Adam and the Genome– Part Four

Last updated on: April 20, 2017 at 1:04 am by Ben Witherington

Adam and the Genome– Part Four 2017-03-10T13:09:51-05:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

THE VENEMA CHAPTERS

Chapter Two provides us with a useful analogy about the development over time incrementally of a language (e.g. the word treuth becomes truthe and then truth) and the development of a human genetic code…. While languages can change rather quickly, biological speciation and change takes place over thousands of years and herein lies another problem: 1) no one is around that long to observe the change, indeed whole civilizations rise and fall in the time it takes for even an incremental change of that sort; 2) no one WAS around when this process began, in fact Venema is clear enough that even the fossil record only goes back 200,000 years max, but evolutionary theory requires a much much longer timeline to account for all the genetic permutations and combinations. Thus, we are talking about extrapolation back in time based on modern science, when the actual empirical observation of the change has not taken place over the time period required. 3) the assumption is that things are operating now, as they always have done according to the modern theories of evolution and natural development. But alas, we have no time machine to go back and check the math and the genetics from long, long ago. Again, no room is allowed for God to tinker with the process along the way, he simply set it in motion and is observing. But what about that language analogy Venema wants to use?

Evolutionary theory can be guilty of the etymological fallacy, assuming that notable similarities between things must be caused by a shared common ancestry. Since Venema uses the analogy with language, I shall do the same at this point. Let’s take the English word ‘bare’, which in Old English was ‘baer’, very close, and having exactly the same letters as ‘bear’. Ah ha, you say, these two words must share a common ancestor! Not a bit of it. ‘Bare’ seems to come from the Dutch baar, and ultimately from the proto-Germanic bazaz. By contrast ‘bear’ comes from the old word for ‘brown’ or the ‘brown one’; ‘beron’ in proto-Germanic or in old Norse bjorn, like the current Scandanvian name.

Genetics has done a wonderful job of showing lots of similarities in the ‘letters’ etc. of the genetic code. It’s when they try to explain the similarities that the train comes off the tracks. There are other possible, legitimate explanations for similarities other than ‘they must share a common ancestor’.

Imagine two builders who intend to build two different buildings, serving different purposes. But the construction materials are exactly the same—cinder blocks, boards, shingles, electrical wires, plumbing and so on. One building is an exercise gym, the other building is an apartment complex. One building is single story, the other is a high rise. Would anyone actually want to say that Building B came from or is an evolved form of Building A, just because they shared lots of common materials or building blocks? No. Similarity of make-up is no proof of derivation.

DNA, genes, genomes, tell us a lot about the building blocks that go into the making of all sorts of creatures on earth. Detailed genetic study can show possible connections based on similar genetic patterns and codes. But we all know the problem of coming up with a very good hypothesis, or even a theory (a hypothesis that provides the ‘best’ explanation of a particular sort for the known facts on the ground), that does not take into account all the evidence. You can argue consistently and coherently with and within a certain circle of evidence, and be incorrect, because you have not taken into account (or in some cases even deliberately eliminated) some of the evidence.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 19, 2017

Adam and the Genome-- Part Three

Next Post

April 21, 2017 Adam and the Genome-- Part Five

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz