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
[[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.]]
Bingo- been saying htis for awhile, and it wouyld seem that anyone truly interested in the facts would investigate this more fully. Tim Wallace did a wonderful job over on trueorigins.org when he squared of agaisnt a scientist who tried to argue that an open system ‘could have facilitated’ systems that could ‘somehow escape entropy’, and hwo pointed to static ‘organizations’ like ice crystals and chemical bonds as ‘proof that Macroevolution could have violated hte second law in an open system’. Wallace did such a good job, that unfortunately hte scientist left in a huff (After engaging in some pretty petty character assassinations) started a blog that continued attacking Wallace, and never did address ANY of the points Wallace brought up. This was a preeminent scientist who attempted ot make Creationists look silly for ‘not really understanding the second law of thermodynamics’ but Wallace just gave the facts, and hsowed once gain that ID/Creationism really does understand it MUCH better than anti-ID folks are willing to admit
[[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,]]
Another very important point that is either ignored or downplayed- but which can not be ignored by intellectually honest seekers who wish to discover the actual facts behind the hypothesis of macroevoltuion as to whether it is true or not. Wish more people woudl take soem time and actually check out this very important point. These are biological truths that have been tsted and tested and tested, and not simply opinions.
There have been a great many scientists who set out to disprove God, or to at least prove that God wasn’t needed, but who, after actually digging very deep into the actual facts, have discovered the very fingerprints of God all throughout the biolgical systems of species. These people were NOT influenced by religion, they simply confess that they simply could not reconcile their previous convictions abotu Macroevoltuion with hte actual facts that they were discovering after investigating beyond hte mere hype and assumptions.