Biological Evolution

The Beginnings

Jean Baptiste Lamarck

A French

Biologist in the

1800’s

Lamarck’s Theory of Evolution

• The Theory of Need

In order for an organism to evolve a structure, it must need the structure

• The Theory of Use and Disuse

If an organism continues to use a particular structure, it will continue to evolve. If not used the structure will degenerate and disappear.

• The Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics

If an organism acquires a characteristic, it can pass this characteristic on to its offspring.

Giraffe Evolution

Supposedly, the giraffe’s ancestors were deerlike animals on the African plain. A long drought forced these early giraffes to stretch their necks to reach tree leaves.

Theory of Need

Theory of Use and Disuse

Their necks became longer by stretching.

Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics

Adults with slightly longer necks producedoffspring with slightly longer necks. After many generations, the giraffe’s long neck developed.

Remember the Padaung Tribe

Analysis of Lamarck’s Theory

• Most scientists today agree that the theory of need is not an actual factor in the evolutionary process

• Modern scientists have also disproved the inheritance of acquired characteristics.

• The theory of use and disuse is unacceptable based on modern genetics. Genes can be turned off and on, but use or disuse does not alter or destroy them for the next generation.

Charles Darwin

• Born Feb 12, 1809

(same b-day as Abraham Lincoln)• Shrewsbury, England• Relatively wealthy family• In 1825, enrolled in University of

Edinburgh (family alma mater)• Father wanted him to study

medicine but he was sickened

at sight of surgery without

anesthesia• Showed little aptitude for subject,

abandoned his studies after 2 years

After leaving medicine. . .

• He transferred to Christ’scollege in Cambridge

• Studied theology• Developed interest in

geology• Accepted the

position of naturalist on HMS Beagle

And considerthis . . .

Contrary to what you might have heard about Darwin, he seemed to be a deeply committed Christian at this point in his life. During this part of his life, he said that he did not “…in the least doubt the strict and literal truth of every word in the Bible”. (Julian Huxley, Charles Darwin and his World)

SOWHAT

HAPPENED

He began to read the writings of men who rejected the Bible

"I really think my books come half out of Lyell's brain," said Charles Darwin, "I see through his eyes." But Sir Charles Lyell, the great naturalist's friend and mentor, had a hard time returning the compliment.

Thomas Malthus- An EssayOn the Principals of Population- saidthat all individuals within a population struggle against each other to obtainwhat is necessary in order to survive and reproduce.

Charles Lyell, a geologist-One of the first scientists to deny the history of the world according to the OT-”The present is the key tothe past”

His faith began to erode while on the HMS Beagle

During the earliest part of his voyage, he wrote in his diary that he often bore the brunt of a good deal of laughter “from several of the officers for quoting the Bible as final authority on some moral point” (Bern Dibner, Darwin of the Beagle, p. 82)

Only a few years after his voyage, he stated “…that the Old Testament from its manifest false history of the world, with the Tower of Babel, the rainbow as a sign, etc., etc., and from its attributing to God the feelings of a revengeful tyrant, was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindoos [sic], or the beliefs of any barbarian” .(Dibner, pp. 82-83.)

He Put His Faith in Science

“A look at Darwing’s life can show you how horrible the results are when you put your faith in science. Science islimited and is constantly changing. What we thoughtwere scientific laws less than a century ago are now knownto be wrong. We now know that most of Darwin’s ideaswere very wrong. You simply cannot put your faith in something as limited and subject to change as science.Had Darwin realized that, he would not have allowed thiserrant theory that has had such a devastating effect on thefaith of others.”

Exploring Creation with Biology, p. 265

He became bitter after the death of his daughter

• Man’s usual response to tragedy is to blame God, as Charles Darwin did after the death of his beloved daughter Annie.

• “Annie’s cruel death destroyed Charles’s tatters of beliefs in a moral, just universe. Later he would say that this period chimed the final death-knell for his Christianity . . . . Charles now took his stand as an unbeliever.”

• http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/why-does-creation-include-suffering

Darwin’s Theory

• Completely formulated

by the time he left the

HMS Beagle• Did not publish for

another 23 years• Part of delay to perfect

his work but mostly

due to his wife, who

recognized the

devastating effect it

could have on the

church.

He Noticed …

• There was a variety of different beak types among the island birds- depending on the food source.

• He hypothesized that they were descendants of an original pair of finches

He developed the Theory of Natural Selection

• There is variation within species

• The individuals within a species that are better suited to the environment will survive. (Survival of the Fittest)

• Traits are passed to offspring

Actually Natural Selection Wasn’t Darwin’s Original Idea

• He only popularized the idea

• He borrowed (plagiarized) much of it from several others, including Edward Blyth, a creationist, who believed God created original kinds and that natural selection acted by conserving rather than originating.

Look At The Theory of Natural Selection Again

• There is variation within species

• The individuals within a species that are better suited to the environment will survive. (Survival of the Fittest)

• Traits are passed to offspring

Any Problems so Far?

• No- we see great genetic variation among all “kinds” of animals.

Problems?

• No!- God has equipped animals to survive in many environments

The Problem with Darwin’s Theory

He extrapolated that ALL living things must

have come from a common ancestor

• 1. to infer (an unknown) from something that is known; conjecture.

• 2. Statistics . to estimate (the value of a variable) outside the tabulated or observed range.

• 3. Mathematics . to estimate (a function that is known over a range of values of its independent variable) to values outside the known range.

Descent with Modification

Newer forms of organisms are

actually the modified descendents of much older descendants of much older similar organisms, therefore

All living things must have descended from a COMMON ANCESTOR

Descent with Modification

Newer forms of organisms are actually the modified descendents of much older descendants of similar organisms-

COMMON ANCESTORS

Neo-DarwinismMutation-Selection Theory

Adds mutations as the mechanism for change.

Remember-• in order for evolution to occur, new genes

must form and enter the gene pool• mutations are random• mutations must be in reproductive cells in

order to be passed on• MUTATIONS ARE HARMFUL

Theory of Natural Selection

• The environment may affect individual organisms in a population.

• Survival of the Fittest- organisms struggle to survive- those with the best characteristics survive and pass on their genes.

• He applied this concept to human beings to explain how man originated.

Evolution vs Creation

Evolutionist’s Tree of

Life

Creationist’s Orchard

IT’S A DIFFERENCE OF ORIGINS- AND THAT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE!

Creationist Lawn

Creationists do NOT believe this

Evolution vs Creation

Evolutionist’s Tree of

Life

Creationist’s Orchard

IT’S A DIFFERENCE OF ORIGINS- AND THAT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE!

Remember

Natural Selection CANNOT

• Increase or provide new genetic info.

• Allow organisms to evolve from molecules to man

• Act as an originator• Support evolutionary

“tree” of life- change from one kind to another

Natural Selection CAN

• Decrease genetic info.

• Allow organisms to survive better in a given environment

• Act as a “selector”

• Support creation’s “orchard” of life