Chapter 7: Changes over Time

Darwin’s Theory

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References

Newsweek magazine, July 27, 1998, “Science finds God”

Time magazine, December 4, 1995, “Evolution’s Big Bang”

Various books and various articles from the Internet

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Charles Darwin

At age 21, went on a 3-year

journey around the world on

the HMS Beagle.

Took extensive notes on the diverse plants and animals he saw

Saw many species of living animals

Saw many fossils of deceased animals

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Galapagos Islands

On a 3-week visit to the islands,

he noticed finches had different

shaped beaks on each island

He noticed turtles had

different shaped shells on

each island.

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Adaptation

A trait that helps an organism survive and reproduce.

Examples:

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Evolution

Definition: Gradual change in a

species over time.

In his book Origin of Species by

Means of Natural Selection, Darwin

proposed that a species slowly changes

, or evolves, over a long period of time.

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What kind of evolution do you mean?

Terms coined by G A Kerkut, British physiologist and evolutionist in

1960

“micro-evolution”

“macro-evolution”

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Micro-evolution

Changes occur throughout life but within narrow limits

Animal breeders can select characteristics to breed in stock, dogs, cats, plants, flowers, etc - process of “artificial selection”

Key observation: no change crosses “phylogenetic” boundaries (“according to its kind”)

Many breeds of dog, but they remain dogs

Micro-evolution is not denied or challengedby anyone

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Macro-evolution

Darwin saw that there are changes inside a species

He hypothesized that a species can change into another type of species, over a very long time.

This is macro-evolution

Term “evolution” now used synonymously as macro-evolution

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Brown and white bears

An illustration used by evolutionists

Begin with a large population of brown bears in the arctic region

At some point in time a mutation occurred and out came a white bear

The white bear can hunt its prey much better than brown bears because it blends very well with the white environment so that hunting for food is easier

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Of brown and white bears

Hence the white bear has better chances of survival, and produces more white bears

That being a good mutation, over time the white bear population grows while that of the brown bears dwindles

Eventually all bears in the arctic region are white

Evolution held up as a logical explanation why bears are white in the arctic region

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Of brown and white bears

BUT, evolutionists fail to point out that the brown bears evolved over time into white bears – not white cats, or birds or fish.

Illustration is one of micro-evolution at work – not of macro-evolution.

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Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection

So, over eons and eons, “nature selects” individuals with the best adaptations: macro-changes

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The Darwinian Evolution Model

Over eons, there is gradual evolution of simple phyla into more complex ones

From simple invertebrates to worms, to molluscs, to vertebrates

All encompassing - applies to ALL life, ALL species

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The Darwinian Evolution Model

A “natural” process (NATURE is in charge)

For evolution to work, we MUST have:

•GOOD, random mutations

•EONS of time

According to evolution, only the

fittest survive

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Gradual changes Evolution

Compared to climbing a cliff

Get to the top in a single jump: highly improbable

But step by step – each small step is probable

So, over long period of time, small steps add up to one huge jump

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Darwinian Evolution Model

The Darwinian Tree

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And yet, in Darwin’s own words…

“I am well aware that there is scarcely a single

point discussed in this volume on which facts

cannot be adduced, often apparently leading to

conclusions directly opposite to those I have

arrived. A fair result could be obtained only by

fully stating and balancing the facts on both sides

of each equation.” (Charles Darwin,

1859, in the Introduction to The Origin of Species)

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Darwinism in Crisis

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Serious Problems with Natural Selection

It cannot explain how life originated

No evidence of change from one kind of organism to another

Chance cannot explain how life ascended from simple and lower intelligence to very complex and higher intelligence

Who or what is directing the climb of species? Does nature have a BRAIN?

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Evidence:

Fossil record considered to be the scientific evidence of evolution

Pierre-P. Grasse considers evolution to be based “primarily on documents provided by paleontology, i.e. the [fossil] history of the living world . . . . only paleontology can provide the evidence of evolution and reveal its course or mechanisms.”

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Gaping hole in evolutionary theory

“If it could be shown that

this fact [gaps between

widely distinct groups] had

always existed, the fact

would be fatal to the

doctrine of evolution.” (Thomas Huxley, 1882)Consider the next most intelligent creature next to man. Why such a gap?

The Missing Link

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Gaping hole in evolutionary theory

From Darwin himself:

“[Since] innumerable transitional forms must have existed, why do we not find them imbedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth? Why is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links?”

“. . . why if species have descended from other species by insensibly fine gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms?”

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Another hole:

A dependence on eons and eons of time for probability to work its course and effect the evolutionary changes

If it can be shown that there is not enough time, the theory will be discredited

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Another Fatal Blow

There was a “big-bang” of life ALL over the earth, known as the Cambrian explosion (530 million years ago *)

Life did NOT start in just one place and gradually populate the whole earth

Life did not start small and then grow

It exploded everywhere in a short period of time!

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Evolution in the Darwinian world

“Virtually every major

discovery has put deep

cracks in the conventional

wisdom and forced scientists to

concoct new theories, amid

furious debate.” (Time magazine,

March 14, 1994)

Desperate attempt to provide explanations for current model

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Punctured Theories

The VAST MAJORITY of mutations are harmful – never yet seen a hopeful mutation that can evolve in new species

Need two good mutations - male and female - in order to propagate; even greater improbability

Still does not explain the “Big Bang”

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Science Fiction

Some scientists now embracing “panspermia” – life came from outer space, or was planted on earth by extra-terrestrial intelligence

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An Ideological Struggle

“From the earliest stages of Greek thought man has been eager to discover some natural cause of evolution, and to abandon the supernatural intervention in the order of nature.” (Henry Fairfield Osburn, 1918)

“Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We believe it because the only alternative is special creation, and that is unthinkable.” (Sir Arthur

Keith)

(Sir Julian Huxley, 1960)“God is unnecessary.”

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So is Darwinism fact or fiction?