Ever wondered why there are so many definitions to the theory of evolution?
Definitions used in Science
Evolutionary Biology is taught by many universities as part of their various degree programs for biologists, culminating in Ph.D.s, so if we want to look for modern definitions of evolution as used in science then we can look to how universities that teach these programs define it.
the University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley definition is “evolution, simply put, is descent with modification”
The University of Michigan defines evolution as “changes in the genetic composition of a population with the passage of each generation” and the “gradual change of living things from one form into another over the course of time, the origin of species and lineages by descent of living forms from ancestral forms, and the generation of diversity” ...
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Population Genetics) definition is “evolution is a change in the frequency of alleles within the gene pool of a population from one generation to the next”
One of the areas where evolution has seen new developments is the field of evolutionary developmental biology, "a field of biology that compares the developmental processes of different animals and plants in an attempt to determine the ancestral relationship between organisms and how developmental processes evolved."
Creation Evidence is sought by Creationists to discredit Evolution, not to validate Special Creation…
It is agreed on all sides that there are only two possible solutions to the riddle of origins. Either Someone made the world, or the world made itself. A third option, the world is eternal and without origin, contradicts Natural Laws such as Thermodynamics and has been disproved with mathematical certainty in the 20th century. As the universe is obviously complex and seemingly well-designed, a Designer should be the scientific default. In everything we observe today, concept and design are the result of a Mind. Furthermore, Natural Laws such as Gravity, Inverse Squares, Cause and Effect, and Thermodynamics imply a Law-giver.
Unless a natural mechanism constrained by Natural Law, by which the entire universe could come into existence and further develop through random process, is found, a Creator must be the theoretical default. It doesn't matter whether an individual scientist has difficulty accepting it or not. As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle so eloquently stated in his Sherlock Holmes series, "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."
Darwin, Descent with Modification and Time
On 24 November 1859 Darwin published On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life, where he first described “descent with modification” and established his theory of natural selection. He does not use the word "evolution" but he does say:
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He who can read Sir Charles Lyell's grand work on the Principles of Geology, which the future historian will recognise as having produced a revolution in natural science, yet does not admit how incomprehensibly vast have been the past periods of time, may at once close this volume.
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When the views entertained in this volume on the origin of species, or when analogous views are generally admitted, we can dimly foresee that there will be a considerable revolution in natural history.
At that time geologists and other scientists had already determined that the earth was much older than was previously thought. He refers to Lyell's "the Principles of Geology" as one reference to geological age. Meanwhile, Lord Kelvin working from principles of thermodynamics shortly before Darwin's book had come to the conclusion that:
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"This earth, certainly a moderate number of millions of years ago, was a red-hot globe ... ."[29]
and after the book was published he
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... settled on an estimate that the Earth was 20-40 million years old. Shortly before his death however, Becquerel's discovery of radioactivity and Marie Curie's studies with uranium ores provided the insight into the 'energy source beyond' that would power the sun for the long time-span required by the theory of evolution.
This means that at that time the minimum age of the earth from sources outside biology was 20 million years, and probably a lot older due to the addition of radioactivity into the equations.
Darwin came to his conclusions based on comparison to animal breeding and his discoveries of existing life in various parts of the world, most notably the Galapagos Islands. He based his concept on what he knew about existing life, not on the fossil record. Not on rocks, organic soup or single cell organisms, and not on the evolution of man (his book on The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex was published in 1871). He noticed that life changed (modification), that those changes were hereditary (descent), that natural selection had to be involved because there were more offspring produced than were necessary, and that this predicted that there was a mechanism for developing new traits and transferring hereditary information from one generation to the next even though he did not know what it was.
Creation Evidence - A Few Brief Examples:
* Lack of Transitional Fossils. Charles Darwin wrote, "Lastly, looking not to any one time, but to all time, if my theory be true, numberless intermediate varieties, linking closely together all the species of the same group, must assuredly have existed. But, as by this theory, innumerable transitional forms must have existed, why do we not find them embedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth?" (Origin of Species, 1859). Since Darwin put forth his theory, scientists have sought fossil evidence indicating past organic transitions. Nearly 150 years later, there has been no evidence of transition found thus far in the fossil record.
* Lack of a Natural Mechanism. Charles Darwin, in his Origin of Species, proposed Natural Selection to be the mechanism by which an original simple-celled organism could have evolved gradually into all species observed today, both plant and animal. Darwin defines evolution as "descent with modification." However, Natural Selection is known to be a conservative process, not a means of developing complexity from simplicity. Later, with our increased understanding of genetics, it was thought perhaps Natural Selection in conjunction with genetic mutation allowed for the development of all species from a common ancestor. However, this is theoretical and controversial, since "beneficial" mutations have yet to be observed. In fact, scientists have only observed harmful, "downward" mutations thus far.
# Time Constraints. Both Creationists and Evolutionists agree that if evolution is at all possible, there needs to be an excessive (if not infinite) amount of time. For much of the 20th century, it was thought evolutionists had all the time they needed. If the earth ever looked too young for certain evolutionary developments to have occurred, the age was pushed back in the textbooks. In 1905, the earth was declared to be two billion years old. By 1970, the earth was determined to be 3.5 billion years old, and by the 1990's, the earth had become 4.6 billion years old. However, Young Earth advocates have identified quite a few Young Earth chronometers in recent years. Currently, there are approximately five times more natural chronometers indicating a "Young Earth" than an "Old Earth." Each discovery is a separate "Limiting Factor" that places a constraint on the possible age of the earth. For example, moon drift, earth rotation speed, magnetic field decay, erosion rates, chemical influx into the oceans, ocean salinity, etc, all constrain the possible age of the earth. Each Limiting Factor is distinct. If one were successfully challenged, there is still the problem of all the rest. Furthermore, there are Limiting Factors constraining the possible age of the universe, such as spiral galaxies where they're maintaining their spiral shapes despite their centers spinning faster than their extremities.
The big lie is what creationists say about evolution, that evolution is a problem for creationist beliefs, that there is something else to evolution than the change in hereditary traits in populations from generation to generation or that this is NOT evolution (but will they define what is?).
If nobody objects to this definition of evolution, or you just agree to it for the sake of the argument, then we can move on to what the definition of "the Theory of Evolution" (ToE) contains, and see what develops, and if that is a problem for creationism.
# Unacceptable Model of Origins. The Big Bang Theory is the accepted source of Origins among the majority of Evolutionists, and is taught in our public schools. However, the Big Bang does not explain many things, including the uneven distribution of matter that results in "voids" and "clumps," or the retrograde motion that must violate the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum. Furthermore, the Big Bang does not address the primary question at hand, "where did everything come from?" Did nothing explode? How did this explosion cause order, while every explosion observed in recorded history causes disorder and disarray?
