Reading Douglas Axe's rather simplistic musings on natural selection reminded me of one of my very favorite creationist quotes. It comes from Jonathan Sarfati, in his book Refuting Evolution 2. Sarfati is one of the more fire-breathing young-earthers. I've always had some sympathy for him, since at one time he was the chess champion of New Zealand. But his writing on evolution is pretty much a bottomless pit. Have a look at this:
When they begin to talk about mutations, evolutionists tacitly acknowledge that natural selection, by itself, cannot explain the rise of new genetic information. Somehow they have to explain the introduction of completely new genetic instructions for feathers and other wonders that never existed in “similar” life forms. So they place their faith in mutations. (p. 101)
“Natural selection, by itself.” That's one for the ages.
- Log in to post comments
Yeah, this is very, very good. It's even better than what Sarfati writes about the Ark of Noah. For those who long for more bonbons:
http://thecreationclub.com/how-did-all-the-animals-fit-on-noahs-ark-jon…
http://thecreationclub.com/how-did-all-the-animals-fit-on-noahs-ark-jon…
Oops - copied and pasted the same link twice.
http://creation.com/refuting-noahs-ark-critics
Sarfati is most certainly “one of the more fire-breathing young-earthers”. I can understand your feeling a little kinship with his chess background - a fact which (along with endless reminders of his holding a PhD in physical chemistry) he never allows us to forget when presenting his YEC delusions (a classic example of someone who relies heavily on the ”argument from authority”) – but may I respectfully suggest that the chess affinity should probably be the first and last point at which you might wish to identify with him?
Your quote is a good one, but my favourite bit of Sarfati is probably this response on the “True. Origin Archive” – a sort of failed attempt to adopt the style and presentation of the Talk. Origin site, presumably to try and conflate (at least in the mind of the casual reader) the academic respectability of the latter on the one hand, with the intellectual bankruptcy of the former on the other - thereby hoping that the one may somehow rub off on the other:-
http://www.trueorigin.org/arkdefen.php
Sarfati’s desperate attempt to rescue the mangled wreckage of Woodmorappe’s book "Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study,” from the serious savaging handed out by Mark Isaak’s “Problems with a Global Flood” has to be read, just to see what the phrase ”scraping the bottom of the barrel” can really mean.
Talk about angry! – a regular characteristic shown by Sarfati, but never more in evidence than when he’s trying to defend the truly indefensible from a positon of such hopelessness – of which, like Axe, he must surely be aware somewhere in the deepest recesses of his not unintelligent consciousness. One really has to wonder why he bothered at all, or alternatively, just feel some sort of pity for the unbearable level of cognitive dissonance with which he must be dealing somehow or another.
Wow! I thought I'd got in really quickly there with the Noah allusion, but I got beaten to it! Even so, at least the 2 of us linked to different expositions by this master arkeologist!
This book is about evolution by Natural Adaptation.
http://www.philosophersofscience.com/
““Natural selection, by itself.” That’s one for the ages.”
I agree. He must have misspoke, for I don't think anyone believes evolution is due to NS alone.
Actually, NS is a big nothing meaning s**t happens and some of it sticks, or some stuff survives.
The rest of his quote, however, seems accurate enough.
Neo-Darwinistic evolution depends entirely on a random and continual creation of new genetic information.
Without that random and continual creation of new genetic information – leading from monad to man – ND evolution goes nowhere.
Ahaha, that is good.
When they begin to talk about petrol, car engineers tacitly acknowledge that building a car, by itself, cannot explain driving. Somehow they have to explain the introduction of driving and other wonders that never existed in other machines. So they place their faith in an energy source.
When they begin to talk about water, agriculturalists tacitly acknowledge that sowing seeds, by itself, cannot explain plant growth. Somehow they have to explain the introduction of metabolism, growth and other wonders that never existed in rocks. So they place their faith in watering.
The possibilities are endless.
... just listening quietly from the back ...
sean s.