Do you check expiration dates?

It is my normal mode of operation to use these “Question of the Month” articles to explore various interesting topics in a fairly simple manner, while making an important “larger point”. This month will only be a slight, temporary diversion from the norm, taking somewhat of a break and providing some comical relief.

I recently received an interesting package in the mail from John P., one of the ministry’s supporters. It was a bulky envelope which piqued my curiosity. Upon opening the package, I discovered a salt shaker and a brief note stating the following:

“I hope you find this as humorous as I did. Perhaps I was just in a good mood. I was at a friend’s home and found this salt shaker on the table. Being a fanatical label reader, I picked it up and began reading. The label states that this salt is ‘250 million years old’. Not surprising, but then I read the label on the bottom and it said, ‘BEST BY 12 2023’. I’m glad I can use it up before it expires!”

Very funny!

Sometimes we walk into a store, and it just happens to be the last day of a week-long sales event. How lucky we may feel!

In the case of the salt, what a fortunate coincidence to have happened upon this very valuable, multi-purpose substance within the last 0.0000024% of its useful “shelf-life”! (Side note: Where did I come up with that figure? I divided the remaining years [6] by its current age [250 million years]). The obvious question is– if the salt is truly about 250 million years old, how do they know it’s just now soon to expire? And a closely related question– since the 250 million years is just an approximation, how can they be so precise with the “Best by” date?

As an added note of interest, the reason the label even mentioned the alleged age of the “Himalayan” salt was to make the point that this salt was created at a time when the Earth’s eco-environment was much more pure and pristine which, therefore makes their product more valuable than salts produced in more modern times.

Those of you who know me (and the ministry) realize I personally don’t believe the millions and billions of years designations are scientifically justified, but it is not my intention to turn this into a discussion of radiometric dating methods and the whole “age of the Earth” controversy. I simply wanted to pass along something of a humorous nature. I’m also not the kind to contact the company that produced this product to challenge them regarding their claim. Most likely, they are not experts in geology and simply had a clever marketer develop this label as an effective way to increase their bottom line. If you look carefully enough and often enough, you will find quite a few of these types of examples throughout the retail world.

How’s that for a brief article? I partially wanted to provide a slightly less serious “change of pace”, but maybe even more so, I was just too busy (with Christmas coming up in a few weeks) to write anything significantly more in depth or lengthy. (How’s that for transparency?)

What exactly is the Big Bang?

This question is one of those that everyone knows the answer to, while at the same time not really knowing the answer. Some don’t know it because they’re a little iffy on it. Others don’t know it because they think they do – but they’re actually misinformed.

Picture of a black hole?

I remember as a kid, showing someone a blank piece of paper and telling them it was a picture of a polar bear in a snowstorm! Unfortunately for those who know me, my sense of humor hasn’t changed a whole lot! What does this have to do with black holes? I’m glad you asked.

Should you make a deal with God?

You may be familiar with the account in the Bible where Abraham pleads with God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:16-33). Abraham, motivated by the fact that his nephew, Lot, was living there, wanted God to spare the people in these two cities that had become incredibly corrupt and vile. He reasoned that surely God would not “destroy the righteous with the wicked.” So, Abraham asked, if “there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous?” God agrees not to destroy the cities if he can find 50 righteous people. You probably know Abraham turns

Is the Earth actually flat?

Wait a minute ̶ isn’t this a topic that came up a long time ago, but was handily put to bed for good? You’d think so, however, it has resurfaced and is quite popular and debated in many circles. In some respect, it’s similar to the claim that we never actually landed on the moon. (i.e., It’s all just a conspiracy that the US government continues to successfully perpetuate.) Both Christians and non-Christians alike can be found among the supporters of the belief in a flat Earth.

Why are we REALLY losing our kids?

If you’ve been following our ministry for any length of time, you are probably well aware that we deal quite a bit with the phenomena of youth from Christian homes walking away from their faith before they finish college. Statistics indicate that currently two-thirds or more are leaving their beliefs by the wayside, many never to return. There’s a very good chance that you or someone very close to you has had personal experience with this tragic trend.

Do mutations create new information?

We are told very confidently that evolution is a fact, like apples falling off of trees. It is also claimed that if you don’t believe in evolution, you are insane. Now, as usual, it is very important at this point to define what I mean by “evolution”. I am not simply referring to “change”. We see change all the time, but it’s not the kind of change necessary to produce “molecules-to-man” evolution, which is what is taught in our public schools and state universities (and even many Christian schools and universities, unfortunately).