The Theory Of Creation

I have been reading the 'Was Life Created' booklet on JW.ORG.  Yet again they use numerous quotes to either back up their theory of Creation or cast doubts on the science of evolution.  Just as they did in the 'Creation' book they have twisted many of these 'quotes' to mislead the reader.  Let me take you through a few;

'Was Life Created' 3. The fossil record documents macroevolutionary changes. The previously mentioned NAS brochure leaves the reader with the impression that the fossils found by scientists more than adequately document macroevolution. It declares: “So many intermediate forms have been discovered between fish and amphibians, between amphibians and reptiles, between reptiles and mammals, and along the primate lines of descent that it often is difficult to identify categorically

when the transition occurs from one to another particular species.”28 The facts. The confident statement made by the NAS brochure is quite surprising. Why? Niles Eldredge, a staunch

evolutionist, states that the fossil record shows, not that there is a gradual accumulation of change, but that for long periods of time, “little or no evolutionary change accumulates in most species.”29

To date, scientists worldwide have unearthed and cataloged some 200 million large fossils and billions of small fossils.  Many researchers agree that this vast and detailed record shows that all the major groups of animals appeared suddenly and remained virtually unchanged, with many species disappearing as suddenly as they arrived.

The Encyclopaedia Britainica has a chapter on Stephen Jay Gould, an American paleontologist in which it explains the theory proposed by Niles Eldredge;

With Niles Eldredge, he (Gould) developed in 1972 the theory of punctuated equilibrium, a revision of Darwinian theory proposing that the creation of new species through evolutionary change occurs not at slow, constant rates over millions of years but rather in rapid bursts over periods as short as thousands of years, which are then followed by long periods of stability during which organisms undergo little further change. Gould’s theory was opposed by many, including American biologist Edward O. Wilson, who believed that evolution is essentially progressive, leading from the simple to the complex and from the worse-adapted to the better.

Gould also argued that population genetics is useful—indeed, all-important—for understanding relatively small-scale or short-term evolutionary changes but that it is incapable of yielding insight into large-scale or long-term ones, such as the Cambrian explosion. One must turn to paleontology in its own right to explain those changes, which might well involve extinctions brought about by extraterrestrial forces (e.g., comets) or new kinds of selection operating only at levels higher than the individual organism. As with Gould’s theory on evolutionary change, much of his later work drew criticism from other scientists.

So first of all Eldrege and Goulds theory was not broadly accepted even within the scientific community so it can hardly be used as evidence for the prosecution OR the defence.  Secondly Eldredges theory rests upon rapid bursts of evolutionary changes, FOLLOWED by long periods of stability during which organisms undergo little further change.  Do you notice how the Governing Body omit to mention this very relevant point?

Next they refer to; 'many researchers agree that this vast and detailed record shows that all the major groups of animals appeared suddenly and remained virtually unchanged, with many species disappearing as suddenly as they arrived.'

Really?  Can they name any of these researchers so that we can examine their credentials and their religious beliefs?

What do paleontologists actually say?;

Almost every metazoan phylum with hard parts, and many that lack hard parts, made its first appearance in the Cambrian....However, the Cambrian was nonetheless a time of great evolutionary innovation, with many major groups of organisms appearing within a span of only forty million years. (University of California Museum of Paleontology)

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The first fossil remains of unambiguous true animals with complex tissues and organs - the bilaterians - are found in rocks dating to the earliest Cambrian Period. This marks the beginning of the Cambrian Explosion, starting about 542 million years ago, in which the vast majority of animal groups still alive today first appear in the fossil record. These fossils form the basis for reconstructing the early branches of the tree of animal life, but it is possible that many groups originated earlier than the first fossils tell us.

The genetic information stored in the cells of modern organisms can be used to reconstruct how various groups are related to one another and the order in which they arose. Results of such analyses are typically displayed in "phylogenetic trees" (like your common family tree, but at a much broader scale). In the context of the Cambrian Explosion, genetic data have proved to be important in reconstructing the relationships between the main branches at the base of the animal tree of life.

(Royal Ontario Museum)

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The Cambrian period, part of the Paleozoic era, produced the most intense burst of evolution ever known. The Cambrian Explosion saw an incredible diversity of life emerge, including many major animal groups alive today. Among them were the chordates, to which vertebrates (animals with backbones) such as humans belong...

...Cambrian sediments found in Canada, Greenland, and China have yielded rarely fossilized soft-bodied creatures such as marine worms buried during undersea mud avalanches. Among the most surprising discoveries, announced in 1999, came from the 530-million-year-old Chengjiang fossil bed in China, where scientists found the remains of two different types of tiny, jawless fish. Representing the oldest known backboned animals with living relatives, the fossils showed that our vertebrate ancestors entered the evolutionary story some 50 million years earlier than previously thought.

(National Geographic)

Contrary to the assertions made by the Governing Body, paleontologists believe that most of the major animal groups evolved during the 40 million year Cambrian period. They didn't suddenly appear fully formed and ready to go!

I haven't even started picking apart this JW booklet but that's enough for this blog.  I will discuss it further in the next installment.