Jan 18 2008
A New Poll on Origins of Life
I added a new poll in the sidebar that addresses creation, evolution, and origins of life. If you need to define terms, mouse over the following: Young Earth Creation, Old Earth Gap Theory, Old Earth Progressive/Day-Age Creation, Theistic Evolution, Non-Theistic Evolution.
(HT: Michael Patton at Reclaiming the Mind and Vance McAllister at Submerging Influence)
January 19th, 2008 at 06:38 am
Has anyone ever considered that all life
today evolved from as many animals as
God put on the ark? Except for the fish
that is. What a world it must have been
after the dawn of creation.
January 19th, 2008 at 08:38 am
This is why young-earth creation and evolution don’t mix; if you buy into the possibility of macro-evolution (one critter evolves into another), there’s just not enough time in the 4-6,000 years since the ark for the animals to evolve.
January 20th, 2008 at 14:18 pm
Is there not? Let’s take Wikipedia and do some easy math:
Highest estimate of current number of species: 100 million (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species)
Number of generations it takes for a species to speciate: 35 (the higher number; Wikipedia lists speciation occurring in as few as 8 generations) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciation)
Since speciation is defined as the division of one species into two, all we need to do is divide backwards from 100 million total species to determine how many 35-generation cycles it would take to reach that total from the number of species that might fit on the ark. Here goes:
100,000,000 species now
50,000,000 species 35 generations ago
25,000,000 species 35*2 generations ago
12,500,000 species 35*3 generations ago
6,250,000 species 35*4 generations ago
3,125,000 species 35*5 generations ago
1,562,500 species 35*6 generations ago
781,250 species 35*7 generations ago
390,625 species 35*8 generations ago
195,313 species 35*9 generations ago
976,563 species 35*10 generations ago
48,828 species 35*11 generations ago
24,414 species 35*12 generations ago
12,207 species 35*13 generations ago
6,103 species 35*14 generations ago
3,052 species 35*15 generations ago
Could the ark have contained 3,052 species? Considering A) only two of most were boarded, B) many species were as small as insects and rodents, and C) young specimens of larger species would take less room … probably so.
All that’s left is to figure out whether there was enough time since the global flood to permit 15 speciation cycles (35*15 = 525 generations). Let’s take your low figure of the flood timeframe: 4,000 years ago. 4000/525 allows 7.5 years for each generation, or 267 years for each speciation cycle.
Is 7.5 years per generation too little? Consider both low and high figures: bumblebees reach sexual maturity at 1 years (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Bombus_fervidus.html), chimps at 10-13 years (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Pan_troglodytes.html).
Contrary to your assertion, simple math demonstrates that there WAS enough time since the ark for the animals to evolve.
Consider especially that I used conservative figures throughout: the highest estimated current total species (Wikipedia also listed a low estimate of 2 million), the higher proven number of generations required for speciation to occur (35, as opposed to 8 demonstrated in fruit flies), the smallest timeframe since the ark (4,000 years compared to the 6,000 you permitted).