Remembering lesson 1.1 Atom Matters:
All objects are made up of “atoms.” (water, dirt, rocks, metals, plastics, animal life, plant life, and humans; just to name a few.) Though you can’t “see” it, even air is made up of atoms.
An atom is primarily made up of “protons, neutrons, and electrons.” The protons and electrons have a “charge,” somewhat like a magnet, that causes various atoms to join together, (somewhat like two magnets).
Creating A Molecule:
When atoms join together, this arrangement is called a “molecule.”
Air is quite different from rock because of the way these molecules are joined. All the numerous “objects” mentioned above are characterized by how these numerous molecules join together.
Remember in the Theology lesson 1.2 called “Water & Matter” We talked about how water is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. These same two hydrogen atoms and the one oxygen atom can separate from each other and join other atoms. These are called “chemical reactions.”
This would make a totally different molecule with totally different characteristics, but the hydrogen and oxygen atoms are still hydrogen and oxygen. They are still the same atom; just joined together in different ways to make different molecules. It is important to recognize that the atoms that make up these molecules are unchanged.
Where Do Atoms Come From?
There are nearly 100 different types of atoms that occur in nature. That is a huge variety! Imagine all the different ways all these atoms can join up to make molecules! That is why we see so much “variety” around us.
So where did all these different types of atoms come from? We know by reading in Theology lesson about matter that God created these atoms! He designed them from the beginning just like Genesis tells us.
Some evolutionists would like you to believe that “hydrogen,” the smallest atom, “changed into” other types of atoms after the big bang. (See Astronomy lesson 1.1)
There are several well-known processes where, in very special circumstances, one atom can change into another, but these are incredibly special circumstances and, in these cases, only very few different types of atoms can be formed.
For example, the sun is so hot that two hydrogen atoms can actually fuse together as a new single atom so that they form what we call the helium atom. (pictured right)
Helium is the second smallest atom. However, hydrogen and helium atoms cannot fuse together to make carbon or oxygen which are two of the most important atoms in all living beings!
What’s the ‘matter’ with evolution ideas?
Very very few types of atoms can fuse together to make larger atoms. For that reason, some evolutionists believe that most types of atoms came, not from small atoms fusing together, but by some very large atoms breaking apart.
Wow! That’s a switch; isn’t it? Where did all these “very large atoms” come from? There is no “natural” explanation for that question. Once again, we look at the very first verse of our Bible, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Scientists will always change things to try to fit their idea of things but once again, remember evolution is a matter of faith.
Dangers of Materialism:
Some people believe in the philosophy of materialism.
This is a big word that is a belief that means people only choose to believe in matter or things they can see.
We must be careful not to believe in materialism (only believing what we can see.)
We know that there are things that we cannot see are also very real.
For instance, we know that the human brain is made up of matter. And it functions, but we cannot really explain a dream. A dream is something that our brain does while we are sleeping and sometimes it can create its own places, faces, and stories! But dreams are not matter that we can see. But don’t you remember dreams sometimes and see it? You can even tell others what your dream was about, and no one questions whether it was a dream. They have had dreams too. So, we know they exist. And sometimes in rare situations God uses dreams (like the story of Joseph or Daniel in the Bible and their dreams,) to wake people up about things to come or about Himself.
Thoughts and plans cannot be seen or is made of matter. But our thoughts and our mind being able to determine things and create things is very real because we have a way of expressing those things.
Sometimes Believing is Not Seeing:
Do you remember when Jesus rose from the dead and Thomas told the other 11 disciples that he would not believe that Jesus had risen unless he had seen Jesus standing there, could put his hand in the nail prints and feel the wound in Jesus’ side?
When Jesus did appear once again in front of the disciples, Thomas was with them and Jesus told Thomas to feel the wounds. Then, Thomas did, and he fell to his knees and said, “My Lord and my God”.
Jesus was disappointed that Thomas did not choose to believe by faith. He said that those who believe Jesus at his Word without seeing him were more blessed! He knew that Thomas really did not trust Jesus without seeing with his eyes and we are saved by faith. Not by sight. That is how we walk as a Christian!
We don’t need to see Jesus to know that he is real.
We know Jesus is real because of the amazing power of the gospel making a difference in other’s sinful lives. He saves and changes the heart of man and makes them a new creature!
Just like the existence of air we cannot see it, we cannot taste it, we cannot smell it (by itself) and we cannot hear it (by itself) we know that air is very real because without it we would not live and be. We can also watch the evidence of it such as the grass as it is moved by the wind.
We must not be like Thomas and be careful not to have a skeptic attitude toward God. Let us realize the amazing creation of the atom, but let’s choose to believe God by faith: for without faith, it is impossible to please God.
