Happy Question Evolution Day!

Today, February 12th, is Darwin’s birthday and also Question Evolution Day.

The kind of evolution being questioned is biological evolution, not the alleged evolution of solar systems or galaxies, although I don’t think that kind of evolution is possible either. The universe is winding down through entropy. It is not evolving into something more complicated than what we see around us.

Biological evolution is also not the differentiation of a specific kind of animal into new breeds or sub-species. That comes about routinely with either artificial or natural selection. However, no new kind of animal can be formed by this selection process alone.

Biological evolution is a way to go from something simple to something complicated without involving the free will of any agent such as God. The whole point of biological evolution is to do away with God as an explanation.

Since God is not involved, evolution will need some mechanism by which change can take place making a transition from slime mold to ourselves plausible. The current mechanism offered is random mutations. Given mutations over long periods of time DNA is supposedly changed so slime mold can turn into a chicken or maybe a dinosaur and the dinosaur can turn into an ape and the ape can become a human being.

However, it has become apparent that mutations aren’t enough to make that happen.

The reason mutations won’t work is because they are generally deleterious. Rarely do they benefit the species undergoing them. That is why our bodies try to correct them, but they do not always succeed. We pass on some of these mistakes to our children who pass them on to their children with additional mutations. A mutational load builds up generation after generation.

This increasing mutational load is what John Sanford calls genetic entropy. Natural selection cannot stop it. The end result of genetic entropy is not some superior creature, but mutational meltdown. That’s when a species is no longer able to reproduce. It goes extinct.

So, unless there is some mechanism for biological evolution to occur besides mutations to supplement natural selection, biological evolution is not possible. Genetic entropy prevents it.

That’s why I celebrate Question Evolution Day.

Admittedly the extinction part is depressing. However, God said that He not only created a very good world with us in it, but in response to the fall of Adam and Eve, He offered us His Son whose sacrifice almost two thousand years ago would allow for a new heaven and a new earth. Given genetic entropy, we are going to need it.

Lake Michigan in the Snow
Lake Michigan in the Snow

Author: Frank Hubeny

I enjoy walking, poetry and short prose as well as taking pictures with my phone.

16 thoughts on “Happy Question Evolution Day!”

  1. An excellent post, Frank. I think some people get “Micro evolution,” which is adaptation to diet and climate – already programmed into animals by God, with “Macro evolution,” which is the formation of an entire new species. Thanks for sharing.

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    2. Yes, many creationists prefer words like “variation” and similar to microevolution. Some people think that if there’s a little evolution, then it should lead to the kind that the Bearded Buddha postulated. They don’t know that there are biological limits to prevent dust-to-Darwin evolution.

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        1. Something I emphasize frequently is definitions. (In fact, I did a special article on that for today.) Atheists and other anti-creationists can get downright sneaky with the ol’ bait ‘n’ switch by defining “change” or “variations” as evolution. When we see change, they call it evolution and then claim victory for Darwin.

          I try to mix things up a bit, using the format that others use: molecules-to-man, particles-to-people, and so on.

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  3. I can think of an instance where something basic becomes something complex. When a star is massive, the fusion inside the star goes from hydrogen to helium, and then heavier and heavier elements that eventually end up very complex like Lawrencium which has 103 each of electrons and protons. They have to use quantum mechanics to figure out how they are fusing because the heat and the pressure are not really enough to break down the Strong repelling force between atoms. But as complex as these elements are, they do not translate into DNA which is present in every living thing on earth. They have yet to figure out how to get non-organic matter to develop into organic matter because DNA is not creatable by “natural” means. If that were possible, we’d have all sorts of brand new beings and plants every year instead of extinctions.

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    1. Good point about the transition from hydrogen to helium. That does seem like a process that leads to a more complex state. I will have to think about that.

      Also good point that DNA is not created by natural means otherwise we’d have “brand new beings and plants every year”.

      Thank you, Rebecca!

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  5. Excellent Frank. I don’t get to hear science and religion clasp hands very often, but that’s where my own thinking occurs.

    I hadn’t heard of these terms but almost-agree and have formed similar (un-termed) conclusions. I did assume we were at a constant expansion, at least in the universe.

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    1. I think operational science agrees with Christianity. It is speculative “science”, because it is more philosophy than science, that does not. Thank you, Chel!

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