Evolution and The Bible

1. Evolution and The Bible

2. The Bible and Evolution Discussion agenda • Evolution, Creationism and Intelligent Design • Problems, Challenges and Myths of Darwinism • What about Carbon Dating? • Scientific Evidences for a Creator

3. The Bible and Evolution Introduction Video

4. Evolution – A Brief Description • The definition of evolution has three aspects: hereditary changes, appearance of new species, and a theory explaining both of these • Hereditary Changes – “Change with Descent” • Changes within a species – adaptations • Micro-evolution • Plenty of examples • Darwin’s original premise based on extension of this principle

5. Evolution – A Brief Description • The definition of evolution has three aspects: hereditary changes, appearance of new species, and a theory explaining both of these • Appearance of New Species • Changes that produce a new species from changes to the original species • Macro-evolution • No examples

6. Evolution – A Brief Description • The definition of evolution has three aspects: hereditary changes, appearance of new species, and a theory explaining both of these • Evolutionary Theory • All life evolved from basic organism(s) • Completely random, undirected process • Driven by mutations and natural selection

7. Creationism – A Brief Description • Creationism is the belief that the earth and universe and the various kinds of animals and plants was created by God or some other supreme being • Biblical description in Genesis • Some believe in young earth and others in old earth • In addition to belief, there is compelling scientific evidence that supports this viewpoint as we’ll see later

8. Intelligent Design – A Brief Description Intelligent design is the proposition that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection • Not the same as Creationism – It is an effort to empirically detect whether the "apparent design" in nature acknowledged by virtually all biologists is genuine design (the product of an intelligent cause) or is simply the product of an undirected process such as natural selection acting on random variations.

9. Intelligent Design – A Brief Description Cave Painting Example Was this the product of random natural processes? Clearly No Why Not?

10. Intelligent Design – A Brief Description Cave Painting Example Clearly not the product of random forces of nature because: • It exhibits the characteristics of Intelligent Design • Complex and Specified Information (CSI) • Note that SETI uses this same criteria • “SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, is an exploratory science that seeks evidence of life in the universe by looking for some signature of its technology.” (from SETI website)

11. Origin of Life Where Did it All Come From?

12. Origin of Life Origins Video

13. One Evolutionary Theory – Origins of Life • The Miller Experiment – Early gasses + spark = amino acids • (Diagram taken from current educational material) • Discussion here at GT about this as well

14. Evolution – Origins of Life The Miller Experiment – Early gasses + spark = amino acids • Used wrong gas mixture (used methane-ammonia) • Evolutionists agree that this environment didn’t exist anywhere • Actual gas mixture probably carbon dioxide – nitrogen

15. Evolution – Origins of Life = Myth The Miller Experiment – Early gasses + spark = amino acids • When repeat Miller experiment with proper gasses (Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide) you do get organic compounds • Formaldehyde and Cyanide!!

16. Evolutionary Problem of Origins No evidence for life to begin on earth from inorganic materials Therefore the search for other hypotheses is ongoing: Options: • Improbable Chemical fluke of unknown properties, mechanism or origin • Alien Origin • Pushes boundaries of “faith” • No evidence

17. Evolutionary Problem of Origins Article “Are Aliens Among Us?” by Paul Davies, Scientific American, November 19, 2007 • “The origin of life is one of the great unsolved problems of science. Nobody knows how, where or when life originated.” • “Thirty years ago the prevailing view among biologists was that life resulted from a chemical fluke so improbable it would be unlikely to have happened twice in the observable universe.” • It then goes on to give “The Argument for Aliens”

18. Evolution Theory Problems OK, so Evolution cannot say where life began, but it has the rest all figured out… • Right? • What other problems exist in the Theory of Evolution?

19. Evolution Theory Problems Evolution Problems Video

20. Evolutionary Problem – The Fossil Record Isn’t the fossil record the strongest evidence for evolution? Unfortunately it is it’s worst problem The Cambrian Explosion

21. Evolutionary Problem – The Fossil Record • All animal phyla appeared at the beginning of the Cambrian, except possibly one phylum. No new phyla appeared in the 500 million years after the Cambrian explosion • Richard Dawkins, noted Evolutionist and anti-religious says this about the Cambrian Explosion: “And we find many of them already in an advanced state of evolution, the very first time they appear. It is as though they were just planted there, without any evolutionary history. Needless to say, this appearance of sudden planting has delighted creationists." (Dawkins, Richard, The Blind Watchmaker," 1986, p.229).

22. Evolutionary Problem – The Fossil Record Quotes from “Five Questions Evolutionists would Rather Dodge” by William A. Dembski, PhD The Cambrian Explosion so flies in the face of evolution that paleontologist Peter Ward wrote, “If ever there was evidence suggesting Divine Creation, surely the Precambrian and Cambrian transition, known from numerous localities across the face of the earth, is it.” Note that Ward is not a creationist. To his credit, the late evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould conceded this point: “The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology. The evolutionary trees that adorn our textbooks have data only at the tips and nodes of their branches; the rest is inference, however reasonable, not the evidence of fossils.”

23. The Bible and Evolution - Myths • We’ve looked at these Problems with Evolution: • Miller’s Experiment – proven to be invalid • No evidence for origin • Fossil Record – Cambrian Explosion disagrees with Evolutionary Theory • Additional Problems, Fakes and Exaggerations: • Darwin’s Tree of Life – fossil record doesn’t agree • Haeckel’s embryos – drawings faked • Nat Geo: Archaeoraptor – dino tail glued to primitive bird • Science: Bambiraptor – 100% same as turkey DNA • Java man – skull cap, femur and 3 teeth • Why???

24. Radioisotope Dating Methods Carbon 14 Dating Radioisotope Dating

25. Atomic mass 9 6 14 6 16 6 C C C Atomic number What Is Carbon? • Carbon-14 is also referred to as: • C-14 • Radiocarbon • Types of carbon (isotopes)

26. 8 6 Carbon 14 Unstable Isotopes (Atoms) An atom is generally stable if the number of protons equals the number of neutrons in the nucleus

27. The proton number (atomic number) changes 14 6 14 7 N C Losing Your Identity: Radioactive Decay The nucleus of an atom (decays) changes into a new element How long does this take?

28. Carbon-14 and Half-Life? • The rate of decay is measured by how long it takes for half an element to decay (half-life) • The half-life of C-14 is 5,730 years

29. 11,460 years 2 half-lives 5,730 years 1 half-life Time = 0 N-14 N-14 C-14 1/2 3/4 C-14 1/2 C-14 Half-Life Illustration If C-14 is constantly decaying, will we run out of C-14 in the atmosphere?

30. C-14 combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide (CO2) Forms C-14 How Carbon-14 Is Produced Cosmic Rays (radiation) Collision with atmosphere (N14)

31. 14 7 14 6 14 7 N N C Carbon-14 Life Cycle Cosmic radiation Carbon-14 is produced in the atmosphere Carbon-14 decays into Nitrogen-14

32. Carbon-14 Dating • Starting the clock • Things we need to know • Recognizing assumptions

33. Once a plant or animal dies the clock starts When Does the Clock Start? Organism dies No more C-14 intake C-14 continues to decay

34. How the Carbon Clock Works The C-14 dating method relies on measuring the amount of C-14 in the fossil • There is a lot of C-14 remaining in the fossil • There is very little C-14 remaining in the fossil • There is no detectable C-14 in the fossil Three Scenarios

35. Two Things We Need to Know What do we need to know to determine how many half-lives have expired? • How fast it decays (measured in half-lives). This is known (5,730 years). • The starting amount of C-14 in the fossil. A Critical Detail

36. Understanding the Starting Point Illustration • You enter a room and see a burning candle • The candle is burning at 1 inch per hour • How long has the candle been burning? We need to know the starting height of the candle We need to know the starting amount of C-14

37. Understanding the Starting Point If we find 1,000 C-14 atoms in a fossil, do we know how much C-14 has decayed? NO We need to know the starting amount of C-14. How is this done?

38. I’m alive I’m a fossil Different ratio Same ratio Determining the Starting Amount • There are two types of carbon used in the dating process: C-12 and C-14 • C-12 is a stable isotope (it does not decay) • When an organism is alive it has the same ratio (C-12 to C-14) that is found in the atmosphere (1-trillion to 1)

39. No measurable C-14 C-14 C-14 C-12 C-12 C-12 Amount constant Amount constant Amount constant Moment of death Old “Infinite” age Determining the Starting Amount

40. Amount of stable C-12 Amount of unstable C-14 Ratio Years Dead # Half-lives 100 Trillion 100 1-T to 1 0 0 50 5,730 100 Trillion 1 2-T to 1 100 Trillion 11,460 25 2 4-T to 1 100 Trillion 8-T to 1 17,190 3 12.5 100 Trillion 4 22,920 6 16-T to 1 3 28,650 100 Trillion 32-T to 1 5 How the C-12 / C-14 Ratio Works

41. A Critical Assumption • Has the ratio of C-12 to C-14 always been the same (1-trillion to 1)? This is a key assumption • If this assumption is true then carbon-14 dating is a reliable dating method • If this assumption is false then carbon-14 dating is not a reliable dating method

42. Dr. Willard Libby and Equilibrium Richard, Milton, Shattering the Myths of Darwinism, 1997, p. 32. (W. F. Libby, Radiocarbon Dating, 1955) • “He found a considerable discrepancy in his measurements indicating that, apparently, radiocarbon was being created in the atmosphere somewhere around 25 percent faster than it was becoming extinct. • Since this result was inexplicable by any conventional scientific means, Libby put the discrepancy down to experimental error.”

43. The Facts About Equilibrium Richard, Milton, Shattering the Myths of Darwinism, 1997, p. 32. • “During the 1960s, Libby’s experiments were repeated by chemists… The new experiments, though, revealed that the discrepancy observed by Libby was not merely an experimental error – it did exist.”

44. The Facts About Equilibrium Richard Lingenfelter, “Production of C-14 by cosmic ray neutrons”, Review of Geophysics, 1963, p.51. “There is strong indication, despite the large errors, that the present natural production rate exceeds the natural decay rate by as much as 25 percent.” Are there any factors that can affect the amount of carbon in the atmosphere?

45. Example of Assumptions and Dating Find a fossil with a measured ratio of 16 trillion to 1 (C12 to C14) This means 4 half-lives have expired giving a date about 23,000 years What if the ratio started at: 2 trillion to 1: 3 half-lives instead of 4 = age 17,000 8 trillion to 1: 1 half-life instead of 4 = age 5,000

46. A False Assumption Elizabeth K. Ralph and Henry M. Michael, “Twenty-five Years of Radiocarbon Dating,” American Scientist, Sep/Oct 1974 “We know that the assumption that the biospheric inventory of C14 has remained constant over the past 50,000 years or so is not true.” The assumption carbon-14 dating is based upon is FALSE

47. Factors Effecting Carbon-14 Dating Factors that would cause dates to appear older than they actually are include: • Cosmic ray penetration of the earth’s atmosphere • The strength of the Earth’s magnetic field • The CO2 levels in the atmosphere • The Genesis Flood

48. Atmospheric Levels of Carbon • The Genesis Flood buried much carbon from living organisms to form coal and oil • This buried carbon (mostly C-12) is about 100 times the total carbon in the present biosphere What does this mean? • The CO2 level in the pre-Flood biosphere was different • C-14 dates using the present ratio of C12/C14 will give incorrect ages – ages that are too old

49. How Old is Old: Carbon-14 and Age • Anything older than 60,000 years should have no detectable C-14 • If we detect C-14, it is good evidence that it is not millions of years old Coal should not contain any detectable C-14. However, coal has been found to contain C-14. (same with oil and diamonds!) Fossil woods estimated to be over 200 million years old still contain C-14.

50. Conflict in Dating • In 1993 scientists found wood (trees) buried in basalt flows (69 feet deep) • Wood samples sent to two laboratories to be carbon-14 dated 44,000 years • Basalt sent to two laboratories to be potassium-argon dated 45,000 million years 69 feet deep Wood encased in basalt Wood embedded in lava flow (basalt)