Evolution Probs
Obviously, evolution is an example of historical science. In the beginning, the universe supposedly created itself. How does something that doesn’t exist create itself? It’s hard to say. Regardless, evolutionists believe our universe was born when a tiny body of matter and energy inflated itself like a balloon and began to expand. Where’d the matter come from? Well, the First Law of Thermodynamics says matter and energy can’t be created or destroyed. So, the matter that inflated itself during the ‘Big Bang’ apparently appeared out of nowhere in spite of the First Law of Thermodynamics. Since this requires quite the leap of faith, some people think the universe has always existed.
This doesn’t help matters, because the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the amount of usable energy in the universe is decreasing. This explains why everything tends to break down over time, like buildings, cars and our bodies. Since new energy can’t be created, there will come a time when life as we know it will cease to exist. Brutal. Of course, if the universe has always existed, it would’ve run out of usable energy a long time ago. Besides, considering the universe is losing usable energy and it can’t be replaced, where did all of the usable energy come from in the first place?
For many people who have faith in evolution, it all happened by chance. This isn’t much of an explanation, largely because chance isn’t a thing. Chance describes the odds of something happening, but it can’t actually make something happen. If I step on a toy truck, it’s because some kid left it on the floor. Chance didn’t put the truck there, and it certainly didn’t make me step on it.
Yet, chance is also believed to have made non-living chemicals give rise to a living single-celled organism with complex genetic information known as DNA. According to the scientific Law of Biogenesis, which states that life can only come from life, this is impossible. Living organisms can only come from other living organisms. Truly, it would’ve required a miracle for non-living pond chemicals to turn into a living organism.
Speaking of miracles, where did DNA come from? DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), is an information storage system in living organisms which encodes genetic instructions. Evolutionist and biologist Richard Dawkins pointed out “There is enough information capacity in a single human cell to store the Encyclopaedia Britannica, all 30 volumes of it, three or four times over” (Dawkins, R., The Blind Watchmaker, W.W. Norton, New York, p. 115, 1986). Since the Encyclopaedia Britannica didn’t write itself, why would we assume DNA wrote itself?
That said, evolution teaches that natural selection took a single-celled organism and turned it into every living thing on the planet. Natural selection is a process where existing genes from an organism are selected so that organism will be more likely to survive in a particular environment. Over time, genes that aren’t selected for an environment are eliminated. Put differently, natural selection reduces genetic information over time. Why is this a problem for evolution?
Well, there would need to be a huge increase in genetic information for a single-celled organism to turn into anything more complex. Natural selection doesn’t explain where DNA came from, and it reduces genetic information over time. So, how could a one-celled organism become more complex over time?
Many evolutionists believe genetic mutations are the answer. Mutations are copying mistakes in genetic code. They corrupt genetic information. Sure, mutations can create new traits (Down syndrome, hemophilia, etc.) by corrupting existing genes, but they don’t create new information. Now, these new traits aren’t always a bad thing. Biology textbooks often cite wingless beetles on a windy island. This is all well and good, but the beetle’s loss of wings is still a loss of genetic information.
So, how did a one-celled organism become more complex? Sex would’ve had to have played a role, but where did sex come from? An asexual single-organism would’ve had to develop sexual reproductive organs, but how? Males couldn’t have evolved first, because they couldn’t have reproduced without females. Likewise, females couldn’t have evolved first, because they couldn’t have reproduced without males. Which gender came first?
Overall, evolution is clearly a theory of history which requires a lot of faith. Why is it so popular? Simply put, people like it more than the alternative. Philosopher Michael Ruse once said “Evolution is a religion. This was true of evolution in the beginning, and it is true of evolution still today” (Ruse, M., “How evolution became a religion: creationists correct?” National Post, May 13, 2000, pp. B1, B3, B7). People place their faith in evolution not because it is true, but because they don’t want God to exist.