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Section 1: Design in Nature

The Design Argument Reviewed

Creation is by definition a divine miracle. A divine miracle requires God's transcending the laws of nature which He established. Therefore, creation cannot be described or explained in scientific terms, nor can it be reproduced by scientists in the laboratory. Consequently, there can be no scientific theory or materialistic mechanism of creation. Conversely, evolutionary scientists claim to be devising theories which explain the evolution of biodesigns and to be discovering materialistic mechanisms which can originate new biodesigns. Therefore, the burden of proof is not on the creationists, but on the evolutionists! They must devise and test theories which successfully explain the origin of biodesigns, and discover mechanisms which are demonstrably capable of producing new biodesigns. As long as evolutionists fail to achieve this, the supreme goal of evolutionary biology, belief in the only alternative, divine special creation, continues to be a viable option for scientists and for everybody else.

Well, have evolutionary theories yet arisen which explain the origin of biodesigns? Have spontaneous biological processes yet been discovered which can produce biodesigns? The answer is a resounding NO. Evolution has not yet explained the origin of anything really new. Consequently, one is not the least bit "unscientific," nor does he ignore any pertinent scientific data or contradict any established scientific law if he chooses to believe that the E. coli bacterium, for example, was designed and created by a supernatural Creator.

But let us analyze the design argument in still finer detail, using three principles, the principles of complex interdependent parts, superfluous parts, and natural selection.20 E. coli, as explained above, possesses a drive train and control system which is obviously composed of numerous complex interdependent parts. Each of these parts, for example, the shaft, rotor, sleeve bearing and stator, universal joint, and helical flagellum, is vitally necessary for the complete system. Each part must be properly designed and properly fitted into the whole if the mechanism is to function and be advantageous for the bacterium. Thus an incomplete assembly of only some of the parts would not function, and would be of no value to the bacterium.

Now, enter the principle of superfluous parts. If evolution begins to create one of these parts, or a sub-assembly of the parts, the result will be non-functional. It will not be advantageous for the organism that possesses it. Consequently, this part or sub-assembly of parts will be superfluous. But energy and building materials must be expended by the organism to produce the new part, with no resultant use or advantage. To the contrary, the individual organism possessing this useless novelty will be at a disadvantage compared with those which do not have the superfluous part. Hence, natural selection will tend to remove the slightly evolved type from the population and stop the evolutionary process when it has scarcely begun. Therefore, Darwinian theory itself rules against the origin of complex biodesigns by random variation and natural selection.

The only way protagonists of evolution can counter this logical overturning of Darwinian theory is to demonstrate logically in each case a complete sequence of intermediate structures leading to the new biodesign. And each of the steps must meet the requirement that it be advantageous over it predecessor. But even if this were possible (and in innumerable cases it certainly appears not to be), a yet greater barrier remains to be hurdled. The theory of evolutionary change must be developed at the level of molecular biology of genes and chromosomes, cell biology and embryonic development, to discover actual mechanisms capable of producing the new structures, the new biodesigns. Only then would it be correct to say that evolutionary theory had succeeded in truly explaining the origin of new species exhibiting new biodesigns.

Fifteen examples have been offered of living things as evidence of design features for which there is no evolutionary explanation. They all point unmistakably to a Designer and Creator. The list of such wonders is endless. However, we need not look only to the unusual and bizarre for evidence of intelligent and purposeful design, for such evidence can be found in every creature, beginning with the intricacies of the simplest single cell and including the basic structures of plants and animals and the human body and brain.

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