When Donna and I were Docents at the Philadelphia Zoo, we were told when asked why animals are the way they are, not to use the words creation or evolution, but to use the word adaptation.
If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.
The argument for evolution is problematic because most people think that evolution is a fact, but it is still only a theory. There has never been a scientifically valid proof that animals have mutated or evolved on their own into a different species.
For science to redesignate a theory as a fact, they must be able to recreate the event within a controlled environment. Obviously, since evolution needs millions of years to occur, record-keeping is obviously going to be difficult.
Now, as far as Survival of the Fittest is concerned, which is the keystone (so to speak) of evolution, it is undeniable that the current species of an animal is more adaptable than the earlier versions of that particular specie. Therefore, the existing specie is better adapted to the environment. Now, the question that remains is this: did that specie evolve into a more adaptable form, which had to be through mutation, or did a new specie arise, separate from the earlier one?
If an entirely new specie arose, that would seem to confirm creationism, yet it is clear that survival of the fittest also is at work here, so where can we find middle-ground?
That middle-ground is called Intelligent Design.
I believe in God and that God created all life forms, both past and present, as well as future. Yes, future- I don’t think he is done, yet. How many new species are still being discovered? According to the Internet, some 15,000-18,000 new species are discovered every year! Most of these are insects, but so what? Could it really be that with all the scientists and modern technology that so many tens of thousands of creatures have gone undiscovered for so long? Or, is God still turning them out?
Back to Intelligent Design… this is considered to be a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God- at least, according to Wikipedia. But if you look on the Internet, you will see many articles where scientists are beginning to claim that there must be an intelligence somewhere behind life because it is untenable to think all this diversity and all the close interrelationships between all forms of life could have just “happened”.
So, as frustrating as it is, we will never be able to know, for certain, if life was by accident, if adaptability to one’s environment has been the result of some beneficial mutation or from an intelligent design.
(I would love to have one example, ANY example, of any mutation within a species that was beneficial to that species. Anyone ever hear of that?)
At least, we won’t know until after the Apocalypse, when God reveals himself to the world. I think when the entire world sees Messiah coming to earth in glory, riding on the clouds, even the biggest doubters will have to admit there is something supernatural happening (they’ll probably say Yeshua is an alien).
The bottom line is there is no proof for creationism, no proof for evolution, and there is no proof for intelligent design, but there is a logical approach to the question how did life develop: does it really seem feasible that the remarkable diversity of life occurred by accident, or does it make more sense, since all living things have DNA, that some form of design by a superior intelligence is at work?
What do you think?
That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!
