Understanding the Creation Evolution ControversyEugene C. AshbyThe preface has a good list of books that he read and used as references.
p14 Suggests 2000 enzymes as representative of cell p15 poses "how did" questions, micro vs macro evolution p17 Burgess shale, Cambrian explosion, 70 phyla p19 "I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be and atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look into the heavens and say that there is no God." Abraham Lincoln p20 "creation does indeed have a scientific basis" steps through Einstein, Hubble, COBE, CMB, Hawking p22 "the scientific evidence is clear that the universe is approximately 17 billion years old, the earth is approximately 4 billion years old and creation took place in six periods of time possibly millions of years apart. These scientific data do not refute the Bible, but are consistent with the Bible when one considers that the Hebrew word "yom" can mean not only a 24-hour day, but also can be interpreted as an epoch or a period of time." p22 "The scientific creationist position has been supported mainly by ICR (Institute of Creation Research) in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The weakness of their position has attracted the ire of many scientists. An important point is that the position of scientific creationism should not be confused with the position of many scientists and laypeople who are Christians, call themselves creationists and who hold to the Bible as the inspired Word of God, yet accept the scientific evidence that the earth is 4 billion years old. It is the opinion of this writer that scientific creationists, although well meaning, have hurt the credibility of Christians to bring some understanding and unity to the creation/evolution controversy by maintaining completely indefensible positions." p23 Quotes in support of evolution by Ruse, Dawkins, Sagan, Huxley p24 Quotes in support of creation by Medawar, Crick, Prigogine, Darwin, Shapiro p25 good discussion of the definitions of terms like "scientific creationism" and the misuse of such terms I Origin of the Universe p27 Hawking "It is difficult to discuss the beginning of the universe without mentioning the concept of God. My work on the origin of the universe is on the borderline between science and religion. But I try to stay this side of the border. It is quite possible that God acts in ways that cannot be described by scientific laws." in interview with Hugh Downs 1989. p28 Methods of determining the age of the universe from Ross' The Fingerprint of God p29-30 Basic overview of radioactive dating p32 Hawking quote about COBE "the discovery of the century, if not of all time" and "what we have found is evidence for the birth of the universe" p33 Einsteins equation p34 Einberg ref, Ashby says "if the energy of the big bang was different by one part in 10120 parts, there would be no life anywhere in the universe" Einberg, S.W., Scientific American October 1994 "Life in the Universe". Discusses anthropic principle, Davies, Tipler & Barrow, and Ross' Creator and the Cosmos. p35 ref to Michael Denton "Nature's Destiny, How the Laws of Biology Reveal Purpose in the Universe" 1998. like a biological anthropic principle p36 comments on Murchison meteorite - amino acids but no lipids, nucleic acids etc. p39 from his old earth conclusions he comments "None of these conclusions volate the integrity of the Bible (book of Genesis, chapter 1) that says God initiated the beginning of the universe. Students entering the university armed with the known scientific facts about he origin of the universe should not be put into an embarrassing and untenable position of trying to defend a 6,000-10,000 year old earth as a part of their religious faith." II The Origin of Man p41 "Among the scenes which are deeply impressed on my mind, none exceed in sublimity the primeaval forest undefaced by the hand of man; whether those of Brazil, where thepowers of Life are predominant, or those of the Tierra del Fuego, where Death and Decay prevail. Both are temples filled with the varied productions of the God of Nature - no one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body." Charles Darwin in his journal 1831-1836 The Voyage of the HMS Beagle. p42 "many examples of microevolution" p45 Haekel's embryos as example of fraud p47 Peppered moth as example of mistakes and misinformation p48 Mengel's work on wood warblers, drosophila 600 species p48 ref to Johnsons Defeating Darwinism p49 anthropology and missing links p51 details on hominids p52 modern man about 100000 yrs, Cambrian explosion, Burgess shale, discussion of punctuated equilibrium p52 Walcott 80000 species of worms, insects, fish 1909-1917 from Burgess Shale, 70 phyla at Cambrian explosion, 40 since have gone extinct, extinctions at 250million years 95% of marine life, at 65million the dinosaurs. p53 DNA argument of origin of man 70-120,000 years North Africa p57 from Denton's Evolution in Crisis a quote from Origin of Species by Darwin "the distinctness of specific forms and their not being blended together by innumerable transitional links is a very obvious difficulty." p59 dates for man p61 arguments from Denton p62-63 distinct creation of man p63 some good comments on difficulties of scientific creationism p64 Miller, Finding Darwin's God "We can no longer explain away the necessity of a creator than we can explain away the process of evolution as God's way to produce new species." p65 limited macroevolution does not violate Bible teaching III The Origin of Life p67 Charles Darwin "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possible have formed by numerous successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down." p70 Miller Urey critique p73 100 trillion cells in body, 30 billion in brain, each cell 3 billion bits of data in DNA, 155000 cells/cm2 of human skin. p75 Uses lysosome as example of complexity, 40 enzymes, chooses alpha chymotripsin as example of protease p76 importance of folding of the particular compounds p79-82 hemoglobin p82 vitamins - nice qualitative discussion and list, use in vitamin discussion. Also list of essential trace minerals p82 Sickle cell trait 1 amino acid wrong, subs of valine for glutamate our of 574. p84-85 list of vitamins p86 list of trace elements p87 list of hormones p87 Discussion on epinephrine with roles of cyclic AMP, adenosine monophosphate, the glycogen to glucose process, glucose to lactose and the glycolysis process p90 diagram of glycolysis, description p89-91 good many details on glycolysis p93 DNA, description of buildup, most genes 1000 nucleotides long. p94 diagrams of nucleotides and dinucleotides p95 top paragraph - DNA and RNA in primordial soup, a scientific judgement. p96 polypeptide oxytocin. the messenger hormone involved in contraction of uterus in childbirth and initiation of mothers milk. He waxes eloquent about these things. p96 brief description of genetic process - 64 words or codons. p98 brain 30 billion nerve cells each with 10000 fibers connected. p98 discussion of the interdependence of the chemistry of the body. Table of biochemical processes. "When liver chemistry fails, all other organs and biochemical processes shut down. Therefore it can be seen that most of t he chemistry that takes place in the human body is dependent on t he chemistry being produced in multiple organs simultaneously." p98-99 cites Collins and Miller. p99 Miller in Finding Darwin's God "There is neither logical nor theological basis for excluding God's use of natural processes to originate species, ourselves included. There is therefore no reason for believers to draw a line in the sand between God and Darwin" p267 p101-102 7 conclusions p104 7 creative acts p106 General conclusions 5 and a personal testimony that gets to the heart of his worldview. p107 "It is the opinion of this writer that the resolution of the creation/evolution debate has been hindered by the position of the scientific creationists who insist on a 6000-10000 year old earth and a 24-hour creation period. " p109 Appendix of 21 questions. p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p
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