Created or evolved?

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Created or evolved?

Where do we come from? Find your answer to the vital creation vs evolution question

The peppered moth (Biston betularia, in its light and dark forms) is often paraded as evidence for evolution, whereas it actually isn’t. See: The moth files. Minor variation within a species of moth does nothing to explain the origin of the moth or how (for example) a worm could change into a fish. For readers wanting to dig deeper still, see the many articles accessible from Q&A: Natural selection.
Photos by Olaf Leillinger, wikipedia.org

by David Catchpoole

Published: 25 June 2013 (GMT+10)

Are you created or evolved?

Since Charles Darwin first published his Origin of Species in 1859, the idea that everything just evolved by itself over millions and billions of years has come to dominate our public media and educational institutions. Evolution is often spoken of as ‘fact’.

So it surprises many that there are an increasing number of voices speaking out against evolution. They say we are not evolved, but created. It’s even more of a surprise to discover many of those voices are from leading scientists across a range of disciplines. Not only are they pointing out the flaws in evolutionary theory, but they’re also showing that the evidence around us fits with the Bible’s account of the past, not evolution.

What is this evidence for creation that these scientists are pointing to? There’s lots. Here’s just a taste.

The design of living things

If we look at even just one aspect of our bodies, such as the dexterity of our hand, wrist and fingers, it speaks of design, and therefore, a Designer. Robotics engineers are still striving to copy that dexterity!¹ And our movements are controlled by our brains—no mean feat! The immense complexity of the human brain, its creativity and power of abstract reasoning, with capacities vastly beyond that required for sheer survival, is perhaps the most obvious evidence for intelligent creation.²

New jaw-dropping discoveries of the cell’s hitherto-unrealized complexity are continuing to be made.

At the time that Charles Darwin published his Origin of Species, a cell was considered a simple ‘blob of protoplasm’—a basic building block of life. But with the development of technology allowing us to study living things at a molecular level, it’s now realized that a single cell is enormously complex. And new jaw-dropping discoveries of its hitherto-unrealized complexity are continuing to be made. E.g. the cell has a ‘switchboard system’ to coordinate the multiplicity of biochemical events happening within.³

And much more! E.g. it’s humorous now to look back on the prediction, by a scientist (J.B.S. Haldane) who believed that, because of evolution, no-one would ever find a wheel in nature.⁴ He was wrong, as this video clip (duration 1 minute, 26 seconds) of the world’s smallest rotary motor, the incredible ATP synthase enzyme present in all living things, shows:⁵

And there are linear motors, too, including the kinesin protein that ‘walks’ as it transports essential components to where they are needed in the cell, as this video (duration 1 minute, 11 seconds) shows:⁶

Note that every ‘step’ the kinesin protein takes requires one ATP molecule for energy—i.e. ATP which is generated by the rotary ATP synthase motor shown in the previous video clip. The eukaryotic cell needs both of these highly complex motors to be present and fully functional—and much more besides. No wonder the Psalmist wrote …

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (Psalm 139:14)

… and the Apostle Paul said:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

Indeed, there’s no excuse! Especially as modern science continues to reveal the irreducible complexity in life’s biochemistry. This video clip (duration 2 minutes, 16 seconds) spectacularly demonstrates one essential aspect of this:⁷

Note that this whole system (DNA, RNA and fully functional enzyme machinery) must be present in any living cell. To get enzymes you need RNA, to get RNA you need DNA, to get DNA you need enzymes … get the picture? No one has any idea how such a sophisticated set of nanomachines could have made themselves without intelligent design. This had to be designed by a super-intelligence. This is one characteristic of the Creator of all described in the Bible: omniscient / all knowing.

What would Charles Darwin have made of all this new information available today? Even in his day, the sight of a peacock feather was enough to make him sick (!), as this one-minute video clip relates:⁸

We’re going downhill so fast in fact that geneticists wonder why we haven’t become extinct at least 100 times over!

For readers interested in a swag of further articles on how nature points undeniably to a Designer, see:

Q&A: Design features

Perhaps you might also know someone who would benefit from being given this short letter demonstrating how we inherently recognize design when we see it:

Letter to an atheist: A birdbox and a tree

Too-rapid genetic decay

Bad news, folks. We’re accumulating copying mistakes (mutations) in our genes at a rate of approximately 60–100 per person per generation. Here’s a video clip (duration 2 minutes 29 seconds) extract from a presentation on this topic by internationally-renowned geneticist Dr John Sanford (one of many PhD scientists who believe the Bible)⁹, inventor of the gene gun:¹⁰

We’re going downhill so fast in fact that geneticists wonder why we haven’t become extinct 100 times over! But their bewilderment is because they make the mistake of believing the world is older than the 6,000 or so years the Bible indicates.

Also, many wrongly think that mutations can be the ‘engine’ of evolution, i.e. that they can generate the sort of ‘uphill’ transformations necessary to validate the microbes-to-man idea. But the truth is very different. In the following video clip (duration 1 minute, 52 seconds), the response of the ‘champion’ of evolution in the west, biologist Richard Dawkins, when challenged on this issue is very revealing:¹¹

(Should you encounter some of the many Skeptics who have tried to question the veracity of the above film clip, you can show they are wrong with this analysis of the video timeline: Was Dawkins stumped? Frog-to-a-Prince critics refuted again.)

Note that time, far from being the ‘hero’ of evolution,¹² actually makes matters worse for evolutionary theory. Here are two easy-to-read articles for readers interested in following this up further:

Supernovas demonstrate by their presence that the mooted billions-of-years age of the universe is nonsense.

Time—no friend of evolution
The evolution train’s a-comin’ (Sorry, a-goin’—in the wrong direction)

And here’s a swag of further articles for readers keen to dig deeper on this topic, which clearly shows the genetic evidence points to the truth of biblical creation:

Q&A: Mutations

Incidentally, while on the subject of genetics, in this video clip (duration 1 minute, 5 seconds), CMI’s Dr Jonathan Sarfati explains why our DNA similarity with apes points to a common designer and not evolution:¹³

For readers with a strong further interest in genetics, see:

Q&A: Genetics

The fossil ‘record’

Instead of representing millions-of-years of evolution and extinction, the fossil ‘record’ is actually better interpreted as being a legacy of the global Flood (Genesis 6–9), and events since. This one-minute video highlights the challenge that stasis and ‘living fossils’ present to evolutionary theory, while those observed characteristics are right in line with what the Bible says:¹⁴

And there’s plenty of evidence of rapid burial, just as you’d expect from the catastrophically violent worldwide Flood described in the Bible. E.g. this one-minute video shows some fossils buried across multiple sedimentary layers:¹⁵

The pattern of worldwide catastrophic erosion, movement and burial in a watery cataclysm is plainly evident for those with eyes to see, as these easy-to-read articles explain:

Do rivers erode through mountains?—Water gaps are strong evidence for the Genesis Flood
Noah’s long-distance travelers—Quartzite boulders speak powerfully of the global Flood
It’s plain to see
Seeing the pattern

By the way, the widely-held belief that the fossil record ‘proves’ that humans evolved from apes is sadly misplaced. One of the world’s foremost evolutionary paleoanthropologists, Professor Bernard Wood, forthrightly highlights the deceptiveness in portraying transitional images of ape-to-man (such as the one displayed on the right) as follows:

“There is a popular image of human evolution that you’ll find all over the place, from the backs of cereal packets to advertisements for expensive scientific equipment. On the left of the picture there’s an ape—stocky, jutting jaw, hunched in the knuckle-walking position. On the right, a man—graceful, high forehead, striding purposefully into the future. Between the two is a succession of figures that become ever more like humans, as the shoulders start to pull back, the torso slims down, the arms retract, the legs extend, the cranium expands and the chin recedes. Our progress from ape to human looks so smooth, so tidy. It’s such a beguiling image that even the experts are loath to let it go. But it is an illusion.”¹⁶

An illusion! And Professor Wood has subsequently also said:

“The origin of our own genus remains frustratingly unclear.”¹⁷

But one might reasonably ask, “Hasn’t there already been lots of discoveries of transitional ape-men fossils, since Darwin wrote his Origin?” The following video clip (duration: 45 seconds) gives an example of what has happened to them, since they were initially heralded as ‘transitional forms’:¹⁸

For readers who’d like to explore the whole claimed ‘ape-men’ issue further, see the many articles accessible from:

Q&A: Anthropology and Ape-men

For readers who’d like to dig even deeper into the fossil record [Unintended pun!—Ed.], there’s a plethora of further articles accessible from:

Q&A: Geology
Q&A: Fossils

The 600-year-old tomb of Bishop Bell at Carlisle Cathedral, UK, has brass engravings of what appear to be sauropod dinosaurs. They appear to be engaged in a fight with their necks (as is also typical of giraffe behaviour) or perhaps courting displays, also familiar within the animal kingdom. Whoever engraved them all those centuries ago clearly wasn’t copying from the Encyclopædia Brittanica! Rather, people at that time knew what such dinosaurs looked like because those creatures were alive at the time, and were as familiar to people as the other creatures engraved on Bishop Bell’s tomb, e.g. fish, dogs, pigs and birds.
Photos by Philip Bell (left) and Mark Harwood (right).

Dinosaurs

There’s lots of evidence of dinosaurs having lived alongside people after the Flood (e.g. at Carlisle Cathedral shown above).¹⁹ And of rapid burial of dinosaurs during the Flood.²⁰ And of red blood cells and hemoglobin in dinosaur remains, indicating the millions-of-years extinction ideas must be wrong, but right in line with the Bible’s timeline, as the following video (duration 43 seconds) shows:²¹

You can get an idea of the astonishment of the scientists involved in the discovery by viewing the following one-minute video:

Actually, following the 1990s discovery of the red blood cells and hemoglobin (for more detail on that find see Sensational dinosaur blood report!), even more dramatic discoveries have included:

• In 2005, flexible ligaments and blood vessels. See Dinosaur soft-tissue find—a stunning rebuttal of ‘millions of years’
• In 2009, the fragile proteins elastin and laminin, and further confirmation of the presence of collagen (an important protein in bone). The protein evidence was inescapably building up against long-age ideas, adding to the 2003 finding of osteocalcin in dinosaur bone. If the dinosaur fossils really were tens of millions of years old as claimed, none of these proteins should have been present. See Dinosaur soft tissue and protein—even more confirmation!
• In 2012, bone cells (osteocytes), the proteins actin and tubulin, and even DNA! Under measured rates of decomposition, these proteins, and especially DNA, could not have lasted for the presumed 65 million years since dinosaur extinction. This is dramatic support for the Bible’s timeline, with its maximum age of the earth of 6,000 years. See DNA and bone cells found in dinosaur bone
• In 2012, radiocarbon in dinosaur bones. But carbon-14 decays so quickly that if the remains were even 100,000 years old, none should be detectable! See Radiocarbon in dino bones—international conference censored

And note the way many dinosaurs have been fossilized in a ‘death throes’ posture, pointing to death-by-drowning, as this one-minute video shows:²²

Want more? There’s lots more reading accessible via:

Q&A: Dinosaurs

This thought-provoking photo from p. 105 of The Young Earth is testament to rapid burial in the Flood. This fish was covered over so quickly it didn’t even have time to finish swallowing its lunch! (No room for millions-of-years.) And it’s not just vertebrates that are so exquisitely preserved, contrary to the misleading slow-and-gradual fossilisation ideas taught in textbooks. There have now been hundreds of jellyfish fossils discovered, magnificently preserved, thus Charles Darwin’s prediction made in his Origin of Species that no jellyfish fossils would ever be found has been proven to be utterly wrong. See: Hundreds of jellyfish fossils! The fossil evidence found worldwide, even in the highest mountain ranges, speaks of the truth of the global Flood of Noah’s time. For readers interested in following up our many articles about that watery cataclysm see Q&A: Noah’s Flood.

From Tyrannosaurus rex bones: Flexible blood vessels (left) and what look like red blood cells in blood vessels (right)! The discovery of pliable blood vessels, blood cells and proteins in dinosaur bone is consistent with an age of thousands of years for the fossils, not the 65+ million years claimed by the paleontologists. Unfortunately, when evidence such as this is found, researchers tend not to trust their own eyes—instead of questioning the millions-of-years paradigm they’ll often throw doubt upon their own evidence! E.g. researcher Dr Mary Schweitzer famously recalls: “It was exactly like looking at a slice of modern bone. But, of course, I couldn’t believe it. I said to the lab technician: ‘The bones, after all, are 65 million years old. How could blood cells survive that long?’” For more see Dino soft tissue find—a stunning rebuttal of ‘millions of years’.
Images: Dr Mary Schweitzer, Science 307(5717):1952, 25 March 2005.
(supplementary material)

Stars and planets

There’s plenty of facts about our universe that defy naturalistic explanation, but speak instead of the truth of Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” E.g. the retrograde motion of some of the planets of our solar system,²³ and the structure evident in the universe.²⁴ Here’s three easy-to-read articles with further evidence in line with the Bible’s account of origins:

Young Saturn
In the middle of the action
Astronomical evidence for a young(er) earth and universe

There’s lots more about the starry skies that points to the Bible’s timeline of creation. E.g. supernovas demonstrate by their presence that the mooted billions-of-years age of the universe is nonsense, but are right in line with the Bible’s 6,000-year age of the universe, as this video clip (duration: 45 seconds) explains:²⁵

For those who want to explore further, there’s plenty more reading material accessible via:

Q&A: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Enhanced colour image of geysers on Saturn’s moon Enceladus spraying water vapour far into space. This and other evidence of ‘surprising’ geological activity sent back by NASA’s Cassini probe highlights the fact that our solar system cannot possibly be billions of years old—but instead in line with the Bible’s account of recent creation. For more on this, see Enceladus: Saturn’s sprightly moon looks young.
Credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute

If the appendix can be removed from our body, does that mean it’s an evolutionary ‘leftover’? Absolutely not! See Appendix shrieks creation (at least 18 times!). Readers wanting to explore this topic further can access a great many interesting articles via Q&A: Vestigial organs.
Credit: Wikimedia commons/ U.S. Navy: Mass Communication Specialist 2^nd Class Eric C. Tretter

Conclusion: We’re created, not evolved!

Given the above, some readers might now be wondering, “Why then do many people not realize there’s all this evidence for biblical creation and the Flood?” One factor is that many people don’t realize the difference between experimental science, which relies on eyewitness observations (which happens to be in line with the Bible’s injunction to “Let every matter be established on the testimony of two or more witnesses”), and claims about evolution in the past, which does not. This video clip (duration: 1 minute, 6 seconds) explains why the creation/evolution debate is about history, which cannot be observed, repeated, and tested:²⁶

Now, all of this is not of mere academic interest, but has ramifications for everyone’s future. We’ve seen here that the evidence strongly points to the truth of the Bible’s historical account about Creation and the Flood. This video clip²⁷ (duration 45 seconds) explains that Jesus Christ—our Creator, Lord and Saviour—spoke of that Flood, in context of the judgment to come …

So, the scientific evidence leads us to the fact that we are created, not evolved. Living things point to design. Geology confirm‎s the biblical Flood. Genetics reveals that our world is decaying, and needs to be renewed. The good news is that the Creator will one day do just that. He cares about each of us and has a plan for our lives.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”²⁸
(John 3:16)