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God's Genius in Evolution

Regular contributor James Knight presents his argument for the evolution of the human race, and believes that this process is evidence of God’s creative genius.

In Aesop's famous fable, the wind and the sun bet on which of them can force a traveller to remove his coat. The wind sends a cold, howling blast against the traveller, but that only makes him wrap his coat on even more tightly. The sun, however, shines its warm beams on the traveller and it encourages him to take it off. The moral of the fable is that usually gentleness and kind persuasion win where force and bluster fail.
 
It is here that I want to make a gentle appeal, because for too many decades now, our profound and beautiful Christian faith has been embarrassed and distorted by the completely unnecessary and distracting arguments between creationists who don't accept evolution alongside their faith, and Christians who do. I really want to encourage us, brothers and sisters in Christ, that this unnecessary division can start to abate if we fall in love with these creative elements of God's genius that are explored through the sciences, and come together and embrace truth and facts.
 
Since the genomes of hundreds of animals have been sequenced, it is impossible to grasp even the basics of genetics and deny the fact that evolution happened over millions of years, and to deny the fact that every species is genetically related to each other in a tree of life. These are biological facts that are impossible to reject. Don't get me wrong, evolution denial has never been the right path for Christians, but these days it's so abundantly and incontrovertibly clear that evolution by natural selection is the correct explanation for the diversity of life on this planet that there is no way to continue denying it and expect the integrity and reputation of the Christian faith to suffer more damage.
 
Friends, I invite you to join me in seeing God's creative genius through the narrative of evolution on this planet. The story of evolution over four billion years is this; all organisms can be traced back to a common ancestor, and so all of the diversity in life we see today is due to common descent with modification, through natural selection, genetic mutation, and genetic drift. We have a lot of evidence to back up this theory, including the fossil record, geologic evidence, and most comprehensively, genetic data. There are three mechanisms for evolution: natural selection, genetic mutation, and genetic drift.
 
Natural selection: Organisms who are better suited for their environment have a higher probability of surviving long enough to reproduce and pass on their genes. This is pretty much common sense.
 
Genetic mutation: Changes in genetic code occur naturally during reproduction, and at random. There are several types of genetic mutations, including the insertion of a base pair, the deletion of a base pair, and the switching of positions of two pre-existing base pairs. These mutations occur all the time.
 
Genetic drift: This is the relative frequency of how often an allele (a specific genetic trait) appears in a population, based on how many currently-existing organisms contain that trait. Over time, some alleles that are not well-suited for the environment may become less common and eventually disappear completely. This can reduce genetic variability.
 
The axioms of evolution claim that all life evolved slowly and gradually from the first life forms. Traits are inherited from one generation to the next with slight variations. This being true, we should be able to create a kind of family tree of organisms and their traits, just like we create a family tree for our human ancestors. If you hired a professional genealogist to study your genealogical tree, you'd find the branches form nested groups of families based on the name of the husbands. As new generations marry, the daughter lineages create branches with the names of their new husbands, and the sons simply create newer and more complicated branches with the same name. In my father's and mother's family tree, for example, even in just a few generations we have family members with over a dozen different surnames.
 
In biological evolution over 4 billion years, traits in organisms evolve in the same way. If you replace the new family line where the husband's name comes in with a new novel trait in an offspring, you find the same thing.
 
That organism with a new trait creates a new branch where the descendants keep that trait and also accumulate new ones as they go along, much like how all the grand-daughters will take on new marital names and form their own branches. This is what is called in biology a "nested hierarchy".
 
The genome of every single organism contains the totality of genetic information within that organism - we each have a unique one (it's mostly the same, but every individual has slight variations). A genome is like a book, consisting of chromosomes, which are like paragraphs. These paragraphs are made up of genes (sentences in this book analogy) and they act as instructions to make molecules. Each gene is like a sentence that defines its protein structure, and the letters in the sentence convey the building blocks of the DNA strand (a subset part of the gene). DNA is a molecule in the shape of a double helix, which is a long spiral staircase made up of nucleotides - and it is these that determine the genetic code of all living things.
 
As the genomes of so many animals and plants have been sequenced, we have a picture of evolution so clear that we know where every living thing appears on the tree of life. We know this because the information available to us from genome sequencing is computational - that is, from the sequences we can compute the relational distance of every species to each other, just as if we subjected books to a computational process and saw them undergo mutations, we would track the computational steps at every part of the journey and know which copies of books emerged from which other books and so forth.
 
This is because genes are best thought of as passengers that use bodies as vehicles for propagation - just as in this analogy, letters and sentences would be using the book structure to get themselves passed on. The DNA code is a digital code that has no non-trivial difference from computer coding that can be mapped in precise accordance with the journey its constituent information units have taken. A gene is a sentence that conveys the structure of a protein, and just as would be the case if we subjected books to the same kind of evolutionary process and read every intermediary stage as the sentence structures changed bit-by-bit over time, the same computational process is analysable when it comes to code read in the cells of every living thing.
 
We can look at the rich diversity of species and map the phenotypic variation - variation due to underlying heritable genetic variation. We know from our genetic story that we are equally related to dogs as we are whales, and bats as we are hippos, and hedgehogs as we are deer, because the last common ancestor we have with, say, the dog, is the same as the last common ancestor shared with, say, the whale - even though regarding the appearance of an organism, characters and traits, the difference between a dog and a whale, or a bat and a hippo, is immense.
 
Because we can read the code in the cells of every living thing, we also know that regarding the genetic distance on the phylogenetic tree, we are more closely related to mice, rats, rabbits and guinea pigs than any of the animals of the previous list (take most other animals and we'd know the genetic distance too). And genome sequencing shows us, beyond any doubt, that we are most closely related to other apes (chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas, bonobos, etc) and all primates diverged from a common ancestor.
 
These studies show other conclusive evidence too. For example, inherited strands of past viruses (called endogenous retroviruses) show clear relatedness between species, and in a way that is exactly consistent with the tree of life. So too do the homologies - the common features and traits shared by organisms also matches both the genetic data of the family tree of all species, and the data that shows the trajectory of endogenous retroviruses.
 
The upshot of all this is, if you reject this as conclusive evidence for evolution, and remain unwilling to reject creationism and embrace these facts as instruments of God's creative genius, then you are not paying enough regard to how significant and decisive these data are, and how deep and wondrous the theology can get. There is simply no way of denying the fact of evolution - and I'm sorry to say, for too long now, evolution-denial has tarnished the reputation of the Christian faith, and put prospective believers off taking it as seriously as they might.
 
I'd like to offer an olive branch, and say that the faith will be so much more powerful and coherent to all our fellow humans if we can come together united in loving the truth and embracing the scientific facts that give exhibition to God's creative genius. And lest we forget St. Paul's desire for us to be of one mind in all matters of truth:
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.
1 Corinthians 1:10


The image above is courtesy of pixabay.com

 


JamesKnight300James Knight is a local government officer based in Norwich, and is a regular columnist for Christian community websites Network Norfolk and Network Ipswich. He also blogs regularly as ‘The Philosophical Muser’, and contributes articles to UK think tanks The Adam Smith Institute and The Institute of Economic Affairs, as well as the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC). 


The views carried here are those of the author, not necessarily those of Network Norfolk, and are intended to stimulate constructive debate between website users. 


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Feedback:
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Robin Heij MBChB, FRCA, DA(SA) (Guest) 18/03/2022 11:26
Dear All. I don't normally use my credentials but I am an intensive care specialist and lead for organ donation so have some scientific knowledge and experience in research. I am young earth creationist as per genesis 1 and therefore would say Godly creation contradicts evolution theory. It is not possible to build up a biological ecosystem over a long period of time and expect it to sustain life at some point. It either can sustain life or it can't. And you can't use time as a scientific argument that with enough time anything can fall into place. That's not science but a fairy tale. Please tell me how your theory gets around this point and what your scientific credentials are James and Timothy.
Regards
Robin
Timothy V Reeves (Guest) 18/03/2022 12:50
Hello Robin,

I am an old earth intelligent design creationist (as was Sir John Polkinghorne), but who is sceptical about standard evolutionary mechanisms. The irony is that given the cosmos has been created by Omniscience it is then difficult to rule out conventional evolution on a purely logical basis because an omnisciently designed cosmos may have been provisioned with sufficient mathematical properties to give us natural history. So although I have grave doubts about conventional evolutionary mechanisms it is difficult to rule them out on the basis of science alone (as distinct to Biblical theology) simply because God is God. It would no doubt be little problem to an immanent and omniscient God to bias the mathematics of the cosmos in favour of standard evolutionary mechanisms. In God’s cosmos his computation times could conceivably generate miracles. So Robin if you are going to argue from science alone (as distinct from Biblical theology) your case needs a little bit more work. Moreover, you need to distinguish between natural history and evolutionary mechanisms – the latter are more debatable than the former. Can I tempt you to use the second law of thermodynamics to disprove evolution as some Christians attempt to do? (Spoiler: That may not be a wise move)


I’m afraid to say Robin your credentials are not of great relevance in this context if you are unable to carry through a strong logical argument. This is the wild-web after all. If anything you’ve done yourself a disservice by stating your letters as it looks like an attempt to argue from authority which isn’t good enough. If we going to use letters and authority then we could use all the letters of the eminent scientists of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion to settle the matter by authority in favour of conventional science.

My training, BTW, is in physics, computing, mathematics and philosophy.

Thanks for your reply Robin!


hxxps:\\quantumnonlinearity,blogspot,com/

hxxps:\\drive,google,com/file/d/1cFLNGpm8xmFSnaRttEorzPJc9TF3dWr6/view



Timothy V Reeves (Guest) 18/03/2022 13:03
Note: To use the links replace hxxps with https, \\ with // and the commas with dots
(Guest) 19/03/2022 00:08
QUOTE Robin: "And you can't use time as a scientific argument that with enough time anything can fall into place. That's not science but a fairy tale" /UNQUOTE

The fairy tale here is the straw man suggestion that evolutionary mechanisms are absolutely random. If those mechanisms were actually the case (and I'm NOT saying they are; this is a point of logic) then it follows that evolution as conventionally understood is a highly constrained process. i.e. it is far from random and only has a random component. The heavy lifting is found in the contingencies of the constraint.

On Quantum Non-Linearity: September 2019: Evolution: Naked Chance?

(hxxps:\\quantumnonlinearity,blogspot,com/)
Timothy V Reeves (Guest) 20/03/2022 22:58
hxxps:\\quantumnonlinearity,blogspot,com/search/label/Evolution
(Guest) 21/03/2022 15:56
Thanks Timothy
I agree credentials are not fully relevant but my point was that young earth creationists are not all uneducated and some are much smarter than you or I. Just look at the book In six days where 50 scientists with pretty impressive credentials believe in a literal 6 day creation. Are you saying they are all misled or deluded somehow. I think you have to be careful trying to combine your old earth ideas with what the Bible clearly states. And remember James 3:1 says you will be judged more strictly if you teach. Especially if you teach what is incorrect.
Timothy V Reeves (Guest) 21/03/2022 17:49
Hello Robin,

In response may I say the following?

Old earth creationists are not all uneducated and some are much smarter than you or I. Just look at the Faraday Institute for pretty impressive credentials and many more well qualified Christian scientists who believe in an old Earth and who out-populate young earthism’s relatively small population. Are you saying they are all misled or deluded somehow? I think you have to be careful trying to combine your young earth ideas with what the Bible clearly states. And remember James 3:1 says you will be judged more strictly if you teach, especially if you teach what is incorrect.

Well Robin I’d drop authoritarian dependency on credentialed agents and those transparent attempts at spiritual intimidation, something I’m well used to in my long study of various religious sectarians who speak in similar didactic tones to yourself. However, although I believe them to be mistaken I assume they are genuine and never make an attempt to impugn their consciences.

Letters after your name aren’t the most reliable predictors of truth. In any case much of the analysis from young earthists is, I’m afraid to say, substandard, to say the least. See links below:

hxxps:\\quantumnonlinearity,blogspot,com/2017/11/more-substandard-logic-from-answers-in_html

hxxps:\\quantumnonlinearity,blogspot,com/2018/03/comets-deconstructing-fundamentalist_html

hxxps:\\quantumnonlinearity,blogspot,com/2020/02/no-progress-on-young-earthisms-biggest_html

hxxps:\\quantumnonlinearity,blogspot,com/2018/04/fundamentalist-agrees-with-astronomers_html


Timothy V Reeves (Guest) 21/03/2022 17:51
What the Bible clearly states.
Epistemology, Ontology, Creation & Salvation.

https://drive,google,com/file/d/1KFJrDPNt6gJlBOVID4x50nCUtpLG-kn9/view
Timothy V Reeves (Guest) 21/03/2022 17:53
....edit out commas to access document.
(Guest) 24/03/2022 12:09
If anyone would like to here a continuation of this conversation there's a video called 'a conversation with bible believing scientist Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson - the leftovers'
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