Evidence for God in Life Design Archives

July 14, 2025July 11, 2025

Darwin’s Mistake According to Psychologists

In 1871, Charles Darwin proposed that the difference between human and nonhuman minds was a matter of degree, not kind. A 2008 publication by Cambridge University Press calls that “Darwin’s mistake.”

Animals with very different brains, and sometimes no brain at all, can perform the essential functions needed to live and survive. God has created various animal orders with what they need to fulfill their roles in the system of life. This explains the different sizes and capabilities of brains among animals. However, the mind is something more than just the brain.

According to the team of psychologists who authored the report, only humans possess a mind capable of “the higher-order, systematic, relational capabilities of a physical symbol system.” In this peer-reviewed journal, they wrote, “We show that this symbolic-relational discontinuity pervades nearly every domain of cognition and runs much deeper than even the spectacular scaffolding provided by language or culture alone can explain.” In other words, a vast gulf exists between the human mind and the brain power of any animal.

Darwin’s mistake, according to this Cambridge University article, was suggesting that all differences between humans and nonhumans are a matter of degree, not of kind. This theory is disproved by the fact that only humans can develop abstract thinking and writing because humans alone can invent and use symbols in communication.

When God created humans in His image, He gave us a mind capable of great achievements. Unfortunately, that ability can also be used for great evil. He gave us a spiritual nature with a desire to know Him. Yet, our pride can lead us to reject God and serve only ourselves. We humans are the only creatures who can choose to fulfill God’s purpose for us or to rebel against His will. Darwin’s mistake was to think the difference between humans and nonhumans was merely a matter of degree. It is truly a difference of kind.

Reference: “Darwin’s Mistake: Explaining the discontinuity between human and nonhuman minds” at Cambridge.org

July 11, 2025July 8, 2025

The Evolution of the Bobtail Squid

Since the Scopes trial took place 100 years ago, numerous books and articles have been written in scientific journals, popular media, and other outlets regarding evolution and the biblical concept of God’s creation. We have attempted to clarify that the word “evolution” refers to an unfolding change and that it is a design feature of life on Earth. We have also pointed out that many features of living things are so complex that evolution cannot provide a reasonable explanation for their emergence through unguided gradualism. Today, we consider the evolution of the bobtail squid.

We are familiar with large animals, but often remain unaware of the intricate designs of smaller creatures that are essential for the natural world to exist. An example of this is the bobtail squid, a small creature in the coastal waters of most of the world’s oceans. They rarely reach three inches long but have eight sucker arms and two tentacles. They swim by using fins or by jet propulsion.

Bobtail Squid have a symbiotic relationship with bioluminescent bacteria. The squid supplies a sugar and amino acid solution to the bacteria, which emit light that hides the squid from predators below. Are the bobtail squid a special creation of God, or are they a product of evolution? The answer is that they are a product of unfolding change from cuttlefish.

Bobtail squid are classified in the class of cephalopods, sharing a subclass with squid and cuttlefish. Unlike modern taxonomic rankings, the groupings of animals in the Bible are very broad. Birds, for example, are just identified as fowl that fly, not robins, crows, sparrows, hawks, etc. Flightless birds such as penguins and ostriches have evolved through unfolding change over time. The waters bringing forth “every living thing with which the water teems” is another broad example from the Bible.

Humans benefit by learning about the interactions of living things on Earth. The evolution of the bobtail squid is an excellent example of what we can learn from God’s creatures and their history. God saw that His creation was “good” (Genesis 1:10, 12, 18, 21, and 25), but after He created the first humans, He declared it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). We can rejoice that we are the product of that goodness.

Reference: Wikipedia

July 10, 2025July 8, 2025

Unloved Animals that Have Hidden Talents

National Geographic published a list of ten animals that you would not like to see in your backyard. They are unloved animals with hidden talents. Their ugliness or repulsive behavior keeps them from being displayed on cereal boxes or featured in animated movies. However, these unloved animals play essential roles, and many of them are endangered.

Vultures are bald, so when they plunge their head into a dead animal, they get no residue on their feathers. They have specialized stomach acid that neutralizes harmful bacteria in what they eat. These birds help prevent the spread of pathogens that cause diseases such as bubonic plague and anthrax.

Other unloved animals include leopard slugs, which consume decomposing plants and insects, thereby returning nutrients to the soil. The three-toed sloth’s fur supports a variety of insects and moths. The proboscis monkey’s huge nose may be unappealing to humans, but it attracts females and serves as a means of communication, much like a bullhorn. The African bullfrog can weigh as much as four pounds and digs burrows that hold water, allowing it to survive dry seasons.

The ferocious honey badgers have a fearsome reputation. Still, they pose virtually no threat to humans and can withstand snakebites, including those from venomous snakes such as cobras and black mambas. They are also unaffected by bee stings and can defend themselves against wild dogs and hyenas. Indian flying foxes are large bats with sharp teeth that live in large colonies. They are one of the world’s largest pollinators, eating fruits and nectar.

Tongan scrub fowl in Australia have large feet with claws that enable them to dig burrows, which can be five feet deep. Aye-ayes are primates found in Madagascar whose diet consists of grubs and insects in trees. Although people have killed them thinking they bring bad luck, they are essential predators of destructive insects and beetles.

Even in the ocean, we see unloved animals. The hairy frogfish has an appendage that resembles a worm, which it wiggles to attract small fish. This fish resembles an amphibian, covered with stringy spines for camouflage.

It seems that all of these “unloved” animals are designed to fit into a specific environment. Evolutionary models fail to trace a gradualism in any of these cases, but the balance of life in the natural world depends on them. These unloved animals demonstrate the truth of Romans 1:20 that we can “know there is a God through the things He has made.”

Reference: “The astonishing superpowers of nature’s most unloved animals” in National Geographic magazine, July 2025, pages 50-71, provides more details, including pictures, of these animals.

July 7, 2025July 7, 2025

Taxonomic Ranking of Living Things

Suppose that billions of years ago, a once-in-an-eon event took place. In a primordial soup of chemical elements, some of them came together to form amino acids. Over time, some of these amino acids assembled themselves into complex organic molecules such as RNA or DNA. Eventually, a living cell formed, complete with a nucleus and cell walls. It became the first living cell capable of metabolizing and reproducing through cell division. This was the first species in the taxonomic ranking of living things.

Next, imagine that mutations and natural selection acted on this initial species, causing it to evolve into different species. Over eons, more species appeared until one developed sexual reproduction. Then, things started to accelerate. Billions of years of reproduction and speciation resulted in a completely different animal. This was no longer a new SPECIES but the beginning of a new GENUS. More billions of years later, a new FAMILY of living creatures emerged. As life diversified, new ORDERS of animals appeared, followed by new CLASSES. Eventually, new PHYLA emerged within the animal KINGDOM. The tree of life finally grew into the amazing diversity we have today.

The problem is that the narrative we described seems to be in reverse order. Scientific classification, or the taxonomic ranking of living things, aims to illustrate the progression of genetic change, or evolution. The taxonomic ranking follows: species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom. This bottom-up progression described in our narrative does not align with the fossil record.

The stages of life development seem reversed in the fossil record. Dr. Hugh Ross noted, “…in many instances, such as the Avalon and Cambrian explosions, enormous macroevolutionary changes occurred rapidly; later, over long time spans, mere microevolutionary changes occurred. Diversification of phyla occurred first, and in no time, while diversification of species and genera occurred over eons.”

In summary, the fossil record appears to show the opposite of what naturalistic evolution predicts. However, the pattern in the fossil record aligns with the biblical view that God created various kinds of animals, each capable of change and adaptation. Their genetic design allows for microevolutionary adaptations over time to address changing circumstances and environments.

Today, we observe microevolution happening naturally and through guided human breeding and hybridization. We see this clearly in dogs and cattle. Even though humans have bred dogs to be very diverse, they remain within the canine (Canidae) family and do not evolve into a new order. Many varieties of cattle exist, but they are still cattle. Likewise, fossil evidence of animals transforming into a different class or phylum is lacking.

The best explanation for the incredible diversity of life on this planet, whether in the animal or plant kingdom, is that it was designed by a wise Creator who endowed living things with the ability to adapt and change on a microevolutionary level. The taxonomic ranking of living things seems to occur from the general to the specific rather than from the specific to the general.

Reference: “Unconfirmed” by Hugh Ross in Salvo magazine, summer 2025, pages 38-41

July 2, 2025July 1, 2025

A Salamander’s Toes

A fascinating mystery in the natural world is how various forms of life can adhere to vertical or inverted surfaces. A recent report by researchers at Washington State University explains how a salamander’s toes allow it to climb, jump, and glide from limb to limb in the forests from California to British Columbia. The wandering salamander (Aneides vagrans) in this study can control the blood flow to its square-shaped toes.

The toes of these salamanders have blood vessels all the way to the tips. They can control the blood flow in the vessels to expand or contract the surface area of the toes. In this way, these salamanders can attach or detach from tree surfaces. They can release from one limb, glide to another, and instantly attach as they wander through the coastal redwood forests.

Everywhere we look in the natural world, we see that a wonder-working hand has gone before. Many special adaptations in living things enable them to live in challenging environments. God has endowed each living creature with the features necessary to survive and adapt to changing environments. This mechanism in a salamander’s toes could inspire human innovators in the areas of prosthetics and robotics.

References: Discover magazine for July 2025, page 10, and the Journal of Morphology for January 2025

July 1, 2025June 30, 2025

Evolution Nonsense and the Scopes Anniversary

A century ago, in July of 1925, John Scopes was tried in Dayton, Tennessee. He was accused of teaching human evolution in a public school in defiance of a Tennessee law. One hundred years later, there is still no intelligent approach to the issue of teaching evolution. Instead, skeptics and atheists have used evolution as a club against the Bible and Christianity in general. At the same time, poorly informed religious figures have said foolish things about evolution, leading many well-educated young people to assume that belief in God is a barbaric relic of the past. Both sides are guilty of spreading evolution nonsense.

The fact is that everyone believes in evolution. Evolution is defined as “change over time,” and God has built into all life the ability to change and adapt to environmental situations. With the intelligent guidance of horticulturalists, crop plants and farm animals have changed to provide food for humanity. Any farmer can tell you how selective breeding and hybridization provide improvements in corn, grain, or animals. Look at the many varieties of dogs or cattle. God’s design of living things allows changes in animals and plants, enabling them to survive while also providing food to sustain a growing population.

A careful reading of the Genesis account can eliminate the evolution nonsense that creates a conflict between science and faith in the Bible. What separates humans from all other forms of life on our planet is not our physical bodies. The Bible tells us that the human body came from the dust of the Earth. All life is chemically the same. What separates humans from animals is that we are created in the image of God. The Bible uses the Hebrew word “bara” (create), uniquely referring to what God can do. It is used only three times in Genesis chapter one. The first instance is in verse one, referring to the cosmos. It is used in verse 21 when God created the first life. The final time is in verse 27, where it describes the creation of man and woman in the image of God. It is the spiritual makeup of humans, not our physical body, that makes us unique.

As the 100th anniversary of the Scopes trial approaches this month, major newspapers and magazines will publish articles ridiculing the Bible. We will be addressing this subject further, and we urge our readers to be informed and proactive in helping others avoid evolution nonsense, whether it comes from skeptics or religious figures. God calls us to a faith that is intelligent and discerning.

June 25, 2025June 24, 2025

Ptarmigan Camouflage Design

One of the most remarkable birds on the planet is the ptarmigan. Along with the snowshoe hare and the Arctic fox, the ptarmigan is a master of disguise. What these animals do is change from dark colors in the summer to totally white in the winter. When I was in Alaska, I saw these animals in the snow. Their coloration was as white as the snow itself, and the only thing you could see was a pair of eyes.

What is unique about the ptarmigan is that they seem to be aware of the importance of their coloration. The changeover from winter plumage to summer is a difficult time for a bird because of the danger of predation if they lose their camouflage. However, if they dropped all of their feathers, they would be unable to fly. What the ptarmigan does is seek out patches of mud and dirt and bathe itself so that its camouflage remains effective.

The question is how the ptarmigan knows to do this. With a brain the size of a pea, this bird could not reason and plan this camouflage behavior. The three species of ptarmigan (rock, willow, and white-tailed) were designed to be aware of their environment and themselves. Joe Jackson wrote in Alaska magazine, “This is a bird that’s hyperaware of what’s around it, and, we now know, hyperaware of itself.”

Trying to explain this astonishing behavior by chance is creative but not logical. It appears that an intelligence has designed a system that enables this bird to survive in a complex environment. We truly can “know there is a God through the things He has made” (Romans 1:20).

Reference: Joe Jackson writing in the July/August 2025 issue of Alaska magazine, page 44

June 24, 2025June 23, 2025

Sperm Cell Design for Reproduction

With the number of children born every day on planet Earth, it is easy to miss the complexities of human reproduction. All animal life on our planet radiates this complexity, and the sperm cell is the most complex of all the cells in the body. Science is still struggling to understand sperm cell design, but we are learning more about how it functions as technology opens doors that were previously unavailable.

The sperm cell has three parts: (1) The head, which contains a haploid nucleus carrying half the normal number of chromosomes. It also has an acrosome, which contains enzymes that enable it to penetrate the egg. (2) The middle, which is packed with mitochondria to provide energy for the sperm’s movement. (3) The tail (Flagellum), which allows the sperm to swim through the female reproductive system.

Sperm cells are also biconcave or disk-shaped, allowing them to absorb oxygen more quickly and rounded to flow easily through the tiny capillaries. Sperm cells can swim fast thanks to a tail, a streamlined shape, and a high concentration of energy-transferring mitochondria.

The sperm cell design is just half the story. The egg becomes concave at one spot, allowing a single sperm cell to complete fertilization. All animal life depends on this design. The mechanism by which this happens is not understood and is the subject of modern research. We take for granted the fact that animal life can reproduce, but the design that makes it possible speaks eloquently about the existence of God.

Reference: Wikipedia and Michigan State Genetics Course Notes.

June 23, 2025June 22, 2025

A Partial Solution for Invasive Species

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has suggested a partial solution for invasive species: eat ‘em. Erin Huggins of the CDFW wrote, “Eating invasive species can help protect native wildlife by reducing their numbers and limiting the damage they cause to ecosystems.”

The nutria is an invasive species causing problems in 18 states, particularly in California. These rodents are native to South America but were initially introduced into the United States for the fur trade. Officials thought they had eradicated them from California in the 1970s, but they began to reappear in 2017. Nutrias cause significant problems for farmers and livestock owners, as they eat vegetation right down to the root. Nutrias are even more omnivorous than goats, so they are more destructive.

This is not the first time an invasive species has become an issue. In the 1970s, Asian Carp were introduced into ponds to control the growth of aquatic plants. Four East Asian species were introduced: silver carp, bighead carp, grass carp, and black carp. Some of these species would jump high out of the water when disturbed, creating a hazard for recreational boaters, and elaborate measures have been taken to keep them out of the Great Lakes.

Fish and wildlife officials are now advancing a partial solution for invasive species — making them a food source for humans. Even high-end restaurants now offer nutria and carp meat on their menu. Selling the public on this will take time. Consider that there was a time when Europeans shunned tomatoes, considering them to be poisonous.

The Bible has a good record of banning meat that would be hazardous for human consumption. A familiar prohibition of the Old Testament was against the eating of pork (Deuteronomy 14:8). The Israelites were also told not to eat anything that had already died or any bird or fish that could have eaten contaminated meat, such as vultures, owls, and falcons.

Strong evidence for the inspiration of the Bible is its accuracy in giving the ancient Israelites health guidelines that were far ahead of their time. We rely on science today to provide us with guidelines for healthy eating. A partial solution for invasive species might be to eat them, but a better solution is for humans to avoid upsetting the natural balance in God’s well-designed world.

Reference: “Rodent for Dinner” in The Guardian, March 6, 2025

June 20, 2025June 20, 2025

Bogong Moths and Stellar Migration

Since ancient times, humans have used the stars for navigation. So have various animals and migratory birds. Even some insects use the stars to guide their flights at night. For the first time, researchers have discovered that insects use the stars to guide their long-distance migrations. The insects are Bogong moths, native to Australia.

Researchers spent years studying the migration of Bogong moths. They wanted to know how a moth flying at night could journey 620 miles (1000 km) to a place it had never been before. After spending their summer in the cool, dark caves of the Australian Alps, every autumn, they travel to their breeding grounds in the Australian bush.

Since Bogong moths travel at night, they can’t navigate by the Sun. Past research has shown that birds, as well as some insects such as dung beetles, use Earth’s magnetic field to guide their flight. However, dung beetles travel only a few meters, not 1000 kilometers. Researchers sought to understand how Bogong moths navigate their way.

Researchers captured some Bogong moths and placed them in a planetarium-like flight simulator that blocked Earth’s magnetic field, allowing the moths to navigate by eyesight alone. The research concludes that the moths use the stars to guide them.

These moths aestivate (remain dormant) during the hot summer, huddling tightly together on cave walls or dark crevices, and migrate in the cooler weather to eat and reproduce. What is the purpose of these moths and their stellar migration? They nourish various predators in Australia. Many birds rely on them for food. Additionally, mammals, particularly pygmy possums, depend on them. Even Australian aborigines have feasted on Bogong moths.

We have described long migrations by butterflies, including monarchs and painted ladies. However, butterflies are active during the day, but moths fly at night. Bogong moths are the first insects known to migrate long distances at night using the stars for guidance. Is the remarkable migration of the Bogong moths merely an accident, or is it another essential part of an incredibly complex, designed system of life?

References: space.com, the journal Nature, and Wikipedia