Over the past couple of centuries it has become apparent that the entire biological world was nonexistent in the distant past. The biological realm as we know it today, with all its’ varied plants and animals, came into existence through a succession of different life-forms that generally became increasingly complex and sophisticated. This succession of different plant and animal species is called evolution. The definition of evolution is: a process that results in heritable changes in a population spread over many generations. There does not seem to be any doubt that this has occurred, the only real question is: what was the PROCESS by which these changes occurred?
The Darwinian theory of evolution contains two big ideas: first the evolution of life forms as a historical phenomenon, and natural selection as the main mechanism causing the phenomenon. The first part says that evolution happened and the second part tells HOW it happened. Of course natural selection must have something on which to work, i.e. there must be sufficient variation in each new crop of babies. Thus it is thought to be driven by random chemical reactions, including genetic mutations. Evolution is seen to be directed by natural selection, which operates on the variation produced by random mutational events that produce differences in the form and function of the progeny of any given species. In other words, random mutation leads to the production of individual genetic variation, and if this variation results in enhanced reproductive survival for the individual, it will become amplified in the population through the process of natural selection. Those individuals that are most fit to the environment will produce the most babies and those babies will carry the new genetic variation. Through a long succession of generations these traits are amplified until finally an individual is born (of course both a male and female variant are needed) that is sufficiently different from the parent that a new species has evolved. This theory proposes to operate in a material world which receives energy from the sun, but nothing from outside the material universe. There is no place for any kind of higher intelligence to operate as a directive force within the theory of evolution by natural selection.
In the United States about 12% of the population believe that the current variety of life forms originated through a succession of life forms as stated in the theory of evolution, by natural selection. Approximately 37% of Americans believe that God was responsible for the initial creation of major animal and plant types, while natural selection finished the job. About 45% of the population believes that God created plants, animals, and humans pretty much in their present form within the past ~10,000 years (National Geographic, Nov, 2004). In 1998 the National Academy of Sciences commissioned a blue-ribbon committee to update the public understanding of evolution. They said: "Compelling lines of evidence demonstrate beyond any reasonable doubt that evolution occurred as a historical process and continues today. It is no longer possible to sustain scientifically the view that living things did not evolve from earlier forms or that the humans species was not produced by the same evolutionary mechanisms that apply to the rest of the living world." In other words, it definitely happened, but the details of how it happened still need to be figured out.
From the creationist point of view, God created each species fully formed and placed them at various spots around the world. Then these life forms multiplied, adapted, and changed somewhat in response to their environments. There is no place in the creationist view which explains the changes in life forms seen in the geologic fossil record.
The theory of intelligent design
holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best
explained by an intelligent cause rather than random mutation and natural
selection. Positive evidence of design in living systems consists of the
semantic, meaningful or functional nature of biological information, the lack of
any known law that can explain the sequence of symbols that carry the
"messages," and statistical and experimental evidence that tends to rule out
chance as a plausible explanation. Other evidence challenges the adequacy of
natural or material causes to explain both the origin and diversity of life. Two
books that support this theory are: (1)
Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution by Michael J Behe
and (2) Icons of Evolution, Science
or Myth? by Jonathan Wells.
My view is not intelligent design per se, because I am proposing a mechanism to explain the HOW EVOLUTION OCCURRED. I think that God does exist and the succession of plant and animal species demonstrated in the fossil record reflect God’s work to bring all the present day plants, animals, and humans into existence. I assume that God had the idea to create humans living in a world of finite time and space, but God could not act directly in this physical, substantial world. God first created the spirit world as a preliminary, intermediate to the physical universe, as well as to serve as a final dwelling place for humans. The beings initially created to populate the spirit world were angels. Spirit world was made directly and entirely by God, while the physical was made indirectly by God, initially through the actions of the angels, and then through the actions of the plants and animals developed by the angels. Finally, humans began to play their own part in the creation of the world.