Friday, April 9, 2010

Why everything you've been told about evolution is wrong

What if Darwin's theory of natural selection is inaccurate? What if the way you live now affects the life expectancy of your descendants? Evolutionary thinking is having a revolution . . .

By Oliver Burkeman at The Guardian:

...The scientists are baffled, until a Christian member of the team dimly recalls something and rushes to fetch a Bible. He thumbs through it until he reaches the Book of Joshua, chapter 10, in which Joshua asks God to stop the world for . . . "about a full day!" Uproar in the computer lab. The astronomers have happened upon proof that God controls the universe on a day-to-day basis, that the Bible is literally true, and that by extension the "myth" of creation is, in fact, a reality. Darwin was wrong – according to another creationist rumour, he'd recanted on his deathbed, anyway – and here, at last, is scientific evidence!

Inevitably, those of us who aren't professional scientists have to take a lot of science on trust. And one of the things that makes it so easy to trust the standard view of evolution, in particular, is amply illustrated by the legend of the Nasa astronomers: the doubters are so deluded or dishonest that one needn't waste time with them. Unfortunately, that also makes it embarrassingly awkward to ask a question that seems, in the light of recent studies and several popular books, to be growing ever more pertinent. What if Darwin's theory of evolution – or, at least, Darwin's theory of evolution as most of us learned it at school and believe we understand it – is, in crucial respects, not entirely accurate?



From The Berean Call:
When Richard Dawkins published The Blind Watchmaker, he was simply articulating an idea common to those who promote evolution. They know that evolution has elements that require “faith.” Consequently, Dawkins’s argument seeks to prove that “if there were a God, he wouldn’t have done it that way.” This book carefully demonstrates that this concept was what motivated Charles Darwin to develop (borrowing from others) his theory of evolution. To this day, many evolutionists consistently use the same “metaphysical” [beyond what is perceptible to the senses] argument as Darwin. Although many theories and supposed evidences litter the history of evolutionary theory, the core approach remains the same. As author Hunter notes, “the evidence makes evolution compelling only when a specific metaphysical interpretation is attached…the difference comes down not to scientific arguments, but to one’s metaphysical presuppositions.”
- Reviewed by Edwin Newby, TBC staff member.

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