In 1859, Charles Darwin proposed that all living organisms descended from a common ancestor and that one species could gradually evolve into another, producing increasingly complex forms of life. His theory contradicts the Bible (Mark 10:6, for example) and many well-established scientific observations. Today, we know many things that Charles Darwin did not know when he wrote On the Origin of Species. Perhaps if he had had access to this information, he would have changed his mind.
- Darwin thought cells were relatively simple “blobs” of protoplasm because the microscopes of his day were extremely limited. We now know that every living cell functions more like a microscopic factory, containing intricate molecular machinery and thousands of coordinated processes.
- He knew nothing about what has been called “irreducible complexity”—biological systems whose multiple interacting parts are all necessary for proper function.
- The double-helix structure of DNA was not discovered until 1953. Darwin knew nothing about DNA, genes, chromosomes, or the genetic code.
- He had no knowledge of the enormous amounts of coded information stored in DNA. We now know that the DNA in a single human cell contains roughly three billion chemical “letters” of genetic information.
- He did not know that if all the DNA in one adult human were laid end to end, it would reach from the Earth to the Sun and back about 500 times!
- Darwin knew nothing about the sophisticated systems within cells that detect and repair DNA damage.
- We now know that DNA contains digitally encoded information of extraordinary complexity, similar to computer code. What evidence demonstrates that such digitally encoded information can originate apart from intelligence?
- Darwin knew nothing about proteins. DNA provides the instructions, but the proteins it produces must also fold into precise three-dimensional shapes to function properly.
- He could not explain how random mutations and natural selection could generate the vast amounts of new functional genetic information required to produce entirely new body plans—a problem that remains unresolved in evolutionary biology.
- What is called “The Cambrian Explosion” has been far better documented since Darwin’s day and presents the sudden appearance of major animal body plans with no satisfactory evolutionary explanation.
- After more than 165 years of searching, the fossil record still does not display the innumerable gradual transitions from one species to another that Darwin anticipated.
- Darwin himself recognized this difficulty and expected future fossil discoveries to provide the missing intermediate forms: “Why, if species have descended from other species by insensibly fine gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms?… Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links?” (On the Origin of Species, Ch. 9).
Rather than strengthening Darwin’s original theory, many scientific discoveries since 1859 present very compelling evidence for an intelligent Creator. Yet the evidence for God did not begin in the 1800s or with the discovery of DNA. The heavens have declared the glory of God since they were created (Psalm 19:1), and God’s eternal power has always been clearly seen through the things He has made (Romans 1:20–22).