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In The Beginning

Prior to The Origin of Species, science was taught from a Biblical perspective. In 1925, the Scope's trial challenged Creation teaching in Tennesse schools. Although this attempt by evolutionists was overuled, the battle continued. In 1968, the U. S. Supreme court ruled in Arkansas that teaching Creation violates the Establishment clause (Epperson vs Arkansas). The debate rages to this day, with a clear line dividing both sides.

For some, evolution is the descent of all life from a single organism. To others, evolution encompasses the origin of life and the beginning of the universe. However, the definition of evolution in its strictest sense is neither. Evolution is a change in the gene pool of a population over time through mutation, recombination or genetic drift (Lewin 1990). Most of the new alleles (code for genes) that enter a population are a single copy and therefore removed. New alleles especially in eukaryotic (complex) organisms may be positioned on pseudogenes (non coding). In the event these new alleles become incorporated into a nucleotide sequence, they can code for new protiens. (Weaver 1999). Occurring within an individual, these changes are inconsequential.

Only when the new alleles become established in a population do they attribute to the evolutionary process (as previously defined). This process was documented in finches collected by Charles Darwin on the Galapagos Islands. Originally, Darwin thought these were not finches, but completely unrelated birds. It was not until he presented them to John Gould, of the London Geological Society, that he was told the birds were merely "a series of Ground finches". Through the process of isolation, time, and adapting to local conditions, these birds had developed different beak structures which qualified them as 12 new species. This concept (later termed speciation) led him to write The Origin of Species (Darwin 1859), in which he theorized that organisms "evolve" and are not created. While Darwin did not deny a Creator in his writings, he offered a theory for creation contradictory to Biblical Creation.

A Transitional Theory

“This sketch is almost imperfect; but in so short a space I cannot make it better. Your imagination must fill up many wide blanks. Without some reflection it will appear all rubbish; perhaps it will appear so after reflection.” (Charles Darwin in a letter to Asa Gray regarding evolution by natural selection 1857)

While the process of speciation can be applied to small morphological differences between finches, it does not explain how simple organisms evolve into more complex life forms. Darwin theorized that over millions of years, life with its diverstiy and granduer, evolved from a single common ancestor. To support this claim, science offers "puncuated equilibrium." The idea is that abrupt morphological changes occured within a small number of individuals, in a relatively short period of time, resulting in completely different organisms. An example would be fish turning into reptiles and reptiles into birds. This is an attempt by evolutionists to explain the lack of evidence in the fossil record for transitional species. For this to be true, one must assume that either the majority of the transitional fossils have not been found, never fossilized, were destroyed or existed in small numbers.

Other scientists believe the few transitional species documented in the fossil record are enough to support evolution. An example would be the whale like creature Dorudon. This alleged forty million year old fossil has small appendages near its tail that some believe were once legs. Evolutionists claim this proves its descent from a four-legged ancestor (National Geographic November 2004). The fossil Archaeopteryx is another piece of evidence used in support evolution. This fossil with a feather like scale, is a transitional species between reptiles and birds. While this is noteworthy, we have not discovered a single case of an organism that has transitioned into a completely different class. Even if you look at microorganisms which reproduce rapidly, they do not evolve into different organisms. For example, drug resistant TB is still a bacterium.

What Darwin Never Imagined

“If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” (Charles Darwin on Origin of Species 1859 pg. 189)

Imagine explaining how super computers came into existence without knowing anything about microchip technology, mechanical engineering or writing code. You might be able to make observable assumptions such as, all computers require power to operate or have the ability to store large amounts of information. However, your knowledge of the intricate processes would be limited. Therefore, you would inevitably make mistakes when discussing beyond the obvious. "Human DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software we've ever created." BILL GATES, Microsoft.

This same principle holds true for evolution. Charles Darwin hypothesized based on observations, but in the absence of cellular and molecular evidence. This would be comparable to deciding court cases based on the observable crime scene evidence, but leaving out the forensic evidence. This can be a fatal mistake, as countless numbers of convicted murderers have been exonerated from death row based on Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) evidence.

Deoxyribonucleic acid is made up of long polymer chains of small compounds called nucleotides. Each nucleotide is composed of a sugar, a phosphate group, and a base (Weaver 1999). The double helix structure of DNA, proposed by Watson and Crick in 1953, has four different base pairs: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Each pair is matched up in a very specific way (A-T and G-C) for faithful replication. This highly complex structure contains the genetic instructions for encoding proteins. Through a complicated process of transcription and translation, protein chains are formed. These newly formed polypeptides are synthesized for cellular processing and function (Weaver 1999). Imagine a structure so tiny it could not be visualized prior to electron microscopy, yet, it contains more information than a set of encylopedias. "Some species of the unjustly called 'primitive' amoebas have as much information in their DNA as 1,000 Encyclopedia Britannica's." (RICHARD DAWKINS BLIND WATCHMAKER, 1986, p.116.)

Its origins were so unexplainable by evolution that in 1981, Francis Crick, suggested living cells arrived on an unmanned spaceship from a planet facing extinction. Crick, the scientist who broke the DNA code, published this concept in his book Life Itself, and it was well received by the scientific community. So rather then admit only God could create such a complex structure, he chose aliens. Ever seen a UFO in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum?

Left with the choice either God or aliens, one of the most distinguished scientist of the 20th century chose aliens. DNA is contradictory to the theory of evolution. From its conception until today, evolution explains origins at the individual level, not the molecular level. It assumes life began as a very simple organism, evolving into more complex life forms through slow gradual changes. However, this does not appear to be the case, rather the opposite.

Life most likely began with the creation of DNA, the most complex and highly sophisticated structure coming first, as God's blueprint for life. This enables finches to adapt different beak structures for a changing environment and directs cells to build complex protein structures used by all forms of life.

Unnatural Selection

"The eye with all of its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.” (Charles Darwin, Origin of species 1859 pg. 186)

According to Darwin, the driving force of evolution is natural selection. By definition, natural selection eliminates weaker individuals from the gene pool, so that only the most fit survive to reproduce. This arbitrary process selects organisms most suited to their environment and eliminates those that cannot adapt. In the animal kingdom, this selective force definetely exists. One only has to observe animals competing for territory or breeding rights, where the consequences for the loser is oftern fatal. While natural selection appears to occur within animals, it is not applicable to humans. We were made in the image of God to rule over the animals (Genesis 1:27). Denying this and relugating ourselves to animals has tragic consequences.

Following the Columbine High School massacre, the coroner removed Eric Harris’s trench coat revealing his T-shirt with the words NATURAL SELECTION. Prior to his killing spree at Columbine, Eric Harris recorded these words in his journal on April 26th, 1998: “Sometime in April [1999] me and V (Dylan Klebold) will get revenge and kick natural selection up a few notches.”

If natural selection is applicable to humans what about the Jews? They have suffered inhumanly for thousands of years. They were enslaved to the Egyptians, which was followed by a brutal and bloody Roman occupation. After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (70 A.D.), they were scattered as a people throughout the earth. During the Crusades they were burned in their synagogues if they refused to convert to Christianity. In more recent times, during the reign of the czars, they were forced out of Russia following pogroms.

Fleeing from Russia, they barely survived genocide when Adolph Hitler systematically killed six million Jews in concentration camps. In 1948, they were given back their land when the United Nations voted to establish Israel a State, fulfilling Biblical prophecy (Isaiah 66:8). They have against incredible odds, defeated a Middle Eastern alliance of countries surrounding them in the six day war (1967). To this day, they live with merciless Palestinian bombings and constant bloodshed. Still they stand a Nation brought back from destruction. Hebrew, once considered a dead language is being spoken again in the streets of Israel. To date, 22% of the Nobel prizes have been awarded to Jews, despite the fact they make up 1/500 of the worlds population (Morrison). By natural selection the Jews should have been eliminated thousands of years ago, yet, they as a tiny Nation flourish amidst a sea of enemies. It is not some arbitrary selective process that dictates the existence of human life, but God.

 Not so Public Opinion

"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved." (Darwin 1859)

A recent Gallup poll from National Geographic revealed that the majority of Americans believe in God. Why then the controversy over evolution? Evolution by definition (a change in the gene pool of a population over time through mutation, recombination or genetic drift) does occur to produce small adaptive changes. Darwin in Origin of Species did not try to explain away a Creator, use evolution as the origins of life or the universe. The evolution witnessed in Darwin’s finches was not a process by which new organisms originated, but rather adapted through microevolution.

I have over many years examined the evidence both for and against evolution. In doing so, I tested its validity and weighed the scientific evidence against God's word. I thought about the hopelessness of life arising from nothing and without purpose, school shootings, and teenage suicide. I pondered the reality of telling young men and women, they have no purpose and are accountable to no one. In the end, I realized I did not evolve by natural selection, but was created with a purpose.

 

References

(All Biblical citations from the New King James)

Darwin, Charles. 1859. The Origin of Species

Futuyma and Sinauer. 1986. Evolutionary Biology

Lewin, Benjamin 1990. Genes IV

Morrison, Cheryl. A Bible Study on Israel

National Geographic. November 2004

Paul Mchugh. 2005. Teaching Darwin

Weaver, Robert. 1999. Molecular Biology

 

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