Evolution, Fact or Fiction
November 24th, 2009 is the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s book, “The Origin of Species”. Richard Dawkins, in his book, The God Delusion, wrote “if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid, or insane.”1 Can I appeal to you: are you humble enough to explore alternative viewpoints on the origin and meaning of life with an objective, open mind? If so, read on… Is there a solid case for the theory of evolution as the origin of species, or is evolution a “Theory in Crisis” as scientist and agnostic Michael Denton purports in his book entitled such? What are the moral implications of evolution vs. the belief in a Creator who created the universe? We’re going to briefly look at 3 issues regarding evolution: missing links, the first single-celled organism, and the beginning of the universe and then look at an alternative world-view to evolution…
1. Missing Links:
There must be strong evidence for missing links for evolution to be a valid theory. Charles Darwin in Origin of Species expressed some concern about this (p.133-134), acknowledging the absence of intermediates, but attributed it to the relative scarcity of fossils at the time, believing they would eventually be found. Have they?
Ape Men
Human evolution is the premiere icon of Darwin’s theory. Here are some of the frauds and misinformation that have been reported over the years as firm evidence for the evolution of man from lower primates:
Piltdown Man– (remember the Scopes trial?) A modern ape jaw was connected with a modern human skull. The fraud went undetected for decades until the perpetrator confessed.
Neanderthal Man was proclaimed to be a human with a disease by the first qualified person to study the first specimen. Since then, some evolutionists have tried to portray ‘him’ as an intermediate by giving him a stooped, ape-like reconstruction. Only recently, as evidence has begun to pour in proving his humanity, has Neanderthal Man, like Cro Magnon Man, been ‘rehabilitated.’ Neanderthals had jewelry, ritual burial, a bone flute, chain-mail armor, controlled use of fire, and many other artifacts that show ‘he’ was no dummy. Fossils clearly show that he and Homo erectus mated together and with Homo Sapiens.2
Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) is the most famous ‘missing link.’ Fossils show clearly she was a tree-swinging, knuckle-walker with an ape head. Museums currently show her with human hands, feet and breasts as well as a human expression on a near human head. Some evolutionists have already stated, “The australopithecines are rapidly sinking back to the status of peculiarly specialized apes.”3
Dinosaurs and Birds
There have been numerous reports of missing links found between dinosaurs and birds, all of which have been discredited. In a National Geographic magazine article in November 19994 it was stated, “This fossil is perhaps the best evidence since Archaeopteryx that birds did, in fact, evolve from certain types of dinosaurs.” Evolutionist Storrs Olson, Curator of Birds at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution stated, “With the publication of “Feathers for T. Rex?”… National Geographic has reached an all-time low for engaging in sensationalistic, unsubstantiated, tabloid journalism.” Evolutionary Biologist Alan Feduccia (UNC) wrote in Discover Magazine, “Archaeoraptor is just the tip of the iceberg. There are scores of fake fossils out there…. these fossil forgeries have been sold on the black market for years now, for huge sums of money.”5
The proof of evolution is in the pudding. If evolution is a valid theory of origins, there should be sound evidence of missing links. 150 years after Darwin’s theory, we now have over 100 million fossils with 250,000 different species, but no missing links. Agnostic scientist Michael Denton stated, “The universal experience of paleontology…is that while the rocks have continually yielded new and exciting and even bizarre forms of life…what they have never yielded is any of Darwin’s myriads of transitional forms.”6
2. The First Cell
Could the first cell have come into existence without a Creator? Bruce Alberts, Biochemist and president of the National Academy of Sciences, wrote, “The entire cell can be viewed as a factory that contains an elaborate network of interlocking assembly lines, each of which is composed of a set of large protein machines.”7 Imagine an automotive factory with the incredible complexity of millions of man hours of machining, assembly, quality control, maintenance, engineering and supervision. Now imagine such a factory running itself with no human intervention and multiplying itself. Such is the complexity of the simplest single-celled organism! Would we willingly choose to believe this came about by random chance? Darwin himself gave us a litmus test of how to disprove his general theory of evolution: “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.”8 Microbiologist James Shapiro of the University of Chicago wrote, “There are no detailed Darwinian accounts for the evolution of ANY fundamental biochemical or cellular system, only a variety of wishful speculations.”9
Evolutionist and Nobel prize winner Francis Crick who discovered DNA even admitted, “An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going.”10 How complex is DNA? “Human DNA contains more organized information than the Encyclopedia Britannica.”11 Truly our bodies are a work of art with over 30,000 genes and 20,500 different proteins, and scientists haven’t been able to come up with any details for a valid mechanism for evolving even one of these proteins! A typical protein requires 1200 to 2000 bases, all left-handed, in a set sequence. To create the simplest protein of 75 bases in a soup of building blocks of Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thiamine and their right hand equivalents by random chance would have the mathematical odds: 1 x 10125 – yet even the simplest cell needs three hundred different proteins.12 Here’s a challenge for scientists: violate the law of biogenesis, which states that life comes from life: puncture the cell walls of many cells, empty the contents into an aqueous solution, then find a way with all these ingredients to make a cell. Humpty-dumpty simply can’t be put back together again!
3. From Single-Celled to Multi-Celled
Thus, to form the first cell by random chance is a grown-up fairy tale, but let’s say it were possible. How could a single-celled organism possibly evolve into a multi-celled organism? Interestingly, other than parasites (organisms that live off other organisms), there have not been found any multi-cellular organisms either living today or in the fossil record with less than 20 cells in them. That’s an insurmountable gap! Another is going from asexual reproduction to sexual reproduction. Evolutionist Michael Rose wrote, “The evolution of sex is one of the major unsolved problems of biology. Even those with enough hubris to publish on the topic often freely admit that they have little idea of how sex originated or is maintained. It is enough to give heart to creationists.”13
From things that are merely small and alive and things that merely reproduce, we go to large groupings or types of ‘early’ animals, called, ‘phyla.’ The word phyla is in the same system for describing things as species, it just defines very large groups, rather than the smallest. Instead of the species we belong to, Homo sapiens, the phyla we belong to is ‘vertabrates’. The “Cambrian Explosion” is, simply put, the lowest layer of fossils. All 50 or so different phyla that have ever existed have been discovered in the Cambrian layer, but without transitions leading up to them, no transitions in between them, and no new phyla in higher layers. This is the opposite of what evolution would predict. One prominent evolutionist, Douglas Futuyma, writes: “It is considered likely that all the animal phyla became distinct before or during the Cambrian, for they all appear fully formed, without intermediates connecting one form to another.”14
Smaller groups exist between ‘phyla’ called ‘class’ and ‘order’ and the gaps between them are just as insurmountable. Evolutionist R. L. Carroll put it this way, “…All of us can immediately recognize animals as being birds, turtles, insects, or jellyfish, and plants as conifers, ferns, or orchids. Even with millions of living species, there are only a very few that do not fit into readily recognizable taxonomic categories. … Even among the hundreds of thousands of recognized insect species, nearly all can be placed in one or another of the approximately thirty well-characterized orders.”15
4. The Origin of the Universe
Finally, let’s look at the beginning of the universe. If you believe in atheistic evolution, you’re saying that everything came from nothing, you’re saying that there was no initial cause, nothing that exists outside this material universe. There is overwhelming evidence in each of the physical sciences that points away from a natural, materialistic explanation for the origins of life and the universe. Geophysicist Stephen Meyer wrote, “There are more than thirty separate physical or cosmological parameters that require precise calibration in order to produce a life-sustaining universe.”16 Cosmologist and Nobel Prize winner Arno Penzias said about the Big Bang, “The best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted had I nothing to go on but the first five books of Moses, the Psalms and the Bible as a whole.”17 Even leading atheists tend to waffle a little bit on this point. Atheist Kai Nielsen said, “Suppose you suddenly hear a loud bang…and you ask me, ‘what made that bang? And I reply, ‘Nothing, it just happened.’ You would not accept that.” Atheist Quentin Smith admitted, “[that] we came from nothing, by nothing, and for nothing seems intuitively absurd.” Richard Dawkins said, “Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed.”18 It sure takes a lot of blind faith to deny there is a Creator!
The Moral Implications of Evolution:
Darwinism is portrayed as a science, however it is better described as a philosophy with terrible consequences. Atheist Bertrand Russell stated that science presented us with a world that was “purposeless” and “void of meaning.”19 Evolution leads us into a moral vacuum. If God doesn’t exist, then the concept of sin is outdated; the idea of a Judgment Day, of ultimate justice, punishment and rewards, heaven and hell is irrelevant and I can choose to live my life any way I deem fit! Like an animal, I should thus be most concerned about how to maximize my pleasure before I die- and if someone gets in my way, well, survival of the fittest!
God Weighs in on Evolution
Look for a moment in the mirror and repeat one of these two statements: if you believe in evolution as the explanation of origins, say to the image in the mirror, “You are pond scum that evolved into a higher life form. Your birth, life and death are all meaningless. Therefore, maximize your pleasure, stay out of prison and eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you will die. Life is devoid of meaning, so I must lie to myself, use some imagination and create my own meaning with my own rules and my own god, or I’ll go insane.” Or, if you believe in the God of the Bible, look in the mirror and say, “I am created in the image and glory of God with meaning and purpose in life- to glorify God and rejoice in my relationship with my Creator who has made a way for me to experience His glory. I’ve been created wonderfully- my body, soul and spirit reflect the glorious Creator who created me in wisdom, power and creativity for an eternal purpose.” While we’re busy believing in fairy tales that deny God’s existence, God has a lot to say about all our foolishness: “The fool says in his heart, ‘there is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14:1-3) Those are honest words from your Creator about us apart from anything of redeeming value that He does in us.
God also explains why we choose to deny His existence and struggle so much with acknowledging His authority and power in our lives, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities- His eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised, Amen.” (Rom 1:18-25)
There are two choices in life: worship and serve the creation, or worship and serve the Creator. In our sophistication today, we don’t make physical idols of reptiles or birds, but we do make idols of theories on how such reptiles and birds evolved, which rob God of all glory and replace that glory with an idol: ourselves. A six year old child could tell you there’s a Creator. Point to any building and you know that there’s an architect and a builder. Point to any painting and you know there’s a painter. Point to creation and you know there’s a Creator. To say otherwise is not only an act of ignorance but as the scripture says, is a suppression of the truth with a specific motive: to deny sin and the resulting judgment to come, and to not have anyone reign over us- to live for our own selfish desires according to our own selfish rules.
The Laws of Nature and Morality
All around us we see laws that govern nature. For example, how do we predict the path of motion of an object? F = m x a, where the sum of all forces on an object at any instant in time will result in the acceleration of the mass of the object in the direction of the force. This is a universal, absolute law that can be used to accurately predict the acceleration of a car, rocket, ship or person. We see similar, absolute laws in Biology, Chemistry and all other sciences- laws of incredible complexity. Where did these laws come from? If there are universal physical laws, why is it so difficult to see that there is a Lawgiver, who not only created physical laws, but moral laws that govern the universe?
The Bible says there is the “Law of Sin and Death” that applies to each of us. Let’s explore this. Have you ever had a sense of justice well up inside of you when someone lied to you, stole from you, gossiped or slandered you, or flirted with your spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend? Have you ever judged someone as being arrogant, pompous, self-righteous? Now let’s take a test to see your own goodness: Have you ever experienced guilt, that inner voice: your conscience, tell you that you have violated one of the following moral laws? Have you ever experienced guilt for lying, for stealing or cheating, for lusting after someone or something (coveting)? Have you ever lost control of your anger? Have you ever turned to gossip, slander, cursing or name calling? Have you ever wished you could take back something you said, because it was damaging? If you’ve done these things, your conscience bears witness: you’re a covetous lying thieving adulterous murderer at heart. Jesus said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:20-23) You’re under the Law of Sin: you’re a defiled, corrupt sinner.
Secondly, you’re under the Law of Death, the consequences of sin: you’re cursed. The Bible says, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” (Galatians 3:10). Finally, you’re under God’s wrath: “Because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” (Romans 2:5) Indeed, “God is a just Judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day.” (Psalm 7:11). You may say to yourself, “Well, if there is a God out there, I do a lot of good things in my life- surely God will take that into consideration.” Try that in a court of law. Say you robbed a bank at gunpoint, were caught red-handed and hauled into the courtroom. “Judge, please don’t sentence me. I have done many good things in my life…” A just judge must sentence you, or he/she would be corrupt. Your good deeds have nothing to do with the violations of the law that you have committed. Likewise, you are in a heap of trouble on Judgment Day and your conscience bears witness to a multitude of violations of God’s laws.
Thankfully, not only is the Law of Sin and Death a universal Law, but there is another universal Law that trumps the Law of Sin and Death. Imagine you’re in court and the judge sentences you to 30 years or a million dollars, and you’re broke. What would happen? You’d be sentenced to 30 years. Imagine an amazing thing happens- the Judge takes off his robe, steps down from the bench, hugs you and with tears of compassion in his eyes, pays your fine in full. Justice has been served- the fine has been paid, and mercy prevails. Because of God’s great love, that’s what God did 2000 years ago. God became a man, the Lord Jesus Christ, lived a sinless perfect life and died for all of your sins on that cross in your place. The Bible puts it this way: God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) This Law trumps the Law of Sin and Death, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the Law of the Spirit of Life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the Law of Sin and Death.” (Romans 8:1-2)
So how do we escape the requirements of the Law of Sin and Death and receive the Law of the Spirit of Life? Jesus said, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it [living for yourself leads to eternal condemnation], but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:34-37) Receive the Law of the Spirit of Life. Deny yourself- agree with God you’re a wretched sinner deserving condemnation. Follow Jesus Christ, being willing to let go of any and all things that are offensive to Him. The promise is yours: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) The proof that you truly have repented (have had a change of heart) and believed is that the Lord will send His Holy Spirit into your heart to take up permanent residence and your life will be changed. The Bible describes this change: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Repent and believe today- you’re not guaranteed tomorrow, there are no divine do-overs come Judgment Day (Hebrews 9:27, Luke 16:26) and hell is eternal (Mark 9:48). Start reading God’s Word, the Bible and obey what you read. God will never let you down.
For footnotes to this writing and more evidences for the Faith: www.RedeemedScoundrels.com .
To order this or other tracts, go to www.OneMillionTracts.com.
1 Chuck Colson’s “Breakpoint Commentary, October 12th, 2007, www.breakpoint.com
2 Lubenow, Marvin, Bones of Contention, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2004.
3 Matt Cartmill, David Pilbeam, and Glynn Isaac, “One Hundred Years of Paleoanthropology,” American Scientist 74, (July-august 1986): 419.
4 National Geographic, November, 1999, Feathers for T.Rex , Christopher Sloan and USA Today cover story, vol. 18, no 98.
5 Discover, “Plucking Apart the Dino Birds”, 2/03
6 Michael Denton, Evolution, A Theory in Crisis, 1986, p. 162
7 Bruce Alberts, “The Cell as a Collection of Protein Machines,” Cell 92 (February 8, 1998)
8 Charles Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 154
9 James Shipiro, “In the Details…What?” National Review 9/16/96)
10 Life Itself, 1981, p. 88
11 George Sim Johnson “Did Darwin Get it Right?” Wall Street Journal, 10/15/99
12 Lee Stroebel, ibid, quoting Biochemist Stephen Meyer, p. 229
13 Slap and Tickle in the Primeval Soup, New Scientist magazine, 1986
14 Douglas Futuyma, Evolutionary Biology, 2nd ed., 1986, p. 325. http://tellall.org/fossils.htm
15 Carroll, R.L., Patterns and Processes of Vertebrate Evolution, Cambridge University Press, New York, p. 9, 1997
16 Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe, 2000, p. 60
17 NY Times 3/12/78 “Malcolm W. Browne, “Clues to Universe Origin Expected”
18 Richard Dawkins. The Blind Watchmaker, p.1.
19 Bertrand Russell, Why I am Not a Christian, p. 106
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www.trueorigin.org/camplist.asp
http://Creation.com/creation-magazine-articles
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Positive Examples of Evidence for Biblical Stories Found Outside Scripture
Flood!
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v23/i1/flood.asp
The Tablet Theory of Genesis Authorship
www.trueorigin.org/tablet.asp
Table of Nations: The Sixteen Grandsons of Noah
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v20/i4/noah.asp
Searching for Moses
www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v15/i1/moses.asp
Egyptian History and the Biblical Record: A Perfect Match
www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/4857
Joshua’s Long Day
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v19/i3/longday.asp
The Wall’s of Jericho
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v21/i2/jericho.asp
False History: ‘out with Daivd and Solomon!’
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v24/i4/history.asp
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Articles Dealing With Creation Questions
How can we see distant stars in a young universe?
www.answersingenesis.org/docs/405.asp
Bishop Bells Brass Behemoths
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v25/i4/bishop.asp
Warped Earth
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v25/i1/warped.asp
Coal: Memorial to the Flood
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v23/i2/coal.asp
Those Gaps in the Seidmentary Layers
www.grisda.org/origins/15075.htm
Some Questions About Geochronology
www.grisda.org/origins/13064.htm
Radiometric Dating Breakthroughs
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v26/i2/radiometric.asp
Evidence for a young world
www.answersingenesis.org/docs/4005.asp
Eroding Ages
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v22/i2/ages.asp
Neandertal: The Changing Picture
www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/0217neandertal.asp
Preliminary comments on the PBS-TV series “Origins”
www.answersingenesis.org/docs2004/0929PBSOrigins.asp
Early Galaxies Don’t Fit!
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v25/i3galaxies.asp
Problems for ‘giant impact’ origin of moon
www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v14/moon.asp
The Galileo ‘Twist’
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v19/i4/galileo.asp
The Battle for the Cosmic Center
www.icr.org/article/304/
Who invented the flat earth?
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v16/i2/flatearth.asp
Dinosaur National Monument
www.icr.org/pubs/imp/imp-370.htm
Living in a Bubble
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v25/i3/bubble.asp
Ice-Bound plane flies again!
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v26/i1/plane.asp
Shifting Sands
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v24/i1/shiftingsands.asp
To make a tail for a whale
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v7/i1/whaletail.asp
Ligers and Wholphins…What next?
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v22/i3/ligers_wolphins.asp
What about the ice age?
www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/answersbook/ice-age16.asp
The Mystery of Ancient Man
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v20/i2/ancient.asp
The Days that changed America (scopes trial)
www.answersingenesis.org/docs2005/0711scopes.asp
How did the animals fit on Noah’s Ark?
www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/answersbook/arksize13.asp
The Abraham Affair: Fired For Disbelief
www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2007/12/10/abraham-affair
Refuting Evolution (vl. 1 and 2)
www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/RE1/index.asp
www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/RE2/index.asp
One Blood (Book online)
www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/OneBlood/Index.asp
The Answers Book-Revised and Expanded
www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/answersbook/index.asp
For more great articles, search on these titles on www.answersingenesis.org
> Blood Brothers
> Designed by Aliens
> A lady of Distinction
> Chimp Genome Sequence Very Different from Man
> The Enigma of Living Fossils
> Gladiator–An ‘Extinct’ Insect is found alive
> The Amber Mystery
> Fossil turtles confound evolutionists
> What about continental drift?
> How fast? (an article on the rapidity of fossilization)
> Saturn’s Rings: Short-lived and young
> Transient Lunar phenomena
> The Lies of Lynchburg: How Evolutuionists Helped the
> Nazi’s
> Are Look-Alikes Related?
> The Plant Kingdom: Defying Evolution
> Comets: Portents of Doom or Indicators of Youth?
Other Resources:
Scientists: (note that the theological views of these scientists are at times in contradiction to the Bible and are in these instances mistaken- but all demonstrate serious problems with Evolution):
William Dembski & Jonathan Wells (Intelligent Design): http://www.designinference.com/
Michael Denton, Agnostic, “Evolution, A Theory In Crisis”
Michael Behe (Catholic): Darwin’s Black Box
Lee Stroebel, A Case for Creation