29Dec12 Evolution Karina Altman Outline Evolution Science and Religion Problems with Evolution Gaps in the Fossil Record/Transitional Forms Origin of Genetic Material Science and Natural Laws Proofs of Evolution – Refuted Heredity Biogenetic Law Missing Links Vestigial Organs Evolution in Action 1 29Dec12 Outline Evolution Science and Religion Problems with Evolution Gaps in the Fossil Record/Transitional Forms Origin of Genetic Material Science and Natural Laws Proofs of Evolution – Refuted Heredity Biogenetic Law Missing Links Vestigial Organs Evolution in Action Evolution Evolution has a variety of definitions, ranging from “change” to “the natural process by which all life on earth derived from a single ancestor” Referred to alternatively as a hypothesis, theory, law, or fact Used ambiguously to imply that the processes we can observe in the present “prove” that processes we cannot observe in the past must have happened too 2 29Dec12 Evolution Scientifically, evolution means the change or addition of genetic material between generations, or “descent with modification” These changes are attributed to mutations and natural selection, which are examples of operations science and can be shown to occur Mutations and natural selection are NOT evolution!!! Evolution The other aspect of evolution is the belief that all animals descended from one original ancestor Evolutionists claim this “fact” is established in the fossil record and genetic evidence However, any evidence involving origins science is subject to interpretational bias Remember the difference between operations and origins science 3 29Dec12 Evolution Mutations are often cited as a source of heritable traits from one generation to another While mutations do cause changes in the genome, this process is not capable of changing one kind of animal into another Mutations have either no noticeable effect or cause degeneration Evolution Evolutionists claim that since one can observe natural selection, then descent from a common ancestor must be true However, this assumes that the current processes we observe could cause the origin of completely novel structures This is contrary to the laws of nature 4 29Dec12 Outline Evolution Science and Religion Problems with Evolution Gaps in the Fossil Record/Transitional Forms Origin of Genetic Material Science and Natural Laws Proofs of Evolution – Refuted Heredity Biogenetic Law Missing Links Vestigial Organs Evolution in Action Science and Religion The root meaning of science is “knowledge” Theology once was considered the “queen of sciences” Now, “science” has come to mean a “method of knowing” Remember Operations vs. Origins science Present day observations help us consider possible causes of past events, but they cannot tell us exactly what happened in the past 5 29Dec12 Science and Religion The Bible provides an eyewitness account of Creation Week Evolution is a belief about the past based on anti-biblical assumptions Creation vs. Evolution is not a battle of religion vs. science, but rather a conflict between worldviews We must examine every claimed truth against Scripture and look for faulty logic or false assumptions Outline Evolution Science and Religion Problems with Evolution Gaps in the Fossil Record/Transitional Forms Origin of Genetic Material Science and Natural Laws Proofs of Evolution – Refuted Heredity Biogenetic Law Missing Links Vestigial Organs Evolution in Action 6 29Dec12 Gaps in the Fossil Record The most glaring problem with the idea of common ancestry is the lack of fossil evidence of the millions of transitional forms needed This argument is often dismissed by: Agreeing with the lack of a complete fossil record Problems in identifying what is transitional Gaps in the Fossil Record However, this does not diminish the problem since the blatant changes evolution requires would be expected to provide numerous examples in every layer of the geologic record Instead, most of the geologic record is better explained by the catastrophic processes during Noah’s Flood and the following localized catastrophes Furthermore, the amazing design of most animals make transitional forms impossible 7 29Dec12 Transitional Forms Transitional Forms 8 29Dec12 Transitional Forms Origin of Genetic Material According to evolutionists, all genetic information arose spontaneously, not only with the first living organism, but continuously throughout life history Evolution requires that the information for new structures must have been added to the genome over and over through mutations This is basically a series of miracles! The spontaneous generation of complex information has never been observed 9 29Dec12 Origin of Genetic Material Information can only come from an intelligent source It not only requires bits of data, but also the ability to decode and understand that data Without both the data and the understanding, information is useless Therefore, living systems could not have arisen through genetic mistakes and must have been created to function as complete systems Science and Natural Laws Evolution fails as a framework because it violates several known laws of the universe In order for evolution and abiogenesis to occur, several “miracles” (violations of natural law) would had to have occurred This undermines the very premise of naturalism! 10 29Dec12 Science and Natural Laws CREATION EVOLUTION 1st Law of YES NO Thermodynamics 2nd Law of YES NO Thermodynamics Law of Cause and YES NO Effect Law of Biogenesis YES NO Outline Evolution Science and Religion Problems with Evolution Gaps in the Fossil Record/Transitional Forms Origin of Genetic Material Science and Natural Laws Proofs of Evolution – Refuted Heredity Biogenetic Law Missing Links Vestigial Organs Evolution in Action 11 29Dec12 Heredity Evolution is claimed to occur through inherited alterations of traits via genetic changes Natural selection then acts upon these changes by selecting for those that improve the overall fitness of a species However, these processes are insufficient to give rise to the various kinds of animals found in the fossil record and today Heredity While such changes may cause characteristics to fluctuate, they are not capable of the mass changes evolutionists claim happened since life first appeared Mutations cannot add the information needed for original structures to appear; they are a LOSS of genetic information They do play a part in revealing and controlling the variation within each kind of animals and also in a number of diseases (aspect of the Curse) 12 29Dec12 Heredity Heredity The observed evidence in the present concerning genetic changes supports Genesis, which says that God created all animal kinds and human kind during Creation Week God gave the animal kinds a robust enough genetic foundation to form numerous species and to adapt to changing environments No observed processes can ever cause one kind of animal to transform into another kind 13 29Dec12 What is a Kind? God created a number of animals with much capacity for variation within limits Kinds would today be represented by families or genera Species and breeds have descended from these original kinds A common way to describe kinds is any group of organisms that can interbreed, produce fertile offspring, and do not mate with other species What is a Kind? “And God said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.’ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, ’Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.’ And there was evening, and there was morning – the fifth day. And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.’ And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:20-25 14 29Dec12 What is a Kind? What is a Kind? 15 29Dec12 What is a Kind? What is a Kind? 16 29Dec12 What is a Kind? What is a Kind? 17 29Dec12 What is a Kind? Biogenetic Law In 1868, a German evolutionist named Ernst Haeckel popularized the idea that an organism’s early embryonic development supposedly retraces its evolutionary history 18 29Dec12 Biogenetic Law Within months of publication, zoologist L. Rutimeyer and comparative embryologist W. His Sr. showed it to be fraudulent Haeckel modified his drawings to make them look more alike and even printed the same woodcut several times to make the embryos look identical Recently, it has been discovered that Haeckel’s embryos bear very little resemblance to the actual embryos Despite Haeckel’s exposure, these pictures are still in textbooks today! Biogenetic Law Evolutionist George Simpson said in 1965, “It is now firmly established that ontogeny does not repeat phylogeny.” Evolutionist Keith Thompson said, “Surely the biogenetic law is dead as a doornail.” However, this is still presented in textbooks as conclusive evidence for evolution!!! Dedicated atheist Carl Sagan, in support of abortion, often references Haeckel’s