Page 108 - Perfected Faith

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PERFECTED FAITH

Darwin based his evolution allegation entirely on the mechanism of
"natural selection". The importance he placed on this mechanism was
evident in the name of his book: The Origin of Species, By Means Of
Natural Selection…
Natural selection holds that those living things that are stronger
and more suited to the natural conditions of their habitats will sur-
vive in the struggle for life. For example, in a deer herd under the
threat of attack by wild animals, those that can run faster will survive.
Therefore, the deer herd will be comprised of faster and stronger in-
dividuals. However, unquestionably, this mechanism will not cause
deer to evolve and transform themselves into another living species,
for instance, horses.
Therefore, the mechanism of natural selection has no evolutionary
power. Darwin was also aware of this fact and had to state this in his
book The Origin of Species:
Natural selection can do nothing until favourable individual differences
or variations occur. 8

Lamarck's Impact
So, how could these "favourable variations" occur? Darwin tried to
answer this question from the standpoint of the primitive understand-
ing of science in his age. According to the French biologist Lamarck,
who lived before Darwin, living creatures passed on the traits they ac-
quired during their lifetime to the next generation and these traits, ac-
cumulating from one generation to another, caused new species to be
formed. For instance, according to Lamarck, giraffes evolved from an-
telopes; as they struggled to eat the leaves of high trees, their necks
were extended from generation to generation.
Darwin also gave similar examples, and in his book The Origin of
Species, for instance, said that some bears going into water to find
food transformed themselves into whales over time. 9