Darwin's Doubt

Bulletin

Dan Peters
08/28/22 - Creation

“The Origin of Species seized the attention of the scientific community like a thunderclap. Darwin’s analogy to artificial selection was powerful, his proposed mechanism of natural selection and random variation easily grasped… it seemed to many that Darwin had dispensed with every conceivable objection to his theory but one” (p. 6 Darwin’s Doubt, Steven C. Meyer, 2013). Dr. Meyer is not the first person to highlight Darwins’ doubt- “the absence of fossils”. The fossil record itself shows that Darwin was wrong. Secondly, the thousands of fossils found since Darwin’s day, has only proven to make the matters worse for Darwin and his followers.
“The abrupt manner in which whole groups of species suddenly appear in certain formations, has been urged by several paleontologists - for instance, by Agassiz, Pictet, and Sedgwick- as a fatal objection…”(p. 313 Origin). Darwin knew that these creatures, “suddenly appear”. Darwin had hoped they would find the thousands of missing links in the fossil record, but this has not happened in 160 years following Darwin’s theory. Rather the opposite has happened, the gaps have become even greater as more divergent life forms have been found. Darwin had good reason to doubt.
By way of contrast, the evidence in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection has become stronger and stronger. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were found between 1947-1952, over 200 Old Testament manuscripts were among them. Some of them were 1000 years older than we previously had available, but the text of our Bibles has remained the same. Proving that the prophesies of Jesus were written before he was born! (read Isaiah 53 and try not to think about Jesus). Archeological evidence from the Pilate inscription, to Caiaphas’ ossuary clearly substantiate the setting for the gospels. Hundreds of early manuscripts of the New Testament from 125AD to 350AD that have been found, which show a consistency of the written text of the Bible. This adds to a greater faith in Jesus.
In summary, Darwin had good reasons to doubt his theory of evolution. The lack of living transitions and fossilized transitions between creatures has caused many to leave Darwinism. In contrast, over the past 200 years, the manuscript evidence and the archeological evidence continue to support the written record of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus doesn’t want us to be gullible (Jn. 1:50), nor does Paul, “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good” (1Th. 5:21). When John the Baptist had doubts, Jesus gave him more evidence through the testimony of what they heard and saw (the blind received sight… lepers cleansed… dead are raised up… Mat. 11:1-6). We have good reasons to put our faith in Jesus. Dan Peters