Dialogue

Dr. Mark Horstemeyer, Distinguished Professor of Engineering, Liberty University, Atlanta Georgia.
Featured speaker at Creation Weekend 2026, Friday, October 23 and Saturday, October 24, 2026

Rats have the worst reputation of any known mammal. The reasons are many. Rats are often found in filthy places such as garbage dumps or sewers where they come to search for food.  Worse, rats serve as disease vectors, causing the plague, more accurately, the fleas on them cause disease. The Black Death killed as many as 50 million persons in Europe in the 1600s, wiping out as much as 60 percent of the existing population. Not surprisingly, people often demonstrate a visceral reaction to a rat’s hairless tail and feet.

Sometimes we encounter natural events that leave us amazed and reflecting on how beautiful the creation is that God has provided for us to enjoy. It so happened that some friends were on a plane heading to Hawaii early in June. Two years of planning had come together to allow them to be heading to Maui to celebrate a milestone in their lives. Suddenly out of the plane’s window they spotted two very bright spots of light in the night sky. This was a conjunction (apparent close approach) in the sky of the planets Venus and Jupiter. The planets were incredibly bright, and easily spotted with the naked eye. The smaller planet, Venus is about seven times brighter than Jupiter, but the latter is much larger. What a wonderful sight that was! Our friends were just days away from the best night to view this event.

Part of the fun of attending the CRS Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, at the end of July 2025 was participating in the pre-conference geology workshop, which included a morning field trip before the temperature became too hot (highs of 35°C every day of the conference).  As a Canadian, I joked that I could finally thaw out completely.

(It helps to be informed)

Book Review by Mark Sandercock

In this collaborative effort, scientists from the Institute for Creation Research (Dallas, Texas) “examine evidence from four aspects of our world that refute evolutionary suppositions and match the Bible’s timeline.” Each chapter is intentionally very short, averaging only five or six pages in length, and is accompanied by a detailed list of references that give the interested reader the opportunity to dive deeper into a particular topic. It is important to note here that the sub-title of this book, “Evidence for Youth”, is not an indication that this book is aimed at adolescent readers. This book provides evidence for a Young Earth and some of the discussions, although brief, can get fairly technical.

The Creation Science Association of Alberta (CSAA) is pleased to announce that Dr. Mark Horstemeyer, Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Liberty University (USA), will be our speaker at Creation Weekend 2026. The sessions will begin on Friday evening, October 23, and continue on Saturday, October 24. Over the years, many of the speakers featured at the CSAA’s Creation Weekend have been well-qualified scientists with a wide range of expertise in different fields such as geology, biology, and paleontology. This year we are grateful to have Dr. Horstemeyer speak to us about God’s amazing creation through the lens of an engineer.