Darwinian Evolution: The Negative Evidence
“In grammar school they taught me that a frog turning into a prince was a fairy tale. In the university they taught me that a frog turning into a prince was a fact!” – Ron Carlson, U.C. Irvine Professor and Author
Before I started my teaching career I took an interest in biology. I knew that in order to be desirable in the work force I would need to be qualified in more than one subject. The deeper I got into my science studies the more I found support for a secular worldview. From most of my college professors’ lectures I learned that science had presented enough evidence for evolution that we didn’t need God anymore to explain how life came to be.
When I finally began teaching I was excited to dive into the biology curriculum and present it to my students, but something kept bothering me. Every time I taught the theory of evolution as a means for the origin of life my simple, yet indoctrinated mind kept telling me that something didn’t make sense. As I began to look closely at the textbooks and teachers’ guides I realized that there were many puzzle pieces missing and things that did not connect, and no one seemed to be questioning it.
What is taught in your local schools?
California State Standards, and now Common Core, require our children to have proficient and advanced knowledge of evolutionary theory and not only in science. Evolution is embedded across the standards in other curriculums like History, English and the Arts.
Evolution (used as the answer to the origin of life) is the only theory that is treated as factual yet it does not follow the highly esteemed Scientific Method for accepting theories. This method requires direct observation, direct testing, hard data, repeatability and agreement in the scientific community (and not just a limited community of scientists).
The Problem:
Questions of origin requires the use of forensic science. Evolutionary theory employs philosophy not science. It has become a religion in and of itself.
Michael Ruse, Professor of Philosophy and Zoology at the University of Gwelth in Canada has said,
“Evolution is promoted by its practitioners as more than a mere science. Evolutions is promulgated as an ideology, a secular religion—a full fledged alternative to Christianity, with meaning and morality…Evolution is a religion. This was true of evolution in the beginning and it is true of evolution still today.”
To begin to understand the problem we need to understand what is meant when the term evolution is used. The word can often be misleading because it is overarching and broad in its scope and definition. Evolutionists use it with slight of hand to talk about both observable and unobservable evidence so we need to know the difference.
Microevolution:
- The changes we see in nature and the diversity of species that are measurable. For example we can observe different kinds of species in plants, dogs, horses etc., and we can document species that have gone extinct in the fossil record. Microevolution might be better referred to as adaption, natural selection or survival of the fittest. No one disputes this type of evidence.
But does this observable evidence lead to the next unobservable conclusion?
Macroevolution:
- This is where evolutionists take the evidence from microevolution and conclude that all of the species we have today evolved through gradual series of changes over millions and billions of years. For example the theory infers that humans and monkeys have evolved from a single ape-like creature, amphibians from fish, and birds from a type of reptile. Taken back far enough we all began as a single cell bacteria-like organism in a primordial fluid on early earth.
- Macroevolution is unobservable. There is no direct evidence for it and, contrary to popular belief, it does not have the required evidence in the areas that it claims to—such as the highly regarded fossil record (we will look at this record in the next few posts).
Who was Darwin and how did he develop his theory of evolution as it relates to the origin of life?
In the mid 1800’s Charles Darwin, an English Naturalist, wrote on the idea of evolution in two books: The Origin of Species and Descent of Man. In short, Darwin took his studies from a single visit to the Galapagos Islands where he found a multitude of variation in species. He then postulated the observable changes he saw within species to a theory of the origin of species. This theory takes an awful leap of faith from the observable microevolution to the unobservable macroevolution.
Charles Darwin, said this about his own theory:
“Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory.”
In Darwin’s time there was an expectation that transitional fossils were still to be discovered, to date they have not. Most scientists agree that as of today most of the fossil record has been uncovered and it has not changed to any significant degree than what Darwin knew of back then. It would appear that in an effort to keep the idea intact many Darwinist have published unsubstantiated evidence as facts and have even gone so far as to falsify evidence.
What are scientists saying about Darwin and his theory today?
Biologist Jonathan Wells in his book “Icons of Evolution” exposes the fact that much of the evolutionary evidence given in the public school textbooks has been disproven, shown to be flawed or even faked. We will look at some of these icons in next week’s post.
Click here to view the documentary: “Icons of Evolution:”
There is a growing dissent from Darwinian theory and an acceptance of evidence pointing to “intelligent design” even among non-Christian scholars. The Christian Research Institute (CRI) posted an excellent article on this, click here to read it: “Are there Non-Religious Skeptics of Darwinian Evolution and Proponents of Intelligent Design?”
Jesus praying for His disciples:
…”O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike.” Yes Father, it pleased you to do it this way!” –Matthew 11:25
Paul warns us:
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. -Ephesians 6:12
JOIN US NEXT WEEK FOR PART TWO IN THE GOD VS. SCIENCE SERIES
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You will not find this material in the public school curriculum even though it is based on solid evidence and grounded in research. It is ironic that following the evidence to where it leads stops at the door of our public schools as they will not let a “Divine footprint” in!
Join us this year as we examine evidence for the Christian faith and learn how to become a thoughtful defender and ambassador of your faith.
Click into the resource page of this website to view many of the top Christian thinkers and apologists along with some of their work; connecting to these types of resources is essential in your Christian growth.
Please let me know what you think: Give feedback, ask questions or send concerns in the comment section of the blog.
Teri Dugan
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