Letters From Grandpa #487

• LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
• 487

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will be about a statement made by the magicians of Egypt when they could not replicate a miracle performed by Moses. They told the Pharaoh: “This is the finger of God.” (Exodus 8:19) This is an interesting way for these ancient people to identify God.

Using fingerprints for identification dates back to over 1,000 B.C. when fingerprints were sometimes used in place of signatures on official documents. In 1686 Italian professor Marcello Malpighi, found fingerprints to have common patterns, including arches, loops, whorls, and ridges. In 1823 professor, Johannes Evengelista Purkinje, documented nine different fingerprint patterns. In 1858, Sir William Herschel, the Chief Magistrate of the Hooghly district in Jungipoor, India, began using fingerprints on native contracts. By 1880, fingerprints were starting to be used for identification purposes. Dr. Henry Faulders, a Tokyo physician, successfully matched fingerprints left on a stray bottle with a laboratory worker. It was not until 1892 that fingerprints were used to solve a crime. In Argentina, police discovered a bloody fingerprint on a door frame and analyzed it to identify the murderer. In that same year, many police departments began to keep fingerprints on file.

Today a person’s identity can be established with only one fingerprint with a 98.6 % accuracy. The accuracy increases to 99.6 % with two fingers, and 99.9% accuracy with tests involving four or more fingers.

Three different times the magicians of Pharaoh had been able to replicate the wonders performed by Moses by using their secret arts. They had changed a staff into a serpent, water into blood, and also caused frogs to come out of streams, canals, and ponds upon the land of Egypt. When Moses, however, smote the dust and transformed it into gnats that plagued the whole of Egypt, they were powerless to reproduce that miracle. It is not clear whether these magicians used slight of hand or satanic power, but it is clear that they recognized what Moses had done was different. They correctly identified it as “the finger of God.” (See Exodus 7:8-8:19) This is something atheists are reluctant to do. They apparently are willing to “believe” supernatural things occur without God.

Please consider these 5 miracles of creation that an atheist cannot explain or replicate!

1. The origin of the universe - For centuries science believed the universe was eternal, but modern science has been forced to admit that the universe had a beginning. Even though it is unscientific to believe that something came from nothing, many scientists still refuse to see the finger of God in creation.

2. Origin of the stars – The universe is filled with trillions of stars and up to now the only game in town to explain their origin is the big bang theory. The idea that massive galaxies of stars spontaneously formed in an orderly fashion from a microscopic singularity strains the credulity of thinking people.

3. The origin of life – Darwin never tried to explain the origin of life for he assumed that the “simple cell” was so basic and simple that it could easily be formed by a lightening strike in pond water. Today, however, we know that the “simple cell” is more complex than the space shuttle. The origin of life is one factor that caused Antony Flew (the world’s most famous atheist) to believe in God.

4. The origin of design – Atheist Richard Dawkins has spent his life trying to convince us that the universe only “appears” to be designed. He wrote; “Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.” If you are walking through the forest and find a painting, however, it is rational to assume that it did not happen by accident. You can logically conclude that the painting was painted by a painter. The more closely you examine creation the more obvious it is that it was designed by a Designer. Even the design of every snowflake is an eloquent witness that it was not an accident. Truly, we can say, this is the finger of God.

5. The origin of mind and morality. Atheist Thomas Nagel in his book Mind and Cosmos, admits the difficulty of believing that the evolution of physical things cannot explain the origin of the mind which is not physical. Nor can the survival of the fittest explain something as obvious as love! Fyodor Dostoevsky is famous for observing “If there is no God, then everything is permitted.”

Paul wrote to the Romans that when primitive man rejected the knowledge of God He gave them over to a depraved mind (Romans 1:28). Recognizing the problem of a “design” without a “designer” some have leaped in desperation to the “belief” in a multiverse. Yes! They “believe” – life did not originate on earth but “believe” it was brought here by aliens from another universe. Common sense, of course, convinces the rational mind that this is only kicking the can down the road. No matter how many universes you “believe” passed life from one to another you will face the same initial question about the origin of life. This is a theory of desperation, not science! Even the pagans of Egypt had the ability to recognize the finger of God!

When you open your eyes to reality you can see the finger of God everywhere. You can see it in the laughter of a child, the love of a mother, the fragrance of a flower, the beauty of a sunset, the glory of the heavens, and the historical reality of Christ on the cross! Please do not allow Satan to blind you to the reality of God! (2 Corinthians 4:4)

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce