Throughout all these changes, the pugs are still.... pugs. The watermelon is still a.... watermelon. And the cows are still cows. These examples are not evolution. They are examples of natural selection, which contrary to popular belief, is not evolution.
Natural selection has been defined as "the process by which genetic traits are passed on to each successive generation. Over time, natural selection helps species become better adapted to their environment."
[1] It is simply a mechanism through which organisms can deal with their changing environments in the world. Evolution has been defined by S. J. Gould as an "unfolding in time of a predictable or prepackaged sequence in an inherently
progressive, or at least
directional manner.
Natural selection works to preserve the genetic viability of the original created kinds by removing from the population those with severely deleterious/lethal characteristics. Natural selection, acting on genetic information, is the primary mechanism that explains how organisms could have survived after the Fall and Flood when the world changed drastically from God's original creation. Practically every single observable mutation has been an example of losing information and traits from the original DNA, never gaining information that doesn't exist.
There are several things that natural selection can and cannot do:
Natural Selection Can | Natural Selection Cannot |
1. Decrease genetic information. | 1. Increase or provide new genetic information. |
| 2. Allow organisms to survive better in a given envirionment. | 2. Allow organisms to evolve from molecules to man. |
| 3. Act as a "selector." | 3. Act as an "originator." |
| 4. Support creation's model of life - all animal kinds came from an original animal. For example, the dog kind came from an original dog that was created in the beginning. | 4. Support the evolutionary model of life - all animals have evolved from one original ancestor (which itself evolved from nonliving chemicals). |
Suppose you have two dogs that have medium-length fur and have several variants of the gene for fur length. L will be the variant of the gene representing long fur, and S will be the variant of the gene representing short fur. The original dog kind most likely would have been a mixture of the genes specifying fur length, including both L and S. When the original kind (LS dogs) mated, their offspring could have one of three different gene makeups - LL for long fur, LS for medium fur, and SS for short fur. If two long-haired dogs (LL) mated, then they could only produce offspring with the LL gene. This would be a loss of information because they didn't have the S gene and would not be capable of producing dogs with medium (LS) or short (LL) fur. This loss of information would be an advantage if these long-fur dogs live in an area with a cold climate. The long-fur dogs would be naturally selected for, as they would survive better in the given environment. Eventually, the majority of this area's dog population would have long fur.
Four things have happened in this scenario, which line up with one of the above columns in the table. I'll let you figure out which one.
1. Through natural selection, genetic information (variety) was lost.
2. The long-fur dogs survive better in a cold environment; they are less able to survive in a warm environment and vice versa.
3. A particular characteristic in the dog population was selected for.
4. Dogs are still completely dogs since the variation is within the boundaries of "kind." It has not changed to a different kind of animal.
Another example has been observed in bacteria. A bacterium can gain resistance through two primary ways:
1. By losing genetic information, and
2. By using a design feature built in to swap DNA - a bacterium gains resistance from another bacterium that has resistance.
I'll give an example of the first method by looking at a bacteria called
Helicobacter pylori. Antibiotic-resistant
H. pylori have a mutation that results in the
loss of information to produce an enzyme. This enzyme normally converts an antibiotic to a poison, which causes death to the bacteria. But when the antibiotics are applied to mutant
H. pylori which don't produce the enzyme, these bacteria can live while the normal bacteria are killed. So by natural selection the ones that lost information survive and pass this trait along to their offspring.
For the second method, a bacterium can get antibiotic resistance by gaining the aforementioned mutated DNA from another bacterium. Unlike you and me, bacteria can swap DNA. It is important to note that this is still not considered a gain of genetic information since the information already exists and that while the mutated DNA may be new to a particular bacterium, it is not new overall.
Using the points from the table for what natural selection can accomplish, it can be seen that:
1. Through mutation, genetic information was lost.
2. The antibiotic-resistant bacteria
only survive well in an environment with antibiotics; they are less able to survive well in the wild. (It is important to keep in mind that the gain of antibiotic resistance is not an example of a beneficial mutation but rather a beneficial outcome of a mutation in a given environment.)
3. A particular mutation in a bacterial population was selected for.
4.
H. pylori is still
H. pylori. No evolution has taken place to change it into something else - it's still the same bacteria with some variation.
This "speciation" has never been observed to form an organism of a different kind, such as a dog species producing a cat. Speciation works
only within a kind. Evolution requires natural selection and speciation to give rise to new kinds from a former kind. Speciation, however, leads to a loss of information, not the gain of information required by evolution.
Evolution requires an increase in information that results in a
directional movement from molecules to man. Natural selection cannot be a mechanism for evolution because it results in a
decrease in information and is
not directional. Speciation may occur as a result of natural selection, but it only occurs
within a kind.
Another scenario. The following analysis was calculated by a former evolutionist named Carl Werner who took upon himself the task of finding out whether evolution is possible. This is just one of many things that he considered. In calculating this analysis, he said that it must be kept in mind that this is an educated guess, not an exact answer. There are a number of factors that have to be estimated, such as the exact amount of new proteins needed for each body change, how long the proteins would be, etc.; so parts of this calculation is arbitrary.
One of the land animals that evolutionists consider may be the ancestor of the whale is the hyena-like animal called
Pachyaena. (This analysis will work with any other land animal though.) How many parts of a hyena would have to change by chance mutations to become a whale? There are obviously more changes than these, but I'll keep it simple.
1. The hyena would have to develop a dorsal fin.
2. The bony tail of the hyena would have to change into a cartilaginous fluke.
3. The hyena's teeth would have to develop into a huge baleen filter.
4. The hyena's hair would have to nearly disappear and be replaced by blubber for insulation through chance mutations in the DNA.
5. The nostrils would have to move from the tip of the hyena's nose to the top of the whale's head, disconnect from the mouth passage, and from a strong muscular flap to close the blowhole.
6. The hyena's front legs would have to change into pectoral fins.
7. The hyena's body would have to increase in size from 150 pounds to 400,000 pounds.
8. The hyena's external ears would have to disappear and then develop to compensate for high-pressure diving to 1,640 feet deep.
9. The hyena's back legs would have to disappear.
In order for these 9 body changes to occur, 1 new protein, 100 amino acids per new protein, and 3 letters of DNA for each new amino acid added would be required for each body change. That comes out to 2,700 DNA letters. Since DNA is comprised of only four letters, namely A, C, G, and T, the odds of adding the correct single letter of DNA for any one position on the DNA strand are 1 out of 4 possibilities, or 1/4. The odds then of adding 2,700 new letters of DNA would be 1/4 times 1/4 times 1/4 times and so on, 2,700 times, or 1/4 raised to the 2,700th power. So what exactly is the answer to this calculation?
Before revealing the answer, it is helpful to review the odds of other chance events. For example:
The odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime are 1/5,000 (3 zeros). The odds of winning the Powerball Lottery are 1/80,000,000 (7 zeros). The odds of winning the Powerball Lottery
two times in a
row are 1/6,400,000,000,000,000 (14 zeros). The odds of throwing 100 dice (at once) and all coming up as the number "3" are 1/6,533 followed by 74 zeros. The odds of throwing 2,000 dice (at once) and all coming up as the number "3" are 1/2,006 followed by 1,533 zeros. The odds of one individual winning the Powerball Lottery once every year,
for 200 years in a row, would be 1/1,149 followed by 1,577 zeros.
Now for the answer. By taking the equation of 1/4 to the 2,700th power (as explained above) and multiplying it out to the end, the odds of a land mammal becoming a whale by random mutations are 1/364 followed by 1,625 zeros. In other words, the odds are more likely that you will win the national Powerball Lottery every year in a row for 200 years, or that you will throw 2,000 dice (at once) and they all come up as a "3". Anything less than 1 in 10 to the 50th power is considered impossible, much less
1/364 followed by 1,625 zeros. It just can't happen. And this is just for one single kind of animal to change into another, not the hundreds or thousands of different types of animals. For it to happen once is impossible, much less
hundreds or thousands of times.
DNA is incredibly complex. It has been estimated that the DNA in our bodies contains about as much information as 106 volumes of encyclopedias that contain ~1.375 million words each. But where did this vast amount of information come from? Information has
never been observed creating itself. It
cannot create itself. Information
must come from a higher source of information, i.e., God. Also, where did the matter that comprised the Big Bang come from? Matter cannot create itself. The only feasible explanation that explains
everything is creation by a supernatural, omnipotent God.
In the beginning, after creation, mankind decided to rebel against God, disobeying his order. As a punishment for our sin, God put a curse on creation. Everything started to decay and die, including mankind. Every person has voluntarily sinned against God, and is worthy of God's punishment. But God wanted to save us, so he made a way out. If a person has committed a crime, another person can voluntarily take the other's punishment. So God came down to earth as a human, lived a sinless life, and took the punishment that we deserve upon himself by dying for us on the cross, thereby making it so that we do not need to pay for our sin. He then rose three days later, defeating death, If you repent of your sins and believe that Jesus died for your sins, then rose three days later, you will be forgiven, and your soul will be "washed white as snow."
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16 (KJV)
I hope that these arguments will help you reconsider your position. There is nothing more fulfilling than a life with Jesus!
