Genesis Rejuvenated - Explanations and Commentary on Verbatim Interpretations of the Bible.

Commentary

Day Five

Thank God for Evolution

Genesis One recounts the order in which various forms of life came to be: plants, lower and higher forms of sea creatures, birds, lower and higher forms of land animals, then human beings. Given the view that dinosaurs were more like birds than mammals and considering that nobody back then was getting grant money for paleontological digs, the consistency between the Bible and the fossil record is remarkable.

While the Bible does not spell out the process through which life evolves, it does separate evolution into phases and shows each phase starting with the powers-that-be formulating an intelligent plan.

Evolution is a Fact - the Theory is in Flux

All over the Earth, climate and environmental conditions change constantly and eventually change drastically – turning jungle into desert and forest into tundra. Fortunately, all of Earth’s creatures are blessed with the ability to evolve in response to hardships. Over time, every species alive today has changed its physical characteristics to stay in harmony with its environment.

This phenomenon - evolution - has been keeping living things alive for hundreds of millions of years. Scientists have painstakingly documented such changes for centuries on end. Their findings are clear and convincing by any rational measure – over the course of many generations, living creatures have evolved new attributes which help them survive and thrive in changing environments.

There is, however, an important distinction between the fact that evolution happens and the theory about why.

The classic theory of evolution shows how life could have evolved without intelligent planning. This is the theory that you learned in high-school science. It goes like this:

1. There are genetic variations within every species. Among the members of each species there are always small physical differences that spring from differences in genetic coding between parents and offspring and among offspring. Genetic variation might occur randomly.

2. Those with the ‘best’ attributes are most likely to survive. Living things tend to produce more offspring than their environment can support, which leads to a struggle to survive – especially in harsh conditions. In the competition to find (and avoid becoming) food, the offspring that are most suited to their environment are the most likely to survive and to have offspring of their own Sometimes nature selects the most physically and mentally forceful for survival, and sometimes, natural selection favors those who fit in best with their fellow creatures.

3. Members of a species with similar attributes tend to intra-breed and exaggerate their differences. Single species tend to subdivide into smaller groups with similar attributes. When these members intra-breed over many generations, their attributes can become so exaggerated that they can become a new species.

4. Environmental stresses accelerate the creation of new species. Geological and real-time field studies of isolated animal populations show that the divergence of attributes accelerates in response to extreme environmental conditions. In one well-know example, a particular species of moth in Manchester, England darkened over just a few generations during the Industrial Revolution. As tree bark darkened with soot, the darker members of the species were better camouflaged from predators and passed this attribute to their offspring.

5. Increasingly specialized and complex life forms gradually developed over millions of years. Geologists and biologists have compared the chronological progression of fossilized animals and petrified plants on one set of shelves with mineral deposits and rocks on another and found that, over millions of years, species evolved attributes that helped them survive in changing environments. And, by following evolutionary family trees over thousands of generations, biologists have tracked the development of the complex life forms that live on earth today. This research has been confirmed through detailed comparison of the genomes of multiple species.

So, the classic theory of evolution weaves together a series of factual observations that demonstrate the possibility that life could have evolved without any intentional planning. Then one of the world’s most significant scientific theories jumps to a conclusion so unscientific that it must be omitted from science books and classrooms. It goes like this:

Life could have evolved without intelligent planning. Therefore, life did evolve without intelligent planning.

That giant leap of non-faith and non science is not only illogical, it is flat our inconsistent with the objective observation of nature.

1. Randomness seldom occurs anywhere in nature. It has never been shown, and is highly unlikely that variation among members of a species occurs randomly. In fact genetic variation seems to follow patterns. The largest body of data in this area comes from microbial studies which indicate that DNA coding ties to colony-wide planning among multiple organisms.

2. Randomness is unlikely to yield complexity. The human genome is an intricate code some 3.1 billion letters long. If you type those letters on standard paper and stack them up, they would tower as high as the Empire State Building. It is mathematically inconceivable that mating combinations based on natural selection could generate so much complex and precise genetic code.

3. Mating decisions are not random. Even if natural selection could write complex genetic code, it would not have the opportunity to do so. In nature, animals make making decisions based on a wide range of chemical, emotional and subconscious factors that seem to have much more to do with the welfare of the offspring that the survival of the parents.

In nature, there is, in fact, abundant evidence of intelligent planning, not just with respect to mating decisions, but within of each organism and throughout every ecosystem.

This is not to say that there is a mythical master-mind who lives in heaven and writes DNA code. There is neither evidence in nature nor textual support in the Genesis One for that kind of deity.

But there is both scientific data and Biblical scripture supporting the existence of collective intelligence. And lately, some of the best and brightest biologists and geneticists have been keeping open minds about the role that collective intelligence may play in the genetic coding process.

Think Big, Study Little

It is easier to grasp the concept of collective intelligence when we observe it in action. You may never find God up in Heaven by gazing through a telescope, but you can see the-powers-that-be operating here on earth by looking at life through a microscope and studying the cooperative behavior of colonies of microbes.

By definition, none of these single-cell organisms has a single brain cell. Yet collectively, they accomplish many of the things that highly-intelligent higher creatures do.

They organize themselves into colonies with systems for communication, defense, food intake, nutrient distribution, and waste disposal, and population dispersion.

Organisms living in these societies number in the hundreds of millions and include thousands of different types - each of which performs a specialized metabolic function.

When a colony is fully-formed and reaches the point of over-crowding, microbes work together to form a new colony. The outer matrix of cells opens releasing ‘colonist’ microbes specially-equipped to anchor themselves to a new surface. Other species that are unable to attach to a surface on their own join by attaching to the colonists.

Few scientists use the term ‘intelligence’ to describe the power that guides individual microbes to function within and collectively build their complex societies. Yet, these tiny scientists have already learned to do something that their larger brethren have not – genetic engineering. These societies allocate and distribute genetic material among their members so that they can evolve rapidly and efficiently to meet the challenges of their changing environment. Microbes living in these societies rapidly evolve new genetically inheritable characteristics, making them more suited to their specialty than those of the same type who live as free-floating individuals.

We may not understand what collective intelligence is, but we can see what it does.

Listening to the song of the universe

Of course, evidence of evolution via genetic sharing within microbe communities does not prove that collective intelligence has driven evolution for billions of years. Nevertheless, it is quite telling that information discovered via microbial research – which covers far more specimens (trillions) and generations (thousands) than any other scientific study - is consistent with the account in Genesis One of community intelligence driving the evolution of life on earth.

And, of course, evidence of collective intelligence among microbes does not prove that it exists on a global scale. But, the more we open we open our eyes, the more we will see the wide range of synergistic organization among extended and interlocking families of plant and animal life. In their natural environments, living things do not simply compete to survive, they must also strive to fit into their environment. They take in and distribute information and make a wide range of behavioral and mating decisions driven both by individual and consciousness and chemistry, and by the imperatives of their communities. Extended families of organisms alter their behavior to fit into environmental niches and to bear offspring best suited to the changing environment.

Be Fruitful and Multiply

Genesis says that the powers-that-be give one simple instruction to all creatures upon their creation, “Be fruitful and multiply.” Here, too the Bible and the earth’s geological record are in accordance, as those species that made reproduction their prime directive have been the most successful.

Reptiles, fish, birds and mammals all trace their roots back to the age of the dinosaurs. Most of their ancestors had engaged in a genetic arms race, growing monstrously large teeth, claws, muscles, horns and body armor. Most off them are extinct. Nobody knows exactly how or why those species died out, but we do know that the survivors had something in common.

Surviving reptiles – like alligators and turtles – bury their eggs

Surviving fish travel long distances to lay eggs in safe waters and/or lay them in the hundreds or thousands.

Surviving birds willingly sacrifice their own lives to protect their nests (e.g. males use brightly colored plumage and loud songs to lead predators away from their eggs and chicks).

And, of course, mammal mothers provide the greatest protection to their young by keeping them inside for months of gestation.

Overall, the most successful animals - those whose decedents survived comets and ice ages and made it all the way to the present day – were the ones who took the best care of their offspring.