Is There A Reason To Question Evolution, we believe there is. Have you ever found yourself overwhelmed with questions about the whole Evolution Theory but can’t really defend or provide a good argument to support your feelings? Read on..

There are many people who think that humans were created in God’s image, like it says in the Bible. There are also many people who think that people were created through a process called evolution. Wikipedia defines evolution as follows: “Evolution is the change in the inherited traits of a population of organisms through successive generations. After a population splits into smaller groups, these groups evolve independently and may eventually diversify into new species.”

What do people commonly mean when they use the word evolution? They are usually talking about creation, or the arrival of various species, ultimately man. They mean that once upon a time there was a great big primordial ooze, and that out of this chemical soup sprung biological life. These cellular biological life forms evolved little by little, species by species, over time. Eventually these species evolved into human beings. Evolution sees the world and its inhabitants as a tree of various species, which all evolved from a common ancestor. Although people say “Theory of Evolution”, this theory is frequently presented as fact. It’s good to remember the definition of the word theory: a set of statements, assumptions or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena. Theory by definition does not equal fact.

Some people use the word evolution to mean change over time. When you look at it this simpler way, many evolutionary changes are evident: for example, animals have fur that gets thicker in the winter, and they shed in the summer. This is an adaptation made for their survival, based on their environment. You would not find polar bears in the freezing Arctic climate without fur. They need the fur to survive. Various characteristics of animals adapt according to their environment. But there is a big leap from traits that arise through adaptation (“survival of the fittest”) to the creation of totally new species from other species (“arrival of the fittest”).

Charles Darwin wrote a book called “Origin of the Species” about 150 years ago. This book described Darwin’s theory of evolution, and is the foundation for evolutionary biology. Darwin however didn’t say that his theory was fact. He said in the introduction to the book “I am well aware that scarcely a single point is discussed in this volume on which facts cannot be adduced, often apparently leading to conclusions directly opposite to those at which I have arrived. A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question, and this cannot possibly be done here.” We all need to make sure that we hear all the arguments from all sides before making an informed decision.

There are definitely some problems with this biological evolutionary thesis:
William Paley made a very interesting observation back in 1802. If you were walking down the street, and you saw a watch lying on the ground, what would you think? Would you guess that maybe molecules slowly formed into metals, which somehow evolved into gears? That screws, pins and levers also slowly evolved from elements in the dirt? And one day all of those tiny pieces somehow combined together to make a watch? No, of course not, you’d just think someone had dropped the watch! The reason for this is that a watch is a complicated thing, a created thing, and it’s complexity indicates that it’s existence must have been planned, intended, or designed. It could not have happened randomly by chance. Is the human being a complex organism? Absolutely!! More than a watch? Of course! So maybe there is some reason to doubt that something as complex as the human body just evolved….

The fossil record is also a problem for evolution. The fossil record is basically a history of the organisms that have lived on the Earth previously. It’s the remains of plants, animals and cells preserved in stone. If Darwin’s theory of evolution is accurate, we should see many gradual changes throughout the fossil record, records of one species branching out and turning into another. Instead, we see abrupt appearances and disappearances of many different creatures, which don’t seem to change much during the time they are here on earth. Darwin thought that as more fossil discoveries were made they would support his theory. That has not happened, even though people keep looking for the “missing link” between species, particularly between apes and humans.

Our universe is a very complicated place. There are many different parameters that have to be exactly right in order for our planet to sustain life. For example, if the earth was farther from the sun, the earth would be too cold to provide stable water for it’s inhabitants-humans and animals. If the crust of the earth were thicker, it would absorb too much oxygen-taking it from us. If the crust were thinner, there would be too much volcanic activity. If the tilt of the Earth’s access was greater or smaller, the temperatures would be too hot to support life in many areas. If gravity was stronger, we would have more poisonous methane and ammonia in the atmosphere. If gravity was weaker, our atmosphere would lose too much water. The bottom line here is that our tiny planet is “fine tuned” to support life. Astrophysicist Hugh Ross lists 35 different elements of our universe that have to be perfectly tuned in order for our planet to sustain life. Is this scientific fine tuning just chance, an accident which allowed us to evolve? Maybe, but maybe not…..

Information is always intentional. Whether it’s a book, a song, or DNA, information indicates the intent of one mind to transmit an idea to another mind. This idea could be something like music, a story, or a code. There is information on this page, there is information on TV, there’s information in our DNA-about as much as in a volume of an encyclopedia. Our DNA is smart, and we’re learning more all the time just how smart it is. DNA stores information, retrieves information, and corrects errors when it copies itself. It determines if we have black hair or blonde hair, brown eyes or green eyes. No one disputes that information is encoded into our DNA. What is disputed is how it got there. DNA is encoded information. Remember information is intentional, it does not occur randomly. DNA has all the hallmarks of intelligence, just like a book by Shakespeare or a song by Beyonce. Books and songs are created, as was DNA. If something is created, doesn’t it follow that there must be a creator?

Is there a reason to question evolution? Absolutely. Keep your minds open, that is how they work best. Keep questioning, learning and thinking. That is one of the reasons God gave us brains. God is big enough for questions. Human beings are complex, created, non-randomly occurring beings, full of information and intent, living in an environment that is so perfectly suited to their needs that it boggles the mind to believe it’s by chance. A famous 19th century scientist, Lord Kelvin, stated the following: “Do not be afraid of being free thinkers! If you think strongly enough you will be forced by science to the belief in God…You will find science not antagonistic but helpful to religion.”