Indiana Creation Science Association

The Indiana Creation Science Association (ICSA) is a Biblically-based, young earth creation organization. The organization holds to the view that life was created by God and that life did not evolve randomly from "molecules-to-man." Members of ICSA accept the worldwide flood of Noah's day and that salvation is obtained only by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

ICSA's Board of Directors

 * Tom Foltz, President
 * Mark Partridge, Vice President
 * Don C. Paul, Treasurer
 * Tony Kniffen, Secretary and Newsletter Editor.

Statement of Belief

 * We believe in special creation instead of macro-evolution.
 * We believe the Bible to be divinely inspired and historically accurate.
 * Based on scientific data, we believe the earth and universe are comparatively young.
 * The flood in the days of Noah was an historical event, worldwide in extent and effect.
 * As Christians, we believe that salvation made necessary by the fall of Adam, comes only through Christ.

Newsletter
ICSA's February newsletter below:

Indiana Creation Science Association

Monthly Newsletter

editor, Tony Kniffen

This month's meeting will be at College Park Church in room A13 from 7:00pm to 8:30pm. We will watch the video we planned on watching last month on Dr. John Baumgardner's Catastrophic Plate Tectonics model. We will also discuss generating interest for a possible live speaker in March, though we haven't finalized the details. Directions/info about the Indiana Creation Science Association are at the end of the newsletter.

Last Meeting

Last month's meeting was very productive, as we talked about ways to improve attendance, visibility, effectiveness and activity. As you can see, we are moving the newsletter to email from snail mail, where possible.

Also, it was noted that attendance at meetings has dropped over the years and also since moving from East 91st Street Christian Church. Moving this month's meeting to College Park is the beginning of some experiments to address that. This month's meeting change is meant for the core attendees to simply get to know College Park as a possible site for future meetings and/or conferences. The staff there is very large and accustomed to holding large conferences and could be extremely helpful, should we decide to hold one. It is, however, not a central location, so we are in an exploratory phase. Thanks for your patience and please try to join us!

Essays Due!

For those who are evaluating essays for our annual essay contest, we would like to have the prize notification mailed out before the homeschool convention.

Homeschool Conference

The annual Indiana Homeschool Convention is scheduled for March 23-24 at the Convention Center downtown. We will again have a booth dedicated to sharing the truth of Creation through conversation and giving away free literature. We hope to have the big Ark model there again, as well. Stop on by and lend a hand or say hello if you're there. If you would like to help, contact Tom @ icsa@totalsystemsinc.com. The March meeting may be cancelled due to the convention, but we are hoping to book a speaker from the convention to join us for Thursday night, March 22...more on that later at the February meeting.

'''Finally! A Beneficial Mutation (but its still not evolution)'''

Creationists have long correctly claimed that mutations are bad or neutral and never create new biological information on the level required for even the simplest evolutionary advances. That has not changed, but a new mutation in humans is both helpful and has no terrible side-effect.

This mutation is similar to sickle-cell anemia. Sickle-cell is a malfunction in a receptor which leads to untimely death when the host carries two copies, but also prevents the reception of the malaria bug when only one is present [Founder mutations: evidence for evolution?, Chinmoy Biswas, Journal of Creation 20(2) 2006, p. 16]. So it is a harmful beneficial mutation! This newly discovered mutation, called CCR5-delta32, damages a redundant receptor, so unless the redundant gene is needed, there is no harm done. The result is that the HIV virus cannot be transmitted by homozygous carriers and it is slowed by heterozygous carriers, so a person with this mutation can usually say that it is a beneficial mutation, without saying that he has been harmed. It is still obviously not evolution because no new biological information capable of creating a novel structure has developed. A functioning gene shut off, nothing more.

Author Andrew Lamb further points out that there are over 10,000 known mutations in the human population. What evolution requires is that mutations generate novel structural change in a more genetically complex direction. There is no evidence for that, but 10,000 known mutations against that theory. What's even worse is that the 'score' (10,000 to 0) implies that we are not improving genetically but decaying. How long can this go on and how long can it have been going on? [CCR5-delta32: a very beneficial mutation, Andrew Lamb, Journal of Creation 20(1) 2006, p. 15.

Frilled shark

Living Fossils are a really interesting way to challenge friends with cool creatures that have resisted evolving for millions and millions of years. This last month, a previously known type of small shark from the deep made a rare appearance and actually made it onto film. See video at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XfQWEhD9as

New Evidence of Neanderthal-Human Mixing

Many evolutionists absolutely believe that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens never interbred and produced fertile offspring. There is, however, a skeleton of a child Neanderthal that shows mixed features discovered in the 1990s. There are current claims by evolutionists that Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is different than Homo sapiens mtDNA and therefore, they never mated, but in the face of a skeleton with mixed features, one must already question the mtDNA interpretation. So, recently, it was pleasing to see announced that an adult with evidence of mixed features was discovered in Romania, though the discovery is quite old and it sat in a drawer for decades.

What do creationists think about Neanderthal? Several good books are out that shed light on the subject. Buried Alive, by orthodontist Jack Cuozzo discusses a wide variety of data relevant to the issue, including fraudulent fossil reconstruction. It is a fairly technical book, but the scientific language is bearable. After the Flood, by Bill Cooper discusses European king lists that show connections to Noah, Japheth and Adam and Eve and shows reasons why the lists are likely not derived from missionary influence. He also goes into great detail about dragon legends in Europe and the Middle East. Creationist anthropologist Marvin Lubenow's book, Bones of Contention covers Neanderthal more thoroughly than perhaps any other author. Key things to note from Lubenow are that:

1. Neanderthal bones are often not fully mineralized, indicating that they are probably not nearly as old as described in evolutionary literature. Some are even found wet from moist surrounding conditions.

2. Neanderthals were not bumbling-idiot cave men. Artifacts found in association with them show clearly that they were as intelligent as us, but simply did not possess the wide range of technology of later generations. These include such items as jewelry, ritual burial, tools, fire, evidence of caring for the elderly, bone flutes, etc.

3. The bias against breeding between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens is based on a racial model that attempts to make all living humans descendants of people who are all equally evolved. Anyone seen as a descendant of Neanderthal will be seen as a lower subspecies. Because of past connections with racism towards darker-skinned humans and Jewish people, evolutionists must have a model that puts us all on the same playing field to protect any potential descendants from an evolution-driven holocaust. Social Darwinism and a high value on human life are strange bedfellows.

4. The closer Neanderthal and Homo sapiens appear, the wider the gap between us all and chimps will appear.

5. The distribution of Neanderthal is much wider than just Europe.

6. Neanderthal and modern Homo sapiens have been found in close association with each other in the very cave the original was found, as well as in other places, such as Israel. Lubenow mentions that Abraham bought a cave in which to bury his family line.

So who was Neanderthal Man? Neanderthal Man was a descendant of Noah. Have a little fun and read two evolutionist articles on this and a creationist article. The first evolutionary article leaves out several Neanderthal features, even while admitting the skull morphology might be a result of mixing. The second evolutionary article gives the bones a different date from the first!


 * European Skull's Evolving Story


 * Skull shows possible human/Neanderthal breeding


 * A New Neanderthal/Modern Human Fossil Hybrid?

There's a New Kid on the Block

"Evolution Sunday is the brain child of Michael Zimmerman, a biology professor at Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind. The second annual event has grown by about 11 percent this year, Zimmerman said. "

“These aren’t all churches on the east or west coast, or big cities. They are mostly from rural areas and the Midwest,” Zimmerman said. “The fact is that the vast majority of clergy members accept evolution and don’t want creationism taught in schools.”

The quote above is from the article below, which should remind us that we are being challenged. How will we respond? Could we have a 'Creation' Sunday? It has long been my belief that Creation is neither a salvation issue nor a side issue, but it is a foundational issue. As such, it shouldn't take over any church as the major issue, nor should it be neglected in any church. Unfortunately, many pastors actually believe that Darwin was right, when it is clear that virtually every major contribution to evolution that he wrote has been invalidated by evolutionists own words. It is the foundational issue of our times and we must pray and fight for victory by actively promoting creation in our churches and with ICSA. Even simple, inexpensive projects like the last event in today's newsletter at the bottom can make a big difference. Read more about evolutionists' inroads in churches at: Churches Gear up for Evolution Sunday