The Revolution Against Evolution
ANSWERING COMMON ARGUMENTS
As we deal with the theory of evolution and the way it affects scientific thinking, we need to take the evidence and put it in its proper perspective. Scientific facts do not conflict with the Bible. What we need is the skill of discernment; the ability to separate what is scientific truth, and what is philosophical speculation.
In order for evidence to qualify as fact, it must be observable, testable and repeatable. Using these criteria, evolution cannot be classified as scientific, instead it is a philosophical or religious theory.
Of course, scientific facts can be used to support a theory, but if a theory contradicts the evidence, either the theory has to be modified to fit the facts, or the theory must be thrown out altogether. This holds true for evolution, and for that matter some creationist theories.
The most important scientific skill to develop is the ability to separate assumption from fact. This is a leading cause of confusion. Scientists declare evolution as fact only because they assume it. An example: the science of genetics is observable, testable, and repeatable in the present within species. However, we cannot experimentally test its applicability from molecules to man in the past over millions of years. Therefore we cannot verify if macroevolution is true.
Let us examine some common arguments and assumptions evolutionists use and answer them in a creationist framework.
The Survival of the Fittest
One paramount argument for the theory of evolution is the idea of "survival of the fittest." Early evolutionists thought that predators have a beneficial effect toward the species they prey upon by removing the old, sick, and maimed. The selection of the weak as prey is central to the dogma of evolution.
Recent evidence instead indicates that random selection, not selection of the weak, determines which animal is eaten. Further studies show that under certain situations there is a selection against the strong and healthy, with predators passing up weak and sick animals for healthy ones. The implications of these studies against evolution are obvious.
E. Norbert Smith conducted experiments where he offered two mice to a snake, one mouse active and healthy, the other listless and sick. The snake usually selected the healthy active one first. In fact, the ill mouse often remain unnoticed in a secluded corner for hours.1
What does this mean? Supposedly through natural selection predators continually upgrade the breeding stock of the prey species providing the selective "force" for evolution. If the opposite is true, or if random selection is really the case, no "driving force" exists.
The Horse Series is Horsefeathers
The Next Stage In Horse Evolution?
Science textbooks often present the horse series as proof of evolution. What they actually present is a collection of assumptions. There is no proof that the fossil horses found are ancestral to one another.
In fact, evolutionists gather these fossils from various parts of the world. It is impossible to establish proof of ancestry from them. They present the horse as growing in size from the ancestral horse to the present. What proof is there that it didn't "evolve" the other way? Dr. Duane Gish points out that fossils of South American hoofed animals show a sequence in the opposite direction: from one-toed to three-toed to five-toed hooves.2
The size of the horse is no evidence for evolution. Various size horses live today, ranging in size from the gargantuan Clydesdales to the Lilliputan horses not much bigger than a dog.
Eohippus was first described in the literature as a hyrax, not a horse. There are physical inconsistencies, such as rib count between fossil horses. Eohippus and modern horse had 18 pairs of ribs, Orohippus had 15, and Pliohippus had 19. This is not what you would expect if evolution were true. It is more reasonable to believe that the horse is a created kind rather than evidence for evolution.
Archaeopteryx
Evolutionists have maintained that the Archaeopteryx is a link between dinosaurs and birds. Five known specimens of Archaeopteryx are found in the fossil record.
Evolutionists said the bones were solid like reptiles, but now they know that they were hollow, like birds. Like all birds, it had a wishbone. As for the teeth, there are several modern birds with teeth or toothlike projections, such as the sawbill, the pinkfooted goose, the greylag, and the whitefronted goose to name just a few. Claw-like structures on the wings are also found on young of the hoatzin, a modern South American bird.
Creationists have no problem in fitting "Archy" into a creation model. He is simply another created bird with unique characteristics, no more strange looking or reptile looking than any other modern bird. Proof of evolution it is not.
Embryology
An early evolutionary idea is that the developmental stages of the embryo recapitulated the process of evolution. This appears in the literature and textbooks, and is a popular argument. It has since fallen into disfavor with most evolutionists because there are too many problems and inconsistencies in this theory. The idea is that the development of the embryo goes through evolutionary stages from cell to fish to amphibian to man. Although folds on the neck of the developing embryo have been interpreted as "gill slits" of a fish, it has been proven that never during the development of the embryo do they have any of the characteristics of a gill.
In spite of the evidence against it, this idea still appears in the textbooks and some teachers continue to teach it. It is another example of how certain ideas die hard when people want to believe them. Unfortunately, this argument was used to promoteabortion during the Roe versus Wade decision. After all, according to this rationalization, we are not killing a human fetus, but a fish or a frog. Because the development of the embryo recapitulates evolution, we don't really know when human life begins, so they said.
Ernest Haeckel, a contemporary of Charles Darwin, drew diagrams of dog embryos identical with human embryos evidently to provide propaganda for this theory. Though scientific literature has repeatedly published the erroneous nature of his drawings, they still appear in some biology texts today.
Peppered Moths
Another argument evolutionists often illustrate and misinterpret in science textbooks is that of the population studies of the peppered moths. There are two different species of peppered moths. The lighter variety was more abundant before the industrial revolution, and the darker variety became more abundant after factories darkened trees with smoke.
Is this evidence for evolution? No. This example only shows that two different populations can change with a change of the environment. There is no evidence here of mutation or change from one species of moth to the other. The peppered moths pose no problems for the creationist; it is simply another example of conservation within God's creation, of balance between environment and creature.
Here we should distinguish between micro-evolution and mega-evolution. Creationists do not have any problems with variation of characteristics within the species, or microevolution. The change in population of peppered moths is such an example. We contest mega-evolution, or the theory of molecules to man.
The Problem of Cain's Wife
When God created the earth, He created it perfect, to last forever. With the introduction of sin into the world, it caused the process of decay and death. Because the earth was young, there was no problem with genetic interbreeding, nor did God establish any laws against it. Only when mankind had become so polluted genetically that God provided laws against intermarriage between family members.
Adam and Eve had many more children besides Cain, Abel, and Seth in their long life. One of their daughters, Cain's sister, became his wife. Some have speculated that Cain's wife came from a pre-Adamite race, but there is nothing from scripture to suggest this.
Where Did the Water Come From, and
Where Did It Go?
The great Flood of Noah was precipitated by the opening of the fountains of the deep, vast subterranean reservoirs watering the earth with artesian springs. The earth's magma heated this water, causing it to upwell and flow out onto the earth. A water vapor canopy circled the earth, filtering out harmful radiation. When the fountains of the deep broke open, massive continental upheavals occurred, causing great volcanic and tectonic activity.
The earth's crust floats on a giant sea of magma in plates. The additional weight of the fallen water vapor canopy coupled with released subterranean water would have caused the earth's crust to shift, split apart and move, creating the continents and the present ocean floor.
The Origin Of Race
Some people have made the unfortunate suggestion that the black race descended from Ham, the son of Noah whose descendants were cursed. There is absolutely nothing in the scriptures to imply this. Ham had many descendants spread throughout the world, the Phoenicians, Canaanites, Ethiopians, and Egyptians among them. There is nothing to suggest that Shem was white, Japheth was Asian, and Ham was black, as some have claimed. Even if it were the case, it is an abomination to justify racism or racial superiority based upon this idea.
The truth is, dark skin pigmentation is a dominant and beneficial feature, providing protection from the sun. Lack of that pigmentation means that the normal process to produce the pigment does not work, possibly because of mutation. In central latitudes such as Africa, India and Melanesia, absence of pigment could have become less dominant over a period of many years. The dark skinned races would have been more likely to have survived in a hot climate. Studies have shown that it would take only eight generations of inbreeding to produce any of the races.
Racism, such as that exhibited by Nazi Germany, was based upon the evolutionary idea of survival of the fittest. Hitler tried to establish that the Aryan race was "more highly evolved." Evidence is to the contrary: the white "Aryan race" is most likely the result of mutations shortcircuiting melanin production. Since melanin has a protective effect, white skin is an unfavorable characteristic subject to sunburn and skin cancer.
The Sanctity of Human Life
When God created mankind, He instructed Adam to be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. God set up the marriage covenant for a purpose, to bring as many Godly sons and daughters into the world as possible, eventually into eternal life. Divorce, fornication, adultery, abortion, and all other sexual sins operate contrary to God's purpose. The miracle of love, marriage, sex, conception and birth is never sinful, only man's perversion and pollution of it.
The mind set of population control prevails in the world today, and operates contrary to the principle of God's instruction to Adam. The world suffers famine, destruction, war and disease, all which are the results of mankind not operating under God's principles. The world blames all of this on God. They buy into the lie that God is unable to take care of their needs, or did not create enough resources to sustain the population of the world. Therefore, they reason that the earth's resources have to be hoarded, and the population of the earth must be reduced. Governments introduce birth control measures, which are sometimes enforced oppressively like they have been in China, where it is against the law to have more than one child. The false doctrine of survival of the fittest strikes again.
We must take the pressure off those who have the wonderful gift of raising large families. God has reserved a special blessing for parents who enjoy raising children to follow Him. Child number ten from a large family should not be made to feel like he is unwanted or a threat to the existence of the world. Large families should never have to suffer such persecution. If Mrs. Franklin stopped at sixteen, Benjamin wouldn't have been born. I don't believe God condemns birth control either, but if His ultimate aim is to populate heaven with Godly children, we must choose the best means to fulfil that purpose, whether it be one, two or ten. Each of us has a special gift. God has called some to be single, giving them special ministries, others He called to have many children.
God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and He can cause all His children to prosper. Those who abide by His principles of sowing and reaping can tap into the power of Jesus, who was able to feed the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes. The earth is not filled to its capacity. Famine and disease exist because of mismanagement of the earth's resources by man, not because of overpopulation. These problems existed even in ancient times, when resources on the earth were abundant, and before there was ever an increased population.
It takes faith to believe that God is able to provide the needs of the world. But, He will do it only when man operates under the principles He has established. If we trust in Him, He will perform miracles.
Tooth, Claw, Mosquitos and Gnats
We can be certain that God created the original world perfect. But, what a terrible effect the fall of man had upon this perfect world! Isaiah paints a picture of the coming millennium where the lion shall eat straw like an ox, and a little child will play upon the adder's den. During that time, nothing shall hurt or destroy. That's what it must have been like before the fall.
The fall of mankind and the conditions after the flood brought upon this world a whole different order where man and animals are at odds with one another. Whether characteristics such as teeth and claws, predation, parasitism, and disease were created by God or were the results of the corruption of God's perfect creation by Satan, the Bible does not say. All we know is that creation did change drastically at the fall. Satan is an opportunist, and could have allowed mutations to cause disease and alter God's original purpose for his creatures. On the other hand, God may have altered the features of his animal kingdom to give them extra protection given the fallen state of the earth.
Mosquitos, gnats, locusts, and bugs also serve a purpose in God's creation, though it is in a fallen state. They are part of the food chain. I can't imagine mosquitos in the garden of Eden, though. Remember, before the fall, man had complete dominion over all God's creation. So mosquitos could only have become pests after man relinquished control of the world to Satan.
A favorite trick of Satan is to blame this all on God. But the world fell because of Satan. It's his mess, so don't fall for that. We must not make the claim that creationists have all the answers to every question. It seems that when we answer one question, we raise ten new ones. But, the sheer complexity of the universe is just another indication of God's power and creative ability. Creationists and evolutionists both have to take the origin of the universe on faith. It is just a matter of which is the more logical explanation of the evidence.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
Genesis 1:1419
Genesis 1:2023
QUESTIONS FOR STUDY:
1. Does the existence of fossils similar to
each other prove that evolution took place and one evolved from the other? Why?
2. What are some transitional steps a reptile
would have to go through to become a bird?
3. What are some creationist explanations for
the horse series and Archaeopteryx?
4. Is the idea that the development of the
embryo recapitulates the evolutionary development still accepted by scientists?
Why? What is the danger of this idea?
5. What does the observation of the peppered moths really prove?
6. Where did Cain get his wife?
7. Where did the water for the flood come
from, and where did it go?
8. What is the possible origin of the races?
9. Is population control a Christian idea? Why?
10. What is the origin of predation?
11. Can you imagine Adam and Eve naked in the
garden of Eden if they didn't have dominion over the mosquito?
REFERENCES
1Smith, E. Norbert. "Which Animals Do Predators Really Eat?" Creation Research Society Quarterly, 13:2 September 1976. pp. 79-81.
2Gish, Duane T. 1985. Evolution: The Challenge of the Fossil Record. Creation-Life Publishers. Master Books Division. PO Box 1606, El Cajon, CA 92022 pp. 83-84.
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