The Difference Between Intelligent Design and Darwinism

Summer is coming to an end, and my family and I went to Elko speedway for the first time last night. I had no idea of what to expect, but we had a blast. They have a great community feel to it, where it seems like there are a lot of people who know each other, who support their drivers, and who enjoy partying. On to today's post, which is my attempt to explain the main difference between those who believe in unguided evolution (Darwinism) and those who believe in Intelligent Design. So let's get started:

1. Intelligent Design. Most of those who believe in Intelligent Design start with the foundation that there is some sort of Creator responsible for our universe, Who I will refer to as God. All evidence is then viewed in light of the assumption of God's existence and direct responsibility for the creation of our world and life around us. With this foundation, we have the following evidence to support our acceptance of the Intelligent Design position:
   

   
    

• Big Bang. The universe has a start, and the best explanation for this start is that there is a Creator God who caused this to take place. The massive amount of energy squeezed into an impossibly small space sounds like a supernatural event to most people. Energy doesn't just appear out of thin air, right? And the resulting order that came out of the Big Bang which led to the creation of a life-sustaining planet, again points to God. Anyone who looks at the start of our universe and does not assume God's Hand as the cause of it, must do some serious mental gymnastics to get around all of the surrounding problems where random forces are assumed as the cause;
  

 

• Fossil Record. Sudden appearance, sudden disappearance. No intermediate transitions. This is the fossil record. And this is the record that caused the now departed Harvard Professor /Darwinist Stephen Jay Gould to come up with his theory of punctuated equilibrium. Darwinism is supposed to make small changes over great periods of time, resulting in things even as great as a species change. But Professor Gould's theory looked at the evidence and postulated that some unknown force caused a great deal of change to take place in a very short period of time, which could explain the creation of new structures (like an eye or brain) and even new species. The fossil record evidence is a serious problem for anyone who holds to traditional Darwinist beliefs;
  

 

• Mutation Rate / Complex Structures. E Coli has been studied for over 44,000 generations by Professor Lenski. Malaria infects 500 million people a year, and the malaria replicates in an ill person until there are 1 trillion malaria cells. And science has thoroughly studied what happens when these cells reproduce over their short life-spans. Especially with malaria, given the number of these cells and the number of people effected, it is an easy analogy to make for those who hold to an Intelligent Design viewpoint that over the whole lifespan on Earth, we are able to see in the battle against malaria what the Darwinist force of random mutation can actually do, as if the history of life was being replayed before us. And the result? Not much. Mutation can create a resistance to an anti-biotic designed to fight malaria. But the mutation rate is far too low to do anything useful. As an example, in order for the malaria cell to develop resistance to chloroquine ( a common early drug used to fight malaria), it takes a change in just two amino acids. How easily does this take place? Oh, about 1 in 10²⁰ of the malaria cells that have reproduced. Infinitesimally small, right? There just isn't enough mutations taking place to cause what Darwinists think evolution can do.
  

  And the problem of complex structures was analogized by Professor Behe to a mousetrap. Darwinism believes small changes take place that can lead to create something new. But inside the cell, even the simplest of structures require many parts, self assembled, and all working together at the same time. And the addition of 1 piece provides no benefit to the organism, until all 10 (or however many are needed) pieces are put together. Darwinist belief is that any improvement or benefit will be passed on to the next generation. But without a benefit, the change will be lost. You know, like a mousetrap. You can't catch a mouse with just a board and a spring. It takes all of the parts assembled before there is a working mousetrap. In other words, there is no benefit to a creature to just having 2 of 10 pieces. Adding this to the extremely low mutation rate, and it is hard to see why anyone would believe in random mutation as the creative force behind Darwinism.
  

 

1. Darwinism. Which leads me to Darwinism, which has the following foundation:
   

   
    

• Naturalism. According to Darwinists, every cause has a natural effect. Claimed Supernatural events are unproven, and cannot be repeated.
  
• Similarities in Structure / Chromosomes. You look at an ape and it kind of looks like a less 'evolved' human. A fin looks like a wing which looks like a hand. I get it. And there is similarity in the chromosomes of humans and other animals. For example, humans have one fewer pair of chromosomes than chimpanzees – a human has 23 pairs, while a chimpanzee has 24. Scientists can look at the chromosomes and say that the chimpanzee chromosome 2 a and 2 b somehow fused together into a large chromosome 2 in humans. And this genetic evidence supported the Darwinist's belief in common descent, that in the Tree of Life all species came from one ancestor. And the crowning claim of Darwinism that humans are nothing but evolved monkeys.
  

  
   

  But the Darwinists were tied to the theory Darwin's mechanism for change by Random Mutation, which science has shown to be impotent. The mutations in the genome take place too slowly, and certainly cannot account for the large differences in life. And so, this is the essence of the differences between Darwinists and Intelligent Design – Darwinists see similarity and assume a natural, non-supernatural connection will be found that accounts for this similarity, and all of the changes in the life around us. While in Intelligent Design, we see the evidence before us, and make the claim that natural mechanisms cannot account for these changes. Darwinists have theory, and rely on circumstantial evidence. While in Intelligent Design the evidence of the fossil record and the limitations of change within the genome show that something else is responsible for the difference between a monkey and a human, as well as the other life in the world around us. And although it is not part of Intelligent Design, most assume it can point to God as the responsible Agent.
  

  
   

So that is my conclusion, Darwinists have theory, and rely on circumstantial evidence. While in Intelligent Design the evidence of the fossil record and the limitations of change within the genome show that something else is responsible for the difference between a monkey and a human. And although it is not part of Intelligent Design, most assume it can point to God as the responsible Agent. Let me know if you would like to add or correct anything for either of the positions discussed. Thanks. /s/Tom Wolff

God is Sovereign, Part 2

"…. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven…" (Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6:10). With this simple, yet powerful prayer, Jesus taught His followers that God's Will is only done where His Kingdom is present. And so, in this post I will discuss several Bible verses that raise the possibility that Satan has sovereign power over the Earth. In addition to the petition in the Lord's Prayer that God's Will be done through the coming of His Kingdom, we have the confrontation between Jesus and Satan in the story of the temptation in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11). Satan tempts Jesus with three different temptations, but it is the third that I want to focus upon – where Satan takes Jesus upon a high mountain, and showed Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world, and said "all these I will give you, if you fall down and worship me." What was the temptation? Think of how many people Jesus could have helped – illness, disease, famine eradicated. The end of wars. The pain of this life could be lifted. I think Satan was preying upon Jesus' compassion with this temptation. Yet Jesus stood firm and quoted the Old Testament command - 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'  (from Deut. 6:13.)

The conclusion I want to draw out from this Third Temptation of Christ is that Satan has authority and control over all of the kingdoms f Earth. This is supported by other verses in the Bible such as his being given title of 'god of this world' (2 Cor. 4:4, Job 9:24, John 14:30); And that he is the prince of the powers of air (Ephesians 2:2). So what sort of power does Satan over the world? Is Satan's kingdom at war with God's Kingdom?

Let me raise two other verses on this topic – first, is a verse from Daniel chapter 10, which I have raised several times before in my blog. In this story we have Daniel a prophet of God praying and fasting to God. An Angel is immediately sent by God in response to these prayers – See, Daniel 10:12: "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words…" But the Angel's response was delayed for three (3) weeks even though it was God's Will that the Angel come to Daniel. The reason for the delay? An unseen demonic spiritual force referred to as the "the Prince of the kingdom of Persia" battled the Angel until the arch-Angel Michael came and defeated this demonic "prince". From this story, we see that Satan's kingdom can temporarily delay God's Will through attacks upon the servants of God. And so, it is not God who is attacked, but God's faithful servants. And this battle caused a short delay in God's Will (an answer to Daniel's prayers) from being answered.

Another interesting story of the spiritual warfare taking place around us is contained in 2 Kings chapter 3. The villain in the story is Mesha the king of Moab. The Good Guys were the divided kingdoms of Israel – where Israel is divided into the northern and southern kingdoms, yet they joined together with the king of Edom and set out to destroy all of the cities and villages of Moab. Would they win? A prophet of God Elisha son of Shaphat was asked and he told the kings that God "will also give the Moabites into your hand…" (2 Kings 3:18). They received confirmation of this prophecy with God's provision of water for their armies. And the combined forces overthrew all of the Moabite cities (v. 25). But then comes the interesting party of the story – the combined armies surrounded the last Moabite city, Kir-hareseth, which appears to be the Moabite capital. And our villain, Mesha, the desperate king of Moab took his 700 tough swordsmen to try and break the siege but they failed (v. 26). He then took his eldest son, and…, well, let's read how God's Word describes it:

Then he (Mesha) took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath (NIV describes it as a great "fury") against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land. (v. 27)

 

What?! God's Will of destroying all of Moabite cities was prevented by Mesha's sacrifice of his son to the Moabite god, Chemosh. And I like the way the NIV describes it, as a "fury" coming upon the combined forces, and the Moabite was saved. Despite God's prophecy through Elisha, that God would give the Moabites into the combined force's hands, the sacrifice of king Mesha's son caused some sort of force and impact to save the Moabite city of Kir-hareseth. What was this fury or wrath that defeated the combined force's armies? Well, this is a subject of some dispute, but my take is that this was a powerful demonic attack brought about by the sacrifice to the Moabite god Chemosh. And this somehow prevented God's Will of the destruction of Moab from taking place.

Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:24 – ESV)

 

So, how do I put together the verses in my last post on God's sovereignty, and this beautiful verse from Jeremiah 23:24, that describe God as an active God, involved in all parts of our lives throughout the whole Earth, with the verses on Satan's power (and his allies), that have demonstrable power against the servants of God? I think that is the key – they can only battle the servants of God. The enemy can only delay the implementation of God's plan, not thwart it. But God's Will is carried out. Well, that is what is on my mind this week. May God bless you with His peace (shalom) this week. In Christ, /s/Tom

 

Sovereignty of God

Congratulations to my nephew and his wife who were blessed with a boy they named Timothy Robert last night. It's great to hear that everyone is doing well after the childbirth.

I wanted to post this morning on the topic of the sovereignty of God. The Bible makes clear that God is Creator of everything in heaven and on Earth (Genesis 1). Here are but four of the dozens of verses proclaiming that God is Sovereign (Rules with supreme authority having controlling power over all that takes place in heaven and on Earth): Dan. 4:25, :35; Romans 9:15-23; 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 4:11.

So if there is anyone who could have authority other than God, it would be Satan. Satan is called the god of this world - 2 Cor. 4:4, John 14:30. He is also called the adversary (Job 1:6-7, 1 Pet. 5:8). And so, the initial question I ask is this: is Satan the adversary of God, or as is more likely, the adversary of humans?

And so, to answer my initial question, Satan is the adversary of mankind and not the adversary of God. This is made clear in other verses describing Satan and his activity:

He seeks to cause evil    John 13:2,27, 1 Tim. 4:1

He seeks to secure or trick people to worship him; Luke 4:6-8, 2 Thess. 2:3-4

He seeks to make men renounce God    Job 2:4-5

He seeks to undo God's work in people's lives Mark 4:15, Matt. 13:19,38, Luke 8:12-13

He seeks to steal, kill and destroy    John 10:10

He attacks through thoughts    1 Chron. 21:1, Matt. 13:37-39, Acts 5:3, 2 Cor. 10:5

The people of the world are his children    Acts 13:10, 1 John 3:10

They do his will        John 8:44, 2 Cor. 12:7

He possesses them    Luke 22:3

He blinds them        2 Cor. 4:4

He deceives them        Rev. 20:7-8

He ensnares them        1 Tim. 3:7

He confuses them        1 Cor. 14:33

He causes distress and trouble    1 Sam. 16:14

He makes evil attractive    Gen. 3:6

He tempts thru lack of self control in sex    1 Cor. 7:5

And so, from these Bible verses, I have shown that Satan is an adversary of all people, believers and unbelievers alike. I make this my first step in showing that God is Sovereign over the universe. If there is interest, I will show and deal with at least three sets of verses where Satan attacks the work of God more directly. But I will still try to make the point that despite these verses God is Sovereign despite the activity of Satan in the world. For God's glory, /s/Tom

 

Judging Others

Ask a person on the street whether someone should judge their personal behavior, and I bet many will come up with a response inspired by Jesus – people should judge not, lest they be judged. The reason for this is obvious – who wants others looking down their noses with judgment of the private done in the privacy of their home. No one likes a finger wagger, right? Anyway, I am thinking about Jesus' teaching at the Sermon on the Mount telling us that we should not judge lest we be judged (Matthew 7:1), and how this fits in with other New Testament verses. For example, there are a few other verses that teach something different, like 1 Corinthians 2:15 (the spiritual person judges all things…) And so, with this post I will try and piece these verses together.

Local Pastor John Piper is writing some great posts on his blog – and he's writing frequently, so check him out here. But he recently wrote on this topic that is of interest to me – judging others. Pastor Piper wrote on the benefit of a Church being able to judge its own members. Here is his post:

But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? (1 Corinthians 5:11-12)

It is dangerous not to be judged. We need other people to judge us, with righteous judgment (John 7:24). We need accountability. If we don't have Christian friends that are close enough to confront us when our lifestyle doesn't match our confession, then we ought to tremble.

The type of judgment I am referring to is not generated by a desire to look down on others for the sake of feeling superior—a condescending disposition. Rather, it comes from a tender disposition of love. It comes from a Nathan who is willing to tell David to repent and turn to God (2 Samuel 12).

We should fear God in light of the sin that can deceive and destroy us. We should not fear the judgment that comes from friends in the church which helps us to fight sin. This is grace!

It is immeasurably more safe to be a part of a local church that watches for our souls. Praise God for the safety that is in the righteous judgment of his people. It is grace from heaven! (Pastor John Piper, Desiring God post).

So the message from the 1 Corinthians 5:11-12 verse (above) is that Christians are not to judge non-believers, but we are to be accountable to someone in the Church. This could be a Pastor we confess our sins to, a small group, or any other Christian who has sound judgment, a clear understanding of God's Grace, and wisdom in handling the battles we are facing. Pastor Piper does a good job in drawing out the importance of this in his post. But Christians should not, and need not judge others outside the Church. God has this job, and doesn't need any help! Anyway, here are a few other verses dealing with the topic of judging others:

John 7:24 - Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.

 

Romans 2:1-2
Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. ² We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.

 

1 Corinthians 2:15 -
The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.

 

1 Corinthians 4:3-5
But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. ⁴ For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵ Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

 

James 4:11-12
Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. ¹² There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

From these verses, I think Christians need to focus on love. Christians need to stay away from judging the actions of non-believers. It turns off the non-believer from "religion" (see this CNN news story of author Anne Rice quitting Christianity, but not quitting Jesus.) I'm not sure how this works in real life, so maybe you can help me with this. As an example, does this mean we should not protest outside of an abortion clinic? Exercising love for the unborn fetuses seems to be more important than hurting someone's feeling by use of the protest "judgment". But I don't know, and I certainly am not certain of this. So if there are any thoughts on this, I would be interested in hearing from you. May the Lord bless you with growing knowledge of God through Christ our Lord, /s/Tom

Odds n’ Ends (15)

Here are a few stories / reports that I have recently found:

1).    A Dog Has 1^st Amendment Rights to Bark? Story here. Dogs and cats have been given the right to free speech — in Massachusetts anyway. 

A law that went into effect on July 21 bans surgical devocalization — the cutting of animals' vocal cords — except in cases of medical necessity. The procedure is commonly referred to as "debarking" when it's done to dogs.

The measure was signed into law by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. A violation carries up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $2,500.

2).    Ayatollah Khamenei Declares Himself the Representative of Muhammad on Earth – and that He's the 12^th Imam. Story here. Iran's Supreme Leader has reportedly issued a fatwah, or Islamic edict, demanding that people obey him as the earthly 'deputy' of both the Prophet Muhammad and Shi'ism's mysterious 12th Imam.  He also accused the U.S. and Britain of sowing division among Muslims and of fomenting the recent mosque bombing in Sistan-Baluchestan.  Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has created a stir after apparently issuing a religious edict Tuesday claiming ultimate spiritual powers on Earth.  Iranian media reported that he told followers that they must 'obey him' as the "representative of the Prophet Muhammad and [Shi'ism's] 12th Imam on Earth…..'" Isn't it better if someone else declares you to be the 12^th Imam? And I believe I'm right in saying that a portion of Muslims believe that the 12^th Imam is a sign of the impending end of the world (sorry, no cite for this comment.)

3).    Scientists Find Most Massive Star. Story here. LONDON – A huge ball of brightly burning gas drifting through a neighboring galaxy may be the heaviest star ever discovered — hundreds of times more massive than the sun, scientists said Wednesday after working out its weight for the first time. And here is the cool part: it's burning itself off with such intensity that it shines at nearly 10 million times the luminosity of the sun.

4).    9 Year Old Boy Finds Skeleton of New Human Ancestor. 60 Minutes story here. In case you missed this 60 Minutes report this past Sunday, an archaeologist and his son discovered 5 human fossils in a cave around Johannesburg. The fossils date back to being 1.9 million years old. I don't understand how the fossils could be dated, when the cave was an excavating site that used explosives. The archaeologist claims to have found a "new" species.

5).    Stop Global Warming – Eat Bugs! Story here. Here is the crazy Global Warming story of the day: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN has held a meeting in Thailand on the subject of using insects for food and plans a 2013 Summit on the subject. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is formally considering recommendations in a paper suggesting greater consumption of insects as a way of limiting global warming. Well, if that's all it takes to save the planet. Hey wait! I love my burger and steak. No way, UN, no way.