Genetic Drift* & A Garden of Life** Darwinian Tree of Life
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7 But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; 8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. 9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? 10 In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. Job 12:7-10 NIV
The images below represent two beliefs - only one is TRUE!
Genetic Drift* & A Garden of Life**
Darwinian Tree of Life
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The concept of a "Garden of Life" and an insightful article on Genetic Drift
were instrumental in gaining a better understanding of the Genesis 1 "kind," with gratitude to the following:
* Secrets to the Origin of Species: Demystifying Genetic Drift, Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson, answersingenesis.org, August 16, 2019
** A “Garden of Life” rather than the “Darwinian Tree,” Ken Ham, AiG.
Species: A sub-group within a genetic Family/Kind, defined by common characteristics and the ability to produce fertile offspring. A newly formed species is generally the result of a loss of information. Speciation, the formation of new species, can occur by genetic drift, natural selection, isolation from the population, endangerrment through environmental changes, and predation.*Tc
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An important segment of study within the science of biology is the Taxonomic Classification System which identifies plants, animals, birds, fish, etc.; assigning them to categories as indicated in the chart below.
Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), considered to be the father of the Taxonomic Classification System, emphasized the three primary (and identifiable) levels of life: Family, Genus, and Species. The higher classifications on the chart, beginning with Life and down through Order, were later defined over the next ~200 years with an emphasis on evolutionary beliefs (macro evolution).
Linnaeus viewed the classification system quite differently from that portrayed by evolutionists. He recognized that new species could be formed but that change was specifically limited by the characteristics observed at the Family level.
The Genesis 1 account clearly states that all of life was created "after their kind." This Biblical phrase infers that the formation for each "kind" of creature was unique and correlates with modern science as it describes a Genetic Family, which will be further discussed.
Each Family would have had the original DNA (information) necessary to
accomodate speciation (variation). Genetic Drift is well understood in the biological sciences as being a primary contributor to speciation.
The Neo-Darwinian Theory states that Life began as a single-celled primordial organism, identified at the top of the Classification Chart. This initial organism is believed (by evolutionists) to have further evolved into all life forms over billions of years by natural processes. Examples of increasingly more complex creatures, as well as micro organisms and plant life, are graphically displayed on the Darwinian Tree of Life.
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Taxonomic Chart: Classifications of Family, Genus, and Species
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The great divide between Creation and Evolutionary Theory is best understood by considering the answers to the following two questions:
The first question can only be answered by "faith" since no one was present when life began. Both Creation and Evolution therefore are belief systems that cannot be tested or confirmed by methods known to science.
Once life was created, however, the Classification System yields evidence to help resolve Question # 2: What caused the diversity of life that is observed? The evidence available to Biological Science indicates that speciation (Genetic Drift) occurs only within a Family Class. As an example, the Feline Family (Cat Kind) has 37 species (variations), all of which have a similarity of traits in accordance with their DNA. The possibility of additional complexity being formed by adding information to the genome by mutation over long ages is unsubstantiated.
The classification system gives further insight into what God said in Genesis 1 where
the word kind was used repeatedly. He described the creation (origination from nothing) of all of life, including varying Families (categories ) of plants, sea creatures, land animals, and birds. The biological identification of a Family/Kind and how that classification produces the variety of species observed in our world is a key point in gaining a renewed appreciation for the miracle of Creation.
Most evolutionists would ridicule the idea of equating a genetic Family with the Genesis kind since their belief is that science and faith supposedly have no point at which they intersect. The evolutionary dilemma is that the acceptance of the origin of life being solely by nature is without evidence, leaving their entire premise as an act of "faith."
Genetic Drift is the process of speciation that is dependent only on the encoded DNA that originated at the Family classification, with variation occuring within defined limits. The Feline Family (Cats) includes 37 species, the Equid Family (Horses) produced 8 species, while the Family Fringillidae (song birds, finches) consists of more than 200 species. Mutations (DNA copying errors) may occur but not to the extent that would facilitate increased complexity such as that proposed by the Darwinian Tree of Life.
The question is: Was the DNA for each Taxonomic Family included in the kinds spoken of in Genesis 1 and "planted" in a
"Garden of Life", or did a primordial first cell have the ability to enhance the genomic material to achieve the variation observed
throughout the Earth?
Pronouncements in several science publications suggest that Genetic Drift is a mechanism in the evolutionary process, as in the statement from the National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH: "Genetic drift is a mechanism of evolution." This invokes the
Darwinian idea of a single primordial cell increasing in complexity over great ages (macro-evolution). If we refer back to our earlier explanation of the Family Classification (Kind), speciation can operate only within the gene pool available.
To be succinct, Genetic Drift is a method of speciation and has nothing to do with macro-evolution.
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Genetic Drift & the Garden of Life
Felines (Cat "kind")
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The combined examples of Genetic Drift and The Garden of Life are indicative of how God may have created the "seeds" for each Family on days 3, 5, and 6, as well as how species were formed from those original "seeds." The red circles in the image above represent Families with each having an adult male and female kind. Shown are examples of the Felines (Cat Family) and Equids (Horse Family). Feline's consist of 37 Cat species, including lions, tigers, panthers, jaguars, and even the domestic cat. A few common traits found in every feline are that all are clawed hunters, possess excellent night vision, and are obligate carnivores, requiring meat in their diet. Further validation of the Family (Kind) classification is that tigers share 97% of their DNA with domestic cats. The Equid Family also demonstrates that the family/kind had all the DNA (genomic data) necessary to produce eight species of horses.
Estimates suggest that there are approximately ~23,000 genomic families with speciation of these original pairs ranging from 331,418 (NCBI) to ~8.7 million (Nature, 2011).
Note that Mankind, a unique Family made in God's image, was created without accommodation for speciation. Mentioned earlier was the fact that mating between species often produces sterile offspring. The Human Family cannot diversify to become another creature other than humans. Any person is capable of producing healthy children with any other individual on Earth.
“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ Mark 10:6 NIV
Although there is no definitive "science" explaining the concept of a Garden of Life, what Linnaeus observed in the 1700's is further confirmed by today's genetic testing, tracing a species to a series of common traits that emanated from a specific gene pool. The "garden" was populated with each specific Kind that produced variation within its future generations.
It becomes a matter of faith to believe that God created genetic Families for all organisms: plants, land, sea and flying creatures "after their kind" with humans being made in his image. Observation, however, is the beginning of scientific discovery. The "historic evidence" (from the past) remains factual today and can be applied to all of life as well as that discovered in the fossil record. Speciation, not macro-evolution, is responsible for the diversity of life, all of which remain as members of specific genetic Families._______________________________
Speciation occurs in a number of ways, as mentioned. Once differentiated, however, mating between species will generally produce a weakened and sterile offspring, possibly bearing the physical appearance of both. The Tigon shown below is the mating result of a male tiger and a female lion. The Liger is the offspring of a male lion and female tiger. Though each has the physical appearance of both parents, they generally have a more abbreviated life span and cannot reproduce.
Tigon
Liger
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Having a worldview that trusts in God opens our minds to the creation of fully formed "genetic families," representing the Genesis 1 "kinds". Truly a miraculous event, it seems to be more plausible than an also "miraculous" natural process proposed by evolutionists that formed the first cell which, in turn, gave rise to the total variation of life, including all plants and animals. The Law of Biogenesis (Cell Theory) denies the privilege of identifying evolutionary concepts as science.
Cell Theory refers to the idea that cells are the basic unit of structure. ... This theory is one of the
foundations of biology. The theory says that
new cells are formed from other existing cells, and
that the cell is a fundamental unit of structure, function, and organization of all
living organisms.
Princeton University: Cell Theory
Genesis 1: 24-27
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
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Darwinian Tree of Life
Oxytricha trifallax: a single-celled organism
250,000 base pairs (information)
The evolutionary belief is depicted above in the image of the Darwinian Tree of Life. Positioned alongside is an Oxytricha trifallax, serving as an example of a single-celled organism that may be of the type envisioned by Darwin or more current evolutionary practioners. At its moment of origination the alleged Darwinian cell, pictured as the root of the "Tree," would have required complexities associated with a functional metabolism, motor skills, a cell plasma, and other traits necessary for life and reproduction. This primordial cell, which supposedly came into being by time and chance, would also have possessed an amazing ability to program frequent updates to the encoded DNA to fuel growth for the entire Darwinian Tree and all of its life forms, . The DNA of the "simple" Oxytricha consists of 250,000 base pairs of information, which are often referred to as "rungs of a ladder" on the DNA double-helix.
Herein lies one of evolutions greatest problems.
The supposed mechanism that fuels large-scale evolutionary change, as required for the first cell to grow to all of life, would be genetic mutations. Mutations occur at varying frequencies as a result of copying errors during cell replication. The evolutionary belief is that significant numbers of mutations over great periods of time are the primary catalyst for the introduction of entirely new species, and even new Families, Orders, Classes, and Phylums. The greatest problem with the mutation mechanism is that each new error occurs without a plan or overall design criteria, for which science has no solution. If one were to set out to manually copy a book of any size, an error would not necessarily be an enhancement to the original manuscript, nor would the error feel compelled to make greater sense to the reader. Consider that the Darwinian cell would require a minimal DNA structure similar to our Oxytricha example. Once formed, that same cell would have to find the ability to increase its DNA to life forms with billions of base pairs.
The newly "evolved" organisms in the Darwinian Tree of Life suggest that time and natural processes increased the complexity pictured in the "branches" by adding information to the genome. The 150+ year old concept remains a creative "idea" that is not based on real science.
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The Origin and Diversity of Life is a unified theory
There are ongoing discussions by evolutionists as to what was required for life (the first cell) to be created by natural occurrences. Despite their efforts, the proven science of Cell Theory (also called the Law of Biogenesis) cannot be negated: only life can create life.
This law states that in nature, life comes only from life, and that of its own kind.
The Law of Biogenesis [Part 1], Reason and Revelation Vol. 32 #1, Jeff Miller, PhD, Apologetics Press
Molecules cannot organize themselves into more complex structures to form a cell (life). In order to circumvent the problem when arguing in favor of evolutionary beliefs, a recent strategy proposes separating the origin of life and the diversity (evolution) of life into two distinct fields of "science." The idea suggests that the two hypothesis represent separate fields of study that are somewhat independent of the other. Once accepted as "fact," evolutionary beliefs are then free to proclaim that an understanding of the origin of life is not necessary to confirm that biological evolution occurred once the first cell became available. Although there is an admission of, "we don't know how life began", the belief presupposes that an answer is forthcoming.
The quote below from Dennis Venema, PhD, writing in the BioLogos Journal, appears to acknowledge the acceptance of separating the origin of life from its evolutionary growth to all creatures.
"Finally, as a purely technical matter, the theory of evolution does not propose an explanation to the question of the origin of life
at all. The theory of evolution becomes relevant only after life has already begun"
Evolution Basics: At the Frontiers of Evolution. Part 1: Abiogenesis, BIOLOGOS, Dennis venema, PhD
An important point is that the origin of life and diversity of life must be viewed as a unified belief or "theory" in order to have a degree of credibility. Both beliefs, the formation of a primordial cell and its evolution into every life form require an explanation for a beginning (Origin) -and- a methodology that explains the the myriad known life forms, both extinct and extant. Simply stated: the diversity of life becomes an inconsequential theory if it ignores life's origin. To present evolutionary concepts that explain in great detail how life increased in complexity from a single cell without an understanding of how that cell came into being is "science" without reasonable thought. The evolutionist origin of life and the subsequent diversity of life would have to rely on miraculous events (by nature) which cannot be explained by science.
So, what is the "credible" answer to the origin and diversity of life presented by creationist beliefs? Simply stated, it is faith in God Who miraculously created the various Kinds on days 3, 5, & 6 of Creation week. Each kind clearly demonstrates that the DNA (information) required to produce all the Family species would have been available at their origin. Although evolutionists would not agree that their belief in naturalism is by faith, there are no alternatives.The Creationist [Biblical] understanding requires three days of miraculous events "after their kind" ~6,000 years ago, presented as historic evidence for the Taxonomic Family/Kind rank. The diversity was planted (miraculously) in the DNA of each kind. Following the creation of Kinds spoken by God, the process of speciation (empirical evidence) is observed in normal reproduction.
Based on even the brief information presented, it should become intellectually and observationally clear that science does not have the answers for the origin of life. Cell Theory is an undeniable fact: only life can create life, and the concept of the Darwinian Tree rising to every life form by mutations over billions of years is subjective and without merit.
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All of life demonstrates that species have emerged from within the boundaries set by the DNA code of their respective (original) genetic Family. Observation clearly demonstrates that:
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When the diversity of life is dependent solely on life's natural reproductive cycle, SCIENCE rests firmly on the fact that speciation, with genetic drift being a significant contributor, is a product of the Family DNA. The idea that mutations, beginning with a primordial cell over long periods of time, created all plants, animals, and microorganisms is based on evolutionary "faith" and not on science.
The reader must decide which belief for the diversity of life incorporates the scientific method: Diversity is the result of DNA present in a Family/Kind, or diversity is the outcome of billions of years of random mutations operating without design or direction.
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Creation & Science: 3 Laws of Science & 4 Observational Principles
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