Change in Living Things
By Timothy Glover
We see change all around us. A child evolves into an adult and building projects are evolving all around us. This article will probe the question, "Why do living things change?"
Darwin theorized that something inside organisms could produce new traits that over time could produce a different organism. While Darwin was going on the theory of constant change, Mendel’s discovery of genes showed that life is very stable. A seemingly lost trait is still present in the genes and will reappear in another generation. And, what seemed to be a new trait was not new at all but the expression of a recessive gene that was always present. This modified Darwin’s theory of natural selection but it still provides a problem for evolutionists because stability is not what they need if one organism can change to an entirely different organism.
We understand that breeders can make a change within a species by selecting favorable traits and forcing reproduction. For example, the Beefalo is a newer breed of cattle that the control of genetics produced. Jacob understood this when he controlled which stock they bred (Genesis 30:25-43). The question is, "Could nature do this if we gave it enough time?"
Darwin believed that since more babies are born than survive, the ones which survive acquire a trait that is better suited to their habitat. They would pass the trait to their offspring so that eventually over time, the weaker traits will faze out. If breeders can bring a change, he reasoned that nature could do the same. However, natural selection does not produce new species but acts upon traits that already exist. Breeders can change characteristics within a specie (sometimes called "micro evolution) but they cannot turn a cow into another kind of animal. Beefalo are still cattle. Evolutionists assume that these small scale changes within species will gradually accumulate over time and produce large-scale changes.
The sources of change within a species are "recombinations" and "mutations." We can combine genes in a vast number of ways. Rather than something new in the gene pool, most changes occur from the recombination of existing genes. Mutations, on the other hand, occur when a gene becomes damaged, duplicated, lost, or moved to change the DNA structure. Again, rather than creating new structures, mutations only altar existing ones. If we will think of DNA as a molecular message, a mutation is a random change in the message like a typing error (only DNA mutations are rarer). The similarity is that typing errors rarely improve the quality of the message just as mutations rarely improve the quality of the specie.
The standard example of why the giraffe has a long neck is that it helps the animal reach high into the trees. Yet, is it less remarkable that the giraffe uses the same long neck to eat grass and drink water? Because of its long legs, its neck may just as well be required to reach the ground. The giraffe also has extremely high blood pressure when standing to force blood into its neck. This requires a strong heart. Yet, when it lowers its head, it has a system of pressure sensors along the neck’s arteries to monitor blood pressure. If it did not have this feature, such a strong heart would cause blood vessels in the head to burst. This animal has an overall design of integrated traits which form a packaged deal. Mutations may explain a single trait change like color but major changes that produce different species over time would require the giraffe to develop long legs, a long neck, strong heart and counter pressure sensors all at the same time. The circulatory system had to appear at the same time as the long neck or the animal could not survive.
Furthermore, it is unlikely that mutations provide a solid answer. Let us say the formation of a wing requires only five genes (very low estimate). Scientists estimate that 1 in 1,000 mutations are not harmful, making the odds of five non-harmful mutations 1 in 1,000,000,000,000 (one thousand million, million). Now, what is the chance of all five mutations occurring within the life of a single organism? Absolutely none!
Minor changes by mutations and the re-combinations of genes may by natural selection enable it to fit better in its environment. But no amount of change can produce a new organism. As with any structure, a blueprint coordinates all the parts into a whole and we believe that God designed them all!! [Material is taken from Davis & Kenyon]
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