Torch, Fall/Winter 2009

4 TORCH | Fall–Winter 2009 The fossil record proves to be a “voice” of truth when determining the validity of Creation. D espite his misplaced conclusions, Charles Darwin was an excellent scientist. He made thorough and extensive observations, tested his ideas with experiments and real-world data, cited problems with his propositions, and provided ways in which his theory might be falsified. But one thing he didn’t do was come up with the theory of evolution. Rather, Darwin developed a theory about how evolution works and called it “natural selection.” He wrote about it in his book On the Origin of Species. The idea of evolution — or the transmutation of species, as it was called in his day — had been around for centuries. Darwin became famous merely because he was the first to publish the most widely accepted theory of how one species changes into another. But let’s examine some of the problems Darwin recognized about his own views, especially in regard to the fossil record. And then let’s consider: If an excellent scientist like Charles Darwin had known these problems would persist 150 years later, would he still have proposed evolution? TOP: SCOTT HUCK; BOTTOM: KAROL KOZLOWSKI / ISTOCKPHOTO Listening to Fossils by Dr. John Whitmore A Permian reptile from the Irati Formation of southeast Brazil, on display at Cedarville University. The specimen measures about one foot in length.