| Introduction |
PROVEN AND UNPROVEN
WHERE WAS DARWIN RIGHT? It would be unreasonable to say that the Theory of Evolution is completely wrong. Darwin observed changes within species and documented these. Countless scientists have done the same thing since Darwin. This kind of evolution is well documented in the fossil record. This information is used today in a productive way. For instance, when breeding produces a new line of corn, that change is evolution. When breeding produces a new line of cattle or sheep, that change is also evolution. Proper breeding also a can produce a new line of dog or cat, and this is similarly called evolution. However, this is MICRO evolution. You start with corn and get a new line of corn. Same with cattle, sheep, dogs, or cats. You have not made a new species. You have the same number of chromosomes before and after the breeding. This is the basis of the account in Genesis 30:25-43, which speaks of Jacob’s flocks. We know that humans were, on the average, shorter 200 years ago than we are, on the average, today. That is evolution. But humans have the same number of chromosomes today as in the day of Napoleon Bonaparte, and we have not evolved into a new species simply because we are taller. Therefore, this kind of MICRO evolution is true, it is good science,
and we can make useful applications with this knowledge.
WHERE DID DARWIN MAKE A LEAP OF FAITH? Darwin was an excellent observer of nature. He knew that MICRO evolution could be demonstrated in many models. However, Darwin made a fantastic leap of faith when he wrote The Origin of Species. He postulated that one species could evolve over eons to form another species. For instance, the idea of an amoeba evolving into man over eons of time is an example of Darwin’s theory. This is often called MACRO evolution. However, Darwin had not one shred of scientific evidence to support MACRO evolution when he published his research. He hoped such evidence would be brought to light after further research. Nevertheless, there remains no scientific support for this claim, even after more than 100 years of intensive research. The fossil record is the unbiased and faithful witness of ancient life, and the final arbitrator of fact when it comes to MACRO evolution. If the fossil record cannot support a theory of change, then that theory cannot be sustained. Darwin hoped that science could demonstrate the gradual change in species over eons of time, with intermediate forms showing the transition from one species to another. Certainly such could be non-refutable, if not conclusive evidence for MACRO evolution. However, the fossil record shows the sudden appearance of new species, with no convincing transitional forms. Therefore, in order to be scientifically honest, we must affirm that Darwinian MACRO evolution has been disproved. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as a matter of fact by our high schools, colleges, and media. The witness of the fossil record has forced some modern scientists to
reject portions of Darwin’s theory. They retain Darwin’s cardinal
principles of variation and natural selection. However, these scientists
now claim that evolution was sporadic, and when it occurred, it happened
with great speed, involving multiple small mutations, and resulting in
new species so rapidly that it left no evidence in the fossil record (called
Punctuated Equilibria). Certainly that is an interesting way to make
the Theory of Evolution immune to the fossil record. However, such
a proposition by modern evolutionary scientists also makes the Theory of
Evolution unprovable by the one and only historical record.
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