What is Evolution?‎ - St Paul Coptic Apologetics

Introduction:

The term “evolution” is often thrown around, yet it’s a broad topic that might need further definition. Did you know that the word evolution can be used for at least six different processes? In this article, we’ve used a top-to-bottom approach to explain each process, following the line of thought on the origin of all things—beginning with the things we can see.

1. Life today

In the world at present, we witness many variations occurring within different species. Dogs as unalike as huskies and whippets; cats like the sphynx and tiger; red and white roses; donkeys and zebras; a man of African and one of East Asian descent. Varieties within kinds of creatures and plants are visible everywhere.

Animals adapt when they need to adjust to a change in their immediate environment, either physically or behaviourally. Even plants adjust to their climate and habitat. Animals that migrated north into snowy areas have developed better camouflage by growing white fur. Birds that were used to eating small seeds that are easy to break open developed stronger, thicker beaks when their food source changed to harder seeds. Without this adaptation, these birds would have become malnourished and had a lower chance of reproducing successfully. This type of effect the environment has on organisms is called epigenetics.

These are variations easily observed in nature and have resulted in minor changes within a specific species of animal, without altering the type of animal. This has sometimes been called Microevolution. However, in fact, Microevolution is a misnomer as the true scientific name for variations with each species is genetic diversity, which depends on the following 3 events during meiosis in eukaryotes:

Genetic recombination during prophase I.
Independent random assortment & segregation of chromosomes during Metaphase.
Random pairing of gametes during fertilisation.

There have also been many misconceptions about mutations. Random mutations have no role in evolution or variation within species. Mutations cause deformed organisms such as two-headed turtles, albinism, dwarfism, and cancer. Random mutations cause deformities, diseases, syndromes, and even death—which are defects, not progress.

2. Origin of Species

Okay, so how do we have so many different kinds of animals?

Upon hearing the term origin of species many people think of Charles Darwin and his book “On the Origin of Species.” Darwin developed and published the theory on the origins of the huge variety of living organisms we see today. In his theory, he postulated that a single common ancestor evolved over millions of years while undergoing biological changes from natural selection (those best suited to their environment survive to reproduce) and random mutations. [1]

This means that the first simplest cell evolved into a multi-cellular organism whose offspring gradually (over thousands of generations) evolved into a fishlike creature, whose offspring then gradually started spending time above the water on land. These amphibians gradually left the water completely, becoming reptiles, which later evolved into birds, mammals etc.

It should be noted that scientists have not yet observed the change of one type of animal into another—not in nature or the laboratory. In their defence, the mechanism for evolution from a common ancestor is based on graduality and could not possibly occur within the couple of centuries they’ve been actively looking.

Darwin’s theory of evolution from natural selection, based on common ancestry, explains how one simple-celled organism gradually changed, branching off into the multitude of animal kinds and species we have today. This is often called Macroevolution.

3. Origin of Life

What about the origin of the very first life form?

Darwin himself left the question of “the origin of life” alone. He acknowledged that science was not advanced enough (during his lifetime) to deal with the question and that he would probably not live to see it resolved. To quote him from an 1863 publication of the Athenæum in London: “Now is there a fact, or a shadow of a fact, supporting the belief that these elements, without the presence of any organic compounds, and acted on only by known forces, could produce a living creature? At present it is to us a result absolutely inconceivable.” [2]

So, the question arises: what was there before the first life form?

Before life on Earth, there was only land, water, and air. The Encyclopaedia Britannica described pre-life Earth like this:

“Before the coming of life, Earth was a bleak place, a rocky globe with shallow seas and a thin band of gases—largely carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, molecular nitrogen, hydrogen sulphide, and water vapour. It was a hostile and barren planet.” [3]

In this same article, the authors, John N. Thompson and Michael B. Thompson wrote:

“Energy from the Sun relentlessly bombarded the surface of the primitive Earth, and in time—millions of years—chemical and physical actions produced the first evidence of life: formless, jellylike blobs that could collect energy from the environment and produce more of their own kind.”

This hypothesis, that a reaction from chemistry and physics resulted in the first life form, is called abiogenesis. However, no consensus has been reached about how this occurred and many questions concerning abiogenesis haven’t been answered yet. Scientific experiments today have still not been able to replicate the conversion from inorganic materials to organic structures. [4]

This process, by which life is thought to have originated from non-living matter, is officially known as Abiogenesis, which is a type of Organic evolution.

4. Origins of Earth

So where did Earth come from? And other planets and stars?

Many scientists assert that the sun and planets in our solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago. They say there were massive clouds of dust and gas in space and gradually, over a long time, these gas and dust particles pulled together (or collapsed into themselves) due to gravitational forces, into groups which then condensed into stars. These stars converted hydrogen into other elements, which they ejected into space. These elements took the form of grains of dust within molecular clouds, which gathered into disks of swirling particles. Over time, these particles condensed to form other stars including asteroids and planets.

The problem is that this process takes billions of years and so no one has been able to observe a star or planet being formed. They see the clouds and stars and planets etc. in different sizes and temperatures, moving in different orbits or paths, consisting of different elements—but the formation of even one of these hasn’t been seen.

Another problem with this hypothesis is that for the particles to gather together requires a gravity-like force, which can only be formed around an already established mass. “Because gravitation is a very weak force, however, its distinctive effects appear only when masses are extremely large.” [5]

This process of how stars were formed, and subsequently the planets, asteroids etc, is called Stellar Evolution.

5. Origins of Chemicals

How did stars convert hydrogen and helium into the other elements‎?

“When the Universe came into existence ~14 billion years ago, the only elements were hydrogen, helium, and traces of lithium, beryllium, and boron. The heavier elements did not yet exist.” [6]

After the Big Bang, huge amounts of dust particles and gas clouds were released into space, the interstellar medium. These particles condensed into protons and neutrons, and when the universe cooled down a bit, the neurons could fuse with protons to make nuclei. When those nuclei fused again with other nuclei, the reactions resulted in hydrogen and helium.

While stars are being formed, as explained above, their cores are coalescing tighter and tighter together which would squeeze and heat the hydrogen and helium. During this process, the fusion of the nuclei in the core releases nuclear energy and causes nucleosynthesis.

“Since then, the nuclear reactions in the life and death of stars have formed ‎most of the other nuclei in the universe. Stars can create nuclei through two ‎processes: either by combining two smaller nuclei (called fusion) or breaking ‎a larger nucleus into multiple nuclei (called fission). Both ways result in new ‎atoms. In the past, these processes also produced the elements on the Periodic ‎Table that we know today.” ‎[7]

However, after the Big Bang (which used to be thought of as an explosion event), all free particles were moving away from each other. Wouldn’t an additional force be needed to compress into each other? The dust particles would have needed to compact around a confined space in the middle which is required for the nuclei to be pushed together and create enough heat to allow for nuclear fusion. [8]

Nucleosynthesis within forming stars is highly theoretical and has not been observed or replicated. The process of hydrogen and helium evolving into all the elements on our periodic table is called Chemical Evolution.

6. Origin of the Universe

If the universe began with the Big Bang, what caused it?

Andrew May, who holds a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Manchester University, says,

“Around 13.7 billion years ago, everything in the entire universe was condensed in an infinitesimally small singularity, a point of infinite denseness and heat. Suddenly, an explosive expansion began, ballooning our universe outwards faster than the speed of light” [9]

Let’s pause here. How does something suddenly expand? Also, the hypothesis that the Big Bang started with an explosion is no longer accepted. It was an explosive expansion that began. Do we know what caused that expansion so explosively without it being an actual explosion?

“When cosmic inflation came to a sudden and still mysterious end, the more classic descriptions of the Big Bang took hold. A flood of matter and radiation, known as “reheating,” began populating our universe with the stuff we know today: particles, atoms, the stuff that would become stars and galaxies.” [9]

The inflation, which happened suddenly, also mysteriously suddenly ended—how? What physics had been involved here? What forces were applied to this “infinitesimally small singularity” that caused it to expand and provide enough material that every celestial body we see today was formed from it, and then to reheat itself?

Jason Steffens, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Nevada said:

“There are some issues that arise with the simplest model of the Big Bang, but those can be resolved by invoking a physical process that is still consistent with the basic premise of the Big Bang Theory… [These issues are described here.] These three issues are resolved with the theory of inflation — which is part of the broader Big Bang Theory.” [9]

In 1980, physicist Alan Guth proposed the inflation theory, and “in the decades since Guth’s initial, tentative proposal, the concept of inflation has remained frustratingly mysterious, but it still stands as our leading theory of what went down when our universe was young and exotic.” [10]

NASA describes cosmic inflation like this:

“the universe expanded faster than the speed of light for a fraction of a second, a period called cosmic inflation. Scientists aren’t sure what came before inflation or what powered it…” [11]

It looks to us as though there are still many mysteries concerning the Big Bang Theory. In attempting to explain these mysteries, cosmic inflation is applied, which is also unexplainable. A name suited to the process of the universe’s formation is Cosmic Evolution.

Conclusion:

Of the six types of evolution described in this article, only one, genetic diversity—incorrectly labelled microevolution—has been observed. The rest are based on inferences drawn from the evidence, or observed data, through computer simulations, mysterious theories and perhaps some imagination. In all fairness, scientists strive to make sense of the things they observe in the world, the universe, which is remarkable and applaudable. However, we wish the terms theory and hypothesis could be used correctly, and that students who are taught about evolution, the facts and the hypothesis should be presented to encourage critical thinking. If a hypothesis doesn’t have enough evidence to prove it correct, it should remain a hypothesis until the evidence is proven scientifically.

A final thought

A final question should have been “So where did this infinitesimally small singularity of infinite denseness and heat come from?” Scientists can’t answer this question yet. On the other hand, when sceptics turn the question back at Christians and ask us where God came from… our answers don’t satisfy them either. So, whether you believe in a Divine Being or a small, heavy, and hot singularity, both of which existed before time, space, and matter, both seem to be a step of faith.