Do Recent Fossil Finds Support Evolution?

If the conclusion is that Evolution is being further supported with each new find, then it would appear that there is not much evidence to support this position, even more specifically that there is NO primary evidence to support the theory (that is, all intermediate fossils, progressing from less to more complex, which give rise to interspecies variation, are completely absent from the fossil record; additionally, there is no Precambrian evidence that properly addresses the apparent Cambrian Explosion from an evolutionary standpoint; in fact, the Cambrian Explosion is better explained by Theistic Evolution, of which I disagree, than Gould’s Punctuated Equilibrium, of which I also disagree). If the conclusion is that Creation is being further supported with each new find, then it would appear the evidence of polystrate fossils, no Precambrian simple to complex fossils, and preserved dinosaur soft tissue is much more indicative of a global flood approximately 4,000 years ago.

It would appear that much speculation is occurring to support Evolution. The fossil record is of significant importance to the evolutionist. One interesting point addressed by the RATE team is that the geologic column, from which the evidence of the fossil record comes, does not actually exist. Similar strata can be found in different places of the world, but the geologic column, as presented in textbooks, is not found anywhere on planet Earth. This seems to be further complicated by polystrate fossils and the supposed stasis found by both hermit crabs and other sea life (such as sharks, etc.). These evidences are much more supportive of a worldwide flood than a series of random events leading from a single-celled organism to the complexity of life we see about us today.

Movie Review: March of the Penguins

Although March of the Penguins is a documentary of sorts distributed by National Geographic Feature Films, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the feature itself had no major evolutionary overtones. Even the introduction mentions the penguins’ mating pattern as an event occurring for thousands of years (which is possible in consideration of a creationist worldview and post-flood animal activity). While the narrator, Morgan Freeman, does reference the continent (Antarctica) as having floated further away from the others toward the South Pole over time, and this likely to support the idea of Pangaea (the theory that the continents originally all were connected and floated apart over time [which is absurd, because if you removed the waters from the Earth you would find the continents are still connected and any continental shifting or rearrangement can be accounted for by the Flood]), he does not dwell on this point, but rather quickly moves on. While this is the case for the feature film, one of the special features called Of Penguins and Men has a massive amount of propaganda supporting both evolution and global warming. As most will likely not watch this, I can at least be satisfied with the feature itself (March of the Penguins).Looking over the different elements of a penguin chick’s survival beyond their first year, and propagation of the species in general, there are several factors to consider:

An adult Emperor Penguin’s ability to survive the long trek from the sea to the mating grounds

The capability of the adult to find a suitable mate

The transferability of the fertilized egg from the mother to the father

The mother’s ability to survive the long trek from the mating grounds to the sea to feed

The mother’s ability to survive predators during feeding to make it back to the mating grounds

The father’s ability to survive the sub-zero temperatures, frozen winds, and dark winter

The father’s ability to starve and wait for the mother’s return to the mating grounds

The transferability of the chick from the father to the mother in the frozen climate

The father’s ability to repeat the sequence the mother has regarding food, survival, and return

The chick’s ability to avoid predators

The father and mother’s ability to take turns feeding the chick while he grows

The chick’s ability to feed and avoid predators for the first 4-5 years in the sea prior to mating

The chick’s ability to repeat the mating process over the next 15-20 years until death

Considering the preceding list, it is easy to identify the factors that are associated with "luck." Predators, accidents occurring during transfer of the egg/chick, and the timing of both parents in making the long trek back and forth between the sea for feeding and the mating grounds all play a part in whether or not the chick will survive.

If we are to consider how natural selection plays a part in the successful survival of the egg/chick and continued propagation of the species, the point is that nature is doing the selecting for the fittest to survive. This means that issues which are really factors related to luck (“wrong place at the wrong time”) are under normal conditions considered elements of natural selection. This would include predators, aging, surviving the weather conditions, finding a mate (with nearly every male coupling due to an outnumbering by females this does not seem to be a major concern), etc. It seems that the survival of the egg/chick relates to behavior and "luck" more than it could to genetics. The choices of when to travel, how much practice to have to prepare for egg/chick transfer, how much the parents eat in order to battle loss of body mass and starvation (females lose 1/3 of their body weight by the time the egg is laid while males lose ½ of their body weight prior to the mother’s return from feeding after the winter), how the parents and chick avoid predators, etc., all have a much more apparent effect on the survivability of a new penguin than anything else. While these factors can be attributed to either instinct or learned behavior by modeling other penguins, it does not seem that they are directly influenced by genetics. The overarching theme of survival for the Emperor Penguin seems to be God's hand in the breeding habits and "luck" of factors in individual penguins lives.

The Value of Human Life in the Evolution/Creation Debate

In consideration of the value of human life and how this issue relates to both an evolutionary and creationistic worldview, we come to the case of Carrie Buck. Becoming pregnant at the age of 17, Carrie was committed by her foster parents to the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded on the grounds of feeblemindedness, incorrigible behavior and promiscuity (although her pregnancy occurred after having been raped by her own foster parent’s nephew). Carrie’s mother, Emma, had likewise been committed to the Virginia Colony for the Epileptic and the Feeble-minded after being accused of immorality, prostitution, and having syphilis. It seems apparent that the sexual deviancy so commonplace in our contemporary society was grounds in the early 20^th century to label one as insane, mentally retarded, or “feeble-minded”, regardless of if this deviancy was a forced act by another. Sadly, to make certain the family did not reproduce, Carrie’s younger sister Doris was secretly sterilized after being hospitalized for appendicitis. Doris was unaware of this procedure having occurred, until the 1980’s, after many years of attempted child-bearing with her husband. Amazingly, US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. had this to say in 1927 regarding Carrie Buck:

“We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11. Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”

Later in life, and after actual investigation, there was an obvious consensus that Carrie was a woman of normal intelligence. Additionally, her daughter Vivian (the child she bore from the rape) was an average student who excelled in deportment (behavior).

Looking at this background from the practice of sterilization in support of eugenics, it seems Justice Holmes gives a common response from those in favor of evolutionary thought: That it is “better for all” if we prevent those we deem “unfit from continuing their kind” from ever giving birth at all. We see this in the racist sentiments of Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, who said, “It is said that a fish as large as a man has a brain no larger than the kernel of an almond. In all fish and reptiles where there is no great brain development, there is also no conscious sexual control. The lower down in the scale of human development we go the less sexual control we find. It is said that the aboriginal Australian, the lowest known species of the human family, just a step higher than the chimpanzee in brain development, has so little sexual control that police authority alone prevents him from obtaining sexual satisfaction on the streets.” Interestingly, the placement of Planned Parenthood clinics in poor, ethnic minority neighborhoods and the comparable ratios of abortions amongst ethnic minorities (particularly blacks) to those of whites only serve to further support the racist hatred of such individuals as Sanger. We also see the common response of Justice Holmes in the tens of millions of abortions performed in the United States since the US Supreme Court decision regarding Roe v. Wade in 1973, especially with regard to the higher percentages of abortions performed upon children with debilitating disease and mental/physical disabilities. Considering all these things, when our presupposition is that all life originated through random mutation, natural selection, and other evolutionary processes, our conclusion can only necessitate a eugenic of sterilization for the weak, the destruction of human life at will (to include abortion, euthanasia, and genocide), and any other means to promote the survival of the fittest.

Opposing all these points, the Biblical view of Creation gives value to human life and necessary order in the world. First, we must understand that there is a hierarchy to Creation. This hierarchy includes human relationships in the family and Church (Genesis 2:21-23, Genesis 3:16, 1 Corinthians 11:7-9, 1 Timothy 2:11-14) as well as the distinguishing of man above the rest of Creation for the purpose of dominion and fruitful multiplication of the human race (Genesis 1:26-28). In light of these Scripture passages, we can also understand that human life has value because murder is a direct assault against the image of God, hence God Himself. This is supported by the existence of the sixth commandment in Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17. If human life has value as the express image of God, if our existence has a hierarchical order in which we relate to one another and the rest of the created world, and if the destruction of human life is always a sin (whether by means of abortion, euthanasia, eugenics, etc.), than that value which is inherent in human life only comes from a Creator. This view must therefore be diametrically opposed to a meaningless existence grounded in random chance, making certain that the evolutionary and creationistic views of the value of human life are, just as their theory of origins, mutually exclusive from one another.