| Neal advertises himself as the "High Priest of the Church of the Painful Truth," and prides himself on his lack of sensitivity. I can't tell most of the time where his schtick ends and his actual beliefs begin. He says that "evolution is a proven scientific fact," a statement most of my Christian friends would beg to disagree. This letter, written in November 2005, attempts to set forth the reasons I believe Neal is wrong. |
You have often said on your radio program not to believe anything you say unless it is consistent with something we already know to be true, or have taken the time to research for ourselves. There is at least one issue where I have certainly done my homework - namely, the evolution vs. Special Creation controversy.
If it pleases you to characterize this communication as just another hate letter by a mindless, Bible thumping, uneducated hick, then, by all means, do so. All I ask is that you at least read what I have to say before you crumple it up and toss it away.
First, I am NOT an uneducated hick. I hold a BSCS degree from an ABET accredited University here in Ohio, and have studied calculus, differential equations, discreet math, statistics, physics, chemistry, information theory, and a host of other technical subjects - none of which is inconsistent with Special Creation. In point of fact, the understanding I have gained about how the universe works has convinced me beyond a reasonable doubt that evolution is a physical impossibility.
If I were to come to you and state categorically that the earth was flat, you could grab me by the scruff of the neck, throw me into a Space Shuttle, launch us into orbit, drag me to a window, point down, and say, "See, the earth is a sphere." If I was rational - which I assure you I am - I would have to agree.
If I were to say to you, "I don't believe in gravity," you could grab the stapler off your desk, hold it above the ground, and declare, "I predict that when I release this stapler, gravity will cause it to accelerate straight toward the center of the earth." I could then say, "Ok. You're on." Whereupon you would release the stapler, and I would watch in shocked amazement as it moved swiftly and inexorably toward the ground. I might then say, "Let me test this elsewhere," as I grab the stapler, and begin meandering around, looking for places where the stapler would not fall toward the earth as you had just demonstrated. After exhaustive testing, I would have to return to you and say, "Boortz, I hate to admit it, but you are right. I could not find a single case where the stapler would not fall straight down just as you predicted." You would then reclaim your battered and broken stapler, smug in the knowledge you had convinced me of the truth.
However, on the subject of evolution, there is no similar experiment that you can show me that conclusively proves the central tenant of evolution - namely, that mankind evolved from lower life forms to our present level of complexity and intelligence. I state categorically that the standard of proof that I will accept of evolution is that some lower form of life be marched into a laboratory, and a human being be evolved from it. Arguing that such an experiment is impractical because of the vast amount of time needed for evolution to operate underscores a weakness of the theory that critics may legitimately attack. It requires blind faith to believe random chance can do in millions of years what we would not expect it to do in the next five minutes - a blind faith I do not possess..
I would like to stress that the scientific evidence used to support evolution is not in dispute - merely the interpretation of it. As a former lawyer, I am certain you are familiar with the phenomenon where two reasonable people, looking at the same evidence, can take away two different conclusions from it. Therefore, with your mindset that evolution must have happened, you will explain the data observed in such a way as to support evolution. I, on the other hand, will look at that same data and work it into a theoretical framework consistent with Special Creation.
When Darwin came up with his flawed theory, he observed simple, single-celled creatures which he concluded must be the forerunners of even more complex, multi-celled creatures. He argued that these simple creatures, over time, through pure random chance, became more and more complex, until they finally became you and I. Today, we know that even a single-celled creature contains trillions of molecular sized machines, which cooperate under a central control program, to perform all the necessary functions to sustain life - reproduction, nutrient intake, waste elimination, cellular repair, compound production, enzyme formation, etc. Each of these machines are irreducibly complex, and can not possibly have come into existence except by Special Creation, all at one time, completely formed, perfect for their purpose. The probability that such complexity could result stage by stage by purely random chance is infinitesimally small, no matter how many quadrillion years of time postulated for it to happen.
You can rant on and on about how "evolution is a proven scientific fact," but I will remain unconvinced. Such pontification is merely a gratuitous assertion - another concept you should be familiar with as a former lawyer - which you do not support with any evidence. More importantly, a very large number of other people, more educated on such matters than I, will not accept your pronouncements either. The battle lines have been drawn, and this debate will rage on.
Only people who are fundamentally insecure about religion are prone to the kind of rage I hear from you each time you touch on this subject. These rants make you appear to be an uninformed, unreasonable, closed-minded bully - the very thing you accuse people like me of being. I write this letter in the hope that the living God of the universe, and His son, Jesus Christ, will reveal Themselves to you so that you will come to know and accept the truth of this matter.
There are many issues on which we do agree, and I can assure you that I will continue to listen to your program. So, have a wonderful life and a great day.
May God bless you and yours.
Respectfully,
James Larson
Programmer/Analyst Consultant
In God We Trust
You can visit Neal at his website: http://boortz.com
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