July 10, 2025, marked the 100th anniversary of the start of the famous “Scopes Monkey Trial,” in which John Scopes was accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.  The trial was the inspiration for the heavily fictionized play (and subsequent movies) Inherit the Wind.  The Scopes trial was considered a victory for the teaching of evolution in public schools.   But what actually happened at this trial?  Was the scientific evidence really a powerful refutation of biblical creation?  Would it stand up to modern scrutiny?

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe.  It is the lightest element, consisting of one proton encircled by one electron.  About 91% of the atoms in the universe are hydrogen.  Helium is the next most abundant.  It is the second-lightest element, consisting of two protons and two neutrons in the nucleus, encircled by two electrons.  Helium constitutes just under 9% of the atoms in the universe.  All the remaining elements combined constitute less than 1%.  Astronomers refer to these heavier elements as metals.  In astronomy, a metal is any element with an atomic number higher than 2.  Note that this is different from the definition used by chemists.  In astronomy metals include elements like oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon.  Metals pose a serious challenge for advocates of the big bang and secular models of galaxy evolution.  But they are a feature and natural expectation of biblical creation.

We have been examining the claims of Liam, who denies the Trinity in general and who, in particular, denies that Jesus is God.  This ultimately is not an intellectual exercise but a spiritual one.  It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that a person can declare with conviction that Jesus is Yahweh – the Lord.  1 Corinthians 12:3b states, “And no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.”  Furthermore, confessing Jesus as Lord is a requirement for salvation (Romans 10:9-13), for there is no Savior besides the one and only Yahweh (Isaiah 43:11).  Therefore, if Jesus is not Yahweh, then neither can He be your Savior. 

Our feedback this week comes from someone we’ll call “Liam.”  He rejects the Trinity and specifically rejects that Jesus is God and that the Holy Spirit is a Person of the triune God.  The interesting thing about Liam’s response is that most of his arguments were already refuted in the very articles he’s criticizing.  It always seems strange to me when a person responds to a refutation of their argument by simply repeating the argument.  For example, there is the fallacy of claiming that the Holy Spirit isn’t a Person of the Trinity because in many instances only the Father and Son are mentioned in a greeting.  That is the fallacy of the argument from silence as I demonstrated earlier.  But there were a couple of new arguments that will be addressed here and in the next article. 

As Christians, we love people and desire for them to be saved.  We pray for their salvation, we share the Gospel with them, and we urge them to repent of sin and trust in Christ.  And we try to remove intellectual stumbling blocks.  But many Christians often make a critical mistake: they assume that what the unbeliever says about himself and his beliefs is true.  They assume that the unbeliever has correctly evaluated his own beliefs and has truthfully stated them.  After all, who could know a person’s beliefs better than the person himself?  The answer is God.  The Lord knows the hearts of men better than they know themselves; this would have to be the case since God is all-knowing (Jeremiah 17:9-10).  Furthermore, God has stated in His Word that unbelievers are self-deceived and do not truthfully report what is in their hearts.  A failure to recognize this lies at the heart of many unbiblical approaches in defending the faith.

Is climate change real?  If so, what is the cause?  Is it caused by human activity?  And can it be reversed?  If so, should it be reversed?  Many people have never stopped to consider these questions because they think they already know the answers to all of them.  After all, we have been told that climate change is real, dangerous, caused by human activity, and that we should fight it by reducing our carbon footprint.  But does science bear out such claims?  Most importantly, what does the Bible teach on this topic?