Selected Comments on Chapter 3 of Mr. Lee Strobel’s “The Case For a Creator”
‘Doubts about Darwinism’
Preliminary comments:
(1) Whatever is said against Science does not make the Bible true. Bible truths are another study separate from science.
(2) For his interviews Mr. Strobel chose only Christian Theists, namely from the Discovery Institute in Seattle, a Creationist institute, not a research facility. Should he not talk to a cross-section of scientists and people in the know? Not just the ones that hold a small minority scientific view, like the ones listed in Chapter 2 of his book.
(3) Mr. Strobel takes the Creationist “Old Earth” approach. In my reading of the Bible the “Young Earth” perspective is the only one the Bible upholds. Click. How does he reconcile his “Old Earth” approach to the Bible?
(4) Lee Strobel and the people he interviews call themselves Christian — so likely consider the Bible a book essentially written by an external supernatural God that created everything.
(5) In contrast to many Creationists the Author believes in “The Big Bang” theory of the Universe. Also in the Geology, Physics and Chemistry of Life and the rest of the Universe. Plate Tectonics. But not in Darwinian Evolution. Dr. Michael Behe, one of the people he interviews even believes much of the Evolutionary theory is correct. Click.
(6) What is evolution anyway? Is it inevitable?
Images also called Icons — actually there are 7 Icons in Jonathan Wells’s book compared to to the number of Images in this book.
An excellent complete description of what Mr. Jonathan Wells says is found by clicking:
you will find a reasonable critique of Jonathan Wells’s writings by Paul Jacobson. Click
My Comments:
Page 42: “Science, you might say, has discovered that our existence is infinitely improbable, and hence a miracle.”
I agree, Your existence is actually very, very improbable — essentially infinitely improbable. Click to see the numbers.
Pp 37 – 42: In science there are many gaps in knowledge. That is why we have science — to eventually fill these gaps. Gaps don’t mean we have to abandon the effort of attempting to find how it was done naturally.
If the supernatural is the answer then there is really no question worth asking, no more research in this area needs to be done.
With new knowledge and new techniques from all fields of science the likelihood of finding a solution to the problem of origins is possible.
This applies to all parts of Science.
Remember it took a couple of thousand years of measurements, theorizing and experimenting to arrive at most of the accepted natural explanations of reality. 2 examples: (1) in a vacuum all objects accelerate the same under the same gravitational conditions. (2) Planets, moons, sun obey the same Laws of Nature that apply on Earth. This was major breakthrough — the belief was that the heavens had different Physics Laws than the Earth.
About the Miller Experiment:
It definitely showed that 10 to 15% of material formed organic compounds, 2% amino acids, also adenine — one of the basic blocks of DNA, RNA and ATP. So, this experiment (for the first time) showed that organic compounds (life compounds) can easily be produced from inorganic substances such as water, ammonia, methane.
Another thing: meteorite: 90 amino acids was found in one 100 kg meteor alone (19 of those are found in Earth life forms). Early Earth is similar to asteroids and comets that roam the Milky Way galaxy. Those amino acids can survive outer space conditions — they were likely available when Earth was formed some 4.5 billion years ago.
Page 46: The Tree of Life
“All Cats, Tigers, Lions come from the same ancestor”
If Mr. Wells admits the above, what limits of evolution does he really believe in?
The Fossil record does justify Darwin’s tree of life. Molecular and morphology are almost totally agree.
When scientists talk about the Cambrian Explosion as being sudden they mean many millions of years — many minor changes in that time can result in major ones. Recently it has been found that evolution needs less time then formerly thought — the time required for Darwinian evolution to occur is somewhat less than the time available (Richard Dawkins).
Page 47: Haeckel’s Embryos
Mr. Wells discredits the whole field of Comparative Embryology. Mr. Wells seems to be several decades behind the times.
What is Jonathan Wells’s objective?
Quote from Jonathan Wells’s Unification Church (Moonie) declaration ‘Darwinism: Why I Went for a Second Ph.D. by Jonathan Wells, Ph.D.-Berkeley, CA’. Click
“Father’s words, my studies, and my prayers convinced me that I should devote my life to destroying Darwinism, just as many of my fellow Unificationists had already devoted their lives to destroying Marxism.”
Warning:
I would strongly advise you NOT to use Jonathan Wells as a reason for supporting a supernatural explanation of life – it will NOT convince any scientists.
O. Hooge
Naturalism and Religious Experience 
