Recovering Evangelicals #69 – Genetics 101, and Evolution denial
A brief overview of genetics as most know it, and why many don’t buy the Theory of Evolution.
Next week, we plan to wade into the deep water of genetics in order to understand the origin of species. So this week we thought it would be good to first give a brief Genetics 101 to get us all on the same page, and then explore the reasons that so many people push back on the Theory of Evolution.
Most people — non-experts and experts alike — have an understanding of genetics that they were taught in high-school, college, and undergrad university. The five main ideas on which this understanding is based are these:
- it’s all about DNA: who/what you are is all completely determined by your DNA;
- DNA is a long molecule which gathers together many genes, like beads on a string, which code for the proteins that your body is made of;
- cells do everything they can to protect those genes from any change;
- accidents happen: UV light and mutagenic chemicals cause random mutations in the DNA, which can alter the function of the proteins they encode.
- those random mutations accumulate over time, producing individuals with new characteristics (e.g., blood type; hair color) and eventually … a new species.
Next week, we’re going to hear from Dr. James Shapiro, a world-leading geneticist with 60 years of experience, who co-leads a large group of world-leading scientists who collectively want the world to know that all five of those statements are not just outdated, but deceptively wrong!
Stay tuned!
During the rest of today’s episode, Boyd and I explored some of the reasons why some people push back on the whole idea of evolution (in some cases, because they just don’t properly understand genetics and evolution):
- “if humans evolved from monkeys, why do we still have monkeys?”
- “if we evolved from monkeys, how are we created in the image of God?”
- “if evolution is true, why do 100 million year old fossils of ancient turtles or snakes look the same as those animals today?”
- “what about all the missing links?”
- “you can’t trust science because it’s always changing”
- “evolution is only a theory”
- “it conflicts with a plain reading of scripture”
- “God made everything with apparent age and apparent common ancestry”
- “evolution raises difficult questions regarding Original Sin and Atonement”
As always, tell us what you think …
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