Transcript Lesson11
Evidences Class Continuing Study on Evolution I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. (Psalms 139:14) O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. (Psalms 104:24-25) Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them. (Psalms 111:2) The Message Paraphrase GOD's works are so great, worth A lifetime of study--endless enjoyment! University of Virginia Ultimately, evolution is not about the scientific details. Ultimately, evolution is about God. (Cornelius Hunter) Response to an Intelligent Design Club at the University of Virginia If humans are the product of an intelligent design, should we also conclude that pathogens, such as Salmonella and HIV, responsible for killing millions of children every year, are also intelligently designed? Signed by 50+ professors at UVa Douglas Futuyma Do the creation scientists really suppose their Creator saw fit to create a bird that couldn’t reproduce without six feet of bulky feathers that make it easy prey for leopards? Stephen Jay Gould Orchids manufacture their intricate devices from the common components of ordinary flowers, parts usually fitted for very different functions. If God had designed a beautiful machine to reflect his wisdom and power, surely he would not have used a collection of parts generally fashioned for other purposes. Orchids were not made by an ideal engineer; they are jury-rigged from a limited set of available components. Thus, they must have evolved from ordinary flowers. J. B. S. Haldane The Creator has an inordinate fondness for beetles to have created over 250,000 different species. Evolution cannot think ahead Nose Change Change Change 1. Small Change 2. Improvement 3. More Survivors – S.O.F. Trunk Blind Chance??? 100,000 RPM Evolution or Revolution The eye must connect to the brain somehow. But how does the eye know where the brain is or what the brain is or that it even exists and is required to make the eye useful. And how did the eye then wire itself properly to the brain? And even if it did connect to the brain properly … How did the eye know how to speak a language that the brain would understand and vice versa? (Doug Powell) Nature Designed (or Created) … Natural Selection? “Defy your genetics; nature designed you to hold as little muscle and as much fat as possible” (internet ad quote) Response to an IDEA Club at the University of Virginia The notion that humans actually evolved from more primitive life forms, supported by vast amounts of data from fields as diverse as paleontology and molecular genetics, is antithetical to those who do not accept evolution. Signed by 50+ professors Darwin’s Finches Darwin’s Mythical Research Natural Selection in Action??? If the process were to continue indefinitely for some 200 years; it might even produce “a new species of finch”. National Academy of Sciences Average Height of NBA Players Average Height (Inches) 80 79 78 77 76 75 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 NBA Season 1990 2000 2010 Two Peppered Moths Peppered moths do not ordinarily rest on tree trunks Difficulty in repeating the experiment in other locales At first glance: The Strongest Evidence for Evolution is the Fossil Record But how strong is it??? Things to Remember • Discovery of extinct species is not a proof of evolution • Most of the fossil evidence is skeletal • Evidence is fit to the theory • You can’t always trust the evidence Dinoraptor National Geographic shoots itself in the foot. University of Florida Website Step 1: Hyracotherium or eohippus A horse is a horse of course Step 2: Orohippus 18 Ribs eohippus 15 Ribs Found in the same strata Step 3: Mesohippus Big gap between steps 2 and 3 The fossil record does not show a gradual, linear progression from Hyracotherium (Eohippus) to Equus … The fossil record of equids shows that various lineages split into several branches. Evolution was not smooth and gradual; traits evolved at different rates and occasionally reversed. Some species arose gradually, others suddenly. Talk Origins Website (Evolutionist Site) Step 6: Merychippus Step 5 • Very close • Teeth are different Step 8: Dinohippus • Almost the same as Step 7 • Some with 3 toes and some with 1 What are you left with? Akin to the differences in dogs???? 17-18 19 18 15 The number of lumbar vertebrae also changes from six to eight and then back to six. Numbers of Ribs The record of evolution is still surprisingly jerky … What appeared to be a nice progression when relatively few data were available now appears to be much more complex and much less gradualistic. Raup (an evolutionist) Why?