The Case for a Creator - Lee Strobel [8]
German biologist Ernst Haeckel, whose sketches of embryos could be found in virtually every evolution book I studied, provided even more evidence for all of life having the same ancient progenitor. By juxtaposing drawings of an embryonic fish, salamander, tortoise, chick, hog, calf, rabbit, and human, Haeckel graphically established that they all appeared strikingly similar in their earliest stages of development. It was only later that they became distinctly different.
As my eyes scanned the top row of Haeckel’s drawings, representing the early stage of embryonic development, I was stunned by how these vertebrates—which would eventually grow to become so radically different from each other—were virtually indistinguishable.
Who could tell them apart? The human embryo could just as easily have been any one of the others. Obviously, Darwin was right when he said “we ought to frankly admit” universal common ancestry. And certainly the inexorable progression toward ever-increasing complexity could be seen in the next image.
Image #4: The Missing Link
The fossil is so astounding that one paleontologist called it “a holy relic of the past that has become a powerful symbol of the evolutionary process itself.” 7 It’s the most famous fossil in the world: the archaeopteryx, or “ancient wing,” a creature dating back 150 million years. With the wings, feathers, and wishbone of a bird, but with a lizard-like tail and claws on its wings, it was hailed as the missing link between reptiles and modern birds.
One look at a picture of that fossil chased away any misgivings about whether the fossil record supported Darwin’s theory. Here was a half-bird, half-reptile—I needed to look no further to believe that paleontology backed up Darwin. Indeed, the archaeopteryx, having been discovered in Germany immediately after The Origin of Species was published, “helped enormously to establish the credibility of Darwinism and to discredit skeptics,” Johnson said. 8
These images were just the beginning of my education in evolution. By the time I had completed my study of the topic, I was thoroughly convinced that Darwin had explained away any need for God. And that’s a phenomenon I have seen over and over again.
I’ve lost count of the number of spiritual skeptics who have told me that their seeds of doubt were planted in high school or college when they studied Darwinism. When I read in 2002 about an Eagle Scout being booted from his troop for refusing to pledge reverence to God, I wasn’t surprised to find out he “has been an atheist since studying evolution in the ninth grade.” 9
As Oxford evolutionist Dawkins said: “The more you understand the significance of evolution, the more you are pushed away from an agnostic position and towards atheism.” 10
DARWIN VERSUS GOD
Not everyone, however, believes that Darwinian evolutionary theory and God are incompatible. There are some scientists and theologians who see no conflict between believing in the doctrines of Darwin and the doctrines of Christianity.
Nobel-winning biologist Christian de Duve insisted there’s “no sense in which atheism is enforced or established by science,” 11 while biology professor Kenneth R. Miller of Brown University declared that evolution “is not anti-God.” 12 Philosopher Michael Ruse, himself an ardent naturalist, answered the question, “Can a Darwinian be a Christian?” by declaring, “Absolutely!” In his view, “No sound argument has been mounted showing that Darwinism implies atheism.” 13
Biologist Jean Pond, who formerly taught at Whitworth College, proudly describes herself as “a scientist, an evolutionist, a great admirer of Charles Darwin, and a Christian.” 14 She elaborated by saying: “Believing that evolution occurred—that humans and all other living things are related as part of creation’s giant family tree, that it is possible that the first cell arose by the natural processes of chemical evolution—neither requires nor even promotes an atheistic worldview.” 15
Personally, however, I couldn’t understand how the Darwinism I was taught left