Sunday, April 09, 2006

Discussing Creationism Part IX


So now I approach the most crucial and difficult question regarding Noah and the flood. "Is it possible that the animals that exist today originated from the animals that were in the ark?" In Part III, I estimated that there were approximately 2500 different kinds of animals that could've fit in the ark. There are about 10 million species of animals and 9000 species of birds that exist today.

There was an uproar when Darwin published his theory of natural selection in "The Origin of Species" in 1859. The Biblical account of Creationism was the accepted viewpoint up to that time but Darwin and other scientists had begun to look at the evidence without this belief. Some religious people accepted the new ideas while others held to the Biblical beliefs of creationism and the history of the catastrophic flood.



The debate between the two sides has not ended and probably never will. I found this quote by Darwin that he wrote to Asa Gray, an American biologist, a suitable one for those that continue to study and debate the subject.
"My book has stirred up the mud with a vengeance; and it will be a blessing to me if all my friends do not get to hate me. But I look at it as certain, if I had not stirred up the mud some one else would very soon; so that the sooner the battle is fought the sooner it will be settled; not that the subject will be settled in our lives' time. It will be an immense gain, if the question becomes a fairly open one; so that each man may try his new facts on it pro and contra."

I want to examine these controversial and conflicting viewpoints closer. If you are interested, join me as I take closer looks at both Evolution and Creationism in order to try to answer the question asked above "Is it possible that the animals that exist today originated from the animals that were in the ark?"



Discussing Creationism: The Initial Argument
Part II: Two Questions about the Ark
Part III:The Volume of the Ark
Part IV: The Weight and Sturdiness of the Ark
Part V:What is a Myth

Part VI: Gilgamesh
Part VII: The Biblical View of Noah
Part VIII: Gathering of the Animals

3 comments:

Michael said...

Darwin presented The Origin of the Species jointly with Alfred Russel Wallace.

-Bruce

Carol said...

888,
Yes, Origin of Species was presented along with a paper by Wallace but Darwin wrote the Origin of the Species by himself. Correct?

Chrixean said...

I, without a doubt, believe that these are the same animals that came from the ark :-)