Category: Origins

Is Natural and Biological Diversity A Testament of God’s Creative Power or a Consequence of Sin? Reflections on “Is Genesis History?”

In my reflections on the recent film "Is Genesis History?" which appeared on the Biologos website yesterday I made the following observation: "Recently I found myself in a theater taking in scenes of God’s creation through the documentary Is Genesis History? hosted by Del Tackett.  This beautifully produced film transported myself and the rest of a clearly... Continue Reading →

Reflections on the Death of Toads and the Edenic Perfect Paradise

Ecology is the branch of biology that studies the interactions of organisms with each other and their environment.  The animals and plants around you are living in relationship with each other and the environment, including yourself. Around your home you may have considerable control over the environment - moisture, nutrients, lawn-mowing, week control, pest removal - and thus you are probably... Continue Reading →

The Great Genetic Bottleneck that Contradicts Ken Ham’s Radical Accelerated Diversification (Post-Flood Hyper-Evolution)

How can a population of organisms reproduce and over time become several hundred species each of which has its own menagerie of characteristics? This is a fundamental evolutionary question for which many different mechanisms have been proposed as solutions over the past 200 years.  With AiG's Ark Encounter nearing completion Ken Ham is about to put on display his... Continue Reading →

Are Ruminants Derived from a Common Ancestor? Ruminating on the Meaning of Noahic “Kinds”

What do giraffes, cows, sheep, antelope, pronghorn and deer have in common?  Foremost, they all share a specialized digestive system that includes a four-chambered stomach that allows them to obtain nutrients and energy from vegetation that is inaccessible to most mammals.  This ability and other shared morphological traits are used by scientists to classify all... Continue Reading →

Dodging Darwin: How Ken Ham’s Ark Encounter is Slowly Embracing Evolution

As the strict young-earth creationists at Answers in Genesis work to complete their Ark Encounter "theme park," they have expended an impressive amount of energy organizing the millions of species of land animals alive today into a handful of small groups they call "baramins." Creationists insist that while adaptation or speciation within a particular "baramin" is observable (and, indeed, necessary in order to account for the present observed diversity of life), there is never any overlap between separate kinds. Unfortunately for the young-earth model, the push to minimize the number of animals riding on the Ark has exposed a major problem with this view.

Ken Ham’s Darwinism: On The Origin of Species by Means of Hyper-Evolution Following Noah’s Flood

Young life creationists, or baraminologists as they prefer to be called, have experienced a paradigm shift over the past three decades. Initially,  young-life creationists (YLCs) made a point of identifying every possible unique characteristic of a species as the result of direct special creation and intelligent design.  However, they are now increasingly embracing a model... Continue Reading →

Bones of Contention II: Ape, Human or Fraud? Young Earth Creationists Respond to the Dinaledi Chamber Fossil Discovery

The largest collection of hominin bones ever found in Africa is causing massive waves in the anthropological world and beyond. When it was first announced, I wrote about how I thought some creationist organizations might respond to questions posed by hominin fossils and their geological setting (see: Bones of Contention: How Will Creationists Respond to... Continue Reading →

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