Apologetics: The Basics
Session 10 – Darwin, Part 2

Review :

• Science: God may or may not exist, science has no position
• Science: does not recognize God as a cause
• Expectation: If a cause is a priori ruled out, any evidence that points to that cause will be ignored or twisted to point to a cause that IS acceptable

Conclusion: If God exists, which science does not rule out, science is incapable of speaking coherently about any effect for which he is a cause

What is Darwinian evolution?

“What is evolution?…evolution is an observable process, a fact of life. It refers to changes in gene frequencies between generations of animals or plants. It occurs every day and has been demonstrated in many species …After a few billion years, little changes add up to big ones.” – Sarah L. Pallas, assoc. biology professor Georgia State

Darwinian evolution is:

•  Mutations: tiny changes (micro-evolution) that result in an enhanced ability to survive
• Natural Selection:  the organism is better able to survive and reproduce than those without the mutation
• Inheritance: these mutations are passed down to subsequent generations and spread through the population
• LONG periods of time: the tiny, micro-evolutionary changes accumulate over time to become big changes

I find none of these four points in the least bit objectionable

Then what is it about Darwinian theory that bothers so many people?

2 THINGS…

1. The arrogance of the scientific power structure

“There are NO weaknesses in the theory of Evolution.”
Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education

2. The missing link in the Darwinian definition…

Darwinian evolution is:

• Mutations
• Natural Selection
• Inheritance
• LONG periods of time

• DARWINISM: All life we see on earth is the result of Darwinian processes

The often obscure but missing critical piece of the equation:

  Darwinian Evolutionary processes can BUILD THINGS, and have built all we see.

B4 we start discussing arguments…3 THINGS TO KNOW…

1. There IS Evidence FOR Darwinism
   1. Progression in the fossil record
   2. Homology
      1. Genes
      2. Biological features
   3. Common gene mutations
   4. ‘Bad’ designs
   5. Archaeopteryx

High School seniors WILL encounter these arguments (and others!) if they go to college!

2. Christianity is not dependent on Darwin being right or wrong but
Naturalism IS dependent on Darwin being right*
* – other proposals WILL be made

“It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I’d rather not consider that).” – Richard Dawkins

3. Micro-evolution is a fact of science,
macro-evolution (changes across species) is theory

“There is obviously an enormous difference between the evolution of a color change in a moth’s wing and the evolution of an organ like the human brain. And the differences among fruit flies of Hawaii, for example, are utterly trivial compared to the differences between a mouse and an elephant, or an octopus and a bee.” – Michael Denton

NO ONE DISPUTES THAT MICRO-EVOLUTION IS A FACT

“What is evolution?…evolution is an observable process, a fact of life. It refers to changes in gene frequencies between generations of animals or plants. It occurs every day and has been demonstrated in many species …After a few billion years, little changes add up to big ones.” – Sarah L. Pallas, assoc. biology professor Georgia State

• Mutations:
• Natural Selection:
• Inheritance:
• LONG periods of time:

SO WHAT?? EXPLAIN HOW ‘LIFE’ CAME ABOUT…

Will go thru ARGUMENTS quickly …don’t worry if you miss something …will give reference material at the end of next session

Argument #1

The origin of life demonstrates Darwinism is wrong

• Chance is no longer an option – FAR too unlikely to be considered reasonable
• All other optional theories fail
  • Super RNA
  • Chemical attraction
  • Heated ocean vents
  • etc. etc. etc.
• Evidence leads to the proposal of Panspermia

Argument #2

The fossil record demonstrates Darwin was wrong #1  – Lack of transitionary forms

“Why, if species have descended from other species by insensibly fine gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms? Why is not all nature in confusion instead of the species being, as we see them, well defined?” – Charles Darwin

ARCHAEOPTERYX??

Argument #3

The fossil record demonstrates Darwin was wrong #2 – Stasis

“Expectation colored perception to such an extent that the most obvious single fact about biological evolution, non-change, has seldom, if ever, been incorporated into anyone’s scientific notions of how life actually evolves. If ever there was a myth, it is that evolution is a process of constant change”. – Niles Eldredge

Argument #4

The fossil record demonstrates Darwin was wrong #3 – Sudden appearance

“The history of most fossil species includes two features particularly inconsistent with gradualism: 1. Stasis. Most species exhibit no directional change during their tenure on earth. They appear in the fossil record looking pretty much the same as when they disappear. 2. Sudden appearance. In any local area, a species does not arise gradually by the steady transformation of its ancestors; it appears all at once and ‘fully formed’”. – Stephen Jay Gould

PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM?

FOSSIL RECORD and the TREE OF LIFE diagram

Argument #5

The information in DNA demonstrates Darwin was wrong

• Specified, complex information is ALWAYS the result of an intelligent agent
• example of “Take out the garbage, Mom” in the cereal
• example of “Marry Me” in the sky

DNA is an entire language, complete with punctuation and tremendous amounts of specified, complex information

Argument #6

Irreducible complexity demonstrates Darwin was wrong

“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.” – Charles Darwin, Origin of Species

“No one at Harvard University, no one at the National Institutes of Health, no member of the National Academy of Sciences, no Nobel prize winner, no one at all can give a detailed account of how the cilium, or vision, or blood clotting, or any complex biochemical process might have developed in a Darwinian fashion. But we are here. All these things got here somehow, if not in a Darwinian fashion, then how?” – Michael Behe

Irreducible Complexity: an irreducibly complex organism is one where nothing can be taken away without eliminating the organisms ability to function.

Irreducibly complex organisms should not exist in a Darwinian world but they abound in the world of biology.

 Argument #7

Discontinuity demonstrates Darwin was wrong

“…it is widely acknowledged, indeed common knowledge, that the great majority of novelties which define the taxa are not led up to via the adaptive continuums that might have endowed selection with causal directive agency.” – Michael Denton

Translation: scientists acknowledge that most characteristics that distinguish species cannot be explained by tiny, beneficial changes occurring over long periods of time. (In other words, you can’t get there from here.)

Discontinuity describes jumps in biological features that cannot be explained by numerous, successive, slight modifications that have a survivability benefit.

Discontinuity should not exist in a Darwinian world but it abounds in the world of biology.

Summary:

• Darwinian Evolution is mutations, natural selection, inheritance, and long periods of time
• Darwinism is the belief that all life is the result of Darwinian Evolutionary processes
• There IS evidence for both
• Christianity is NOT dependent on whether Charles Darwin was right, but Atheism IS
• Micro-evolution is real science, macro-evolution is theology
• Long periods of time does not necessarily turn micro-evolution into macro-evolution

Darwinian theory is contradicted by…

• The origin of life
• The fossil record: lack of intermediate species
• The fossil record: sudden appearance
• The fossil record: stasis
• Information in DNA
• Irreducible Complexity
• Discontinuity

In our next session we will conclude our case against the theories of Charles Darwin…

Know what you believe
Know why you believe it