Evolution Theory: A Scientific Analysis

Dr. Johnson George, M.Sc., Ph.D.(Zool), Toronto (Canada)

Introduction to this series:

A Bible believer should take the theory of evolution seriously because it attempts to teach that everything in the universe originated without the need and help of God. As for the origin of organisms (living things), it teaches that at first some simple cells came into existence spontaneously in the sea, then these simple cells evolved into complex plants and animals and ultimately into human beings. But a Bible believer can not believe this idea. He is a creationist.

What a creationist believes about the origin of the organisms is based on the Biblical revelation and the concrete scientific evidences. What he believes is this. In the beginning God created the organisms (i.e. animals, plants, bacteria, fungi etc) according to their KIND. After that, during the time of Noah’s flood, two (a male and a female) from each kind of land animals were introduced into the ark. After the flood they came out, multiplied and filled the earth. But today we see a lot of SPECIES within each KIND. For example, scientists estimate that ant (the small insect) has more than 6000 different species. Obviously, all these species have not come out of the ark because in the ark there was only two of each kind. The fact is this that all these species have come into existence in later years due to VARIATION within the kind. So it is clear that in nature new species are indeed being formed. But the most important thing that we have to understand is this that new species are formed always within the genetic boundary of that kind itself. Never ever a species evolves beyond the boundary into another kind. But contrary to this fact, many scientists today BELIEVE, and strangely enough without any concrete evidence, that a species can evolve into a higher and totally different new kind. This belief is known as EVOLUTION THEORY. But nobody can prove that such a thing happens or has happened in nature. What really happens is not evolution from one kind to another; rather it is variation within the kind, producing several more or less similar species within that kind itself. For example, if we consider all the species of ant, we will see that they are still ant with more or less new features. They will never look like or change into some new insect. This is what a creationist believes to be true and this is the concept on which this article series has been written.

The author has done his research on the evolution of an insect, called pulse beetle for his Doctoral Thesis and published his findings in many scientific journals. In India he was working as a Biology lecturer. Recently he has moved to Canada.

CHAPTER 1

Evolution theory: The Beginning and Response

In 1869, scientist Charles Darwin published his famous book “ The origin of Species”. Even Darwin himself did not know what response this book was going to produce. It is said that after the Bible, this is the book, which has impacted the world the most. The theory of evolution, proposed in this book, has now been accepted as if it was a proven scientific fact.

The importance of Evolution Theory

Though evolution theory is a subject of Biology, today it has influenced virtually all areas of human knowledge, like philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, geology, astronomy and so on. Today, all over the world, in schools and colleges, it is being taught as if it is a proven fact. The danger is this that this theory is questioning the existence and need of God and as a result it is promoting the atheistic ideas. When Christian students study this theory in school they get into a real struggle whether to believe in the school text books or in the Bible, when it comes to the question of origin.

How the theory developed

Until the beginning of 18th century, people usually believed that it was God who created everything. This belief is known as the theory of creation.

Though some Greek philosophers like Protagoras and others, had proposed, even before Christ, the idea that everything could have come into existence without the intervention of God. But this idea could not considerably influence the ordinary people. They still believed in creation, in one form or the other.

It is only after the publication of Charles Darwin’s book, that a shift in thinking has come. Darwin argued that all complex organisms have evolved from simple ones. Thus he excluded God from the scene. The atheists and skeptics, who were looking for some alternatives, embraced this book wholeheartedly and started propagating the idea that the whole universe and everything in it has come into existence by evolutionary processes. As a result, the evolutionary ideas influenced a large number of people and eventually it weakened people’s faith in the Bible. Since then, until today, the theory of evolution has served as an excuse for those who want to run away from God and the Bible.

(In the next issue we will see what prompted Darwin to develop the evolutionary theory and whether he was right in his observations and inferences)