There is a large amount of activity within SABBSA in the last half year and into the New Year. We have just completed sponsoring Dr. Randy Guliuzza’s presentation on November 12. Yet, we are making plans to host John Pendleton at Castle Hills First Baptist Church on Friday, January 14. I will detail some of what Dr. Guliuzza shared with us in this letter. Also, you can get meet John Pendleton and get a preview of his presentation by joining us this coming Tuesday at Jim’s Restaurant as he will be in attendance.

First, a recap of our last SABBSA meeting. We spent a good amount of time in doing a last check of preparations for the Guliuzza presentation and then started about the business of setting up for John Pendleton’s event. We also set our event committee to work not only to make preparations for January 14, but also to evaluate the Nov. 12 presentation to see how effective was our publicity and planning. The committee has since met and has adjusted our advertising based on our last experience. Thanks to the William’s who have been the point people in doing the preparations,  and in communication with John Pendleton in preparation for this event. Also, it was noted that the last presentation had no place for younger children. In response to that John Pendleton’s presentation of “Dinosaurs and Ape-Men” will reach a target audience from adults down to the middle elementary grades. We are also arranging for small childcare at Castle Hills so that this does not pose an impediment for families to attend. We ended the evening with a spirited debate over the answers to two questions. One of those questions was,  “If it could be proved that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, would that shake your faith in God’s creating it?” The responses varied as one member responded that it would effect his faith in God’s creating since any other interpretation of the Genesis account except a special and recent creation is so forced and incongruent with the text. Others questioned how proof could ever be had with any certainty. Still others sided with Dr. Henry Morris who has said that even though he has certainty in God’s recent creation that his faith in creation would not be shaken by a proof of an Old Earth.

At Dr. Guliuzza’s presentation he did two sessions. The first was part two of his presentation on human reproduction. Randy made it ever more clear in this presentation both the marvelous complexity of this system and the unmistakable evidence that it had to be designed by an intelligence far beyond our own and that its occurring by chance was beyond any possibility or reason. Included in his talk was the fact that once the egg is fertilized it is the egg with its hormonal secretions which directs much of the pregnancy and what occurs. This is very contrary to long held beliefs that these processes were somehow preprogrammed into the mother. The miracle of the placental barrier was discussed which both protects the baby from the mothers immune system, but also allows for the baby to be fed and oxygenated through it. How meticulously designed is every part of the baby, all the way down to its hemoglobin, which has a far higher affinity for oxygen than does the mother’s hemoglobin. Thus, it can literally snatch oxygen away from the mother’s red blood cells as they pass by each other in the placenta. The design of the baby’s heart is miraculously fitted with a one way valve, which allows backward blood flow when the baby is in the womb. This is just one part of the process of allowing the baby to live in an aquatic environment and breathe amniotic fluid, but get oxygenated through the placenta. The complex set of events which must take place almost instantaneously at birth as this one way valve is forever closed by muscles designed only for this purpose, and blood flow is redirected in the positive direction to the lungs as the baby takes its first breath transforming it from a liquid breathing life form into an air breathing one is awe inspiring and a miracle we take for granted.

Dr. Guliuzza started the presentation with an emphasis on how the reproduction system is such clear creationist evidence because if this system does not work perfectly the first time and every time thereafter, there is no furthering of the species. There is no time for this immensely complex and delicately balanced system to evolve. It must be in place, fully formed and calibrated from the very first organism or there are no offspring! He also went through many of the bodies defense mechanisms which are marvelously tailored to defend against outside invaders, but specifically designed to recognize its own body, and only its own body. This led into the discussion of how the reproduction process has to be designed to shield the fetus from the mother’s defense mechanisms. Also, discussed was the synchronization between the sperm from the male and the female environment. The sperm as they enter the womb have heads, which are too hard to allow for dissemination of their genetic material. Chemicals released in the stream of liquid, which they encounter, on their way to the egg are designed to start the process of breaking down these hard outer shells and making them ready for fertilization. Once a sperm penetrates the egg the whole exterior of the egg becomes “electrified” to prevent all other sperm from penetrating. How could such a coordination of two independent systems be achieved and be fully functional the very first time it was used. It had to be designed; there is no other logical, honest or practical explanation for it all. But, as Dr. Guliuzza points out the evolutionists persist because to do any thing else is to give into the fact that there is a God and this is a point they will never give into. No matter to what length of absurdity and no matter how much empirical science has to be ignored to cling to it. This was the springboard used for his second presentation on the importance of the creation message to Christian Evangelism. One final note on this presentation was that our attendance at Trinity Church was a good one of 175 on a dreary, cold and rainy night, which featured many competing attractions. Some of us who were disheartened by this “mediocre” attendance were surprised and should be encouraged to know about a communication we got from ICR on the Guliuzza presentation. It seems that attendance at all ICR functions this year has been down and the apathy they are seeing is a source of conversation throughout the organization. In point of fact our attendance was above average for the most recent ICR “Loop Tour” presentations and it showed an increase over our previous event in the spring. Let’s give God the glory for what He did!

At our next meeting we will have several items of business. As mentioned previously, John Pendleton is scheduled to be in attendance and we will meet and greet him as well as get a preview of his January presentation. We will finalize the logistical planning for this January 14 event.  We had a lot of expenses for advertising of the Guliuzza presentation, which were covered not by our association’s savings, but by the donations of our members. In view of this situation, it has been proposed by some that we look to other forms of fund raising, as these expenses will continue to be incumbent on future events like John Pendleton’s. One suggestion is that we double the SABBSA membership fees from their current levels of $10 for individuals and $15 for families to $20 for individuals and $30 for families. We will discuss this and other proposals. Since I got a positive response to the debate questions posed at the last meeting, if time permits we will again end the evening with a couple debate questions within the creation field to probe our knowledge and beliefs about God’s creation. You are invited to attend our next regular meeting of SABBSA at Jim’s Restaurant at the corner of San Pedro and Ramsey this Tuesday night, December 14 at 7 pm for good Christian fellowship and to join us in the agenda listed above.