Investiture Achievement/Explorer/Nature Study

Standard Level

Requirement 1a

Review the Genesis account of the flood.

Read Genesis 5:28-10:1

We also suggest reviewing these short New Testament accounts Matthew 24:37-42, Luke 17:23-30, Hebrews 11:7, 2 Peter 3:3-6 and 1 Peter 3:18-20 which show Jesus, Matthew, Luke, Paul, and Peter all considered the Genesis flood as a historical reality.(link to all texts on one page for easy printing)

Also consider reading chapter 7 and chapter 8 from Patriarchs and Prophets.

Requirement 1b

Read a book about fossils and the biblical flood

There are many fine books written from a creationist perspective. Some examples (links to book on Amazon):

• Before the Flood
• Noah's Flood-Birth of the Ice Age
• Rocks, Fossils and Dinosaurs
• Creation Geology: A Study Guide to Fossils, Formations, and the Flood.
• Thousands...Not Billions

Not a book, so will not work for the requirement, but interesting anyway.

• Evidences The Record and The Flood DVD distributed by Adventist Book Centers.

Requirement 1c

Study at least three different fossils, explain their origin and relate them to breaking God’s laws.

Most museums of natural history will have a fossil collection, and even small museums are likely to have a few. If you do not know of such a museum in your area, the Internet is your friend. Try searching for "fossil," "museum," and the name of your locality. If you are still unsure, get a list of local museums and call them. They will be happy to tell you if they have fossils on display, and if they do not, they may be able to direct you to a museum that does.

Fossils were caused by the flood, which was a result of sin.

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."
— Genesis 6:5-7

Requirement 2a

Stars Be able to identify in the sky the North Star, Big Dipper, Little Dipper and Orion.

The North Star, the Big Dipper, and the Little Dipper

The requirement to find the North Star only works in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere we suggest finding the Southern Cross.

North Star, Big Dipper, and Little Dipper

The North Star, more properly known as Polaris, is a star directly to the north at an elevation equal to your latitude. In other words, if your latitude is 38°, it will be 38° above the horizon, and directly north.

More often though, we use Polaris to find north rather than using north to find Polaris. Do this by extending the line through the two stars at the end of the Big Dipper's bowl by about five times. The Big Dipper is part of the constellation Ursa Major. It is composed of seven bright stars in the north, and is one of the few star groupings that actually look something like what it is named for: a big dipper.

The Little Dipper, part of the constellation Ursa Minor is more difficult to see because the stars that make it are not as bright as those that make the Big Dipper. The best way to find it is by first finding Polaris, the North Star. That star forms the end of the Little Dipper's handle.

These stars are visible year-round in the Northern Hemisphere, though depending on the time of night and season of the year, they may have a different orientation as they all rotate around the North Star.

Orion

Orion

Orion is considered a winter constellation, but it is also visible in the summer if you stay up late enough (or get up early enough). Early in the winter it will rise in the east after sunset. In midwinter it can be found in the south, and in late winter it can be found in the west.

Requirement 2b

Explain the spiritual significance of Orion as told in Early Writings, p. 41.

First the text from Early Writings p. 41:

The Shaking of the Powers of Heaven

'December 16, 1848, the Lord gave me a view of the shaking of the powers of the heavens. I saw that when the Lord said "heaven," in giving the signs recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, He meant heaven, and when He said "earth" He meant earth. The powers of heaven are the sun, moon, and stars. They rule in the heavens. The powers of earth are those that rule on the earth. The powers of heaven will be shaken at the voice of God. Then the sun, moon, and stars will be moved out of their places. They will not pass away, but be shaken by the voice of God.

Dark, heavy clouds came up and clashed against each other. The atmosphere parted and rolled back; then we could look up through the open space in Orion, whence came the voice of God. The Holy City will come down through that open space. I saw that the powers of earth are now being shaken and that events come in order. War, and rumors of war, sword, famine, and pestilence are first to shake the powers of earth, then the voice of God will shake the sun, moon, and stars, and this earth also. I saw that the shaking of the powers in Europe is not, as some teach, the shaking of the powers of heaven, but it is the shaking of the angry nations.' Source Early Writing Page 41

'Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.' Matthew 24:29

Critics of Ellen White have sometimes seized on this Early Writings passage saying Ellen White fabricated the idea of a open space in Orion. The website Adventist Defence League has addressed these critics.

"NASA’s power Hubble Telescope recently helped researchers discover some more information about Orion Nebula. In a video titled, “Hubble Snaps the Clearest View of the Orion Nebula” they claim to notice what they call “a ball-like cavity” within this constellation. Notice what else they say about the center of Orion Nebula:

“Packed into the center of this region are bright lights of the Trapezium stars, the four heftiest stars in the Orion Nebula. Ultraviolet light unleashed by these stars is carving a cavity in the nebula and disrupting the growth of hundreds of smaller stars. The dark speck near the bottom, right of the image is a silhouette of an edge-on disk encircling a young star. Another whitish-looking disk is visible near the bottom, left, just above the two bright stars. This disk is encased in a bubble of gas and dust."

Also see the answers to a similar Question (#12) in the Stars honor

Wilderness Explorer

Requirement 3

Complete Explorer requirements.

Requirement 4

Weather/Ferns Record and graph the weather for two weeks at 12-hour intervals. Include temperature, moisture, cloud formation, and wind direction. OR Draw or photograph 10 kinds of ferns, and identify correctly.

Completing the first requirement fits nicely with the practical requirements of the Weather and Weather - Advanced honors. If you complete the Weather - Advanced honor you would also meet the next requirement below.

OR

The Ferns option is exactly the same as the practical requirement in the Ferns honor Honor. Completing the Ferns Honor also meets Requirement 5 below.

Guidance for completing these requirements can be found in the Weather, Weather - Advanced and Ferns honor pages.

Requirement 5

Complete a nature honor, not previously earned. (Skill level 2 or 3)

While there is a large number of Nature honors at Skill Level 2 or Skill Level 3 to choose from, logical choices might be:

• Weather - Advanced
• Ferns
• Fossils

Wilderness Explorers must complete a major requirement of the Weather - Advanced OR Ferns Honors in to meet Requirement 4. The Explorer requirements differ from, but compliment, the major requirements of the Fossils honor.