God's General Revelation Shows Evolution! 

God's General Revelation Shows Evolution! 

Introduction 

In our last article, I argue for the doctrine of general revelation. The idea is that creation demonstrates the general characteristics of God. I define science and propose science as the systematic and methodological study of God's general revelation. I also talked about what that means for the creation debate. This sequel article will build off of the previous one. The goals of this article are as follows. 

1. Debunk common misconceptions. 

2. Provide sufficient evidence for the proposition that God's general revelation shows evolution. This article focuses on biological evolution, not the origins of life or the age of the earth specifically. 

3. Conclude and look forward to the sequel article. 

Misunderstanding 

It is written, "To answer before listening - that is folly and shame" (Prov 18:13, NIV). The scholarly footnote in the NET says, "Poor listening and premature answering indicate that the person has a low regard for what the other is saying, or that he is too absorbed in his own ideas" (2019). Atheistic defenders and Theistic deniers of evolution both engage in this foolish error, causing evolution or theistic believers in evolution to be straw-manned and attacked. As such, before presenting evidence, I want to dispel common misconceptions. This list is not exhaustive but will work for this essay. 

Evolution is Just a Theory! 

This is a common saying in schools, churches, and more. The issue with this objection is that it confuses the slangy usage of theory with the scientific usage. Remember that the definition of a word depends on its contextual usage. A theory in science refers to “a body of thoroughly tested and verified explanations for a set of observations of the natural world” (Lumen Learning, n.d.). The UCMP further explains, “In order to be accepted by the scientific community, a theory must be strongly supported by many different lines of evidence. Evolution is… not ‘just’ a hunch” (2024a). 

We're getting better! 

I have heard this even at the level of college professors. Evolution tells us we are getting better over time. Some conspiracy theories even suggest that “believers” of evolution are participating in a religion that believes we will become gods. This positions evolution as a similar “lie” to what the serpent says to Eve (Gen 3). Aside from the conspiracy nonsense, evolution does not claim that we are getting better and better as time goes on. Loewe and Hill (2010) note: 

"Mutations can be divided into three broad categories: the ‘good’ or advantageous that increases fitness, the ‘bad’ or deleterious that decrease it and the ‘indifferent’ or neutral that are not affected by selection because their effects are too small," (Para 2). 

We Came From Monkeys! 

The claim is not that we came from monkeys. The claim is that “new world monkeys, old world monkeys, humans and chimpanzees all share ancestors” (Clint explains, 2021, 2:11-2:16). The Smithsonian elaborates, “Humans and monkeys are both primates. But humans are not descended from monkeys or any other primate living today. We do share a common ape ancestor with chimpanzees” (Para. 4). 

No Evidence! 

We will dive into the evidence for evolution in a moment. However, the claim there is no evidence shows ignorance (in the technical sense of the term) of what counts as evidence for a claim. Philosophers of knowledge consider evidence to be whatever raises the prior probability of a given proposition (Green, 2023). This definition is broad enough that there is evidence for almost anything, even false claims. Even if evolution were fallacious, saying there is no evidence for it is a poorly thought conclusion at face value. 

Religion & Evolution Are Irreconcilable! 

This idea ignores key facts. 

1. Many of the most illustrious religious thinkers have been theistic evolutionists (like C.S. Lewis and B.B. Warfield) 

2. The non-theistic religions that accept evolution 

3. The plethora of faith organizations accepting evolution today (NCSE, 2016).

The Evidence 

I can not count the number of times I have been told that we can affirm microevolution but not macroevolution. Or that species do not become new species. Due to this, the focus of the presentation will be on speciation and macroevolution. I would highly encourage you to read the studies for yourself down below for deeper study since I will be summarizing and trying to simplify. 

Speciation

This section will focus on evidence for speciation. Typically, a species is defined using the biological species concept. It elucidates a species as: “... members in aggregate of a group of populations that breed or potentially interbreed with each other under natural conditions” (KSU, 2024, line 3). I will keep things simple here. However, note that other species concepts exist. 

Furthermore, nature does not always play by our definitions (UCMP, 2024b; KSU 2024). If one species can no longer breed with another, they are a new species. This evidence is monumental because it is conclusive of evolution. Hurd (2024) states, “This is as much a "proof" of evolution as dropping a bowling ball on your foot "proves" gravity” (Para 4). 

We have evidence for speciation. For example, Rosser et al (2024) states, “Here we present evidence for homoploid hybrid speciation in Heliconius butterflies” (Para 2). Homoploid Hybrid Speciation (HHS) refers to the event in which hybridization (production of descendants from different parent groups) materializes without change in the number of chromosomes the new species has. The paper shows evidence that this transpired for a type of butterfly.

Darwin's finches are also a great example. During Darwin's time, he observed a certain kind of bird (BD Editors, 2019). Recently, we have gathered “... results of a combined ecological and genomic study of Darwin’s finches that documents hybrid speciation in the wild from its inception to the development of reproductive isolation” (Lamichhaney et al, 2017, Para 3). So not only do we have evidence of evolution, we witness it happen. 

Macroevolution 

Many people will allow microevolution (Change within species in a small period) but not Macroevolution (changes to taxonomic groups over long periods). Macroevolution (M.E.) looks at changes above a species level over very long times. By above species level, I mean taxonomy, the science of naming and classifying all plants, animals, and microorganisms. Believing in one but not the other is not logical. As Glover (2015) puts it “that's kinda like believing in inches but not feet. It's just a matter of perspective” (0:43-0:48). Sarkar and Plutynski (2010) discuss the relationship between micro and macro evolution and conclude:

"Nor does it appear that micro- and macro-evolution are fundamentally different kinds of processes requiring different explanatory resources. Micro- and macro-evolution are continuous, both governed by the same processes, though often operating at different scales and at different levels of organization" (P. 169). 

One of the fascinating pieces of evidence for M.E. is the planktonic foraminifera (foram). Burke (2017) has a phenomenal discussion of these creatures in her article. These microscopic creatures are a subset of plankton. Foram can develop hard shells and burrow into the sea floor. Due to this, many have been preserved and “has a rich fossil record that has been vital to our understanding of the history of Earth’s oceans and climate” (Para. 2). Fraass et al (2015) have been able to identify “... three taxonomic diversifications and two distinct extinctions in the history of the group” (P. 139). They surmise their findings by combining global evidence and adopting a specific taxonomic model. 

Conclusion

In summary, there is clear evidence for evolution. If the “67th” book of scripture (nature) were a book, pages and pages would be devoted to evolutionary history. Our holy God's general revelation shows speciation and macroevolution. How powerful and beautiful God is that he creates and sustains a process like this! In our next article, I will bounce off my first article on EC (Evolutionary Creationism) by discussing death and arguing that it takes place physically before the fall.

Sources: 

Biologydictionary.net Editors. (2016, November 23). Speciation. Retrieved from https://biologydictionary.net/speciation/ 

Burke, J. (2018). Fossil Focus: Planktonic Foraminifera – Small Fossils, Big Impacts. Fossil Focus. https://www.palaeontologyonline.com/articles/2018/fossil-focus-planktonic-foraminifera-small-f ossils-big-impacts/ 

Clint. (2021). Humans did not evolve from chimpanzees! Clint Explains. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjgHN_8CdVE 

Fraass et al. (2015). Macroevolutionary History of the Planktic Foraminifera. Annual review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Vol. 43:139-166. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-060614-105059 

Glover, M. K. (2015)."I get microevolution, but not macroevolution" Kaylynne Glover. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjgHN_8CdVE 

Green, E.. (2023, July 5). 5 mistakes atheists make about epistemology. Emerson Green. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dalQu-vdMU 

Hurd, G. (2024). Emergence of New Species. Stones and Bones. 

https://stonesnbones.blogspot.com/2009/03/emergence-of-new-species.html?m=1 KSU. (n.d.). faculty web—Species concepts and the definition of “species.” Retrieved from https://facultyweb.kennesaw.edu/rmatson/species.php#:~:text=Evolutionary%20species%20con cept%3A%20A%20species%20is%20a%20single%20lineage%20of,fate%20(Wiley%2C%201981) 

Image by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash

Lamichhaney et al. (2017). Rapid hybrid speciation in Darwin’s finches. Science, Vol 359, Issue 6372 pp. 224-228. DOI: 10.1126/science.aao4593 

Lumen Learning. (n.d.). Misconceptions of evolution | biology for majors ii. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-biology2/chapter/misconceptions-of-evolution/

Loewe and Hill. (2010). The population genetics of mutations: good, bad and indifferent. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 365(1544): 1153–1167. Doi: 10.1098/rstb.2009.0317 

NCSE. (2016). Voices of Evolution. Retrieved from https://ncse.ngo/voices-evolution-0 

Plutynski, A. (2010). Speciation and Macroevolution. In S. Sarkar and A. Plutynski (Eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Biology 1st Edition (pp. 169-185). Wiley-Blackwell. 

Rosser et al. (2024). Hybrid speciation driven by multilocus introgression of ecological traits. Nature, 628:811-817. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07263-w 

Rowe, R. (2022). Early church fathers on evolution || john calvin, origen, basil ft @sentinelapologetics. What Your Pastor Didn’t Tell You. From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI0eTOYkYX8 

Smithsonian. (n.d.). Frequently Asked Questions | The Smithsonian Institution’s Human Origins program. Retrieved from https://humanorigins.si.edu/education/frequently-asked-questions UCMP. (2024a). 

Misconceptions about evolution. Retrieved from https://evolution.berkeley.edu/teach-evolution/misconceptions-about-evolution/#e2 

UCMP. (2024b). Defining a species. Retrieved from https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolution-101/speciation/defining-a-species/.

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