Evolutionary biology is a branch of biology that studies the origins, changes, and adaptations of living organisms over generations. It is extremely important to have a proper understanding of evolutionary biology in any discussion about biological evolution.
First of all, from a creationist perspective, evolutionary biology is not really an issue despite the label. The simple fact of the matter is that most of the points within evolutionary biology are fully acceptable within creation science and actually explain some things here in the post Flood world.
Most of these points are actually observable and in fact only one part of it, universal common descent, is neither observable nor based on anything but the necessity of absolute atheistic naturalism. Evolutionary biology has several key concepts.
Adaptation (Evolution)
Adaptation refers to the process through which organisms adjust to changing environmental conditions, developing traits that enhance their survival. Examples include the camouflage of chameleons or the thick fur of Arctic foxes in cold climates.
From a creationist perspective adaptation is not a problem, in fact it actually explains the post flood diversification of species, most of which, based on interbreedability, have evidence of originating on the family level from the animals that came off the ark.
Adaptation results at least in part from most of the other key concepts of evolutionary biology. However, one thing that is commonly omitted by evolutionists is the fact that adaptation tends to result in a loss of complex specific information, and never a gain in it. In fact, the process as observed is actually heading the wrong direction to result in universal common descent regardless of how long a time period occurs. In fact, the most likely result of long-term adaptation and its corresponding loss of information will be extinction.
Mutations
Mutations are changes in the DNA sequence of an organism. They are a primary source of genetic variation and are claimed to provide raw material for evolution. Some mutations may offer advantages, helping organisms adapt to their environment, while others may be neutral or even disadvantageous.
Part of the problem is that because mutations are random, they tend to be destructive to the genome even when they provide an advantage in a particular environment. For example, polar bears lost the ability to produce color in their hair, giving them camouflage in a snowy environment. This is definitely a loss of complex specific genetic information, but in an Arctic environment having white hair provides a survival advantage. In other words, despite the fact that an advantage in a particular environment, it can still be and often is a generally detrimental mutation.
Natural Selection
A cornerstone of evolutionary biology, natural selection is the process by which traits that enhance an organism’s survival and reproduction are more likely to be passed on to future generations. it explains why certain characteristics become widespread in populations while others diminish.
A key point of natural selection is its connection to adaptation, where the main thing that it accomplishes is aiding the adaptation of a population to changes in their environment. Furthermore, it is way too broad of a process to overcome the detrimental effects of mutations. One of the reasons for this is that many mutations are not only environmentally neutral but have too small of an effect until enough have accumulated that they are not filtered out by natural selection. This means that for the most part natural selection tends to allow detrimental mutations through, as long as they are not really severe. This allows enough to get through so that eventually they will affect the entire population. It also makes it the wrong direction for universal common descent to be workable.
Speciation
This is the process by which new species arise. When populations become reproductively isolated, they can eventually form new species. This is not a problem from a creationist perspective. Not only are many species within a genus interbreedable, but also interbreedablity can be found at the family level in many cases. This indicates that these are the levels where the Biblical kinds originate not species. As a result, from a creationist perspective, speciation is not a problem.
In fact, it actually helps the Biblical account by reducing the number of animals that needed to be on the ark to just a few thousand, making it a manageable number. That said one of the things that allows a post Flood speciation process to be fast, where atheistic evolution requires a slow process, is the fact that it can operate along with genetic deterioration and does not require the slow buildup of new specific complex genetic information that would be required by universal common descent.
Genetic recombination
Genetic recombination is the situation where a chromosome pair within the genome of an organism Splits and recombines on to each other forming new combinations of gene variations on each chromosome. If this happens inside a gene it can produce a new variant of that gene, with the potential of leaving the complex specific genetic information intact, but because of its random nature it can also damage it.
Ultimately however this does not lead to new complex specific genetic information just a rearranging of it. As a result, except in rare cases it is actually neutral information. This means that genetic recombination is actually useless for universal common descent.
Epigenetics
Epigenetics is the turning on and off of genetic information. While this results in new variations within a species, it is not only informationally neutral, but because the information is being turned on and off it is also reversible. This means that while epigenetics is useful for adapting a species to a change in its environment, it does not provide any new genetic information and so is useless for universal common descent. The best it can actually do is help prevent damage from deteriorated genes by turning them off.
Genetic Drift
Genetic drift is random changes in gene frequency, especially in small populations. It can lead to loss of genetic variation. This loss of genetic variation is exactly the opposite of what is necessary for universal common descent to be possible. Consequently, while genetic drift is a source of variation, it is not an issue for creationists.
Gene Flow
Gene flow occurs when individuals migrate between populations, introducing new genes. This can increase genetic diversity and influence adaptation. Such an increase in genetic diversity is neither inconsistent with a creationist perspective nor is it helpful to universal common descent. This is because no new genetic information is produced, it simply is introduced to a new population from another population.
Evolutionary Developmental Biology
This is an area of study that presupposes universal common descent. The idea is to study how various features in different organisms develop as a way of producing a hypothetical evolutionary map. The first thing to note is that it does not always yield the results that are expected by other areas of related research.
There is actually nothing inconsistent with the actual data accumulated by this research from a creationist perspective. All it really demonstrates are similarities in fetal development, some of which are naturally expected, particularly among animals that are already similar.
Coevolution
Coevolution describes the reciprocal changes that occur between interacting species. Predator-prey dynamics, host-parasite relationships, and mutualistic partnerships are examples of how species can shape each other's adaptive changes.
This is actually simply a form of adaptation. There is really no surprise that two species that interact would adapt together as their environment changes. That would simply allow their interaction to continue. Because of its relationship to adaptation, it is not something that creationists have an issue with,
Horizontal Gene Transfer
Horizontal gene transfer challenges the traditional view of evolution as strictly vertical (parent to offspring). This process, especially common in bacteria, involves the transfer of genetic material between unrelated organisms, contributing to genetic diversity and rapid adaptation.
Viruses could also be a form of horizontal gene transfer that was designed to operate in multicellular organisms. Such gene transfer would help to make adaptation quicker following the Genesis Flood. It would also explain some genetic similarities between completely unrelated kinds of organisms. Genetic deterioration would also explain why viruses tend to be harmful today
Extinction
Extinction is the permanent loss of a species and is a natural consequence of adaptive processes. Extinction is known to have occurred throughout human history. In fact, human beings have caused a good part of it. Extinction is also a natural result of the genetic deterioration mentioned earlier. It is actually something fully expected from a creationist perspective.
Common Descent (evolution)
This is the idea that all living organisms share a common ancestor. Evolutionary biology uses fossil records, genetic data, and comparative anatomy to try to trace this alleged lineage. There are numerous problems with this concept, the first is that like adaptation it is also commonly referred to as evolution. In fact, most people have them totally confused. One of the claims is that the small amount of change seen in adaptation can easily add up to the large changes needed for universal common descent over time. However, it is not that simple. For universal common descent to occur large amounts of new complex specific information would have to be added to many genomes around the world. The only mechanism offered is natural selection but not only is it too broad of a process to produce This new complex specific information, it is also incapable of preventing genetic deterioration. Consequently, the time necessary for universal common descent to have a chance would actually result in extinction.
Universal common descent and Evolutionary Developmental Biology are really the only two areas of Evolutionary Biology that creationists have issues with. Furthermore, since Evolutionary Developmental Biology not only assumes universal common descent but is effectively nothing more than an extension of it, the problem can be reduced down to one that being universal common descent.
It has to be noted that universal common descent has its beginnings with atheists in the early 1800s before Charles Darwin was even born. He got the idea from the works of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin and simply combined it with natural selection. Consequently, universal common descent is the only real issue that creationists have a problem with. In fact, if they were consistent any theist would have a problem with it, simply because it presupposes absolute atheistic naturalism.
Conclusion
In conclusion, despite its name Evolutionary Biology, it is neither a problem for creationists, nor something that needs to be completely avoided. It contains some legitimate areas of study that simply need to be seen for what they are, apart from the atheistic notion of universal common descent.
