In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood - 17. Convergent Evolution or Intelligent Design?

[ The Scientific Case for Creation > Life Sciences > The Theory of Organic Evolution Is Invalid. > The Arguments for Evolution Are Outdated and Often Illogical. > Convergent Evolution or Intelligent Design? ]

17. Convergent Evolution or Intelligent Design?

When the same complex capability is found in similar organisms, evolutionists say it evolved from a common ancestor. When the same complex capability is found in dissimilar organisms evolutionists say that convergent evolution explains it. With such flexible definitions, evolution can explain many things and not be falsified.

For example, wings and flight occur in some birds, insects, and mammals (bats). Pterosaurs, an extinct reptile, also

Figure 9: Dragonfly Wing. This delicate,1 1/2-foot-long wing must have been buried rapidly and evenly to preserve its details. Imagine the size of the entire dragonfly!

had wings and could fly. These capabilities have not been found in any of their alleged common ancestors.

Figure 10: Fossil of Fish Swallowing Fish. Burial and fossilization must have been quite rapid to have preserved a fish in the act of swallowing another fish. Thousands of such fossils have been found.

Other examples of supposedly convergent evolution are the three tiny bones in the ears of mammals: the stapes, incus, and malleus. Their complex arrangement and precise fit give mammals the unique ability to hear a wide range of sounds. Evolutionists say that those bones evolved from bones in a reptile’s jaw. If so, the process must have occurred at least twice^a—but left no known transitional fossils. How did the transitional organisms between reptiles and mammals hear during those millions of years? ^b Without the ability to hear, survival—and reptile-to-mammal evolution—would cease.

Concluding that a miracle—or any extremely unlikely event—happened once requires strong evidence or faith; claiming that a similar “miracle” happened repeatedly requires either incredible blind faith or a cause common to each event, such as a common designer.

Furthermore, it is illogical to maintain that similarities between different forms of life always imply a common ancestor;^c such similarities may imply a common designer and show efficient design. In fact, where similar structures are known to be controlled by different genes^d or are developed from different parts of embryos,^e a common designer is a much more likely explanation than evolution.