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The questions of where we came from and how the different forms of life came into existence are timeless and popular ones to ask. Several important theories have been proposed and much research has been done on the subject, but these, while widely accepted, have some serious problems with them.
After looking at the current scientific explanations for origins and evolution; it is our view that the evidence available points to widespread evolution after an initial Creation by God. This is viewed as controversial by some and welcomed by others; but whether currently popular or not we believe the available evidence supports a world-view somewhere between Darwinism and 6000BC Creationism and we encourage interested readers to look into the claims being made.
This section is here to introduce our proposal and some important evidence which you may not have seen before, or may have seen explained in a different way. We encourage you to explore the linked pages at your convenience.
The theme of the zoo is of course Noah and the ark, the biblical story about the great flood with which many of us are familiar. It of course has novel value for our Zoo in terms of pairs of animals, as well as opening up discussion on the Biblical perspective. For those who have not heard the story before and for others who would like a recap, it goes as follows…
What happened?
The scientific community is currently celebrating 200 years since the birth of well-known naturalist Charles Darwin. The BBC has recently run several excellent but controversial series of programmes presenting Evolution by natural selection as the mechanism to explain the origin and all subsequent variation of life.
Undoubtedly, Darwin helped science see that nature is continually changing, but along with this great progress there began a subsequent movement to remove any notion of God from our understanding of life. This is unjustified and we look to put the case for God across to those who wish to investigate.
See Creation Biology & Evolution: Yes and No along with the Earth History material for another perspective on this important subject.
For an in-depth discussion of origins, creation and earth chronology visit www.earthhistory.org.uk for detailed analysis of the various related topics.
Popular media presents us only with the two theories of Darwinism and (the less favoured) 6000BC Creationism to explain the origin of life. We think both are flawed in their theory; both are unnecessarily extreme in their own rights. One theory takes the evolution that is clear to us all and extrapolates it backwards to imply there is no need for a God or a Creation; the other requires a God for Creation but requires the Genesis chronologies are complete and that there was a slow Noah's Flood lasting 150 days to reach its height, in order that most of the geological column can be laid down in this time.
Darwinism purports to be scientific, but has no theory of how the atoms and all the laws of physics and nature should "be there", has no adequate theory of how life with its highly complex DNA suddenly "appeared", nor adequate evidence for how this changed into the much more complex multicelled life forms of the early fossil record. There are only weak theories for how consciousness, perception, vision connected to brain and movement and sexual reproduction arrived; along with dubious proposals for the protectiveness of young and altruism that is present and essential in so many species.
Researchers notice "design" in every cell and function, like an elephant in the living room but dare not mention it for fear of the thought police calling them Creationist! In our view Darwinism, beyond pointing out the evolution that is obviously everywhere, is simplistic and reductionist, with much supposition in the science.
So, are we limited to this choice only? Is it right for Darwin's evolutionary theory to be portrayed as 'fact' in todays scientific media? What does the evidence show and suggest? We don't profess to have all the answers, but we do think the evidence available gives people the freedom to believe in God- a freedom which is frequently restricted by mainstream science and broadcasting.
We argue the case for a new approach encompassing a creator God AND pre-programmed evolution to provide variation and adaptation. We believe the fossil record does not show one evolutionary tree of life; instead however diversification of a number of body forms. Geological dating methods currently used may have other explanations. The empirical evidence of the rocks implies a very different timescale. See 'How old is the Earth?'
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