The Bible Explained, part 19C/40: Creation and Evolution: Evolution
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-----<front cover text>
THE BIBLE EXPLAINED
A Guide to the Holy Bible
for Parents and Teenagers
-----<back cover text>
Where did you come from?
What is your purpose?
What happens when you die?
These questions--and more--are answered in 'The
Bible Explained', which is based on the teachings
of the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible is a collection
of ancient books which claim to be the word of the
one and only God. This one and only God claims to
be the sole creator, owner, and sustainer of all
things; he further claims to hold the one and only
key to eternal life. Are these claims true? Get
the facts and then decide for yourself.
This document is meant to be understood by everyone,
and is therefore written in plain, simple language,
avoiding complex religious jargon.
Understand the Bible like never before.
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Introduction
Quest for Truth
The Holy Bible
Origin and Destiny
The Big Picture: Good and Evil
The Story of Man
The Purpose of the Earth
The Standard and the Test
Work: The Key to Success and Life
Pyramid Society
Failure of Man
Male and Female
Family Relationships
Marriage and Family
Sexual Immorality
The Value of Life
Multiplication and Overpopulation
Racism
Creation and Evolution
Government
Politics
Justice
Words, Speech, and Censorship
Church Matters
Monotheism, Jews, and Christians
Temptation
The Nature of Evil
Life and Death of Satan
Reincarnation
The Rapture
The End Times
The Near Future
Preparing for the Future
Groups and Labels
Understanding Judgement
Preparing for Death
Conclusion
Appendix A: Questions and Answers
Appendix B: The Ten Commandments
Appendix C: Marriage
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TITLE: "The Bible Explained"
AUTHOR: "Arrant Knave"
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ISBN-13: "9781468197068"
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-----<excerpt from book>
Evolution
Evolution is the antithesis of Creation: In the
creationist worldview, man is the product of an
intelligent creator, who gave him life, purpose,
and intelligence; in the evolutionary worldview,
man is the product of chance, time, and randomness,
having no purpose or destiny. If we are products of
chance, why do we possess the ability to ask
questions and seek answers? Why can we understand
things in a supposed random universe? Why are there
things to understand in a supposed random universe?
How does chance and randomness account for a neatly
ordered universe -- a universe permeated with law
and order? Does Evolution require the presence of
law and order? If so, then we must ask some
fundamental questions: What is the source of laws?
What are laws made of? Are laws consistent
throughout time and uniform throughout space? If
so, why? What ensures the consistency and
uniformity of laws? Should laws exist in a universe
which is based on chance and randomness? Should
anything be predictable in a random universe?
Evolution Defined: "Evolution is a theory which
claims that all life on earth was produced through
gradual development from simple to more complex
forms; a process by which species develop from
earlier forms, as an explanation of their origins."
[Oxford Dictionary] Evolution is based on Charles
Darwin's book 'On the Origin of Species', which was
first published in the year 1859. If Evolution is
purely natural and precludes a supernatural
creator, then all life-forms are products of chance
and random interactions. But how did life
originate? Lacking a creator, life must be the
product of chance.
Abiogenesis: "Abiogenesis is the formation of
organic matter without the action of living
organisms; the supposed spontaneous generation of
living organisms." [Oxford Dictionary] Abiogenesis
has never been observed; living organisms always
spring from similar living organisms. Even if a
living organism could spring from non-living
matter, it would still require an information
system -- such as genetic code -- to tell it what
to do, when to do it, and how to do it. Not only
that, but the organism must also possess the
wherewithal to understand and execute the
information. So what? Information is immaterial and
always comes from an immaterial source.
Information: In reading this document, you are
using your eyes to observe information in the form
of the English language; you then use your brain to
decode the information, since your brain contains
definitions of English words and rules of grammar;
your mind is then stimulated to form thoughts based
on the information. But how did the information
arise? The information came from my (immaterial)
mind, which "moved" my brain to express it in a
written form that I understand -- the English
language. Though this document is written on paper,
the paper is not the information; the paper is only
the carrier of the information -- the information
could just as easily been displayed on a video
screen, stored on a computer disk, transmitted
through the air via radio waves, etc. Like human
languages, there is an information system --
genetic code encoded in DNA -- which is present in
living organisms. Note that DNA is not genetic
information, but is rather the carrier of genetic
information -- DNA expresses genetic information.
As you can see, information is immaterial and
meaningless apart from definitions (a dictionary)
and rules of interpretation (grammar).
Arbitrariness of Information: What does "...---..."
mean? It means nothing -- until some intelligence
assigns meaning to it. If you are familiar with
Morse code, you will recognize "...---..." as the
international Morse code distress signal, commonly
known as 'SOS'. The only reason "...---..." has
meaning is because an intelligent being -- Samuel
Morse -- arbitrarily assigned meaning to it. Why
does genetic code have meaning? Who assigned
meaning to it? Why do living organisms understand,
interpret, and execute genetic code? Which came
first: the hardware (cell) or the software (genetic
code)? In order for a living organism to exist,
both its "hardware" and "software" must come into
existence simultaneously; not only that, but the
hardware and software must be compatible -- the
hardware must understand the software; and the
software must be coded for the hardware.
The Code of Life: Genetic code is a language which
controls the development of living organisms.
Unfortunately, genetic information is being lost
and corrupted over time. The first man (Adam) was
created with perfect genes, which were corrupted by
his sin, causing him to produce inferior offspring,
whose offspring were inferior to them, and so on:
Everything is devolving (getting worse); nothing is
evolving (getting better). Evolution requires an
increase in genetic information over time, but we
see the opposite: genetic information is being lost
or corrupted with succeeding generations, resulting
in inferior offspring, not superior ones. Because
of this, God issued a law forbidding close
relatives from marrying, since close relatives tend
to have the same genetic defects: if they breed,
their offspring will likely inherit those same
defects, resulting in diseases, birth defects,
mental retardation, etc.; on the other hand, if
distant relatives (we're all related) breed, their
offspring are less likely to inherit their parents'
genetic defects, since the "good" genes of one
parent will likely correct the "bad" genes of the
other via a built-in error-correction system.
Natural Selection: Natural selection is the
biological process by which heritable traits are
passed from one generation to the next. Natural
selection is an observable scientific fact,
however, natural selection always selects from pre-
existing genetic information; natural selection
never produces new genetic information, which is
necessary for Evolution. (If a single-celled
organism is to evolve into a man, new genetic
information will have to be generated along the way
-- information for eyes, ears, lungs, etc.) Over
successive generations, natural selection results
in the loss or corruption of genetic information,
resulting in successively inferior offspring. As
you can see, Evolution is genetically impossible,
since genes -- the instructions which tell an
organism how to develop -- simply do not operate in
a manner conducive to Evolution.
Genetic Entropy: Due to accumulated genetic defects
over succeeding generations, it is estimated that
humans cannot endure more than about a thousand
generations before becoming extinct. If a new
generation is produced every 25 years, that's 40
generations per 1000 years; if man is 6000 years
old, he has produced 240 generations thus far. In
the beginning, humans lived close to 1000 years,
but their lifespan has been steadily decreasing
ever since. Although man's health and lifespan are
on the decline, there is a passage of scripture
which suggests the reversal of this trend during
the Millennium: "Thus says the LORD: 'I will return
to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. ...
Old men and old women shall again sit in the
streets of Jerusalem, each one with his staff in
his hand because of great age.'" [Zechariah 8:3-4]
How will this prophecy be fulfilled? Will God
himself perform a miracle, or will man unlock the
mystery of long life via the science of genetics?
It remains to be seen. If you wish to completely
discredit the theory of Evolution, I suggest you
study the science of genetics.
Random or Guided: Is Evolution a random or guided
process? If it is guided, who or what is guiding
it? Where is the guide? What is the guide made of?
What is the guide's intention? What is the guide's
ultimate goal? If, as some believe, Evolution is
driven by changes in climate and/or diet, how does
such changes produce new genetic information? On
the other hand, if Evolution is random, then it
cannot be moving towards a goal; it cannot be
working towards a particular outcome; it cannot
possess purpose or direction. In the evolutionary
worldview, man is touted as the most evolved
(highest) life-form to date; however, if Evolution
is a random process, then it is also directionless,
meaning man is neither above nor below other life-
forms, but is merely one of myriad other life-forms
on the same plane of randomness.
Evolution and Intelligence: If an evolutionist is
to engage in an intelligent discourse, he must
first assume the existence of intelligence, meaning
he must borrow from the biblical worldview --
wherein the universe is the product of intelligence
rather than chance, since one would not expect
intelligence to exist in a universe produced by
chance and randomness.
Science or Religion: Science is based on
observation; religion is based on belief. If
science requires observation, then Evolution does
not qualify as a scientific theory, since it is
based on speculation about what may have occurred
in the distant, unobservable past -- supposed
events which cannot be scientifically tested or
verified. In other words, Evolution is based on
belief about what may have happened in the distant,
unobserved past. What about fossils? Like all
prehistoric things, fossils are subject to
interpretation. Even ancient artefacts and records
are subject to interpretation -- and who knows if
such records are truthful?
From Theory to Religion: Evolution has progressed
from an unscientific theory to a religion. Why a
religion? Science deals with the observable
present, whereas religion deals with the
unobservable past. A religion answers three major
questions: What is the origin of life? What is the
purpose of life? What happens when we die?
Evolution answers all these questions: First, life
is the subsequent product of a random incident,
commonly referred to as the Big Bang. Second, life
has no purpose: we come from the dust and we return
to the dust -- that is our beginning and our end.
Third, when we die, we simply go out of existence
forever.
Evolutionism: As a religion, Evolution offers the
greatest degree of freedom: the only law is
'survival of the fittest'; there is no standard and
no judgement; the concept of right and wrong is
non-existent, since there is no qualified lawgiver;
every man is free to do whatever he pleases --
without fear of consequence. The most incredible
thing about Evolution is the mechanism by which law
and order arose out of chaos (the Big Bang); to
believe that law and order actually proceeded from
chaos requires a great deal of faith -- another
major component of religion. Evolution is nothing
new; it is an ancient philosophy which tries to
explain everything without the need of a creator:
"The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no
God.'" [Psalm 14:1]
Evolution and Morality: Evolution is inherently
amoral. That is, nothing is either moral or immoral
in the evolutionary worldview. Why? Because no one
is qualified to determine what is moral and what is
immoral, since no one has legitimate authority over
humans, since no one owns humans, since no one
created humans. Because no one created humans, no
one owns them; since no one owns them, no one has
authority over them; since no one has authority
over them, no one is qualified to define what is
moral or immoral, good or evil, right or wrong,
etc. Thus, the concept of morality is meaningless
in the evolutionary worldview. Furthermore, morals,
by their nature, are absolute, and must therefore
issue from an absolute source. In the evolutionary
worldview, what is that absolute source? What makes
it absolute? Why is it legitimate?
The Consistent Evolutionist: The evolutionist who
is consistent with the evolutionary worldview will
draw the following conclusions: "Let me summarize
my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells
us loud and clear -- and these are basically
Darwin's views. There are no gods, no purposes, and
no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no
life after death. When I die, I am absolutely
certain that I am going to be dead. That's the end
of me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics,
no ultimate meaning in life, and no free will for
humans, either. What an unintelligible idea."
[William Provine]
-----<availability>
The above book is available for purchase at:
http://www.amazon.com
Search for:
TITLE: "The Bible Explained"
AUTHOR: "Arrant Knave"
ISBN-10: "1468197061"
ISBN-13: "9781468197068"
Or try this direct link:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Bible-Explained-Parents-Teenagers/dp/1468197061
-----<copyright notice>
The above excerpt from 'The Bible Explained' is copyright
2010 by Arrant Knave. All rights reserved. No part of this
document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means without the
prior written permission of the publisher, except by a
reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be
printed in a newspaper, magazine, or journal.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are
taken from the New King James Version (R). Copyright (C)
1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights
reserved.
-----<end of book promotion>