Is Evolution Real?

The word “evolution” evokes strong feelings. Many see it as the only explanation for the natural world, while others claim the Bible explicitly shows it never happened. However, recent experiments in molecular biology—the study of DNA—clearly indicate that DNA changes and those changes are passed down to offspring.

Put another way, DNA evolves through what science calls mutations and natural selection—then passes those changes on to the next generation. This process is even happening within our bodies.

But wait, you may be thinking, I thought evolution was wholly false!

While the Creation account in Genesis 1 does show God made plants and animals over six days, it does not tell the whole story.

It is a fact that DNA evolves, but does that mean we should then wholesale buy into the theory of evolution? Of course not! Any theory in science that runs contrary to the Bible is invalid, but we cannot and should not ignore provable science. Christians are to only oppose “science falsely so called” (I Tim. 6:20)—this verse prevents us from accepting any theory that opposes the Word of God and any belief that opposes scientific fact.

You will see that the theory of evolution is a mixture of truth and false science. Better yet, you will see that the changes that do occur in Creation reveal the incredible genius of God.

Two Flavors of Evolution

There are two facets of evolution that we need to examine—microevolution and macroevolution. Microevolution refers to slight variations in genetic code that occur from one generation to the next. Macroevolution, however, takes these generational changes and attempts to apply them over long periods of time. In summary, science says microevolution over millions of years has resulted in the largescale change of animal and plant life from single-celled organisms to the wide variety of life we see today.

Microevolution has been observed and proven. For example, beer brewers rely on yeast to convert grains into alcohol. Yeast cells can double every 100 minutes under the best conditions. Since beer typically has fermentation cycles over three weeks, a single batch of beer could have 100 or more generations. The yeast’s flavor profile changes through reproduction, which means it can no longer produce a beverage that tastes the same because of the changes in the yeast’s DNA.

Put simply, the yeast evolves during the brewing process to have a different taste.

Here is another example that is more clearly seen in our everyday lives. In the 1800s, dog breeders began selectively breeding a few foundational kinds of canines to bring out different characteristics such as longer legs, greater intelligence and longer snouts. This resulted in the hundreds of dog breeds we know today. This process was successful because the new traits the breeders worked to produce were all encoded in the doggy DNA and passed down to following generations.

God built this astounding diversity into DNA, yet man, when guiding the process, could make it occur much more quickly than it does naturally. Yet the main point is this: Whether it is God or man guiding the process, the provable changes we see in microevolution are in no way proof that elements of God’s complex Creation evolved over millions or billions of years! The changes that occur within a living organism remain within the boundaries designed and established by God.

Why No Two Ever Look the Same

Each of us is a mixture of physical traits from our parents—though not a perfect balance of the two. Some of this variation comes from the random mix of DNA from our fathers and mothers. However, differences also come from “errors” in copying the DNA as cells divide within the two human beings who came together to produce you.

The same is true with any organism that has two parents. These “errors,” also called mutations by scientists, compound and can result in generations that look and behave distinctly different from earlier individuals. Note that the scientific terms “errors” and “mutations” are not necessarily negative—in fact they are often just neutral and in some cases positive variations. God would never call what he designed DNA to do as an “error”!

When an accumulation of small changes happen over many generations, it can lead to what is called genetic drift. The father of evolutionary thinking, Charles Darwin, famously noted genetic drift occurring in his example of finches on the Galapagos Islands. He discovered how a small population of finches could develop distinctly different beaks, body sizes and feeding habits.

So, this scientifically documented process actually fits the process of evolution. Except, it does not fit precisely.

Yes, Darwin got some things right—but he hastily concluded that microevolution proves macroevolution. It does not!

Evolutionists conclude that, since small, observable changes happen over a relatively short timespan, then more substantial changes must happen over relatively long timespans. This leap of logic is the core principle behind evolutionary theory, and to the majority of scientists explains how two separate types of animals with similar physical structures can come from a common ancestor. Re-read this paragraph until it fully sinks in!

An evolutionist commonly points to the forearm and wrist as an example. Since humans share the same basic structure in their arms as all mammals, amphibians, birds and reptiles, they all must have come from a single ancestor.

This assertion unravels when we examine chromosomes—pieces of packed genetic material that act like DNA bookshelves. Each species of animal or plant has a set number of chromosomes in its cells. Humans normally always have 46, for example. Fruit flies only have eight, while kingfisher birds have 132.

Genetic drift does not explain how the number of chromosomes could change over time, as the theory of evolution would suggest. Evolutionists claim the change had to have happened at some point because we can see that they are different. However, they cannot determine when, where, why or even how chromosomes changed!

The January 2017 issue of the Journal of Heredity presented the results of many scientists studying chromosomal evolution. The articles contained more questions than answers: “Why does variance in chromosome number differ so greatly between orders?” (Orders are a rank in the categorization of life.) “Do new chromosomal rearrangements become fixed mainly by selection or drift?” This is questioning how we get new chromosomes.

The most important question, however, may have to do with humans and great apes. We have 23 pairs of chromosomes, resulting in 46 total as stated before. Great apes have 24 pairs.

One theory is that one human chromosome is likely a combination of two of the apes’ chromosomes. Yet “it remains unknown when the end-to-end fusion of two ancestral primate chromosomes took place in the human lineage…” In other words, scientists do not know how chromosomes form or why they differ between different types of animals.

The claim that genetic drift is the process by which all life evolved from a single ancestor is scientifically unprovable. Genetic drift only proves that change happens within a type of organism.

Relative DNA

Lego bricks are one of the world’s most popular toys. Legos connect and hold onto other Legos by design. In the hands of a skilled Legos-builder, the square blocks can become dinosaurs, buildings, cars, people, spaceships, spheres, butterflies, elephants or even entire cities. But each of these fantastic creations is constructed out of simple, interconnecting, plastic blocks.

DNA is also relatively simple. It is composed of only four types of molecules, yet it can result in a great variety of life form, whether a microscopic, single-celled bacteria, a bee hummingbird, all the diversity of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, vast herds of land animals across Africa, Asia and North America, giant sequoia trees, or blue whales. All of life comes from the four molecules that make up DNA.

Ancient King David wrote about how he was put together in Psalm 139: “My [body] was not hid from you, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth” (vs. 15). The phrase “curiously wrought” means “to be skillfully worked or woven.” God skillfully wove DNA to form every type of creature we see today. Amazing!

DNA and shared genes prove that all life comes from a single source—a Creator God.

How Did We Get All These Animals?

In Genesis 1, God recreated and repopulated Earth with all life each after its own “kind” (vs. 11-12, 21, 24-25). On the fifth day, God commanded fish and birds to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth” (vs. 22). We can assume that the kinds of animals created on the sixth day would obey the command to fill the globe, too. These would have migrated out of the Garden of Eden to the places God had made for them.

God then created man on the sixth day (vs. 27). He gave man the same command to be fruitful and multiply, but added that he would have dominion over the Earth and all the animals in it (vs. 28).

Strong’s Dictionary defines the word translated “kind” as “a sort, that is, species.” Random House Dictionary defines a species as a group of “related individuals that resemble one another, are able to breed among themselves, but are not able to breed with members of another species.”

Man and animals replenished the Earth over the next 16 centuries as all the various “kinds” adapted to their new environments. We may not know what shapes and sizes these animals took, but we do know that those of the same kind could still interbreed.

For example, mankind became at least three distinct races. We know this because Noah’s three sons each married a woman from a different race. Those races still exist today, and interracial couples can have healthy children. Even though human races have distinct characteristics associated with them, we are all still humans and of the same kind.

Wolves can and do still breed with dogs and have puppies because they are the same “kind.” Other well-known hybrid animals, like mules (a horse and donkey hybrid) or zonkeys (a zebra and donkey hybrid), can interbreed but almost always produce infertile offspring.

Later, God told Noah to build an ark to protect every kind of animal from the coming Flood (Gen. 6:14, 19-20). Once completed, Noah and his family entered “into the ark; they, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort” (7:13-14).

A little over one year later, God told Noah to leave the ark. “And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creeps upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark” (8:18-19).

As far as we know, the animals that were in the ark are the only kinds of animals that are on Earth today. We do not know precisely how many species exist today. Estimates range from as low as 5.3 million to over 1 trillion, not counting those that have gone extinct. Somehow, the animals on the ark with Noah became all these different species. Let us consider one group to see how this may have happened.

The Great Apes

A 2013 study mapped the genomes of 79 great apes, which included chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans and humans. They found that chimps and bonobos, which look much more like gorillas than they do humans, are genetically closer to us than to gorillas. When asked, if DNA does not separate us from the other great apes, what does? Tomas Marques-Bonet, geneticist and study researcher, answered, “If I knew, I would have the Nobel Prize.”

Chimpanzees and bonobos look slightly different but have significant cultural differences. Chimpanzees are male-dominated, territorial, and will hunt together, whereas bonobos are female-dominated, have overlapping territories, and biologists have not observed them hunting together in the wild.

But what truly separates bonobos from chimpanzees is the Congo River. Bonobos live on the south bank of the river while chimps reside on the north side. Chimps and bonobos show how a physical barrier that prevents interbreeding can create genetic drift between communities. However, they still look alike and are known to interbreed in captivity.

Chimpanzees and bonobos are different species, but that does not necessarily mean that Noah had both on the ark. Since they can interbreed, they are clearly of the same “kind.” We can speculate that their common ancestor left the ark and went south into Africa. They would have bred “abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth” (Gen. 8:17) as they migrated toward their current ranges. The Congo River kept the resultant chimps and bonobos separate as they migrated and would account for the slight physical and substantial cultural differences.

These two great apes show that microevolution happened after the animals left the ark. They also show that different species of the same kind can share a common ancestor. Most important, though, they show that using the Bible in conjunction with provable science reveals a God who is more amazing than we may have ever imagined.

Incredible Genius

God built a process into our DNA to allow us and all of life to change with our environments. Whether we call it microevolution, adaptation or variation, it is a fantastic property of DNA and how God designed us.

We, as Christians, can agree with evolutionists that microevolution happens. The scientific evidence is clear, and rather than contradicting the Bible, it augments and supports the biblical account.

However, cumulative microevolution and genetic drift within a type does not change one kind of animal into another kind. Microevolution is not enough to evolve yeast into fish, or fish into birds, reptiles and mammals—no matter how many millions of years it takes!

Yet we can be amazed by the way God built variety into His Creation. Whenever you see the vast array of birds, insects, reptiles and fish, remember the God behind it all—and that He is involved in your life!