You might be right. I have a history of severe mental illness so there might be something there clouding my reasoning and perception. I wrote the first comment more out of confusion. Now I am angry that there are far too many unanswered questions with regard to phylogeny and population genetics and how they could or could not fit into a creationist defense (Williams uses neither data source). There are some things that Williams did NOT challenge that are frustrating. It’s more what he didn’t mention than what he did. When he says “no explanation”, that’s the worst.
Things are not as they seem. I don’t give a s*** about evolution or about science anymore but it’s not easy to just push them aside when there are unanswered questions. The problem is that I have not found a thorough analysis yet and there are so many things that authors like Williams could be doing but don’t do with their arguments. I have never been able to find a complete resolution to the question of the origins (or creation) of life though I am pretty sure about the compatibility of mainstream evolutionary with Genesis. You mentioned a book called “Persuaded by the Evidence”. What is that like?
This is going to be a horrible Christmas season for me. I hope that yours will be much better.
You have my deepest sympathy and I will pray for you. You are not alone. And God really does care. I am not promoting my blog because I rarely write to it any longer. However, I still receive e-mail regarding this post that I wrote almost 3 years ago. While it mainly addresses schizophrenia, it applies to depression and other illnesses as well. While things are improving, Christians haven't always had the compassion for mental illness that we should.
Get with a good doctor if you don't have one, seek prayer, and seek the compassion of caring friends and relatives. Feel free to Freepmail me.
May God bless you and give you healing or relief from your heavy burden. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
By God’s grace, may you have a blessed Christmas! I can’t imagine what you struggle with, but I will pray for you and that you are able to find solace and peace in the memory of our Saviour’s birth.
Regarding ‘Persuaded by the Evidence,’ it is a collection of testimonies by former evolutionists who have become creationists. I wrote the first chapter. Some are fairly mundane, but a number of them are interesting, such as those of Dr. Jerry Bergman (who holds 9 or 10 earned M.Sc. and Ph.Ds) and Dr. John Sanford (a Cornell biologist and inventor of the ‘gene gun’ for genetic engineering), and Dr. Raymond Damadian (inventor of the MRI).
A common theme (see Ray Bradford’s chapter, for example) was that they believed what they had been told about the explanatory power of evolution, until some reason (such as a financial challenge) cause them to dig into the evidence to try to justify belief in evolution as a total explanation.
It turns out that while biological variation does occur, it is very limited in its capacity to construct new systems and structures. The great theme of evolutionary biology today is genomic degeneration and decay (I would recommend Dr. Sanford’s book Genetic Entropy, on this point). This is consistent with the perfect beginning followed by the Fall decribed in Genesis, but inconsistent with naturalistic evolutionary theory.
Regarding phylogeny and population genetics and so forth, various authors have explored those subjects in more detail than you will find in a single article. Here are a couple recommendations: The Biotic Message by Walter Remine is a good choice for population genetics. For general critiques of evolutionary apologetics, Dr. Jonathan Sarfati’s are among the best (see Refuting Evolution I and II, and the just published work By Design).
As far as evolution and Genesis, I would have to disagree with your comment that they fit well together. Genesis teaches a perfect origin without sin and death, whereas suffering and death is integral to evolution. There will not be roadkill in Heaven! Sarfati’s book Refuting Compromise is a helpful critique of the idea that evolution can be fit into Genesis.
(This is not meant to imply that creationary biology is about stasis. It is not. But there is a great difference between the limited variation and accumulation of genetic defects by mutation at error catastrophe rates that we see in evolutionary biology studies today, and the idea of innovative mutations creating new structures and bio-systems as in evolutionary theory).
Again, my heart goes out to you - May God heal your mind and give you hope and comfort until your final rest. I hope to see you in Heaven someday!!
Emmanuel,
Eric