Theological Bites
In our last episode we concluded with this statement,
As Christians and creationists, our position is one, God is the creator and he is the uncaused cause of everything that was caused. He worked with no pre-raw material but made everything and everyone out of nothing. We and everything else have our origin in God and God alone as Genesis 1:1 states.
The other opposite position, that manifests in various scientific and belief approaches is Evolution. Evolution is not restricted to science but it also exhibits itself in some religious school of thoughts like Theistic Evolution and other pagan worldviews that do not believe in God the creator and the origin of everything. Evolution does not make sense and neither does it fit into reality.
Three Characteristics of Evolution
Yale biologist Keith Stewart Thomson has noted that
“in contemporary biology, the term evolution can refer to (1) change over time, (2) universal common ancestry, and (3) the natural mechanisms that produce a change in organisms.”
This scholar just listed the three definitive characteristics of an evolutionist worldview. Evolution doesn’t believe in Originality but a progressive change towards what is today. It is the belief that all humans have one common ancestry and this has even manifested in the theistic evolution belief in the historical Adam as the biological father of all races. And it also believes in the natural mechanisms that effect the continuous evolution of species. In summary, evolution doesn’t believe in things being complete in their originality but rather the gradual changes from simple to more complex forms. Humans, for instance, are believed to have developed from simpler forms to their complexity today.
The Evolution Process
There is an explanation of how evolution has happened in the past in throughout this process God is not part of the process. There are five periods of the interaction of an already existing matter that has resulted in all living things we have today. For humanity, evolution is the outcome of the interaction amongst the following five processes according to Darwinian scientists:
- Mutation: an alteration in the genetic material (the genome) of a cell of a living organism or of a virus that is more or less permanent and that can be transmitted to the cell’s or the virus’s descendants. (The genomes of organisms are all composed of DNA, whereas viral genomes can be of DNA or RNA. (https://www.britannica.com/science/mutation-genetics)
- Genetic Recombination: (also known as genetic reshuffling) is the exchange of genetic material between different organisms which leads to the production of offspring with combinations of traits that differ from those found in either parent. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_recombination)
- Chromosomal Abnormalities: Chromosomes are the structures that hold genes. Genes are the individual instructions that tell our bodies how to develop and function; they govern physical and medical characteristics, such as hair colour, blood type and disease susceptibility. Many chromosomes have two segments, called “arms,” separated by a pinched region known as the centromere. The shorter arm is called the “p” arm. The longer arm is called the “q” arm. The body is made up of individual units called cells. Your body has many different kinds of cells, such as skin cells, liver cells and blood cells. In the centre of most cells is a structure called the nucleus. This is where chromosomes are located. Chromosome abnormalities can be numerical or structural. A numerical abnormality means an individual is either missing one of the chromosomes from a pair or has more than two chromosomes instead of a pair. A structural abnormality means the chromosome’s structure has been altered in one of several ways. (Source: National Human Genome Research Institute)
- Reproductive isolation: the inability of a species to breed successfully with related species due to geographical, behavioral, physiological, or genetic barriers or differences.
- Natural Selection: the differential survival and reproductions of individuals due to differences in Phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits, characteristic of a population over generations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural selection.
Scientists have insisted that the socio-geographical circumstances that have influenced evolution activity in the above four out of the five areas highly are:
- Natural Selection
- Variation
- Struggle To Exist
- Survival of the Fittest
It is these circumstances that have established the belief that humanity has gone through six stages of development to get to this stage that it is
Six Stages of Human Evolution
Scientists and scholars of evolution have emphasized that humanity has gone through six stages of development to the point it is today. Scientifically speaking, this process is continuing to to-date. The following are the stages of human evolution according to https://byjus.com/biology/evolution-by-stages/:
- Dryopithecus: deemed to be the ancestors of both man and apes. Evolution Insists humanity begun as oak wood apes known as Dryopithecus. Then they developed to
- Ramapithecus: these too were improved apes and two pieces of evidence confirm their Hominid status:1. Thickened tooth enamel, robust jaws and shorter canines. and 2. Usage of hands for food and defence and extrapolations of upright posture.
- Australopithecus: The fossil of this genus was first discovered in 1924 in South Africa. They lived on the ground, used stones as weapons and walked erect. They were 4 feet tall and weighed 60-80 pounds. After this stage was the
- Homo Erectus: Also known as Pithecanthropus Erectus. These were considered as the missing link between man and apes. Another discovery made in China was the Peking man. This specimen had large cranial capacities and is believed to have lived in communities. Homo erectus used tools comprising quartz. Tools made of bones and wood were also discovered. There is evidence of collective huntings. There is also evidence of the use of fire. The Homo Erectus is believed to dwell in caves.
- Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis: The Homo Erectus evolved into Homo Sapiens. During evolution, two sub-species of Homo Sapiens were identified- Homo sapien Neanderthal and Homo sapiens sapiens. The cranial capacity of Neanderthal grew from 1200 to 1600 cc. Some small hand axes had also been discovered. This species of hominids could hunt big names such as mammoths. And then the sixth stage of evolution:
- Homo Sapiens Sapiens: The remains of Homo Sapiens were first discovered in Europe and were named Cro-Magnon. In these, the jaws are quite reduced, the modern man’s chin appeared, and the skull was rounded. Their cranial capacity was about 1350 cc. They gathered food through hunting. Art first appeared during this time.
This is the heathen and scientific explanation of our origin that contends the Biblical view of origin which is being created by God.
The G.O.D Christian Hypothesis
Christian belief in a creator as the Origin of everything mustn’t be boxed into an irrational hypothesis and the scientific hypothesis about the origin of everything considered rational. What I mean by rational and irrational hypothesis here is what a scientific hypothesis is about.
A scientific hypothesis is the initial building block in the scientific method. It is an “educated guess,” based on prior knowledge and observation. In other words, when it comes to the question of the origin of everything, a conscience and logical being like a man starts at a hypothetical level. The scientists hypothesized that an already existing matter whose origin was due to the collision of, again, the pre-existing matter is the origin of the organized beings we see and the theologian hypothesized that there was and is an intelligent being he named God who is himself uncaused but caused everything that exists.
Since a hypothesis also includes an explanation of why the guess may be correct, both the evolutionists and the creationists must explain why their initial guess is correct. The reason why each school of thought must explain their initial hypothesis that serves as their thesis is that a hypothesis is a suggested solution for an unexplained occurrence that does not fit into current accepted logical reasoning.
For a hypothesis to be termed a scientific (reasonable) hypothesis, it has to be something that can be supported or refuted through carefully crafted experimentation or observation. This is called falsifiability and testability, an idea that was advanced in the mid-20th century by a British philosopher named Karl Popper, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
While science and other pagan world in their evolution position argue that the origin of everything is due to continuous change of pre-existing unintelligible matter whose origin was due to pre-existent unintelligent matter that accidentally collided; the Christians insist that there is an un-caused (self-existent) being to whom we attribute three fundamental essentials of our being:
G = Genetics
O = Origin
D = Design
Before a Christian attempts the study of a Gene, his hypothesis about a Gene is that its origin is by an intelligent and intentional designer who is a being himself. So the Christian Scientist is not studying just the physiology of gene but also the psychology of that gene to discover the ‘purpose’ of that gene beyond its biological functionality. God, therefore, is the Origin of our genetics and he purposely designed this whole world. The idea of purpose throughout human history can only fit in the worldview of creation and in that of evolution. Here is how the scientific hypothesis on the origin fails especially when it comes to the origin of humanity. At this point, it cannot survive falsifiability and testability.
God bless you,
I invoke TRUTH, WISDOM and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)
Priest M.I.T White (+256-775 822833)
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