life? What am I supposed to do with my life Today? I think Christianity is the best way to have both "truth" and those large questions of life answered. Ask me if you would like more details on this. May God bless your health, your relationships, and provide you with sufficient provision, In Jesus the Messiah's name, Amen. /s/Tom