Inspiration from Creation 1 was written by Stuart Burgess and his friend Dominic Statham to show us what an awesome Creator we have by citing just a few of the great things that have been invented by studying His marvelous creation. Six chapters in the book were written by Burgess, and Statham wrote the other three. Burgess has held academic posts at Bristol University and Cambridge University in the United Kingdom and at Liberty University in the United States. Most of all the highlights below came from the chapters penned by Burgess. This book inspired me to spend a lot more time looking for other things that have been developed by trying to copy what our Creator has done.

• 1. Burgess S, Stratham D (2017) Inspiration From Creation, Creation Ministries International, Eight Mile Plains, QLD

Matthew 13:3-8 says:

A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

That Scripture describes my life. I heard the gospel numerous times when I was a kid and made no real commitment—something seemed to “eat it up” like the birds before I digested it. And then I joined the church, was baptized, and started reading the Bible now and then around age eleven. There was some kind of decision to become a Christian, but it was very shallow and “withered” when things heated up as my faith was tested. I rededicated my life during various revival meetings at church, but they did not last very long either because I kept allowing sports, work, girls, etc. to choke my spiritual life. But the seed finally fell on “good soil” when I was a freshman at North Carolina State University, and I made a true commitment to follow Jesus. This time was different. I began sharing my faith, memorizing Scripture, and really studying the Bible instead of just reading it, etc.

I was recently asked to speak on creation in my Sunday school class. TASC had been helping organize the recent Origins Truth conference at the time, so I decided it might be encouraging to share something about the lives and work of two of the invited speakers for the conference: John Sanford and Russ Humphreys. I then added three more scientists: Matti Leisola, James Tour, and our very own Gerald Van Dyke to the talk. Each of these scientists has a unique story and has given glory to God through their life and research. Here, I share the essence of that presentation.

Matti Leisola (biotechnology)

We’ll begin with Matti Leisola. Dr. Leisola earned his DSc in biotechnology from Helsinki University in 1979. He is a recognized enzyme chemistry expert. He has spent much of his career optimizing enzymes for synthetic applications in industry, among other things. Dr. Leisola started his career as an atheist. He mocked those who doubted evolution. He is now a fully convinced creationist. Dr. Leisola came to see that scientific truth rests upon results of experiments, not authority. He realized evolutionists have stories, not evidence.

Darwin's Doubt: the Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design is Stephen Meyer's sequel to his previous book Signature in the Cell. 1

Published earlier this year, Darwin’s Doubt at the time of this writing is #1 on Amazon.com in the categories of organic evolution, paleontology, and creationism and #745 overall (out of more than one million books). Meyer has a doctorate in the History and Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University, bachelor’s degrees in physics and geology and is the director of the Discovery Institute, the flagship organization for the Intelligent Design movement.

Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design 1 by Stephen C. Meyer is the latest book from a major proponent for intelligent design (ID). 2 Signature is Meyer’s magnum opus. Meyer is the director of the Discovery Institute’s (www.discovery.org) Center for Science and Culture, the flagship organization for the ID movement. He is a trained geologist and has a Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Science from Cambridge. 3 Signature is written at a level accessible to the layman but also informative to the specialist in biochemistry. The book is a history of Meyer’s interest and involvement with ID. The main focus of the book is the origin of the informational code in DNA, especially as it relates to the origin of life. The book discusses several topics including the history of the discovery of the structure of DNA, the cracking of the DNA code, the history and status of origin of life theories (especially the RNA world), basic information theory, various scientific methodologies and modes of thought and why ID is scientific, historical sciences, detecting design, why ID is the best explanation for the origin of the information in DNA, and responses to ID critics. This review will touch upon some of the book’s highlights.