SUMMARY OF ORIGINS THEORIES
How were all the heavenly bodies, including earth, created? How did life begin? Where did all the different kinds of plants and animals come from? Where did man come from? What do fossils and the multiple layers of striated rock in the "geologic column" tell us? These are questions which have puzzled human kind for centuries? There are obviously true answers but can we find them? There are different theories which try to predict the answers but unfortunately they cannot be proven. You see to prove anything to be true we must either be able to observe it happening or be able to produce repeatable, reliable results through scientific experimentation. Unfortunately no human was around to observe and record the origins process. Also, to try to prove what happened in the past through experimentation would require many assumptions of what the past was like. Therefore no theory or idea of origins can be proven scientifically. So to believe in any idea of our origins, we have to believe by faith. The less evidence there is to support a theory or idea, the more faith you must have to believe it.
The following is a summary of the different theories of origins. Also we’ll look at scientific evidence of what we actually see in nature to see if any of these theories actually fit the evidences. There are two basic beliefs about our origins: either an intelligent creator did it or it all happened by chance.
The Theory of Evolution is the belief that
1)the earth and universe gradually came into an orderly existence by random chance natural processes. In this theory there is no room for the belief in any supernatural involvement. All processes of creation must be of natural origins. Several billion years ago nothing existed then there was a "Big Bang" which caused all the stars, sun, and eventually planets. Since the ‘Big Bang," the universe has evolved into an orderly mass of cosmic systems.
2)Life evolved from non-living matter (spontaneous generation) in a primordial soup of chemicals by accidental, random chance. All living things gradually evolved from very simple organisms to very complex ones. Therefore since proteins are simpler than DNA, proteins had to evolve long before DNA developed.
3)We should be able to find many fossils of transitional forms of organisms between all organism kinds. Organisms should have evolved from one kind of organism into another completely new kind with many varieties at different stages between the two kinds. Fish evolved into amphibians which evolved into reptiles which evolved into birds and mammals. Very complex systems and structures would have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications in the anatomy of existing organisms.
4)Many mutations would be required to allow each organism to evolve into a new organism.
5)First appearance of man was millions of years ago. Civilization gradually arose from crude, ignorant, ape-like, brutish beings. Language evolved from simple animal sounds into complex modern languages. We should find fossils of many creatures at different stages of evolving from ape to man.
6)Rock layers were laid down on the earth about one layer per year for millions of years. Organisms died and fossilized through time. By looking at the rock layers that fossils are found in, we can figure out how long ago different organisms lived. The deeper the fossils, the older they are. Rocks are also dated by the kind of fossils found in them.
The Theory of Intelligent Design is the belief that
1)the earth and universe were brought into an orderly existence by an intelligent designer.
2)The simplest form of life, a single cell, is far too complex and organized to have come about by random chance.
3)Many scientists in several different fields of scientific study have noticed that things in nature (elements and organisms and systems ) are so complex and intricate and so well organized that it appears that things in nature were designed to be the way they are instead of just coming together by accidental, random chance. Intelligent design theorists have demonstrated that living things are full of complex organs and complex systems which could not function unless fully formed to begin with. Therefore they could not have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications as would have been required by the evolutionary process. Fossils show a great variety of organisms suddenly appearing without transitional forms between organisms.
The Theory of Creation is the belief that
1)the earth and universe were brought into an orderly existence by a supernatural intelligent creator. Creationists believe in "Intelligent Design", but not all Intelligent Designer believers believe in creation ideas. "Young Earth Creationists" would say that scientific evidence indicates that the universe, including earth, was created just a few thousand years ago - fully formed. Scientific evidence should show that the universe is slowly deteriorating and wearing down since its creation.
2)This theory of creation states that modern scientific evidence supports the idea that all things in nature (including plants, animals and humans) were created (fully formed, properly functioning and mature) in the beginning by special creation. Life did not spontaneously occur and new life only comes from previous life.
3)Many kinds of organisms were created with the ability, through gene reshuffling, to produce several varieties (as different lizard species) within their own kind, able to reproduce within their own kind only, and no one kind evolved into any other kind of organism (as lizards turning into birds).
4)Mutations would be harmful to organisms making them defective and less likely to survive.
5) "Young Earth Creationists" would say that scientific evidence indicates that man first appeared a few thousand years ago, fully formed, intelligent and civilized from the very beginning. Man was created with the ability to communicate intelligently with a complex language. We should find fossils of apes and fossils of men but no ape-men.
6)They would also say that most rock layers and fossils around the world were laid down by the results of a catastrophic, world-wide flood a few thousand years ago. Fossils would only indicate where an organism died, not when it lived, since most multilayered sedimentary rock layers were laid down quickly during the flood and later catastrophes scattering organisms throughout layers.
Finally is the Theory of Progressive Creationism or Theistic Evolution which is the belief that
1)an intelligent designer created all the basic elements for a primitive earth and universe and used evolution to mature it. This theory is a compromised view for those who can not accept the pure ideas of evolution or creation alone. "Old Earth Creationists" might fall into this category.
Scientific Evidence shows that
1)most modern dating methods indicate that the earth and universe are only a few to several thousand years old. Evidence shows that the entire universe is slowly deteriorating and becoming less organized. The "Law of Entropy" states that things left alone will deteriorate over time instead of improve.
2)Evidence also shows that spontaneous generation does not occur - life always comes from previous life. The Genetic Code is far too complex to have occurred by chance. Protein is only made by DNA, and DNA is made up of proteins. Both had to have been together at the same time to exist.
3)Fossils of so called "simple" organisms have been found to be very complex, organized, & completely formed. Transitional forms of organisms, living or fossilized, are lacking. Fossil records show organisms completely formed - not part one organism & part another. There are many different varieties within each kind of organism, but only "like" kinds can reproduce with each other and they do not make new kinds. Lizards stay lizards. There are vast differences in the structure and genetic make-up of each organism kind making this evolutionary process impossible.
4)Better than 99% of mutations are harmful to organisms usually causing them to die out. Incomplete, non-functioning systems in mutating organisms would be a hindrance and a disadvantage to the organism making it less likely to survive.
5)Oldest written records date back only about 5000 years. At a 0.5% growth rate (currently at almost 2%), the present human population could have been reached in only 4000 to 5000 years. (Imagine the population of man in over one million years). Archaeological findings indicate that man was civilized from the first remains of man. Language appears to have been contemporaneous with man; ancient languages were often more complex that modern ones. So far nearly all reports of findings of assumed transitional ape-men have been found to be mistakes or hoaxes.
6)We find billions of dead things buried and fossilized in rock layers which appear to have been laid down by water all around the world. Many fossils of organisms, which normally decay quickly after death, have been found to be very well preserved, indicating that these organisms were buried quickly, completely and deep enough to prevent decay from oxygen and other microscopic organisms. Since organisms must be buried deeply and quickly to become fossilized, large items as vertical trees and whales were obviously covered by thousands of layers quickly along with many other organisms at the same time.
