The Rise & Fall of Evolution

Over 75 Online Commentaries

The Historical Context of the Development of Evolutionary Theories

by Joe Robinson

  Related Video

Icons of Evolution

In "Icons of Evolution", biologist Jonathan Wells compared icons of evolution --such as homology in vertebrate limbs-- with published scientific evidence, and revealed that much of what we teach about evolution is wrong.

The Birth of Evolution within Primitive Science

Darwin did not invent the idea of evolution. By combining the theories of Robert Chambers and Alfred Wallace with his own observations of the micro-variations within species on the isolated archipelagos islands, which for him demonstrated the selective processes of nature, he stitched together a logically plausible hypothesis of common descent; logically plausible only until the complexity of life became known a century later.

A significant discovery in biology (the study of life) was made by German biologist Rudolf Virchow in 1858, one year before Darwin was published. Virchow observed and studied organic cell structure and determined correctly that only living matter can produce new living matter. This knowledge is important since it allows for changes within species but refutes the evolutionist supposition of spontaneous generation of life from dead matter, a theory finally completely destroyed by Pasteur 20 years after Darwin's 'Origins', in 1864 with his discovery of bacteria. The processes of evolution includes mutation, linkage, heterozygosity, recombination, gene flow, population structure, drift, natural selection, and adaptation, all of which have been observed in existing life in micro-stages, but nothing close to the astronomical number of processes necessary for formation or evolution of a single cell to any higher lifeform with trillions of cells,(each with an individual DNA molecule) have ever been observed or even schematically mapped; and oh yeah, one observation necessary for life without a designer is missing and has never been observed, nor is it possible to describe or cause to happen, that is the observation of dead matter combining in such a way as to form living matter. Only a Creator past our comprehension is capable of that.

It is well known that the community of biological, paleontology and 'Origins' science's were infested with impostors in the 1800's and early 1900's. One of the most notorious was German Scientist Ernst Haeckel. In his enthusiasm for evolution Haeckel dreamed up stages of evolution and published fraudulent drawing's in reputable science journals in 1868 as proof of the theory. He also included the fraudulent drawings in a textbook "The History of Creation" 1876. The fraud was discovered and refuted in 1875 but Haeckel' stubbornly refused to admit the fraud and his book continued to be published until 1923.

In another fraud Haeckel invented an 'ape man' evolutionary link complete with scientific name and descriptive drawing, Professor Rudolf Virchow, famous for his work on cell research, and also president of the Berlin Anthropological Society, was scathing in his criticism of Haeckel for being so brazen as to give a zoological name to a creature that there was absolutely no evidence had even existed. In spite of his proclivity to introduce false evidence in his defense of evolution Haeckel was highly regarded as an evolutionist. Recently I found him in a scholars edition of debates on evolution. The 4 volume publication is called "Design after Darwin" and is in the "Evolution and Anti-Evolution: Debates after Darwin" series of books, published by the Thoemmes Continuum, and edited by Richard England of Salisbury University.

Darwin made his observations and hypothesized his theory initially in 1844 and published in 1859, at a point on the timeline of world history and of science that;

• Spontaneous generation was accepted as fact for another 20 years.
• The pony express was America's method of long distance communication
• The first transcontinental railroad in America was built 25 years later.
• The first telegraph transmission was made this year from Baltimore to Washington, Samuel Morse coded"What hath God Wrought?"
• The first successful Trans-Atlantic telegraph cable was 22 years in the future (1866)
• The electric light was 35 years in the future
• The first electrical power generating/distribution system was 38 years in the future
• Radio waves had not been discovered, that happened 51 years in the future
• The telephone had not been thought of, it came 32 years later
• Louis Pasteur had not yet made his discoveries in bacteriology, in the meantime millions were dying from disease causing germs.
• It wasn't until the decade of 1884-1894 that the bacteria causing typhoid, tuberculosis, cholera, diphtheria and others were identified. (40 to 50 years after Darwin's theory.)
• A medical operation was usually a death sentence since Joseph Lister had not yet discovered the principles of antisepsis, a discovery that would save millions from death by infection.
• The Rabies were a terminal disease The first wireless telegraph was 61 years in the future
• The first transatlantic telephone cable is 85 years in the future
• The basic structure of the atom was not known for another 54 years
• Light was thought to propagate through an ethereal cosmic fluid called the ether until 1905.
• Machines were powered by water, wind and steam Automobiles had not been thought of, came 49 years later
• Blood types were unknown Radioactive elements were unknown X- Rays were discovered 51 years later
• The electron was discovered 53 years later
• The first electronic numerical calculating machine (ENIAC) was 104 years in the future
• Jules Verne had not yet written his imaginative though scientifically untenable story.
• "A trip to the Moon"

This is only a very short list of the most basic scientific and historical events that had not yet happened, things that had yet to be done to lay the foundations of modern civilization and science. I include Verne's fantasy only to show how fanciful and primitive scientific thought actually was, (if you read the book, you know that Verne's method of propulsion was to use a cannon to propel his ship to the moon.)

Atheism requires and is necessarily under girded by Darwinian evolution in spite of it's primitive origins. Since there is no Creator in the atheistic philosophy of existence, the atheistic scientists such as Carl Sagan and theologians (Robert Funk & the Jesus Seminar) must stubbornly hold to the primitive notion of evolution as the explanation for human existence, in spite of the fact that macro-evolution is an hypothesis formulated within the constructs of primitive science.

An example of this is the theory of spontaneous generation (life generated out of 'nothing') which was accepted as fact until the work first of Rudolf Virchow in 1858 and finally Pasteur's work in bacteriology conclusively disproved the fallacy 20 years after Darwin first wrote "Origins" (1844), even if the modern evolutionist will not concede the point.

New Knowledge

The most important scientific developments posterior to Darwin which radically challenges evolution is the science of Genetics. The fruitful research by Crick and Watson in their discovery of the DNA molecule has opened up to science a universe of knowledge previously undreamnt of. In the early 1990's the human genome project and DNA research, having demonstrated the previously unfathomable complexity of life has assured that there are no geneticists who will venture to hypothesis a step by step evolutionary process, simply because it is mathematically impossible for random mutation to occur at a rate necessary to match up in even the simplest forms necessary to create the most basic cell within the timescale of our solar system. Rather than waste time attempting that impossibility, the geneticists and micro-biologist choose the quest to map and identify the human genome, the human genetic blueprint.

Cosmologists know this as well, they remain silent because they are embarrassed that after so many years of mocking Christians their research has succeeded only in proving that the window of time (relative to our sun) in which organic life can live on this earth is two million years, after which the chemical changes in our sun and surrounding star clusters will make organic life impossible. So even if life could spring forth from dead matter, two million years is infinitely too short for the random bonding and mixing of chemicals and elements that would be necessary in order to generate even the simplest structures of organic life.

Tom Brown a friend and a Philosopher has written;

My contention with evolution is not predicated on my Christian conviction. As the scientific understanding of genetics and organ systems has increased, so has the insurmountable improbability of evolution. As an explanatory schematic for explaining the origin of complex life on this planet Evolution is laughable.

Albert Einstein once declared: "From the human circulatory system alone, I know there is a God". That statement was not an expression of Jewish dogma. He knew that the complexity and interdependency of a heart, with its valves, veins and arteries could not arise by chance. In order for the simplest circulatory system to function, numerous structures must be in place at the same time. Not to mention a clotting compound to keep the poor organism from bleeding to death.

Charles Darwin, in his Origin of Species, admitted that the evolution of an eye presented a problem to his theory. Fortunately, it is no longer a problem- it is an utter impossibility. What selective value could be produced by photons (light) bombarding a retina, unless an optic nerve were in place to transmit the impulses to a brain? Even then, the brain must be previously formated to inform the organism to run away from a predator or to obtain its prey. Evolution is no longer lacking a 'link' ; it has lost its chain. All you need is a book on Biochemistry and a $5.00 calculator from Wal Mart. If anyone believes that a circulatory system or an eye evolved from a series of birth defects (mutations), you are free to do so.

Just who is the Designer?

And then there is Francis Crick's struggle with evolution in the light of the complexity of the DNA molecule. That is, until he finally conceded it's impossibility (and he was right) and decided that aliens must have engineered human life (he was wrong). He made this assertion publicly not once but three times. He decided on alien's as our designers because if they exist (and for him, they must,) at least they live in the material universe rather than being transcendent. Even if that were so the same problem exists, only of a larger magnitude seeing how advanced the aliens would have to be. So, who made the aliens?

One last scientific principle to bury evolution; Entropy This law states that any system left to itself tends toward chaos and decay. The very opposite of evolutionist thought, where systems left to themselves tends toward organization. Also entropy combined with the laws of thermodynamics tells us that the universe is winding down and cooling off, at a rate faster than evolution could randomly mutate so many highly organized life forms on earth.

While most of nineteenth century and many of twentieth century scientific theories have been abandoned in light of new discovery the Word of God still stands, even after 3500 years of assault.

In Conclusion

While it is understandable how easy it would be to formulate a theory of evolution when life seemed to spontaneously generate itself daily, today we know that life does not spontaneously generate itself and that life is 're-generated after it's own kind. The modern scientific methods of microbiology and genetic research demonstrate the irreducible complexity of life to such a degree as to make the possibility of these theories more science fiction than fact.