FCP-07-SEEDS.

SEEDS. In seeds the field of study is almost endless and those who study it will find indisputable evidence of design, the Work of a Master Designer. Our Creator.

How otherwise would you explain the fact that the seed, of the many trees and shrubs, is provided with an incredible scientific means of protecting it in the event of fire and a means of distributing the seed, after such a fire, for the propagation of the species? So intricate are some of these designs that no honest person can fail to, at least, acknowledge they were designed by some intelligence.

Imagine, what would happen if all the seed of various plants just dropped on the ground beneath each plant when ripe. It would mean, in most cases, mass germination with the plants choking each other out. Who then, knowing all this, designed and arranged to the last detail, both in design and development, all the numerous and scientific means of scattering, far and wide, the seed of various plants, trees, and shrubs?

Space will only permit a brief introduction to the subject which is fascinating. Take first the pea family and shrubs.

How did it come about that these and other seed pods develop an internal spiral strain, which amounts to a loaded spring and, at the right moment, bursts the pod and catapults the seed away from it and I have known this seed to be thrown up to fifty feet from the plant and in all directions?

How is it that the seed of many plants is provided with an array of tiny hooks which catch on to passing animals and are thus conveyed to distant places? Clover is an example.

Many seeds ripen in attractive colored berries which are eaten by the birds but, how why is it that, although these birds are provided with digestive acids so strong that they can digest grit and shell, they allow the seed of these various plants to pass through them undamaged to be dropped wherever the bird may chance to fly. The Eucalyptus mistletoe is a striking example of this fact actually germinating on the bough of the tree and attaching itself there. My attention to these methods of seed distribution was particularly drawn to this line of thought one day when I noticed a Scotch Thistle seed come floating down like a parachute and I soon realized, particularly after I had examined it under the lens, that here, in this simple everyday event was the undeniable evidence of a Master Designer.

How was the Scotch Thistle, and many other plants, provided with such an ingenious means of carrying their seed over these great distances? It is a masterpiece of design and efficiency. Even the main ’whiskers’ are hollow tubes in order to reduce weight to a minimum and are also tapered to give strength and, as if this were not enough to marvel at, they are covered with minute hairs so as to attain the utmost efficiency in flight. Indeed all the members of the thistle family I could call to mind that day had a somewhat similar means of broadcasting their seed and I am sure all gardeners are aware of this efficiency as they struggle with the thorns and thistles in their own gardens!

It brought to mind the passage in Genesis 3:18, when God cursed the ground and said, ’Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to thee.’

God, knowing the cunning of the man He had created, and that he had the ability to fight against the curse, provided the thorns and thistles with such efficient devices for their distribution that man has not been able to eradicate them to this day.

How wonderful and real is all this when seen in the light of God’s Word and think how vague and empty, in comparison, is the baseless theory of evolution.

I suppose few people realize the significance of this and its purpose which must be to show man he is not the complete master of all things he assumes he is however, one would naturally think, with the vast increase of knowledge in all branches of science today, man would have conquered this curse and he has not. From the noxious weed to the invisible virus, the fight is still on, perhaps as never before, despite the endless array of chemical preparations manufactured to fight this curse in all its forms.

Here is something which should cause anyone to stop and think. Visualize a seed so small as to be difficult to see with the naked eye. Now, within that speck, and most likely occupying only a very small part of it, is something called a germ of life and, within that microscopic germ is the inherent law of the Creator. A law which instructs the seed to germinate and grow and produce one of the largest trees in our Botanical Gardens, with all its features true to species and, this is not all for, within that law is also the power, through the tree, to reproduce its ’kind’ perpetually.

All this, transmitted through a speck much smaller than a needle’s point, to produce the magnificent Melaleuca styphelioides. This is just one example of the possibilities concealed in that marvelous thing called ’Life’ of which God alone is the Author and Sustainer.

All man’s efforts to produce one tiny speck of life have failed, never lose sight of that fact when you are inclined to exalt man. Man, of himself, can do nothing.

One can think of all the wonderful machines that are made but, how far could man get if he had to create his own materials?

One can be lost in admiration for all his clever inventions but remember, man is only harnessing powers and laws already provided and sustained by his Creator. Indeed! The very knowledge by which he achieves these things was endowed upon him by his Creator together with all the other attributes which place him so far above the animal kingdom.

Design in plant seed is endless, another being the way some have the ability to bury themselves in the ground they fall upon, some are provided with bristles on a stem, all facing away from the seed, and, even an evolutionist would acknowledge the purpose of this is so that the seed may work itself into the ground when acted upon by the wind and the rain. This is most ingenious and the principle is being used today in the manufacture of various articles of clothing where a pulling tendency is needed in one direction.

Some seeds are actually spring loaded and when they drop to the ground a screw action, buries them.

Many seeds are provided with a substance, and an inherent law, causes them to form two thick and sappy leaves upon which the young plant can live, without water, if need be, until it can drive its roots well into the ground. In dry areas, the seed will germinate, produce two to four tiny leaves to draw oxygen and then proceed to form a root system ten to twenty times greater than might seem to be required. The purpose of this is quite obvious of course but who implanted the law? The action the seed of the Hakea takes is one of the millions no man can explain away! The capsule itself should be seen to fully appreciate that which follows for it is hard and unyielding and one can damage the seed inside if it is forced open.

It is impossible to deny the following.

This confronts us with two alternatives.

If we accept the Genesis record that God created within all things and decreed that they should bring forth ’after their kind’ then all the above is in perfect harmony with Genesis 1. On the other hand, if one holds to the evolutionary hypothesis, they are confronted with some unavoidable facts for which they have no answer.

They are numerous and are as follows.

The genus, Hakea, as with many others holds the seed in the capsule which is kept green with sap until one of several things occur. The capsule will not open until, either the sap ceases to flow after a fire or, when a bough breaks and the extreme hard casing, when green, protects it from birds.

Only when it is needed to propagate the species it will open.

It is also designed so that the seed will only fall when the wind is blowing.

Let the evolutionist explain.

This is but one of millions of example of the ’visible’ things of Creation revealing the ’invisible’ God, and it demands the acknowledgment of an all wise Creator!

Remember. No man has yet been able to give any other intelligent explanation for these things in fact it is a recognized law that things left to themselves tend to disorder and confusion. One can see on every hand this is so. Do leaves falling from a tree form themselves into a uniform design?

No! And it is just as obvious that where there is a design there is of necessity a designer.

Suppose you were out in a forest and you found a clothes peg? No one would ever convince you it was formed of its own accord. Now ask yourself why your mind tells you this? It is because reason says someone must have made it to be that particular shape, no matter where you found it.

We know corrugated iron is made the way it is because research has shown this method the most efficient way to strengthen the material but have you ever wondered why insects, large and small, employ exactly the same principle for a similar purpose?

How did they come to this conclusion? The vanes in a wind machine or an electric fan are concaved because research has demonstrated that this is the most practical and efficient means of strengthening them to resist the air pressure to which they are subjected. Yet how can one explain the fact that the wing of a bee is concaved in exactly the same way in order to prevent it buckling under the terrific strain to which it is subjected in flight.

Again. Man has found through long and bitter experience that disaster will surely follow if the principle and design of taper is not strictly adhered to in a thousand and one things, from a television tower to a fishing rod and, this principle of taper is but one of a number of designs of maximum efficiency found in the wings of most insects and in the flight feathers of all birds.

It is evident throughout both the animal and vegetable kingdoms, a standard of design, perfected and employed in every branch of creation. A perfection man has not yet been able to reach despite years of practical research at prohibitive cost.

I feel I cannot stress too much the importance of this fact.

Words cannot convey the significance of this evidence of Creation. It must be seen to be appreciated and a half an hour with the microscope can do more to bring home the facts of creation and design than hours of reading can do. The element of size is a factor worth considering also.

Today we see devices so small they make us wonder at the expertise of those who invent them but it is at great cost and takes an incredible number of highly competent staff, who have been trained for many years, to work together in harmony before even these wonders can begin to be used to advantage. Yet. In creation, both in the great and the small, in the universe we see through the telescope, and the minute we observe through the microscope, one can see a perfection which far excels the craftsmanship of any human hand.