creation science
MACROEVOLUTION
OUR CHALLENGE TO THE TEACHING OF MACROEVOLUTION IN SCHOOLS
The fallacy that simple organisms can evolve to complex organisms (the bacterium to man theory) by mindless chemical and biological evolution can be swept totally away by considering the role played by DNA in the metamorphosis of the butterfly. It is an extremely complex process regulated by numerous steps already programmed on the DNA molecule. A caterpillar first has to dissolve into a chemical soup in a pupa, it built by entwining itself into a water-tight silk cocoon, before the remaining cells within can be rebuilt under sterile conditions into a butterfly - and the process is completed within a couple of months. As a university academic I fail to see why people remain stubbornly blind to God's handiworks.
Mr Theo Tsourdalakis, an engineer and former teacher in Australia, has prepared a paper to challenge the Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET) on the deceptive teaching of Macroevolution as an established fact in schools in Victoria, Australia. Mr Tsourdalakis intended to take the matter further to the courts, but it seems that nobody in the Department wants to take responsibility for the existence of macroevolution theory in the school curriculum. The problem is shuffled onto the desks of its 'expert advisers' who shrug their shoulders. Therefore nothing gets done. In his quest, he asked me to review his document to support his claim regarding the failure of DET in their duty of care towards school students and teachers.
I have not reproduced his document here, but my letter of support is totally self-explanatory and a good rebuttal to having the theory taught as fact. Mr Tsourdalakis welcomed me to share this on the web with readers. I hope that you will appreciate the biological impossibilities I have raised, by demonstrating the issue, using the metamorphosis of butterflies as a prime example:
Review of a Paper ‘Teaching of Origins Scrutinized’ by Theo Tsourdalakis (May, 2019).
By Charles Pallaghy, retired university Senior Lecturer in biology, BSc Hons (Melb), PhD (Tas), TAE40110 Cert IV Training and Assessment (2012). Mount Evelyn, Victoria. Email: charles.pallaghy@gmail.com
Preface
The document in question, 'Teaching of Origins Scrutinized: The Case for Corrective Action
in Teaching Origins/Evolution in Victorian Schools’, was prepared by Mr Theo Tsourdalakis for submission to the Victorian Department of Education and Training. I was asked to review and comment on his submission.
Currently an employed engineer and past teacher, Mr Tsourdalakis is grieved that the science curriculum in biology grossly misrepresents the theory of Macroevolution as being factual rather than hypothetical, which indeed it is, in school texts.
In this document he demonstrates with supporting evidence that biology teachers present the highly speculative theory of Macroevolution as an accepted fact. In the classroom and textbooks Macroevolution is couched in terms that either directly or indirectly imply that Macroevolution can be safely considered to be an established scientific fact. This then becomes the springboard and backbone of all further teachings in biology which students must accept as the central paradigm of biology.
Mr Tsourdalakis contends that the Department of Education and Training fails in its stated goals and given public mandate to teach factual science. Moreover, Mr Tsourdalakis validly asserts that the current biology curriculum on evolution fills the minds of young students with significant and harmful false beliefs that will affect them throughout life, scientifically, socially and psychologically.
What is Macroevolution?
Macroevolution is the widely entrenched belief that complex organisms such as eagles, horses and humans are accidental descendants of the simplest self-reproducing organisms known to man – the bacteria. This excludes direct descent from viruses, mycoplasmas and prions because, like all obligatory parasites, they cannot replicate in the absence of organisms that have their own genetic and energy production machinery. Therefore, organisms much more complex than parasites must have existed prior to these if the theory of origins by evolution was to be true.
According to the theory of Macroevolution variations in the DNA genetic code, that directs the precise construction of an organism through all its developmental stages, arose accidentally over eons of time through random chemical and other environmental pressures placed upon the first replicating organic molecule causing it to become complex enough to interact with other similarly complex molecules to form the first living cell.
The paradigm forces students to conclude that life evolved gradually from an inanimate chemical milieu given the right aquatic and atmospheric conditions over millions of years even though comprehensive experimentation over the years have failed to produce evidence in support of a spontaneous origin of life.
Furthermore, over enormous spans of time, through quantum leaps in the blind and random process of Macroevolution, it is supposed that wingless animals somehow acquired wings and spore-bearing weeds developed into fruit-bearing trees and vines.
What are the Requirements that a Macroevolution Theory Must Satisfy?
The immense challenge placed on Macroevolution as an evolutionary process can be readily appreciated by considering the intricate phenomenon of metamorphosis in insects. Consider the enormous changes that have to take place in the structure and function of this insect as it develops from a blind earth-bound caterpillar to a flying nectar-sucking insect:
Take a closer look at the precisely regulated developmental process of a wingless caterpillar changing into a butterfly. We need to remember that according to Macroevolution each of the processes listed below must have occurred by undirected, blind and random mutations, or rearrangements, in the organism’s DNA code:
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A caterpillar is formed from a worm-like grub that emerges from an egg. The caterpillar that then forms possesses numerous stubby legs with claws, but has no eyes or reproductive organs. It spends its entire phase with a specially constructed and tough mouth part for chewing leafy tissues. It is a highly efficient eating machine.
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At a set stage internal signals instruct the caterpillar to spin and entwine itself in a robust case (the pupa) to prepare it for the next phase of development. The caterpillar instinctively entombs itself in the pupa. It is amazing to watch on video.
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In the pupa 75% of its body tissues begin to self-destruct through the action of digestive enzymes. The liquid pulp forms a rich source of organic and inorganic nutrients. The impervious pupa prevents the pulp from becoming infected by bacteria and fungi from the outside. The pupa is absolutely essential for the butterfly to form.
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The DNA in the caterpillar tissues that remain alive then orchestrate the mass of cells to draw upon the nutrients to construct a fully formed butterfly complete with eyes, six dainty legs, wings, a long curly proboscis to suck nectar and a reproductive system that can mate and lay eggs.
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On emergence from the pupa the mechanism by which the wings of the butterfly expand through blood pressure and then stiffen permanently as the blood congeals is an exquisite process.
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The entire system works like clockwork every generation as precisely dictated by the coded information of the DNA – the butterfly blueprint. How did all these precise instructions originate in the first place?
The macro-evolutionary paradigm presented in the classroom and in school texts demands that the precise instructions on the DNA for the intricate and step-wise metamorphosis of caterpillars to butterflies arose entirely by mindless random chemical chances over eons of time. To want to believe that must take a lot of faith. It is, in fact, one of the best examples God uses for the young and old that He must exist. In His great love God does not want anyone to perish but to have eternal life through Jesus Christ.
"For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise they became fools" (Romans 1:20-22, KJV).
The Monarch butterfly, for example, contains a set of 16,866 precise instructions in the form of 16,866 protein-coding genes in addition to other instructional information on the genome. These instructions perfectly orchestrate the physiology, timing of hormonal signals, timing of master switches for organ development, metamorphosis, reproduction and the ability of long-distance migration of this species. This was elaborated in part in a scientific paper by researchers from the Department of Neurobiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA and from Genome Project Solutions, Hercules, CA, USA. “The Monarch Butterfly Genome Yields Insights Into Long-distance migration” by Shuai Zhan, Christine Merlin, Jeffrey L. Boore, and Steven M. Reppert, published in Cell. 2011 Nov 23; 147(5): 1171–1185. The paper has been made available for public viewing by NIH Public Access (USA) on the internet at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3225893/