Evolution Theory vs. Process

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

(1 Corinthians 1:19)

The majority of Christians think of evolution as the process by which organic life developed from molecules to humans. It’s a definition of evolution that no one else uses.

Broadly speaking this is what Darwin referred to when he used the phrase the theory of evolution. He rationalized a process that made it seem plausible and the rest, as they say, is history.

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We all have the same evidence. Our choice of paradigm determines what we think it’s evidence of.

– Matty’s Razor

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Like a lot of things in science the theory of evolution is a blend of truth and error, fact and fiction. The problem with the definition of evolution that’s popular with Christians is that it’s based on error. Mainstream science already corrected for it and redefined evolution as something which is actually true.

The theory of evolution was shown to be fundamentally flawed: on one hand the process of evolution requires the passage of heritable traits from generation to generation, but this requires that cells exist which have replicating DNA. What happened before there were any organisms having generations of offspring? On the other hand, evolution as a process of ongoing change has been abundantly documented. Mainstream science (SciPop) responded by splitting the development of life into abiogenesis and evolution, and by defining evolution more narrowly. Here’s one of the simplest definitions of evolution possible.

Evolution is change in allele frequency in a population over time.

– Evolution, definition

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We all have the same evidence. Our choice of paradigm determines what we think it’s evidence of.

– Matty’s Razor

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Evolution, according to its new definition, is pretty much bullet proof. It’s a fact. All of the speculation about the earliest parts of Earth’s history is part of abiogenesis. Thus evolution is an extensively documented process of genetic change over time. Arguing against this is what makes Christians look stupid. That being said, it’s not the origin of humanity, so let’s understand the nuance. The real problem isn’t the process of evolution; which is more accurately referred to as devolution, it’s the context of devolution; which is genetic decay.

Devolution is change in allele frequency in a population, combined with accumulated mutations and DNA replication errors, that causes genomic decay, sickness, and loss of variability over time. It includes both macro and micro evolution. It began at the fall of man in Genesis 3:16.

– Devolution, definition

This is a significant conceptual turnaround for Christians who’ve been making fools of themselves on social media, tilting at windmills, for years now. As such, the extensively documented process of genetic change over time, formerly known as evolution, now has a much more appropriate name: devolution. Devolution isn’t how God created biodiversity, it’s what happened to biodiversity after sin entered the world and death by sin: genetic decay compounded over time. And now we can plug devolution into it’s Biblical context. Creation required abiogenesis. The fall and decay of creation involves devolution.

Devolution is the process of genetic change over time by which the animal kinds saved on Noah’s ark gave rise to the current distribution of biodiversity.

– Devolution, context

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