Christian Responses: Questions for Evolutionists
Questions for Evolutionists
by Dr. Kent Hovind
The test of any theory is whether or not it provides answers to basic questions. Some well-meaning but misguided people think evolution is a reasonable theory to explain man’s questions about the universe. Evolution is not a good theory—it is just a pagan religion masquerading as science.
1. Where did the space for the universe come from?
2. Where did matter come from?
3. Where did the laws of the universe come from (gravity, inertia, etc.)?
4. How did matter get so perfectly organized?
5. Where did the energy come from to do all the organizing?
6. When, where, why, and how did life come from dead matter?
7. When, where, why, and how did life learn to reproduce itself?
8. With what did the first cell capable of sexual reproduction reproduce?
9. Why would any plant or animal want to reproduce more of its kind since this would only make more mouths to feed and decrease the chances of survival? (Does the individual have a drive to survive, or the species? How do you explain this?)
10. How can mutations (recombining of the genetic code) create any new, improved varieties? (Recombining English letters will never produce Chinese books.)
11. Is it possible that similarities in design between different animals prove a common Creator instead of a common ancestor?
12. Natural selection only works with the genetic information available and tends only to keep a species stable. How would you explain the increasing complexity in the genetic code that must have occurred if evolution were true?
13. When, where, why, and how did: a) Single-celled plants become multicelled? (Where are the two- and threecelled intermediates?) b) Single-celled animals evolve? c) Fish change to amphibians? d) Amphibians change to reptiles? e) Reptiles change to birds? (The lungs, bones, eyes, reproductive organs, heart, method of locomotion, body covering, etc., are all very different!) How did the intermediate forms live?
14. When, where, why, how, and from what did: a) Whales evolve? b) Sea horses evolve? c) Bats evolve? d) Eyes evolve? e) Ears evolve? f) Hair, skin, feathers, scales, nails, claws, etc., evolve?
15. Which evolved first (how, and how long, did it work without the others)? a) The digestive system, the food to be digested, the appetite, the ability to find and eat the food, the digestive juices, or the body’s resistance to its own digestive juice (stomach, intestines, etc.)? b) The drive to reproduce or the ability to reproduce? c) The lungs, the mucus lining to protect them, the throat, or the perfect mixture of gases to be breathed into the lungs? d) DNA or RNA to carry the DNA message to cell parts? e) The termite or the flagella in its intestines that actually digest the cellulose? f) The plants or the insects that live on and pollinate the plants? g) The bones, ligaments, tendons, blood supply, or muscles to move the bones? h) The nervous system, repair system, or hormone system? i) The immune system or the need for it?
I don’t know the answer to a lot of these but I figured I may as well help you out with the few that I do know. Also bare in mind that I’m not a scientist and my answers could be absolutely incorrect. I’d recommend using the vast wealth of the internet to answer these questions. What’d be even better is asking someone who specialises in the field of the questions you’re asking rather than Atheists who might study science as a hobby in their spare time (as is the case with me).
4. How did matter get so perfectly organized?
Why do you think it’s perfectly organised? Are you talking about Earth or the universe; because any astronomer will tell you that the places that don’t support life are extremely hectic and unstable. Also on a large (timespan) scale the Earth is also not organised in any coherent manner.
5. Where did the energy come from to do all the organizing?
Since when does energy “organise” stuff? Also, this is the same question as question 2.
8. With what did the first cell capable of sexual reproduction reproduce?
Reproduction came a long while before sexual reproduction. With that in mind you should also know that it was a long transition between the two. It’s not as though we can pinpoint it to a single mutation of a species. It’s liking asking what the first winged species was (it’s ridiculously transgressional).
9. Why would any plant or animal want to reproduce more of its kind since this would only make more mouths to feed and decrease the chances of survival? (Does the individual have a drive to survive, or the species? How do you explain this?)
The will to reproduce isn’t logically deduced by each specimen. The desire to procreate is inherited. If the animal didn’t evolve with this desire it would die out pretty instantly. Imagine a new bread of mouse that has no desire to mate but is only self-interested. Can you see that surviving more than 1 generation?
10. How can mutations (recombining of the genetic code) create any new, improved varieties? (Recombining English letters will never produce Chinese books.)
I’d be lying if I said I knew much about the biology of genetic mutation, but why do you consider the letters are the things that are changing? What if the ink or the atoms that made up the ink were being rearranged? Remember that evolution has been going on for billions of years. Genetic changes are frequent but so subtle that no one could tell the difference between a parent and a descendant.
11. Is it possible that similarities in design between different animals prove a common Creator instead of a common ancestor?
Do you think it points towards a creator? That certainly seems like you’re aiming the evidence at a decision you’ve already made (or at least an idea that is entirely unrelated).
Questions 12-15 are about 5 seconds from Google and a 20 minute read.
P.S. Carl Sagan answers a load of these questions in his tv series “Cosmos”, if you’re actually looking for answers I’d give it a watch!
Oh man, if only someone actually asked these questions to me in real life. I would love to go: “Has nothing to do with evolution. Has nothing to do with evolution. Has nothing to do with evolution. Has nothing to do with evolution. Has nothing to do with evolution. Ah, still has nothing to do with evolution, but at least you’re moving from cosmology into abiogenesis now. Yep, still abiogenesis, not evolution. … do you even understand what a cell and sexual reproduction are?”
THEN HOW DID LIFE ORIGINATE!?!?!?!?!!??
You say that life can evolve. Thou doest well! How did it form in the first place?
Either way, evolution is wrong. Mutations are always bad; ask any medical professional or geneticist.