Did Modern Life on Earth Evolve Over Millions of Years

8/19/2019 Did Modern Life on Earth Evolve Over Millions of Years

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Did modern life on Earth evolve over millions of years, or was it created in the blink of an eye by God?

That's the gist of the debate between scientists and creationists, which has been ongoing ever since

Charles Darwin published his theory in !"#$ The scienti%c evidence is clear& The Earth is about $" billion

years old, and all life evolved from primitive, single(celled organisms$

)evertheless, *iblical literalists re+ect this evidence and operate from the viewpoint that the *ible's *ook

of Genesis is a historical account of creation$ ere's how the battle has played out$

-trictly de%ned, creationism is based on a literal reading of the *ible's *ook of Genesis, which describes

the creation of the world and all the life in it over a period of si. days$ There are many /avors of

creationists$ 0oung(Earth creationists, including the 1ustralian(born am, interpret the *ible to mean that

the Earth was created more or less in its present state about 2,333 years old 45n fact, it's about $" billion

years old6$ 7ther creationists believe in an older Earth, with species still created separately by God$ 8inally,

believers in 5ntelligent Design hold that evolution might occur, but that a deity started or guides the

process$ 9 Top 3 5ntelligent Designs 4and Creation :yths6;

1dvances in geology in the erhaps no battle in the creationism versus evolution war is more famous than the Scopes Monkey Trial$5n #", Tennessee schoolteacher @ohn -copes incriminated himself for teaching evolution in a classroom,purposefully challenging a state law prohibiting evolution from being taught$

The trial was intended to generate publicity, and it worked like a charm$ The cast was star(studded&

8amous attorney Clarence Darrow defended -copes, while the three(time populist >residential candidateAilliams @ennings *ryan prosecuted$ 1mericans listened to the court proceedings over the radio$

5n the end, -copes was found guilty and %ned B33$ The Tennessee -upreme Court later overturned the

verdict on a technicality, but upheld the law preventing evolution from being taught$ 9< Theories on the

7rigin of ife;

1fter the trial, other states enacted their own anti(evolution laws$ *ut gradually, the anti(evolution

movement lost steam, and evolution snuck back into te.tbooks$

Evolution Of Man

Evolution Of Man - What is it?

The modern theory concerning the evolution of man proposes that humans and apes derive from an apelike ancestor that

lived on earth a few million years ago. The theory states that man, through a combination of environmental and genetic

factors, emerged as a species to produce the variety of ethnicities seen today, while modern apes evolved on a separate

evolutionary pathway. Perhaps the most famous proponent of evolutionary theory is Charles Darwin (1!"#$% who

authored The Origin of Species (1&"% to describe his theory of evolution. 't was based largely on observations which he

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made during his year voyage around the world aboard the HMS Beagle (11#)%. *ince then, mankind+s origin has

generally been eplained from an evolutionary perspective. -oreover, the theory of man+s evolution has been and

continues to be modified as new findings are discovered, revisions to the theory are adopted, and earlier concepts proven

incorrect are discarded.

Evolution Of Man - Concepts in Evolutionary Theory

The currently#accepted theory of the evolution of man rests on three maor principles. These principles hinge on the innate

ability which all creatures have to pass on their genetic information to their offspring through the reproductive process. /n

alternative eplanation for homology is a common designer. /ccording to this reasoning, the similarities in anatomical

features between species point to a blueprint used by a Creator0Designer.

The first tenet is microevolution, the occurrence and build#up of mutations in the genetic seuence of an organism.

-utations are predominantly random and can occur naturally through errors in the reproductive process or through

environmental impacts such as chemicals or radiation.

The second tenet of evolution is natural selection. 2atural selection is a natural mechanism by which the fittest members

of a species survive to pass on their genetic information, while the weakest are eliminated (die off% because they are

unable to compete in the wild. 2atural selection is often termed 3survival of the fittest3 or 3elimination of the weakest.3

The third tenet is speciation, which occurs when members of a species mutate to the point where they are no longer able

to breed with other members of the same species. The new population becomes a reproductively isolated community that

is unable to breed with its former community. Through speciation, the genes of the new population become isolated from

the previous group.

Evolution Of Man - Scientific Evidence

The theory of evolution of man is supported by a set of independent observations within the fields of anthropology,

paleontology, and molecular biology. Collectively, they depict life branching out from a common ancestor through gradual

genetic changes over millions of years, commonly known as the 3tree of life.3 /lthough accepted in mainstream science as

altogether factual and eperimentally proven, a closer eamination of the evidences reveal some inaccuracies and

reasonable alternative eplanations. This causes a growing number of scientists to dissent from the Darwinian theory ofevolution for its inability to satisfactorily eplain the origin of man.

4ne of the maor evidences for the evolution of man is homology, that is, the similarity of either anatomical or genetic

features between species. 5or instance, the resemblance in the skeleton structure of apes and humans has been

correlated to the homologous genetic seuences within each species as strong evidence for common ancestry. This

argument contains the maor assumption that similarity euals relatedness. 'n other words, the more alike two species

appear, the more closely they are related to one another. This is known to be a poor assumption. Two species can have

homologous anatomy even though they are not related in any way. This is called 3convergence3 in evolutionary terms. 't is

now known that homologous features can be generated from entirely different gene segments within different unrelated

species. The reality of convergence implies that anatomical features arise because of the need for specific functionality,which is a serious blow to the concept of homology and ancestry.

/dditionally, the evolution of man from ape#like ancestors is often argued on the grounds of comparative anatomy within

the fossil record. 6et, the fossil record indicates more stability in the forms of species than slow or even drastic changes,

which would indicate intermediate stages between modern species. The 3missing links3 are missing. /nd unfortunately,

the field of paleoanthropology has been riddled with fraudulent claims of finding the missing link between humans and

primates, to the etent that fragments of human skeletons have been combined with other species such as pigs and apes

and passed off as legitimate. /lthough genetic variability is seen across all peoples, the process of natural selection


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leading to speciation is disputed. 7esearch challenging the accepted paradigm continues to surface raising significant

uestions about the certainty of evolution as the origin of man.

Evolution Of Man - The Scrutiny

The theory concerning the evolution of man is under increased scrutiny due to the persistence of gaps in the fossil record,

the inability to demonstrate 3life#or#death3 determining advantageous genetic mutations, and the lack of eperiments or

observations to truly confirm the evidence for speciation. 4verall, the evolution of man pervades as the accepted

paradigm on the origin of man within the scientific community. This is not because it has been proven scientifically, but

because alternative viewpoints bring with them metaphysical implications which go against the modern naturalistic

paradigm. 2evertheless, a closer eamination of the evidence reveals evolution to be increasingly less scientific and more

reliant upon beliefs, not proof.

8volution 9s Creation

Evolution vs. Creation: The reat !e"ate

The 8volution vs. Creation debate is often referred to as the 3:reat Debate.3 't+s the emotion#packed uestion of 34rigins3

## why, how, and where did everything come from; $!th century science has made the compelling discovery that, at some

point, the universe began. here did space, time, matter and energy come from in the

first place; Thus, for 8volutionists, the ultimate uestion of 4rigins remains unsolved. To complicate the 8volutionary


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position, this original eplosion of everything from nothing is unable to eplain all of the compleity and fine#tuning in the

universe, including cosmic 3voids3 and 3clumps3, retrograde motion of the galaies, etc. Despite numerous problems, this

eplosion from nothing has been dubbed the 3hile Darwin+s Theory of 8volution is a relatively young archetype, the evolutionary worldview itself is as old as antiuity.

/ncient :reek philosophers such as /naimander postulated the development of life from non#life and the evolutionary

descent of man from animal. Charles Darwin simply brought something new to the old philosophy ## a plausible

mechanism called 3natural selection.3 2atural selection acts to preserve and accumulate minor advantageous genetic

mutations. *uppose a member of a species developed a functional advantage (it grew wings and learned to fly%. 'ts

offspring would inherit that advantage and pass it on to their offspring. The inferior (disadvantaged% members of the same

species would gradually die out, leaving only the superior (advantaged% members of the species. 2atural selection is the

preservation of a functional advantage that enables a species to compete better in the wild. 2atural selection is the

naturalistic euivalent to domestic breeding. 4ver the centuries, human breeders have produced dramatic changes in

domestic animal populations by selecting individuals to breed.


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slow steps.3 E1F Thus, Darwin conceded that, 3'f it could be demonstrated that any comple organ eisted, which could not

possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.3 E$F

*uch a comple organ would be known as an 3irreducibly comple system3. /n irreducibly comple system is one

composed of multiple parts, all of which are necessary for the system to function. 'f even one part is missing, the entire

system will fail to function. 8very individual part is integral. EF Thus, such a system could not have evolved slowly, piece

by piece. The common mousetrap is an everyday non#biological eample of irreducible compleity. 't is composed of five

basic partsB a catch (to hold the bait%, a powerful spring, a thin rod called 3the hammer,3 a holding bar to secure the

hammer in place, and a platform to mount the trap. 'f any one of these parts is missing, the mechanism will not work.

8ach individual part is integral. The mousetrap is irreducibly comple. EGF

!ar&in's Theory of Evolution - + Theory n Crisis

Darwin+s Theory of 8volution is a theory in crisis in light of the tremendous advances we+ve made in molecular biology,

biochemistry and genetics over the past f ifty years. >e now know that there are in fact tens of thousands of irreducibly

comple systems on the cellular level. *pecified compleity pervades the microscopic biological world. -olecular biologist

-ichael Denton wrote, 3/lthough the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing less than 1! #1$ grams, each is in

effect a veritable micro#miniaturi@ed factory containing thousands of euisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular

machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machinery built by

man and absolutely without parallel in the non#living world.3 E&F

/nd we don+t need a microscope to observe irreducible compleity. The eye, the ear and the heart are all eamples of

irreducible compleity, though they were not recogni@ed as such in Darwin+s day. 2evertheless, Darwin confessed, 3To

suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different

amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural

selection, seems, ' freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.3 E)F

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Did Modern Life on Earth Evolve Over Millions of Years