It is a widely held belief that life began with a simple single celled organism and over time the descendants of that first lifeform changed in various ways and became more complex to produce all the different forms of life we have today. This process in called evolution.
An alternate explanation is found in the Bible. It tells us that every form of life, including man, was created by God already perfect and fully developed. But because of sin all forms of life became imperfect and subject to death.
Genesis 5 shows us that originally it was normal for people to live to be over 900 years old. After the flood the human lifespan gradually lessened until now it is unusual for someone to live even 100 years. In recent years improvements in sanitation, nutrition, and medicine have enabled people to live longer that in the past but this doesn't mean that our normal lifespan has increased. It only means that more people are able to live out their full life rather than having it cut short by disease or injury.
We no longer live as long as people did in the past. It seems reasonable that we are physically inferior to them in other ways and the same thing is true of other kinds of life. We could call this process devolution.
There is no doubt that over time changes occur in organisms so that the descendants are different in many ways from their ancestors. Two example of this are the different races of humans and the different breeds of dogs and other domesticated animals. But is this change the result of evolution or devolution? Are we seeing a process that began with simple lifeforms and has led to the development of more complex life or are we seeing a process of degeneration from an original state of prefection?
Change comes about by a process called natural selection. Individuals within any species differ from each other and sometimes some individuals possess some characteristic that makes it easier for them to survive in a specific environment. They are more likely to survive and produce offspring than others of their species. Over time it is possible that all those lacking this survival characteristic will die off and the remaining members of the species will be different from their ancestors.
Some people would say that this species has evolved, but is that really the case? Evolution requires that species develop new genes that didn't exist in their ancestors. Natural selection does just the opposite; it eliminates genes that reduce the chance of survival. It may bring about changes but the end result of those changes is organisms that have less genetic variation that their ancestors did. This is exactly what we would expect to see if the Biblical account of creation were true.
An alternate explanation is found in the Bible. It tells us that every form of life, including man, was created by God already perfect and fully developed. But because of sin all forms of life became imperfect and subject to death.
Genesis 5 shows us that originally it was normal for people to live to be over 900 years old. After the flood the human lifespan gradually lessened until now it is unusual for someone to live even 100 years. In recent years improvements in sanitation, nutrition, and medicine have enabled people to live longer that in the past but this doesn't mean that our normal lifespan has increased. It only means that more people are able to live out their full life rather than having it cut short by disease or injury.
We no longer live as long as people did in the past. It seems reasonable that we are physically inferior to them in other ways and the same thing is true of other kinds of life. We could call this process devolution.
There is no doubt that over time changes occur in organisms so that the descendants are different in many ways from their ancestors. Two example of this are the different races of humans and the different breeds of dogs and other domesticated animals. But is this change the result of evolution or devolution? Are we seeing a process that began with simple lifeforms and has led to the development of more complex life or are we seeing a process of degeneration from an original state of prefection?
Change comes about by a process called natural selection. Individuals within any species differ from each other and sometimes some individuals possess some characteristic that makes it easier for them to survive in a specific environment. They are more likely to survive and produce offspring than others of their species. Over time it is possible that all those lacking this survival characteristic will die off and the remaining members of the species will be different from their ancestors.
Some people would say that this species has evolved, but is that really the case? Evolution requires that species develop new genes that didn't exist in their ancestors. Natural selection does just the opposite; it eliminates genes that reduce the chance of survival. It may bring about changes but the end result of those changes is organisms that have less genetic variation that their ancestors did. This is exactly what we would expect to see if the Biblical account of creation were true.
His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Romans 1:20 ESV
Romans 1:20 ESV
