“EVOLUTION:
Fact or Fiction?”
Presented By:
Randy Ruggles
Why is the subject of origins
important for Christians?
“Always be prepared to give an
answer to everyone who asks you
to give the reason for the hope
that you have.”
1 Peter 3: 15 (N. I. V.)
“We destroy arguments and every
lofty opinion raised against the
knowledge of God.”
2 Corinthians 10: 5 (E.S.V.)
“What is
EVOLUTION?”
Defining EVOLUTION
Change
Evolution = ___________
Time
Defining EVOLUTION (cont.)
Monkeys to Man
Defining EVOLUTION (cont.)
“The central idea of biological evolution is that
all life on Earth shares a common ancestor, just
as you and your cousins share a common grandmother.
“Evolution means that we’re all distant cousins:
humans and oak trees, hummingbirds and
whales.”
- Understanding Evolution
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/
Defining EVOLUTION (cont.)
F = Fish
A = Amphibians
R = Reptiles
M = Mammals
Defining EVOLUTION (cont.)
From GOO to YOU by way of the ZOO!
Genesis 1:24
Then God said, “Let the earth
bring forth the living creature
according to its kind: cattle and
creeping thing and beast of the
earth, each according to its
kind”; and it was so.
“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
“. . . evolution . . . is a
fact and we don’t need
to prove it anymore.”
- Ernst Mayr
Biologist
“The fact of evolution is
as well established as
anything in science (as
secure as the revolution
of the earth about the
sun) . . .”
- Stephen Jay Gould
“Nothing in biology
makes sense
except in the light
of evolution.”
- Theodosius Dobzhansky
Zoologist
“(Evolution) is a general
postulate to which all theories,
all hypotheses, all systems
must henceforth bow and
which they must satisfy in
order to be thinkable and true.
“Evolution is a light which
illuminates all facts, a trajectory
which all lines of thought must
follow – that is what evolution is.”
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
French philosopher
and Jesuit priest
“Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet, and a
light unto my path.”
- Psalm 119:105 (K.J.V.)
“The evolutionist lives
in a dream world in
which any resemblance
to the real world is lacking.”
- Harold S. Slusher, “The Origin
of the Universe: An Examination
of the Big Bang and Steady State
Cosmogonics,” 1980.
“Evolution is a fairy tale for grownups.
This theory has helped nothing in the
progress of science. It is useless.”
- H. S. Lipson FRS,
Professor of Physics, University Manchester, UK
GRADE School
+
Frog
=
Kiss
Fairytale
Prince
HIGH School
+
Frog
=
Time
Evolution
Prince
“Ultimately, the Darwinian
theory of evolution is no
more nor less than the great
cosmogenic myth of the
twentieth century.”
- Michael Denton, "Evolution: A
Theory in Crisis," 1985, p. 358.
“. . . the theory of evolution
may be the worst mistake
made in science.”
- I. L. Cohen, “Darwin Was Wrong
- A Study in Probabilities,” 1984, p. 210.
“I believe that one day the Darwinian myth
will be ranked the greatest deceit
in the history of science.”
- Professor Soren Lovtrup,
“Darwinism: The Refutation of a Myth,” 1987 p. 422.
“I myself am convinced that
the theory of evolution,
especially the extent to which
it’s been applied, will be one
of the great jokes in the
history books of the future.
Posterity will marvel that so
very flimsy and dubious an
hypothesis could be accepted with the incredible
credulity that it has.”
- Malcolm Muggeridge, Pascal Lectures,
University of Waterloo Research, The Advocate 1984, p. 17.
“Often a cold shudder
has run through me,
and I have asked myself
whether I may have not
devoted myself to a
fantasy.”
- Charles Darwin
Natural Selection
1. Most species produce more offspring than can survive.
2. An individual’s chances of survival are affected by
its environment (eg. weather, food, shelter, predators,
available mating partners etc.)
3. Some individuals are better adapted to their environments.
4. Better adapted individuals survive long enough to
reproduce. They pass on the characteristics that helped
them survive to their offspring.
“Thus, from the war of nature, from famine
and death, the most exalted object which
we are capable of conceiving, namely, the
production of the higher animals, directly
follows.”
- Charles Darwin, “Origin of Species”
“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
- 1 Corinthians 15:26
Microevolution:
SMALL changes BELOW
the species level.
Macroevolution:
BIG changes ABOVE
the species level.
Natural
Selection
In Action
Domestic dogs
show a loss
of genetic
information
from the original
dog kind – the wolf.
CHRISTMAS
=
mast
star
sir
him
mass
sit
cast
stairs
- Xerox
- Zebra
- Queen
“Given so much time the
‘impossible’ becomes possible,
the possible probable, and the
probable virtually certain. One
has only to wait: time itself
performs miracles.”
- George Wald, "Physics and Chemistry of
Life," 1955, p.12.
“The irony is devastating. The
main purpose of Darwinism was
to drive every last trace of an
incredible God from biology. But
the theory replaces God with an
even more incredible deity
– omnipotent chance.”
- T. Rosazak, "Unfinished Animal," 1975, pp. 101-102
“9 Fallen Icons of
EVOLUTION”
Claim #1:
“Darwin’s observation of
various sizes of finch beaks
is conclusive evidence for
evolution.”
Darwin’s
Finches
The Truth:
1. The finches mate with each other
meaning that they are all of the same
species.
2. Demonstrates variation, not evolution.
“Scientific observation shows that the finch beaks,
which have been mythicized in almost all evolutionist
sources, are in fact an example of “variation”;
therefore, they do not constitute evidence for the
theory of evolution.”
- H. Lisle Gibbs and Peter R. Grant, "Oscillating Selection on Darwin's
finches," Nature, 327, 1987, pp. 513.
Claim #2:
“Peppered moths are an
excellent example of
evolution in action.”
The Myth of Industrial Melanism
Bernard
Kettlewell
The Truth:
1. The whole story never happened
2. Kettlewell glued dead moths to the trees
to take the pictures that appear in school
science textbooks
3. Demonstrates natural selection but not
evolution
“I am careful not to call Kettlewell a fraud,”
says Bruce Grant. “He was just a very
careless scientist.”
Claim #3:
“Experiments with fruit flies
support evolution.”
Fruit Fly Mutations
Short Wings
Curly Wings
Yellow-Coloured
Ebony-Coloured
Normal Fruit Fly
No Eyes
Antennapedia
The Truth:
1. Demonstrates that most mutations are
either harmful or deadly
2. Evolution requires beneficial mutations
“ Fruit flies refuse to become anything but fruit flies under
any circumstances yet devised. The genetic system, as its
first priority, conserves, blocks, and stabilizes.”
- Francis Hitching, "The Neck of the Giraffe:
Where Darwin Went Wrong," 1982, pp. 57-61.
Claim #4:
“Similar bone structures
in mammals provide
evidence for common
ancestry.”
Homology of Vertebrate Forelimb Structure
Bridges have
similarities because
they have similar
DESIGNERS!
WHEELS are used on many different things
because they are a good design feature.
The Truth:
1. Not produced by the same genes
2. Could be evidence for a common
designer
“. . . biologists have known for a hundred years that homologous
structures are often not produced by similar developmental
pathways. And they have known for thirty years that they are
often not produced by similar genes, either. So there is no
empirically demonstrated mechanism to establish that homologies are due to common ancestry rather than common design.”
- Jonathan Wells, “Survival of the Fakest,”
American Spectator, Dec 2000/Jan 2001.
Claim #5:
“Vestigial organs (such as
the appendix) support
evolution.”
“There is no longer
any justification for
regarding the
vermiform appendix
as a vestigial
structure.”
- William Straus, Quarterly Review
of Biology, 1947, p. 149.
“Long regarded as a vestigial organ with no function
in the human body, the appendix is now thought to
be one of the sites where immune responses are
initiated.”
- Roy Hartenstein, Grolier Encyclopedia, 1998.
The Truth:
1. Over one hundred years ago, a list was
compiled of 180 alleged vestigial structures
in the human body. Today, we’ve
discovered biological functions for every
one.
2. Just because you don’t know what it’s for
doesn’t mean it doesn’t serve a purpose.
3. Just because you can live without it
doesn’t mean it doesn’t serve a purpose.
(Eg. eye, arm, leg, kidney etc.)
Claim #6:
“What about all those fossils
of cave men? Don’t they
prove we evolved from
apes?”
(1922)
Nebraska Man
(and his wife)
reconstructed
from the tooth
of an extinct
pig.
The REAL Nebraska Man
Note:
may not be
exactly as
shown
Piltdown Man
This forgery fooled
“experts” and was
in the textbooks
for 40 years.
Human Skull
Ape Jaw
(1912)
“We've got to have some ancestors.
We'll pick those [fossils]. Why?
Because we know they have to be
there, and these are the best
candidates. That's by and large the
way it has worked. I am not
exaggerating.”
- Dr. Gareth Nelson, American Museum of
Natural History, “Lucy's Child,” 1989, p. 74.
Claim #7:
“Radiometric dating methods
can reliably date the age of the
earth to be 4.6 billion years old.”
How Dating Methods Work
Observation:
1. Peeling potatoes at a
rate of 1 per minute
2. Observe for 10 minutes
HOW LONG have I
been peeling potatoes?
Count the potatoes in the basket!
40
Assumptions:
1. The RATE of potato peeling was
CONSTANT
2. No peeled potatoes have been
ADDED or TAKEN AWAY
3. There were NO potatoes in the
basket at the BEGINNING
When dating fossils of KNOWN
age, Carbon 14 dating DOES NOT
work.
When dating fossils of UNKNOWN
age, it is ASSUMED to work.
Claim #8:
“The Miller-Urey experiment
successfully produced the
building blocks of life.”
The Miller-Urey Experiment
In 1953, chemist
Stanley Miller pumped a
gaseous mixture of methane,
ammonia and hydrogen
through an apparatus and
subjected the mixture to a
high-voltage electric spark.
He then trapped out any
resulting liquids.
The experiment produced
a few amino acids – the
“building blocks” of life.
The
Miller-Urey
Experiment
The Truth:
1. Miller excluded oxygen knowing it would oxidize and
thus kill any form of life that developed. (We now know
that the earth has likely always had oxygen.)
2. The experiment produced only 3 of the 20 amino acids
necessary for life. These amino acids were “right-handed”
whereas living organisms contain only “left-handed”
amino acids.
3. Miller produced a substance that is TOXIC to life.
“There are three problems with Miller's experiment.
He started with the wrong materials, used the
wrong conditions, and got the wrong results!”
- Mark Eastman, M.D., "Creation by Design," 1996, pp. 15-19.
Claim #9:
“Similarities in the early stages
of mammalian embryos
supports common ancestry.”
Ernst Haeckel
German biologist
“Embryology is to me
by far the strongest
single class of facts
in favour of change
of forms . . .”
- Charles Darwin,
Sept. 10,1860
Top Row: Haeckel’s fraudulent drawings
Bottom Row: Actual photographs of the same embryos
Adolph Hitler “has
consciously sought to
make the practice of
Germany conform to
the theory of evolution.”
- Sir Arthur Keith,
"Evolution and Ethics,“
1947, pp. 14, 230.
“Why do so many
people believe
evolution is true?”
Spontaneous Generation
Rags
+
Rice
=
Mice
- Louis Pasteur
French microbiologist
and chemist (1864)
“Never will the doctrine of
spontaneous generation
recover from the mortal blow
struck by this simple experiment.”
Atheism (cont.)
“There are only two possibilities
as to how life arose. One is
spontaneous generation
arising to evolution; the other
is a supernatural creative act
of God. There is no third
possibility.”
- George Wald
Nobel Prize
Winning Scientist
Atheism (cont.)
“Spontaneous generation,
that life arose from non-living
matter, was scientifically
disproved 120 years ago
by Louis Pasteur and others.
That leaves us with the only
possible conclusion that life
arose as a supernatural
- George Wald
creative act of God.”
Nobel Prize
Winning Scientist
Atheism (cont.)
“I will not accept that
philosophically because I do
not want to believe in God.
Therefore, I choose to believe
in that which I know is
scientifically impossible;
spontaneous generation
arising to evolution.”
- George Wald
Nobel Prize
Winning Scientist
Atheism
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most
unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud
of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a
vindictive, blood-thirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
– Richard Dawkins
The God Delusion
“And for this cause God shall send
them strong delusion, that they
should believe a lie.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:11 (K.J.V.)
The REAL
God Delusion!
“Evolution thus becomes the most
potent weapon for destroying the
Christian faith.”
- A. J. Mattill, "Three Cheers for the Creationists,“
Free Inquiry, vol. 2, Spring, 1982, p. 17.
“Atheism will be ready to fill the void
of Christianity’s demise when science
and evolution triumph. Without a doubt
humans and civilization are in sore need
of the intellectual cleanness and mental
health of atheism.”
- G. Richard Bozarth, "The Meaning of Evolution,“
American Atheist (February 1978), page 30.
“The FOOL says in his heart,
‘There is no God.’ ”
- Psalm 14:1, 53:1
“In the beginning
God created the heaven
and the earth.”
- Genesis 1:1 (K.J.V.)
“In the beginning (TIME)
God created the heaven (SPACE)
and the earth (MATTER).”
- Genesis 1:1 (K.J.V.)
TIME
SPACE
=
Past
Present
Future
=
Length
Width
Height
MATTER =
Solid
Liquid
Gas