Disagreements About Natural Selection
The article by Dr. Jonathan Sarfati (linked below) has caused me to rethink my views a mite. Yes, natural selection is something that most creationists agree on. In fact, we agree with evolutionists that it exists. What we do not agree with is the idea that it is a creative force. Natural selection does nothing of the kind.
I've been known to use some of the arguments that natural selection implies a kind of entity or active force to do the selecting. In my experience, some of Darwin's Disciples treat it just that way, personifying both natural selection and evolution. Problem is, there are uninformed evolutionists who still believe that natural selection adds genetic information; they are out of touch with current trends in evolutionary hypotheses, and act like there is something to do the selecting. Evolution and natural selection are not the same thing, and Darwin's ideas on that have been left behind for the most part.
So I'm kind of in the middle here, knowing that knowledgeable evolutionists know that natural selection is not a being, but I still have to deal with underinformed laymen who insist that creationists are wrong, even though they don't have both boots in the stirrups of their evolutionary horse.
Unfortunately, there are some creationists who go further than I ever did. They dislike the term "natural selection" so much that they want to use something else altogether. But there's no call for that. This article should be interesting and helpful for creationists who think they're being faithful to Scripture by denying natural selection. It's not a threat to biblical creation science. As for me, I'm going to be more careful with my own metaphors about the personification of the thing. Live and learn, huh?
I've been known to use some of the arguments that natural selection implies a kind of entity or active force to do the selecting. In my experience, some of Darwin's Disciples treat it just that way, personifying both natural selection and evolution. Problem is, there are uninformed evolutionists who still believe that natural selection adds genetic information; they are out of touch with current trends in evolutionary hypotheses, and act like there is something to do the selecting. Evolution and natural selection are not the same thing, and Darwin's ideas on that have been left behind for the most part.
So I'm kind of in the middle here, knowing that knowledgeable evolutionists know that natural selection is not a being, but I still have to deal with underinformed laymen who insist that creationists are wrong, even though they don't have both boots in the stirrups of their evolutionary horse.
Unfortunately, there are some creationists who go further than I ever did. They dislike the term "natural selection" so much that they want to use something else altogether. But there's no call for that. This article should be interesting and helpful for creationists who think they're being faithful to Scripture by denying natural selection. It's not a threat to biblical creation science. As for me, I'm going to be more careful with my own metaphors about the personification of the thing. Live and learn, huh?
From time to time, we receive requests to reject natural selection, and adopt the alternative theories of Dr Randy Guliuzza of ICR. One sample letter follows (slightly modified), then Dr Jonathan Sarfati explains why creationists should not be afraid of natural selection and thus abandon the concept to evolutionists.To finish reading, click on "The fact of natural selection".