Download evolution explains life, so god isn`t needed

EVOLUTION
EXPLAINS LIFE, SO
GOD ISN’T NEEDED
“Charles Darwin didn’t want
to murder God, as he once
put it. But he did.”
“Iconoclast of the Century,
Charles Darwin (1809-1882),”
Time, December 31, 1999.
Evolutionary theory is still, as
it was in Darwin’s time, a
highly speculative hypothesis
entirely without direct factual
support and very far from that
self-evident axiom some of its
more aggressive advocates
would have us believe. Michael
Denton, molecular biologist, “Evolution: A Theory in Crisis”
(Chevy Chase, Md.: Adler & Adler, 1986), 77.
Ronald Keith Williamson
Story…
DARWIN’S
ACCOMPLISHMENT
I embraced skepticism at an early age,
when I first learned of Darwin’s theory of
evolution in, of all places, Catholic grade
school. It immediately occurred to me that
either Darwin’s theory was true or the
creation story in the Book of Genesis was
true. They could not both be true, and I
stood up in class and told the poor nun as
much. Thus began a long odyssey away from
the devout religious belief and practice that
had marked my childhood toward an
increasingly secular and rationalistic outlook.
(Patrick Glynn, God: The Evidence, 2-3).
DARWIN’S
ACCOMPLISHMENT
In the popular culture, the case
for evolution is generally
considered shut. “Darwinism
remains one of the most
successful scientific theories
ever promulgated,” Time
magazine said in its recap of the
“Iconoclast of the
second
millennium.
Century, Charles Darwin (1809-1882),” Time,
December 31, 1999.
DARWIN’S
ACCOMPLISHMENT
To Charles Templeton, it’s
simply beyond dispute that
“all life is the result of
timeless evolutionary
forces.” Charles Templeman, Farewell to
God, 232.
DARWIN’S
ACCOMPLISHMENT
Biologist Francisco Ayala said
Darwin’s “greatest
accomplishment” was to show
how the development of life is
“the result of a natural process,
natural selection, without any
need to resort to a Creator.”
Franscisco Ayala, Creative Evolution, John H
Campbell and J.W. Schoff, eds. (New York: James
and Bartlett, 1994), 4-5.
DARWIN’S
ACCOMPLISHMENT
Michael Denton, the Australian
molecular biologist and
physician, agreed that Darwinism
“broke man’s link with God” and
consequently “set him adrift in
the cosmos without purpose.”
DARWIN’S
ACCOMPLISHMENT
“As far as Christianity was
concerned, the advent of the theory
of evolution . . . was catastrophic. ...
The decline in religious belief can
probably be attributed more to the
propagation and advocacy by the
intellectual and scientific community
of the Darwinian version of evolution
than to any other single factor.”
Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, 67.
DARWIN’S
ACCOMPLISHMENT
As the textbook Evolutionary
Biology declares: “By coupling
undirected, purposeless
variation to the blind, uncaring
process of natural selection,
Darwin made theological or
spiritual explanations of the life
processes superfluous.”
DARWIN’S
ACCOMPLISHMENT
British biologist Richard
Dawkins was speaking for many
when he said that Darwin “made
it possible to be an intellectually
fulfilled atheist.” Richard Dawkins, The
Blind Watchmaker (New York:Norton, 1987)6.
DARWIN’S
ACCOMPLISHMENT
In fact, prominent evolutionist
William Provine of Cornell
University candidly conceded
that if Darwinism is true, then
there are five inescapable
implications:
there’s no evidence for God;
DARWIN’S
ACCOMPLISHMENT
there’s no life after death;
there’s no absolute
foundation for right and
wrong; there’s no ultimate
meaning for life; and people
don’t really have free will.’
Philip E. Johnson, Darwin on Trial, 2nd Ed.
(Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993),
126-127.
BUT IS DARWINISM
TRUE?
SOMETHING FROM
NOTHING/RANDOM CHANCE
– 1040,000
– 1060,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0
00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
BUT IS DARWINISM
TRUE?
SOMETHING FROM NOTHING/RANDOM
CHANCE
– Sir Frederick Hoyle put it colorfully
when he said that this scenario is about
as likely as a tornado whirling through a
junkyard and accidentally assembling a
fully functional Boeing 747.
J.Buell and G.Hearn, eds., Darwinis: Science or Philosophy?
(Dallas, Tex.: Foundation for Thought and Ethics 1994) 6869.
“In other words, the odds for all
practical purposes are zero.
That’s why even though some
people who aren’t educated in
this field still believe life
emerged by chance, scientists
simply don’t believe it
anymore.”
Lee Strobel “The Case for Faith”, (Zondervan,
Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2000)
ASSEMBLING A SIMPLE CELL
As the Nobel Prize-winner Sir
Francis Crick said, “The origin
of life appears to be almost a
miracle, so many are the
conditions which would have
had to be satisfied to get it.”
Ibid, 140.
“So you think the facts point
convincingly toward a Creator
asked Strobel?” “Convincingly
is too mild a term,” Bradley
replied. “The evidence is
compelling. ‘Convincing’
suggests it’s a little more likely
than not; ‘compelling’ says you
have to really work hard not to
get to that conclusion.”
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MORE RESOURCES ON THIS TOPIC
Charles B. Thaxton, Walter L. Bradley, and Roger
L. Olsen. The Mystery of Life Origin. Dallas:
Lewis and Stanley, 1984.
Phillip E. Johnson, Darwin on Trial, 2d ed.
Downer’s Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
William A. Dembski, ed. Mere Creation. Downers
Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1998.
Lee Strobel, “The Case for Faith”, Zondervan,
Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2000
J. P. Moreland, ed. The Creation Hypothesis.
Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1994.
Michael J. Behe. Darwin’s Black Box. New York:
The Free Press, 1996.
Michael Denton. Evolution: A Theory in Crisis.
Chevy Chase, Md.: Adler & Adler, 1986.
Hank Hanegraaff. The FACE that Demonstrates
the Farce of Evolution. Nashville: Word, 1998.